power

Logitech's been on a roll with its well-made keyboard accessories for the iPad (the Ultrathin Keyboard Cover is one of my favorites), but there's one big problem with all these accessories: they need their own USB charging cables.

Logitech's just-announced Solar Keyboard Folio adds a clever twist to the crowded iPad keyboard case market by introducing a solar charger. Better yet, the case doesn't look clunky.… Read more

Con Edison is betting that a modest smart outlet can help prevent the grid from crashing during a heat wave. The same gadget will also let people remotely control their air conditioners.

The New York utility said last week it intends to distribute 10,000 smart outlets from startup ThinkEco to residents in large apartment buildings as part of its peak power reduction program called CoolNYC. A regular air conditioner plugs into the smart outlets and allows for remote control of thermostat settings from a smart phone or Web browser.

People can choose to participate in Con Edison's CoolNYC … Read more

I heard about the Wadia 151PowerDAC from my friends at Magnepan, who make some of my favorite flat-panel speakers. They loved the way the 151 brought their fourteen-inch tall Mini Maggie speakers to life. That's great news, because when I auditioned the Minis at the factory last year (before they tried the 151) the speakers were hooked up to a massive Threshold stereo power amp. The Threshold/Maggie system was, by a large margin, the best-sounding desktop system I ever heard. Using a monster amp like that wasn't a practical solution for most buyers, but now with the … Read more

You see that battery meter dwindling down to zero. There's a knot in your stomach. You'd pay anything just to squeeze another 10 minutes from your phone.

Your panic is justified. Not only does a dead phone battery cut you off from communication with the outside world, but it strips you of your contact book as well. There was a time when I could remember close to a dozen phone numbers off the top of my head. But today, I can barely remember my wife's number without the aid of my phone.

Fortunately, there are a number … Read more

Who hasn't left their various mobile devices plugged in long after they're fully charged?

A new product -- still a prototype but expected to go on sale soon -- aims to solve the problem of so-called vampire power. Plug your device into the Mushroom GreenZero charger, and when your device is fully charged, the charger will turn off automatically. SmartPlanet's Sumi Das takes a closer look at the handy device.

This video originally appeared on SmartPlanet with the headline "Charging devices eliminate vampire power."

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Ivy Bridge chips for laptops like the MacBook Air, the Dell XPS 13 ultrabook, and HP Envy series will come in a second wave, Intel's CEO said today during the company's first-quarter earnings conference call.

"The first versions of Ivy Bridge that we're shipping are quad-cores," CEO Paul Otellini said during the call today. "And then the second launch of the products is the dual core, which is the mainstream notebooks," he added.

The first launch will happen on Monday, the second launch is likely in June. That's the timeframe that a … Read more

Microsoft announced on its Office for Mac Blog today that it has made its Service Pack 2 for Office for Mac 2011 available for download. This update addresses a number of problems users have been having with Outlook, but also fixes some aspects of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

The update is available via Microsoft's included Autoupdate utility, but can also be downloaded from Microsoft's Web site. The update is about 110MB in size, and after installing the version of your Office installation will be 14.2.0.

With the release of Office 2011 Microsoft replaced its old Entourage … Read more

Rather than try to reinvent the solar cell, startup Thermata has engineered a high-tech mirror to cut the cost of solar power.

The company, incubated at Idealabs, has completed initial testing on a system executives say can cut the cost of sun-tracking mirrors, or heliostats, in half using cameras and other digital technologies. Thermata plans to start beta testing the heliostats this year with potential customers, which are concentrating solar power technology companies, and with Sandia National Laboratories.

Thermata typifies a new breed of green-technology startup which is targeting a specific niche in energy using technologies from other fields. Its … Read more

Finally, a way to put that boiling pot of water to some good use besides making a box of mac and cheese.

The PowerPot is a Kickstarter project that looks to heat things up by adding the ability to charge gadgets while the pot is over a heat source. The heat source can be an open fire, a camping stove, or even a natural hot spring. What is important is that the liquid inside the pot is colder than the heat source. It is this temperature difference that is used to generate the energy necessary to power small gadgets.

The … Read more