Cool New Gadgets

Solar power doesn’t just have to be for them holier-than-thou green types, it can also be for the filthy rich—or for lovelorn poets. Art Center student Jiyeon Song made the One Day Poem Pavilion of boards with holes punched at different angles. Depending on the angle of the sun to the earth where the pavilion sits, different parts of the poem shine through. After about five hours, you will have the complete message. I just thought of something: This dot-matrix sundial technique could easily be used to make a solar “digital” clock, by showing times instead of stanzas. Calibration would be a bitch, but someone could do it. Phil Torrone, are you hearing me?? [Project Page via Geekologie]

Source: feeds.gawker.com

Asus announces M70 notebook with 1TB hard drive

Gearlog

Gearlog

Eco start-up company Sungevity is launching a new web application on Earth Day (three days away, people!) that will take the guess work out of solar panel installations. Enter your address on Sungevity’s website and satellite-imaging software will zoom in on your home, calculate your roof’s dimensions, select the right sized solar arrays and calculate how much money you’ll save on energy costs.

Once you place an order, the site will ship one of five off-the-shelf prepackaged solar arrays and dispatch an installation crew to your door. An on-line database tracks local building and permit requirements and sends the necessary forms to you for you to fill out.

This is great news for everyone who has ever wanted to jump on the solar bandwagon, but was afraid to because of the headaches that come from any large home project. The system will also help make everything cheaper, since half of a solar system’s costs are from installation hassles.

Unfortunately, the service is limited to California addresses right now, but if business is good, we could probably count on a nationwide roll-out in the near future. [Green Wombat via Wired]

Source: feeds.gawker.com

Use GPS to Find Your Dead In New Forest Graveyards [GPS]

When you die, instead of having your grave marked by granite, you can now peg it to something even more immutable: latitude and longitude. A new eco-friendly forest graveyard promises a new kind of service, according to the Sydney Morning Herald:

The deceased will be buried in biodegradable coffins between gum trees in a protected koala sanctuary…Relatives and friends will require a satellite navigation device to find graves of loved ones.

The graves, located at Lismore Memorial Park Cemetery in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, Australia, will be unmarked but recorded in coordinates, and spaced at 5 meters to ensure you’re kneeling at the decomposing remains of the right person. In case you think it’s a ploy by Garmin and Magellan to sell more handheld GPS products, mourners will be able to borrow one (possibly for free) for the visit.

This so-called “eco-burial” practice is not without merit. I’ve always complained that cemeteries and golf courses were great wastes of space—using this concept, you can combine the two. (Just look out for the mourners on the 9th green.) It’s not just the land use, either. Cremation emits foul greenhouse gases; embalming fluid and coffin varnishes and glues can harm the groundwater; said coffins deplete non-sustainable forestry; and granite headstones require CO2-emission-heavy shipments from China (at least for Australians). It’s a nasty business all around, in need of some green thinking.

I do anticipate a few issues, though, and anyone who’s ever tried geocaching can back me up: It’s not super easy, and requires a lot of meandering. Spry youthful survivors of the deceased may have an easy time of it, but 85-year-old widows will certainly not, even if they do know how to read and follow the display on a Magellan Triton or Garmin eTrex.

Jack, our new weekend writer, raises another possibly legitimate concern: “After a heavy rain, I might wake up next to someone’s dead uncle.” [SMH]

Source: feeds.gawker.com

OWC’s Triple-Interface Mercury-on-the-Go 500GB HDD [OWC Mercury-On-The-Go]

The Mercury-On-The-Go from OWC is a somewhat tempting three-way connectible 500GB portable HDD. Component-wise there are no surprises, under the hood is a 2.5″ 5400 RPM Hitachi Travelstar 5K500 with an 8MB cache. With Firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0 you get three-way connectivity and bus power.

I don’t think that there is quite enough cool looking circuitry in a portable HDD to warrant a clear case, but the design works. At 3.5″ (W) x 5.5″ (D) x 1″ (H) and at 2.5 lbs it is as light as can be expected. The kicker for the Mercury is the price; it is $359.99, which means that you are going to want to go on the road with your equipment a lot in order to justify the expense. If you work from home a 3.5″ will give you a lot more bang for your buck. [OWC via Slippery Brick]

Source: feeds.gawker.com

Stacked Cup Is the Leaning Tower of Coffee Breaks [Coffee]

Why drink Joe from a normal mug when you can tease coworkers with this hilarious gravity-defying fused three-cup stack day after day, and get more coffee per serving while you’re at it? Who knows, maybe this will serve as the icebreaker you need to chat up that latte-swilling hottie in Finance. If this were ours, we’d always go for the top-cup grip for maximum gravity defiance—and for $12 this dishwasher-safe little baby might be ours soon. [Loft Party via Neatorama]

Source: feeds.gawker.com

AN AFFORDABLE ELECTRIC VEHICLE? The $30K ZAP Alias
ZAP believes that thanks to how fast automotive technology is advancing, it can produce such vehicle by the specified time frame. addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coolgreengadgets.com%2F2008%2F02%2F13%2Fan-affordable-electric-vehicle-the-30k-zap-alias%2F’; addthis_title = ‘AN+AFFORDABLE+ELECTRIC+VEHICLE%3F+The+%2430K+ZAP+Alias’; addthis_pub = ‘palle04′;

ZAP believes that thanks to how fast automotive technology is advancing, it can produce such vehicle by the specified time frame. (more…)

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