Meet Trev, the Two-seater, Renewable Energy Vehicle

Staff and students at the University of South Australia have designed and built a prototype of what they reckon might be the future commuter car for Australian cities. Trev sounds rather impressive. He goes from 0 to 100kph in 10 secs, has a top speed of 120 km/h, with a travel range of 150+km between charges of his 7kWh 44kg lithium ion polymer battery.

When charged from mains power he costs you $1 AUD per 100km to run, using what is said to be 1/5th of the energy of conventional car. Not that there is anything conventional about Trev.

His three low-mass alloy wheels with low rolling resistance tyres are attached to an aluminium honeycomb chassis, a foam and fibreglass body with acrylic canopy. He’s the process of being registered as a roadworthy vehicle on SA roads. He has room for driver, one passenger and two overnight bags. (The single door opens toward the footpath, not the road.) And he is not hard on the eye either.

Oh, yeh, if you buy your electricity as 100% solar or wind GreenPower from your energy provider, then Trev truly does become a renewable energy vehicle. At least, that’s the aim of the project. ::Trev

by Warren McLaren, Sydney – TreeHugger

HP’s iPaq 210 shakes off numerous delays, finally available

The holdup is still a bit of a mystery, but HP is finally offering up its iPaq 210 PDA for sale. Due to be released in October, a “supply issue” put the handheld on a mysterious hiatus, but no longer. You can snag one of these Windows Mobile 6, 624MHz units for $450.

by Paul Miller – Engadget

Eee PC with 9-inch touchscreen in the works?

Details of future generation Eee PCs from ASUS have been trickling out even before the first generation shipped. Now that sewing circle of Taiwanese component makers have whispered a few secrets in the direction of DigiTimes. We already heard directly from ASUS at CES that 7-, 8-, and 8.9-inch models are in the works. Now DigiTimes claims a “9-inch” (we’ll assume that’s just the 8.9-incher rounded up) and new 10-inch version is also on the way. Notably, the 9-inch versions will feature “four-wire resistive” touch-panels. Great, right? Sure, at first blush what’s not to like about an Eee with a touchscreen. However, a good chunk of the Eee’s appeal is its low cost even though it never quite delivered on that early $200 promise. Adding bigger displays and now, a touch-screen, is just going to drive the price higher until there’s no difference between an Eee and a Wal-mart Inspiron. Still, adding touch-panel functionality is expected to add just $15 to the manufacturing cost of the device. We only hope that ASUS can refrain from milking the Eee’s success dry… RAZR anyone?

[Via jkkmobile] – by Thomas Ricker – Engadget

Fujitsu’s LifeBook P1620 is lighter than (MacBook) Air

Fujitsu’s P1620 was just announced with a Stateside price starting at $1,599. This quicker update to the highly praised P1610 boasts a new ULV 1.2GHz U7600 Core 2 Duo processor with up to 2GB of memory and 100GB of disk — a respectable bump from the old 1.2GHz Core Solo and 1GB memory and 80GB disk limit. The rest of the specs appear unchanged which is fine by us: 8.9-inch 1,280 x 768 display, a $299 32GB SSD option, and standard 3-cell battery (6-cell for a worthy $45) which delivers 3.5-hours under real-world stress. Ships standard with XP Tablet PC though Vista is a $0 option.

by Thomas Ricker – Engadget

Fujitsu’s LOOX U50XN now configurable with 64GB SSD

Fujitsu’s marvelously light LOOX U50XN — better known as the U810 here in the States — just keeps getting better. Apparently, to-be owners in Japan can now snag one with an oh-so-coveted 64GB SSD, though all the other specs look to remain identical to what we’ve already seen. ‘Course, adding such a fine piece of hardware won’t come cheap — as a matter of fact, you’ll be forced to cough up an extra ¥95,000 ($887) for the privilege. Oh, and the unconfirmed word on the street has the new drive option coming stateside in March, but don’t bet the farm on that just yet, alright?

by Darren Murph – Engadget

Actiontec Introduces zControl Line of Home Automation Controllers

Actiontec Electronics today announced its new zControl™ series of home automation gateways, designed to centrally manage household electronics such as lights, security cameras, thermostats, motion detectors, garage door openers, motorized shades and automatic sprinklers through the home network. zControl will allow users to control all devices through a common interface at home as well as remotely by PC, mobile phone or Internet-enabled TV, making it possible to turn lights on and off or water your lawn even from hundreds of miles away.

