The Tweet-a-Watt project was good – in fact good enough to win a competition – but there are a few obvious flaws in the first iteration of the design. Not least is the requirement to have a computer turned on to receive power-use stats and tweet about them; now Adafruit Industries are back with their solution, a hacked $40 ASUS router with XBee wireless capabilities.
Video overview after the cut
Sony has been demonstrating a number of fuel-cell concepts, ranging from portable power units to rechargers and even home speaker systems that have their own methanol power-source. Of most interest are the two devices seen here, which may look like retro radios but in fact combine a rechargeable Li-Ion battery with a methanol fuel-cell.
Universal chargers usually look like complicated octopus creatures, with multiple proprietary tips dangling off a cluster of cables, or maybe a single box and a bag of easy-to-lose adapters, but IDAPT’s solution is bit more sturdy. Saying that, the i2 and i3 Universal Chargers also require a bit more room, being intended for table-top rather than travel use. Interchangeable plugs slot into the base plate, letting you centralise your commonly-used gadgets.
High-end PC power supplies get asked to do a lot – you don’t think that multi-head graphics card setup runs on pixie dust, do you? – but they’re seldom taken into the garage and asked to turn a car engine over. That’s what the Cooler Master guys have done, though, to demonstrate their 500W PSU. Check out the video after the cut!
Remotely access power management system is not a new application in IT fields for server or datacenter services; but it’s for home-theater appliances, especially a niche market product such as power conditioner. Announced exactly one year ago, PS audio finally gets the go-ahead to ship its globally accessible, IP-enabled power conditioner Powerplay today.
Corsair have announced a new 850W power supply intended for gamers and overclocking enthusiasts. The Corsair TX850W is built using industrial grade components and can operate at 100-percent load at an ambient temperature of 50-degrees centigrade. It also has a dedicated +12V rail that can deliver 70A (840W); that’s a full 98.8-percent of the PSU’s total output.
If you’re like me, you’re always running out of battery life on your various gadgets during the day. Whether it’s your cell phone, MP3 player or laptop, we all could use more battery life at some point. That’s why the Powergorilla Battery Charger is nifty to have around.
This unit is portable and resembles a brick of sorts. It can be used to charge up your portable media devices or your laptop, if you wish. Specs for this battery charger include the ability to amp up your laptop for an extra 2-5 hours and other portable devices up to 20 hours.
There are adjustable voltage options as well, letting you specify just how much power you want. And LCD screen always keeps you in the know when it comes to how much power is left and its status. The Powergorilla Battery Charger works with devices charged by means of USB. You can expect to pay $299 for this gizmo. The added battery life is certainly worth it, almost $300 is a lot of money for some people.
The picture might not suggest it, but this is actually a very clever power socket. The work of Phil Endecott, it’s actually linked up to a Linksys NSLU2, the network storage device known as the ”Slug”; he uses it to switch on and off his seldom-used printer remotely from elsewhere on his network.
Do you ever sometimes feel less than intelligent? Perhaps you think you have a rudimentary grasp of science and technology but one day when you’re faced with something particularly complex, you feel a bit inadequate and question your own intelligence. Yeah, that’s where I am now after seeing the Furutech Powerflux Power Cord. It costs $1,800 and while the company provides ample reason for the high price tag, I can’t say I understand a bit of it.
For instance, the “conductors are 68-strand α (Alpha) OCC twisted around μ–conductor strands with a special-grade PE insulation or dielectric.” Um, okay! They go on to explain that the conductors are OCC wire that have been treated with the the company’s Alpha Cryogenic and Demagnetizing process.
Google has announced a partnership with General Electric (GE) which will see the two companies cooperate on policy and technology solutions around electricity generation, transmission and distribution. The deal will see the development of a so-called “smart grid” that can prioritize energy efficiency, use of environmentally-friendly sources such as enhanced geothermal systems and support electric vehicles.
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