Toolip Concept Heating Element
Want to know how hot your coffee is, and reheat it to your desired temperature quickly? The Toolip concept should be able to solve your problems, as it’s a handheld heating rod. You'll be able to use it to determine the temperature of your drink/food, and if that's not hot enough for you, just set the temperature, and it'll be able to reheat your drink faster than your regular electric kettle. The element can be removed, allowing you to easily keep it washed and ready to go.
Permalink: Toolip Concept Heating Element from Ubergizmo | Hot: iPhone 4 Review, iPad Review
Read more:
Toolip Concept Heating Element
Japanese sunlight collection system to collect 50 kilowatts of juice
Going green takes some effort, but the payback is well worth the price. On that note, some corporations have taken a larger responsibility in going green by reducing the number of plastic used, but others such as Japanese precision instrument maker Mitaka Kohki went the extra mile by offering an array of shiny clover-shaped solar panels on an open field in Mitaka, suburban Tokyo, to be part of a sunlight-collection system that is able to produce up to 50 kilowatts of electricity. This is made possible thanks to the "clover" design that comprises of a quartet of concave mirrors that measure 50cm in diameter each, reflecting sunlight toward a 10-meter tower. We wouldn't go anywhere near the tower though since the temperature there can hit a sizzling 1,500 degrees...
Permalink: Japanese sunlight collection system to collect 50 kilowatts of juice from Ubergizmo | Hot: Macbook Pro Review, iPad Review
See the original post:
Japanese sunlight collection system to collect 50 kilowatts of juice
Art Lebedev’s Mixed Metaphor Coffee Cup: Somebody Is Going to Die [Coffee]
The battery's power level rises with the temperature—not the amount of caffeine. Bleary-eyed and hungover, somebody's going to find this out the hard way. That'll be that screeching sound, trailing in the distance. [Art Lebedev via Unpluggd] More
Tempdot Faucet Concept
The Tempdot concept faucet is something we wouldn’t mind having in our washrooms if it ever becomes a reality. Instead of having to twist those irritating knobs on the tap, the Tempdot allows you to just touch the temperature desired on the faucet and you’ll be able to get just that, regardless of whether it’s hot or cold water. The Tempdot is also powered by the hot water flowing through the faucet, though we are curious what would happen if we just used cold water until the power ran out.
Permalink: Tempdot Faucet Concept from Ubergizmo | Hot: Macbook Pro Review, iPad Review
More here:
Tempdot Faucet Concept
Bill Gates’ hurricane-busting tubeships are real, people
Last year, I wrote that Bill had this (let’s be honest) evil-genius style plan to weaken hurricanes before they make landfall. Sounded a bit fantastical at the time, but as it turns out, there are real scientists ready to rock and roll with these things. They’re so serious they even put together a video.
The idea is really pretty simple: by pumping warm surface water to the cool depths of the ocean, the temperature at the surface can be reduced by a few degrees, which is apparently all it takes to weaken a hurricane.
[via Gizmodo]
Follow this link:
Bill Gates’ hurricane-busting tubeships are real, people
Musical toaster makes you play for your baked goods
Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool:
Flickr user zachaholic built this VU toaster, using a sound volume meter to directly control the heat of the toaster. To release the toast, you simply bang on the cymbal next to it.
I could see a cute extension to this, where you have to choose the pair the right kind of music with each toast- soft music for delicate breads, and heavy metal for crispy bagels. In addition to just being a funny idea, it would also let experiment with varying the temperature applied to the toast over time, to see if that has any effect on the outcome. You could even extend the idea to a reflow oven for doing surface mount soldering in style!
Read more | Permalink | Comments |
Read more:
Musical toaster makes you play for your baked goods
Sensors For Firefighters Will Save Lives But Would Ruin a Backdraft Remake [Fire]
Two professors at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are going to pack a building to the gills with very expensive sensors that took a decade to create. Then they're gonna burn that sucker down. You know, for science.
If successful, the technology could be used by firefighters to detect when they're one minute away from flashover—the moment when a room hits 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit and everything goes boom. That minute would be enough time for the firefighters to exit the building before being swallowed up in an inferno. Currently, because their protective jackets and helmets are so effective, even experienced firefighters have no way of feeling that the temperature has reached a danger zone until seconds before it's too late.
