May 16

Nissan opens all-electric Leaf pre-orders to the US public: $99 to reserve

Posted in: electric car, ElectricCar, ev, green, now available, NowAvailable, power, pre-order, Today's Chili

Nissan didn’t hesitate to gloat about its ability to book 8,000 Leaf pre-orders in just nine days during a pre-pre-order for those who specifically requested early access to the automobile, and now the outfit’s looking to make good on plans to have 25,000 orders in place by December. If all goes well, the all-electric car will be “widely available” in 2012, with a semi-wide release slated for next Spring. Naturally, the buzz is already fueling demand, and the automaker has today opened up a public reservation system online for those unwilling to take chances on availability come 2011. If you’re interested, you can actually reserve your Leaf right now with precisely zero clothing on — you heard right, there’s no need to even visit a local dealer. Simply hand over a $99 refundable deposit and wait, but you best get your story in line before being pinged by Nissan. The Wall Street Journal has it that pre-orderers will have to “convince Nissan they are up to the task of owning an electric vehicle based on their driving patterns, living arrangements and other factors,” and if you call Nunapitchuk, Alaska home, you can bet you’ll be shoved to the rear of the line. But hey, we always heard it was best to pull the trigger now and ask questions later.

[Thanks, Jim]

Nissan opens all-electric Leaf pre-orders to the US public: $99 to reserve originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 12

QuickerTek iPad charge monitor tests your USB port’s output potential

Posted in: Apple, apple ipad, AppleIpad, charging, ipad, peripheral, power, tablet, Today's Chili, usb

Oh, Apple. Just a few short months ago, a USB port was (largely) a USB port, charging pretty much any gizmo we could find without so much as a fuss. Now, loads of USB ports are throwing temper tantrums when faced with the energy-hungry iPad, with most simply refusing to charge the thing. Apple contends that a 10W USB port is needed to effectively rejuvenate its first tablet, though some sockets will do the trick so long as you have the display switched off. If you’re looking to quickly evaluate the strength of every USB port in your home or office, QuickerTek’s aptly-titled iPad Charge Monitor ain’t a half bad option. You simply plug this LED-infused dongle into a suspicious port, then connect the product you wish to charge to the other end; the device then glows to tell you how much power is flowing out, though there’s nothing included to deal with all-but-guaranteed bouts of frustration from seeing too few LEDs light up. It’s up for order right now at $29.95, and while you’re over there, you can pick up an iPad solar panel and an iPad external battery pack for $250 each. What a bargain.

[Thanks, Lan]

QuickerTek iPad charge monitor tests your USB port’s output potential originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 14:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 11

The Fastest (and Slowest) Way to Charge an iPad [Apple]

Posted in: Apple, charger, feature, ipad, iPhone, ipod, power, review, Today's Chili, top

The flipside of the iPad’s seemingly inexhaustible battery life is that the length of time it takes to recharge it is best measured in epochs. Turns out, some methods work better than others. More »

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May 10

Levant Power’s GenShock absorbs energy as well as bumps (video)

Posted in: power, Today's Chili, video

Hey, who’s this charming young rogue giving Ma Earth a peck on the cheek? While opinions may differ on the utility of regenerative braking, we can’t envision anyone outside of Chevron or BP’s head offices complaining about suspensions that generate electricity out of the bumps you encounter on the road. GenShock is just such an invention, and its creator Levant Power claims it can improve fuel efficiency by up to six percent when implemented in hybrid or all-electric vehicles, while being affordable enough to pay for itself within 18 months of installation. The company is presently targeting heavy trucks, consumer hybrids, military vehicles, and mass transit systems for implementation of its tech, which is also claimed to result in a smoother ride. Should you doubt its actual efficacy, you’ll also want to know that GenShock has so far garnered awards from the US Department of Energy, MIT, and Popular Science magazine. See it on video after the break.

Continue reading Levant Power’s GenShock absorbs energy as well as bumps (video)

Levant Power’s GenShock absorbs energy as well as bumps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 May 2010 08:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 05

Intel reaches for the ‘smartphone zone’ with Moorestown-based Atom Z6, comes up shorthanded

Posted in: intel, intel atom, IntelAtom, netbook, netbooks, power, smartphone, Smartphones, Today's Chili

We’ve seen the future of Intel’s mobile platform, and it isn’t all roses and sunshine. Three years after the chipmaker told us Moorestown would reduce Atom’s energy consumption by a factor of 20, company execs told us earlier today that they’ve more than reached that goal with the new Z6xx series. Problem is, in the smartphone realm Intel’s competitors haven’t been sitting idle; according to one of Chipzilla’s cantaloupe-and-magenta bar charts, it seems the company has merely caught up in terms of battery life. That’s not to say the chips aren’t worlds better than previous Atoms — Intel sees 1.5GHz smartphone processors that slay Snapdragons and up to 1.9GHz in a tablet PC variety — but 5 hours of web browsing is most decidedly not the 24 hours of productivity Intel previously promised. Besides, who knows: Qualcomm also has a 1.5GHz SoC in the works, though it may not be available by the time Intel’s chips ship in the second half of the year.

None of this is to say that Intel won’t continue to dominate in the netbook marketplace — we shudder to think at the potential when combining a nice, chunky battery with Intel’s nearly leakproof new chips, and perhaps a small serving of switchable graphics while we’re at it. But without a single new MID or smartphone to show us this morning — Aava Mobile and OpenPeak‘s offerings seemed unchanged from our previous encounters — we’re not sure if the company’s other mobile ambitions have any sway. Not technical enough of a discussion for you? Peruse our gallery for the nitty-gritty.

