If you plan on going to outer space anytime soon, you better be ready for zero-gravity problems.

One of the toughest issues space missions face is handling liquids. In microgravity environments, liquids tend to form globules and you couldn’t almost always get everything out of a container. Aside from the current method of pressurising liquid containers, researchers came up with something new — drinking cups using a helical shape.

Using the design, surface tension is able to keep the liquid inside the cup and you don’t have to worry about globules anymore because the structure allow you to suck the liquid inside in one go.

(Read the full post about ‘Helix Cups Solves Your Everyday Zero Gravity Problems’…)

Get a load of this: the cockpit-like Acabion GTBO features a a 750bhp, turbocharged Hayabusa engine that is capable of hurling the bike down the road at 340mph with a 30 second 0-300mph acceleration time—and, amazingly, that speed is capped. If all of that wasn’t eye popping enough, the bike is also fuel efficient. It can get 100mpg at 100mph and 25 at 250. galleryPost(’acabiongtbo’, 3, ”); Designer Peter Maskus is releasing the Acabion to the public in extremely limited quantities, although the price is a little steep at €1.87million or around $2.7 million US. Plus, you have to wait for 3 years while the bike is built. Its probably just as well though. I mean,where would you drive it? (Read the full post about ‘340mph Acabion GTBO Motorcycle Now In Production [Death Trap]’…)

Sprint has a few new models coming up in the future, both the Samsung Ace and also a green version of the LG Rumor are expected to be available shortly. The Samsung Ace is expected to be available on February 17 and carry a $449 price tag. The newly colored green LG Rumor is expected to be launched in March for $279.99 although a specific date has not been mentioned yet. Other notable releases include the Sierra Wireless AirCard 597E on February 17 for $329 and the Alcatel-Lucent AL3500 for $499.99 is expected in March. The pricing listed seems to be on the high side, which would indicate these are retail prices and you should expect much lower prices when signing an agreement. (Read the full post about ‘Sprint’s upcoming launch dates: Samsung Ace, green LG Rumor’…)

Zinc power company, Power Air Corporation, has unveiled their very first commercial product in CES 2008 — the ZPAC 40 Zinc Air Powerpack. The ZPAC 40 Zinc Air Powerpack is said to be the world’s first indoor generator, measuring a mere 102 x 63.5 x 19mm and weighing only 310g, the device carries the same power as those of 40 AA alkaline batteries. Connections to the ZPAC 40 Zinc Air Powerpack are mainly via USB port, although adaptors are available for electronic devices without USB connectivity. The ZPAC 40 Zinc Air Powerpack is small enough to carry around. Total power generation time is a whopping 90 days. (Read the full post about ‘World’s First Indoor Generator: ZPAC 40 Zinc Air Powerpack’…)

Corsair, a company known for their high performance computer and flash memory products, announced at CES the expansion of their Flash Voyager and Flash Survivor USB family lines with new 32GB capacity offerings. Think of it — enough storage capacity to hold over 16 full-length, high-definition movies or even an entire season of your favorite TV series. Best of all, these Corsair 32GB USB 2.0 drives are bootable, which means users can actually store full versions of operating systems and applications in order to quickly “re-create” the necessary software environments to troubleshoot system problems. Depending on your lifestyle, you can pick either the all-rubber Flash Voyager ($289) or the aluminum-encased water-proof Flash Survivor ($300). (Read the full post about ‘You can never have too much money or flash memory: Corsair Flash Voyager 32GB’…)

Since it was launched on December 25th the iPlayer ‘catch up’ service from the BBC in the UK has been watched by more than 3.5 million people. I can report that I am not one of them! I wanted to be, but you can’t access the content if you are not in the UK. I thought I would get a friend to try for me and he gave up as it is Windows only and required far too many downloads and installs. So what does that tell us? Well if nothing else that their are 3.5 million people in the UK with more patience than my friend! The most popular downloads included Dr Who and Top Gear. (Read the full post about ‘Initial numbers good for BBC’s iPlayer’…)

Bug Labs, the open source gadget hardware kit, will go on sale on Monday at around noon EST. But without Wi-Fi. Getting reliable open source Wi-Fi drivers in the base unit has been problematic, so they’re launching without it in a special HiroP unit, named after the main character in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. There is some good news, though. galleryPost(’buglabshirop’, 3, ”); It will be priced the same, despite having a cool joystick based controller. Later on, a Wi-Fi module, will come for HiroP owners, which can be bought at cost. HiroP buyers will also get a free IO module, the Von Hippel, for their trouble. And those who want to wait for the Wi-Fi enabled pieces can do so later, still able to keep the early adopter discount. (Read the full post about ‘Bug Labs Store Launches Monday, Minus Wi-Fi [Bug Labs]’…)