An ultra-strong glass that has been looking for a purpose since its invention in 1962... picked up its first customer in 2008 and has quickly become a $170 million a year business as a protective layer over the screens of 40 million-plus cell phones and other mobile devices.... Because Gorilla is very hard to break, dent or scratch, Corning is ( Read more... )

Judging by the policing of the G20 protests in April (the ominously-named Operation Glencoe), current Met crowd-control doctrine is as follows:

• Illegally detain ("kettle") thousands of peaceful protestors for hours without food, water or toilet facilities.
• Prevent journalists from taking photographs inside the kettle.
• Carefully allow a few windows to ( Read more... )

Sleeping bags with sleeves, allowing for the following use cases:

1. Cuddling in tents. Because I'm soppy like that.
2. Sitting around in, say, a fscking cold flat in winter.
3. Camping in cold situations, where you want to do your sleeping bag all the way up but don't want to risk being unable to unzip yourself later.

The sleeves should terminate in mittens, ( Read more... )

[mrpjantarctica is entirely to blame for this idea. My contribution was to recognise that the world market for it might be more than five. It's all about the marketing ( Read more... )

For many of us, it's really hard to find shoes that fit right. Some people have feet that are too big or too small, or too narrow or too wide, or just weirdly-shaped; some people just really hate shoe-shopping. The ideal situation is to get a pair of custom lasts made to the exact shape of your feet, then get all your shoes made bespoke: ( Read more... )

I found a used syringe in the street today ( Read more... )

Quite an uplifting story:In 1957, Yvon Chouinard bought a coal-fired forge second-hand, and started making hard-steel pitons for use in Yosemite Valley. Between time spent surfing and climbing, he sold pitons out of the back of his car to support himself. The improved pitons were a big factor in the birth of big-wall climbing in 1957-1960 in ( Read more... )

When I am rich, I will found Niue College, Oxford, whose main aim will be to be a more pleasant learning environment than New College. The importance of having a really good college bar, with good beers on draft at reasonable prices, which takes cash so guests don't have to get a college member to buy their drinks for them, and which opens at ( Read more... )

Apparently, great strides have been made in energy- and water- efficiency for many household appliances - boilers, washing machines, dishwashers, etc. This is of course a Good Thing. The problem is that taking advantage of this new technology requires you to buy a completely new appliance, with all the environmental impact and cost associated with ( Read more... )

A Japanese-style coffin hotel, with really good soundproofing, somewhere central in Edinburgh during the Festival, open 24 hours a day, with beds rentable by the hour. Imagine: you're a performer, your show's just finished, leaving you physically and mentally drained, and it's only 10am/midday/3pm/5pm/11pm/1am/whenever. Later on, you've got shows ( Read more... )