Category Archives: Gadgets and Tech
Though a lush green lawn is everyone’s dream, the task of trimming a lawn is not believed to be the most favored chore. But you can cut your lawn chores down to one step with a fully automatic, solar powered robotic lawn mower, the Automower. Touted to be the best user friendly, green mower, it is designed to move about freely on a pre-wired green lawn. This will help to keep the robotic mower in check and ensure about the specification of area of grass to be cut. Programmed to give the lawn an even result and a carpet-like finish, even ‘Islands’ can be created by laying the wire around plants and flower beds. Getting its juice from sun’s energy, the solar panels on the Automower help to absorb the sunrays that in turn help to trim quarter of an acre of cutting for each 10 hours.
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This Christmas, light up the pathway to your eco-den with the latest wind powered out-door light. Designed by Tom Lawton, Firewinder not only makes use of alternative wind energy to light up the dark times but also turns clockwise to stir up the good spirits according to the Buddhism teachings. This spiral structure harness the endless energy of wind to dole out upward spiraling light every time the slight breeze blows. Setting it up in your backyard or lining up your patio with Firewinders can render unobstructed light show after the sun sets. The mesmerizing twirl of light also helps to unwind stressful thoughts at the end of the day. However such a design has its limitation as it cannot shed light when the wind refuses to be generous.
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With the current fast-paced lifestyle that most of us lead, it isn’t unusual to ask for 1-2 minutes products and services. Be it surfing, vehicles or gadgets, we are ready to pay the prize for speedy net connections, traveling by fast-speed bullet trains or super cars or a washing machine that promises to wash our laundry in just a minute. The last one though is still a concept but an ingenious one to find a place on Greenlaunches. Jung Hyun Cho and Bo Ram,Hong from Korea have dubbed their project as ’1 minute washing machine’ for the homes of 2020. Inspired by the digestive system of the human body, the duo has designed this in-a-jiffy washing on the same lines. The form also signifies the alphabet E that deliberately stands for Electrolux. Eliminating the need of soap and significantly reducing the amount of water used, this washing machine aims to churn out clean laundry with the help of other ground-breaking features.
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Flaunting impressive tags like fastest and greenest, Savvio’s latest entrant in the techie world, the 15K.2 HDD, certainly promises to live up to every geek’s expectations. This second generation green hard drive is exclusively designed to deliver the industry’s highest hard drive performance and reliability. Functioning at 15,000 RPM (rotation per minute), it also comes with SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) 2.0 interfaces. It can also be optionally provided with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware-based self-encryption. Making use of the PowerTrim technology, the upcoming Savvio 15K.2s consume up to 70% less power than 3.5-inch 15,000 RPM drives. Expanding the line of 2.5-inch SAS 2.0 enterprise solutions and reduction in size as well as energy consumption has placed this fresh green drive in the top slot of eco-tech division.
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With increased dependence on portable and remote-controlled gadgets, we cannot do without the batteries. Though we cannot change our wire-free lifestyle, we can atleast do our bit for the environment by switching to eco-friendly versions. Professor Chungpin Hovering Liao of National Formosa University in Taiwan has recently unveiled the latest green battery – World’s First Chlorophyll Organic Battery. It just needs to be wetted with any kinda liquid, juice, water, or any beverage and it can power your gadgets within 10 seconds. When no liquid is available on hand, even urine can be used to charge this organic battery.
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Japanese telecommunications giant NTT is developing shoes that it claims can charge your mobile phone for ever as long as the user keeps walking. The Turbine shoes do not provide any storage of the power that it generates but is an ideal solution to charge your MP3 player while you take a jog. The shoe manages to generate 1.2 watts of electricity, which is enough for most mp3 players or mobile phones. Small turbines that are attached to water filled soles power NTT shoes. Every time the user takes a step, the water in the sole moves and turns the turbines, which generates power.
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The CO2 calculator is a tool that has been introduced in response to an increasing customer request for precise CO2 numbers. Frepar Networks have developed the solar-powered CO2 Calculator; it includes calculating every human activity, which contributes to expanding or contracting our CO2 footprints, from utilities to trash and recyclables. It is possible in the future for users to calculate their yearly Carbon Tax payments as well. It all comes down to the credibility of a particular home’s green solutions. It is easy for a manufacturer to say that a solution is more environmentally friendly than others are, but with this calculator, one can actually prove it, right down to the household level.
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ORIGNAL 1887 – Patch of Grass
Van Gogh was well known for painting over previous paintings, art lovers have always wanted to know what these previous painting may have looked like if they were ever preserved. Luckily with a new technology it has become possible to see old paintings in a new light (Literally). Scientists from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, along with University of Antwerp in Belgium, worked on Van Gogh’s 1887 Patch of Grass. A square area measuring 17.5 by 17.5 centimeters shows a women’s head looking slightly left. Owned now by the Kroller-Muller Museum in the Netherlands, the picture was subjected to a technique known as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, which allows experts to map the chemicals on it.
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It’s now official that simply putting the eco wrapper on the phone is not exactly the way to go green, we did cover earlier on how Apple made no announcement on green initiatives at its launch. A dissection of the new device revealed its batteries which have the recyclable logo blackened. This confirms that you will not be able to recycle your old batteries after you’re done using it.
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There are inventions that make it easy for us to do a mundane task and then there are inventions which make us wonder how many people’s life it may change. The LifeStraw is one such invention, capable of purifying water on the go and directly from the source to the user. Capable of purifying water through chromatographic techniques as well as common filter methods, the LifeStraw can process 700 liters with a 1 year expiration and 3 year shelf life. That’s roughly 2 liters a day for the Personal model. Bacteria and viruses that cause diarrhea and other digestive sickness are safely removed from non-saline water sources. The personal model does not filter heavy metals like mercury or parasites such as Giardia. LifeStraw, however, has a Family model that is capable of removing, for all intents and purposes, all viruses, parasites, and bacteria even in turbid water. With a capacity of 17,000 liters the Family model uses a fixed reservoir and tubing to supply the filter unit with an on-off valve. Intended for in home use the Family edition is less portable and requires more frequent and thorough cleaning. The LifeStraw was studied and tested by the University of North Carolina and developed by Vestergaard Frandsen of Switzerland and the USA.
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