Very few children walk or bike to school today. But this wasn't always the case. In 1969, according to the National Household Travel Survey, approximately 50 percent of children in the U.S. got to school by walking or bicycling. By 2001, only about 15 percent of students traveled to school by walking or bicycling. As a result, kids today are less active and less independent. Over the past 40 years, rates of obesity have soared among children of all ages in the United States, and approximately 25 million children and adolescents are now either overweight or obese.

The increasing trend of driving kids to school also has other serious implications for health and safety. As much as 20 to 30 percent of morning traffic can be generated by parents driving their children to schools, and in the United States, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 3 to 14.
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Studies have shown that physical activity during youth plays a critical role in the development of strong bones, cardiovascular health and overall physical development. But today, sedentary lifestyles for both children and adults are, unfortunately, the cultural norm. In fact, on average, the majority of U.S. children now spend more time each day watching television and playing video games than they do in school.

If you want to wake up the neighbors and bother everyone with your music while you ride your bike, the cy.fi wireless iPod dock is the bike speaker for you. And as a special bonus, it looks like an orangutan's ass! Working with the old-school iPod nano (and probably working with any iPod with a dock connector), it's a wireless speaker, and no, it's not using Bluetooth. It's using the Kleer Audio transmission that claims to be 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth.

The Cy.Fi speaker is about the size of a deck of cards and mounts on your handlebars. It spreads its stereo sound to let to the left and right, and makes it so you don't have to wear earphones that might obscure important noises of impending danger. Get more speakers, and one iPod can broadcast its signal to everyone in your riding group.

The company says the Cy.Fi's transmission is 100% lossless, sent from your iPod tucked safely away in your pocket. You can also control volume and skip tracks right from the speaker. Available sometime in 2008, it'll cost you $149.

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