Forget Segways, Electric Skateboards Are The New Way To Explore

by Libby Zay on

Too cool for a Segway tour? No need to worry, battery-powered skateboards will soon be on the market thanks to a new company called Boosted Boards.

Less bulky than bikes, these boards have the potential to change the way people explore cities. They can be carried anywhere – including on airplanes – allowing people to stop and go as they please (and easily hop off to bypass obstacles like stairs). A handheld remote control allows the rider to control the speed and brakes, so all the rider has to do is worry about balancing and avoiding barriers.

The battery lasts for about six miles, and when its time to recharge, the board just needs to be plugged into a normal wall outlet for 15 minutes (at that rate, it means about a dollar of electricity can power one of these skateboards for more than 600 miles). And if you’re worried about oomph, consider this: the boards have so much gusto they can climb up the hills of San Francisco at 20 mph.

More than 1,100 people got behind the boards on Kickstarter, where inventors reeled in more than four times the money they needed to launch. Boosted Boards is now accepting pre-orders for the new mode of transport, which the company plans to deliver in winter 2013.

[via Mashable and TED talks]

Mistreated Chinese Inmates Might Be Making Airplane Headphones

by Libby Zay on

Some of those cheap, plastic headphones airplanes give out could have a grisly origin. Both Qantas and British Airways are investigating whether the disposable headphones they distribute on board were made by poorly treated prisoners in a Chinese jail.

According to news.com.au, two inmates came forward to say that they made headphones for Qantas, British Airways and Emirates. The inmates claim that they worked more than 70 hours per week, and if anyone failed to meet production targets, they were “taken outside and tasered.”

All of the airlines have so far denied the charges, but Qantas has suspended arrangements with the company that supplies headphones to the airline, pending an investigation.

Mexican Park Offers Fake Border Crossing Attraction

by Libby Zay on


From sewer tours in France to “ghetto tours” in New York, there’s no shortage of strange excursions out there. An amusement park in Mexico, however, may have the most unusual outing yet: Parque EcoAlberto is bringing in tourist dollars – and teaching Mexican youth a lesson – by simulating the experience of fleeing across the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to PBS, the nighttime-only attraction aims to dissuade immigration by teaching Mexican citizens that attempting to cross the border is no walk in the park. For three hours, events unfold as realistically as possible, with masked guides shouting for participants to “get Moving” and a fake border patrol chasing them with flashlights and dogs.

The park, which also has hot springs and offers ziplining, is about 800 miles from the real U.S.-Mexico border in part of the indigenous HñaHñu community. According to the news outlet, the community has lost about 80 percent of its population to the U.S., mainly to Arizona and Nevada.

“We try to help people so that they won’t leave,” a park employee who acts as a “coyote,” or person paid to smuggle people across the border, tells PBS. “It’s time to create some employment, to work with our own and regenerate everything, or at least what we can, even though it might be slow going.”

What Do You Think Of United Airlines’ New Uniforms?

by Libby Zay on

Starting today, passengers flying United Airlines will see the flight crew decked out in new threads. According to a press release, tens of thousands of worldwide employees – including flight attendants, customer service agents, technical operations and ramp workers – will begin wearing new, sophisticated uniforms with accents of blue, gold, silver and gray.

Although news outlets like Jaunted have questioned United’s choice to go against trend and not enlist a high-profile designer to create the uniforms, such as Banana Republic who recently outfitted Virgin America’s crew, United says the company relied on feedback from their employees to create the stylish yet functional clothing. Pilots will be the last to switch over to the new getup when they begin wearing new, midnight blue uniforms later this year. Once everyone has made the switch, the company’s attire will – for the first time ever – have a cohesive feel across all operations.

Subway Hack Guarantees You’ll Always Have A Handle

by Libby Zay on

In a move that would make video game legends Mario and Luigi proud, a woman used a toilet plunger suctioned to the roof of a subway car to help stabilize herself. It’s likely that the picture, which surfaced on Twitter, is just staged for video game lovers, but it’s kind of an ingenious way to keep standing when there’s no place to sit and no hand rail in sight.

That’s not to say everyone should start carrying plungers around – but if a less silly looking, easy-to-carry invention with a release valve was manufactured, it could be a blessing to short people everywhere.

But even if you think it’s a crappy idea, it looks like we’re not the only people who found the picture hilarious: it has already gotten more than 12,000 retweets and nearly 4,000 favorites on Twitter. Let’s just hope the plunger is clean, or else I feel sorry for everyone in that train car.

[via Gizmodo]