The continuing increase in gasoline prices around the world over the past decade has also seen an increase in the practice of hypermiling – the act of driving using techniques that maximize fuel economy. One of the most effective hypermiling techniques is maintaining a steady speed while driving instead of constantly stopping and starting. Unfortunately, traffic lights all too often conspire to foil attempts at keeping the vehicle rolling. Researchers at MIT and Princeton have now devised a system that gathers visual data from the cameras of a network of dashboard-mounted smartphones and tells drivers the optimal speed to drive at to avoid waiting at the next set of lights.

The new system, dubbed SignalGuru, was tested in both Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in Singapore. In Cambridge, where traffic signals are on fixed schedules, the researchers say the system was able to predict when lights would change with an average error of only two-thirds of a second and helped drivers cut fuel consumption by an average of 20 percent. In Singapore, where the duration of lights varies continuously according to changes in traffic flow, the error increased to an average of slightly more than one second, with one particularly light in densely populated central Singapore seeing an average error of more than two seconds.

The version of the system used in the tests graphically displayed the optimal speed for avoiding a full stop at the next light, but a commercial version would probably use audio prompts said Emmanouil Koukoumidis, a visiting researcher at MIT who led the project. The researchers also modeled the effect of instructing drivers to accelerate in order to catch lights before they changed, but decided that wasn’t the safest option.

"The good news for the U.S. is that most signals in the U.S. are dummy signals," (signals with fixed schedules), says Koukoumidis, who launched the SignalGuru project at MIT with Li-Shiuan Peh, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science who came to MIT from Princeton in fall 2009. But Koukoumidis says even an accuracy of two and half seconds, "could very well help you avoid stopping at an intersection." He also points out that the predictions for variable signals would improve as more cars were outfitted with the system, collecting more data.

Koukoumidis says cars are responsible for 28 percent of the energy consumption and 32 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. and that, "if you can save even a small percentage of that, then you can have a large effect on the energy that the U.S. consumes."

But it isn’t just more economical driving that could benefit from the technology. Koukoumidis says the computing infrastructure that underlies the system could be adapted to a variety of applications that could be useful to commuters, such as capturing information about prices at different gas stations, the locations and rates of progress of city buses, or about the availability of parking spaces in urban areas. The system could also be used in conjunction with existing routing software, to recommend ducking down a side street instead of slowing to a crawl to avoid a red light, for instance.

A speedboat, submarine and airplane wrapped in one

Outfitted with a 1500cc engine, a watertight cockpit and six dolphin-like fins, the Innespace Seabreacher redefines personal watercraft. The 17-foot vessel can reach 50 mph on flat water, cruise beneath the surface, and launch 18 feet into the air. It’s also got an iPod-compatible sound system and a digital periscope. Summer may never be the same.

Check out this video of the Seabreacher X in action:

Tail Fin

The Seabreacher’s top rear fin acts like a car spoiler. When the craft is underwater, aiming its water jet toward the tail fin produces drag that pushes the craft’s rear downward and the nose upward, launching the vessel out of the water.

Water Jet

A single jet controls propulsion and steering. Drivers aim it with two foot pedals in the cockpit. Pointing the stream left or right initiates a turn; directing it down pops the tail up and aims the craft’s nose down for a dive.

Engine

The 260-horsepower gas engine–similar to a Jet Ski’s–generates speeds of 50 mph on the surface and 25 mph beneath. Air intake at the dorsal fin lets the craft cruise underwater while getting oxygen to the engine.

Side Fins

Two manually controlled side fins add maneuverability. Tilting the fins forward sucks the vessel deeper into the water; tilting them backward helps it rise. One forward and one back forces the craft to roll onto its side underwater or on the surface.

Cockpit

The two-seat, pneumatically sealed cockpit is outfitted with a GPS, an iPod dock and speakers. LCD screens display live footage taken from a camera mounted on the dorsal fin, which acts like a digital periscope.

Get It: Innespace Seabreacher X, From $81,000; Innespace

The transparent CPT002 Aston Martin Concept Phone from Mobiado

British car maker Aston Martin is looking to leverage its luxury brand into the world of consumer electronics by teaming up with Canadian mobile phone manufacturer Mobiado to produce a line of high-end handsets to be launched in May of this year. Until then, the company has provided a tantalizing peek at possible future designs with the CPT002 Aston Martin Concept Phone that takes the ‘slab of glass’ design of many current smartphones to the next level. With a solid sapphire crystal capacitive touchscreen, the CPT002 is completely transparent.

To allow the screen of the CPT002 to be transparent, Mobiado has incorporated the battery, electronics and SIM card into the sides of the device, which are crafted from platinum. The only things blocking the view when looking through the phone when it’s in standby are the Aston Martin and Mobiado logos, what appear to be battery and signal strength indicators along the top and a series of dots along the bottom that appear similar to the dots on the iPhone that let you know which screen you’re on – although it’s not ‘clear’ whether that’s actually what they are.

