We give you a run-down of what’s changed in regards to Facebook’s privacy settings, and GE has announced a new ultra small cooling unit for use in the thinnest notebooks and tablets. New York City Taxi apps are going up for a vote tomorrow, but not before all of the contenders can say their piece, and the Pope used his @Pontifex Twitter account for the first time today. We learned that the next Mass Effect game won’t be arriving until late 2014 or mid-2015, and we received the first details about Redbox Instant today as well.

Nokia has announced the Lumia 920, 820, and 620 for China, and Toshiba has revealed its new free positioning wireless charging chipset. A rocket launch in North Korea has a lot of people on-edge, while we heard that entry-level smartphones will make up the majority of sales by 2017. Apple is now rolling out iTunes to more countries, and a 120-foot wide asteroid passed between the Earth and the moon today. The iPhone 5 and 4S are $50 off at Radio Shack today if you’ve been thinking of picking one up, the dual-screen YotaPhone has been turning some heads, and Valve has rolled Steam Community Market into beta.

Finally tonight, we have a heaping helping of original posts for you to check out. Chris Davies reminds us why we’re not any closer to an Apple television despite the rumors, Philip Berne examines the power a single, tiny tweet yields, and Chris Burns gives us his reviews of the Brookstone Big Blue media tower, the JayBird BlueBuds X, and the Sony XPERIA Tablet S. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night folks!

GE has unveiled a new cooling technology that is as thin as a credit card and will enable new ultrathin tablets and laptops. GE says that the new cooling technology for computer systems was adapted from tech originally developed for commercial jet engines. The technology is called Dual Piezoelectric Cooling Jets or DCJ for short.

The technology behaves as a micro-fluidic bellows to provide high velocity jets of air to cool electronic components. The turbulent airflow that the system creates helps to improve heat transfer more than 10 times that of natural convection. The cooling solution is only 4 mm tall, which is a 50% decrease in height compared to conventional cooling assemblies used in electronic devices today.

GE says that this technology is perfect for cooling future tablet and ultrabook products of less than 6 mm thick. Another big upside to this technology is that it needs no fan so computer systems and gadgets built using the hardware will be quieter. GE says that it has demonstration kits for OEMs that want to evaluate the technology. There is no indication of products coming to market using the DCJ system at this time.

GE is purchasing the plug-in hybrid vehicles as part of its initiative to convert half of its global fleet of vehicles to alternative fuel systems. Currently GE has about 5000 alternative fuel vehicles in its fleet and its goal is 25,000 vehicles. Ford and GE will also be working together with researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The two companies will be working with the University to study GE employee driving and charging habits with an eye towards improving all-electric driving and charging performance. The researchers will use the MyFord Mobile app that offers real-time battery charge status and allows users to automatically charge the vehicle during off-peak electric rates.

Ford’s C-Max Energi is the most fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid with an EPA estimated 108 MPGe city rating and 100 MPGe combined rating. The vehicle is also one of the most affordable plug-in hybrids in the United States starting at $29,995 after a federal tax credit.

The researchers working on the project are attempting to develop smart, miniaturized sensing systems with the goal of extending the life of the battery pack inside the EV or hybrid significantly over the conventional systems in use today. GE will be using its ultrathin battery sensor system with sophisticated modeling of cell behavior to control and optimize battery management systems in EVs. Sensors are used inside electric vehicles today to measure the health of the battery and look at factors such as temperature, voltage, and current.

The small size of the sensors GE is using allows sensors to be placed in areas of the battery where the larger existing sensor technology commonly used today can’t be located. The smaller sensors will enable a better understanding of battery performance and life inside current EVs. The data generated by the GE sensors will be used by scientists at the University of Michigan to verify their advanced battery models.

The data will also allow the scientists to create schemes that use instantaneous sensor data to predict future battery cell and battery pack behavior. Once the researchers develop the systems, Ford will place the new system in one of its electric vehicles for validation. This project is a three-year $3.1 million program and the goal is to demonstrate a working system inside an actual electric vehicle.

“The car battery remains the greatest barrier and most promising opportunity to bringing EVs mainstream.” said Aaron Knobloch, principal investigator and mechanical engineer at GE Global Research. “Improvements in the range, cost and life of the battery will all be needed for EVs to be competitive. With better sensors and new battery analytics, we think we can make substantial progress at increasing battery life. This, in turn, could help bring down its overall cost and the cost entitlement of buying an electric car.”

