Crave

LOS ANGELES--The highlight of the Model X introduction, Tesla's SUV, was not the electric power train, but what the company calls the falcon-wing doors.

The manufacturer being Tesla, it was a given that the Model X would be an electrically driven vehicle. So during a preview for a small group of journalists at Tesla's design center in Los Angeles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk focused on the innovative side doors.

These doors lift up from the sides, then hinge in the middle before gaining their full height. Unlike gull-wing doors, Tesla's doors can open in much narrower spaces. Musk said they give the Model X the largest door openings of any passenger car. Impressively, he was able to stand in the car, his head underneath the open door, without crouching.more

Honda's first all-electric vehicle is hitting the streets a little early.

The Honda Fit EV debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2011, and it's expected to be available for lease this summer. However, Honda announced that Google and Stanford University got a special early delivery of the tiny EV this week.

Charging gadgets out in the wilderness is a challenge, but the BioLite CampStove could change that for the power-hungry. This 2-pound portable device features a USB port that can power or charge devices while you burn biomass.

So how does it work? Well, the thermal energy of the fire delivers power to fans inside the stove through a thermoelectric module. These fans blow air on the fire to improve combustion, which in turn creates excess energy. A USB port delivers the extra energy generated by the fire for charging devices such as smartphones, LED lights, or GPS units.

Check out this crazy video of a man who uses insulating foam on his hand to suppress the flames of an oxyacetylene cutting torch. The eccentric fellow then eats the same material moments later.

Talk about one hell of a fire retardant!

The "scientist" in the clip is Tom Brundige of the Aarmourtherm Foundation, which is a small business based in California dedicated to making fire-protection compounds that are "biodegradable, non-toxic, and safe for the environment." It is worth noting that Brundige has the ability to ramble some serious pseudoscience. In addition, there is no description of the foam's ingredients.

There are times when the tech world can be so, so cruel, teasing us with amazing concepts that will probably never see the light of day (at least, not in our lifetime). Fortunately, this isn't one of those kinds of tales.

A company called ADzero is set to release a bamboo smartphone based on a concept devised by Middlesex University student Kieron-Scott Woodhouse. Woodhouse, who is in his final year studying product design at the university, originally created the phone after becoming frustrated with the lack of variety in handset designs.

After posting the concept online, Woodhouse was contacted a technology entrepreneur interested in making the phone a reality, and thus ADzero was born.

We've seen electric bikes before, but we've never seen anything like the Boxx.

This contraption, which looks like an oversize suitcase that sprouted handles--or a MacBook Pro on wheels, if you ask me--is actually a new all-electric bike made by a Portland-based company called Boxx. Its unique design certainly makes it stand out from the crowd, but so do its eco-friendly features.

The Boxx, is an emissions-free vehicle, can be charged using a standard household outlet system. It comes in two configurations: one with a standard Core power system that provides up to 40 miles of travel on more

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, and this certainly seems to be the case for Chilean artist Rodrigo Alonso.

Alonso is the mastermind behind the geeky chairs pictured above. They're made from pieces of old tech donated by Chilean recycling company Recycla.

The graphic designer creates the stools by pouring epoxy resin into a mold filled with the e-waste; the legs are made from cast aluminum. Alonso produces the chairs in limited editions, but he also takes special orders. Since no set of e-waste is alike, each piece is original and dyes can also be added to the resin to add color.

For Alonso, the project is more than just a piece of furniture or work of art. The chairs, which are called N+ew for No More Electronic Waste, is also about recycling e-waste. Though consumer electronics companies are slowly becoming more eco-conscious and more recycling programs are being put in place, the amount of e-waste is still expected to rise exponentially by 2020, especially in developing countries.

You probably find yourself more often needing an extra cable than having too many, but in case you worry about what to do with your extra cables when you're done with them, Qmadix has one answer: just toss 'em.

The mobile-accessory company today announced its Ecoustic biodegradable cables. These are regular cables like those you have at home, such as USB cables, HDMI cables, auxiliary audio cables, and of course iOS-based 30-pin cables for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. The difference is their coating, "a resin mixture made from biodegradable, plant-based by-products and other natural properties" that quickly degrades naturally, rather than staying in a landfill for hundreds of years.

You may think you know how much electricity you're using, but there's a whole lot more you could--and should--know.

Despite living in the information age, most of us are basically in the dark when it comes to electricity bills, with just a rough idea of how much we consume every month and what it will cost.

Over the last few weeks, I've been testing a whole-house energy monitor from startup Wattvision, which actually answers basic questions, such as how much and when you consume electricity and how it trends over time. I also hooked up my home's real-time electricity feed to another startup's analytics Web service called PlotWatt to get more detail on what's consuming energy.

A couple of hardware gadgets made it all possible, but using the services showed me that a lot of the action in home energy is moving to software and up into the cloud. In the case of energy monitors, back-end analytics can provide insights and recommendations a simple metering device can't. And if you have a smart thermostat or home automation system, you can remotely control your heating, cooling, lights, and appliances from a smart phone or PC.

But before getting into the gadgetry, one has to ask: why bother with energy monitoring? Is it green? Does it help me lower my bills? Is there a good payback?