Who says that wind turbines have to be thirty feet tall and extremely expensive? Last year Google hosted a wind turbine design contest and the winner was Clarian’s Jellyfish.
The Jellyfish is a 36 inch vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) that can be plugged in directly into your electrical sockets and can generate roughly 40kWh a month on a moderately windy day. There is no fancy setup necessary and with only one moving part, maintaining the turbine is easy enough for regular home owners. It is also comes equipped with WiFi and WiMax in order to create a point-to-grid system.
The power that these small turbines generate is not much (40kWh a month can power a room that contains CFL bulbs), but harnessed collectively and tied interactively with the local utility grid there can be significant environmental and system reliability benefits. Chad Maglaque, the creative genius behind Jellyfish, states that these turbines are the PC of renewable energy stating “We could have 10,000 of these sitting in a city, networked—it’s like a virtual utility…”
South Korean scientists have introduced the new MetalCell, a battery that is modeled after a design created 2,000 years ago in Baghdad, now called Baghdad Batteries. The original design used terracotta jars, copper cylinders and an iron rod. When an acidic solution was added it could have generated low-level voltage.
The MetalCell is a unlike other rechargeable batteries in that it is: 1. refuelable 2. takes seconds to recharge. According to a S.E.G. Inc. report, The battery contains either magnesium or aluminum plates. Addition of salt water, creates a chemical reaction and generates electricity. Adding extra salt water will recharge the battery until the magnesium dissipates. The battery can charge anything from flashlights to night vision goggles to laptops. While saltwater creates the preferred chemical reaction, addition of urine can also help charge and power the cells.
The idea of creating wireless electricity was actually around in 1890 and was invented by Nikola Tesla. The basic idea consisted of an electromagnetic induction that states that electric current flowing through one wire can induce current flow in another wire. Tesla’s idea, however, did not work.
Now a team at MIT, headed by Marin Soljacic has found a way to make wireless electricity, AKA WiTricity, a reality. Much like Tesla’s original idea, Soljacic created a pad that contains a powered coil that creates a magnetic field. In turn this magnetic field induces a current to flow through a secondary coil (any portable device like a phone or BlackBerry). This electricity then charges the device’s rechargeable battery. Everything is done wirelessly and in some cases a battery may not even be necessary!
South Korea has combined their serious technological skills with environmentalism. While magnetic levitation trains are nothing new, the on-line electric vehicle (OLEV), is the first of its kind.
The OLEV is an answer to the problem of recharging electric vehicles. While the technology is currently in testing phase at the Seoul amusement park, widespread application is not far off. The city government of Seoul and KAIST signed a Memorandum of Understating (MOU) on the development of the online electric vehicle. With increasing concern about the environment, both organizations agreed to introduce eco-friendly vehicles to the city’s public transportation system, beginning with a bus route in Seoul [Source: KAIST].The OLEV system receives it’s power from non-contact magnetic transmissions from recharging strips in the road.
The vehicles receive “micro-charges” each time they pass over these strips. These micro-charges are extremely efficient, only only 20% of the total bus route would need to contain recharging strips, and only at places like bus stops, parking lots, and intersections [Source: KAIST]. This allows for smaller battery size and better range. Not only that, the no contact power transmission reduces hazards associated with electric vehicles, such as electric shock.
VUDU has been around for years. However, it was always one of those companies that we were expecting to go out of business.
We have nothing against VUDU. In fact, they are quite awesome. In case you aren’t familiar, they stream up a storm of media, all without monthly fees. Of course, you have to rent and buy content and the boxes are kind of pricey. So with so many other set-tops swirling around, VUDU’s demise seemed inevitable.
However, VUDU not only remained, but they seemed to always have something going on. For instance, many companies wanted VUDU inside their hardware products. Cut the expensive hardware out of the equation and you’d have something pretty cool.
Apparently, Walmart thinks so too. VUDU just announced that Walmart plans to purchase the streaming media company.
Looking for a quick and simple way to locate a wireless access point without having to wear a light-up shirt? In this modern hour of virtual offices, high-travel days and “working” remotely, being able to secure online access to keep up with your emails and latest web news while you’re on the go is becoming more of an issue. Not that we don’t love our highly portable laptops, but there’s something uniquely frustrating about sitting at a coffee shop hoping to get caught up over a cup of chai tea and only being able to find 5 wireless networks, all of which are asking for a password.
So save yourself the trouble of circling for a parking spot, paying $5 for flavored water, and elbowing your way through crowds only to be digitally shut out — try the WiFi Walker, an all in one 802.11b/g WiFi finder and USB adapter. The backlit LCM display shows detailed information about the list of wireless hotspots in range — including name, signal strength, encryption, SSID, security status and AP number — so you can easily suss out whether or not there are open signals for use wherever you are. The USB Adapter is also prepared to plug directly into your laptop for charging (no batteries, just juice!) and will double as a wireless adapter in case you’re working with a laptop that didn’t come with a wireless card (hey, it happens). The packaging is both sleek and durable — no cheap plastics used here — though we really wish they would’ve added a loop to the business end so it could be tethered to something while not in use.