GE notes that the new electric motor has almost twice the temperature tolerance of a conventional hybrid-electric motor and doesn’t need a separate cooling system. The elimination of a separate cooling system allows the vehicle to be lighter, which directly translates into longer driving distance. The new electric motor is a prototype Interior Permanent Magnet traction motor that was developed as part of the $5.6 million US Department of Energy project to extend the range of DVDs and hybrids.

The prototype traction motor operates at a peak power level of 55kW and exceeds state of the art motors in the same class in several areas. The motor has nearly twice the power density offering better acceleration compared to similar motors and is 3 to 5% more efficient. The motor also achieves the required torque using lower DC bus voltage as low as 200 V versus 650 V and other motors. The GE electric motor is designed to be cool with normal engine coolant in a hybrid vehicle rather than needing its own dedicated cooling system.

“This is a significant accomplishment. We at GE are pushing the boundaries to build more robust, yet more efficient motors for hybrid and fully electric platforms,” said Ayman El-Refaie, Electrical Engineer, in GE Global Research’s Electrical Machines Lab. “We have built a motor that is substantially more powerful than what’s commercially available now, all while improving efficiency by up to 5%.”

The goal of the ARPA-E program is to develop a natural gas home fueling station that could sell for $500 per unit and reduce fueling times from 5 to 8 hours to under an hour. There are at home refueling stations for natural gas vehicles available today, but they cost about $5000 and have long refueling times. Refueling commonly requires 5-8 hours for natural gas vehicles, typically meaning overnight refueling. The program hopes to improve the adoption of natural gas vehicles by average drivers with a fast and inexpensive home refueling station.

There are an estimated 15 million natural gas-powered vehicles operating globally with more than 250,000 in the United States. Most of those vehicles in the United States are commercial fleet vehicles such as buses and delivery trucks, but there are some passenger cars. The recharging station the researchers are working on would be fundamentally different from systems already available. The researchers are working on a system that chills, densifies, and transfers compressed natural gas more efficiently and the device will be a simpler design with fewer parts and will be able to operate quietly. The program is intended the last 28 months and cost approximately $2.3 million.

The new turbine has fewer moving parts with direct-drive technology with integrated redundancy and partial operation for major components. The design is focused on optimizing reliability to be used at sea. Direct drive tech means there is no gearbox, which allows operating expenses to be lowered significantly.

The turbine also uses a new optimizes blade design to maximize the capture of power. The new turbine is an evolution of the 3.5MW turbines that GE already has in use. There are 16,000 of the 3.5MW turbines offshore gathering energy around the world today. The new turbine also has a 50% reduction in installation time and delivers 5% more energy per unit than comparable 3-4MW units.

The application is called the GE Mood Cam app. Basically you take a picture of your room and then you slide the “Moodometer” to apply different filters to the image you took to simulate lighting effects in the room. Once you find the light effect you want, you can put together a shopping list of the GE bulbs you need to achieve the effect.

There are six different moods to choose from and you can even tell the app what sockets your light fixtures use so you get the exact bulb part numbers you need. The app is free and on the App Store right now.

In addition to shrugging off water like a nonchalant seal, the G3WP also has a 4x optical zoom (that looks to be internal), Auto Scene Detection and Pan-Capture Panorama.  The former bypasses a scene mode selection wheel and automatically figures out the best settings to use for each shot, while the latter creates panoramic photos simply by asking you to slowly pan across the scene.  It then intelligently snaps frames and sews them together. 

Previewing and reviewing is done on a 2.7-inch LCD with an ambient light sensor controlling backlight brightness, and the GE G3WP supports up to ISO 3200.  No word on pricing or availability.

Press Release:

Waterproof GE G3WP Camera Makes Big Splash

TORRANCE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–General Imaging invites you to dive right in and start snapping. The company has just released a new camera that loves the water.

General Imaging, the worldwide exclusive licensee for GE digital cameras, has launched its first-ever waterproof model, the G3WP.

GE cameras have always been a great fit for active lifestyles, but the fun new G3WP takes things to new depths. Waterproof to 10 feet, the G3WP is perfect for backyard pool parties or weekends at the lake. Rain in the forecast? No problem – take the G3WP with you. The camera is specially designed to keep moisture out.

