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A blight upon your window shades

Usually a blight is something you'd want to avoid, but according to Unplggd, if designer Vincent Gerkens has his way, the more blight out there, the better.

Fortunately he's referring to Blight, a concept that involves attaching solar panels onto venetian blinds. As the Unplggd article points out, Blight is a word play on "blinds" and "light," which I probably would not have figured out on my own. The panels soak up the sun during the day, and at night they light up your life. Or room. Or whatever you need illuminated, I suppose. … Read more

Borrego Solar scores $14 million in funding

Borrego Solar Systems, a manufacturer of a solar power systems that can connect to electrical grids, received $14 million in venture funding on Wednesday.

The money will go toward the company's expansion already under way to bring more solar installations to the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S., according to the company. Borrego Solar recently opened offices in Boston.

The deal itself could be a sign that green capitalists are taking a more conservative approach to investment, not only in terms of business management but also in terms of the type of technology they're willing to take a … Read more

Minty-fresh menus and more

This eye-catching replacement for the Windows Start Menu, Taskbar, and side panel makes for a fresh breath of air from the standard Microsoft fare. You'll be able to quickly see your top 10 programs, desktop search bar, and folders list within a colorful, logical design. A handful of attractive skins (with more online) gives you artistic control; some also throw in local weather and a calendar widget.

While reskinning Windows is the real draw, being able to launch submenus almost instantaneously as you scroll over them is the app's most substantial side perk. The setup shaves seconds off … Read more

Speaker of the year: Magnepan 3.6/R

I've reviewed a gazillion speakers, and I can't remember more than a few dozen of them. They're just a string of big and little boxes; some sounded really nice, most were merely OK, and surprisingly few were truly awful.

Magnepan's speakers stand out from the crowd first because they're so thin, the MG 3.6/R is 1.5 inches thick, and standing 71 inches high, it's really tall. But it was the sound that blew me away. It's an incredibly clear, high-resolution sound, and sounds decidedly unspeakerlike. That's why it's the Audiophiliac's Speaker of the Year.

As I said in my Home Entertainment magazine review "That's why the MG 3.6/R will sound like a revelation to first-time listeners; the gap between the sound of real, live music and recorded music feels a whole lot smaller. The speaker projects a more full-bodied, three-dimensional soundstage than any box can; correction, the MG 3.6/R's sound was bigger and deeper than I've ever heard from a speaker retailing for less than $50,000. With the MG 3.6/R instruments and voices emerge closer to their real-life scale and size. Clearly, Magnepan engineers changed the way speakers move air."

Instead of the usual woofer and tweeter, the MG 3.6/R uses three "planar-magnetic" drivers: a 55-inch tall aluminum foil "ribbon" tweeter; a 199-square-inch 0.5-mil-thick Mylar midrange diaphragm; and a 500 square inch Mylar woofer. The speaker is essentially a panel that moves air, and projects sound from its front and rear surfaces. The drivers are Magnepan patented designs, all manufactured at the company's factory in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. American hi-fi at its best.… Read more