Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve seen data centers use excess heat for greener purposes, but how’s about injecting a little green into the other side of that equation? HP Labs is on that very wavelength, going so far as to publish details on how these centers could be partially powered by none other than cow manure. Yeah, cowpies. The essential thought process went a little something like this: “Data centers need a lot of energy. Dairy farms create a lot of methane. Let’s make it happen.” Purportedly, 10,000 dairy cows could “fulfill the power requirements of a 1-megawatt data center — the equivalent of a medium-sized data center — with power left over to support other needs on the farm,” and heat generated by the data center could “be used to increase the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of animal waste.” The stomach-twisting details can be found beyond the break, but we can’t be held responsible for any images you conjure up. Remember — once your third eye sees it, you can’t un-see it.

[Thanks, Bob]

Continue reading HP data center fueled by hopes, dreams and… cow dung

HP data center fueled by hopes, dreams and… cow dung originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We found a lot to like about the BW MM-1 multimedia speakers, but their $500 price tag gives us pause.

Among Android handsets with keyboards, the Droid is the indisputable king. The LG Ally, also on Verizon, doesn’t change this, but it does make buying a Droid tougher to stomach. More »

HP’s been pushing out laptops like it’s going out of style, but for some reason or another, the G42t never seemed to make it into any of the outfit’s recent press releases. No matter, as the aforesaid machine has just surfaced on the company’s website, and it’s not only for sale, it’s available for customization. Users can equip the 14-inch laptop with a Core i3 or i5 processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, a hard drive ranging from 250GB to 640GB, integrated Intel graphics, a 1,366 x 768 resolution panel and a built-in webcam. There’s also WiFi, optional Bluetooth, a SuperMulti DVD burner (or a Blu-ray drive, if you’d prefer), 6-cell Li-ion battery and plenty of bloatware to keep you busy right out of the box. Best of all, this guy gets going at just $549.99, so there’s at least a slim chance you won’t shatter the bank while indulging yourself.

[Thanks, Jorgos]

HP slips out 14-inch G42t laptop with Core i3 and i5 options originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 13:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Interested to know how you were gonna fill up that Chrome OS app page? Google just announced its new online web app store at I/O. So far they’ve shown off Dark Room for image editing, a pretty slick version of TweetDeck, and yes, like every other platform known to man, there’s Plants. vs. Zombies and Lego Star Wars. Paid-for software will be offered — Dark Room is $4.99, if you want to go ahead and put that money aside. No word on a launch date, but we’ll keep pushing for more. We were just shown a demo of Sports Illustrated‘s interactive magazine, and we gotta say, it’s mighty impressive — embedded video, fully searchable, and some pretty clever tricks with geolocation that frankly exceed most anything we’ve seen on the iPad thus far. The web store — for Chrome and Chrome OS — will hit the dev channel “soon.”

Google unveils Chrome web store, Sports Illustrated app impresses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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