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DIY prosthesis all the rage in Tasmania
When the doctors told amputee Mark Lesek that the severity of his injury made him ineligible for a prosthesis, he refused to give up. Left with nothing but his own welding and engineering business, several hundred thousands of dollars, and an indomitable spirit, the Tasmanian gentleman began the quest for an artificial arm. First, he shopped around until he found a doctor who agreed to order an $80,000 prosthesis from Germany -- which eventually broke down (but not before he shelled out $6,000 for repairs on the thing). His next stop was the Branemark Osseointegration Centre in Sweden, where he was fitted with an $80,000 bolt that works as a sort of "artificial shoulder." Still unable to find a suitable arm, the guy teamed up with one of his employees to design and build his own lightweight magnesium "body powered" prosthesis. But that's not all -- he's also working with the University of Tasmania to develop a more agile computer-controlled arm, controlled with "a cap with electrodes which will be interfaced into the computer." Let's hope that all his hard work pays off -- and that he teaches those doctors a thing or two in the process.[Via Switched]
Helio's Ocean 2 spotted in all black attire
While the Americanized version of Helio's Ocean 2 has gobs of red accents (thanks, Virgin Mobile!), many have wondered if an all black version would hit the scenes as well. Clearly, that answer is... well, maybe. A South Korean Helio page shows two variants of the newest Ocean, with one devoid of all those fiery accents. Obviously, we've no way to tell if this thing is ever coming to US soil, but this just might be the excuse you needed to hit up Seoul for an extended weekend.[Via MobileCrunch]
BlackBerry Curve 8900 coming to AT&T this month, Pearl Flip in March?
We've had sightings of BlackBerry's Curve 8900 running on AT&T before, and now comes word from a Boy Genius Report tipster that the pairing will be made official this month and the handset's SKU is already popping up in the carrier's systems. Additionally, the Pearl Flip 8210 is rumored to be making its debut on the network sometime in March. BGR expects the prices to be somewhere around $200 and $100, respectively. We can't say we'll be surprised if the Curve finds its way to AT&T, but we're excited at the thought of finally having a carrier-independent matchup between it and the Bold.
Water-powered Jetlev makes jetpacks fun for non-daredevils
We first caught sight of this bit of technology in patent form way back in 2007 but, in a bit of a twist, it's now actually come to fruition, and could well soon be hurling you across a lake near you. As you can imagine, the jetpack works as described in the patent, with it employing a flexible hose / tether that gets paired with a separate vessel that houses the propulsion engine and other related systems. That apparently greatly improves the thrust to weight ratio compared to a standalone jetpack, and makes the system a good deal safer as a bonus. While it's still undergoing tests, the company says it'll be accepting orders for the first model, a 155 HP version, in April of this year, and it says that the first venues offering "flights" could be up and running as soon as this summer. Until then, you'll just have to make do with the video after the break.[Thanks, JC]
