clean

Michael Banfield is proud of his jug filled with insect pheromones. He's managing partner at SpringStar, which sells biopesticides that work like this: Hormones from female gypsy moths are sprayed into the air, sending the males into a frenzy as they think that females are everywhere. They fail to find a real one and die before they can breed.

It's one of the technologies being touted at the Cleantech Forum this week in San Francisco, a conference where so-called green start-ups show off their wares to venture capitalists. SpringStar is working with researchers at the University of Washington … Read more

A $28-million military research project could pay off for you at the Laundromat.

Researchers have developed a water-repellant coating using a polymer film (polyglycidyl methacrylate) mixed with silver nanoparticles that, when fixed to common clothing and soaked in a chemical solution, allows them to repel bacteria.

"The coating doesn't actually clean itself," said Dr. Phil Brown of Clemson University. "You will still need some water to rinse away dirt and stains, but cleaning will be quicker and less frequent."

That works for us, but how about socks? Originally developed to protect troops from biological warfare … Read more

File this in the "not there yet" folder. A bunch of blogs have covered a new, solar-powered system for NEC monitors, yet none show how it looks. My mind's eye pictured a tidy, laptop-size solar panel. But when I received this photo from NEC, I couldn't stifle a chuckle. Who wants to claw their way to a corporate window seat only to have mammoth solar panels block the view? Oh, and try not to kick that battery pack.

The equipment is designed for big businesses that aim to cut costs with clean, off-the-grid energy sources, but … Read more

Probably owing to the sensory overload of the holidays, we at Crave feel compelled to repeat our mantra that less is more. Just after posting an item on an elegant special edition of LG's "Shine," we came across another example of a well-designed handset in the form of a VoIP phone.

What is most appealing about Lexon's "Lexphone" is the consistency with its surroundings. If you appreciate the clean lines of your MacBook or Sony Vaio, for example, the last thing you'd want to do is have some garish phone plugged into it, … Read more

So you've just blown a month's salary on a plasma TV, and you're treating it like your first-born. Do you really want to pull out one of those janitorial-grade plastic bottles to keep it clean? Certainly not in front of company, we hope.

With that much money hanging on the wall, the least you can do is spend a few more bucks for a nicely designed cleaning solution like this one from AM Denmark, which comes in an "integrated spray container" made of acrylic and textile, according to Core77. For all its beautiful lines, however, … Read more

One of the best parts about living with the Scooba, the hardwood floor-cleaning cousing of the Roomba from iRobot, is discovering that you live like a hillbilly. This gray water comes from a test drive of a Scooba on my kitchen floor. But it's only a few days after the cleaning lady was here.

Still, it's sort of interesting to know how filthy your floor is. (Weirdly, founder Helen Greiner said seeing the water is one of her favorite things about it too.) The lint trap also pulls up some interesting crumbs and old bits of cereal. I'… Read more