Sunlight Direct brings us a very effective and useful hybrid solar lighting technology. It consist of a device on the roof that collects and concentrates sunlight throughout the day. After filtering the UV and Infra Red spectrum (for heat reasons), this light is piped down to the building interior where it can be distributed via hybrid fixtures. On sunny days the fixtures might emit 80% natural sunlight mixed with 20% fluorescent or incandescent. On cloudy days it might be just the opposite. The natural light has been shown to improve our productivity, help synchronize our circadian rhythms or sleep patterns. Microprocessors control the system, aiming the collector directly at the sun (within accuracy of .1 degrees) throughout the day and adjusting the blend of natural light and artificial light at the fixtures to keep a steady light level.

check out this video segment about it from the Discovery Channel

Lightpipe lighting from Sunlight Direct has the ability to make a significant difference in your energy cost. With some proven health benefits as well. We’ll certainly be keeping an eye on this and future developments like it.

via - Gizmodo

Technorati Tags: hybrid solar lighting, sunlight direct, solar lighting, solar power

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For sake of the environment, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd is announcing development of a 125cc fuel cell scooter called the “FC-AQEL”. Using a hydrogen fuel cell system, it will include a pair of 35 MPa high-pressure hydrogen tanks, a Lithium ion secondary battery and more. This technology will be compacted in an ultra flat brushless DC motor. The transmission will be neatly contained in the hub section of the rear wheel. Now of course we know that hydrogen is really only a storage medium for energy. We will really have to work on green ways to create energy to make some gains and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

via - Fareastgizmos.com

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Is it luxury or over doing it ? In either case, Grohe Digital Showers may just make your morning routine more convenient and luxurious feeling. Their new device allows you to turn on your shower as you wake up by remote control. The wirelessly controlled base unit then adjust the water mix to meet your ideal pre-programmed settings, and pleasantly notifies you with visual or audio signal when your parameters have been achieved. It is also smart enough to respond to changes in water pressure or temperature and will strive to maintain your ideal settings by split second adjustments. Just be sure not to waste any water!

via - New Launches

Technorati Tags: bathroom gadgets, shower head, temperature control

A french consultant released a controversial new study claiming that a 30 inch Apple Cinema display increases productivity. Of course this study was sponsored by Apple. However despite the possible lack of objectivity, Apple generously provides those of us who need to convince a suprevisor, boss, or even spouse with ammo for us to use in justifying why we need one of these beautiful big displays. Very clever Apple. According to the study it was concluded that:

large screens can offer gains of up to 50 percent to 65 percent in productivity on a variety of specific office tasks and can earn back their extra costs in time savings over several years. The 30-in. display costs $1,999.

Well there you go. That sounds perfectly logical to me - but other experts disagree (spoil sports)

other experts say those conclusions are wrong, arguing that the productivity improvement estimates are too high and that using two monitors side by side would likely be a better productivity booster than one larger monitor.

via - Lifehacker

Technorati Tags: Apple, 30 inch Cinema Display, Mac, Ergonomics, Productivity, Studies

The ST3620-B2 Hard Drive Caddy System from Stardom offers a removable hard drive caddy storage solution that is seldom seen outside of heavy power user pro circles. It holds 2 trays which contain your hard drives ( SATA drives are recommended for maximum speeds ). These drive trays can be swapped out and fitted with fresh hard drives, allowing you to carry massive projects on the go or to bring much needed additional storage to bear when necessary. The one thing that puzzles me is that all this storage connects via a single USB 2.0 connection. Maybe I’m not familiar enough with the USB 2.0 standard as it compares to the earlier version, but this seems like it would be slower compared to something like FireWire. I’ll have to find out more about this. When I do, I’ll write an article showing my findings.
via - UberGizmo, the Gadgets News Blog

Technorati Tags: hard drive, removable storage, USB

In this fast moving web 2.0 world an official press release often becomes an mere after thought in the wake of many prior leaks and sneak previews. Such might be the case with the T-Mobile Dash. This device has been widely previewed, anticipated and the specs are already out there. But now it’s official, from the source T-mobile itself.

Just to review, the T-Mobile Dash offers the following:

• Quad-band for global use cabablity
• Windows Mobile 5.0
• GSM,GPRS, EDGE, WiFi and blue tooth
• AOL, MSN and Yahoo! instant messaging
• email support
• 1.3 megapixel digital camera
• video capture
• expandable onboard memory

The Dash will have a suggested retail list price of $349 but of course that means nothing because being a T-Mobile phone, you will be purchasing it with one of their service plans. With a 1 year plan the price is $249 and with a 2 year plan the price goes down to $199.
via - SlashPhone

Technorati Tags: PDA, Dash, smart phone, T-Mobile

Imagine having your own personal water craft submarine. This is really some top level James Bond secret agent technology ( or at least Austin Powers chic). If you are looking to impress, what better way to do it than showing off your own personal luxury sub that’s capable of diving 1000 feet below the surface of the sea. With a comfortable interior much like that of a small luxurious private jet, you can take your friends and family within a range of 56 nautical miles with a top speed of 6 knots underwater. In the comfortable air conditioned, climate controlled atmosphere with high end luxury seating, you and your party can hide out or chill underwater for up to 28 hours with a 360 view of the surrounding underwater sights.

The Discovery 1000 handles very much like a boat. So you really won’t need to take submarine lessons. A digital joystick and a video game like computer display shows you all you need to know. The craft can also function just as a boat without submerging but it’s good to know that you can dive down when the need or want arises. Powered by a 15KW electric motor, The Discovery 1000 can also be fitted with an optional 40KW diesel engine for the purpose of faster travel at surface level. This watercraft, manufactured by the Florida based US SUBS is Available in various sizes to accommodate 2 to 10 people. So all of you jaded gadget heads out there, this is probably something you don’t own already so what are you waiting for?

via - BornRich

Have you ever rushed around the room in a mad dash to find your cordless handset, then short of breath and sweating, you finally pickup only to find it’s some telemarketing company that called you despite your being on the national do not call list. This product is a solution for that. The Color-Call system allows you to assign different colors to different callers. These colors flash when you receive a call, allowing you to answer the phone on your own terms if and when you feel like it. This is a very cool concept, imagine being able to turn the ringer off when you’re relaxing and seeing who is calling from anywhere in the room. Also this could really help the deaf and hearing impaired.

via - SCI FI Tech

We’re a little late to the party on this one, but that’s ok. So what’s the buzz about the Nokia N95?
To answer that, we will take a quick look at the feature list.

• All in one multimedia computer
• Integrated GPS fucntionality
• 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics
• TV output feature
• Unique 2 way slide concept
• Built in stereo speakers
• Support for high speed mobile networking
• large 2.6″ QVGA 16 million color display

Wow this thing does everything! The camera is no slouch and it’s 5 megapixels allow you to capture print quality pictures and DVD-like quality video clips. The 2 way slider allows you to switch between different modes and different keyboards for specialized functions. From reading maps to playing or making videos to browsing the internet, the Nokia N95 is designed to do this all with ease. Look out for the Nokia N95 in the first quarter of 2007

via - Fareastgizmos.com

Solar cells are typically made from silicon crystals. This is the same material used in computer semiconductors and chips. Crystalline silicon is a somewhat scarce commodity because of the huge demand. Alternative materials or perhaps less use of scarce materials will go a very long way to increasing the feasibility of solar power. This becomes even more important when you consider the ideal future, which for me would include every roof surface having a solar panel array. Fortunately, Power Film has created solar cells that use a minimal account of silicon. This cell is incredibly thin, using 2 micrometer thick non crystalline silicon wavers. This allows the Power Film cell to be mounted on flexible plastic, curved surfaces and other materials. It still has a ways to go as the power yield is about half of the normal crystalline silicon panels. Also the performance decreases over time. This will have to be fixed

via - UberGizmo