Gallery: Highlights from Intel’s Atom Z6xx briefing

Intel reaches for the ‘smartphone zone’ with Moorestown-based Atom Z6, comes up shorthanded originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 02:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 23

Apple Makes MagSafe MagSafer

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

magsafer

Apple’s plastic MagSafe power adapter is certainly a big improvement on the old bullet-tipped model, but it is still prone to breakage. Exhibit A: My own power-adapter, which frayed internally and eventually stopped passing precious electrons to my MacBook a few weeks back.

Apple has hopefully fixed this with updated MagSafe tips for the 85 Watt adapters which come with the 15 and 17-inch MacBooks, and the 65 Watt versions for the 13-inch MacBook and MacBook Pro. The tip is aluminum and puts the plug in parallel with the cable instead of at right-angles, just like that of the MacBook Air, only with this new design the aluminum extends past the rectangular tip and into a cable-coddling tube. This tube alone should fix a major failing point of the adapters.

It’s just a shame (for me at least) that these didn’t come out a little earlier, so I didn’t have to drop my $80 on yet another piece of plastic junk. Than again, maybe Apple’s adapters just seem to fail more often because the computers themselves last so long?

Apple 85W MagSafe Power Adapter [Apple]

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Apr 15

Intel’s experimental sensor analyzes appliance power consumption from single outlet

Posted in: green, intel, power, sensor, Today's Chili, wifi, Wireless

It’s pretty much set in silicon — in the future, you will monitor your home power consumption, and perhaps even enjoy doing so. Futuristic touchscreen panels and free monitoring software abound, each designed to reward you with a warm, fuzzy Captain Planet feeling and a reduced energy bill when you finally turn off that blasted light. Thing is, unless you’ve got a home automation system, you won’t know which switch to flip. Intel wants to change that with a new wireless sensor that can identify each individual appliance in your house by their unique electrical signal, just by plugging into a single outlet in your house. The reportedly low-cost sensor works by simply recognizing voltage drop patterns when devices are turned on and off, and doesn’t require special appliances to function; Intel demonstrated it on a standard toaster, microwave and fridge in Beijing this week. Demonstrate your supreme demand for this “why didn’t I think of that” idea by directing traffic to our source link — you can jump to 20:10 to see the sensor in action.

Intel’s experimental sensor analyzes appliance power consumption from single outlet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 14

MIT researchers demonstrate more efficient wireless power

Posted in: power, tesla, Today's Chili

MIT researchers have been working on wireless power longer than most (Nikola Tesla aside), and it looks like they’ve now made a somewhat surprising discovery that could lead to more efficient wireless power. In addition to reducing the size of the transmitters and receives used in their system to something approaching practical, the researchers found that the system’s efficiency at transmitting energy increased “significantly” if multiple devices are charged at the same time. What’s more, while the amount of power transmitted in the latest experiment only amounted to 100 watts, MIT’s André Kurs says that is only limited by the amplifier used for the transmitting coil, adding that the system could easily “feed power to a medium-sized room and power a dozen devices.”

MIT researchers demonstrate more efficient wireless power originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 27

Earth Hour starts at 8.30PM tonight, asks for sixty minutes of natural living

Posted in: Environment, green, power, Today's Chili, video

Time to don your eco-warrior armor, strap on your nature-loving helmet, and flick that big old… light switch. Yes, in honor of the WWF’s Earth Hour, countries around the globe are tonight switching off non-essential lights and appliances for sixty minutes, with highlights including Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, the Burj Khalifa, and the Empire State Building all going dark in the hope of helping the planet stay green. Timed for 8.30pm your local time, this unorthodox event has already commenced with Australia, New Zealand, China and others doing their bit — videos after the break — and is just now hitting Eastern European borders. So, fellow earthlings, will you be among the projected one billion souls that go au naturel for an hour tonight?

[Thanks, Pavel]

Continue reading Earth Hour starts at 8.30PM tonight, asks for sixty minutes of natural living

Earth Hour starts at 8.30PM tonight, asks for sixty minutes of natural living originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 26

Samsung Galaxy S Phone Processor Packs a Punch

Posted in: Phones, power, processor, samsung, snapdragon, Today's Chili

samsung-galaxy-sWith its large screen and the latest version of Android operating system, Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy S phone is part of a new generation of Android ’superphones’ that are set to launch this year.

But Galaxy S is ahead of its rivals at least when it comes to one aspect of computing power. The Galaxy S has the fastest graphics processing unit of any Android phone, according to back-of-the-envelope calculations by AndroidandMe. The Galaxy S’ processor is at least three times faster than a comparable 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, says the website.

Samsung announced the Galaxy S phone at the CTIA conference in Las Vegas earlier this week. The Galaxy S has a 4-inch AMOLED screen, the latest Android 2.1 operating system, 5-megapixel camera, and Wi-Fi support. Separately, Sprint and HTC announced the first 4G Android smartphone.

The Galaxy S’ 1 GHz chip can process 90 million triangles per second, while the Snapdragon platform can reportedly handle 22 million triangles per second, says AndroidandMe. Samsung’s latest chip pairs an ARM Cortex A8 core with a powerful GPU–the excitingly named PowerVR SGX540–turning the combo into a computing monster.

AndroidandMe has also done a GPU comparison for some of the leading smartphones. The Motorola Droid’s Texas Instrument chip can handle 7 million triangles per second, while the iPHone 3G S which has a 600 MHz Cortex-A8 with PowerVR SGX535 GPU can clock up to 28 million triangles a second–all of which shows the Samsung Galaxy S has the bragging rights for now.

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Photo: Samsung Galaxy S


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