joule

Crave giveaway: Element Case Sector 5 for iPhone, Joule II for iPad

Congrats to Jamie M. of Portland, Ore., for winning a Vinci Tab II Android tablet for kids in last week's giveaway. Now, down to business: Could your iPhone 5 use a new outfit to wear to all those holiday shindigs? You're hanging out in the right place.

We're giving away a Sector 5 from Element Case, which calls the accessory the "most extreme case" it's ever created. To be clear, the black-and-graphite case can't promise to save your iPhone 5's life in a BASE jump, but it is made from lightweight aerospace-grade … Read more

Scaling up: Joule funded for test-tube biofuel

Startup Joule has secured the money to take its potentially breakthrough biofuel technology to a larger scale.

The company today announced that undisclosed private and institutional investors led a $70 million funding to build a larger demonstration plant. The announcement was made at the Technology Leaders in Future Energy conference in Abu Dhabi. Founding investor Flagship Ventures also joined the round.

Founded in 2007, Joule took a clean-sheet approach to making biofuels which now are primarily made from corn or sugar cane. Its process uses a genetically engineered version of cyanobacteria to produce diesel or ethanol using only sunlight, water, … Read more

Joule Chroma: Element's high-end iPad stand gets colorful

Last year, when the iPad first came out, Element Case had a hard time keeping its slickly designed but expensive Joule stands in stock. Now that the iPad 2 is out there, the company's updated the Joule to the Joule Chroma and added some new color choices.

The company says the new Joule Chroma, which still costs a hefty $149.99, offers six new anodized colors "with a stunning satin, deep luster finish paired with a plush color matched ultrasuede liner." It comes with a three-position tilt foot that allows you to adjust the angle of your … Read more

In the lab, designing the ultimate biofuel bug

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--To reinvent the fuel business, engineers at biofuel start-up Joule Unlimited tinker with tiny life forms all day.

The four-year-old start-up is on the front lines of a branch of biotechnology that taps into the wealth of knowledge from genome sequencing and powerful computer tools to start from scratch and ask: if you wanted the ideal fuel, how would you make it?

The answer they've come up with is a diesel secreted by a genetically engineered microbe in flat plastic bioreactors. The only inputs for its "biofactory" organism are sunlight, pumped-in carbon dioxide, and some … Read more

Joule patents fuel made from water, sunlight, CO2

The mystery bug--a type of bacteria--behind intriguing biofuel start-up Joule Unlimited was revealed with the publication of a patent on Tuesday.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based start-up said that it has received Patent No. 7,794,969 for an engineered form of cynobacteria, or blue-green algae, which grows in water and is capable of secreting biodiesel fuel.

The company asserts that it can make diesel fuel directly using only sunlight and waste carbon dioxide in glass bioreactors for as little as $30 a barrel.

Most biofuels processes take multiple steps to convert plant matter into sugars. Joule claims to be the … Read more

Joule to make diesel at solar fuels plant

Start-up Joule Unlimited plans to open a test facility later this year that will use micro-organisms, fed only sunlight and carbon dioxide, to make diesel fuel.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company, which changed its name from Joule Biotechnologies, said on Tuesday that it has secured $30 million to build the plant in Texas where it is already testing ethanol production. The money for this round came from existing funder Flagship Ventures as well as institutional and private investors.

Joule is a biotechnology company that has genetically engineered a photosynthetic micro-organism, which it has yet to disclose, to excrete hydrocarbons. Unlike … Read more

Crave giveaway of the week: Joule iPad stand

Yes, here it is, folks, our first iPad-related giveaway: the Joule iPad stand from Element Case.

You can get the full rundown on the company's product page, but the key here is that this stand not only looks sleek, it's also sturdy. "Unlike most stands," the company says, "the Joule won't tip over when using the iPad's touch screen, which allows you to better utilize your iPad on your desktop or kitchen countertop."

It's made in the USA from solid aluminum and comes in a polished finish or a black anodized … Read more

Bot pedals on tandem bike behind its maker

Joules might be a robot, but that doesn't mean he can't enjoy a calming tandem bike ride with his creator, Carl. He's not dead weight, either--he actually pedals, thanks to a PMG-132 motor.

There's trouble in paradise, however. Carl writes on the electric-vehicle-technology forums Endless-sphere.com that Joules "does all of the pedaling," which sounds like the start of every sci-fi plot in which overworked robots rebel against their makers. Besides that little hiccup, this is a really cool project, and sort of cute in a weird, nerdy way.

More photos and a video after the jump. … Read more

Joule adds CO2 to sunlight to make fuel

Start-up Joule Biotechnologies is sort of a mashup of the fuels, solar, and biotechnology industries.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company on Monday is disclosing its technology and business plans for making ethanol and other liquid fuels from genetically manipulated microorganisms that have been fed only sunlight and carbon dioxide.

In a break with biofuels companies, Joule says its HelioCulture system works without a biomass feedstock, such as algae or others plants. Instead, the company's engineered organisms grow through photosynthesis in a brackish water solution and directly excrete fuel or commercial chemicals.

"We set out in sort of a '… Read more