Crave

The thought of an artificial tree usually excites memories of building and ornamenting a Christmas centerpiece. But here's an innovation that will put those plastic branches to shame: scientists at Columbia University are developing a structure that can capture carbon 1,000 times faster than a real tree.

The carbon-capturing structure looks more like a cylinder than a soaring Redwood.

(Credit: Global Research Technologies)

Klaus Lackner, a professor of geophysics at the university, has been working on the project since 1998, according to a CNN report, and is optimistic about a near-future application.

Modern improvements in coal-fired power plants have reduced carbon emissions, but Lackner is seeking a different function. The "tree" would be used to trap carbon that has already been emitted into the air by car gasoline or airplane fuel, CNN reports.

Unlike the real thing, the synthetic "tree" doesn't need direct sunlight, water, a trunk, or branches to function, as it looks more like a cylinder than a soaring Redwood. The concept, which Lackner says is flexible in size and can be placed nearly anywhere, works by collecting carbon dioxide on a sorbent, cleaning and pressurizing the gas, and releasing it. Similar to the way a sponge collects water, the sorbent would collect carbon dioxide.

The MultiSync E222W in all its pivoting, portrait-mode glory.

(Credit: NEC)

A couple months back, I talked about Dell's new Eco-friendly monitors, the G2210 and G2410, which feature on-screen displays (OSDs) that allow you to see, in real time, how much energy your monitor is using depending on its current brightness level. In the original blog, I commented that I hoped more developers would follow Dell's lead, and it looks like NEC will be the first to try--perhaps even topping Dell.

On Tuesday, NEC announced the MultiSync E222W, a 22-inch LCD monitor with a host of ergonomic and Eco-conscious options.

The monitor includes 110 millimeter height adjustment, pivoting, swivel, and tilt. It also includes an Eco Mode that purportedly reduces power consumption and heat generation.

Also, according to NEC, its Intelligent Power Management and off timer will help conserve energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by switching to a low-power state or automatically powering down when the monitor is on but is not in use. This feature apparently circumvents OS-based power options.

Taking a page out of Dell's aforementioned unique OSD options, the MultiSync E222W will allow users to track their carbon footprint savings, with what NEC calls the display's carbon footprint meter.

According to NEC, the tool takes the concept used in the Dells one step further by actually calculating the reduction of green gas emissions, unlike Dell's tool, which only shows energy readings relative to the monitor's brightness.

Queue the spec list!

(Credit: Shuttle)

If you're a hard-core gamer who hates monster computer boxes, Shuttle, the maker of custom built small form-factor PCs, now offers another choice.

The company unveiled on Friday its newest liquid-cooled SDXi Carbon Extreme gaming solution.

Shuttle's Liquid I.C.E. cooling solution.

(Credit: Shuttle)

The SDXi Carbon features a cream-of-the-crop quad-core Intel Core2 Extreme QX9770 processor, dual-slot Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 graphics card, and up to 16GB of high-speed DDR2 memory.

With these specifications, the box is designed to deliver the best possible experience for the most demanding applications and games.

Normally, this kind of powerhouse will generate a ton of heat and noise. This is why Shuttle equipped the SDXi Carbon with its Liquid I.C.E. cooling solution.

The company claims this new liquid cooling solution delivers the most efficient performance in an extreme small-form-factor system, while at the same time keeping it quiet even during the hottest gaming section.

Cosmetics-wise, the SDXi Carbon looks decent as it's painted in a unique-looking premium automotive level finish.

The Shuttle SDXi Carbon is available now as a pre-configured complete solution, starting at $2,599.

The Model Seven

(Credit: Michael Trei/DVICE)

Over at Dvice, my buddy Michael Trei was floored by the sounds at the Vandersteen room at the Consumer Electronics show last week in Las Vegas. The company debuted its new Model Seven speakers in a $300,000 system while spinning LPs.

Richard Vandersteen told me about these new speakers last year, when he was still perfecting his balsa wood/carbon fiber "sandwich" material for tweeters and woofer drivers. It's super lightweight, which enables the driver to keep up with the music's ever changing signals better than more conventional materials, yet it's so strong, you can actually stand on a balsa/carbon cone without damaging it.

Building each driver is, at least for now, a labor-intensive process, so the Model Seven is considerably more expensive than Vandersteen's bread-and-butter models (prices start around $785 a pair. The Model Seven will sell for $45,000 a pair. Vandersteen speakers are manufactured in Hanford, Calif.

While computers continue to get smaller, they're constantly being pushed to do more. Whether they're doubling as a phone, a camera, or an MP3 player, there seems to be no end to the tasks we expect them to carry out. And as always, we say we want them to "do all that stuff and be smaller."

(Credit: IBM)

A limitation of the miniaturization process is that the more computers are asked to do, the more memory they require. One of the computer's basic elements, the transistor, could soon reach its miniaturization limit. The smaller we make transistors, the more susceptible they are to quantum phenomena like electrons tunneling through the barriers between wires. Which, while ticklish for the barrier, can just be really annoying.

This has apparently annoyed researchers at the U.K.'s University of Nottingham, as well, albeit for different reasons. This transistor dilemma has led them to look into the viability of carbon nanotubes to help create fast, cheap, and compact memory that uses little power.

It seems Nokia is rather partial to its luxury 8800 range, and while we'd like to say the Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte is a welcome departure from its predecessors, we would be lying harder than a desperate real estate agent.

(Credit: Nokia)

This is another attractive, yet ultimately boring, phone that tries to allure wallet-bulging buyers with the increasingly tired combination of a preposterous price tag and high-end materials such as carbon fiber, metal, and glass. It's not that we don't like it; we'd just prefer to see something a little less "BMW interior" sometimes.

