Filed under: Storage

Kingston unveils 64GB DataTraveler 150 for $177 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

By Luke Anderson

I’ve been lucky enough to never have been in a car wreck that left me unable to easily exit the vehicle. Unfortunately such situations do occur, and you really need to be prepared. You might think that taking off your seatbelt or breaking out a window wouldn’t be too difficult, however, seat belts can get jammed, and that glass doesn’t break as easily as you think. Enter the Houdini Automotive Escape Tool.

This is certainly a tool that you always want to have, but never want to have to use. The Houdini features a protected blade for cutting away a seat belt and a spring-loaded glass punch. The glass punch does not actually take much effort to operate, simply hold it up to the glass, and it will take care of the rest. I’d recommend using your free arm to protect your face and neck. You’ll also find an LED light, whistle and key ring. Sure, it might not be the coolest keychain out there, but it could end up saving your life. The Houdini will only set you back $25, while a larger Pro model (aimed at rescue workers) sells for $40.

[ HoudiniTool ] VIA [ CoolestGadgets ]

It’s super compact, you will fit on your keyring. Not enough? The pro version has still more features and was designed for rescue workers, firefighters, and the like. You never know when you might get trapped in a car after all.

[Uberreview]

It’s super compact, you will fit on your keyring. Not enough? The pro version has still more features and was designed for rescue workers, firefighters, and the like. You never know when you might get trapped in a car after all.

[Uberreview]

The Velcro strap ensures that even the thickest of wrists can get the benefits of this little gadget. You can even get a longer add-on strap in case you want to use it on other parts of your body—neck, back, legs... heck, you can even warm your coffee mug! Available on Thanko's site for roughly $21. [Thanko]

If you ever found yourself in the dire situation where you're trapped in a car that somehow ended up in a freezing river at this time of the year, then the Houdini Tools will definitely come in handy. Don't go do something silly like leaving it in the trunk though - keep it accessible from the driver's seat at all times so that you're able to bust open the car window and cut away your seat belt to save your own life. You can choose from the Houdini Automotive Escape Tool and the Houdini Pro Emergency Rescue Tool, where the former comes with a safety whistle and LED light while the latter can even break through tempered glass. The Houdini Automotive Escape Tool will retail for $24.95 while the Houdini Pro Emergency Rescue Tool is more expensive at $39.95, but that's a small price to pay considering how it could save lives in an emergency.

Add a comment | From: Houdini Tools Help You Escape | Visit Ubergizmo | Good deals

The Houdini features a safety whistle, LED light, spring loaded glass punch and a seatbelt cutter, and is compact enough to fit on a keyring. Not enough? The pro version is even more useful, and it's designed for rescue workers, firefighters, and the obsessively paranoid. If that isn't enough, maybe you should just stop driving.

Houdini Tool, via Uberreview

The Houdini Automotive Escape Tool and the Houdini Pro Emergency Rescue Tool will cost $24.95 and $39.95, respectively. [Houdini Tool via Gear Diary]

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Inrix is on fire, and provided the world with a little status update and a little bragging in their recent press release. Read it and you'll see that they might just have pretty good right to brag a bit. I liked the "we saved Alabama's traffic alert program" paragraph where the previous traffic provider couldn't deliver accurate data. In steps Inrix, the data is flowing, and boards are lit up 2 weeks later.

Inrix has a lot of their data coming from GPS probe data - cars and trucks in a fleet (think delivery trucks, tractor trailers, etc) that report back traffic patterns. They like this model, and combine the data with road sensor data, crunch it in a model and feed it out to traffic providers like Depts of transportation, TMC traffic services on your GPS, and websites that offer traffic. Read the press release; they are laying the case out against using cell phone sniffing technologies that they have not fully adopted due to accuracy concerns. Interesting stuff if you are a traffic geek (like me).

Full Press Release follows after the jump......

NEW YORK CITY, NY. - November 17, 2008 - INRIX®, the leading provider of traffic information, announced today at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transportation Systems, a significant expansion in the way its real-time traffic data is utilized in the government sector. In addition to the over 3 million consumers using INRIX traffic on mobile and in-car navigation devices, the company now provides traffic information to departments of transportation and other agencies in 11 states, covering over 5000 centerline miles of road and making the company the leading traffic information provider in the government sector. INRIX's unique traffic data is also being used by leading transportation research firms for studies important to understanding America's traffic issues and offering potential solutions.

INRIX today uniquely aggregates and blends real-time traffic information from over 350 sources, including nearly one million GPS-enabled probe vehicles and traditional road sensor information. The company provides real-time traffic on over 55,000 miles of roadways in the U.S. to over 65 customers. INRIX delivers speed information and travel times to its public sector customers for use across statewide 511 systems, dynamic message signs, incident management systems, Internet-based traveler information services, congestion performance measures and other planning and operations applications.

