solar

LAS VEGAS--If you're stocking up on gear to prepare for the next major hurricane, Eton has unveiled some handy gear for when the power fails.

The ZoneGuard is an emergency clock radio that combines an AM/FM radio and NOAA weather alerts.

It also has SAME (specific area message encoding) technology to broadcast automatic weather alerts, as well as LEDs that flash three colors depending on the severity of the warning.

Developed in partnership with the American Red Cross, ZoneGuard also has optional wireless speakers that you can put in different rooms when you're away from the unit. … Read more

Screensavers have long outworn their welcome, but some people still refuse to live without them. If you wouldn't dream of having a blank black screen when your computer is idle, Solar System - Earth 3D Screensaver is for you. It shows you our planet in all of its glory.

The goofy early-'90s sci-fi music this application features is a weird choice, but it doesn't totally detract from the screensaver. As for the image, it's a cool spinning Earth that is actually fun to watch. It isn't the most accurate view of Earth you'll ever … Read more

One might say Bertrand Piccard has daring adventure in his blood.

The 54-year-old Swiss balloonist's grandfather set an altitude record, while his father was one of the first people to explore the deepest part of the world's oceans. But now Piccard and his partner Andre Borschberg are aiming to enter the record books with an around-the-world flight in a solar-powered plane that can fly at night without fossil fuel.

Piccard and Borschberg spoke with Bob Simon for a "60 Minutes" report to be broadcast tonight about the Solar Impulse, a slender aircraft that weighs only about … Read more

Disappointed about that hyped-up supposed Mars discovery that ended up evaporating? Turn your eyes toward Mercury.

A NASA news conference yesterday suggested what many scientists have suspected for decades: Mercury's northern pole most likely contains large deposits of water ice and possible organic materials. The new data comes from Messenger -- a NASA spacecraft currently orbiting Mercury -- which observed the icy deposits by measuring hydrogen concentrations on the planet. The findings were described in three separate papers published yesterday in the science journal Nature. … Read more

In the grand scheme of things, it's fair to say our solar system is very tiny.

You might especially agree with that statement after viewing 100,000 Stars, a Google Chrome Experiment Web page that gives anyone the chance surf around the our slice of the universe from the comfort of their Internet browser. Spacesuit and oxygen supply optional. … Read more

Did you miss out on the total solar eclipse yesterday?

Take a look at our breathtaking gallery that features pictures of the total (and partial) solar eclipse from the northern tip of Australia, various island countries in the South Pacific, and near Chile.… Read more

Did you know a total solar eclipse occurs tomorrow? Unfortunately, unless you live around certain areas in Australia or find yourself floating in the South Pacific Ocean, you won't really see the full effect -- unless you observe the phenomenon online.

If you want to catch the rare moment where the moon passes between Earth and the sun, Space.com recommends tuning in to the Slooh space camera Web site or a live feed by Tourism Tropical North Queensland on UStream. … Read more

I can relate to the energy woes of folks in the Pacific island nation of Tokelau (technically a territory of New Zealand), and I'm a bit jealous of their solution.

Tokelau and the roughly 1,500 residents of the coral atolls about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand have become the world's first completely energy-independent territory/nation/whatever, thanks to a solar energy project that's just been completed with funding from the New Zealand government.

"Until now, Tokelau has been 100 percent dependent upon diesel for electricity generation, with heavy economic and environmental costs," New … Read more

There's something new(ish) under the sun in the rural South African village of Phomolong, where Samsung has built a gadget-laden solar-powered classroom -- in a renovated shipping container.

The Solar Powered Internet School -- a product of Samsung's corporate-social responsibility initiative -- has solar panels on the roof that can generate nine hours of electricity a day. That power's needed to juice the electronics inside -- a 50-inch electronic board, Samsung Internet-enabled solar-powered notebooks, Samsung Galaxy tablets, and Wi-Fi cameras.

… Read more