Actiontec’s zControl was named a CES Innovations 2008 Awards Honoree as one of the most innovative products in the home networking category. The CES program has become recognized as the hallmark event for showcasing best-of-breed product design and engineering.

The first generation of the zControl product, scheduled to ship next month, will be a standalone unit that connects to the home router and can be accessed by PC or cellphone. Additional versions available later in Q1 will be integrated into Actiontec’s wireless routers and DSL gateways for sale through service providers. A companion set-top box to be released mid-year will add a media center with a TV interface, offering new conveniences such as the ability to display digital photo albums and view home security camera images on your TV screen. The TV interface will offer other innovations and be the first of its kind in the industry.

“zControl will change the way people manage their household electronics. The home network will no longer be limited to computers, printers and gaming consoles but instead encompass smart home products of all kinds,” said Brian Henrichs, Actiontec VP of Business Development. “Integrating this functionality into the home’s broadband connectivity equipment will also eliminate an extra box and supply broadband providers with a costeffective means of delivering new value-added services to subscribers.”

Control At Home or Away

zControl supports virtually any number of devices equipped with Z-Wave™ technology, the wireless home control standard developed to unify home electronics into an integrated wireless network for easy management. Z-Wave is now available as a built-in component or add-on to hundreds of household products ranging from lighting and appliances to heating/air conditioning, home security and home entertainment systems.

With zControl, consumers can define settings for light, heat and other household electronics that can be automatically triggered or manually activated by PC or mobile phone at specific times or for various scenarios. One setting might turn on the hallway light, heat and lawn sprinklers after work. Others might raise the shades in the morning, light the house to set the scene for a romantic dinner, switch lights on and off during the day while you’re on vacation, or let you turn on specific house lights from your phone when you’re sitting in the driveway late at night.

zControl also makes it possible to check on your teenagers, turn on a light in the family room and close the garage door with a few clicks even when you’re out of town; capture and store any activity recorded by your digital security cameras for a certain period of time; turn devices on and off with a remote control as well as by PC or phone; receive email, IM or smartphone alerts when security alarms are triggered or in other situations; and much more.

The interface can be accessed from any Internet-enabled PC anywhere in the world or from most mobile phones with a special service package available from Actiontec. The on-screen display automatically adjusts to fit disparate use cases. For example, a user accessing the system from a PC at work will see a dashboard of all home resources, while a user sitting in front of the TV with the zControl remote control may see a completely different view.

Press-a-Button Setup

zControl setup is automated with a unique discovery button on the front of the unit. Simply press that button and the corresponding button on the Z-Wave device, and the device is automatically added to the home network. The zControl editions that will be integrated with Actiontec routers and gateways will also offer this same buttonbased setup for WiFi and HomePlug devices, overcoming the barriers that continue to plague consumers who attempt to add products such as wireless-enabled printers to their home networks. zControl is the only product in its class with this automated discovery capability, eliminating the need to perform a two-step discovery process using a remote control or enter router IP addresses, SSIDs or other identifiers. It is also the only home automation controller that can use both PCs and Macs for scene setup and other functions.

Smart Home Management for Service Providers

The zControl-enabled Actiontec wireless gateways and routers will help generate new revenue streams for service providers by enabling them to offer home automation control as a value-added service. Carriers can create new service packages allowing them to get involved in smart home management for the first time, opening new opportunities for attracting and retaining subscribers as well as redefining their business model to help address the challenge of eroding profits.

The integration of zControl functionality into consumer premises equipment will simplify deployment of the new services, while built-in TR-069 remote management capabilities will streamline troubleshooting.

