News Archives - March 2014

ETA celebrate cycling culture at Spin LDN

Slowly but surely, cycling is growing in the British consciousness as something desirable, fashionable and approachable – a fact reflected by the welcome return of a festival of cycling culture in the capital next weekend. In the heart of London’s buzzing east end, Spin LDN (March 28th-30th) is the festival that shows that cycling is not solely for the middle-aged…

Volvo car can tell if you look tired

Next time you check your hair or make up in your car’s vanity mirror, it might talk back; Volvo, the pioneer of the three-point seat belt, has developed a car that reacts when a driver looks tired or inattentive behind the wheel. By placing a sensor on the dashboard to monitor where the driver is looking, their head position and angle and…

Half the bike, twice the price

Attempts to improve on the efficiency of the bicycle are doomed to fail, but the Halfbike’s combination of cycling and ‘bike jogging’ appears to offer a fun alternative way to move around the city; like a cross between a unicycle and a child’s scooter, the design promises to bring ‘joy to urban mobility’. Surprisingly nimble and fast, the Halfbike is…

Electric hire cars coming to London

For the one third of Londoners who do not have a car, and those others in the capital for whom motoring is an expensive, if necessary, evil, a public electric car hire scheme is to be launched. Paris already has Autolib – a pool of 2,000 electric cars sited across Paris and its suburbs, which drivers are able to rent at any time. Bolloré,…

Lycra is 55 – Welcome to middle age

Lycra is 55 years old this year and as it crosses into middle age, and probable crisis, it has re-invented itself as digital clothing. French company Cityzen Data has transformed an otherwise unremarkable Lycra cycling top into a digital shirt bristling with micro-sensors to monitor the wearer’s temperature, heart rate, speed, acceleration and location. The data collected will be used…