TameBear: Emerging Tech

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:24:06 GMT

We Can Solve It: The Challenge of Fossil-Free Electricity Within Ten Years: There will be a lot of pressure in the near future to open up protected areas for oil drilling. Oil companies and oil company lobbyists benefit the most from America's addiction to oil, but in the long run, what's truly best for America? My vote is for switching to 100% clean, renewable electricity within 10 years. If you've been watching the Olympics this week, maybe you've already seen a new TV message from "The WE Campaign", illustrating this positive switch from fossil fuels to environmentally friendly renewables. Here it is again: Within ten years many more of us will be generating our own electricity in our backyards, using it to power our electric cars, and burning much much less oil, coal, and natural gas than we do now. Within ten years, these changes will have a dramatic positive impact on the health of our planet. I believe this ambitious goal -- to have fossil-free electricity within ten years -- is doable, and we can all participate in making it happen, starting today. [wecansolveit.org]

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:29:53 GMT

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]

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:50:49 GMT

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]

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:31:25 GMT

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]

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:14:02 GMT

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]

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:57:40 GMT

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]

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:10:10 GMT

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]

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 21:10:24 GMT

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]

Sun, 20 May 2007 11:41:05 GMT

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]

Tue, 15 May 2007 11:52:09 GMT

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]

Tue, 15 May 2007 11:39:57 GMT

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]

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:32:00 GMT

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]

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:00:19 GMT

Apple of Our Eye - Macs Save Money: According to this viewpoint, there's been a distinct sea change in the way people think about Apple Inc. in the last few weeks. People have been saying the strangest things about Apple and Macintosh computers; everything is topsy-turvy. Pundits aren't trotting out the old conventional wisdoms any more. They're saying odd stuff, like Macs are good for business; Macs can save money; and that Apple's stock -- at $90 a share -- is a bargain. As a long-time Mac user, The Bear was convinced many years ago of the benefits of Macintosh computers -- especially regarding price. You see, my time is valuable. Therefore when I pay a bit more for a Mac (and mind you it's never been a lot more), the time I save in wasted days not spent in useless troubleshooting has always been a huge benefit. Macs just work, period. My current laptop has been in service for over six years, and it just works. And as for Apple's stock price, well, as an Apple shareholder I can tell you the increase in share price over the past several years has more than paid for all the Apple toys I care to buy. [Wired News]

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 10:37:39 GMT

Why Apple's 'Consumer' Macs Are Enterprise-Worthy: If the IT decision-makers can get over their prejudice against equipment that's traditionally been aimed at consumers, Apple's lineup is ready and waiting for deployment. The low-end models compare favorably with most of the middle-to-upper model PCs. And with cameras built-in to all models, teleconferencing is now available on every desktop. [Computer World via MyAppleMenu]

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 11:48:10 GMT

Time To Get A Mac: When the Windows diehards like Chris Pirillo all begin "upgrading" from Windows Vista to Windows XP, the writing is on the wall. Thomas Hawk advises all his Windows power users to make the switch, and admits that he "should have done it years ago". Now a satisfied Mac user, Hawk has no regrets. [Digital Connection via MyAppleMenu]

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:08:55 GMT

iPods Set to Usurp CDs: The Beatles settlement clears the way for Apple to begin selling iPods loaded with music. As the cost of flash drives continues to fall, a low-cost shuffle loaded with tunes begins to compete head-to-head with CDs. [Wired News]

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:30:59 GMT

Windows Defections: Scott Lowe speculates about why, when Vista is now available, the Windows power users -- experts who have championed the Windows platform for years --are switching to Mac OS X. [Scott Lowe via MyAppleMenu]

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:13:08 GMT

Broadband Passes Halfway Mark in U.S.: Residential high-speed (broadband) internet access is expected to hit about 55 percent by end of 2007. That's 60 million U.S. households. [CNET News]

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:56:35 GMT

Buzzoo.net: Here's one to watch - a news links site started by three Goshen College grads seeks to aggregate the top aggregators. They started with reddit, digg, slashdot and del.icio.us; now they're drawing from the top news on google, netscape, dzone, gigaom, techcrunch, arstechnica, cnn, shoutwire, yahoo, boingboing, furl, and more. See what floats to the top on all your favorite news aggregators, by visiting just one site: Buzzoo. [TameBear Radio]

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 10:42:51 GMT

Cheap Solar Poised to Undercut Oil and Gas by Half: Within five years, solar power will be cheap enough to compete with carbon-generated electricity, says Anil Sethi, CEO of Swiss startup Flisom. The company is developing a solar film production process that they expect will drive the cost of solar panels (currently around $3-$4 per watt) down to less than $1 per watt within four years. [Telegraph]

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:00:57 GMT

U.S. Servers Suck More Power Than Mississippi: Power-hungry servers consumed 45 million kilowatt-hours of power in 2005 - twice the power usage of 2000. One obvious solution: solar powered servers. [CNET News.com]

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:43:31 GMT

Detroit's Plug-In Concepts. GM's Chevrolet Volt and Ford's HySeries Drive are plug-in electric cars that could give the hybrid Prius some stiff competition for fuel efficiency. Trouble is, Detroit's cars are so far just "concept" and won't be rolling off an assembly line for at least another four years. Big help, huh? [Wired News]

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:52:47 GMT

Wind Resource Off Eastern U.S. Coast Could Provide Energy for Nine States: Enough energy to supply the needs of nine states from Massachusetts to North Carolina, plus the District of Columbia--with enough left over to support a 50 percent increase in future energy demand, according to a study by researchers at the University of Delaware and Stanford University. [What's Next Network]

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:05:25 GMT

How Soon are You Moving to Vista?: The results of a Cnet poll of over 13,000 readers provides this telling statistic... slightly more than half of the respondents indicate they are "Sticking with the Mac -- or moving there soon". [Cnet Polls]

