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A Bike Taillight that Goes Beyond Mere Taillighting (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on from the a-bike-light-that-plays-pong-on-your-back dept.

Meet David. Tim Lord ran into him at the 2014 Maker Faire Bay Area. He didn't have a display, and he wasn't obviously trying to sell anything or promote a Kickstarter campaign. He was just walking around with a panel full of LEDs that he wears as a backpack while riding his bike, which beats the heck out of regular bike taillights, even the blinky flashy ones a lot of us have these days. So good on you, David. This is your three minutes of Slashdot fame -- and please note, people, that you can now fast-forward through any preroll ads longer than 30 seconds, so you won't get bombed with multi-minute ads to watch a three minute Slashdot video. (Alternate video link)

7 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. seems bulky by epyT-R · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seems a bit big and bulky for a bicycle rider, where every ounce counts.

    1. Re:seems bulky by mellon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do people actually ride bicycles long distances with a backpacks on? Haven't y'all heard of panniers?

  2. Drunk drivers by fizzer06 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They are attracted to flashing lights and will home in on this like a June bug to a porch light. Having said that, it looked very well done.

    1. Re:Drunk drivers by NoKaOi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not just drunk drivers. Any driver can be easily distracted. A driver who is distracted from other things going on around them is also very dangerous to you, even if you're the source of their distraction. The goal should be maximum visibility without distraction, not maximum visibility caused by maximum distraction. Pong, smiley faces, and the occasional word? Yeah, that's meant to be distracting.

  3. That's the 1980's tech version. by pecosdave · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You could get an old laptop display, or even a tablet, be it Android or iProduct and beat this thing in every way. But you can't see a tablet well in the sunlight? I think it's obvious from this video you can't see that thing in the daylight either.

    I'm not knocking the guys ability or talents, but he invented the light display AFTER the Jumbotron came out.

    I'm a cyclist, I think things like Monkey lights are incredibly awesome, I think the new inner rim lights are great, but this isn't on point.

    --
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    1. Re:That's the 1980's tech version. by NoKaOi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Okay... but you don't really need lights in the day... you have the sun.

      I disagree. A blinking red taillight that is visible in the daytime does help cars notice you (without distracting them like this thing would). In the daytime there's not so much the issue of not being seen by the driver's eyes, but there is of being noticed by their brain.

  4. Smaller, lighter by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Build it into the flexible backpack, instead of a hard flat panel. Oh wait, now I have to have that particular backpack all the time, instead of something attached to he bike.
    I get it...more lights are not a bad thing. But I'm not going to ride around being a billboard. I just want people to see me and not hit me.