A transparent touchscreen has already popped up on LG’s GD900 mobile phone, but only in the form of a touchpad that displays the phone’s number pad. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a bit longer for a phone with a transparent full touchscreen display with Mobiado’s upcoming range not sporting a phone with such a design. However, other features of the CPT002 Concept Phone that are designed to integrate with an Aston Martin vehicle are more of a possibility.

Firstly, the phone would act as a key for your Aston Martin, automatically unlocking the doors as you approach and connecting directly to the car display without the need to pull it from your pocket. The phone also uses the vehicle’s GPS to show your current location on FourSquare, with the car’s display also showing the location of friends and venues of interest.

The social networking features continue with the ability to set cameras integrated into the vehicle to periodically take happy snaps and video that can be uploaded with information about passing cities and landmarks to Twitter and FaceBook – perfect for making your friends green with envy over the exotic locales you’re visiting in your luxury automobile.

Mobiado also makes use of the CPT002′s accelerometer in an innovative way. In the event of an accident, accelerometer information from the phone sitting in the driver’s pocket is transmitted to the car to provide information about the driver’s movement from within the car seat to allow for more effective deployment of safety features such as airbag sequence, timing and seatbelt stiffening.

Whether any of these features will appear in Mobiado’s upcoming Aston Martin range or whether the collaboration will simply result in phones with the usual feature set with an Aston Martin logo emblazoned across them remains to be seen. All will be revealed in May when Mobiado launches its Aston Martin range.

The Solowheel electric unicycle from Inventist has a top speed of 12mph, a range of 12 miles on one charge and to move off, a user puts both feet on the platforms on either side of the wheel housing and leans forward

The fat wheeled eniCycle, the stylish and graceful U3 from Honda or the slightly scary prospect of the UnoMoto have all shared more in common than being one-wheeled, self-balancing personal transport solutions. They’ve all had somewhere for the user to sit. Inventist’s Solowheel is a little different – you ride this electric unicycle standing upright, like a Segway or skateboard. It has a useful carry handle and fold-away foot platforms, is gyro-stabilized and the Li-ion batteries offer a range of about 12 miles between charges.

For those who work in the city but don’t actually live there, leaving the car at home and getting to the office by train, tram or bus is becoming a more attractive prospect. For those who don’t relish the sometimes long walk from the station or terminus to the workplace, there are now numerous electric personal, short haul transport solutions – from the Segway to the YikeBike or even the FlyRad – to take some of the strain away.

Weighing 25 pounds (11 kg), sporting folding leg platforms on each side and a carry handle on top, the 17 x 19 x 5-inch (43 x 48 x 13 cm) Solowheel from Inventist is sure to turn some heads as you trundle along at up to 12mph. The durable external housing hides a Li-ion battery that’s said to be good for two hours of use between charges and a 1000-Watt electric motor, and a self-balancing gyro system. Its battery is reported to take 45 minutes to charge but a regenerative system returns energy to the battery when the rider slows down or the unit goes downhill, which could help extend the range.

The electric unicycle’s creators say that it’s easy to use and quick to learn, the feet are quite close to the ground and the legs rest against each side of the housing which help with balance and steering. With both feet on the vehicle, you just lean forward to start going. When you want to slow down or stop, you lean back. You use the legs to steer, much as you would on the Magic Wheel.

I can see the Solowheel being a useful, fun and quite affordable way to trundle from the railway station into work and back again. Have a look at the following demonstration video and see what you think:

The MyFord Touch system

A recent New York Times print advertisement for the Ford Edge crossover included barcodes that, when scanned by a mobile phone camera, provided readers with access to Times articles on style and technology. It’s part of a techy advertising campaign for the Edge, which will be the first vehicle to feature the likewise-techy MyFord Touch system. Touch is built around Ford’s existing Windows-based SYNC communications and entertainment system, and allows drivers to use the dashboard as… well, pretty much as a big smartphone.

Directly in front of the driver, the system presents two 4.2-inch LCD screens to either side of the speedometer, and iPod-like 5-way thumb controls on either side of the steering wheel bridge. On the center stack (the part of the dashboard that leads down to the shifter), there is an 8-inch LCD screen, button and dial controls, and inputs for SD cards, USB, and RCA plugs. This means that content from devices such as personal music players, smartphones and laptops can be played through the system, and passengers can use it to access the Internet.

The left of the smaller two screens displays typical dashboard information, such as the various engine gauges, trip meter and odometer. The right screen displays audio settings, climate control, hands-free phone controls and the navigation menu. Both of these screens can be reconfigured to show different data, depending on the driver’s preference.

The larger center stack screen displays the same information as the right-hand screen, but does so in more detail, and allows for touchscreen control. It can also be customized to present the information and controls in different fashions, depending on whether drivers want to keep things simple, or like lots of widgets.

As with the basic SYNC system, most of the functions can be controlled with vocal commands. Touch reportedly has made the process more intuitive, while extending the number of functions that can be voice-controlled – the system can now recognize up to 10,000 words.

Needless to say, with all these things to look at, talk to and touch, one does have to wonder about driver distraction. The voice-control option is designed to allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road, although as with Bluetooth phone conversations, it could still be a mental distraction. Only time and crash statistics will tell.