Cool unusual flatbed truck ramp lowering innovations

 for a full gallery of this Unimog: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/1966-unimog-flatbed-tow-truck-with.html

Innovator is going to try to revolutionize biking in poor countries, with a recycled cardboard bike

Once ready for production, the bicycle will include no metal parts, even the brake mechanism and the wheel and pedal bearings will be made of recycled substances, although Gafni said he could not yet reveal those details due to pending patent issues.

cardboard and other recycled materials could bring a major change in current production norms because grants and rebates would only be given for local production and there would be no financial benefits by making bicycles in cheap labor markets.

"This is a real game-changer. It changes ... the way products are manufactured and shipped, it causes factories to be built everywhere instead of moving production to cheaper labor markets, everything that we have known in the production world can change," he said.

 Elmish said the cardboard bikes would be made on largely automated production lines and would be supplemented by a workforce comprising pensioners and the disabled.
Elmish said the business model they had created meant that rebates for using "green" materials would entirely cancel out production costs and this could allow for bicycles to be given away for free in poor countries.

 Producers would reap financial rewards from advertisements such as from multinational companies who would pay for their logo to be part of the frame, he explained.

 "Because you get a lot of government grants, it brings down the production costs to zero, so the bicycles can be given away for free. We are copying a business model from the high-tech world where software is distributed free because it includes embedded advertising," Elmish explained.
http://news.yahoo.com/cardboard-bicycle-change-world-says-israeli-inventor-090732689.html

A rare gem, shared by Dep-O Magazine... the NSU Prinz owners manual "tips"

What do you do when you buy any kind of project these days? You get onto eBay. And when I searched for ‘NSU Prinz’, ‘Owners’ Handbook’ popped up. Yes, it might be useful. But more importantly, owning a car is never enough – you have to own loads of related stuff as well (like the enamel mug, two workshop manuals and a selection of keyrings and badges which are now dotted around the office shelves…)

The manual has proved to be an absolute gem. It belongs to a different age completely, one where manufacturers trusted their customers with their own cars. Where modern manuals will tell you how to operate the central locking and where to put the ignition key but will then gently infer that the warranty will be invalid and legal action will swiftly follow even half-hearted attempts to open the bonnet, the Prinz manual just stops short of telling you how to fully disassemble and re-assemble the whole car using just a spoon and a ball of hairy string. And it does it all with a superb sense of humour. It’s actually funny.

Tips From NSU, reproduced here for your enjoyment. Some still make perfect good sense, some would cause many in this Health & Safety obsessed world to choke on their decaf Frappucino. Which is no bad thing. Don’t miss tips No.2, 16, and 18. Strangely, apart from giving me a good chuckle, the manual and the attitude it conveys has made me warm to the car enormously. I like NSU more because of it, it makes me sorry that they’re not still around making their wonderfully over-engineered cars. And as if I needed it, gives me one more reason to get the orange beast back on the road.

 Awesome find! read the entire NSU purchase situation, from which this was excerpted
http://www.dep-o.co.uk/features/in-manual-our-ebay-gem-of-the-month/

Have you heard of the Detroit Maker Faire?

there is a 500 dollar limit to what you can pay for stuff you get a kids toy faster with

"With a limit of $500 spent on modifying a kid’s Power Wheels car – hacker spaces race for the championship in the 2012 Power Racing Series.

The innovative racing series makes engineering entertaining and approachable. The goal of the Power Racing Series is to advance technology education and encourage people to try something new. (And have a good time, too.)"

found on http://www.makerfairedetroit.com/