Custom Spectacles takes snaps under the sea

Spectacles have made sharing marginally exciting videos on land via Snapchat easier. It also helps that you no longer need to hunt down a vending machine to snag a pair in the US. But a partnership between the social network and Royal Caribbean cruis...

MiniDive Pro Scuba Tank Offers Casual Divers A Compromise Of Sorts

If you want to explore the world beneath the surface of the water, your options are relatively limited. You either stay on the surface and snorkel around, maybe diving a little deeper for 30 seconds at a time while holding your breath. Or you have to get a full scuba gear, get some lessons, and go through an entire production in order to be able to leisurely explore deeper areas. But with the MiniDive Scuba Tank you can go up to 10 minutes underwater, to a depth of up to 3 meters while breathing normally. That’s deep enough to explore some coral reefs and take a closer look at some marine wildlife that would be just a bit too far for the casual snorkeler. The nice thing about the tank is that you can refill it yourself in 15 minutes with a special high pressure hand pump (like a bike pump). It’s been tested with all kinds of mandatory scuba diving standards and technically could go deeper than 3 meters, but since it’s marketed at non-divers, that’s the max depth you can go safely. It weighs all of 2.2kgs (4.8lbs), and comes with a special harness so you can have both your hands free as you dive. It’s $709 for the entire kit, including the high pressure hand pump.

[ Product page ] VIA [ ThisIsWhyImBroke ]

ZTE wants your help bringing crowdsourced ideas to life

When ZTE launched its Project CSX challenge to crowdsource ideas for a mobile device, it was hard not to wonder which of those grandiose visions would make the cut. Well, now we know: ZTE has unveiled the three ideas that made it to phase two of the...

Fancy An $825,000 High-Tech Diving Suit?

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Sometimes the stuff you find on the ole Hammacher Schlemmer website kind of leaves you scratching you head. I mean, is there really a market for the $825,000 Exosuit, or as the company refers to it, the “Self Propelled Aquanaut’s Suit”? And if you’re going to be spending the better part of a million dollars on a diving suit, are you really going to buy it on a whim off a website?

What it does sounds pretty neat, though.

This is the self-propelled diving suit that maintains sea level air pressure while enabling descents to 1,000′ below the water’s surface. Only available from Hammacher Schlemmer, the suit provides access to coral reefs, shipwrecks, and the sea floor via 24 sealed and integrated A536 aluminium alloy rotary joints that impart mobility to the wearer’s arms and legs. Four 1.6-horsepower thrusters integrated into the suit provide vertical, horizontal, and rotational movement, two 150-watt LED lights combine to illuminate underwater subjects with 19,200 lumens, and an integrated Imagenex sonar maintains situational awareness. An intercom system provides surface communication on hard wire with a wireless through-water backup, while its 50-hour life support systems (2x oxygen and 1x carbon dioxide scrubber) ensure safety. A 1,250′ umbilical connects the suit with one’s preferred topside support crew and power source, enabling remote control of thrusters, lights, and real-time monitoring of cabin pressure and oxygen, freeing a diver to observe underwater features and aquatic life using the built-in, shoulder-mounted high-definition video camera. Comprehensive training available

We suppose this is for the bored multi-millionaire looking for adventure, but to be honest, we don’t know how many of these read OhGizmo!, other than Jeff Bezos back in 2008!

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[ Product Page ] VIA [ TheGreenHead ]

STEPDive Is A Snorkel That Turns Into A Kind Of SCUBA Device

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The difference between snorkelling and SCUBA diving is like night and day. Snorkelling can be done by inexperienced tourists on an island hopping trip, by clumsy grandmas looking for adventure, and even by young kids. SCUBA diving on the other hand requires heavy equipment, some formal training, and some degree of physical ability. The STEPDive system hopes to provide its users a taste of real diving, with the ease of snorkelling. The system is simple: it’s a snorkel attached to a 5 meter long hose, whose open end stays on the surface thanks to a floating buoy. 5 meters is a decent depth to explore and opens a ton of possibilities not normally available to casual snorkelers, without subjecting them to the rigours of learning SCUBA. The issue? Well… it’s kind of expensive, costing an eye-watering €430 ($457USD) super early bird pricing, and going up to €613 ($678USD) Early Bird and €700 ($774USD) (!) regular retail price. And the campaign funding its production is far from having reached its goal. Despite that, we think it’s a great product and we’re kind of hoping some enthusiasts will jump in.

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[ Project Page ]

The Sweet Spot Between Snorkel and Scuba

Even if you’ve mastered the “duck dive”, that average snorkel’s major limitation is that you can’t stay deep for very long to experience what’s underwater. Until now! STEPDive is a revolutionary design that allows users to stay many feet under the water as long as they’d like without coming up for air. The system uses a floating buoy in which hoses attached to the snorkel are tethered. Divers using STEPDive can go as deep as the hose allows and stay there to explore! Better yet, multiple users can tether to the buoy so you and friends or loved ones can experience underwater together. Intuitive to use and even easier to tote around, it’s a great first step toward true scuba diving!

Designer: SnorkelDive Innovations

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