If you’re looking for a geeky gift for your loved one for Valentine’s Day, the 8-Bit Rose might be the thing that wins their heart. Just like the 8-Bit Flower Bouquet, this rose will stay bright red and upright forever.
The 8-Bit Rose is made from EVA foam and has a fold out stand. I wonder if EVA foam has a sweet scent.
You can order the 8-Bit Rose from ThinkGeek for $15 (USD). Make a 96-bit bouquet if you have some extra coins on you.
This beautiful alien landscape is right here on Earth: a never-ending sea of ice flowers quietly floating over a thinly frozen sea. These strange ice structures are very rich in salt and bacteria—and very hard to pick, according to oceanography doctoral candidate Jeff Bowman. More »
If you’re both a horticulturist and an audiophile, then have I got the perfect thing for you. Ok, it’s probably more for the gardener than the audio fanatic since it doesn’t actually function as a speaker, but this thing is still kind of a neat idea.
While it looks just like a bookshelf speaker, what you’re looking at is a 3D-printed planter. It measures about 4″(W) x 4″ (D) x 5.8″(H) and has a drainage hole to make sure your plants don’t get overwatered. Just don’t try connecting this thing to your amplifier unless you want to short it out.
You can buy the 3D-printed speaker planter for $30(USD) from PixilShop over on Etsy.
We see a lot of sleek-looking technology pass through our doors, but it’s rare that the inventions could be called beautiful by those who aren’t immersed in the gadget world. We’d venture that North Carolina State University might have crossed the divide by creating an energy storage technology that’s both practical and genuinely pretty. Its technology vaporizes germanium sulfide and cools it into 20-30 nanometer layers that, as they’re combined, turn into nanoflowers: elegant structures that might look like the carnation on a prom dress or tuxedo, but are really energy storage cells with much more capacity than traditional cells occupying the same area. The floral patterns could lead to longer-lived supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries, and the germanium sulfide is both cheap and clean enough that it could lead to very efficient solar cells that are more environmentally responsible. As always, there’s no definite timetable for when (and if) NC State’s technology might be commercialized — so call someone’s bluff if they promise you a nanoflower bouquet.
Filed under: Science
NC State nanoflowers can boost battery and solar cell capacity, make great prom accessories originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Looking for a solar charger for your gadgets, but want something other than a black box with a solar panel glued to it? Then Check out XD Design’s latest creation – the Solar Sunflower, a gadget charger perfect for those with or without a green thumb.
Designed to look like a small, potted sunflower, you can place it in a window or bring it with you outside to charge up your mobile devices. It’s got a powerful 2500 mAh rechargeable battery built in, so it’ll hold onto some juice even when the sun goes down. It’s got a USB connector for charging your smartphones and other small gadgets (sorry, no tablets), and a mini-USB input, which I can only assume is for charging its internal battery up without sunlight.
The Solar Sunflower is available from Design3000 for €59.50 (~$77 USD), and for wholesale purchasers over on XD Design’s website now.
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