Smog EatingTiles vs. Air Pollution

Air pollution is a major issue all over the world. It harms living creatures and causes damage to our environment. According to the World Health Organization more than 2 million people die yearly of causes accredited to air pollution. It is mandatory that we focus our attention and take actions to deal with that problem before it destroys our planet.

 

There are many different ways of helping in the fight against air pollution. The people from BoralRoofing are focusing on the one that reduces the atmospheric emissions of pollutants, such as the automobile. Their invention is called BoralPure and is a Smog-Eating Tile that interacts with harmful airborne pollutants converting them into a harmless byproduct. The tile’s key ingredient Titanium Dioxide is activated by sunlight. After it is activated the compound interacts with harmful nitrogen oxides and converts them to calcium nitrates (a fertilizer).

 

As stated by the company “In one year, 2,000 square feet of the Smog Eating Tile mitigates the same amount of nitrogen oxide (a major component of smog) produced by one car driving up to 10,800 miles”

With prices slightly more expensive than regular tiles, the BoralPure Tiles are a good solution to the smog and the damaging effect it has. 

The Modlet

“Vampire power” is a definition referring to the electric power consumed by appliances while they are switched off or in stand-by mode. A good example of that would be your cellphone charger that stays plugged into an outlet, but still devours electric power even when you are not charging your phone. According to researches the vampire power is responsible for around 10% of your electric bill.

To help with that problem, ThinkEco, a New York based company, designed a Modern electric outlet, also known as the Modlet. The Modlet is a gadget that lets you monitor your power usage and turn off devices remotely. The gadget comes with a USB receiver and software that lets it communicate with the owner’s computer wirelessly. Through the interface you can program the Modlet when to turn on and off the appliances in order to save some energy.

The Modlet can be purchased through the ThinkEco’s website with a starting price for home users set at $50.

SolarBall

SolarBall is one of those devices that are simple yet very effective. Created by Jonathan Liow, an Industrial Design student, the sole purpose of the ball is to purify up to 3 liters of polluted water a day. Now, that may seems not a big deal to some of us that have the luxury of fresh tap water, but for the people that live in underdeveloped countries, drinkable water is as precious as gold.

How it all works? We start by pouring polluted water into the SolarBall. Then through heating from the Sun, the liquid starts to evaporate and forms drops of water on the ceiling of the dome. Finally the droplets run down into the gutter where you can collect the already purified water.

Here is an informative video on the SolarBall : 

Airdrop Irrigation system - Drought killer?

Drought is still a big issue for many areas in the world. However this might become a thing from the past thanks to the invention of Edward Linacre.

The young Australian designer created a device that collects water from thin air. His concept is a low-tech, easy to assemble and maintain product, which collects and stores water in an underground tank. The collected water is then ready to be pumped out via irrigation process right into the roots of the plants.

The Airdrop Irrigation design won Edward the first prize in this year’s James Dyson Award competition. As the winner, he will receive $14,000, which will help him finish and ready his product for the market. 

Here is an interview with the designer, explaining how his device works.

Turn OFF the Couch Potato mode - Its time to move ... UP

I guess many of you (myself included) associate Jawbone with their Bluetooth devices and portable speakers. However, seems they decided to explore the market with a different type of device. Their newest creation is called UP and it’s a wrist-worn gadget that tracks your sleep, diet and activities. The cool looking device works along with an application for your iPhone or iPad. An Android based software is also on the way.

As stated by Jawbone, UP is smart enough to routinely measure and store by itself, all parts of your activity. That includes calories burned, number of steps taken, distance, velocity, and active versus inactive time during the day.

The smartphone application can also help keeping you motivated and monitoring your diet. It offers different challenges to help maintain proper nutrition and fitness. For example one of the challenges might be to take 100,000 steps over a week, to replace sugary drinks with water for 10 days or to climb 2,000 steps. Another cool feature of the application is to track your sleep patterns and to wake you up at the best time depending on your natural sleep cycle.

According to Jawbone the Li-Ion polymer battery lasts up to 10 days. After that it will take about 80 minutes to recharge via USB port. The device is priced at $99 and is available at most of the major online retailers.

ASIMO

Just couple of days ago, Honda unveiled new version of their humanoid robot project called Asimo. First introduced in 2000 as an “automatic machine”, Asimo is now fully “autonomous” having the ability to make decisions based on its surroundings. The new version of the humanoid robot shows advancement in intelligence, dexterity and improved task-performance capability.

The Japanese hand sign for "I love you"

Asimo has high-level balancing skill, giving him the ability to run forward and backwards; walk and hop on one or two legs. With his compact multi-fingered hands the robot can pick up a bottle, twist off the cap and pour a liquid in a soft paper cup without crushing it. Asimo can also use his hands to communicate in sign language, which I find amazing.

Here is a video of his incredible skills. Enjoy!

Superheroes' arsenal

Good news for the superheroes out there, or at least the wannabe ones. 

Patrick Priebe, a laser hobbyist is designing some really cool gadgets such as the wrist-mounted mini crossbow, laser gloves and pulse laser gun.

The wrist crossbow is devised with pure mechanics, no electronic components. As shown in the video below its bolts can destroy any balloon, puncture through can of soda or break a light bulb with no problem. It also features an attached laser for better accuracy.  All in all, a really nice gadget to play around with or even use in a self-defense situation!

His other inventions are also really cool. Here is a video of the pulse laser gun in action. 

For more details and purchase information, visit Patrick’s website @ www.laser-gadgets.com

Peel-me-not

I assume you all know that most of the veggies and fruits we buy from the store are covered with pesticides, fungicides, insecticide and other not really healthy substances. On top of that there is a food sticker that is hard to peel off and leaves some nasty sticky residue behind itself. 

Well, to tackle all those problems, Scott Amron, a New York based electrical engineer came up with a revolutionary invention. He developed a new produce label sticker, which dissolves into organic fruit soap. You just need to use some water and rub the label.

All right, fewer chemicals on our fruits(after we rinse them). Check. Food label that is finally helpful. Check.

Now, that’s what I call “To kill two birds with one stone”!