Tech Universe: Wednesday 16 March

The 800 Watt 3-speed Fiik electric skateboard. Photo / Supplied

BIG BAD BOARDS: The 800 Watt 3-speed Fiik electric skateboard has electric anti-lock brakes too. Top speed is around 37 Kph and the range is around 30 Km. It can handle off-road work as well as on-road skating. The boards are made in Australia. That's serious grunt. More at FiikSkateboards and video on YouTube.

LOW COST MOTION: Thwackers is creating a new animated series, Under the HUD. To save time and money though they're using the motion capture capabilities of the Kinect, with open source middleware and wrappers. The voice and motion actors work in their living room, the characters appear in a video game. It's fantastic the way tech keeps making inexpensive things that used to cost thousands. More at Kinect-Hacks and video on YouTube.

THE 9 IS HERE: Web developers get ready: Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 is on the loose. It supports HTML5 and CSS3, includes a speed boost and better privacy support. But will all those people stuck with IE6 actually upgrade? More at WebMonkey.

THE COMPUTER OR THE BOX?: The box the computer came in is usually something you give to the cat or the kid, or just recycle. Asus are taking a new approach: Mini-ITX motherboards will come in a shipping box that also serves as a PC case, with space for extra drives. The cardboard case is intended to last for up to a year to give the owner time to find just the right permanent case. By which time the motherboard will be just a little dated, of course, so it's back to square one. More at ITWorld.

THESE WHEELS ARE MADE FOR CLIMBING: The Quattroped, a rectangular robot from Taiwan University, can transform its wheels into legs. It rolls across flat terrain, yet can clamber over obstacles and up stairs. Each wheel is made from 2 arcs joined into a circle. The 2 arcs can instead split apart and align side by side to create a semicircular 'leg'. The motor also switches from a smooth continuous motion to a periodic 'walking' motion. See it dance too. More at National Instruments and video on YouTube.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz