Dec 09

IFan Case Charges iPhone with Wind Power

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Environment, iPhone, power, Today's Chili

The iPhone uses a lot of power. Whether the battery is too small or we just feel compelled to play with it more than with other devices doesn’t matter. What matters is that half way through the day, you can find yourself with a dead phone. Tjeerd Veenhoven decided to do something about it, and instead of just, you know, plugging the thing in, he made the iFan.

Fashioned from an old computer cooling fan and a bumper-style case to house the electronics, Veenhoven’s iFan charges the iPhone fully in six-hours. Sure, that’s a lot longer than using a power adapter, but it’s also a lot less than I would have expected. He plans to cut that time with a more efficient fan.

Best of all are Veenhoven’s usage scenarios, which involve catching the wind while “sun bathing at the beach, doing walking trips in the mountains or just holding it outside your car window while driving along…”

That last one gives me a great idea: Attach this to your dog’s collar and take a road trip. What could possibly go wrong?

iFan, charge your phone with wind [Tjeerd Veenhoven]

Photo: Tjeerd Veenhoven

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Nov 10

ESL: A Warm, Dim-Able Low-Energy Bulb

Posted in: Environment, household, Today's Chili

With incandescent bulbs set to be gone from the US in the next couple of years, the competition for replacement tech is heating up, if you’ll excuse the pun. The latest new lightbulb from theSeattle-based Vu1 is the ESL, or Electron Stimulated Luminescence, which “uses accelerated electrons to stimulate phosphor to create light, making the surface of the bulb ‘glow’.”

Efficiency is way up from incandescents: Vu1 claims a 70% increase, along with five times the life of a traditional bulb. The first units out of the factory will be swap in replacements for the 65-Watt units common in households, and will cost around the same as compact fluorescents, about $20.

But all this is for nothing if you buy a bulb whose light is so ugly you daren’t switch it on. I have a giant globe hanging in the center of my bedroom which hives out a lovely even light from the LEDs inside, and runs cool and efficient. The problem is I didn’t pay attention to the color temperature label, and the light it produces is so cold and lifeless it could make George Hamilton look like a pale cadaver.

Don’t worry, though, as the ESL is colored just a touch cooler than an incandescent bulb, and less green than a CFL. It is also fully dim-able, meaning you can finally swap out the lights in your chick-magnet bachelor pad.

EFL product page [Vu1 via Core77]

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Nov 08

Fast-Flowing Water-Filter Fills Bottles in Seconds

Posted in: Environment, household, Today's Chili

Who says good design never makes it into the average home? I don’t know, but when you find them, tell them they’re an idiot and shut them up with this, the Filtrete Water Station from Ideo, which has designer-store looks, but is on sale in Walmart.

Ideo worked with 3M to make a water filter that would actually be used by people who insist on drinking bottle water. Instead of the slow drip-drip-drip filtering of rival Brita’s jugs, the Filtrete glugs in the water through its wide, faucet-friendly top and uses it’s charcoal filter to scrub out chlorine, odors and other impurities in seconds.

But the real innovation here is the bottles, and here’s why: Right now I’m hobbling around on crutches thanks to a broken leg. I live in a city with horrible water, and we use a filter jug to make it even palatable. the Lady likes to leave the jug empty, and filling it whilst standing one leg, waiting, and then trying to fill a small water-bottle to carry back to my desk is something of a chore. with the Filtrete, you plug up to four bottles in simultaneously (auto-sealing valves open only when a bottle is seated) and go. After a few seconds, you just flip up the leak-proof cap which doubles as a handle, meaning you could hang it from a pinkie as you use the rest of your hands with the crutches.

But it’s not just for cripples like me. Amazingly, Ideo’s research says that a family gets through as many as 3,000 bottles a year, which my notoriously bad math tells me is more than two per day per person for a family of four. That’s a lot of waste.

And because it’s in Walmart, it’s cheap. The kit comes in at under $38, a new filter costs around $11 (good for 100 gallons, or a couple months) and a 2-pack of bottles is another $15.

Filtrete product details [Ideo via Oh Gizmo!]

Filtrete product page [Walmart]

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Nov 02

Replenish Sells You Empty Cleaning-Spray Bottle: Just Add Water

Posted in: Environment, household, Today's Chili

Did you know that just five percent of the stuff in the cleaning products under your sink is actual chemical cleaner? The other 95% is just water, water that you are paying to be shipped and stored before you buy it, and water that you then need to carry home.

Replenish gets around this by selling you an empty spray bottle. Yes, empty, with nothing inside but fresh-air. You fill this with your own water from your own faucet, and the chemicals come concentrated in a small capsule that screws into the bottom of the bottle. What’s more, the bottle (100% recyclable – even the spring in the trigger is plastic) is rated for 10,000 trigger-pulls, so you can keep it for years.

But you’re no hippy, right? Saving the environment is expensive, and the Earth can go screw itself. Wrong! Using the Replenish cleaners is actually cheaper, and the bottle’s also look way nicer than anything in the supermarket. A bottle with included capsule costs just $8, and that capsule contains enough concentrate for four bottles of water. When the capsule eventually runs dry, more can be had for just $4 each.

It all sounds too good to be true. Maybe there’s something we don’t know? Maybe the multi-surface cleaning spray smells like old socks? It’s doubtful, and customers seem to be happy – Replenish is currently out of stock on the site, but you can sign up and get an email when another batch is cooked up at the Wisconsin factory.

Replenish product page [Replenish via Oh Gizmo]


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Oct 21

Hybrid CF Lightbulbs Offer Instant-On for the Incurably Impatient

Posted in: Environment, household, Today's Chili

Man, how impatient are we in our comfortable, high-tech palaces? It seems we can’t even wait for a lightbulb to fire up after we hit the switch. But don’t worry, you over-entitled fusspots, GE has you covered with its complicated new Hybrid Halogen-CFL light bulb.

The problem: CF, or compact-fluorescent bulbs take a while to get to full brightness. Depending on the model, they can take a large chunk of a minute to get up to speed. My parents, for instance, sit in the dark for what seems like forever when I Skype them and they turn on the light in the “computer room”. My CF lamps, though, are at full power almost instantly.

GE’s solution is to put a tiny halogen lamp inside the bulb, squeezed in alongside the elegantly looping CF-tube already coiled therein. If nothing else, this intricate device looks like a glass-blowers version of a Swiss watch movement, beautiful and impossible to fathom. When you flick the switch, the halogen bulb lights instantly. When the CF tube comes up to temperature, the halogen lamp blinks out.

I’m inclined to think that this is a solution to a first-world problem, something which only whiners would ever feel a need for. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who refuse to buy energy-saving bulbs because of this warm-up delay, preferring to selfishly burn the planet’s resources for a few seconds of added convenience. If GE’s hybrid bulb can get these self-important idiots to switch over, then I’m all for them.

The bulbs will be on sale in 2011.

GE Unveils Unique Hybrid Halogen-CFL Light Bulb [GE. Thanks, David!]

Press images: GE

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Oct 04

NC State patents multifunctional smart sensors, looks to ‘revolutionize energy and communications infrastructure’

Posted in: Environment, green, patent, processor, research, science, sensor, Today's Chili, university

Bold words coming from a program that choked in epic fashion this past Saturday in front of 58,000+, don’t you think? Thankfully for those who are actually involved in the global energy and communications infrastructure (not to mention depressed alumni), NC State‘s athletics department is far removed from its research labs, and the university’s latest development was born and bred in the latter. A team of researchers have managed to patent a new technology that is expected to enable the development of “high-power, high-voltage and high-current devices that are critical for the development of energy distribution devices, such as smart grid technology and high-frequency military communications.” The secret? Integrating gallium nitride (GaN) sensors and devices directly into silicon-based computer chips, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by any team prior. According to Dr. Jay Narayan, this newfangled integration has “enabled the creation of multifunctional smart sensors, high-electron mobility transistors, high-power devices, and high-voltage switches for smart grids,” and it also makes a broader range of radio frequencies available — something that’ll obviously be beneficial in the advancement of communications. Best of all, a US-based corporation is already in the process of licensing the technology, so it’s likely that we’ll see this in use in the not-too-distant future. An ACC championship, however, remains far more elusive.

NC State patents multifunctional smart sensors, looks to ‘revolutionize energy and communications infrastructure’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 27

Owleye Solar Bike Lights Also Charge via USB

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, Environment, Today's Chili, usb

Owleye makes solar-powered bike-lights, but don’t worry if you forgot to leave one on the window-ledge all day – you can quickly juice the built-in li-ion batteries via USB.

The lamp in question is the catchily-named 1996-906. Like all Owleye’s other lights, it has solar-panel on the side which will provide enough charge for 90 minutes if left to soak in the photons for two-hours. LEave it in the sun for four hours and switch the 200-lumen LED to flashing-mode and you can enjoy six-hours of night-biking.

The trick here is that you don’t need to turn the house-lights on if its a cloudy day, or to charge the lamp overnight. With the 1996-906, you can just plug in to a handy USB-port or charger and juice it that way.

The idea is a good one – I hate buying batteries or even swapping-out rechargeables. The lights are also small, so you can keep them handy in a backpack or pocket. They’re not cheap, however. Online, this model is going for $80 a set. If you don’t need the USB option, Owleye makes cheaper, bulkier lamps starting at $20.

Owleye product page [Owleye via Urban Velo]

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Sep 24

Android App Uses Cellphone Camera to Measure Air Pollution

Posted in: Android, app, camera, cellphones, Environment, Phones, Today's Chili

If you think there’s something in the air, you could know for sure by just pointing your Android phone at it.

An Android app called Visibility, developed by researchers at University of Southern California, lets users take a photo of the sky and get data on the air quality.

The free app is currently available for phones running Android 2.1 version of the operating system.

“Airborne particulate matter is a serious threat to both our health and the environment,” say the researchers on their blog. “We are working towards an optical technique to measure air visibility, and hence an estimate of some kinds of air pollution, using cameras and other sensors available on smartphones.”

It’s a neat idea and it’s interesting to see how smartphones are giving rise to the trend of citizen science and crowdsourced data.

As smartphones become ubiquitous and increasingly powerful, researchers are increasingly using the devices to do complex computations and use it for crowdsourced data gathering. For instance, as part of a project called ‘Common Sense’ Intel’s research labs developed sensors that could be attached to GPS-enabled phones and measure air quality.  The data gathered from these sensors would be brought back and processed to help researchers understand pollution levels.

The Visibility Android app hopes to offer something similar but make the process more user friendly.

With the Visibility app, each user photo of the sky is tagged with location, orientation and time. The data is transferred to a server where the calculations take place. The level of air quality is estimated by calibrating the images sent and comparing their intensity against an existing model of luminance in the sky, say the researchers.

The result is sent back to the user and the data is also used to create pollution maps for the region. An iPhone version of the app is in the works.

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Photo: Mobile Sensing/USC Robotics
[via TreeHugger and Gizmag]


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Sep 20

Energysport Concept Charges Gadgets while you Bike to Work

Posted in: Environment, Tech Toys, Today's Chili

EnergySportIf you’re a city-dweller and rely on your bike to get around town, or just like to get some exercise by pedaling around a local park or your neighborhood, the Energysport concept generator could potentially help charge your phone and other gadgets when you get to your destination. The generator and battery would mount on the back of your bicycle and harness some of the energy you put into your bike to power your electronics, and when you get to your destination you can pull the battery pack out of the generator and plug in your devices to it for some extra juice.

The Energysport is just a concept right now, but it’s the kind of design that makes sense. You put a lot of energy into keeping your bike moving when you push those pedals, why not take a fraction of it to charge up a battery so you don’t finish your trip only to find out your phone’s battery is dead? In addition to being a healthy way to power up your gadgets, the energy would be completely renewable too; as long as you keep riding your bike, that is.

[via Ecofriend]

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Sep 10

Beautiful Sculpted Lightbulb Too Good for a Shade

Posted in: Environment, household, Today's Chili

Lightbulbs are pretty dull. In fact, the most interesting thing about them is the almost endless number of lightbulb jokes, from which I will spare you right now. The Plumen 001, though, brings some style to your sockets.

It’s another energy-saving bulb, only instead of subscribing to the “hospital-utilitarian” school of design, the Plumen is rather beautiful. Mimicking the sweeps and twisting curves of the filament inside a low-wattage incandescent bulb, the Plumen’s glass-tubes glow with a warm, 2700k light. The output is 680 Lumens, or around that of a regular 60-Watt bulb, but it only uses 11-Watts of power.

The bulb should last you around 8,000 hours, during which time you will not be able to dim it or use it anywhere that doesn’t have a 220-230-volt supply. A U.S-friendly 110-volt model is on the way, though, so you power-wasters can leave all the lights burning in your house, all day long and still salve your consciences. One bulb will cost you £20, or just over $30, but you’ll save that by not having to buy a shade to hide it.

Okay. Just one lightbulb joke: How many policemen does it take to break a lightbulb? None. It just fell down the stairs and broke itself [rimshot].

Plumen 001 [Plumen via OhGizmo]

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