Pricing and Availability
The standalone Actiontec zControl Starter Kit will be available at www.actiontec.com next month at an MSRP of $399 including the zControl unit, one indoor camera with motion detector, one lighting control module, and a remote control. zControl-enabled wireless gateways and routers will be released in March.

About Actiontec Electronics, Inc.
Actiontec Electronics develops products and services enabling consumers to leverage broadband Internet connectivity to simplify and enrich their lives. Actiontec’s products include the market’s broadest selection of IPTV-capable broadband gateways as well as broadband modems, routers, wireless networking devices, VoIP adapters, and digital entertainment devices, sold through retail channels and broadband service providers. Founded in 1993, Actiontec is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, and maintains branch offices in Austin, TX; Colorado Springs, CO; Denver, CO; Basingstoke, United Kingdom; Shanghai, China; and Taipei, Taiwan. For more information, call 408-752-7700 or visit www.actiontec.com.

From ehomeupgrade

Sony’s Bravia B4000: the portable flatscreen

Shiny black 46in tellies look silly on a kitchen worktop, while humping one into the bedroom requires a small crane and a team of haulage experts. Sounds like you need a portable flatscreen – not one of those 14in CRT monstrosities found in caravans and kids’ bedrooms, but the Bravia B4000 series.

Now in less eye-squinting 20, 23 and 26in guises, they’re the perfect size for a second telly – or a main one, if you can touch all four walls of the living room from your couch. With a built-in handle, they’re also worthy of the name ‘portable’.

White and ‘mocha’ flavours help them blend in around the house, and there’s been no skimping on the features. HD-readiness, virtual surround sound and Sony’s visually pleasing Bravia Engine are all on board, plus Freeview to banish the need for a set-top box.

There are also two HDMI slots for your movie and console needs, and you can even give your green halo an extra buff: they draw a miniscule 0.7W in standby. If only Max and Paddy had found one before they nicked that plasma.

From Stuff.tv

Boss fires staff for not smoking

BERLIN (Reuters) – The owner of a small German computer company has fired three non-smoking workers because they were threatening to disturb the peace after they requested a smoke-free environment.

The manager of the 10-person IT company in Buesum, named Thomas J., told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper he had fired the trio because their non-smoking was causing disruptions.

Germany introduced non-smoking rules in pubs and restaurants on January 1, but Germans working in small offices are still allowed to smoke.

“I can’t be bothered with trouble-makers,” Thomas was quoted saying. “We’re on the phone all the time and it’s just easier to work while smoking. Everyone picks on smokers these days. It’s time for revenge. I’m only going to hire smokers from now on.”

Reporting by Sarah Roberts; editing by Giles Elgood – Reuters

Use a white tshirt to improve digital photos

Here are two photography hacks which use a simple white tshirt to improve the lighting of your photos. They come from Darren Rowse of Digital Photography School.

In situations where you can’t use a reflector (and for minimising the set up needed) you can wear a white tshirt to reflect light onto the subject. You’ll need to ensure you’re standing close enough for the light to reflect.

And the other tip? When shooting with a flash you can diffuse its impact by bouncing the flash off yourself. This way the subject is lit indirectly, but with a white natural light.

DIY Reflector – Wear a White T-Shirt [Digital Photography School]
by Sarah Stokely – LifeHacker

Asus intros sleek Nova P22 desktop

Asus, currently on a crash-bang roller derby thanks to the massive success of the Eee, has stepped up its game in the desktop arena today with the announcement of the Nova P22. The sleek, white and orange box is in the size class of the Mac Mini, standing at just 2-inches in height, and features a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo E6320 processor with a 1.06GHz front-side bus, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and what appears to be some sweet media center options. As of right now, the PC is only available in Taiwan, where you’ll drop around $1,019 for bragging rights. We can only hope they bring something with this much style to the US, so the Mini vs. Nova P22 flamewar can begin in earnest. The ball is in your court, Asus.

[Via Electronista]

by Joshua Topolsky – Engadget