Crave

On this episode of "When Laser Printers Attack," it turns out your laser printer is not guilty of releasing noxious particles into the air, as previously reported by this Australian health alert (PDF) last year. The report claimed that some laser printers sporadically spew certain "toner-like" particles that pose the same amount of health hazard as cigarettes. As it turns out, laser printers hardly release any of these noxious chemicals into the air and it's perfectly safe to use one without wearing a Hazmat suit.

The good scientists at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft applied research institute just released this research study that empirically refutes the argument made by the Australians. It states that that "contrary to numerous reports, laser printers release hardly any particles of toner into the air."

The particles are actually made of volatile organic-chemical substances, or VOCs, and while they do confirm that they exist, the VOCs aren't nearly as deadly as a cigarette; in fact, the accused printer perpetrators emit the same level of VOCs as the common toaster, and nobody's keeling over trying to make toast in the morning, so it's safe to assume that your printer is probably not going to be your cause of death. The article goes on to dispel the myth of VOC filters: "As the ultra-fine particles are not emitted from a specific part of the printer, but also from the paper output, for instance, a filter can only have a limited effect."

Lesson learned: use your laser printer with peace of mind; don't lick the toner cartridge; and take solace knowing that everything around us emits some form of small particle/gas/radiation/carcinogen, but only a handful of it is toxic. I think.

Milton's bell rings when certain e-mail arrives.

(Credit: Milton's Bells)

Do you love the "ding-ding" sound of a service station bell, triggered by driving over a pneumatic hose. Milton Alberstadt of Houston, Texas, certainly does--he makes his living selling them at Milton's Bells.

But he's also a geek, so he has rigged an interface on his PC that is triggered by incoming e-mail rules in Outlook to ring one of his bells. The "merger of the Internet and petrolania," he says.

Milton Alberstadt

(Credit: Milton's Bells)

Milton sells all the distinctly analog parts you need to do the same (bells, hose, y-splitters, and so on.) but you'll have to cajole him by e-mail to get a copy of the little .bat file he wrote to make it all work. Make his bell ring and we bet he'll share it.

According to a U.K. report, some 150,000 motorists a year disregard color coding and signage to pump their vehicles full of the wrong type of gas. The result is expensive repairs and probably a Homer Simpson-like "doh!"--or worse. Thus, the aptly named Fuel Checker was born.

The Fuel Checker determines if drivers have chosen the correct gas nozzle.

(Credit: Fuel Checkers)

The European gadget made its appearance at the London 2008 Motor Show last week. According to the company, it can be permanently affixed to the inside of a car's fuel door or it can be held in hand. The device comes in petrol (regular gasoline) and diesel, and the hope is that consumers can at least get that purchase correct.

After drivers pull up to the pump, they can be assured that they chose the right nozzle by pressing it against the sensors of the Fuel Checker. Flashing red lights show they've chosen the wrong nozzle, while green means go. Although it's unclear from the product site how the device registers the type of gasoline, it has been deemed safe to use around flammable vapors.

Currently, the gadget is only available for European fuel nozzles but it could make its way to the U.S, retailing for the equivalent of $40. However, it begs the question: if you aren't reading the signs on the gas pump, are you reading the signs on the road?

(Credit: LiquidationConnect)

Ever since plasmas and LCDs went mainstream, furniture makers have struggled with ways either to showcase or hide the TV once the bulky and cliched media armoire was no longer needed. The result has been experimentation ranging from updated wall units to diamond-dust cabinets with a few ill-advised attempts at art in between.

Observing this quandary with bemused detachment, we herewith offer the obvious and ultimate solution: the "Gas Pump Entertainment Center." The "Tokheim 39 Series," as it's known in interior-decorator parlance, has produced this replica of pumps that were commonplace at gasoline stations across the country in the '40s and '50s. But rather than ethyl, this one features "adjustable shelving, locking front door, exterior mounted 6 in-car stereo speakers, and a coaxial cable outlet," according to Luxurylaunches.

At 6 feet, 4 inches tall, it even comes fully assembled. Which is just one of the many reasons we don't expect to see it offered at IKEA anytime soon.

(Credit: Designergasmasks.com)

A few years ago--specifically, after Sept. 11, 2001--something like a jewel-studded gas mask would have been considered to be in poor taste, to say the least. And it still is, in our opinion, but that doesn't count for much when you're talking about obscenely expensive designer items showcased at the Luxury Show 2008 in Bucharest. That was, after all, the site of such egregiousness as a 24k-plated Hummer.

