Another geo-engineering gimmick: dumping lime into oceans

The following Guardian article talks about another one of those half-cocked geo-engineering fixes: liming the world’s oceans. The guy who promotes the idea is a former management consultant, which immediately raises the question: what makes him qualified to design climate change solutions?
Apart from that minor detail, this band aid, like all the other ones, makes [...]

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How to take the iPhone 3GS

This clip makes it look easy to replace an iPhone battery. MacWorld on backstage of iFixit during a demo of deconstructing the iPhone 3GS

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Nanotechnology – a brief introduction to the concept

From Lawrence Berkeley National Labs to Silicon Valley, researchers are manipulating particles at the atomic level, ushering in potential cures for cancer, clothes that don’t stain, and solar panels as thick as a sheet of paper. What is missing in this clip is a slightly more extensive discussion of the dangers [...]

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Russian doll style model showing the evolution of the mobile phone

Kyle Bean’s (or is it Karl Bean?) Russian doll style model show the evolution of the mobile phone from the Motorola Dynatac (1983) to Apple iPhone (2007). Those early models certainly deserved the attribute of being called a brick.
Via Creative Review

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Israeli Military Testing ‘robotic’ Snake

It is befitting that an aggressive, militaristic state like Israel would develop this combat mission weapon: a “robotic” camouflaged snake that can transmit video and audio as it crawls through difficult terrain and into enemy territory. The robot will gather intelligence behind enemy lines with a camera and microphone installed in [...]

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Shoppers’ cars to power supermarket checkouts

An interesting post. But the proposed solution of course does not address the problems of unsustainability of supermarket shopping, like the use of cars, transport for goods production and distribution, the makeup of goods sold, etc. But I guess, it’s a small step into a hopefully better world.
By SEAN POULTER Mail Online
Shoppers’ cars will be used [...]

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From Airbus to Afghanistan, Israel, Peru, Antarctica and Clinton/Bush as war criminals …

… and much more – a long list of articles on current political topics by Global Research. I like GR because its critical perspective shines a torchlight onto the otherwise pretty meaningless and superficial news coverage of the mainstream press. The articles listed below were posted between the 2nd and 12th of June 2009.

And if [...]

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Cutting fuel consumption on airplanes by perforating wings

Wings that waggle could cut aircraft emissions by 20%
Wings which redirect air to waggle sideways could cut airline fuel bills by 20% according to research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Airbus in the UK.
The new approach, which promises to dramatically reduce mid-flight drag, uses tiny air powered jets which [...]

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The shrinking coin – geeks’ way to symbolise the economy

Well, I guess that’s not the intention, but it’s certainly not a bad interpretation . Hackerbot Labs built a coin shrinker based on an actual industrial process called electromagnetic forming. They charge up a capacitor to 10kV and then release the stored energy very quickly into a copper coil wrapped around a coin. [...]

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Gates funds floating library in Bangladesh

Not sure what the opposite of a fanboy is – but it’s that what I am in regards to Micro$soft. Nevertheless: credit where it’s due. I’m not commenting on the Bill & Belinda Gates Foundation (BBGF) or the Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha organization in Bangladesh (I haven’t research either).  But on the surface it looks like [...]

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Taiwan’s Solar Stadium runs 100% on self-generated energy and supplies neighbourhood

Here’s an example town planners and developers all over the world can learn from – and will be forced to over the years as the planet heats up: Taiwan’s Solar Stadium is 100% self-powered by solar energy, and during off-peak times supplies 80% of the energy needed by its neighbourhood. Inhabitat reports:

Taiwan recently finished construction [...]

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Waste management venture generates energy from gasification of municipal waste

A US waste management company has teamed up with a gasification technology upstart to generate energy, according to the CNet Green Tech post below. Gasification is different from incineration used by some waste management facilities: it does not burn municipal waste feedstock but treats it with high temperatures and pressure until it breaks down into [...]

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Windows that can generate electric energy – from sunlight and artificial lighting

Tinted see-thru coating for generating electricity on glass windows makes use of ultra-small solar cells ­­– shown to produce electricity in recently published peer-reviewed study and able to generate electricity from natural and artificial light.
Burtonsville, MD – May 20, 2009 – New Energy Technologies, Inc. (Symbol: NENE), today announced that, in addition to the active [...]

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Apple knocks back Maza Digital’s Drivetrain

The following Download Squad post provides just another example for Apple’s legalistic and moralistic guidelines that too often make the company reject iPhone applications submitted by developers, and it really irks me. Apple of course, as pointed out in this case again, does show double standards: while controlling iPhone applications, they do allow content to [...]

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FedEx experiments with eco-friendly Urban-Cabs as delivery vehicles

PRESS RELEASE
FedEx Express and Urban-Cab Join Forces for Ecological Deliveries
Another Step For More Environmentally-Friendly Town-Centre Express Deliveries
PARIS, April 21st, 2009 – FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, and Urban-Cab, Paris leader in 100% ecological passenger transportation, have announced their program for efficient and environmentally-friendly parcel [...]

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How to spot skimmers on ATMs

The US site The Consumerist provided some interesting and maybe even useful information about how to spot ATM skimmers – in form of a link to a PDF Powerpoint presentation that apparently is making the rounds in Australia. If you’ve already been reading every ATM skimming post, most of this might not be new, but [...]

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Citytrains in Queensland to offer free wifi access

The Courier Mail reports that from 2010 commuters with laptops catching their high-speed Citytrain in south-east Queensland will have high-speed Internet access on their high-speed train trips. The state’s transport minister Ms Nolan said new wireless equipment to allow security footage to be streamed in real time to Queensland Rail’s control room at Central [...]

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What is Freeview?

At the moment nothing else but a big marketing campaign to confuse consumers and create demand for future features that will benefit commercial broadcasters and take away options for consumers. And right now, everyone seems puzzled, bewildered and mystified: consumers, manufacturers, and even the Freeview consortium doesn’t have a clear understanding yet which of their [...]

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Is there a positive biofuel application for the poor?

I have to admit: I hadn’t thought about it even though it could be an obvious solution: the generation of energy through biofuel micro-generators in poverty stricken regions of the globe. This could be viable especially where excess material is available that could be used for biofuel production without damaging the environment (such non-recyclable residuals [...]

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Drive-in movie theatre powered by wind energy

I have say, I’ve never been to a drive-in. They’re not as popular anymore of course as they probably were in the 1950s and 60s, and they generally probably show movies I wouldn’t wanna watch anyway – they’re certainly not a place for arthouse flics. And also, the whole concept relies on the use of [...]

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