4Moms stroller is a nifty-enough invention, for those of us who have had to deal with small children and infants. It collapses into a small, easily packed bundle for storage.
I find myself wondering if it has some sort of "baby sensor" to make sure you haven't left Junior in the stroller...
Update 08-Oct-2008: I'm told that the brochure informs parents that the stroller does indeed have a baby sensor; it reads "Sensors can tell when a child is in the seat, which disables the folding mechanism." Good news for parents! Not to mention Junior. End update.
(4Moms robot stroller video)
It turns out that this device is also able to parasitize power from the wheels as you perambulate with your tot.
I'm going to blow my science fiction fan readership away by asking whether or not this collapsible device might better be made of fanmetal, as described by Frank Herbert. Behold the Padishah Emperor's Sardaukar stroller:
Will you look at that thing!" Stilgar whispered.
The tall eastern face of the ship glistened in the flat light of the sun, but the shadow side still showed yellow portholes from glowglobes of the night...
It wasn't the lighter that excited Stilgar's awe, Paul knew, but the construction for which the lighter was only the centerpost. A single metal hutment, many stories tall, reached out in a thousand-meter circle from the base of the lighter -- a tent composed of interlocking metal leaves -- the temporary lodging place for five legions of Sardaukar and His Imperial Majesty, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV...
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.' RH Romans, 1929.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
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Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'