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:56:13 GMT

Why Apple Makes Me Cry: Now that all the hype and hubbub about Apple's new iPhone has simmered down a bit, here comes a Momus commentary that teases out the emotional content of Apple's creations... "This company understands the importance of beauty, managing to set the right balance between desire and spirituality, complexity and simplicity, form and function, software and hardware." [Wired News]

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:12:04 GMT

How Yahoo Blew It: In 2002 Yahoo had a chance to buy Google for $5 billion. Didn't happen - Yahoo CEO Terry Semel thought that was too much to pay, and bought Overture instead. This tale of the text-ad-against-search competition between the two search giants, Yahoo and Google, focuses on the relative merits of deals and marketing vs. engineering and technology. In the winner-takes-all ecosystem of the global net, has second place become last place? [Wired News]

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:10:29 GMT

Doubts Can't Stop Plug-In Hybrids: It's a compelling idea -- if you have solar panels on your roof powering your house, why not plug in your car to tap some of that renewable energy. Though technical challenges remain, consumer demand suggests the emergence of alternative vehicles is inevitable. [Wired News]

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 11:59:19 GMT

Googleplex Goes Solar: The search company is partnering with EI Solutions to install solar panels on the rooftops of their Moutanin View CA campus. The 1.6 Megawatt array is expected to offset 30% of their peak energy consumption. Google already uses a lot of electricity: "The amount of electricity that will be generated is equivalent to powering about 1,000 average California homes." [Futurismic]

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 11:11:13 GMT

The American Energy Vision: A hopeful new report from the Worldwatch Institute is titled "American Energy: The Renewable Path to Energy Security". The report shows that an energy future based on abundant and clean renewable resources is not only urgently needed, but achievable. In advocating the thoughtful expansion of renewable technologies, American Energy presents a clear and practical path to end this country's troublesome addiction to fossil fuels, and in the process make headway against the equally challenging problem of global warming. The report is available in downloadable PDF format. [Worldwatch Institute]

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:35:33 GMT

Wind-Farm Watts: Australia is embracing renewable energy in a big way. They've just authorized construction of a $380 million 233 megawatt wind farm, enough power to meet the annual electricity needs of 133,450 homes. [Futurismic]

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:41:19 GMT

Generating Electricity from Photosynthetic Bacteria: Photosynthesis is the most efficient process for turning carbos into energy, and the process has been refined over thousands of years of evolution. Now University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are studying ways to generate electricity by feeding a species of photosynthetic bacteria a steady diet of sunshine and wastewater. [What's Next In Science & Technology]

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 11:13:58 GMT

Trend Toward Home Backup Electric Generators: Standby electric power generators for homes are on the rise in areas where grid electricity outtages can last for hours or days. These are not the small noisy gas-guzzling backup generators... homeowners who can afford it are installing whole-home systems to generate as much as 40 kilowatts from propane, natural gas, or photovoltaics. The systems can be costly, but in some affluent neighborhoods they are becoming status symbols. [Christian Science Monitor via FuturePundit]

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 10:53:19 GMT

Artifical Muscle Displays Enable More Lifelike Color: Today's plasma and LCD screens produce color images by mixing three basic colors of red, green, and blue. A new development in optics uses and adjustable diffraction grating technology to fine-tune those three basic colors, resulting in a much fuller range of colors than is currently possible, giving such a life-like viewing experience that it could be hard to go back to your old TV. The invention could begin showing up in competitively priced consumer products in eight years. [What's Next In Science & Technology]

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 18:31:08 GMT

Apple Thrashes Dell on Mac Pro Pricing: Apple is clearly bent on busting the long-standing myth that Macs cost more than Windows boxes. A well-reasoned price shopping comparison conducted just days after the release of the new high-end Intel-based Mac Pro demonstrates how some configurations can save buyers as much as $462 over an equivalent Windows system from Dell. (And while the Mac can also run the Windows OS and any Windows apps, the Dell will never be able to run Mac OS X!) [The Inquirer via Insanely Great]

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:24:40 GMT

A Fillup from Liquid Coal: A brief article with lots of comment describes a bit of the history behind the process of extracting diesel fuel from coal, and a few of the companies currently involved. [Wired Blog]

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 11:56:28 GMT

Quantum Leap: Fortune speculates on the future of computing in this imaginative piece based on recent developments in quantum computing. Their take: it's all closer than you may think, and they point to Freescale's commercial production of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) as first evidence. The quantum effect known as "Spintronics" in Freescale's MRAM will first be used in cameras for instant storage of images. Later it will be used for instant startup on laptops and other computers, and eventually will be used for extremely fast and complex calculation. [The Speculist]

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 11:37:39 GMT

Adding a Dimension: Microsoft will be presenting some new research and software next week at Siggraph. They're calling it "Photosynth", and essentially it's a tool for stitching together a bunch of photos to generate a 3D environment for a virtual walk-through. [EE Times via The Speculist]

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:53:54 GMT

Toyota Plugs In: The automaker says it will focus on developing a plug-in gas/electric hybrid car. Owners will be able to recharge the car batteries by plugging into an electrical outlet. New models expected to begin appearing in January. Toyota also aims to cut the hybrid premium by half. [Wired News]

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:27:46 GMT

Your Eco-Car Options: Flex-fueled, diesel, or hybrid, Wired weighs the options of existing carbon-cutting tech. [Wired News]

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 10:22:13 GMT

Greening of the US Home Construction Industry: Increasing energy costs are providing a market incentive for the US construction Industry to engage in more energy-efficient building practices. An estimated $10 billion of "green buildings" are in the process of construction this year in the United States. (National Public Radio audio.) [NPR.org via theWatt: Energy News and Discussion]