Efficiency Archive

  • RCA Airnergy promises usable power generated from Wi-Fi signals. Possible?

    RCA Airnergy promises usable power generated from Wi-Fi signals. Possible?

    Posted on January 13, 2010 | No Comments
    I’m a simple man. I understand certain things. How ambient Wi-Fi signals could be converted into enough energy to charge a BlackBerry is something I do NOT understand. However, RCA not only showed off the technology at CES but the device will apparently be available by the summer and it’ll only cost $40. OhGizmo! tells us [...]

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  • Six New Years Resolutions For Apple And The iPhone In 2010

    Six New Years Resolutions For Apple And The iPhone In 2010

    Posted on January 1, 2010 | No Comments
    Last night, as we waited for Carson Daily to tell us that it was time to make a lot of noise, I found myself laying on my buddy's lawn with glass number one-too-many of something toxic in my hand. As I stared up at the stars, I pondered something I'd imagine most of the country was pondering as well: Does Steve Jobs make New Years Resolutions? I mean, really; outside of continuing to kick cancer's ass and perhaps expanding his wardrobe, there's probably not much that needs resolving in El Jobso's personal life. His number one pet project (outside of that other one), however, could probably use a bit of work right now.

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  • Pine Trail equipped Acer 532h netbook specs leak for all to see

    Pine Trail equipped Acer 532h netbook specs leak for all to see

    Posted on December 31, 2009 | No Comments
    In my humble opinion, conventional wisdom should dictate that any netbook that’s still sporting a 1024x600 resolution should be overlooked immediately. We make an exception today for Acer’s 10.1-inch 532h, which features Intel’s upcoming N450 “Pine Trail” chipset sporting a 1.66GHz Atom CPU.

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  • Sharp develops efficient solar cells for use in outer space

    Sharp develops efficient solar cells for use in outer space

    Posted on December 23, 2009 | No Comments
    Earlier this year, we reported twice about Japan's serious plans to go to outer space to generate solar energy and then beam it back to Mother Earth. And today, Sharp has shown the first solar cell that's not only bendable (we've seen that before) but that also withstands conditions in space. In addition, the company says those cells boast a record-high solar efficiency of 36%.

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  • The “Motorized Knee” makes your runnning 30% more efficient

    The “Motorized Knee” makes your runnning 30% more efficient

    Posted on December 16, 2009 | No Comments
    The researchers at Japan's Tsukuba University seem to be particularly active when it comes to enhancing human body functions. This is the institution where the famous robot suit HAL-5 was developed and now we have another invention that can help boost the efficiency of our bodies - if that's what we want and need, that is. A research team at said university has constructed a "motorized knee", which is actually a kit that - once it's attached to a person's body - supports the flexing of the knee. As a result, the runner may use 30% less of the muscle power that is needed to run unassisted. In experiments, runners could jog at 7.5km per hour wearing the kit, which is about 5kg heavy. So in other words, this isn't an elegant solution (yet).

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  • The Serio speakers from Waterfall Audio are stunning (and expensive)

    The Serio speakers from Waterfall Audio are stunning (and expensive)

    Posted on November 20, 2009 | No Comments
    I've never heard of Waterfall Audio before. I think they qualify for one of my rules in the audio world though: if you've never heard of an audio company and they cost more than products from a familiar brand, it's probably good stuff. Apparently the company made a name for itself a few years ago with a glass-enclosed speaker line. Who knew. The latest speaker line, Serio, keeps the glass theme alive, but manages to shrink the package down to a satellite-style size. Too bad all that glass and square lines scream the '90s.

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  • Privacy versus power: smart grids are the new battlefield

    Privacy versus power: smart grids are the new battlefield

    Posted on November 19, 2009 | No Comments
    I think we can all agree that protecting our own personal privacy is a generally good idea. There are an enormous number of ways that our privacy can be encroached in a given day. Some of them are "for our own good", or "just the cost of doing business" in the modern age. Some of the ways our privacy may be violated are extremely esoteric and not very likely (hard drive activity LEDs, for example! PDF: Information Leakage from Optical Emanations). Generally speaking, what I do in my own home is largely my own business, and not the business of anyone else. But the technology behind so-called "smart grids" for delivering electricity to appliances in a way that maximizes efficiency may leak a lot of personal information about you and your domestic habits.

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  • ITU approves standard for universal phone charger

    ITU approves standard for universal phone charger

    Posted on October 26, 2009 | No Comments
    The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), aka the telecomm branch of the United Nations, has recently approved a standard for a universal phone charger. The standard is based on the GSM Association’s earlier suggestion for a Micro-USB-based universal mobile phone charger. This is really good news for anyone who has been following the ‘universal phone charger‘ story. [...]

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  • Left-handed? New underwear to save precious seconds at the urinal

    Left-handed? New underwear to save precious seconds at the urinal

    Posted on September 24, 2009 | No Comments
    Of all the times for me to not live in the UK, THIS IS THE WORST! Reuters is reporting that lefties across the pond will soon be getting special undergarments designed specifically so that they “can finally go to the bathroom as quickly and efficiently as their right-handed colleagues.”

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  • Soylent, I mean solar, power is people!

    Soylent, I mean solar, power is people!

    Posted on September 9, 2009 | No Comments
    solar-hairWhile the developed nations of the world spend huge amounts of money trying to eek out just a little more efficiency from traditional solar panels made from silicon, an industrious young lad from Nepal has figured out how to use human hair to get 9V of electricity from the sun. The fine articles are a little light (ha!) on the science, but even if there's some hyperbole in these reports you've got to admit that it's still wicked cool to use human hair to convert solar rays into electricity.

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  • New battery material could boost efficiency of electric cars by a factor of ten

    New battery material could boost efficiency of electric cars by a factor of ten

    Posted on August 17, 2009 | No Comments
    Electric cars have one major problem: Especially in the case of long drives, owners have to make too many stops to charge the battery. Now a group of researchers from Toyota and Tohuku University (in Northern Japan) announced progress on their work to do away with this inconvenience. They were able to make single crystals of lithium cobalt oxide, a chemical compound used in the production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (the picture shows a li-ion battery for hybrid vehicles Hitachi unveiled back in April).

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  • Cyberdyne Corp. starts exporting its robotic exoskeleton HAL-5 (video)

    Cyberdyne Corp. starts exporting its robotic exoskeleton HAL-5 (video)

    Posted on July 8, 2009 | No Comments
    A robot venture from Japan called Cyberdyne (yes, just like the evil corporation in the Terminator movies) has been in the news for years now for its futuristic exoskeleton HAL-5, a wearable robotic suit that helps paralyzed persons walk and lift heavy objects. Until now, the spectacular suit was marketed mainly in Japan, but today it came to light that Professor Sankai (the mastermind behind the exoskeleton) plans to step up the internationalization of his company. Six units of HAL-5 will be exported to hospitals and health care facilities in Odense, a city in Denmark, as early as next month. The suits will be tested for six months for safety and efficiency.

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  • Twelve 42-inch LCDs rolled into one = huge digital signage system

    Twelve 42-inch LCDs rolled into one = huge digital signage system

    Posted on July 3, 2009 | No Comments
    If you've ever come to Japan, and especially to Tokyo, you will have noticed this country's love for digital signage systems. They're practically everywhere and some of them are quite cool. Now Tokyo-based Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) has announced plans to set up a digital signage system [JP] that consists of a total of twelve 42-inch LCDs.

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