plastic

Plastic Logic's plastic reader is thin, simple, strong

Why would you want an Amazon Kindle, which is kind of bulky, not too attractive, and of limited scope when you could have a real digital document reader that is thin, easy to use, and very strong?

That's the business case from Plastic Logic, one of the first companies to be on stage at DemoFall this morning.

The company's plastic reader is designed to store dozens or hundreds of business documents on a very thin digital reader. It can store e-books, magazines, newspapers, PDFs and all kinds of information, the company said.

It's made with plastic, not … Read more

Backing solar cells with cotton, castor beans

BioSolar has developed a plant-based plastic for making durable, less expensive, and more sustainable solar equipment, the 2-year-old company said Tuesday.

The company's BioBacksheet is a protective coating for crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells. Its material consists of layers of cotton fiber and a nylon resin from castor beans provided by Arkema, a Philadelphia chemicals company. Genetically modified crops aren't involved, according to BioSolar.

Unlike many plant-based plastics, which are ideal for throwaway forks and food packaging, BioSolar's material is supposed to withstand extreme temperatures and moisture, keeping solar photovoltaic equipment safe when exposed to the elements. The … Read more

'New car smell' becoming less toxic, report says

Car interiors and car seats are becoming less toxic, although "new car smell" continues to carry poisons linked to allergies and cancer, according to a report last week by the Ecology Center.

The Ann Arbor, Mich., group found that General Motors made the most progress in reducing potentially harmful materials, followed by Mazda and Nissan, since the nonprofit's initial Healthy Car report last year.

The ingredients in question include lead, chlorine, and phthalates from plastics, as well as brominated flame retardants from cushions and padding.

The car with the best marks was the Acura RDX SH sport-utility … Read more

Green tech news harvest: Redesigning suburbs, cooking carbon, and mapping wildfires

Correction June 30 11:30 a.m. PDT: See below for details.

A sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary.

High fuel costs threaten suburban lifestyles - The Boston Globe Does America need a redesign? Rising gas prices could drive an exodus from suburbs into city centers.

Novomer launching plastic made from CO2 - Greentech Media Plastic made from carbon could be used in electronics and solar equipment.

Google Earth maps California fires - Google Earth Blog Tagged maps and NASA satellite imagery help to pinpoint some 1,400 fires raging in California.

Number of flights to plummet by summer's end - The New York Times … Read more

The 404 128: Where Jeff's not late

Apologies for the late start, but Jeff was with some good ole folks from Sony. Today, Russ Frushtick from UGO.com joins us today to talk about video games and the such. Justin has to leave early because of an unexpected meeting, but MTI dawns his superhero shorts to save the day. Along the way, we talk a lot about boobs. I mean a lot. And how not to make chocolate at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. EPISODE 128 Download today's podcast

Junk journey highlights 'plastic soup' of Pacific Ocean

Sailing 4,000 miles on the Pacific Ocean made Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal sick. It wasn't waves that turned their stomachs, but the amount of plastic garbage they encountered on a voyage with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation earlier this year.

The activists wanted more people to share their disgust about plastic litter that swirls, relatively unexplored, in continent-size patches of ocean.

To that end, they have built a motor-less craft from 15,000 recycled beverage bottles, fishing nets, and the cockpit of a Cessna, and are sailing it more than 2,000 miles from southern California to … Read more

HP introduces new 'green' label for products

Sure, recycled paper is nice, but what about feeding it through a recycled printer?

Not as in refurbished and resold, but a new Deskjet that is composed of 83 percent recycled plastic. Hewlett-Packard is introducing a new green-focused label for some of its peripherals, and one of the first items under that label is the aforementioned D2545 printer.

HP hopes to tempt the environmentally conscious as well as those looking for a bargain with the D2545, which retails for $45. Even the ink cartridges it uses are made of recycled plastic resins.

The printer is one of several products that … Read more

Dell names new CFO

As it continues to work on a turnaround, Dell on Monday announced that it has named a former General Electric executive to serve as its new chief financial officer.

Brian Gladden, who had nearly 20 years of finance and management experience at GE, will join the computer maker Tuesday as a senior vice president, assuming the role of chief financial officer on June 13. Gladden is coming from Sabic Innovative Plastics, a GE Plastics spin-off where he has been serving as chief executive. Sabic is a unit of Saudi Basic Industries.

Prior to joining Sabic, Gladden held such posts as … Read more

Where Randall hates the majesty of film

EPISODE 92

Iron Man takes the box office by storm, Indiana Jones 4 looks promising, and Speed Racer most definitely will not be good (we promise). Plus, Amy Winehouse pulls out of a James Bond movie, and plastic surgery officially makes people look funny.

Listen now: Download today's podcast