Information regarding a few patent applications recently filed by Apple has surfaced. The applications feature designs for a clip-on antenna mechanism, portable devices with multiple power interfaces, and an advanced oleophobic coating application technique. The antenna clip application can be viewed here. The...Read more...
iPad case, anyone? How about one with a built-in solar panel? It's possible to have the both of those with Element5's newest product, the Mini L Solarbag. It's a Swiss-made case that'll hold your iPad, iPad 2 or any other iOS device with a Dock Connector. There's also a bit of room for accessories and peripherals, and there's a solar panel...Read more...
It had to happen sooner or later, and it's happening today: a solar powered keyboard is now reaching commercial status. Logitech has been known for their innovations in the peripheral market, with the nearly microscopic Unifying USB receiver being the latest. But the company's newest keyboard is likely to be the one that people remember most...Read more...
Electric vehicles sound fantastic in theory, but there's still the issue of charging the vehicles. Energy, even the kind not found in traditional fuel pumps, requires fossil fuels or a green alternative to make, and burning loads of coal in place of petrol doesn't exactly sound like a great compromise. Toyota seems to...Read more...
Earlier in February a strange case arose over an obscure California law, the Solar Shade Control Act (.PDF), passed in 1979 after the Oil Crisis. The law essentially made criminals out of a pair of Sunnyvale residents, whose eight redwood trees cast shade on a neighbor's solar panels.The dispute between the neighbors, Mark Vargas (solar panel...Read more...
Many have modified their Priuses, and one of those possible modifications is a rooftop solar panel system. It seems that Toyota is considering the same as standard equipment for its own models, but only for high-end models, and only to power the AC. Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodelling,...Read more...
You don't usually associate IBM with the solar power industry. But IBM researchers couldn't help but notice that one of the main difficulties in compressing the size of a solar collector, in a miniaturization process called "concentrator photovoltaics," (CPV) is the dissipation of heat. IBM used a lens to concentrate sunlight on a one centimeter...Read more...
Considering solar panels? How is your relationship with your neighbors? You might want to look around you and see if any neighbors have trees which may in the future shade your planned panel locations. Technically, if they eventually do, it will be a crime.Richard Treanor planted the trees in his yard 11 years ago, but neighbor...Read more...
I have a rule of thumb. Whenever I read anything about alternative energy of any kind, I simply skip over everything and look for the one thing that matters: Is it cheaper than oil and coal? Nothing else matters, really. Burning coal and oil to make energy to produce goods and services to tax to redistribute as subsidies to alternative energy...Read more...
Today Hi-Tech Wealth Inc., a Chinese company at the forefront of consumer sales and marketing of well-known digital mobile devices, launched the world’s first commercial solar-powered mobile phone, which they call the S116. The S116 integrates Hi-Tech Wealth’s trusted and famous information security technology, a 1.3 MP camera, and supports...Read more...
IT managers have a lot to say about migrating their business systems onto Microsoft Vista OS. And in the UK at least, nearly half of those surveyed by Vanson Bourne predict that it will require a full year to get everybody on the same OS page. Just three per cent of respondents said they are planning to migrate their corporate systems...Read more...
Do you actually "work" on your computer? Into that big-iron workstation thing and have most of your projects handled on a Sun box? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy as they say, so see what Phoronix has to say about running NVIDIA SLI under Sun's Solaris 10 OS......Read more...