Have you ever been walking outside, looked up to the sky, and thought to yourself that there is a gigantic wall of burning energy just waiting for you to tap into it? This is not that abstract of the thought process. Solar energy is a gigantic untapped resource.
At least on a global or corporate level, businesses aren’t doing everything that they can to utilize this resource. That means that you have a little bit of leeway to figure out how to make the sun work for you.
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There’s a reason this is filed under Gadzooki.com, well first and foremost… this is a pocket garden gadget! Literally a garden raised by technology right in the comforts of your own space (home, office, wherever). Boy, I think this is so cool I can’t wait to get one myself. Us geeks normally spend 24/7 in front of in animate objects and while a fishbowl/tank makes sense, that’s high maintenance now isn’t it! The AeroGarden puts nature in front of you, you control everything this garden lives on from fertilizer, temperature, water… the works.
The AeroGarden gadget (on Amazon UK or on Amazon US) is a kit that allows you to easily cultivate lettuce, cherry tomatoes, herbs, chili peppers and more in an energy-efficient environment in your home! The kit comes with pre-seeded growth medium, fertilizer, two daylight-spectrum bulbs and the grow pod itself. The plants start to grow within 24 hours, and the plants mature 5 times faster compared to ordinary soil.
Yes, it’s a gadget kit. Now isn’t that all too easy for us geeks? Grab one for yourself online right here. The catch… it’s US$125!
If you’d like to tone down your carbon footprint a little lower next year then you just may want to consider getting a crank-up MP3 player. I was floored to see this “green inspired” gadget by Travor Baylis. Need to listen to your favorite tune, wind up the Eco Media Player before hitting that play button.
“My original windup radio pioneered a new eco technology that is as relevant and cutting edge today as it was 16 years ago. A new generation has grown up with many electronic devices that were inconceivable when I created my radio. Now we have developed a range of products that combine the best of these modern ideas with the freedom and energy efficiency of windup technology.
Welcome to the next generation.” – Trevor Baylis OBE
Priced at $179 (4GB) and $209 (8GB), much like your usual MP3 players by Apple, Sony Microsoft and Creative. The only difference I see though is that this one MP3 player with a built in flashlight. Kinda gives you an idea that this maybe a camping gadget, right?
Don’t worry about winding it up too many times though. When you want a break from winding the Eco Media Player does have an alternate Internal Lithium Ion battery which can be recharged via USB port, or the winding mechanism itself. You can get a maximum play time of 20 Hours on each charge.
It’s the holiday season once again, and one tradition I cherish is gift giving (especially for one like me who has kids). Since my kids are just preschool-aged, though, most of our purchases are toys. But I know that a lot of folks are thinking of giving their loved ones gadgets this Christmas. An iPhone? Netbooks? Game consoles? You name it–retailers are facing the rush!
Now many of these gadgets surely need battery juice to power up. That’s why Gadzooki is raffling off five packs of Energizer Advanced Lithium batteries (4 cells each pack).
Most gadgets today would have their own battery packs, but a lot would still need the regular cells like the AA batteries we’re raffling off. Thinking of the gadgets I own, I would find the Energizer cells useful for my Canon 430EX speedlite (flash), my Canon point & shoot digicam, my television remote controls, and a host of others, not to mention the toys the kids will get this Christmas.
So if you want a chance to win the Gadzooki gift pack, leave a comment below, answering the question:
What gadget (or gadgets) will you be giving to your loved ones this Christmas?
We’ll select one at random by 11:59 p.m. December 21st, and ship the five packs of Energizer Advanced Lithium cells for free. Only one comment per participant, please! And don’t forget to include your email address in the email field so we can contact you if you win!
Consumers and businesses are increasingly more concerned about global warming and climate change, and market demand for zero emission electric cars is developing rapidly. As a result, a whole new technology base needs to emerge quickly, to keep pace with social and legislative change.
Liberty Electric Cars recognises that a significant challenge to turn innovative zero emission ideas into volume production rests with the industry’s first tier of component suppliers. The purpose of the Liberty Zero Emission Vehicle Foundation is to raise awareness, and attract funds and investment into this sector from private and public sources. It will accelerate the market introduction of zero emission vehicle technologies, over what can be achieved by global market forces alone.
Barry Shrier, CEO, Liberty Electric Cars, says: “There is a great wealth of UK automotive engineering ingenuity and innovation that can lead the world in the newly emerging zero emission vehicle space. However, a major and rapid ‘environmental technology’ shift across the entire industry is a significant challenge for suppliers looking to develop prototypes into volume production – made even more difficult in the current credit crunch climate. The Zero Emission Vehicle Foundation is the catalyst that will enable the leading technology innovators to get the support they need.”
The Foundation’s board is chaired by Lord Anthony St John of Bletso, and will include other prominent figures from the automotive industry, the sciences, Government and the private sector.
