tech

Fabricators descend on Maker Faire Austin

AUSTIN, Texas--If you've never seen a machine that makes 3D models out of sugar, you should.

But unless you're part of a relatively small group of people who went to the Maker Faire in California in May, or are one of a few other people who know the machine's creator, you probably have never even heard of the device.

Similarly, you may not be aware--or at least the general public probably isn't--that there is a whole movement going on right now to build advanced, digital, relatively inexpensive personal fabrication and robotics tools that can do or … Read more

Green is the new black

SAN FRANCISCO--This year in design, green is the new black.

That line has easily been trumpeted by everyone from design trade magazines to consumer media moguls like Oprah. But here at Connecting '07, the annual trade conference of the Industrial Designers Society of America, it's even more obvious.

Headlining the opening day keynote Thursday was Martin Eberhard, co-founder of Tesla Motors, in a talk he called "sleek and green." Eberhard was accompanied by Barney Hatt, designer of the Lotus and the Tesla Roadster, a $98,000 electric-powered sports car that's due at the beginning of next … Read more

Good use for hot cars

Since you're using the gas anyway, why not convert the heat from your car engine into useful electricity?

That's the basic premise behind the work of Terry Tritt, professor and director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Center of Excellence in Thermoelectric Materials Research at Clemson University.

Thermoelectric generators are currently used to convent radioactive heat into electricity by NASA for deep space probes. The same technology could be applied to the automotive combustion cycle, which wastes more than 60 percent of its energy through heat, according to a paper Tritt delivered at the Alan MacDairmid … Read more

The LCD's circle of life

If razor-thin OLED screens do eventually supplant LCDs as some predict, there may still be hope for liquid-crystal display technology--in a new shape.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology has created a circle-shaped LCD that could be used for digital instruments in cars, according to Fareastgizmos. Why a circle? Because it can fit in certain parts of the dashboard better than cornered shapes, as well as particular design styles. (Think speedometers, tachometers and such.)

Besides, it's a much more dignified fate than resorting to a gimmicky engagement ring box.

GreenDealsDaily tracks cheap, eco-friendly shopping

People often complain about the high cost of organic foods, hybrid cars and pesticide-free bamboo T-shirts. GreenDealsDaily, which launched this month, attempts to bust the myth that living a more eco-friendly lifestyle is only for the well-heeled.

The site lists the latest price drops, coupons and freebies for green products, as well as lifestyle tips from IdealBite, Treehugger and other blogs. Hurry and call ConEd now, for example, if you want free compact fluorescent bulbs for your Manhattan apartment. Or get thee to Gaiam for its 75 percent discount while the organic cotton bedding lasts.

You can register with GreenDealsDaily … Read more

How green is that brand? BadBuster colors the credentials

BadBuster gives a quick glimpse of "green" ratings of businesses you run across while reading searching, or shopping online.

BadBuster took a few quick minutes for me to download and set up, although it stalled on one of two Windows XP machines. Once installed, BadBuster underlines on Web pages the names of brands and goods it has ranked, with colors indicating the level or lack of "greenness." For example, green underscores the BP oil company, known for its "Beyond Petroleum" campaign, while glaring red marks notorious polluter Exxon. Yellow is the middle rating.

Roll … Read more

Air Force fighter to use speech recognition

The next U.S. Air Force maverick may be talking to her plane instead of looking at its dash for updates.

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which the Air Force plans to roll out in 2008, will be the first U.S. fighter to respond to voice commands, the Air Force announced Wednesday.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate has been working on the idea for some time, trying out different systems from a variety of companies.

After years of testing, it now has a speech-recognition system that works from a microphone within a pilot'… Read more

Continuum hopes to shine in Solar Challenge

While most of the car tech attention in the Northern hemisphere is focused on the forthcoming DARPA Urban Challenge, a very different--but equally compelling--challenge is about to start in Australia. Next week, 41 teams from around the world will line up to compete in the 2007 Panasonic Solar Challenge, an 1,800-mile race from Darwin to Adelaide. As the event's name suggests, competing cars have only one source of fuel for the cross-continental race: the sun.

One of the brightest U.S. hopes for the contest is the University of Michigan Solar Car Team, a four-time winner of the … Read more

Bill Joy: Better to be in green tech than Internet

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The legendary Internet technologist Bill Joy has found a better place than the Internet to put his venture capital dollars: green technology.

On Monday Joy gave a talk on why he is exploring a wide range of green technologies as a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. He spoke at the Lux Research conference on nanotechnology where he also predicted major changes in transportation industry and solar energy.

Joy, credited with inventing several Internet technologies as a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, joined the high-profile Silicon Valley venture capital firm in 2005.

Apart from some … Read more

XM brings satellite radio Direct 2 you

With a few honorable exceptions, car stereo manufacturers are reluctant to build satellite radio tuners into their products, preferring instead to flog you clunky--and expensive--proprietary add-on modules to go with your XM or Sirius subscription.

Perhaps realizing that this model wasn't in the interests of increased adoption of its service, XM has just released the Audiovox XM Direct 2, a (relatively) streamlined, universal adapter that works with nearly all satellite-ready car stereos, irrespective of their manufacturers. In addition to its car compatibility, the device can also be plugged into XM-ready home audio products and XM2go portable radios. According to … Read more