Spooklight Gives Your Bike Wireless Brake Light, Turns Signals

Being that most of us here at Switched are based in New York City, and that we’re all poorly paid bloggers, it should come as no surprise that we often rely on pedal power to get around. Considering that, it goes without saying that we enjoy combining our love of gadgets with our two-wheeled transport.

So we’re jazzed about the Spooklight, a bicycle taillight that, at least on paper, sounds well worth its slightly absurd £55 ($88) asking price. First off, it has blinkers — no more raising your arms to signal that you’re turning, only to have motorists ignore you anyway. Even better, the blinkers are controlled by a wireless, touch-sensitive panel you can attach to your handlebars — no more wires to get in your way or unresponsive buttons to mash. The Spooklight even steals a little mojo from the world of smartphones with an accelerometer that can detect when your momentum slows and accordingly activate a brake light.

We’d be pretty impressed if it stopped there, but wait! There’s more… unlike most other bicycle lights, the Spooklight is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-Ion pack (instead of disposable alkalines). Plus, instead of relying on a bulky AC adapter, it can plug right into your computer’s USB port to charge. Even more amazingly (if you don’t mind shaving time off its supposed 60-hour battery life), you can plug the Spooklight into your gadgets (an iPhone, for instance) to keep them charged.

The package is pretty neat, but there are two problems. First, we’re not willing to pay almost $90 for a bike light. Also, we can’t help but think that drivers and other cyclists aren’t accustomed to looking for blinkers or brake lights on a bike. If those suspicions are right, the Spooklight wouldn’t actually make us any safer, and make us more like those annoying four-wheeled atrocities that hog the road (We mean cars, by the way). [From: Wired and 50cycles]

Maldives cabinet makes a splash

The Maldives government has made an eye-catching plea for climate change action by holding the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting.

Politicians from the Indian Ocean island nation donned scuba gear this morning to send a message to world leaders ahead of December’s UN climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The nation’s president Mohammed Nasheed has voiced fears the archipelago will be swamped by raising sea levels unless action is taken to reduce carbon emissions.

The Maldivian cabinet held a meeting underwater to highlight the need for action on climate change

Big fish: President Mohammed Nasheed arriving at the meeting

The 30-minute cabinet meeting held six metres below sea-level was intended to show what the future could hold for the Maldives.

The 350,000 inhabitants of the country live on 1,192 coral islands an average of only 2.1 metres above the ocean.

Ministers communicated using hand signals and white boards as they signed a document calling on all countries to cut their emissions.

It read: ‘We must unite in a world war effort to halt further temperature rises. Climate change is happening and it threatens the rights and security of everyone on Earth.

‘We have to have a better deal. We should be able to come out with an amicable understanding that everyone survives. If Maldives can’t be saved today, we do not feel that there is much of a chance for the rest of the world.’

President Nasheed was already a certified diver but most of the cabinet have had to take diving lessons in recent weeks in preparation for the meeting.

Zoona Naseem, president of Divers Association Maldives, said: ‘None of the ministers have ever been diving before, except the defense minister, and all of them are very enthusiastic.’

Nasheed has already announced plans for a fund to buy a new homeland for his people if the 1,192 coral islands are submerged. He has promised to make the Maldives the world’s first carbon-neutral nation within a decade.

As he emerged after the meeting, he said: ‘We are trying to send our message to let the world know what is happening and what will happen to the Maldives if climate change isn’t checked.’

Maldivian president Mohammed Nasheed and his ministers signed a document calling on all countries to cut their carbon dioxide emissions

If the Maldives cannot be saved today we do not feel that there is much of a chance for the rest of the world President Mohamed Nasheed

President Nasheed was already a certified diver but most of the cabinet have had to take diving lessons in recent weeks in preparation for the meeting.

Zoona Naseem, president of Divers Association Maldives, said: ‘None of the ministers have ever been diving before, except the defense minister, and all of them are very enthusiastic.’

Nasheed has already announced plans for a fund to buy a new homeland for his people if the 1,192 coral islands are submerged. He has promised to make the Maldives the world’s first carbon-neutral nation within a decade.

As he emerged after the meeting, he said: ‘We are trying to send our message to let the world know what is happening and what will happen to the Maldives if climate change isn’t checked.’

At the UN Copenhagen conference countries will negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which controlled carbon emissions.

Wealthy nations want broad emissions cuts from all countries, while poorer ones say industrialized countries should carry most of the burden.

On Friday the Maldives ministers went diving for rehearsals of the meeting off the island of Girifushi, about 20 minutes by speedboat from the capital, Male.

Three of the 14 in the cabinet had to miss the underwater meeting because two were not given medical permission and another was abroad.