Emerging Tech : Spotting the innovations, trends and small revolutions marking the significant turning points and advances in technological evolution. A TameBear weblog.
Air Car Coming to U.S. by 2010: How would you like to be getting 868 miles on a single fill-up? A startup funded by Indian car company Tata Motors plans on bringing a car powered by compressed air to the U.S. automobile market sometime in 2009 or 2010. They company, named Zero Pollution Motors, has developed a car that runs entirely on compressed air for around-town driving, and uses minimal amounts of gasoline at highway speeds. [CNET News.com]
7:29:53 PM
Smart Car Sales Driven by Novelty Not Gas Milage: The two-seater Smart Car gets surprisingly poor gas milage, and initial sales appear to be based foremost on the novelty of owning such a cute little car. Looks like people are buying it for a 2nd (or 3rd? or 4th?) car for short hops around town or to pull behind their RV. Considering it's size, the Bear asks why oh why does it not get significantly better milage than other "normal" subcompacts? Reading the comments at end of the article confirms others are wondering exactly the same thing. [Wired]
5:50:49 PM
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Word Processing on iWork 08: The Bear has made the transition to the clean Blank Page of Apple's "Pages" word processor. It's purity and simplicity is enchanting, and yet it's a talented container for all other media, including spreadsheet tables, drawings, bitmap images, movies and audio. "Pages feels right." [Various and Sundry via MyAppleMenu]
8:31:25 AM
Texas Startup Says It Has Batteries Beat: The patent application from EEStor of Austin Texas claims "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," and if so, they're onto something big. Many in the industry view their claims with great cynicism... but that has not dissuaded Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers from investing $3 million in the little company. [Yahoo News]
8:14:02 AM
500 Miles on a Few Minutes Charge: Finally it looks like the all-electric vehicle is just around the corner. The Toronto Ontario Zenn Motor Company has teamed up with EEStor, developer of a novel energy storage product. The 100lb capacitor can be fully charged in just a few minutes, and delivers up to 500 miles of electric power travel between charges.
Reducing the weight of battery storage and shortening the recharge time is a formula for success, if Zenn can actually deliver. They plan to do so later this year, or early 2008. [TameBear Radio]
7:57:40 AM
Friday, August 24, 2007
Is Everyone Buying A Mac?: Steve Borsch thinks so, and writes about what he's seeing, including this telling bit from his daughter: "My 18 year old daughter works at a local Apple Store and we talk often about how busy the place is all the time... She's indicated that this back-to-school season is 'awesome' with sales." Especially worth reading the comments (following the story) from switchers who agree their new Macs make their work more productive, fun and hassle-free. [Connect the Dots via MyAppleMenu]
12:10:10 PM
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Portable power from trash: There are reportedly 90 sites throughout the US where garbage is burned to produce heat and electricity. The heat is used to dry burnable biomass, and the process burns relatively cleanly (meeting California's emissions standards.) Now a "portable" system produced by AgriPower can be moved to the source of the biomass, and will burn anything from nuts to old tires. [CNET News.com]
5:10:24 PM
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Aluminum Alloy Extracts Hydrogen From Water On Demand: While cleaning some lab equipment, a Purdue University engineer inadvertently stumbles upon a new method for producing hydrogen from water. The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need, when you need it. It's possible the technique could be used to replace gasoline in cars. [What's Next In Science & Technology]
7:41:05 AM
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
How Apple TV Changes the Economics Of TV: Not only will niche content change the economics of television, but long before that happens many viewers will drop their cable TV service and instead use Apple TV to buy their TV shows and movies a la carte from iTunes -- all for less than the cost of their monthly cable bill. [Micropersuasion via MyAppleMenu]
7:52:09 AM
Apple TV Surprises and Impressions: Yes, Apple TV works just fine with your normal old 480i "squarish" non-widescreen television, which is what many people have -- provided it has component (vs. composite) input jacks. An update at end of the article will help you figure out the difference. [Rogue Amoeba via Micropersuasion]
7:39:57 AM
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
High Hopes for Pond Scum: Solix Biofuels is betting on commercial algae production. Their algae feeds on CO2 and produces oil, lots of oil. The company hopes to give soy some competition in the emerging market for renewable biofuels. [Popular Mechanics via The Speculist]
7:32:00 AM
