Technology
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »The Tango: It Takes Two (And That’s About All)
[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 13, 2008 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Saturday, December 13th, 2008Lane-Splitting Prevents Brain-Splitting Headaches
If you’ve ever been in a traffic jam in L.A., you’ll appreciate the idea of the almost comical-looking Tango electric car zipping between the cars in the part-time parking lot often referred to as “The 405″. Which reminds me of a question no-one’s ever answered to my satisfaction: why do Californians have the weird habit of referring to their freeways with the definite article? In any case, as odd as the Tango looks, it apparently does 0-60MPH in 4 seconds, and can give a Tesla a run for its money on the quarter-mile. All of which doesn’t matter much if you need to cart the kids to soccer games and pick up lumber at Home Depot, but that is clearly not the intention of the car’s producers. It’s designed as a commuter vehicle, and besides the cute lane-splitting trick (legal in some states, not all) it will park nose-in to the curb, and fit in most motorcycle spaces. Worried about safety? It has a full steel roll cage that meets SCCA/NHRA rules; in theory you (or at least the roll cage!) should be able to survive a 200mph crash. With its current $100K+ price tag, only George Clooney can afford one, but they plan a price-drop in 2009. For a Tango-eye view of a traffic jam, here’s another YouTube clip (no sound).
Will Greentech Equal Greenbacks?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 3, 2008 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008Don’t burst my energy bubble
I was talking to a friend today who was reconsidering her possible future in environmental work because of quite reasonable concerns about what may happen to the economy in the near future. I hope that in spite of (or maybe because of) these economic concerns, she and others stay focused on the idea of developing a clean & green future for America. I personally believe that our current economic woes could be the motivation to shift the paradigm and put the country back on track as a leading innovator. It seems I’m not totally crazy; Barack Obama promised during his campaign (and stayed on message in his recent radio/web address) that he intends to invest $150 billion to “build an American green energy economy” in the belief that as well as creating 5 million jobs, it is in fact the only way forward in the current energy/economic environment. It’s nice to see that there seems to be an international consensus – Brazil is committing to reducing Amazon deforestation by 70%; in Hawaii (that’s a country, isn’t it Sarah?) there are plans for an electric car network; BMW is looking for 500 lucky field testers for their Mini EV, and in the general picture, green technologies have enjoyed an astounding 1400% increase in investments since 2001. There are so many great ideas busting out (and nice sites like CleantechGreentech.com with great info on the topic) that it’s almost impossible to keep track. Some of these ideas are really simple, but game-changing. Things like Crowdsourced Green Venture Capital Funds. Anybody have a positive story about greentech economics to share?
Theo Jansen’s Eerie Beach Beasts
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 22, 2008 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008Life is indeed a beach
If technology has ceased to amaze you, get ready to rediscover amazement. The clip at left is the trailer for a film about Dutch artist, engineer, and visionary Theo Jansen. Using primarily electrical conduit tubing, Jansen creates disturbingly life-like machines that are meant to “populate” the coasts of Holland, “feeding on wind and fleeing from water” as he puts it. The trailer featured here gives a quick glimpse into what his creations are about, but for a fascinating few minutes, check out his talk on TED.com. His creations are sort of like a real-world Sodaconstructor, the Java-powered, kinetic, on line tinkertoy. Sodaconstructor is a little difficult to figure out, but kind of addictive once you master the basics.
Losing Touch With Computers
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 16, 2008 by admin in Technology
Sunday, November 16th, 2008Gestural interfaces: the end of those filthy little things we call computer keyboards?
Other than watching Tom Cruise get abused by the Dr. Solomon Eddie character (played by persvasive creepy bad guy Peter Stormare), one of the coolest things about the film Minority Report
Sometimes I’m Not So levelHeaded
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on November 13, 2008 by admin in Technology
Thursday, November 13th, 2008Kind of like a little man trapped in Rubik’s Hypercube
I’ve always had a strange relationship with technology. I had a synthesizer for my first band (an Arp Axxe) when I was fifteen, way before most people even knew what they were, but was the last person I knew to get a CD player. I had a pocket scientific calculator when I was about eleven (rotary phones were still dominant at the time) but didn’t use a P.C. for the first time until 1999. As a Star Trek and space-race era kid, my expectations of technology have always been a little out of sync. That’s why I was a little confused by the video at left. It’s a 3D computer game called levelHead in which you make a little man walk through various rooms by tilting the cube. At first I was amazed and wanted to run out and buy one. Then I was ready to call hoax, because it’s so obvious that the apparently 3D images are superimposed on the cube. Then I realized that the video is what a player would see on the screen as they moved a blank cube around in their hand. Then I thought “wow, how stupid”. Then I reined in my cynicism, and realized it was pretty clever. Then I thought “what a stupid way to demonstrate the idea though”. Then I said “shut up, Ian, and stop starting sentences with ‘Then’ “.