Recent milestones include:

* Launching initial road coverage for the I-95 Vehicle Probe Project - the nation's largest private traffic data contract - on schedule and as specified for the I-95 Corridor Coalition and its member agencies
* Expanding the I-95 project to include all limited access roads in New Jersey and the entire North Carolina interstate system

* Distributing traffic data to Alabama DOT for use on dynamic message signs throughout Birmingham

* Providing travel time data to South Carolina DOT for use on dynamic message signs in and around Columbia, in the first phase of a full state system
* Initiating the operational phase of a Florida DOT pilot project in the Tallahassee region and I-10 throughout the Panhandle
* Being selected by U.S. Department of Transportation as part of a $6.4 million SafeTrip-21 initiative with the I-95 Corridor Coalition, announced separately today, that will implement and evaluate several new applications of INRIX data, including a region-wide public Web site.

Through its involvement in the groundbreaking, multimillion dollar contract with the I-95 Corridor Coalition, INRIX now provides real-time traffic information to agencies on more than 3,700 centerline miles of freeways and arterials in the corridor. INRIX traffic data for the coalition went live in July, 2008 initiating the most comprehensive and public evaluation of privately sourced traffic data to date. INRIX Vice President of Public Sector Rick Schuman will speak on this topic, along with leaders from the Coalition and US DOT, in the "Filling the Data Gap - Probe and Floating Car Data Applications" session #AM34 at the 15th World Congress on November 19th at 1:30-3:00 p.m.

As these achievements illustrate, INRIX's innovative approach to aggregating and distributing traffic information is leading to a revolution in the use of traffic flow data by transportation agencies. Regional departments of transportation suddenly have access to rich and reliable traffic information on all major roads and are able to quickly and cost-effectively deploy compelling applications to the public without the need to install and maintain expensive roadside infrastructure. INRIX real-time traffic information is available to government agencies under contract in 11 states including Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin.

"At the beginning of 2008, we were under contract to provide traffic data in one state," said INRIX president and CEO Bryan Mistele. "We have invested - without government subsidies or earmarks - to offer accurate traffic data on all major roads in America and now provide data under contract in 11 states. We continue to expand our services to support use by government agencies and look forward to further growth both within the I-95 Corridor Coalition and across the country as agencies collaborate with INRIX to provide innovative traffic solutions to help drivers and officials make better decisions."

The US DOT separately announced today a $6.4 million partnership with the I-95 Corridor Coalition to participate in a new SafeTrip-21 initiative. Through this partnership, INRIX will create a Coalition-branded multi-state Web site based upon its real-time traffic data. Under sub-contract to INRIX, PBS&J, a nationally recognized architecture-engineering-construction services and program management consulting firm, will lead the effort to bring these projects operational in spring 2009. SafeTrip-21 was created by US DOT to test various ITS technology applications designed to reduce gridlock and traffic-related fatalities and injuries on America's roadways, and improve public transportation services.

"It was a natural fit to expand the I-95 Corridor Coalition Vehicle Probe Project through the new SafeTrip-21 initiative and create innovative corridor-wide applications leveraging the data we are already getting," said George Schoener, Executive Director, I-95 Corridor Coalition. "The award by US DOT supports the public-private partnership that the Coalition has entered into with INRIX to deliver and use robust traffic data corridor-wide."

The Alabama DOT hired INRIX to solve an immediate problem - ALDOT had dynamic message signs throughout the region that were blank due to another company's inability to supply accurate data, which it was attempting to gather using cell phone based technology. In less than two weeks, INRIX populated the signs with its real-time traffic information, and now INRIX data is used to post travel times on dynamic message signs on more than 125 centerline miles of roads in Birmingham. Long-term goals of the project include expansion to the entire Birmingham Metro Area and to assist emergency responders in better navigating highway incidents, storm damage, hurricane evacuation, rescue operations, and many other types of emergencies.

"We are pleased to provide this value-added service for travelers in the Birmingham area," said ALDOT Director Joe McInnes. "We have made this a priority and have been committed to enhancing our capabilities to provide beneficial information to the public and to maximize the taxpayers' investment in our overhead message boards in Jefferson and Shelby counties. This new service provides a more cohesive system to help us manage traffic and we are working to achieve further enhancements."

INRIX also provides real-time traffic information throughout the Tallahassee region in Florida for a pilot project in which the Florida DOT intends to compare the quality of INRIX GPS-probe vehicle derived data against cellular network data. Similar to what transpired in Alabama, INRIX delivered high quality data while data from another company attempting to use cellular network data continues to be "unavailable."

In addition to its vast expansion in the public sector with real-time traffic information, INRIX was also selected by two leading data analysis companies - the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and Cambridge Systematics - to provide historical data for transportation research projects. TTI is currently using INRIX data on several arterial corridors to assess the potential for using historical probe data for arterial performance measurement. Cambridge Systematics licensed INRIX historical data on several arterial and intercity corridors throughout the country to monitor performance of specific corridors. This information will help measure the effectiveness of various traffic mitigation problems in the corridors under examination.