solar Archive

  • Ikaros: Photos of solar-powered “Space Yacht” in outer space

    Ikaros: Photos of solar-powered “Space Yacht” in outer space

    Posted on June 18, 2010 | No Comments
    We first blogged about Ikaros, a solar powered "space yacht" developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in September last year. The idea was to use solar photons to propel satellites in outer space to boost energy-efficiency. That yacht was eventually launched on May 21, and now we have the first pictures of Ikaros moving through outer space.

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  • NTT DoCoMo, KDDI launch their endless Summer 2010 collections

    NTT DoCoMo, KDDI launch their endless Summer 2010 collections

    Posted on May 19, 2010 | No Comments
    Surprise: Japanese carriers are announcing literally dozens of phones at once. Okay, look, that's not a surprise at all, but bear with us, because there are a few shining jewels in here amongst the seemingly endless array of WVGA displays and one-seg tuners from NTT DoCoMo and KDDI au, both of whom have announced their Summer 2010 collections of handsets this week. Of note, two of the models from DoCoMo -- the Fujitsu F-06B and Sharp SH-07B are capable of shooting 1080p video, while KDDI's SH008 from Sharp, S003 from Sony Ericsson, and CA005 from Casio all feature sensors of 12 megapixels or larger. Several of the devices can also be used as WiFi hotspots, and Hitachi's trick Beskey for KDDI has interchangeable keypads that change the shape of the keys, not the layout -- a bit superficial, perhaps, but we're all about choice. DoCoMo is also launching a handful of smartphones: the Lynx SH-10B from Sharp (not to be confused with the old Atari handheld of the same name) that features Android atop a 5-inch touchscreen, Toshiba's 4.1-inch T-01B Dynapocket with WinMo, and RIM's plain old BlackBerry Bold 9700. Don't get us wrong, it's still quite a haul, but we can't help but feel that the gap between Japan's wireless scene and the rest of the world is closing fast.

    NTT DoCoMo, KDDI launch their endless Summer 2010 collections originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 19 May 2010 00:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • New solar cells printed on paper

    New solar cells printed on paper

    Posted on May 5, 2010 | No Comments
    Everyone loves the idea of solar energy. The three big challenges are that solar cells are expensive to produce, they're not very efficient, and you need some means to store the energy collected. I'd heard of solar shingles before, which are basically roofing shingles with solar cells in them, but now word is coming out of solar cells printed on paper. As usual, the technology is still years away from a marketable product, but it's an interesting development.

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  • Puma Phone by Sagem given some hands-on treatment

    Puma Phone by Sagem given some hands-on treatment

    Posted on February 17, 2010 | No Comments
    When I first saw shots of the new Puma phone, I was a little skeptical. It looked decent enough, but the whole solar charging thing made it seem a little gimmicky. After seeing the following video from Mobile World Congress, however, it's beginning to look more like a smartphone I'd actually use.

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  • Spinning solar powered battle robots. Make your own!

    Spinning solar powered battle robots. Make your own!

    Posted on February 10, 2010 | No Comments
    Do you not have enough clutter on your desk? Not quite badass enough for BattleBots? Solarbotics has posted instructions on how to create these rather adorable solar-powered symets, so you can battle the 20 other people who probably make this sort of thing. [Instructables] via [Make: Online]

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  • Scosche solBAT II solar powered charger actually decently priced at $30

    Scosche solBAT II solar powered charger actually decently priced at $30

    Posted on February 3, 2010 | No Comments
    I’ll be damned. A solar charger with a 1500mAh capacity battery and 5-volt output from a relatively well known manufacturer priced at $30. That actually seems reasonable. The solBAT II from Scosche features a standard USB output port for charging most of your portable devices and it even comes with a little suction mount case for use in the car. So what’s the catch for $30?