Check out the video to see the Walker at work:
And then there’s the WiFi Seeker, a boiled-down version of the Walker — no big display, just a series of sweeping LED lights (sort of like the EMF detectors you see on ghost hunting shows) that can detect wireless access points within 300 feet. Just press the big blue button and wait for the red lights to stop sweeping and remain lit — if the red lights don’t stop, you’re in a dead zone, if only 1 or 2 bars stay lit things look shaky, but 3 or 4 bars means you’re good to go. Plus they definitely thought about mobility and threw a thick key ring on the end, making it easy to attach to your cluster of keys or travel case for regular use on the fly.
If you’re ready to buy one of your own (or add to someone’s gift list), WiFi Walker starts at $59.95, and the Seeker’s a bargain at $14.95, both available directly from wifiseeker.com.
Jeff Hawkins, founder of Palm Computing, just can’t catch a break these days. First the Treo gets generally slammed by the public for failing to be as sexy and modern as its competitors in the handheld device arena, and then he releases “the most exciting project [he's] ever worked on” the same day Microsoft goes media-nuclear with The Surface. Still, this may not just be poor PR and production — the kids might be on to something by failing to do virtual backflips over the new Palm Foleo.
First, let’s be clear: this IS NOT a laptop. Sure, it’s masquerading as a slim little lappy, but don’t get confused — the Foleo is merely a companion device to the Treo. Maybe merely is a little harsh; it does run a Linux-based OS with a 10-inch display (because who isn’t sick of staring at tiny screens) and full-sized keyboard that lets you sync up with your Treo to view/send emails and edit documents. Representatives are quick to point out that the Foleo is light (2.5 lbs), boasts 5 hours of battery life, comes with a Wi-Fi connection, and is expected to also work with BlackBerry devices and the new iPhone. Unfortunately, when you strip away the oohs and aahs of a simple design and easy plug-and-play functionality, what’ve you got?
For $500, and without some really revolutionary advances, it’s tough to get too excited over this smartphone extension. Sorry, Jeff.
I was listening to Bubba The Love Sponge on Sirius Satellite Radio today and to prep up for their Friday morning show all the guys in the studio were hitting cans of Big Ox. I don’t think that the guys over at TheBigOx.com intended on radio personalities using their product to wake up in the morning but it did seem to do the trick.
For all intents and proposes The Big Ox is oxygen in a can. Each can contains 89% pure oxygen as apposed to the wimpy 21% we normally breathe from day to day and comes in four tasty flavors Tropical Breeze, Mountain Mint, Polar Rush and Citrus Blast.
If you are exercising, training, or just need a pick me up during your high paced day you can grab yourself a 2 pack of 4.4gram cans for just $23.98 at TheBigOx.com
Pioneer will be selling the latest HD Blu-ray players for just $300 in the United States starting next month, giving consumers an opportunity to adopt the new technology at very affordable prices.
The BDC-2202 drive will be capable of reading regular Blu-ray at 5x and dual layer at 2x along with the ability to read and write to both DVDs and CDs. One downside to the drive is its inability to burn actual Blu-ray discs, which might leave some strung in confusion.
I’m still not playing favorites with an HD content format – I’m still poised and waiting to see what happens in the war of the formats, to see who comes out on top. That said, I won’t be purchasing a player until they drop under the $200 mark.
Bright and early (at 1AM in the morning), Canon announced the new “prosumer” Powershot S5 IS which replaces the previous highly successful S3 IS.
The new S5 IS sports a 2.5-inch swiveling LCD display, 8 Mega-Pixels (a nice bump over the previous 6MP models), and integration of the enhanced Digic III image processor, which facilitates the introduction of face-detection auto focus and exposure modes.
This release is well worth the upgrade for current owners of previous S1, S2 or S3 Powershot models and perfect for those wanting a camera which puts them in total control, without having to take a leap for a Digital-SLR (DSLR).
It is expected in mid-July, and will be retailing for a cool $499.99.
Who says that wind turbines have to be thirty feet tall and extremely expensive? Last year Google hosted a wind turbine design contest and the winner was Clarian’s Jellyfish.
South Korean scientists have introduced the new MetalCell, a battery that is modeled after a design created 2,000 years ago in Baghdad, now called 
South Korea has combined their serious technological skills with environmentalism. While magnetic levitation trains are nothing new, the on-line electric vehicle (OLEV), is the first of its kind.
I was listening to 