Archive for: power
XPAL Power is riding the smartphone wave today in announcing the PowerSkin line of battery infused cases. The 1500mAh cases (iPhone 4 features 2000mAh battery) cover some of the most popular smartphones on the market — HTC Evo | HTC HD7 | HTC myTouch 4G | Motorola Droid X | Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Vibrant, i9000 and i9003 | iPhone 4 (AT&T and Verizon). The design looks sleek and unobtrusive and is aided by the soft touch silicone that wraps around the cases. Features include the ability to charge the case (and phone) while the phone is inserted as well as syncing to your computer. A set of indicator LEDs along the back side of the case (bottom of iPhone 4 case) gives users a visual representation of remaining battery life.
Availability is still listed s “coming soon” with price equally as mysterious. Such things should be cleared up in the coming days, however, so check back soon.
In the meantime, check out PowerSkin’s website for more info and images.
- September 15, 2010 10:30 am
For several months after Nvidia released the 4xx series of graphics cards, the price was high enough that the minimal increase in performance wasn’t really worth it. Thankfully, over the last few months we’ve seen prices drop pretty substantially to the point where it’s finally a better decision (financially) to pick up an Nvidia card. You could be frugal, or, your could go balls to the wall with MSI’s upcoming NGTX480. The “N” signifies that this card is unlike any other. It makes use of the full 512 cores of the Fermi GF100 architecture. Previous benchmarks of a full 512-core card have shown some pretty minimal improvements. But MSI claims more is to come…
If money is no object and all you care about is the fastest frame rates, your search stops now! Well kind of. The ASUS ARES is the decimator of decimators, with two (yes, two) ATI 5870 GPU’s crammed onto a single PCB. With that kind of power on tap, you can guarantee that power draw is going to be an issue. On that note, if you can afford the $1200 asking price, be prepared to plunker down another $150-$200 for a *depndable* 750+ watt power supply, as this beast needs two 8-pin and one 6-pin connectors. The Nvidia GTX 480 is the top power sucking card no more. Toss in the fact that this card will take up three PCI slots and tips the scales at 5lbs. signals that this card really means business.
Getting back to that search comment — only 1,000 of these cards are being made. So if you’ve got the monetary means to do so, click “buy” now! Those who do are easily set for at least another year and a half of gaming without having to worry about upgrading. Of course, if you buy two of these and slap ‘em together in CrossfireX, you’ve damn near cleared a path for the next three years. And so we dream…
Talk of massive solar farms powering anything larger than a small city has until now, been left to science fiction. From what we’ve seen so far, there just hasn’t been enough space to build a solar farm big enough to consume all the energy of a given city or town. But that could all change, thanks to a gargantuan 6,500sq. mile solar farm being built in the Sahara desert…
If you’re looking to relieve some of the pressure off your wallet when it comes time to pay those monthly energy bills, what can you do? Turn off the lights, buy more energy efficient appliances, or live off the land in a tend in the woods? All are notable options. Though the last isn’t exactly everyone’s forte.
If none of those strike your fancy, you could always outfit your roof with some of these terracotta roofing tiles complete with built in solar panels. Dubbed the “Tegolasolare“, these clay tiles aim to make your energy bill more manageable and your energy footprint smaller overall.
The tiles themselves measure 46 x 46cm with the actual solar part of the tile clocking in at 29cm x 29cm. But even at that size and considering a roof full of tiles, you’re only looking at 3-5Kw of energy produced each day. In the grander scheme of things, 3-5Kw of “free energy” isn’t going to help you out much, as 3-5Kw is but a small portion of a typical person’s daily usage. But hey, every little bit counts, right?
A couple days ago, the LEGO Printer was all the rage. It’s still a crafty, head nod of an idea, but a newcomer has stolen my attention. The LEGO Circular Saw.
With safety in mind however, the creator removed “the sharpest parts of the blade” and even rigged up an auto-shutoff function if the protective flap exposes too much of the saw. Nifty. Just don’t go giving this to little Johnny. Things would go south pretty quick. Video of the blade spinning action just inside…
The general consensus on Nvidia’s Fermi graphics cards as so far appeared to be slightly above average. Yes, they’re faster than their old cards and a few of ATI’s options. But overall, they’re not that mind blowing. Certainly not living up to the hype that had built up for months. But a new prototype card shown off at Computex has the possibility to be the most powerful single-PCB graphics card yet — A dual-GPU Fermi card with 3GB of memory (GTX 470×2 | GTX 490?)…
Batteries really haven’t changed much over the years, only going through a few big changes every few decades. Even still, they’re wholly inefficient and toxic to the planet. But a water powered calculator with some unique new age batteries could go a long way to making this planet happier…
“Powered by water?” — you say. Yes. It’s actually not that complicated. The batteries that power this calculator are simple capsules filled with water and interact with two electrodes, causing a chemical reaction which in turn produces the electrical juice we all crave so desperately.
The best part — when the batteries are dead (all the water evaporates eventually), simply refill with water and viola!
$10.99 and it’s yours. Step inside for the links…
I’m far from what you’d call your typical “tree hugger”. Though I certainly to care about my energy bill and how the army of gadgets I have lays siege to my outlets while I’m away. I currently don’t use any type of monitoring hardware or software. But after seeing the Current Cost + Google Power Meter duo, I’m seriously re-thinking my decision of going it alone. With the Current Cost energy meter in place, I could track my energy usage and post it — In real time! — online with Google Power Meter.
If I lived in the UK that is…
