power

Apple's iPad costs precious little for you to charge it each year, according to a new study.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) conducted a study recently to see how much the iPad costs in electricity if users fully charge it every other day. The research agency, which is funded by electric power companies, found that the iPad will cost owners $1.36 a year, thanks to its consumption of just 12 kWh of electricity each year.

The EPRI assumed that there are now 67 million iPads in the world and applied the average energy use to each device … Read more

Capt. Francis Gary Powers, the Air Force pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, was posthumously honored Friday in a medal ceremony at the Pentagon.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz presented the Silver Star Medal to Capt. Powers' children, Gary Powers Jr. and Dee Powers, in the Hall of Heroes, in tribute to Powers' "heroic action and his loyalty to the United States of America during a pivotal time in our nation's history."

"My sister, myself, my wife, my son, aunts and uncles, cousins, the … Read more

Apple's newest Macs will be able to accomplish updates, data refreshes, and more -- all while the computers are asleep.

At its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco today, Apple unveiled a feature called Power Nap. Available on second-generation MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros with Retina Displays, Power Nap is all about keeping Macs up to date even while they're snoozing.

The computers will be able to fetch data while in sleep mode, do an iCloud sync, update system software, get e-mail, and even do a Time Machine backup.

This could be a very useful feature for heavy … Read more

If you own one of Apple's MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air systems, you will have a power adapter that comes with the unit for charging it. Depending on your system, you may have a 60-watt adapter or an 85-watt adapter, which can be used to charge the system or run it directly from wall power; however, there are times when these adapters might not work properly.

Sometimes they get very hot when used, or sometimes they won't charge the system or show any activity at all.

While often the easiest solution for a faulty power adapter is … Read more

Zoom lenses sell cameras these days, so it's no surprise that manufacturers are doing everything they can to get longer lenses into increasingly smaller bodies.

A 3x or 5x zoom lens used to be the standard for ultracompact cameras -- those measuring 1 inch thick or slimmer -- but in 2012, you can easily find a skinny point-and-shoot with a 10x optical zoom.

The frontrunner here is the sub-$250 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 thanks to its excellent features, fast autofocus, and the quality of its pictures and video (though its color accuracy could be better). Most of the category consists of sub-$200 cameras, though, so there are several options if you're just looking for a simple pocket camera with a long lens.… Read more

Solar Impulse, a Swiss sun-powered aircraft, on Friday finished the first leg of its attempt at an intercontinental flight without using a single drop of fuel.

The solar plane took off Thursday from Payerne, Switzerland, bound for Morocco. It landed safely Friday on a planned three-day technical stopover in Madrid, where it will get a new pilot.

If successful, the 1,550-mile journey will be the longest to date for the craft, which last year completed its first international flight from its home in Switzerland to Brussels.

Pilot Andre Borschberg handled the first leg of the trip for the Solar … Read more

No, it's not the first thing people gravitate toward when tearing open their brand-new iPhone or iPad. Heck, it's probably not even the second or third thing (the USB cable and the Apple sticker are more popular I'm sure).

But, hidden deep within that pretty box is a cube that makes the whole thing work. It's an AC wall-charging unit, and it's as technically impressive as any other component in that box.

Ken Shirriff, a technology buff and blogger, has a complete teardown of Apple's tiny technical wonder on his blog, detailing (exhaustively, I might add) why exactly Apple can charge $29 for it.… Read more

Everyone who uses Instagram, EyeEm, or other photo-sharing apps knows how easy it can be to add effects to photos and make them look even better than the original. But there's another group of apps at the iTunes App Store that add something more to your images, taking a mostly mundane photo and turning it into a work of art.

This week's collection of iOS apps turns your photos into hand-drawn works of art. The first offers one-of-a-kind effects to make your photos look like sketches. The second is an old favorite of mine for the incredibly realistic line drawings you can create. The third takes a different tack, turning your photos into super-realistic paintings in the style of some of the greatest painters ever.… Read more

An air-powered car may not be a pipe dream after all. Tata Motors announced last week that it is beginning phase two of development to bring this technology to market.

Lightweight cars powered only by air have made the rounds on the auto show circuit for the past two years. But since 2007, the Indian automotive manufacturer has been working with Motor Development International, which is pioneering this technology, to make this highly conceptual propulsion system a reality.

Tata has successfully demonstrated the compressed air engine concept in two of its vehicles, and will enter phase two of the partnership … Read more