Items tagged with Energy
A method of harvesting energy out of thin air is being developed by a group of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Researchers describe it as the "generic Air-gen effect," as it can use nearly any material engineered with nanopores to collect cost-effective, interruption-free electricity.
The...
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Across the pond, Europe is getting ready for a particularly tough winter, driven by rising energy prices and power grid strain, compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To help people stay informed about this problem and remain safe, Google is now pushing “relevant and actionable information to help them navigate...
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Tesla has just made it official that its much-anticipated Gigafactory will have its grand opening on July 29th. The company itself hasn't issued a public statement on this event, but invites have already been sent out to Tesla owners and others in Tesla's good graces.
To say that those who get invited by Tesla is...
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There are few who would disagree that solar energy is an amazing thing. It's not really "free" energy per se, in the grand scheme of things, given that absorbing solar rays requires expensive equipment to harvest energy from the sun. However, beyond that little barrier to entry, solar is becoming more practical as an...
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Facebook on Wednesday announced plans to build a new data center in Fort Worth, Texas. This will be the social network's fifth data center, with the other four located in Altoona, Iowa; Prineville, Oregon; Forest City, North Carolina; and Luleå, Sweden. It will be one of the most advanced, efficient, and sustainable...
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Last month HotHardware reported on how Ohio-based Nikola Labs wowed the crowd at the Disrupt conference — and the Internet — by presenting a smartphone case. Of course, it didn't trot out one of your typical keep-the-dings-off smartphone cases, though, but one that can capture the 90 percent of waste energy pumped out...
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Mobile phones charged with energy taken out of thin air. What sounds like a modern take on a very old magic trick is actually the Unique Selling Proposition of a smartphone case developed by Nikola Labs and presented for the first time on Monday at the TechCrunch Disrupt event taking place this week in New York City...
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In terms of overall capabilities, both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are a good improvement over the previous generation. But, one thing that's not been talked about too much is that with these increased capabilities have come higher power requirements - and the differences are somewhat staggering. According to the...
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It's still pretty impressive to think that Nest makes only a thermostat, yet the design and engineering has garnered praise from all over. Soon, however, it looks as if Nest will move to the next level as a company. Today, it acquired MyEnergy, a company that will reportedly help Nest "help people understand and...
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In the midst of Google's Android growth, Chrome explosion, Chromebook entries and Fiber roll-outs, it's actually easy to forget that Google does other things as well. There's search, Glass, and energy. Yes, energy. Google has been dabbling in energy for some time now, which makes sense given the tremendous amount of...
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In the world of consumer technology, innovation is moving ahead at a breakneck pace. But there's one area in particular that's struggling mightily: batteries. We just can't seem to keep up with power demands, and as newer and faster gizmos come out, it's requiring an awful lot of energy to keep them lit and online...
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In the race for "smaller, faster, better," memory chip makers probably have it the toughest. They're already dealing with immensely small objects, but as software evolves, we're sure in need of lots more of the stuff to keep our app addiction on course. One of the troubles, however, is power consumption. Most...
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Wireless power feels like one of those technologies that really should have taken off by now, but it just hasn't. And it's really tough to pin down exactly why that's the case. Every year about this time, usually during the CES before-and-after period, we start to hear rumblings all over again. Now, Texas Instruments is announcing that it...
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Now that Facebook's a properly official public company, it'll be doing things it never had to do before. Things like "being transparent." With the world watching, the company is a much different place, but even before the IPO, it looks as if Facebook was tracking something that'll be highly important in the years ahead. Following in the footsteps...
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Around here, we're always looking for more juice. More battery life. Another AC outlet. Wireless charging, for the masses. We aren't quite living in "the future," but Sanho has been providing portable power for a long, long while. Now, the company's introducing a new product, the HyperJuice Plug. It's a colorful...
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Outside of wireless power, having a display that can actually recycle energy might be the other holy grail of consumer electronics energy. Now, researchers from UCLA have created a new technology that may bring this dream into reality. The new technology uses photovoltaic polarizers in order to turn ordinary LCDs into...
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The massive earthquake, and resulting tsunami, that struck Japan in March is still fresh in the minds of those who populate the island nation, and the after-effects will be felt for months and months to come. But one of the most beautiful things about technology is how it enables one to lend a hand to another. Maybe it's a comforting e-mail....
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Have you ever left for vacation and forgot to change the thermostat? Although it may not be worth flying home for, setting the thermostat a few degrees higher while you're away from home can save on cooling costs (especially if you'll be gone for a few days). Thanks to a new offering from TXU Energy, Texans can now use a smartphone to manage...
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Oh, batteries. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. It sounds like a power ballad, but it's the story of our lives around here. We've been dealing with lofty promises and batteries that kick the bucket far too early, for years now. And the fact that we're still dealing with lead-acid batteries is sort of a baffling thing to wrap...
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Energy creation has been a huge, huge matter over the past few years. Researchers have turned to "green power" in order to generation electricity from varied renewable resources, but one area that has stumped science for awhile now is the ability to harness energy from movements that we make every day. Imagine if a...
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Mother Earth may be hurting from that oil spill down in the Gulf, but there's still some bright news on the "green" front: the new, tougher Energy Star standard went into effect this week, making it tougher for companies to ship and sell gizmos that aren't power efficient. Beginning on May 1, the new Energy Star 4.0...
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Intel Intelligent Home Energy Management Energy-efficient computing based on Intel architecture now brings power-saving energy controls to your home. The Intel Atom processor is the heart of a low-power embedded computing panel designed to exchange monitoring and control data with smart appliances, smart plugs, smart electric utility meters...
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