Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
Fed up of all those wires, remotes and annoying tit-bits you need to use every time you need your home’s entertainment system switched on? Need a relief from all the technological stress that’s getting to you, even when all you need is a bit of entertainment? Well, switch to the Sony Eclipse! The Eclipse is green too, using photovoltaic cells to soak in the sun and give you hassle free access and control over your entertainments system, wirelessly. Packed with Bluetooth, WiFi, USB connectivity and just about everything you’d need to have all your entertainment devices synchronize, the Eclipse boasts a touch screen interface too. Just incase the sun doesn’t show, you can also jack this on up to the grid.
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Irritated that your Apple iPhone keeps running out of charge every now and then? Need to keep yourself in touch and entertained all the time? Well, you could opt for a solar charger to keep it juiced all the time, if the sun shines in your favor that is. Dexim HQ came up with the solar powered P-Flip charger that soaks in the sun and can power up your iPhone and have you talking for a whole 8 hours! You wouldn’t want a conversation that long, but think of the possibilities! The entertainment! All that charge and there’s just no running out of it! Dexim claims that the charger will take around 10-12 hours of exposure to charge up the battery fully. LED indicators inform on how much charge is left. That’s not all. For the space conscious, this one folds and can be neatly tucked into your bag.
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NASA researches have forever been living in the skies above, forever dreaming about flying past stars and studying them. Well, the guys at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. Have spent their time building the NanoSail-D. This solar sail will help NASA understand just how practical it is to send a fragile spacecraft into space from a compact structure. Unlike the sails our boats have that need the wind to blow them across the oceans, solar sails require juice from the sun to power up vehicles in space. Built from lightweight materials, these huge sails continually capture photons; solar particles that help propel vehicles in space.
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We all know by now that halogen lights strung from ceilings aren’t exactly what we’d call energy efficient. No doubt they use low amounts of voltage; they still tend to produce the same amount of greenhouse gases that a 60 watt incandescent bulb would produce. And so, Sharp came up with these LED ceiling lights. Now when it comes to energy efficiency in lighting, nothing gets better than LED technology. Sharp’s LEDs can change color, brightness and measure 43mm (1.7-inch) at the thickest part and 8mm (0.3-inch) at the thinnest. The company has six models of these lighting systems lined up. Three of which, the DL-C501V, C301V and C302V use a remote controller for color changing and brightness adjustments.
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Here’s something we’d love to see on market shelves in the future, a spray on film that can help turn a normal boring glass window into a solar-energy-generating panel. In today’s world, solar energy is slowly and surely finding its place in grids all across the globe. A few setbacks like space and cost have slowed down its pace of development though. Solar panels are usually big and equally expensive too. Apartment buildings and offices at times find it difficult to soak in the sun, owing to space constraints. Well, solar windows are here, which work just the same and drench in the sun too! A Norwegian company, EnSol, came up with this liquid solution that can be sprayed onto glass. This result in a tint, and with the help of solar ivy, it turns into a full fledged solar panel.
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Wind power generation is a moody affair. That’s probably the winds are just so moody all the time! And depending on a grid supplied by energy generated from the wind can be difficult. So, the Bonneville Power Administration and Mason County Public Utility District Number 3 came up with a plan to help manage the electricity grid and use wind power more effectively, wherein the issues of congestion in networks and the imbalance of wind power have been addressed. As part of the system to be installed by Mason County PUD 3, devices will be fitted on to water heaters that will communicate with the electrical grid, which based on the amount of power available and the amount of renewable energy, will automatically turn them on and off. This will helps save up on electricity, during peak hours and keep Mason County PUD 3 from spending those useful bucks.
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Calling all innovative scientific minds, NASA has just opened its doors to challenge engineers to design a night rover that can be powered by solar, for exploring other worlds. This move comes after the solar-powered Mars exploration vehicles are forced to shut off at sun down. But what is in it for you? Well, you stand to be richer by $1.5millions, and the contest is open to private companies, student teams and independent inventors as a part of Nasa’s Centennial Challenges competitions that are designed to encourage innovation and interest especially for space technology and exploration.
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Did you know the trees that are felled for production of wooden products are tagged? Well, it might seem surprising, but trees are embedded with RFID tags that helps logging companies keep a track on the destination and origin of timber being felled and transported. This also prevents illegal logging and butchering of forests. That’s just fine and innovative indeed, though the tags used currently tend to add impurities to high-quality wood pulp products and lumber during production, unless they are expertly removed, which involves expensive procedures. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have had a brainwave, and have come up with RFID tags made of wood! The metal used in the chip’s antenna is negotiable while the rest of the chip is composed of wood and lignin.
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Who needs paper for marketing materials when you could use the Green Box instead? The International Boatbuilders’ Exhibition & Conference have shunned the use of paper for distribution of corporate marketing materials in IBEX Show exhibitor booths, choosing the Viridistor solution instead. The Green Box solution sure has left the guys at IBEX impressed since it significantly helps reduce and eliminate he distribution of paper materials at industry shows and conferences. Instead of handing out leaflets at booths, all the guest has to do is plug in a USB device into the system and have all the information he needs. No more carrying bunches of leaflets and other paper materials part of marketing schemes around exhibitions and conferences.
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Now here’s an innovative one, and when we say innovative, we mean in design, usability and a ground-breaking concept. Something never thought of before, designer Jia Dai came up with a flashlight that turns into a lamp. Now we’ve all been accustomed to those heavy flashlights we’ve been using for ages, till the dawn of the LED generation. Flashlights then turned simmer and sleeker. Now the flashlight gets a whole new concept, splits open to turn into a lamp. Well, that’s certainly not all. This one’s a lot greener too. Unlike its peers that require regular battery changes, this MIA Electric Flashlight Lamp uses the power of the sun to shed some light. The solar cells soak in the sun and power up, regardless if you use it just as a flashlight, or a lamp.
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