cycles

Excellent woman's calendar

There are a lot of different ways to track fertility, menstruation, and the like, but with Advanced Woman Calendar, users may have found the simplest method. Users may never have to wonder about important times in their cycle again.

The program has a simple interface that always helps you stay informed. Initially, its four-month view looks like any organizational software. To the right are the color keys and various radio buttons with options for planning conception, avoiding pregnancy, or even information for conceiving a boy or girl. Below this is a read-out of how long you have until your period … Read more

Cordarounds keep bikers in bright sight on light nights

Cycling commuters are forced to deal with a million obstacles on the ride to and from work. In urban areas, cars remain our biggest foe, largely because people don't make the effort to look out for our blinking lights. Plenty of companies offer cycling-specific clothing, but they're terribly unflattering in all the wrong places.

But check this out: Cordarounds has developed these Bike to Work Pants. The inside of the pockets and pant cuffs are actually made from a material that reflects lights, thus increasing a cyclist's visibility and safety.

In "daytime mode," the pants … Read more

Podio music player adds a soundtrack to your bike ride

Listening to headphones while riding a bike is obviously dangerous, and yet I see so many fellow cyclists mashing around with wires dangling from their ears. Why? Well, that's easy: because everyone loves riding to a soundtrack.

Unfortunately, there are too many important road noises (honks, sirens, etc...) that deserve attention, so music has to take a back seat...that is, unless you have the Podio, a digital audio player with a built-in speaker specifically designed for jamming in the bike lane.

The portable Podio includes a special bracket that easily mounts onto a set of handlebars. You can … Read more

New efficient engine prototype revealed

Hybrid engines aren't the only way to improve fuel efficiency. Scuderi Group unveiled a cutaway of its Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine prototype at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 2009 World Congress in Detroit. The new design is the first major change in engine dynamics since its creation 130 years ago, says Bill Wren, representative for the family-run start-up.

Most conventional internal combustion engines operate using the Otto Cycle. The Otto Cycle uses four strokes of a piston--intake, compression, power, and exhaust--that fire in quick succession using two revolutions of the crank shaft to complete the cycle. This process is only 30 percent efficient, which means you get only 30 percent the energy contained in a gallon of gasoline.

In the Scuderi Split-Cycle Engine, the four strokes are divided over two paired cylinders--one intake/compression cylinder and one power/exhaust cylinder. On a conventional engine, the combustion occurs as the piston is going up. But in the Split-Cycle engine, the piston pair fires after top-dead center, and combustion occurs as the pistons comes down, producing more efficient, cleaner combustion with one cylinder pair and compressed air in the other. … Read more

Easily track monthly cycles

Generations of women have attempted confusing calculations and tools to predict their cycle and fertility details. Fortunately, Femta Ovulation Calendar provides one of the easiest ways to track this information so every woman can get an accurate picture.

This program looks like a normal desktop calendar when first viewed. However, a simple trip through the setup wizard will quickly get users on their way. Simply input the date of your last period and the program does all of the calculating. Your ovulation days are marked specifically on every month, providing a clear picture of your cycle. In addition, the calendar … Read more

GlideCycle: Smoother exercise for amputees

A cool new contraption called the GlideCycle is putting a novel spin on outdoor exercise for amputees and others with mobility limitations. Users sit in a patented sling-type seat that essentially lifts them into a smooth-arch suspension, letting them power forward on one or two legs with virtually no impact to injured limbs and joints.

Ashland, Ore., resident and runner David Vidmar conceived of the two-wheel mobility device following a knee injury. He and others with sports injuries can rehabilitate by favoring the uninjured limb and adding more weight as the healing advances.

But most striking are the GlideCycle's applications for people with disabilities. The Web site includes testimonials from people with conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, who report that the GlideCycle has given them the freedom to get outside independently and run for miles. … Read more

Make them hit the walls

LightBike Free is a limited, one-player version of LightBike, a racing game in which you compete in vehicles similar to the light cycles in the classic movie Tron. You steer by tapping the left or right side of your touchscreen, as you build walls to try to box in the three competitor bikes--while trying to avoid their attempts to trap you before the 40-second clock runs out. You navigate with both a behind-the-bike, third-person view and an inset overhead view, and you can tap the center of the screen for a temporary speed boost. You can choose one-, three-, or … Read more

The 404 263: Where Comic Sans is a poor excuse for a font

Comic Sans really is a terrible look for a font. It might've been cool to write an essay about Christopher Columbus in it in third grade, but now it makes you seem uneducated. Do like Obama and stick with Helvetica or Georgia. Anyway, on today's show we tackle the hard issues and correct a few mistakes, like coming down too hard on Obama for screwing up the Presidential Oath. Also, a rather large helping of Calls from the Public calling Wilson out on his b.s.--no surprise there! (Wilson's note: Just because Jeff and Justin don'… Read more

The 404 259: Where we're keeping it on the DL

The 404 is happy to welcome the host of the On The DL Podcast, Dan Levy, to today's show. We spend the first half complaining about our deadbeat friends and the strains of running a wildly successful show, then move onto a few stories about Hitler youth, Spider-Man's special guest, the First Family's privacy, and the FCC's overreaction to Darren Aronofsky at this year's Golden Globes.

It's not every day that we welcome a fellow podcaster to guest-host the show, but we're more than happy to share the mic with Dan Levy, the … Read more

Adobe takes LiveCycle tools to Amazon's cloud

This was originally published at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Adobe Systems said Monday that it will make its LiveCycle ES Developer Express software available on Amazon Web Services.

With the move, Adobe is using Amazon's EC2 and S3 service to create a development environment for enterprise developers to develop and test using LiveCycle without installing it. The goal appears to be to give enterprise developers a sandbox in which to play with LiveCycle. Think try before you buy.

LiveCycle combines data capture, information assurance, process management, and content services to create rich applications.

As for Amazon Web Services, … Read more