inflation

As they say in "Game of Thrones," winter is coming. You could settle for a regular jacket, or you could get a jacket with adjustable insulation that can adapt to the weather on the fly.

Air chambers on the Klymit Ulaar Jacket can be inflated or deflated to change the amount of insulation. If it's colder, pump it up. If you're out hiking and working up a sweat, let some air out. An air pump tucks away into the left pocket, and you can control both the deflation and inflation from there.

The idea is that the air chambers capture your body heat and keep it in circulation around you. The jacket's also windproof and maintains its thermal abilities when wet.… Read more

I always thought an original-style "Star Trek" captain's chair would be my personal holy grail of memorabilia. Unfortunately, a really great replica costs $1,000.

Now there's an option that will only cost me $25 and a bit of lung power. The "Star Trek" Inflatable Captain's Chair from ThinkGeek arrived along with a slew of April Fools' products like the "Star Wars" Admiral Akbar Singing Bass and Electronic Hungry Hungry Hippos for iPad.

The inflatable chair, however, is very real. Before you get too excited, though, let's look at the fine print.

The chair is only rated to hold up to 120 pounds. That makes it suitable for child Star Fleet recruits, slim adults, or Captain James T. Bark, your 6-pound chihuahua. William Shatner and the majority of Trekkies are out of luck.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Kids can be rough on electronics, and yet they can't keep their hands off of them. Even the roughest toddler will have a hard time busting up your iPad once it's strapped into CTA Digital's Inflatable Cube.

This product should win a prize for accurate product naming. It's simply an inflatable cube with a built-in case on one side for your iPad or Kindle Fire.

Your tender tablet is recessed into the cube, so your enthusiastic little angel will have to work extra hard to damage it.

Granted, you'll have to be a little … Read more

The one good thing about inflatable robots is that all you need to disable them is a sharp object. Just remember that if they try to enslave us.

This is Ant-Roach, a pneumatic robot that weighs about 70 pounds and can carry loads that are much heavier. It was designed by San Francisco-based Otherlab "to demonstrate the carrying capacity and high strength-to-weight ratios possible with inflatable structures."

In several videos, Ant-Roach is seen carrying kids on its back while it moves its six legs back and forth in a very slow walk. Watch it stumbling around in the sped-up videos here.

The beast has textile actuators that contract when inflated with compressed air. A microcontroller runs the muscle network, and is controlled wirelessly via laptop. … Read more

ASPEN, Colo.--One of the Internet's most influential investors and entrepreneurs is offering a dire prediction: the pace of technological change is stagnating.

Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, warned that--despite spectacular advances in computer-related fields over the last few decades--technological progress overall is actually "stalled out."

"There's been insane progress in computers, Internet, and all things related to it," Thiel told a conference here organized by the Technology Policy Institute last night. "It's been offset by incredible failure in energy. To a first order, the two … Read more

You can forgive gold investors for feeling a little smug.

While stock market fans are bemoaning a lost decade--the S&P 500 index remains below where it was in 2000--gold prices have quintupled since then.

Fortunately for British gold bugs, it's now easier than ever to purchase the world's most enduring currency: the country's first gold vending machine opened today in a shopping center in London. It accepts cash and credit cards.

The company, Gold to Go, already operates ATMs in Germany, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, and (of course) the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas.

With the federal government running up something like $212,500 in debt per household, a total that's growing by around $1,148 per month, the logical course is for an Uncle Sam untethered to the gold standard to pay off his debts by running the printing presses. If that happens, it's a fair bet the price of gold denominated in dollars will go only up. Time to stop by your nearest ATM? … Read more

Ford will make its new inflatable seat belt an option on the Flex and Lincoln vehicles starting next summer.

The high-tech pretensioner contains an airbag that deploys in the event of an accident and expands to cover five times more of the occupant's torso than a traditional belt. By diffusing crash pressure over a larger area, the new belt helps reduce the risk of injury to backseat passengers.

"This advanced restraint system is designed to help reduce head, neck, and chest injuries for rear-seat passengers, often children, and older passengers who can be more vulnerable to such injuries," said Sue Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. … Read more

If you want to shoot in a photo studio, chances are you have to rent one. But what if you already have all the lighting equipment and just need a space? This is where the I.P.S., or Inflatable Photo Studio, comes in.

Made of plastic that's half an inch thick to block out sunlight, this contraption can be set up almost anywhere to convert the area into a photo studio. The I.P.S. is available in two sizes, and there are ventilation holes so you can attach a fan to increase air circulation inside the booth. … Read more

Instead of automatically sending your junk mail to the trash bin, send it over to the burrito artists at Chipotle. The casual food chain is now accepting your spam at nojunk@chipotlejunk.com and will donate $10,000 to The Lunch Box for every 500,000 junk mails it receives.

The campaign is an effort to bring higher-quality, healthier food with sustainable ingredients to school kids, but not to worry: Said food does not include Chipotle burritos, which contain 1,179 calories, according to Livestrong.com. Unfortunately, the call to action does not include sending Chipotle the other kind of SPAM.… Read more