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It's been a little heady around here lately: Right after the Lamborghini Gallardo, we get a Bentley -- and a Mulsanne to boot. I normally start our tours of high tech cars in the front seat, but this time we begin in the back where the tech takes off in ways you've never seen before.

If you want iPads in the back seat of your car without buying a Bentley, check out Wayne's how to that can make … Read more

I'm hoping the whole celebrity-branded headphone shtick will soon run its course, but I have to admit Monster's new Earth Wind & Fire Gratitude in-ear headphones are pretty spectacular.

Earth, Wind & Fire was one of the most popular funk bands of the 1970s, so naturally they were primed to attach their name to a headphone. That's fine, but I have to judge a headphone on its build and sound quality, and the Gratitude is a very decent headphone indeed. The heavy gold accents on the earpieces were a little gaudy for my taste, but that's … Read more

When it comes to capturing energy from powerful offshore winds, bigger is better.

Siemens today introduced a larger version of its 6-megawatt wind turbine with a permanent magnet-driven generator set for installation offshore in Europe. The diameter of the circle created by spinning rotor blades will be either 120 meters or 154 meters (that is, almost 400 feet or 505 feet) across.

Land-based turbines typically have a capacity of up to 2 megawatts, but larger turbines are being designed to capture stronger, steadier offshore winds. Siemens projects that up to 50 of its SWT-6.0 turbines will be installed in … Read more

First things first: I think most in-ear headphone designs are pretty uninspired-looking things. Sure, ear-canal headphones are so tiny there's not a lot to work with, but I have to say Bowers & Wilkins' new C5 is a stunning piece of industrial design. The tungsten and aluminum headphone is the prettiest in-ear design I've seen to date.

The headphones' proprietary Secure Loop cable is a unique design element and can be adjusted to fit in the inner ridge of your ear to help secure the tip in place. My ear canals are bigger than average, so I don'… Read more

Typically, cost is the driving concern when choosing one renewable energy technology over another. But a pair of studies that consider land use give the edge to niche forms of solar and wind power generation.

Caltech researcher John Dabiri, a professor of aeronautics and bioengineering, this week presented results of a test that found that vertical-axis wind turbines have the potential to generate more power per square meter than the propeller-like, three-blade wind turbines. The key is that vertical-axis turbines can be placed close together without creating the type of wind disturbances that would sap performance of traditional turbines.

Dabiri … Read more

Wind turbines that do not interfere with radar systems used by aircraft may soon become a commercially viable option for the wind energy industry, Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas said today.

"Our testing has demonstrated that we have successfully adapted military stealth technology to make Vestas wind turbines viable for placement in many locations that have been restricted by radar concerns," Vestas Technology R&D President Finn Strom Madsen said in a statement.

Vestas said it successfully tested in Britain a full-scale "stealth" rotor on a turbine, paving the way for wind power plants to be … Read more

Home Depot will begin to offer small wind turbines and installation services from Southwest Windpower, both companies announced today.

Southwest Windpower makes a small wind turbine called the Skystream 3.7 Personal Wind Turbine.

The turbine is rated at 2.4 kilowatts and produces about 400 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month when operating at a minimal wind speed of 12 miles per hour, according to the turbine manufacturer.

Not all Home Depot stores will be carrying the turbines immediately. The wind turbines are initially being offering only at some stores in particularly windy states including California, Idaho, Nevada, Texas, Utah, … Read more

Boston is now home to the world's largest commercial wind-blade testing site, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Wind Technology Testing Center officially opened yesterday inside what looks like a massive airplane hangar in Boston's port.

The seemingly minor ceremonial event is actually quite significant for the U.S. wind industry and could improve the timeline for wind turbine technology development in the U.S.

In the past, large-scale wind blades under development in the U.S. had to be shipped out of the country for testing, usually to Europe, because the U.S. had … Read more

Google today said that it will invest about $100 million in the very large Shepherd's Flat wind project in Oregon, its second direct investment in renewable energy in two weeks.

Shepherds Flat is projected to be the largest wind farm in the world, able to generate 845 megawatts and supply enough energy for 235,000 average U.S. homes when it is online next year. GE Energy Financial Services and Caithness Energy are existing owners of the project near Arlington, Ore., which will take up about 30 square miles.

Last week, Google said it invested $186 million in the Ivanpah solar power plant … Read more