Inhabitat’s Week in Green: SunPower supplants Ford, lava power, and the airlifted eco shelter
February 27, 2011 No Comment
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green. This week Inhabitat saw geothermal power projects pick up steam around the world as Iceland eyed liquid magma as an energy source and the UK sought to tap geothermal reserves under Newcastle . We also saw scientists develop a stretchable solar-powered sensor that can detect the drop of a pin, and we were impressed by a brilliant system that uses algae to treat wastewater and generate fuel in one fell swoop. We also showcased several innovative examples of high-tech architecture – Wales’ futuristic newport transit station and a massive green-roofed innovation hub that is set to become Botswana’s first LEED-certified building. Solar-powered structures were a hot topic as well as we took a look inside SunPower’s incredible renovated headquarters , learned about the new location of the 2011 Solar Decathlon , and showcased a photovoltaic-powered alpine eco shelter . Finally, this week we got set for the start of spring by sharing our five favorite green gadget gardening tools and a rainwater recycling system that comes complete with a solar pump. We also spotted a chic cradle-to-cradle raincoat that will fend off impending showers and a natty wool iPad cover that will keep your tablet cozy in blustery weather. Inhabitat’s Week in Green: SunPower supplants Ford, lava power, and the airlifted eco shelter originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Inhabitat’s Week in Green: SunPower supplants Ford, lava power, and the airlifted eco shelter
February 27, 2011 No CommentEach week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green. This week Inhabitat saw geothermal power projects pick up steam around the world as Iceland eyed liquid magma as an energy source and the UK sought to tap geothermal reserves under Newcastle . We also saw scientists develop a stretchable solar-powered sensor that can detect the drop of a pin, and we were impressed by a brilliant system that uses algae to treat wastewater and generate fuel in one fell swoop. We also showcased several innovative examples of high-tech architecture – Wales’ futuristic newport transit station and a massive green-roofed innovation hub that is set to become Botswana’s first LEED-certified building. Solar-powered structures were a hot topic as well as we took a look inside SunPower’s incredible renovated headquarters , learned about the new location of the 2011 Solar Decathlon , and showcased a photovoltaic-powered alpine eco shelter . Finally, this week we got set for the start of spring by sharing our five favorite green gadget gardening tools and a rainwater recycling system that comes complete with a solar pump. We also spotted a chic cradle-to-cradle raincoat that will fend off impending showers and a natty wool iPad cover that will keep your tablet cozy in blustery weather. Inhabitat’s Week in Green: SunPower supplants Ford, lava power, and the airlifted eco shelter originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. Last week’s Switched On discussed Nokia’s quest to help Microsoft create a third mobile ecosystem alongside those of Apple and Google. That word – ecosystem – has clearly passed into the pantheon of buzzwords, leveraging many synergies from purpose-built paradigms. And yet, building and maintaining ecosystems is something few companies really understand. True technology ecosystems are more than just successful platforms or throwing many products together simply because they are owned by the same company. They are characterized by strategically implemented nurturing. One concept that Apple seems to have adapted from natural ecosystems is the concept of the water cycle you probably learned about in grade school. Apple turns up the heat on the life-sustaining water of innovation that passes between the well-grounded Mac market and the soaring growth of the iOS market. Apple alluded to this cycle in its Back to the Mac event . After inheriting many technologies from Mac OS X, iOS began offering Mac OS X launch screens, full-screen apps, app resuming, and document autosaving. This week’s announcements, though, show that the cycle may soon be heading again in the other direction as Apple showed off two Mac technologies that may well wind up strengthening the iOS ecosystem. Continue reading Switched On: Back from the Mac Switched On: Back from the Mac originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On , a column about consumer technology. Last week’s Switched On discussed Nokia’s quest to help Microsoft create a third mobile ecosystem alongside those of Apple and Google. That word – ecosystem – has clearly passed into the pantheon of buzzwords, leveraging many synergies from purpose-built paradigms. And yet, building and maintaining ecosystems is something few companies really understand. True technology ecosystems are more than just successful platforms or throwing many products together simply because they are owned by the same company. They are characterized by strategically implemented nurturing. One concept that Apple seems to have adapted from natural ecosystems is the concept of the water cycle you probably learned about in grade school. Apple turns up the heat on the life-sustaining water of innovation that passes between the well-grounded Mac market and the soaring growth of the iOS market. Apple alluded to this cycle in its Back to the Mac event . After inheriting many technologies from Mac OS X, iOS began offering Mac OS X launch screens, full-screen apps, app resuming, and document autosaving. This week’s announcements, though, show that the cycle may soon be heading again in the other direction as Apple showed off two Mac technologies that may well wind up strengthening the iOS ecosystem. Continue reading Switched On: Back from the Mac Switched On: Back from the Mac originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Gaikai beta goes live, brings Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Sims 3 and Second Life demos to your browser window
February 27, 2011 No Comment
