News

A new postage stamp-sized digital tag called a tile promises to help find lost or stolen keys, laptops, handbags or even bicycles. Each tile can be attached to almost any personal possession, costs about £12 and lasts a year before it needs to be recycled and replaced. Using its accompanying app and an Apple device, a tile can be located...

The world waited 90 years for a powered flying bicycle, and this summer three turned up at once. A group of engineers in Czechoslovakia strapped an electric bike to the belly of a quadcopter, a team supported by the ETA launched the folding bicycle-based Paravelo and most recently, and impressively – not least because it’s the only...

Each summer, the number of cyclists on the roads reaches a peak as bikes that spend the rest of the year languishing in sheds get dusted off and most bikes are bought new and used for the first time. Unfortunately, it all makes for rich pickings for cycle thieves. Bike thieves are, for the most part, specialists; they target particular...

With temperatures in the southeast of England this week hotter than Casablanca, Antigua and Nairobi, there has never been a better time for a staycation; the name, first coined in America, for a cheap holiday that involves staying at home, enjoying day trips and eating out. ...

Aerovelo is a remarkable pedal-powered helicopter that has taken to the air to win the Sikorsky Prize, an extremely challenging aviation competition that has been fought over for 33 years. Looking like a Leonardo da Vinci sketch brought to life, on June 13, 2013, the incredible Aerovelo captured the long-standing Sikorsky Prize with a...

Recent increases in subscription fees, the first fatal road collision in its three-year history and revelations about higher-than-expected running costs have meant the London Cycle hire scheme, more commonly referred to as Boris Bikes, has been having a rough time of it lately. To further add to the mayor’s woes, a rival scheme that offers...

There’s a poignancy about removing old dog-eared luggage tags that have accumulated on the handles of suitcases, but according to airlines they are outmoded way of tracking luggage that costs passengers time and should be replaced by reusable electronic tags. British Airways is testing a new electronic luggage tag designed to do away with...

At higher speeds, a skin-suit can add 1 mph to your average speed over the course of a time trial, but get the design right and the all-in-one can make you look fast, even when you’re at a standstill. Inspired by the sci-fi film Tron, the latest cycling skin-suit from Podium costs $150 and claims to offer a better speed advantage than a...

No word on how much protection it offers, but a new design of low-cost, recyclable, bicycle helmet manufactured from waste paper pulp is an imaginative use for the discarded newspapers that litter the London transport network. Under the proposal, the many tons of newspapers, in particular the freebies such as the Standard and Metro, would...

A change to the London congestion charge means that previously-exempt sub-100g/km cars such as the Fiat 500 TwinAir, Smart and Toyota Prius will no longer escape the daily £10 fee. Only fully-electric cars and plug-in electric hybrid models will scrape beneath the new exemption threshold of 75g/km. Cars that will continue to escape the...