“We’re very excited about this camera, because it opens up a whole new range of activities our customers can capture and preserve,” said Tom Haga, CEO of General Imaging. “Whether you’re going swimming or taking a walk in the rain, the G3WP is the perfect camera.”

The G3WP – part of the 2009 lineup of GE digital cameras – features a massive 12.2 megapixels of resolution, 4x optical zoom, and a 2.7-inch LCD screen that automatically adjusts to changes in ambient light.

As with the other cameras in the 2009 lineup, the G3WP offers Auto Scene Detection and Pan-Capture Panorama among its many advanced features. Auto Scene Detection automatically determines the appropriate scene type and optimizes exposure for sharp, vibrant pictures. Pan-Capture Panorama lets the user pan the camera across the scene while the engine automatically captures, determines overlap, and stitches the frames into a single panoramic picture.

According to the GE’s OLED program team leader, Anil Duggal, this is the first ever roll-to-roll OLED fabrication demonstration and they’ve done with “style”, put together a display of holiday tree to keep up the tradition. A video of the team and the lighting of the OLED Christmas can be seen here:

Both companies will apparently combine their analytic and technical skills to push for changes in US energy policy, that will “bring electricity from renewable sources to consumers and … build a smart electricity grid that will empower utilities and consumers to manage energy more efficiently and save money.”  Initially the partnership will be between just GE and Google, but they will eventually open it up to other like-minded organizations.

For the consumer, a smart grid will supposedly mean access to real-time energy use statistics, more flexibility in where power is sourced (for instance the choice between fossil fuels and green energy production) and the control to take advantage of cheaper energy at different times, i.e. at night.  More details here [pdf link].

It has a large high-res LCD screen on the phone as well as a full keypad which can be used to type your messages. No longer will you have to choose between sitting at the computer all day and using the precious capacity of your mobile’s data plan, you can now go outside and enjoy the weather and not miss the message from your friend you are waiting on.

The phone is ENERGY STAR rated, RoHS compliant, and comes with 100% recyclable packaging. It has caller ID, call waiting, recordable ring tones, voicemail indicator, a 50 name/number programmable phonebook/directory, and works with your choice of headsets. This amazing home phone is a mere $99.95 and can be bought online or at Best Buy.

[via VTech]

Also provided are preset news feed by MSNBC which are easily customized for your preferences.

Now, onto the specs, which aren’t all that bad for a company I haven’t seen since the last time I went and bough light bulbs. It has a 5x zoom and an 8MP resolution, that’s a pretty good start for any point and shoot.

Past that there is a 3” LCD, that’s all for the E850, the H855 is the same thing but comes with a black carrying case and a software suite. The software suite includes software from ArcSoft which includes a lot of their PrintCreations software. The camera should have been on the site the beginning of this month, but right now only the E1040 is listed, but it’s a 10.1MP cam and goes for $279.90 so you can probably expect the H855 to go for less than that.

GE H855 digital camera [via LetsGoDigital]

Check out the video footage after the cut…

Everyone knows that traditional tungsten lighting is rubbish – it uses too much power, it’s inefficient, the lifespan is short and the colour of the light produced is more yellow than pure white – but energy efficient bulbs have their drawbacks too.  Cost is one thing, they’re dimmer and take longer to “warm up”… they’re also a simple replacement, they don’t really bring anything cool to the table.

OLED could change all that.  If GE have their way then our future could be illuminated by flexible panels of high-intensity, efficient pure white light.  Or pure blue, red or green light, since OLED can be engineered to change colour, too.  They started off with a 1-inch square and have managed to work up to a 2-foot square panel.

They’re now looking at ways to make production more cost-effective.  I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing them luck with that, and maybe stroking their hair.

GE Global Research [via technabob]

All info is recorded on a removable SD card that can be transferred to a computer hard drive or recorded to CDs or DVDs. Which means you can forever save that priceless video when you catch your best friend picking his nose. I must warn you this is a pricey little number, although it seems a small price to pay for a nice quiet afternoon away from the in-laws and other door to door pests. This useful gadget can be purchased for $299.99 plus shipping.

GE SmartHome Intellicorder [via popgadget]

The GE Monogram Refrigerator [Via: LuxuryLaunches]