The gems pictured here are the products of artist Diddo Velema' along with Gucci and Louis Vuitton, according to Dvice, some even encrusted with diamonds. Velema explains the concept thusly: "We are in a state of perpetual war--with ourselves and with the eco-system that sustains us. Perpetual war breeds perpetual fear. In the present context, this fear stems from our extreme desire for authenticity and manifests itself in our collectively insatiable culture of consumption. Deep down, we are afraid we may never be satisfied. An expanding archive of branded myths and icons feeds this fear. Designer Gas Masks is an attempt to visualize this state of mind. Because it is only by first acknowledging and then challenging fear that we will all be able to breathe a little easier."

Just what we were thinking. Hey, if Oakley can come out with something as bizarre as its "Medusa Hat" and matching goggles, then surely there's room for a diamond gas mask.

Tesla Motors, the people who put the all-electric car on the map, are going to work with gas too.

The San Carlos, Calif.-based company will produce two basic types of its Whitestar sedan, due toward the end of 2009. One will run completely on batteries. The other will be a range-extended vehicle, or REV, CEO Ze'ev Drori said in an interview. In an REV, a small gas motor recharges the battery pack while the car is being driven. The battery pack on these types of cars only goes about 40 to 50 miles on a charge, but because it gets recharged while driving, the range of these cars will be longer.

"It is more than research. We intend to have it as part of the offering," Drori said. "The Whitestar can be all-electric or it can be an REV."

The idea behind coming out with an REV is to reach prospective buyers who are worried about range, said Elon Musk, Tesla's chairman. (Drori and Musk were holding a press conference at corporate headquarters to mark the delivery of the first commercial version of the Tesla Roadster. Musk owns it.). The all-electric version of Whitestar is expected to go for 150 to 200 miles on a charge.

If the competition is an indication, the REV version of Whitestar will go much further. GM was the first major car company to tout REVs with its Chevy Volt, due around 2010. The Volt is expected to go around 400 miles before completely conking.

Range has been one of the historical problems with electric cars. The distance an electric car can drive is controlled by the size and performance of its battery pack. The Tesla Roadster, coming out this year, can go more than 200 miles on a charge, but it costs $98,000. GM's fated EV1 only went 80 or so miles on a charge, CEO Rick Wagoner said in a recent interview.

The gas-electric version of Whitestar will cost a little less than the all-electric version, Musk added, but the difference will be fairly minimal. Building a gas-electric isn't cheap. Automakers have to insert generators. The battery pack also requires different cells.

A Tesla Roadster prototype

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)

Whitestar is expected to sell in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, depending on the configuration (some of the all-electric cars will have bigger batteries than others and vary in price, for instance). The car will likely compete against luxury sedans from companies like BMW. Later, Tesla will also come out with an economy car, Musk said.

Still, the REV concept can be used to lower prices. GM wants to sell the Volt for around $30,000. The Volt is expected to go 400 miles before completely conking out.

Tesla has hinted that it might go the REV direction. As reported earlier, Tesla executives complimented the design of the Volt, calling it elegant, back in December. At that time, however, executives only said that Tesla was looking at all options.

It's sort of like an organ transplant for cars.

Transonic Combustion, which has been relatively secretive until now, has created a fuel injection system that will let diesel engines run on regular gasoline. Diesel engines get better mileage than regular gas engines, explained CEO Mike Cheiky in an interview. However, diesels typically emit more particulates. Gas is also far more readily available than diesel in the U.S. Insert Transonic's components into a diesel engine and you get the best of both worlds.

(Credit: Transonic Combustion)

Additionally, the company's fuel injection system dramatically increases the internal compression in an engine, which in turn increases efficiency and mileage, he said. A standard 2.3-liter diesel engine that gets 50 miles per gallon can get 100 miles per gallon when retrofitted with Transonic's components.

"This gives us a clean-burning engine at very high compression," he said.

The Camarillo, Calif.-based company has already retrofitted a couple of engines with its injection system and is currently building up a car around one of its engines to test how it works. The car tests, hopefully, can begin this summer.

The principles behind Transonic's technology can be traced back to Nicholas Leonard Sadi Carnot, an 18th-century French engineer, according to Cheiky. Carnot studied the output of heat engines and determined formulas for achieving maximum theoretical efficiency.

In a compression engine, efficiency is dominated by the compression ratio, or the ratio of the volume inside a cylinder when the piston is down and the volume when the piston is up.

"The higher compression ratio, the higher efficiency," said Cheiky. "That is fundamentally why diesels are more efficient than gas engines."

Ultimately, the company will approach car manufacturers about adopting its technology. First, however, Transonic wants to extensively test it. Car companies are notoriously conservative so there's no shortage of testing that can be accomplished.

