A round-up of this week's best gadgets
New Bus for London
Okay, you’re not likely to be splashing out on a new bus any of these days, but if you’re Olympics-bound you might get to go for a spin on one. This is the New Bus for London (or NB4L, as they would like it to be known apparently). Designed by the studio of design wünderkind – if he can still be regarded as a “kind” – Thomas Heatherwick, its nickname reflects London mayor Boris Johnson’s leading role in promoting it: the Borismaster.
The most distinctive feature of the design is the wrap-round glass panels, in particular the asymmetric front window, which swoops down to give the driver a better view kerbside. You wonder if they’ll be allowed to wrap the NB4Ls up in semi-opaque advertising skins as happens here, plunging Dublin Bus interiors into an unpleasant, gloomy half-light.
Lovers of the old-style buses will probably welcome the return of open platforms at the back, which lets you jump on and off. And, apparently, they will be 40 per cent more efficient than conventional diesel double-deckers, thanks to hybrid technology. However, it seems a prototype ran out of fuel on an early demonstration run. Boris strikes again.
£300,000 each; heatherwick.com
Water-resistant down jackets
These probably won’t be on the market until autumn, but continuing the bus theme: you wait a lifetime for water-resistant down and then two come along at once. But if they work as well as it is being claimed, water-resistant down jackets are going to mark a revolution in outdoor gear for hikers, climbers and skiers.
Real goose or duck down jackets are incredibly toasty but, once they’re wet, it’s suddenly like having a sodden sheep draped over you. The down loses its puff – as do you – as it flattens, soaking up the rain and losing all heat retention.
Now a couple of companies claim to have cracked coating down plumes with some sort of treatment to make them water resistant.
Brooks-Range Mountaineering is launching its DownTek (pictured left) with a “micro-thin nano polymer”. Sierra Designs has its DriDown, also with some super-secret polymer shield. So all good geekish competition there, and all good news for those who feel the chill.
sierradesigns.comand brooks-range.com
Subwing
Anyone who can remember their first stab at waterskiing will be familiar with the sensation of an inelegant tumble and swift drag under water before your tow cuts round to try to get you up again.
So now do that on purpose, but keep being dragged, and you get a sense of the Subwing’s inspiration, which is to have you waterskiing – under water.
The fundamentals are the same: a tow boat pulls you on a rope, but you’re lying flat on the water, holding on (I could say for grim life, but that’s all in the mind) to a set of “wings”. These pivot in the middle and, by tilting them up and down together or in opposite directions, you can zip down through the water, diving, twisting and turning. The longer the rope, the deeper you can go. Of course, you don’t have to do it under water, but they are Subwings. All you need is a pair of goggles. Oh and to keep your mouth firmly closed.
Available in fibreglass or carbon fibre.
From $700; subwing.net