GENERATION NEXT
Hacks for life
ZWIM GOGGLES These goggles are vital for athletes who are monitoring their performance – i.e. to enhance their training and achieve performance objectives.
While sports watches allow athletes who train on land to glance periodically at their wrists and gauge their performance, swimmers don’t have the same luxury of stopping during a lap to check their watches. This is where Zwim goggles come in.
Zwim features a Google glasslike display that tracks and displays the same data as a sports watch on a Google glasslike head-up display (HUD) on the goggle. Optical sensors and other electronics track elements such as lap time and count, total time, heart rate and calories burned, and display the data unobtrusively on the goggle.
Swimmers can choose what data is displayed and the display layout. They also have the option of synching the goggles with a smartphone app that enables them to save and share their training session data.
Allowing swimmers to keep track of their performance with only a glance into their peripheral vision – without having to stop swimming – will ensure uninterrupted training and more accurate training data.
CAMP IN A BOX For those who love camping but don’t want to invest in a full-size camper van, Simple’s camper conversion kits may be the affordable answer. The new micro camper conversion kit offers both financial and logistical advantages.
Basically a camp in a box, camper kits for one or two people can be set up in a matter of minutes inside a regular size van or SUV. The kits feature basic camping amenities such as a folding bedframe, sofa lounge, pop-up dining table and storage space.
The kits can be put up and taken down easily, and stored in the trunk, allowing passengers to travel in comfort during the day and set up camp in comfort at night.
CONTRA PATCH Using contraceptives can be inconvenient whether it’s the invasiveness of an IUD, unpleasantness of an injection or hassle of remembering to take the pill.
A new technology in the market promises a noninvasive, painless and convenient option in the form of a micro-needle patch.
Micro-needle medication works through a small patch, which users apply to the skin, painlessly delivering the required drugs through several tiny needles that either dissolve or break off under the skin after use. Used to deliver flu vaccines, cancer drugs, insulin etc., contraceptives are the latest to make the list.
This contraceptive patch, which is currently in the testing phase, uses a slow release dose of the same ingredient in the morning-after pill. The patches can be easily stored, don’t require refrigeration and can be administered at home with ease.
PARTY COOLER When you’re at a party and the refrigerator’s been drained of chilled drinks, and a minute is about all you can wait for a swig of chill, Blue Quench is an ultra-fast cooler that you’ll want to have on hand.
This cooler turns drinks from room temperature undrinkable to ice-cold heaven in a minute.
It uses an inbuilt can and bottle spinner that spins drinks at 500 rpm in ice-cold water.
The spinning action eliminates heat and exposes the drinks to cooling action at much faster rates than when it’s still.
The cooler also takes care not to churn up the drinks and have them explode when opened. But it requires a large quantity of ice although some may consider this a small price to pay for instantly chilled beers or a surprise bottle of bubbly at a special event.