It brings component suppliers and vehicle manufacturers together, to create the right connections, through its quarterly meetings. The Foundation is attracting funding from large corporations that have a vested interest in the earliest possible arrival of zero emission driving. It will also co ordinate with the Technology Strategy Board, which is set to launch the Low Carbon Vehicles Integrated Delivery Programme, backed by £70 million of Government investment.
Hykinesys Europe Limited is a company that is leading its field in innovative power beam technology, and that the Liberty Zero Emission Vehicle Foundation will assist. Liberty Electric Cars Ltd is investing £30 million in the re engineering of large luxury cars and 4 x 4’s into emission-free, high performance electric vehicles.
The company is designing and manufacturing a unique electric drive-train platform to power a wide range of large vehicles, which also have the flexibility to incorporate emerging technologies. Annual vehicle production plans, which include the world’s first zero emission, electrically powered Range Rover, are in tens of thousands and, creating around 250 new technology and manufacturing jobs.
The Liberty Electric Range Rover drives cleanly and quietly around roads and cities, free of tax, congestion and parking charges, making less environmental impact than even the smallest, most fuel efficient petrol car, yet still offering the comfort and security of a luxury 4 x 4.
Electric vehicles have 80 per cent lower running costs than petrol cars. Electrical power is also a more efficient source of power, and enhances a car’s dynamic performance because of its instantly available torque.
I have to admit I was a little amused by the idea of an alarm clock waking me up with an annoying buzz sound only to keep on buzzing UNTIL I do 30 reps. Designed by Yuk Wang, this novelty alarm clock shaped as a dumbbell has a simple LCD display of a clock on one end. Found this gym treasure right here and here.
Gym buffs would surely appreciate the uncanny way of starting up a great day at the gym. The question that needs answering is that would you want to wake up to 30 reps everytime! Forget about throwing this “clock” out the window too. It may not be too wise to keep this near you all the time.
At the moment, I do not see any online store carrying this product yet. But this just screams SPONSORS does it? I could just imagine a power bar graphic accross the middle… or powercookies! Yum!
What I’m referring to is not the latest gadget, but in fact the possibility that the latest scientists at CERN‘s superlab may rip a hole in space and time. Yes, I know, it sounds bizarre and completely incredulous, but it is in fact true.
CERN laboratory has, for a long time, done some of the wildest experiments out there, what with it having a massive particle accelerator and all sorts of other gadgetry. CERN is also the European particle physics centre and home to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that is going to be switched on later in the year. This will aid scientists in finding out more about the birth of the universe.
Two Russian scientists have spoken out against the initiation of the LHC and what it may accomplish, due to unforeseen possibilities. Amazingly, these include creating that aforementioned rip in the universe that might allow for future generations to revisit the year. 2008, then, could be the beginning of time travel.
New Scientist (a British publication about the sciences) reports that the LHC could create small black holes that open one end of a ‘tunnel’ of sorts. Surely I’m not the only person to think that this is just like a movie!? More to the point, if it could create a hole that future generations could use, what about other species from alien worlds?
Of course, time travel is nothing new in literature, or even imaging what the world of the future may look like. Mellies films looked at this concept (landing on the Moon anyone) and literature such as the seminal The Time Machine (H.G. Wells) look on the subject with some trepidation.
Of course, may people across the globe have something to say about time travel, from philosophers to mathematicians, all looking at various aspects of this form of travel. Of course, the real issue comes in the paradox of time travel – if you could go back and kill your grandfather, how were you born to do this act in the first place?
Dr. Igor Novikov suggests that any action taken to disrupt what had categorically happened in the past would only take effect once the travellers went back to their own time. That would mean you could effectively erase your own existence. Whilst I’m not up on string theory, another line of thought dictates that it your arrival into a previous time (and space) would actually trigger the spawning of another universe, so any actions that you take do not modify your past, but create an alternate one instead.
Pretty mind blowing stuff, I’m sure you’ll agree on that. Of course, movies such as Back To The Future take a more comical look at the idea of space travel, with the characters using the ability to garner money, fame and even high tech gadgetry (a flying train from the Wild West and the future).
I suppose that we really have two other alternatives here. One suggestion is that the past can be viewed but not changed at all. The hole (if created), would allow the people of our future to look back at the past, at 2008 and beyond. This would allow for unprecedented understanding of previous societies – and who knows, they might be able to learn from our mistakes.
From a philosophical point of view, there are a variety of reasons why people are genuinely fixated on the idea of time travel. Is it the idea that you can know your own destiny? The revelation that your destiny is written in stone, or exactly the opposite? The way you could stop yourself from making the mistakes you’d regret in the future?
Whatever the reason, time travel continues to fascinate and disturb us, human beings, into our future, our past and our present. It resonates through our lives as deeply as the concept of life after death. One can only hope though, whatever the result of the CERN experiment that it does no harm and in fact adds to our understanding of the universe.
Notebook designers and manufacturers have long searched for the holy grail of power efficiency. For this reason, the architecture of portable computers has evolved so much since the advent of laptop computers. And one of the main ways to conserve battery life is by reducing hard disk spinning.