In addition to sensors checking room temperature, location beacons will be attached to the firefighters' uniforms, and face mask sensors will keep tabs on pulse, blood-oxygen levels, and breathing rates.
Even if this month's test goes well, we're probably three years away from seeing a practical, widespread implementation of the technology. But the sooner the better: just because fire is primitive doesn't mean our tools to fight it has to be. [PopSci]
Original post:
Sensors For Firefighters Will Save Lives But Would Ruin a Backdraft Remake [Fire]
Wind Turbines Create Their Own Clouds [Energy]
It's hard to believe they noticed this one in England, but apparently wind turbine farms have the ability to create their own fog. The phenomenon has been observed by Mike Page, a retiree flying on board his Cessna 150:
The creation of the mist depends on the wind speed and the temperature of the sea and the air at the time.
The spinning blades whip moisture up into the air like giant egg mixers and sometimes these low cloud formations are made. A close up blade of one of the turbines shows a swirl of mist created around the blades as cooler air is mixed with warmer air. It definitely occurs several times a year, sometimes gathering upwind of the turbines and sometimes downwind depending on the conditions.
The strange thing is that you will see this mist around the turbines while it is a bright clear day on the beach just a couple of miles away.
It is a fascinating example of how wind farms create their own micro-climate. It is the same as any geographical feature affecting the weather.
According to Page, you can observe these fog banks on the farms even while beaches are completely clear a few feet away. [Daily Mail]
Original post:
Wind Turbines Create Their Own Clouds [Energy]
Today’s Menu: Quark Soup Cooked at Highest Temperature in a Lab Ever [Science]
Ion chefs at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider—a 2.4-mile ring at the Brookhaven National Laboratory—have created a 4-trillion-degree Celsius quark soup, the highest temperature ever achieved in a laboratory. That's 250,000 times the Sun core's temperature.
Or 7.2 x 10^12 degrees Fahrenheit, whatever tickles you most. They achieved this by smashing gold ions against each other, traveling at nearly the speed of light. At this temperature, you can cook good old Galactus' famous beef and pork chili or get protons and neutrons to melt into a tasty plasma of quarks and gluons—or QGP—"a freely flowing liquid that filled the universe a few microseconds after it came into existence 13.7 billion years ago." According to Steven Vigdor, Brookhaven's Associate Laboratory Director for Nuclear and Particle Physics:
These data provide the first measurement of the temperature of the quark-gluon plasma at RHIC. The temperature inferred from these new measurements at RHIC is considerably higher than the long-established maximum possible temperature attainable without the liberation of quarks and gluons from their normal confinement inside individual protons and neutrons. However, the quarks and gluons in the matter we see at RHIC behave much more cooperatively than the independent particles initially predicted for QGP.
The atom smashers believe that this plasma is the primordial soup which transformed into the actual protons and neutrons that make up all the matter in the universe. These results will be complemented by the boffins at the Large Hadron Collider, who would be performing a similar experiment whenever they finish with their Gruyere and Appenzeller cheese fondue. [BNL]
View original post here:
Today's Menu: Quark Soup Cooked at Highest Temperature in a Lab Ever [Science]
Chilipad Helps You Stay Warm Or Cold As You Sleep
You’re probably familiar with the concept of electric blankets, and the Chilipad works on a similar idea, but this mattress not only allows you to warm your bed, but it can also allow you to keep your bed cool (if you wish). This is done by pumping water through the network of pipes, so it’s something like an upgraded type of electric blanket. Despite using a pump, the manufacturers claim that it runs under 20dBa, which should be quieter than a fan. The best part is, if you’re sleeping with a partner who doesn’t agree with you on the temperature, you can always pick up the dual-zone pad, which allows you to adjust the temperature of both sides independently. It’s not exactly cheap, but if it can give you a good night’s sleep, it’s worth it, right? You’ll need to shell out $400 for the smallest size, and $650 for the king-sized version.
Permalink: Chilipad Helps You Stay Warm Or Cold As You Sleep from Ubergizmo | Hot: Nexus One Review
Go here to read the rest:
Chilipad Helps You Stay Warm Or Cold As You Sleep