Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Greencore Semi-Solar-Powered Units Use Both the Sun and the Grid [Air Conditioners]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/366641036/greencore-semi+solar+powered-units-use-both-the-sun-and-the-grid

AC manufacturer Greencore has come up with a long-awaited solution to the inherent problem in solar-powered air conditioning units—solar panels are still not efficient enough to power the energy-gobbling machines on their own. The company's 10200 model uses a single 170-watt solar panel during the day and electricity from the power grid during the night to charge its batteries, leading to massive energy savings even if the solution isn't 100% solar.

Greencore has three versions of its AC system, a fixed one, a portable one with two batteries and another portable with four batteries. All three run on 24 volts DC and have a cooling capacity of 10,200 BTUs and a heating capacity of 13,400 BTUs. According to the company, McDonalds and the US Navy are already on board with testing the units. [Treehugger]

Fujitsu Siemens Could Debut Amilo Mini Notebook on August 28 [Amilo Mini]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/367483399/fujitsu-siemens-could-debut-amilo-mini-notebook-on-august-28

Fujitsu Siemens looks like it's about ready to launch the svelte Amilo Mini. According to IDG News, the company has announced a press event for August 28 at the IFA show in Berlin, and the signs and portents indicate a big reveal could happen at that time. The specs don't really differentiate the Amilo Mini from the plethora of other ultra portable notebooks hitting the market these days, but it does boast changeable face plates (brown, black, pink, and red). Cost is expected to fall between $600-800. [Liliputing]

Moisture Vaporators Spotted In Buenos Aires [Moisture Vaporators]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/367553290/moisture-vaporators-spotted-in-buenos-aires

The Buenos Aires government would have done the late Owen Lars proud with their newly installed $5 million Intelligent Monitoring Towers. Designed to collect information about the city's air and noise quality, we can easily see these 42 towers being at home collecting moisture on a dusty planet in a certain binary star system far, far away. The towers measure cobalt, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, benzene and humidity (just like on Tatooine!).

When the program is fully functional by the end of 2008, city officials expect to have a complete map of the environmental quality of the city. They'll use that info to influence bus routes and improve overall quality of life for citizens. No word yet on whether that will require any power converters from Tosche Station. [Treehugger]

EnergyHub minds your electricity, saves you cash

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/366065369/

Filed under: Household

We've seen electricity-monitoring / controlling devices similar to the EnergyHub before, but few have provided such a handsome interface or modular, expandable options. The device uses a touchscreen control panel (familiarly referred to as a "dashboard") to help gauge and adjust energy levels for satellite outlets that it communicates with. The data will be accessible and adjustable online, and users will also be able to compare their stats with other eco-tweakers or neighbors. The company claims the devices could reduce energy costs by 20 percent for homes that employ the system. There's no word on a release date or pricing, but we'll keep you abreast of any exciting developments.

[Via Inhabitat]

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Lenovo slips out the new ThinkPad X301: new CPUs, 128GB SSD, still thin as hell

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/366046083/

Filed under: Laptops

In a weirdly casual move, Lenovo has let details slip on the next iteration of its MacBook Air-challenging laptop -- the ThinkPad X300 -- unsurprisingly dubbed the X301. The new device ups the processor ante by adding the as-yet-unreleased Intel Core 2 Duo ULV (ultra low voltage) U9300 (1.2GHz) and U9400 (1.4GHz), both with a 6MB L2 cache and 1066MHz FSB. Additionally, the X301 will support up to 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and Lenovo will offer SSDs of the 80GB or 128GB variety, as opposed to the last generation's 64GB option. A new DisplayPort jack is included, along with boosted mobile broadband quality, GPS, and plans for a WiMAX version later this year. The laptops start at $2,599 and will be available August 26th, though the 128GB option doesn't show up until September. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Lenovo slips out the new ThinkPad X301: new CPUs, 128GB SSD, still thin as hell

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Leaked Intel slides reveal 8-core CPUs, AVX instruction set

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/366526250/

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

We recently learned that Intel would be (officially) calling Nehalem Core i7 and Centrino Atom, um, Atom. Now, however, we've got a few more related details for you to digest thanks to a stack of leaked presentation slides. The Tick Tock Development Model explains that both Westmere and Sandy Bridge (codenames, of course) will be fabricated with 32-nanometer technology in 2009 - 2010. Moving even further into the unknown, geeks can expect Ivy Bridge and Haswell (both doing the whole 22-nanometer thing) to surface between 2011 and 2012. The Sandy Bridge architecture will reportedly "double the number of cores per die to eight," while a new instruction set coined Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will likely get most of the attention. For those of you who haven't conked out yet (you know who you are), hit the links below to get a better idea of what your future rigs will likely house.

[Via Electronista]

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Video tech uses photos to enhance, alter shots: it's the Photoshop of video, and no one is safe

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/366883344/

Filed under: Digital Cameras

We've seen some decent video alteration in our day, but this new research project by some folks at the University of Washington has the potential to turn the entire concept on its head. Using some rather advanced algorithms to analyze video and photographs of a the same scene, the software can meld the two into something slightly better or even dramatically different. In effect, it's Photoshop for video, since it brings your Photoshop chops to bear on video effects: edit up a still shot or two of the scene, and then meld that with the video, and your edits can be seamlessly integrated into the scene, without all that nasty manual labor required by Shake or After Effects. It's not the end all be all yet, since the tech only works with static scenes so far, but the researchers are working to rectify that. While video evidence hasn't been a sure thing for years, it's always been significantly harder to fiddle with than still shots. With that barrier removed, we might be in for a whole new generation of video that lies and a reality we can be none too sure of. Oh, and really good looking indie flicks. Sample vid is after the break.

Continue reading Video tech uses photos to enhance, alter shots: it's the Photoshop of video, and no one is safe

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Athlon 64 2000+ at 8-watts outperforms, draws less energy than Atom

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/367154014/

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

AMD's going through some rough times, no doubt about it, but for fanboys of the CPU maker (wait, do CPU fanboys still exist?) here's your feel-good story of the year. The always-thorough Tom's Hardware has pit Intel's 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor against AMD's Athlon 64 2000+, and the results just might surprise you. The 1GHz Athlon (with a core voltage of 0.90 volts and a power draw of just 8 watts) managed to best the aforementioned Atom in both energy consumption and processing power tests. The gurus at Tom's credited the more modern 790G platform and the highly efficient K8 architecture as big players in the Athlon's strong showing, finally deeming said chip "more economical, faster and quieter" than the Atom. We know you're in disbelief -- good thing there are 14 pages of proof waiting in the read link.

[Thanks, Carl]

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Friday, August 15, 2008

Baja BBQ

Source: http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2008/08/baja-bbq.html

"The Baja BBQ firepack is a charcoal packaging that lights instantly and burns away in the grille, making the barbeque experience simple, clean and chemical free. Made from 100% recycled biodegradable paper pulp, the package contains 2lbs of natural lump charcoal and features an integrated chimney that creates perfect hot coals without the aid of chemicals or light fluid."

It's good to see the package being used as the product and innovation that looks at stripping away and not adding, that is sustainable but well designed.

More pictures after the jump.