Zübeyde Hanım - museum ship

In the Izmir harbor, we discovered this floating museum, Zübeyde Hanım, with a focus on rescue ships and some of the earlier technology used on them.

Model of a rescue ship

Zübeyde Hanım 

Zübeyde Hanım Training and Exhibition Vessel

Tube radio

Ohmmeter

Amp meter

The helm

Engine order telegraph

Typewriter - note the most worn keys are AZERI. This is not the standard Turkish Q or Turkish F keyboard layout.

Lanterns and compasses

Lanterns, compasses, and megaphones

Calipers

Flare guns

Admiral Piri Reis Map (1531)

Electron lamps

Medical instruments

Watching a hot air balloon launch

On our holiday at the famous Pamukkale geothermal area last winter, I stopped to watch a hot air balloon launch.

   

Viking ships

This summer we visited the Viking Ships Museum at Roskilde in Denmark. The museum is dedicated to preserving five viking ships that were discovered submerged in the Roskilde Fjord. The five ships were submerged for about a thousand years and so recovering them was a challenging task. Modern replicas of the ships have been built and there is an ongoing open source project where visitors can take part in constructing a boat. 

Photo by Vassia Atanassova - Spiritia (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The summer program included hands on activities for children to make jewellery, swords, shields, axes, model boats and other viking themed crafts.

At the cafe, we enjoyed a modern Nordic meal based on the types of foods Vikings would have eaten, including mead.  

The ProTravel Carry-on bag to beat travel drag

My family traveled to Paris in July with just carry on. Our apartment in Paris was up a narrow spiral staircase and lugging the bags up and down would have been easier if they were backpacks. That is why this Kickstarter project to launch the ProTravel Carry-on Bag from Minaar is so interesting. Designed by Kiwi travel junkies, Doug and Jimmy, the bag is packed with features for reducing travel drag.


Check out more about the bag you don't need to check-in on Kickstarter and Minaal.com

Best science museum visit yet: Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, Paris

In July we spent 10 nights in Paris and visited many of the touristic sites as well as sites that our science loving kids would enjoy. The Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie (City of Science and Industry) was so amazing and so big that we spent two full days there.

Full of interactive exhibits on: Mathematics, Sounds, Space Travel, Communication, Genetics, Light, Images, Energy, Design and Innovation, Transportation, the Universe as well as temporary exhibits: Economics, Futurotextiles, Housing for tomorrow, and Leonaro da Vinci's projects, designs and machines; the Cité des Sciences is the largest science museum in Europe and France's fifth most popular museum.

All of the exhibits were top quality. Almost all were in multiple languages (including Braille). The depth of science was amazing - nothing was dumbed down and with so many exhibits there was something for everyone. I was impressed by the use of four synchronized projectors on a hanging sphere in an Earthwatch: the satellite revolution exhibit that gave a realistic impression of the revolving and changing world while the story of the exhibit was being told.

Our children enjoyed the 5-12 years activity area which featured a TV studio, an ant colony, communication, fun with water and a factory - they produced their own robot cut personalized cardboard boxes.

Outside, we visited the Argonaute submarine that hunted submarines in the 1950s and watched a 3D movie about dragons at the Geode hemispherical cinema.

Futurotextiles was closed and being packed up on our second visit. We didn't have time to see the Multimedia Library or the Planetarium and the Aquarium was under renovation. Perhaps next time!

Luxury pop-up camper

When I was 10 years old, I had a surprise holiday at Waingaro Hot Springs with my grandparents in a pop-up camper. It had a solid roof over the main living area in the trailer with pop out canvas sections for the beds at each end and an awning on the side. It was great fun and probably looked similar to this:

Pop-up camper design has come a long way over the years as this video of the Opera (inspired by the Sydney Opera House) shows:



More about the Opera at http://thedesignerpad.com/blog/2011/9/29/a-private-suite-on-wheels.html

Restaurant in a box

A fast food restaurant in a shipping container?

Müvbox is a standard shipping container that has been converted into a fold out restaurant. Features include solar power, a full function kitchen with a wood fire pizza oven and room for four staff. Complete with tables for up to 28 people (half seated), it is a fascinating concept.


