The heat of an active volcano. A 5,000 pound weight dropped from above. A sandstorm that lasts ten years. These are just some of the ways GE torture-tests the super-strong materials that go into jet engines, wind turbines, and more. And thanks to the company’s fascinating YouTube channel, we get an up-close view of the process. No safety goggles required.
As you settle down to watch the Opening Day night games tonight, you probably won’t be thinking about the massive array of lights that illuminate the game. But that blinding artificial sunlight was once a technological phenomenon that stunned fans and had the police threatening to shut it down.
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Crowdsourced carmaker Local Motors, makers of the 100 percent bonkers Rally Fighter you see above, just teamed up with GE Appliances, maker of… appliances. Clearly, your kitchen is about to get way more badass.
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GE did get the industry talking in 2013 when they invested $30 million into Quirky, which is a New York-based start up, and it seems as though that money has started to pay off through the form of the Aros air conditioner which was specially designed for the smart home. The Aros is not too different from the Nest Learning Thermostat, where it claims to synchronize with your smartphone while learning more about you and its surroundings through your schedule, budget, location, and usage so that it can work on maintaining an ideal temperature and maximizing energy savings automatically.
Aros Air Conditioner From GE Targets The Smart Home original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Though Nest has made a dent in home automation with its smart thermostat, the company hasn’t really addressed those of us who live in old apartment buildings with window AC units as our only summer salvation. But GE and Quirky haven’t forgotten.
Today, they’ve announced a brand new smart AC unit called the Aros, as part of their existing multi-billion dollar partnership. Read More
This is Aros, a Wi-Fi connected air conditioner aimed at energy-conscious consumers that Quirky and GE are launching today. It’s by far the biggest and most complicated product that Quirky has ever built, and it aims to help solve truly endemic problem: The window a/c unit, which has remained pretty much unchanged since the 1970s.
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The Boston Dynamics Big Dog is only the latest in a long line of semi-autonomous cargo carriers developed for the US military. Back in the late 1960’s, GE unveiled the Big Dog’s spiritual predecessor: a mammoth mechanical pack mule strong enough to push Jeeps around like Matchbox cars.
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At one time giant blocks of ice were the best solution we could come up with for keeping food cold. That primitive approach was eventually replaced by electric refrigerators using compressors and chemical coolants. Now, almost 100 years later, G.E. thinks it’s found a better way to cool a fridge using a water-based fluid and magnets.
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They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but when it comes to an underwater pipeline carrying oil or natural gas, staying ahead of leaks can actually help prevent a billion dollar cleanup. So researchers at GE are developing an underwater submersible that uses X-rays to check pipelines for signs of corrosion and deterioration before something catastrophic happens.
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In the mid-1960’s, New York Central Railroad engineer Don Wetzel was exploring ways to make trains run safer, cheaper, but most importantly: faster. And, clearly, the most logical means of accomplishing all three of these objectives was to strap a pair of Air Force surplus jet engines to the roof of a prototype high-speed locomotive, creating the world’s fastest self-propelled train. Wait, what?
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