range

GE's CleanSteel microwave provides basics for the budget-minded

At less than $250, this GE CleanSteel 1.5 cu. ft. microwave is an affordable over-the-range family-size model that offers standard features and power.

Weighing 51 pounds, this oven has 950 watts of cooking power. (These ovens typically range between 850 and 1,650 watts.)

Like all CleanSteel appliances, this oven should resist fingerprints. Buyers report that the oven is fairly easy to install, but also quite loud to operate.

For cooking, the oven has 10 power levels and a one-touch feature on the controls to cook a potato, popcorn, beverage, or reheat something. You also have the option to … Read more

Bosch's microhood combination is a sleek, roomy oven

You won't find halogen lights or speed cook features on this sleek Bosch over-the-range microhood combination, but the oven does provide a lot of room and basic cooking power for kitchens where space is tight.

At 60 pounds, this microhood has 1,000 watts of cooking power and 1.8 cubic feet of cooking space. It's big and powerful enough for a large family or group use and is more affordable than some of the power-cooking models with convection options in its class.

The outside of this oven has electronic touch controls and 10 power levels to choose … Read more

Range Fuels expands funding to speed cellulosic-ethanol production

When it comes to next-generation biofuels, it's a competition for both technology and capital.

Range Fuels expanded its previously announced series B funding from $100 million to $166 million, according to reports. Private Equity Hub on Monday cited a regulatory filing, saying Morgan Stanley Capital Group joined the round. VentureBeat reported the expansion last week.

The money will be used to build the first phase of its ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga., which will use forestry waste as a feedstock. The plan is to complete a 20 million gallon-per-year plant next year that uses a gasification process.

There's … Read more

Linksys' new design for Wi-Fi routers flies in

Linksys has launched a completely new design for its upcoming routers, and today I got my hands on the first one: the RangePlus Wireless Router (WRT110).

Out of the box, I loved it! It immediately reminded me of a flying saucer (not that I remember the last time I saw a real one), though the router is not exactly round. The new design boasts a sleek and futuristic look. It also has a much smaller footprint and is lighter than the previous models. Still, it feels solid and the thin plate-like shape makes it stay more grounded on the surface, … Read more

Learn the secrets of HDR photography

Want to learn the secrets to creating beautiful HDR photographs? xTrain, a provider of online video training courses has announced a new high dynamic range (HDR) Mastery online video course by Photoshop expert Ben Willmore. HDR is the process of taking a sequence of exposures, allowing you to lighten the underexposed areas and darken the overexposed areas of a digital image to better simulate what the human eye would actually see.

The online course shows learners step-by-step the best practices of creating HDR photos. Students learn how to best choose subjects for HDR, such as watching for movement and clouds, … Read more

Coskata CEO explains how to get to $1 a gallon ethanol

Nearly every cellulosic ethanol company claims it will be able to produce fuel at $1 or less a gallon in a few years. William Roe, CEO of Coskata, in a meeting on Monday explained how his Warrenville, Ill., company will do it.

It's one of the more interesting processes out there, because it combines both biological (i.e., microbes) and thermochemical (heat and chemicals) processing. Menlo Park, Calif.-based ZeaChem is also taking a mixed approach, but it combines thermochemical and biological processes in a different manner. Most other companies are using primarily chemical or biological processes. We don'… Read more

Range Fuels gets $100 million to build ethanol plant

It's March Money Madness in clean tech these days.

Range Fuels, which says it can produce cellulosic ethanol out of wood scraps, has raised $100 million to build a 100-million-gallon-a-year plant in Georgia, according to VentureWire, which posted the news first. Investors in the round include Khosla Ventures (a previous investor) and an unnamed energy company.

Earlier, the company received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy worth up to $76 million, as well as other venture funds.

CEO Mitch Mandich, a former Apple guy, told us last year that the plant would cost around $150 million. Unlike … Read more

Panasonic sensor tackles key photo problem--dynamic range

SAN FRANCISCO-- Panasonic showed technology on Monday that could shift the digital photography trend of high-dynamic range photos off the computer and directly into a camera image sensor.

And it works through a variation of a familiar photographic technique called exposure bracketing. For years, photographers challenged by tough lighting conditions have taken multiple pictures of the same scene at different brightness levels--bracketing--to help ensure one photo has a good balance shadow and highlight details.

More recently, with the advent of computers, these bracketed exposures can be combined into a single high-dynamic range (HDR) image that captures both bright and dark … Read more

Investor Vinod Khosla: Advanced biofuels are closer than you think

Start-up Range Fuels on Tuesday will host a groundbreaking ceremony in Soperton, Ga., where the company will build a plant that will make the fuel ethanol from wood chips.

If successful, the company claims it will be the first to build a commercial cellulosic ethanol plant, using a feedstock that's cleaner than corn--the primary source of ethanol in the U.S. today.

Green tech venture capitalist Vinod Khosla is one the investors in Range Fuels and a high-profile advocate of ethanol and other biofuels.

The numbers behind making ethanol from wood waste, rather than corn, are compelling, he says: … Read more

'Media Range Hood' reinvents the TV dinner

We hate to say this, but we fear that this whole multimedia-kitchen thing may be getting out of hand. As much as we appreciated the built-in LCDs, espresso makers and, of course, beer on tap (we're human, after all), those conveniences were restricted mostly to the refrigerator--where we spend most of hour waking hours anyway. But a range hood? That's a little sick, even for us.

Nevertheless, Siemens plans to introduce its "Media Range Hood" to North American markets sometime next year, Appliancist says. Based on the "AvantGarde MultiMedia Hood" that has been selling … Read more