Tag: GREEN

Um, amazing? Promessa is a Swedish company that will freeze your dead body to -18 degrees Celsius, dip it in liquid nitrogen, and then shatter it with sound waves. The resulting "organic powder" is then "introduced into a vacuum chamber where the water is evaporated away," before being sealed in a coffin made from biodegradable cornstarch. So call your power of attorney, hightail it to the ...

Some San Francisco residents are upset about a promotional stunt that, in support of a video game, sent thousands of red balloons drifting across the city on Wednesday, some landing in the nearby bay. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, game developer THQ released the balloons, which had promotional cards from Gamestop attached to them, to promote its new game 'Homefront' at the Game ...

In an effort to find a convenient and profitable way to recycle discarded electronics, ecoATM has raised more than $14 million to place eCycling kiosks in stores across the U.S. Each kiosk pays people who recycle their e-waste by giving them either cash or coupons from the store where the machine is located. All you have to do is drop off that old BlackBerry, iPod or other device at the kiosk. The ...

Much of the product design coming out of Art Lebedev Studio has been bold, but of questionable taste. Remember those ridiculous Optimus keyboards? Shudder. But this concept for disposable thumbdrives, designed by Alexei Lyapunov and Lena Ehrlich, is both realistic and restrained. Called Fleshkus, the drives are made of cardboard and not meant to last. Let's hope they eventually make it to ...

Cost efficiency has long stood in the way of alternative energy sources becoming a major competitor for coal power, but JoeBen Bevirt thinks he has a solution that could make wind stand up to coal. His company Joby Energy has designed and built wind turbines that hover in the air, rather than being mounted on the top of large towers. His hope is that the company will be able to launch these ...

In anticipation of a new law that will phase out incandescent light bulbs beginning next year, some shoppers are stockpiling large quantities of the bulbs for future use. According to USA Today, people aren't happy using the more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), which are cheaper than LEDs and use 75-percent less energy than incandescents. Some complain that CFLs aren't quite as ...

As the government and utility companies have continued to work towards modernizing our energy infrastructure and ushering in the era of the smart grid, they've met with surprisingly strong resistance across the political spectrum. The backlash against wireless smart meters has been particularly strong in California, where Tea Party conspiracy theorists and overzealous left-wing Luddites have ...

Now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cracked down on the sale of Four Loko, what's there to do with all the excess product? According to an Associated Press report, MXI Environmental Services, a waste-management company in Virginia, has been buying truckloads of the caffeinated malt beverage, and will recycle it to get pure ethanol. That's right, the alcoholic energy drink that used ...

Ford decided to use CES as the stage to announce its foray into the field of electric vehicles. In late 2011, the American car company will begin selling the Focus Electric, the first member of its all-electric fleet of vehicles, which will grow to a total of five by 2013. Though the company would not say how far the car can travel on a charge, or what the MPG-equivalence is, it promised that the ...

Ford has not officially announced an all-electric vehicle yet, but that hasn't stopped the company from unveiling 'MyFord Mobile,' an app specifically designed to work with a (currently non-existent) battery-powered car. Ford announced Android, iPhone and BlackBerry versions of the app, along with an HTML5-powered Web-app, accessible from a PC and many dumbphones. The app allows a user to do all ...

Share Segways and scooters definitely look fun to ride, but the vehicles -- despite all manner of possible modifications -- invariably carry a heavy nerd stigma. Benjamin Gulak and his BPG Motors company may challenge that stereotype, however, with the sleek and impressive Uno III. The adaptable vehicle actually morphs from an upright "Segway-like" mode into a horizontal, street-cycle position. ...

Every year at CES, there are tons of companies pushing home automation and smart appliances, and, every year, these products fail to storm the marketplace. LG is hoping that 2011 will be different, and that the key to success will be the sudden proliferation of tablets and smartphones. LG's new Thinq technology will let handheld devices "talk" to the company's appliances, such as ovens, ...

Say what you will about their incessant strikes, their unwavering arrogance or their myopic fear of modernity. But when it comes to green transportation, there's no denying that the French are well ahead of the curve. Today, it's virtually impossible to stroll through the streets of Paris without seeing at least a few people cruising around on Vélibs -- the public bikes first introduced a ...

Share Clark Griswold's power-sapping, aircraft-guiding Christmas light extravaganza once represented the pinnacle of overzealous Holiday displays. The last few seasons have witnessed an evolution of progressively elaborate home illuminations, though, including one brilliant and blinding arrangement from Delaware's Faucher family. The Fauchers have apparently adhered to a Griswold-style ...

Share Mozilla may have struck marketing gold by recently adopting a pair of red pandas. The adorable raccoon-like creatures (also known as fire foxes in Chinese) were adopted from the Knoxville Zoo and are now the central characters in a campaign to raise awareness about their vulnerable status in the ecosystem. As an added bonus, Mozilla picks up some good PR and publicity for its Firefox ...