Feature-wise, you get a 3.2-megapixel camera, 3G, an OLED display and expandable memory. As with older models, Nokia says the Carbon Arte has an anti-fingerprint coating so you won't need to spend hours polishing--and that's about it. There's not as much as you might expect in a luxury phone, but perhaps less is more (or at least you'd hope so).

If you're a yak herder, thinking to yourself that with those kind of features and a fairly old design you're only going to have to trade in a few yaks, think again. The Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte will set you back around 1,100 euros SIM-free--that's abut 1,608 of your precious dollars. To put that into perspective, you could buy a 42-inch plasma TV, such as the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80B, for that money. Yikes is all we can say.

(Via Crave UK)

An artificial muscle that can heal itself and recharge an iPod at the same time? Sounds ludicrous, but researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have developed an electricity-generating muscle that might one day be to used to create walking robots or advanced prosthetics, according to Discovery News.

Qibing Pei, a scientist at UCLA and author of the research that appeared in the January edition of Advanced Materials, said his team developed a lifelike artificial muscle by using carbon nanotubes as electrodes. Unlike other artificial muscles made with metal-based films, this muscle can expand more than 200 percent when applied with electricity, without undergoing failure. When under pressure, the carbon nanotubes have a way of shutting down and preventing the spread of failure to other areas of the muscle so it can continue to work, according to the scientists.

The muscle is also energy-efficient, conserving 70 percent of the energy put into it, the scientists said. That electrical current can be used to power other electronics like an iPhone, or can even be used to generate ocean waves. Scientists in Japan charge batteries from ocean waves using the same idea, according to Discovery.

Manfrotto's new 190CXPRO4 carbon fiber tripod lets you pivot the center column into a horizontal position.

(Credit: Manfrotto)

If you're back is starting to hurt from hauling around a metal tripod, you might like the sound of Manfrotto's new CX-Series of tripods, since they're made of carbon fiber. Of course, it's nothing new that carbon fiber is lighter than aluminum, which is what most metal tripods are made of. The new thing here is that Manfrotto has added its innovative Q90 center column system to its array of carbon fiber tripods. The Q90 system lets you switch the center column from vertical to horizontal without having to remove it and reinsert it, as you have to on most tripods that allow a horizontal center column, including Manfrotto's older models.

The CX series includes three models: the 190CXPRO3, 190CXPRO4, and 190CX3. Only the PRO3 and PRO4 include the Q90 center column, the CX3 has a vertical-only center column, which is aluminum, though the legs on all three tripods are carbon fiber. Some folk will tell you that a horizontal center column is an unnecessary extravagance, but those people probably don't do much macro shooting and might not have realized how convenient a horizontal column can be when setting up a makeshift copy stand. Sure this feature costs a little extra, but tripods tend to last a long time, so that's one purchase on which you can spend a little extra and get a lot in return.

All three of the new models can reach a maximum height of 57.5 inches (about 4.8 feet) with the legs and center column fully extended and can hold a maximum of 11 pounds. The 190CX3 folds down to 21.7-inches with the legs and center column closed, weighs 2.9 pounds, and is expected to cost about $250. The 190CXPRO3 folds down to 22.8-inches, weighs 2.84 pounds, and should set you back about $300. The 190CXPRO4 folds down to a tidy 19.7-inches, weighs 2.95 pounds, and is expected to cost about $325. All three should be available this month, however, prices do not include a tripod head, which you'll need before you use one of these with a camera.

Making champagne is by no means carbon neutral, as tree-hugging teetotalers might like to note. Carbon dioxide causes the bubbles, after all.

To be exact, champagne makers have determined that making each bottle of bubbly causes the release of 200 grams of carbon dioxide.

Cheers to carbon dioxide. More is involved in every bottle of bubbly than in other wines.

(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CNET)

Some champagne makers want to shrink emissions by 25 percent within 12 years and up to 75 percent by 2050. They announced the goals Tuesday at the Bordeaux Carbon Initiative, one of many recent events by vintners seeking to green their craft.

The figures do not include all sparkling wine, such as Spanish cava, made outside the Champagne region of France. The methode champenoise was born in Champagne, and only its sparkling wine can claim on the label to be true champagne.

The largest portion of that local industry's carbon emissions--39 percent--comes from bottling and packaging, with another 24 percent released in the process of making the wine, according to the champagne industry. And transportation of wine and workers makes up 13 percent, use of equipment comprise 11 percent, and products used in cellars and vines contribute another 8 percent of emissions.

The Champagne region of France releases 197,000 tons of CO2 each year--about the same as an average British city, according to Decanter Magazine.

Winemakers in Bordeaux, France, meanwhile are trying to tally the greenhouse gas emissions of grape growing, cultivating, packing, and shipping every type of wine. One Bordeaux winemaking family is harvesting sunflowers to make biofuel to power its tractors, according to the AFP.

In sunny California, winemakers are also pushing to reduce their carbon emissions. Last year Shafer Vineyards became the first to switch fully to solar power in Napa and Sonoma counties, where organic and biodynamic wine cultivation have been popular for decades. However, many oenephiles might point out that viticulture and viniculture around the world have been clean, green, and organic for centuries, if not millennia.

Sadly, my colleagues in Barcelona for the GSMA Mobile World Congress last week didn't learn more on the subject by catching the International Climate Change and Wine conference, where Al Gore keynoted.

Winemakers received access to their first tailor-made carbon footprint calculator in December.

Next-generation Web technologies are also enabling wine lovers to assemble virtual cellars and establish new communities. Web 2.0 tools for wine consumers include Snooth, Vinfolio, Bottletalk and Cork'd.