We just had a Halloween party at my apartment last weekend, and I dressed up as the character "V" from the movie "V for Vendetta" it was a success. But when I saw this …thing…on the internet i knew i was bested.

The contraption is actually meant to save your life. Geared towards outdoor winter sport enthusiasts, this 3 pound backpack inflates to cover your head in life threatening situations. And being that i’m a pretty terrible snowboarder, i might want to invest in one of these. Although i really regret not getting one for my party.

Having a large vehicle that guzzles up fuel like there’s no tomorrow sucks. The Sunforce 60W solar charger helps alleviate some of your guilt as it is capable of charging a 12V battery and comes with a 175W inverter for you to power a portable coffee maker or TV whenever you’ve ventured into the great outdoors. The Sunforce measures 54" x 42" X 12" and weighs in at 60 lbs., making it rather hefty to transport around (while consuming even more fuel when you’re carrying something so heavy). If you’re keen on some clean portable electricity, be prepared to pony up $400 for one of these.

That’s right, it’s bicycle that will no longer rip your pant leg, ruin your clothes with grease stains, or embarrass you with chains falling off your gears in the middle of traffic. Well, at least that’s the idea. It’s called a chainless bike.

Apparently chainless technology has been around for about 100 years, but I somehow managed to miss the news. Dynamic Bicycles seems to have the most information and most variety of consumer models.

The bikes use a shift drive and gears located in a small waterproof enclosure in the rear wheel. The shifters are in their usual spot on the handlebars. Sounds great, maybe a bit complicated if any repairs need to be made. However, a chainless bike is a legitimate possibility to explore if you’re looking to purchase a fancy new 2007 model toy. Happy peddling.

A device that mimics the naturally disinfecting quality of fresh air could be used to purge hospital wards of superbugs, its makers claim.

The Air Disinfector, launched in London, UK, on 19 June pumps a continual stream of reactive hydrogen radicals into the atmosphere, killing microbes within minutes.

"The same results could be obtained simply by opening all the windows of hospital wards, but that’s not practical," says David Macdonald, co-inventor of the device and chief scientific officer of Inov8 Science, which developed it.

Macdonald and co-inventor Derek Elwood identified the so-called open-air factor phenomenon more than 15 years ago through experiments at the UK government’s chemical and biological defence labs at Porton Down in Wiltshire. They established that outdoors, microbes are killed by hydroxyl radicals, highly reactive agents constantly produced through natural reactions between airborne ozone and organic scented chemicals from plants such as pine trees.

Info from New Scientist

There are a lot of solar powered WiFi available, but none as cheap and easy as this. The Meraki outdoor WiFi repeater is designed to work with their $50 indoor repeater that we covered in May, and is able to broadcast a signal “up to 700 feet away,” although half that might be a bit more realistic if you’ve had any experience with wireless routers. The antenna is a flat panel that has a 180 degree spread. The repeater is, of course, designed to withstand the fury of the elements, and comes with a special “outdoor” Ethernet cable. By itself it’s only about $100, but for an unreleased (but supposedly low) price you can add a solar panel and battery pack; there’s some included software designed to manage the repeater’s power so that it’ll have enough reserves to work at night and when it’s cloudy. Part of the attraction of the whole package is also Meraki’s software, which lets you regulate the public aspects of your network, and if you choose, start charging your neighbors when they mooch off your bandwidth. The kit is expected to start shipping later this summer.