Hasta La Gadget!

The power you generate when pedaling a bike can be used in all sorts of ways, but Nokia is hoping to harness it for something very specific: charging your phone.

The company has introduced a charging kit that attaches to any bicycle and charges as you pedal. Once you reach walking speed — around six kilometers per hour — the juice kicks in. It features three components: a dynamo that attaches to your bike’s wheel to create the power, a charger to transfer it, and a rubberized phone holder that attaches to your handlebars.

Unfortunately, the charger isn’t yet available to cyclists in North America, as it’s only currently for sale in Asia, Europe, and Africa. So pretty much everywhere else.

Via Treehugger

In the future we may just flexible gadgets made out of silk.

A group of researchers in Taiwan has developed a way to turn silk membranes into a material suitable for creating electronic devices like eReaders. The research took two years and the process involves creating liquid silk membranes that work as insulators for flexible thin-film transistors.

“We didn’t know at first that it would be the best material, but after a few months of tests we realized it was quite viable,” Professor Hwang Jenn-Chang told PC World. “No one else has thought to try this, or at least no one else has succeeded.”

The researchers are currently in talks to begin utilizing the technology in commercial products.

A Bentley has just broken the world ice speed record. And it did it running on biofuel.

The car managed to reach a speed of 202 miles per hour while racing across the frozen ice, topping the previous record of 199.83 mph. Both records were held by legendary rally driver Juha Kankkunen.

The car itself is a Bentley Continental Supersports convertible, which has been limited to tiny production run of just 100. It features a 6-litre, twin turbo-charged W12 engine that produces 640 PS, making it Bentley’s most powerful car yet. It’s also powered by E85 bio-ethanol, though the car can also run on gasoline, or a combination of the two fuel sources. According to Bentley, the fuel system offers a “reduction of up to 70 percent in CO2 emissions on a well-to-wheel basis.”

Good news. On the chauffeur’s day off, all you need do to charge your electric Rolls-Royce 102EX is drive into the carriage house more or less straight, and a wireless induction charger takes over. It’s one of three ways to charge the 1,400-pound battery under the bonnet of this experimental car that debuted at this week’s Geneva Auto Show.

The long awaited electric Rolls Royce Phantom has officially been unveiled, and we finally have some specs for the luxury car.

The 102EX, which Rolls Royce is also calling the Phantom Experimental Electric, or EE for short, features two 145kW electric engines in the rear providing 290kW of torque. That makes for a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour and a zero to 60 time of just eight seconds.

As for the plug-in portion of the EE, the car features what at first appears to be a gas tank cover. Instead, it’s a clear cover outfitted with multi-colored LED lights that houses the plug. As previously reported, the EE may not ever make it into mass production, instead it’s serving to test the luxury EV waters.

“Can Phantom EE deliver an acceptable range for customers without frequent re-charging?” the company asks on its website. “Is there confidence in its ability to operate in extreme conditions? Will reliability and quality be consistent with expectations of the world’s pinnacle automotive brand?

“Phantom EE also poses more fundamental questions: Is an all-electric drive-train able to deliver an authentic Rolls-Royce experience for customers, an experience that truly befits the marque? Whether all-electric or another alternative drive-train option is right for Rolls-Royce will become clearer when the test programme is complete at the end of the year.”

But that hasn’t stopped the Daily Mail from reporting that the car will cost an unsuprisingly large sum of money: £1 million.