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Wild, Weird & Wacky Inventions

Sony patented a SmartWig a few years ago, a hairpiece that could be set to vibrate when you received a text message, and could somehow take pictures as well.

I find the whole idea of possessing vibrating hair unappealing, to say the least.
 
Sony patented a SmartWig a few years ago, a hairpiece that could be set to vibrate when you received a text message, and could somehow take pictures as well.

I find the whole idea of possessing vibrating hair unappealing, to say the least.
Sounds like a Merkin invention.
 
Stratolaunch makes first test flight

Reached a max speed of 304 kph & height of 17000 ft.

Designed as a way of carrying rockets/satellites to low-earth orbit.


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Not sure what is new about it. I have definitely seen a Victorian or Edwardian design that involved levers.
 
Fair enough. I would suggest these are some way distant to the example above.
 
I'm not sure the 2019 Nuremberg Toy Fair and toys it presents belong in this thread exactly but anyway ..

 
French inventor to attempt to cross Channel on jet-powered flyboard

Franky Zapata, former jetski champion and French military reservist, who impressed France with a demonstration of his flyboard at this year’s Bastille Day parade, has said he will make the crossing on Thursday to mark the 110th anniversary of Louis Blériot’s first cross-Channel airplane flight.

“I used 3% of the machine’s capabilities and I’ll need 99% for the Channel. It won’t be easy at all and I reckon I’ve a 30% chance of succeeding,” he said.

Zapata, 40, expects to cross from Sangatte near Calais to St Margaret’s Bay near Dover in 20 minutes, refuelling halfway and reaching speeds of up to 86.9mph (140km/h).

He added that the take-off time would depend on weather conditions and he had not yet decided whether to refuel the kerosene-powered flyboard by landing on a ship or hovering over it, the latter being more risky but which would enable him to claim a true “cross-Channel flight”.

At France’s Bastille Day parade on 14 July, the president, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and other European leaders watched as Zapata flew above the Champs-Elysées brandishing a rifle.

Florence Parly, the French armed forces minister, said the flyboard could be “tested for different kinds of uses, for example as a flying logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform”.

Zapata was awarded a €1.3m grant for his Flyboard Air from the French government defence and procurement agency) last December. It is powered by five mini turbo engines and can run autonomously for about 10 minutes and reach speeds of up to 118mph (190km/h).

He was planning to refuel twice but maritime officials prevented him stationing a refuelling ship in the busy shipping channel.

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... He was planning to refuel twice but maritime officials prevented him stationing a refuelling ship in the busy shipping channel.

Update: Zapata tried the English Channel crossing. As it turned out a refueling boat was definitely involved, because crashing into / onto it is the reason the attempt ended.
Air-board inventor makes it more than halfway across Channel

Looking like a superhero, the French inventor of an airborne hoverboard glided partway over the English Channel on his personal flying machine Thursday - then crashed in the sea.

Unharmed and undeterred, 40-year-old Franky Zapata said he plans to try again. Perhaps within days.

The inventor collided with a refueling boat several minutes into his flight, destroying his transportation, a version of the Flyboard his company sells commercially.

After being rescued from the Channel’s choppy waters, Zapata smiled and said, “We won’t give up until we succeed.” ...

FULL STORY: https://www.apnews.com/581a158c4cf44caab3cd407fd0c15bd6
 
Sounds like he wasn't too far off. Choppy sea made it hard for him landing to refuel. I reckon he'll do it eventually.
 
Huzzah! History has been made!
 
You have to admire his determination & bottle. He apparently lost two fingers to rotors in development stages a while back.
 
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