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Now shipping for the Mac, the Warpia Easy Dock promises to divorce your MacBook from the myriad cables usually deployed at your working station.
Simply slap the Warpia wireless dongle into your Mac and it’ll wirelessly connect you to a keyboard and mouse. Better, it’ll also bridge you to your external speakers and even an [...]

Bringing your iPad on the road and want more juice than its 10 hour spec? Battery maker Sanho have you covered: their new HyperMac Stand for iPad will add an additional 16 hours to your mobile time.
The HyperMac Stand is a rectangular block in which your iPad can be slotted at an 18 degree angle, [...]

Although seventeen more countries will be getting the iPhone 4 at the end of this week, South Korea’s not one of them… and it’s getting a lot of airplay in Seoul, with Steve Jobs being explicitly called a liar by the South Korean press.
The issue isn’t really the delay, so much, but a comment [...]

Are you one of the millions of AT&T customers afflicted by terrible 3G upload speeds brought about by buggy Alcatel-Lucent HSUPA hardware? AT&T has announced that they have begun working on a fix.
Good news, but of course, this is AT&T, and after taking several weeks to examine the problem, they will be proceeding with [...]

The fantastic Mac and iOS password managing application 1Password has just gotten a fantastic little upgrade, finally bringing cloud synchronization between 1Password for Mac and 1Password Pro for iOS.
While 1Password has long been able to sync your passwords between your Mac and your iPhone, the process was a bit convoluted: you needed to use WiFi, [...]

Don’t have adequate space to place a conventional desk in your home? Have a look at this portable desk dubbed the ‘Fold-Out Convertible Desk” that when not in use folds to become a 6” deep wall cabinet for easy storage. The compact workstation other than providing an instant workspace also includes a number of shelves to store office supplies, slots for file folders and a corkboard for notes. Measuring just about 22”x32”x 6”, the convertible desk is just ideal for small family rooms, kitchen, bedroom, apartments or wherever you need to place it. All you need to do is mount it on the wall and start working from anywhere.

Via: Solutions

Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center designed by Renzo Piano is an interesting architectural manifestation of both traditional and modern building techniques. Built in veneration to Kanak leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou the cultural center’s design is a dedication to Kanak people’s rich cultural heritage. Located near the capital city of New Caledonia, Noumé aalong a narrow strip of land, teh center is surrounded by ocean and lush greenery. Read the rest of this entry »

Introducing the opulence and style of a luxury yacht brand to the automotive design, industrial designer Matthew Hockham, a recent graduate from the MDes Automotive Design course at Coventry University, has come up with a sportscar concept that seems to bring the distinctive designing philosophies of a luxury liner brand onto the road. Based on the Wally luxury yacht brand, the concept car takes its side profile from “Wally Power 118” and features sharp edges, black glass surfaces and hi-tech grey tones. The futuristic car also employs carbon fiber and teak, extensively used on the Wally’s yachts, to enhance the interior. To quote Matthew,

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Increasing number of personal vehicles is resulting in messy traffic jams on urban roads, bringing the metropolitan cities to a standstill. And, not to talk about health concerns due to ever increasing air pollution. Providing a way-out, designer Sally Ng has come up with a stylish two-wheeler dubbed the “Koenigsegg Scooter” that other than allowing quick and comfortable commutation also lets the rider keep up with modern lifestyle. Based on an existing automotive brand, the scooter concept measures 2,175 x 785 x 1,460mm (LWH) in dimensions. Presenting 1,470mm wheelbase, the Koenigsegg allows 165mm ground clearance, while seating the rider comfortably at 790mm. Since the scooter is designed with environmental issues in mind, it will possibly generate power from an electric engine.

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For those with an uncontrollable urge to hang their iPad just about anywhere in the house, here’s a flat-screen mount called the Wallee. It’s an elegantly shiny, seamless and durable wall mount with two main features especially built for your iPad. Read the rest of this entry »

Drawing inspiration from feathers, Mexican designer Ivan Vela has designed a featherweight electric racing vehicle that harnesses human energy to provide a safe and sustainable ride. Developed for a TOUR competition, “which seeks to disseminate sustainable culture through the power-assisted pedaling through accumulators and stored kinetic energy to manage it through the race,” the Human-powered vehicle features a big sprocket measuring 40 cm in diameter to offer high torque at over 70kph. Accommodating the rider comfortably inside the cockpit, the single-seater allows a carving-type steering to enhance the driving experience of the rider.

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According to a survey, an average British family spends up to 43 hours a week on its sofa in the summer; need not to say gulping snacks and cold drinks to add extra pounds. Bringing the sofa-loving Brits outdoors into the fresh air, the National Trust has installed rather grown furniture out of hay and turf in a number of locations that lets the Brits be a couch potato even when they are away from the comfort of their house. The lawn furniture includes a giant 26-foot sofa (pictured above), together with 10 small sofas and matching coffee tables, where people can enjoy a cup of coffee or tea with their family and friends, but in a natural and much healthier environment.

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It’s time to pep up your party scene with the newest arrival on the block, the Boxman. The prefab Party Box is an innovative arrangement packed into a shipping container. The box can be unfolded in 20 minutes to create a 500 square foot hip-hop solar-powered party venue. Read the rest of this entry »

We have been left inundated by a torrent of designs inspired by consumerist culture. Luxurious houses, chic offices and plush shopping malls are the only visual landmarks to the near absence of a library with inviting interiors. Designer Mihaela Stojanova has designed a library with stylish and well groomed interiors that give young a chance to choose between a video arcade and a reading place. Read the rest of this entry »

Concentrated solar energy is most commonly used for electrical power generation. However, a Colorado company, Sundrop Fuels, has a unique approach to the production of biofuel by that marries the mirrors and tower of concentrated solar power with their process for the production of bio-based fuels.

Instead of burning biomass for the energy needed to create biofuel, Sundrop uses concentrated solar as their energy source to gasify a range of feedstocks including agricultural waste, energy crops, and wood waste. The Sundrop process can produce a range of fuels including gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel. Many other biofuel processes produce ethanol which has a lower energy density than other fuels, meaning that more of it must be used for an equal amount of work. (Flex-fuel cars get fewer miles per gallon from ethanol than from gasoline, but the ethanol fuel costs less per gallon, and the ethanol is not derived from petroleum.)

Sundrop uses the high temperatures from the concentrated solar array to vaporize the biomass feedstock and form syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. As with other biofuel processess, the syngas is the basic building block which is turned into useful fuel.

Sundrop’s process has other efficiencies that provide additional benefits. By using solar energy, the process yields 100 to 125 gallons of fuel per ton of biomass, which is more than twice what other biofuel producers obtain. The process also requires far less water, needing only a half gallon of water per gallon of fuel produced, versus 6 or 7 gallons required in other systems. The process also creates electrical power from the waste heat generated in the reaction tower.

One of the only significant drawbacks that the Sundrop process faces is the distance between areas with excellent solar access (and few cloudy days) and ready sources of biomass.

The Sundrop process is expected to be able to create gasoline, without subsidies, for less than $2 per gallon. The company is constructing a pilot plant and aims to have a full, commercial-scale plant with a capacity of 100 million gallons by 2015.

via: Portfolio.com

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