Specs and more at muvboxconcept.com.

Mobile Mini House

Pop-Up Campers Could Go Modern!

Pop-up campers have come a long way in terms of comfort and built-in technology, but for the most part the design has remained unchanged. Of course, it was only a matter of time until someone came up with something new and exciting and in this case, it could change how people look at their "home away from home."

Read more and see the insides at InventorSpot

dolphin-inspired submersible watercraft.

High tech buses

I caught one of the newest buses in the city yesterday. It had a GPS screen, a voice announcing stops and news, weather, speed, time and location on the screen.

[Edit: added tags. Original posted from mobile blogger.]

Laptop Backpacks

BUILT has these cool looking laptop backpacks made from lightweight neoprene and mesh. While it looks like a wetsuit for computers, its probably not a great idea to go diving or surfing with them.

My latest mobile gadget: SonyEricsson P990i

I got a SonyEricsson P990i mobile from one of the MuzGadgets brothers when I visited them recently. It does pretty much all I need a pocket device to do:

• internet access including via wireless
• still/video camera (I must buy a bigger memory card)
• MP3/media player/radio (I really must buy a bigger memory card)
  
• ebook reader (the PDF viewer's interface is a bit annoying sometimes)
• contacts/calendar/tasks manager with synchronization to my PC
• emergency modem while waiting for the ADSL guys to connect us
• oh and it works as a phone too

I've installed fring on it too so I can Skype from the phone. I've tried it a couple of times - it didn't show the live Skype video and one of the MuzGadget sisters couldn't understand anything I was saying - might have been a low bandwidth issue.

It might be second-hand and not quite as cool as an iPhone, but I'm very happy with it. It is a lot more useful than my old monochrome voice & sms only Siemens A70.

Gadget recommendations wanted

We have booked our flights to visit New Zealand. We don't have a lot of money left after this, but we want to get some duty free gadgets on the way. Any recommendations?

We're thinking electronics such as a digital camera, smarter phones, etc.

Aeroscraft - hybrid airship

Poppa sent an email introducing the Aeroscraft - a heavier than air craft that uses helium to support 2/3 of its weight. Huge propellers and aerodynamics provide the remaining lift during cruising. Six turbofan jet engines control the take off and landing.

This craft is huge, but has it a small footprint and because it takes off vertically it does not require a runway. Passenger capacity will be about 250 configured as a flying hotel. Though the main configuration would be for cargo, delivering an entire store's worth of goods at a time.

Read more at:
The Flying Luxury Hotel | Popular Science
Aeroscraft - Innovation Never Stops
Its a bird! Its a plane No

Meet Trev: a 2-seater, 3-wheeled Electric Car

Trev Two-Seat Lithium ion Electric Travels for 2¢ a Mile

"Staff and students at the University of South Australia have designed and built an electric car that can go from 0-60 in under 10 seconds and can travel nearly 100 miles on a single charge, it's called Trev and it's quite an achievement."

This electric car has been designed with similar technologies to those used for solar racing cars, but for use in urban daily commuting. The passenger seat behind the driver gives it good aerodynamics and balance and the lightweight construction means the whole car only weighs 300 kg. The lithium ion battery powers the rear drive wheel and the car is capable of 0-100km/h in under 10 seconds, a top speed of 120 km/h and 150 km of city driving before recharging.

Pocket Bikes

Reinventing the Wheel : TreeHugger
Mountain biker and designer Duncan Fitzsimons has invented a folding wheel with the aim of making courier or city bikes that could be folded up into a package that is much easier for carrying on public transport.



Read the full article

Electric books

Lots of people are blogging about

Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

I won't say much about it other than it would be interesting to know what operating system it has and how long before it is hacked?

Latest gadget acquisition - looking for info

A friend who is leaving the country for a year or more gave us a Sharp Hi8 Camcorder (VL-AH50). It had an American power supply - easily fixed with a local plug and we should be able to pick up blank cassettes easy enough. The onscreen menu makes it easy to understand all the features, but I'm interested in locating a manual, accessories, etc.

It only has AV output so any recommendations for digitisers/converters for connecting it to a laptop so we can save movies to DVD would be useful.

Electric Unicycle

This is pretty cool