Cheiky wouldn't say much more about the technology--there's a lot more that he's not disclosing--but that's more than in the past. Transonic popped up on the radar last May when Venrock Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners, and Khosla Ventures announced investments in the company. (At the time, Transonic has single cylinder prototypes.) Details were scarce. Later in 2007, Transonic said it had set a goal of making an engine that can get 100 miles per gallon. The company said the engine could run on any type of fuel but didn't get into specifics on how it worked. More details might come out in the second or third quarter, he added.

One vague clue Cheiky gave me was that some of the technology in Transonic's device can be traced in part to his work in fuel cells and batteries. Cheiky helped start battery company Zinc Matrix Power. (He has 45 patents to his name. Some are in the cellular industry.)

Transonic isn't the only company citing historical sources. EcoMotors, another Khosla company, is working on an opposed cylinder/opposed piston motor that it says could make 100 mpg cars real. The engine design was tried in the 1930s, but it never caught on because of manufacturing costs.

Cars and maps are kind of a match made in heaven. People get lost, and roads are confusing. Luckily, pumping gas is not, and despite some states like Oregon requiring people to pump your gas for you, most other places are a self-serve affair. The Associated Press is reporting that a new line of gas pumps from Gilbarco Veeder-Root, due to ship next month, will be equipped with a touch-screen panel that includes a slightly stripped-down version of Google Maps to let you browse local attractions like hotels, amusement parks, and restaurants that have been handpicked by the gas station's owner. When you've found what you're looking for, you can then print out the directions right from the pump. Stations that buy and install them simply need to hook up the pump to the Internet to get the things going.

There are already several things missing from this service from the get-go. The first is ads, which isn't a bad thing for users, but an interesting move from a company that's created an empire off of advertising. Instead, Google is letting the station owners work with local retailers to set up coupons that drivers can print out along with the directions.

Find where you want to go on these new Webby gas pumps with integrated Google Maps.

(Credit: Gilbarco Inc.)

The second missing piece is bona fide point-to-point directions, meaning you can't just type in a street address where you want to go. You're simply not getting the same directory of what you'd find searching Google Maps through your computer or mobile device. While it's cool the gas station owners can pick their own favorite spots, what if where you're trying to go isn't on there? It's clearly an awesome first step, but hardly a full-featured solution--at least until they update the software.

Despite the cool factor, you're unlikely to see these new pumps in your neck of the woods for some time. The initial rollout is fairly small at only 3,500 pumps, and there are no plans to produce more unless there's demand for it.

[via AP]

DAVIS, Calif.--Reporters who covered software in the '90s will remember Karl Jacob. Microsoft bought his company, Dimension X, in 1997. He was chatty. Occasionally, some reporters referred to him as "sources close to the company."

After leaving the big M, he went off to Keen, Benchmark Capital and a few other things. And now, he's the world record holder of the standing mile speed record.

This Viper runs on ethanol.

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)

In July, Jacob cranked up his modified Dodge Viper from a standstill to finishing a mile in 27.41 seconds. He hit 220.7 miles an hour during the sprint, a record. The old top speed for the standing mile was just under 218 miles an hour. He did eight runs on the day.

Jacob didn't drive the car on the record run. Instead, it was driven by Ron Misjak of Super Viper, which modified the car. In any event, Jacob did pay for it, has driven the car and says it's a kick. That puts him ahead of Alcibiades, who won a first in chariot racing at the ancient Olympics without getting behind the reins. (It was a common practice among the nobles.)

We spoke at the green car pavilion at the GoingGreen conference in Davis. Karl and Ian Wright of Wrightspeed showed off their performance cars. Others were showing off low-speed electric vehicles.

Jacob and a team of mechanics had to tinker quite a bit with the Viper. They boosted the horsepower from 500 to 1,200, for one thing. Additionally, they switched it from running regular gas to running E85 ethanol. E85 comes with an octane rating of 105, higher than regular gas.

The engine

(Credit: Michael Kanellos/CNET News.com)

"It is not common knowledge that you can convert these cars (Vipers) to E85," he said. But apparently, it's pretty easy. All you have to do is upgrade the fuel lines, change the engine's computer and alter the timing.

More than doubling the horsepower probably had a big effect on the performance of the car, but the extra octane can't hurt. Ethanol also cuts down on the greenhouse gases from the tailpipe. Fast clean cars are sort of a fad. Earlier this year, a 1965 biodiesel-burning Impala that beat a Lamborghini in a drag race. Electric sports cars, meanwhile, are coming to market.

Overall, the Viper and its modifications cost about $200,000. Good thing Jacob worked at Microsoft.