Recently, the trend is going towards solid-state storage. This means drives that have no moving parts. Most popular of these is flash memory. They’re cheap, durable, and can hold data even without power (unlike volatile RAM, which loses data when power is off). Since flash memory can allegedly reduce consumption caused by spinning hard drives, some manufacturers have switched to using solid state drives for their mobile computers. There are also flash-based hard drives meant for notebook computers that users can replace their existing drives with.
One such example is the Asus Eee PC (related blog here), an inexpensive ultraportable introduced just late this year.
There is still question, though whether reducing the power consumption of storage media will drastically affect battery life. The answer may be no. While using flash drive reduces consumption, much of a laptop’s power consumption lies elsewhere.
ZDnet has done actual testing to compare consumption between using a conventional hard drive and a flash drive. The findings:
The maximum power difference between a flash drive and a 2.5″ disk is 3 watts. If you average about 3 hours battery life, a flash drive would save at most 9 watt hours (wh). That’s 29 minutes with a 55 wh battery. Less than 20 if it isn’t seeking constantly – and less than 10 minutes if the drive spends half its time in standby mode.
The biggest power sink in my notebook is the “everything else” that stays on when nothing is happening – 13 watts. Next is the CPU when it is busy. Then the display if you keep it above minimum brightness, the DVD/CD player and finally, just above Wi-Fi, a busy disk.
Flash drives have a real advantage in shock resistance over disks. But the performance is about the same as a disk, the power savings minimal and the cost disadvantage huge. They make the most sense for premium ultra-light notebooks with low power CPUs and small screens as well as hand-held devices.
So this means power savings from a solid state drive may be marginal. What’s important is that the computer’s architecture itself is power-saving (i.e., as with how a Pentium-M based processor can throttle down to save on power use, while a Celeron-M based processor does not). Also, it’s in the applications you use.
Still, I personally am hoping that someday our laptops (or other mobile computers) can run more than the usual two- to four-hours they do these days. Maybe 10 hours is good enough. Or maybe a whole day of computing without plugging in? Or perhaps I’m just dreaming.
Now Lets go to part 2 of What’s right for you? Diesel, Petrol, LPG, Hybrids.
If you haven’t read the First Part here it is Click me.
Let’s go to the Alternatives and the Hybrids
Petrol-Electric Hybrids
Petrol-electric hybrid vehicles are those types that run on combination petrol engines and an electric motor powered by an energy storage device such as a battery pack. At Low speeds, the electric motors is in the works but when better performance is need for speed the petrol engine kicks in. The battery packs can be recharged by the use of regenerative braking, your batteries charge when your driving and braking making it more efficient and have lower CO2 emissions.
Battery-Electric cars
Electric cars types that use battery and electric motor to power the vehicle, hence the name. They have Zero Emissions, but the drawback is they have limits between recharging the batteries, some have a distance of 30-50 and some can go as much as 60 miles per charge.
Solar power
Solar power, very good alternative for charging of electric vehicles and powering certain Hybrid cars and on the plus side it’s not a pollutant because of the use of the sun’s energy and convert it to electrical energy to power the batteries and electrical systems of a car.
Inspired by Mr. Butterscotch’s Post on When Buying a Car I’m going to focus on the explanation of the power source. “Fuel” What’s right for you, the environment, what would be cost-effective, and what would last longer, and run efficiently.
There are lots of type of cars that use either diesel, petrol , LPG, Electric and Hybrids types. Back in the early days of driving, whenever your low on fuel. Just go to the gas station and “fill ‘er up” easy as pie. But now we have to take in the consideration, the cost per gallon, fuel efficiency, what type is our engine and such.
Petrol
Standard Unleaded Petrol (ULP) / Premium Unleaded Petrol (PULP)
Petrol engines run quiet and smooth, with good response and better performance. But they emit around 10% more carbon dioxide (CO2) than diesel, but the good side is petrol cars pump out less toxic emissions than diesel.
Diesel
Diesel engines better equipped economically than its petrol engine counterpart, because they emit less CO2. The new ‘common rail’ diesels are approximately 10% more efficient than older diesels, and direct-injection diesel engines give the best fuel economy, diesel engines will give you with more miles per gallon than their petrol model counterpart. And with that thought, Diesel is more expensive to buy than petrol. Diesel engines have always been slow and noisy, but technology has help the developement of diesel engines making it quiet, responsive and plus better performance and clean.
LPG
(Liquefied Petroleum Gas)
A viable fuel option, LPG produces fewer emissions than petrol and diesel but what’s worst is its fuel consumption. LPG is a mixture of propane and butane, and produces about 30 per cent less Greenhouse gas, but it contains less energy than petrol, so more LPG is burned for each kilometer driven. And now with after-market conversions, currently available, it is possible for certain car models to be converted to use LPG as fuel.
Watch out for the next part. 🙂