ie8 fix

heated

GE, Idaho Labs turn waste heat into electricity

General Electric and the Idaho National Laboratory are plumbing engines for a cheap source of energy: waste heat.

The two organizations said Tuesday that they have received a $2 million Department of Energy grant to further develop GE technology that converts the heat from industrial engines into electricity. That technology could make engines 20 percent to 40 percent more efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The engines that run factories, mills and power plants are often only 35 percent efficient. That means the rest of the available energy from fossil fuels goes unused.

GE researchers in Germany and New York … Read more

Laser-etched laptop tray made from recyclable materials

This Type Tray acts as a barrier between a hot laptop and your legs, which is great because up until now I've always used a pillow to protect myself from tech-related burns.

Veer and Scribble Product Design configured the tray to allow heat to dissipate through its 3/4-inch layer of 100 percent industrial wool felt. The Type Tray also features an intricate typographic design laser-etched into the surface, courtesy of P22 Kilkenny and Cavetto. The product also does its part to help Mother Nature by only using recycled (and recyclable) materials.

The Type Tray is available here for $… Read more

iPhone Wi-Fi failures caused by battery heat?

iPhone Atlas has already covered a number of complaints from iPhone users about iPhone OS 2.2.1.

Frequently, faulty Wi-Fi connections were the source of these complaints. Recently, that problem has resurfaced, and one user is linking the Wi-Fi problems to heat generated by the iPhone and its battery.

A discussion in the Apple forum describes a problem in which some iPhones are randomly dropping Wi-Fi signals, then failing to reconnect to any network for a period of time.

Many people think that the problem is caused by the iPhone overheating, and some go so far as to place … Read more

Pauli Sauce Pot claims you'll never burn another sauce

When I was first learning how to cook, I burnt my fair share of sauces. And stews. And beans. And most other things I tried to cook. You get the idea. Put a guy with no experience and no formal training into the kitchen and see what happens. Chances are not very good that the resulting dishes will be very edible. I (almost) always ate what I made and learned from my mistakes. One of the first lessons I learned was not to turn the burner all the way up for everything. Seems like common sense now, but then common … Read more

Domain Pigeon helps you find unclaimed URLs

There are far too many domain search and purchasing tools, but I haven't found one that does it like Domain Pigeon. The service tracks domains that are still available and puts them in an index that can be searched and sorted in all manner of ways.

Domain Pigeon's secret sauce, however, is that it shows you what other users have been looking at, right down to how many have clicked on any specific domain name. Domains that have gotten more attention darken in color, with the heavy hitters bubbling up to the top.

To encourage registration (which costs … Read more

ioSafe's Solo Demo-lition: Fire!

I blogged about ioSafe's Solo external hard drive the other day, and Thursday at CES, I was invited to the company's demo.

The Solo is heavier and bigger than most external hard drives that are based on a single 3.5-inch internal hard drive. Nonetheless, it looks good. The most important thing, however, is the fact that the demo unit survived both water submersion and intense heat.

The demo was done by first copying a few photos (some of myself) onto the Solo. Then the drive was literally thrown into a pool and stay submersed for a few … Read more

Heat up the party with a warm dip

I like parties. Maybe not so much hosting them, but going to them. At first, the reason for party-hosting-avoidance may seem obvious, as nobody enjoys the day after clean up, but there is more to it than that. I like going to parties to check out the spread.

I am always appreciative of the party treats as I table graze. With an endless assortment of snackable treats out there, the combinations can be truly overwhelming (deliciously overwhelming, that is). As I make my way past the obligatory crackers and occasional veggie, I keep my eye open for the one thing … Read more

ElectraTherm gets funds for 'waste-heat generator'

ElectraTherm, which has developed a relatively small machine for making electricity from waste heat, has raised $2.6 million and plans a follow-on round next year.

The Carson City, Nev.-based company's ElectraTherm Green Machine is designed to squeeze power from the heat thrown off at industrial facilities like factories, saw mills, or oil and gas operations.

The company intends to make units that range in size from 30 kilowatts to 500 kilowatts, enough to offset electricity use at an industrial facility. A 50 kilowatt unit can generate roughly what 40 U.S. homes consume.

The money from the $… Read more

'Intelligent Heat' knows your hands better than you do

If you're reading this while rubbing your hands together and blowing hot breath into them (remember, the wider your mouth when you blow, the warmer the heat), well you should probably turn on the radiator or put on some gloves. If you already have gloves on and are still rubbing your hands together, keep reading.

Aevex announced on Monday that its Intelligent Heat technology can now be found in winter gloves from Mountain Hardwear and Outdoor Research. Not to be confused with the Cooling Glove (not sure why you would be, but I just wanted to get that link … Read more

Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

How's this for a tantalizing possibility: rather than install solar panels on your roof, the lost heat from your furnace could power your home.

That's not yet a product, but a growing number of scientists and clean-tech companies are trying to coax usable energy from smokestacks and other waste-heat sources.

A global push toward energy efficiency is prodding more industrial outfits to reuse heat from their operations that would otherwise be lost to the skies.

Meanwhile, improving thermoelectric technology that converts heat into electricity is being fitted onto everything from car exhaust pipes to furnace flues.

It's … Read more