Green Tech

Ray Kurzweil's vision of the "singularity" -- when nanobots make humans immortal and computer progress is so fast that the future becomes profoundly unknowable -- is a bad idea.

That's the perhaps surprisingly contrary opinion of Joichi Ito, who as a high-tech investor and director of the MIT Media Lab might be expected to be a natural ally. The lab, after all, aims to be at the center of today's technology revolution.

Ito, speaking today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said he believes the singularity vision puts the wrong priorities first.

"… Read more

It's a new era for lightbulbs. Incandescents are well on their way to being obsolete. Compact fluorescents are reigning champs, but LEDs are rising through the ranks, looking to challenge CFLs with advancing technology and falling prices. As fast as the tech changes, we're still pretty hooked on the old-school incandescent shape. We still want our bulbs.

The NanoLight Kickstarter project wants to give us LEDs without sacrificing the traditional bulb shape and ability to shine light in all directions. The result is a bulb that looks like it was designed by a Cubist painter. The makers claim it is the most energy-efficient light bulb in the world.… Read more

The next superstorm could strike anytime. If you're concerned about having electricity, the MetAir Solstice packs a whopping 55,000 mAh of power.

This portable charger from QuantumSphere has power equivalent to 115 D-cell batteries under a 2 amp load.

It's being billed on a Kickstarter campaign as the world's most powerful portable device charger. … Read more

A common criticism of 3D printing is this: how much more plastic junk do we need in this world?

Filabot, a Kickstarted device that turns household and printed plastic into printable filament, might have the answer.

The brainchild of Tyler McNaney, a 20-year-old sophomore mechanical engineering student at Vermont Technical College, the Filabot takes common plastic, including plastic from 3D printed objects, and grinds, melts, and re-extrudes it back into printable feedstock.

McNaney developed the Filabot with the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised just over $32,000 when it ended in January of last year. He then … Read more

Google has made a $200 million equity investment in a wind farm in West Texas that it says produces enough juice to power more than 60,000 homes in the U.S.

In a blog post today, the company said that the 161-megawatt Spinning Spur Wind Project in Oldham County boasts 70 Siemens wind turbines of 2.3 megawatts each, which started operating on a full-time basis just before the end of the year.

Built by developer EDF Renewable Energy, the facility has contracted its output to SPS, a utility serving Texas and New Mexico.

Google said in the post: &… Read more

LAS VEGAS--When you come to CES here, you expect to see computers and TVs galore. Mobile phones, sure. Printer and speakers? Check. But a 50-foot-long mechanical snake?

Though we're in an arid, desert-like Nevada environment (never mind all the cement and golf courses), this isn't Burning Man. But sure enough, just behind the CNET trailer here, Titanoboa is strutting its stuff. And indeed, Titanoboa is a 50-foot mechanical snake.

Created by EatArt, the Vancouver arts collective, Titanoboa seeks to invoke the promise -- or the threat -- of global climate change, and the kinds of things we might start to see happen on this wonderful planet of ours. According to the Titanoboa project page: … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Ever since the launch of the Nest in 2011, programmable thermostats have become one of the hottest in-home technologies.

With its Apple-inspired interface and design, Nest gets the lion's share of the attention, but new competitors are hoping to steal some of the thunder. At CES 2013 here, Austin, Texas-based Allure Energy is hoping to join the party with Eversense programmable thermostat.

Eversense, which works on iOS and Android, is meant to give users the ability to automatically control their thermostats, not based on learned behavior, but on what they're doing in real time. The idea, explained … Read more

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

What if everything around you had the potential to generate small amounts of energy?

We've seen flexible, even stick-on photovoltaic cells before, but these decal-style solars are compact and fun.

In a recent article in Scientific Reports, Stanford University mechanical engineering assistant professor Xiaolin Zheng and colleagues describe thin-film solar cells that can be peeled and stuck anywhere.

The researchers manufactured them on a reusable silicon and silicon dioxide wafer and then stuck them on paper, plastic, and window glass.

The original cell efficiency of 7.5 percent was maintained, and the manufacturing uses existing processes and materials. That … Read more