The Martin jetpack, a commercially developed jetpack, may soon be heading to a sky near you.

It is about time man flew among the birds – alone. We may not have the homes on the moon, or the flying cars that our totally reasonable childhood imaginations ensured us would be waiting for us when we grew up, but with a little luck and a lot of money, we might soon be able to scratch “jetpack” off of our bucket lists.

Imagine one day soon, you kiss the spouse good bye, walk the kids off to the school bus, then you prepare for the commute to work. But rather than sitting in traffic and squeezing your steering wheel in frustration as the car in front of you apparently believes the old adage of “speed kills”, so they are driving 15 MPH under the speed limit, you simply throw on your jetpack, terrify a few birds, and make it to work in record time. Sure there might be a few details that you would need to work out, like the practicalities on your hygiene after ripping through the wind with an engine strapped to your back, or the fact that you are betting your life on the reliability of the vehicle, but we are talking about a jetpack- practicalities be damned!

via Martin Aircraft’s commercial jetpack looks to take flight – Yahoo! Shopping.

Everyone knew it the moment they saw it. Hell, even Steve Jobs alluded to it when he was unveiling the thing. The new multitouch iPod Nano was made to be strapped to a watch band. Here it is, for $17.

OK, so there’s still the issue of having headphones plugged into your watch at all times. And the limits of the Nano’s looks-like-iOS-but-can’t-run-apps-like-iOS operating system. But these things are pretty minor when you consider that this time next week you could be wearing an IPOD as a WATCH. Imagine the look on your 2001 self’s face if you told them that in under a decade you’d be wearing one of those iPod things on your wrist. It’d be a look of incredulity. And longing!

via The iPod Nano Watch Is Here and It Is Glorious.

Kids Play The Darndest Dead of the Day: A nine-year-old girl’s playacting scared the crap out of a whole mess of people after her supposed “corpse” ended up on Google Street View.

via The Daily What.

I definitely want to try this glass-bottomed hot air balloon, even while its pilot and inventor says it’s a “terrifying experience.” I don’t know why no other sadist think about this before, but flying in it must be blood-curdling

via Glass-Bottomed Hot Air Balloon Is a Terrifying Experience.

Apple desktops have touchpads now too. The new Magic Trackpad gives Mac Pro and iMac owners multitouch powers, gestures, and bluetooth connectivity.

The Magic Trackpad is basically a larger version of the MacBook Pro touchpad, with 80% more surface area for all your swiping and pinching. The entire surface acts as a button, so it’s also a possible mouse replacement. And all of the expected gestures are here: two-finger scrolling, pinch to zoom, fingertip rotation, and three- and four-finger swipes.

via Apple’s Magic Trackpad Is Here.

Slots for 3-pin and 2-pin plugs are different though, but easy to manage.

via Slot-Type Power Outlet by Chen Yinfeng » Yanko Design.

Just like robots and movie violence and Halloween costumes, Nerf guns are getting more realistic with each passing year. The N-Strike Stampede Blaster, the first fully automatic dart clip Nerf weapon, is the most realistic to date. Maybe not realistic in the sense that it looks just like some real gun that any military uses, but real in the sense that it looks like the yellow version of something that could fire bullets and fatally wound someone.

via So This Is What Nerf Guns Are Like Now, Huh?.

Brother Industries Ltd developed small vibration-powered generators that can replace AA and AAA batteries.

For example, when the generator, which the company calls “Vibration-powered Generating Battery,” is set inside a remote control, it is possible to use the remote by shaking it to generate power.

“The new generator will semipermanently eliminate the need to replace batteries and contribute to reducing the amount of wastes,”

Brother Industries said.Brother Industries ensured the versatility of the generator by employing the shapes of commonly-used batteries. When used with a low power consumption device such as a remote, the generator can replace a battery, the company said.

via Vibration-powered Generators Replace AA, AAA Batteries — Tech-On!.

On Tuesday morning, workers excavating the site of the underground vehicle security center for the future World Trade Center hit a row of sturdy, upright wood timbers, regularly spaced, sticking out of a briny gray muck flecked with oyster shells.

Obviously, these were more than just remnants of the wooden cribbing used in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to extend the shoreline of Manhattan Island ever farther into the Hudson River. Lower Manhattan real estate was a precious commodity even then.

via 18th-Century Ship Found at Trade Center Site – City Room Blog – NYTimes.com.

LONDON AFP – An unmanned jet capable of striking long-range targets has been dubbed the “combat aircraft of the future” by the Ministry of Defence.

The Taranis — named after the Celtic god of thunder — was unveiled at a ceremony at BAE Systems in Warton, Lancashire, on Monday.

The £142.5 million prototype is the size of a light aircraft and has been equipped with stealth technology to make it virtually undetectable.

In a press release, the MoD described the Taranis as “a prototype unmanned combat aircraft of the future.”

via MoD unveils unmanned fighter jet ‘of the future’ – Yahoo! News.