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  • Double Review: SolarVoice 908 and SolarCharger 906

    Double Review: SolarVoice 908 and SolarCharger 906

    Posted on November 30, 2009 | No Comments
    My first experience with solar energy was in Cub Scouts, when we made a solar-powered hot dog cooker. Unfortunately, solar technology hasn't advanced terribly much in the intervening decades. At the consumer level, solar power still isn't particularly useful for very much outside of a few niche markets. i.Tech has a couple of products that make a real effort to bring usefulness to solar power for the average user: the SolarVoice 908 Bluetooth headset and the SolarCharger 906 multi-device charger.

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  • Solar energy and lithium-ion batteries: Sanyo now builds “green” homes in Japan

    Solar energy and lithium-ion batteries: Sanyo now builds “green” homes in Japan

    Posted on November 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
    Sanyo is already being considered Japan's "greenest" brand in the consumer electronics field (which is the main reason Panasonic is about to acquire the company), but them building complete, eco-friendly buildings is certainly new. Sanyo Homes [JP], a wholly-owned subsidiary, will start marketing all-electric homes with lithium ion batteries providing back up power to Japanese customers as early as tomorrow. (Sorry for the tiny picture, which shows a CGI-model of how these houses look like.)

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  • Japan to operate solar energy station in outer space

    Japan to operate solar energy station in outer space

    Posted on November 13, 2009 | No Comments
    The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has big plans: It wants to conquer outer space to generate solar energy by 2030. The idea is to collect solar power in space and beam it down to earth, in the form of lasers or microwaves. The so-called Space Solar Power System project is led by big corporations such as Mitsubishi, NEC, Fujitsu und Sharp.

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  • Samsung’s solar Blue Earth launching in Sweden this month, elsewhere soon

    Samsung’s solar Blue Earth launching in Sweden this month, elsewhere soon

    Posted on October 14, 2009 | No Comments

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    First, the good news: that slide we saw back in August promising Blue Earth deliveries in October was spot on, seeing how Samsung just made an official announcement to that effect. Now, the bad: unless you're in Sweden, that doesn't mean much -- at least, not yet. The HSDPA-equipped full touch handset with an integrated solar charger is set to launch in the Nordic nation this month, with France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, and "other European and Asian countries" following on shortly; notably missing is the US, which wouldn't benefit from the 900 / 2100MHz 3G radio anyhow. Pricing hasn't been announced, but does it really matter when you'll be saving all that cash on your power bill?

    Samsung's solar Blue Earth launching in Sweden this month, elsewhere soon originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Photo dialing, solar cellphones, and newspapers on TV: only in Japan

    Photo dialing, solar cellphones, and newspapers on TV: only in Japan

    Posted on October 6, 2009 | No Comments
    aquos-newspaper-02Sharp has on display a number of fun new gadgets at CEATEC. As is all too often the case, these things are for Japanese release only (at least for now). Maybe we'll see them in a couple years. Read on for details on a dial-by-photo phone, newspapers on TV, solar-charging cell phones, and the Sharp Netwalker!

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  • CrunchDeals: Scosche solar charger for $25, plus an extra 15% off

    CrunchDeals: Scosche solar charger for $25, plus an extra 15% off

    Posted on August 7, 2009 | No Comments
    scoscheScosche has dropped the price of its solar battery charger from $40 down to $25, plus you can get an extra 15% off by using promo code back2school until October 1st. The "sunVOLT" is a five-volt solar battery that holds a 500mAh charge and features little suction cups for use in the car.

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  • Solar pool cleaner works all day long, won’t come between you and your wife

    Solar pool cleaner works all day long, won’t come between you and your wife

    Posted on July 24, 2009 | No Comments
    solar skimmerApparently this whole "solar power" thing really works. Case in point, this Solar-Breeze apparatus uses solar power to clean your pool all day long and, aside from keeping your pool clean, it cuts down on the amount of time your pool's pump has to be running since it grabs gunk and leaves before they get sink to the bottom and get sucked into the grate.

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