Remember Gaikai , the cloud computing service that lets you demo video games in your browser window without downloading a thing? It’s live, meaning it’s no longer just us tech journalists that get to give it a thorough try. Provided you have a blazing fast internet connection and both Flash and Java installed, four streaming game demos are a just a click (and possibly a survey, or a short wait) away, including three EA titles ( Mass Effect 2 , Dead Space 2 , The Sims 3 ) and Second Life . As we discovered in our initial hands-on , it’s not a flawless experience even with a fantastic internet connection, but it’s not meant to be — the entire point is to allow you to adequately sample a game right before making a purchase decision. It’s also a free taste of the future, and you don’t see those every day. Gaikai beta goes live, brings Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Sims 3 and Second Life demos to your browser window originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Gaikai beta goes live, brings Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Sims 3 and Second Life demos to your browser window
February 27, 2011 No Comment
Remember Gaikai , the cloud computing service that lets you demo video games in your browser window without downloading a thing? It’s live, meaning it’s no longer just us tech journalists that get to give it a thorough try. Provided you have a blazing fast internet connection and both Flash and Java installed, four streaming game demos are a just a click (and possibly a survey, or a short wait) away, including three EA titles ( Mass Effect 2 , Dead Space 2 , The Sims 3 ) and Second Life . As we discovered in our initial hands-on , it’s not a flawless experience even with a fantastic internet connection, but it’s not meant to be — the entire point is to allow you to adequately sample a game right before making a purchase decision. It’s also a free taste of the future, and you don’t see those every day. Gaikai beta goes live, brings Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Sims 3 and Second Life demos to your browser window originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Gaikai beta goes live, brings Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Sims 3 and Second Life demos to your browser window
February 27, 2011 No Comment
Remember Gaikai , the cloud computing service that lets you demo video games in your browser window without downloading a thing? It’s live, meaning it’s no longer just us tech journalists that get to give it a thorough try. Provided you have a blazing fast internet connection and both Flash and Java installed, four streaming game demos are a just a click (and possibly a survey, or a short wait) away, including three EA titles ( Mass Effect 2 , Dead Space 2 , The Sims 3 ) and Second Life . As we discovered in our initial hands-on , it’s not a flawless experience even with a fantastic internet connection, but it’s not meant to be — the entire point is to allow you to adequately sample a game right before making a purchase decision. It’s also a free taste of the future, and you don’t see those every day. Gaikai beta goes live, brings Mass Effect 2, Dead Space 2, Sims 3 and Second Life demos to your browser window originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
The nine-dot pattern lock option is one of those uniquely Android things — it’s been there ever since the G1 , and even if you don’t personally use it, odds are good that you recognize it. So when we see it on an iPhone — apparently on an app used by Apple internally — you can appreciate why we’re going to do a double take. What you’re looking at here is one of several screens obtained by 9 to 5 Mac , allegedly showing a version of Apple’s employee-only AppleConnect app with support for pattern locking to keep prying eyes out. It seems that the app enforces some minimum gesture length to constitute a secure lock — and considering some of the forensic science going on there , we bet it’s gotta be pretty long. Of course, none of these means we’ll see the feature show up in an actual iOS build, but the site says that the company’s testing the mechanism in other internal tools… and if nothing else, Apple seems to be acknowledging that lock patterns aren’t a terrible idea. [Thanks, Jacob] Apple adds pattern locking to an iPhone app that you can’t have? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The nine-dot pattern lock option is one of those uniquely Android things — it’s been there ever since the G1 , and even if you don’t personally use it, odds are good that you recognize it. So when we see it on an iPhone — apparently on an app used by Apple internally — you can appreciate why we’re going to do a double take. What you’re looking at here is one of several screens obtained by 9 to 5 Mac , allegedly showing a version of Apple’s employee-only AppleConnect app with support for pattern locking to keep prying eyes out. It seems that the app enforces some minimum gesture length to constitute a secure lock — and considering some of the forensic science going on there , we bet it’s gotta be pretty long. Of course, none of these means we’ll see the feature show up in an actual iOS build, but the site says that the company’s testing the mechanism in other internal tools… and if nothing else, Apple seems to be acknowledging that lock patterns aren’t a terrible idea. [Thanks, Jacob] Apple adds pattern locking to an iPhone app that you can’t have? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The nine-dot pattern lock option is one of those uniquely Android things — it’s been there ever since the G1 , and even if you don’t personally use it, odds are good that you recognize it. So when we see it on an iPhone — apparently on an app used by Apple internally — you can appreciate why we’re going to do a double take. What you’re looking at here is one of several screens obtained by 9 to 5 Mac , allegedly showing a version of Apple’s employee-only AppleConnect app with support for pattern locking to keep prying eyes out. It seems that the app enforces some minimum gesture length to constitute a secure lock — and considering some of the forensic science going on there , we bet it’s gotta be pretty long. Of course, none of these means we’ll see the feature show up in an actual iOS build, but the site says that the company’s testing the mechanism in other internal tools… and if nothing else, Apple seems to be acknowledging that lock patterns aren’t a terrible idea. [Thanks, Jacob] Apple adds pattern locking to an iPhone app that you can’t have? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …