Congress is on track to passing a nationwide Internet retail sales tax, but it has serious flaws that could majorly muck up the e-commerce industry. We think citizens are often smarter than the government, and we want to give you a chance to make the bill better before it becomes law. So, we’ve teamed up with Congressman Darrell Issa’s Open Government Foundation, which designed a platform for… → Read More
If you’ve flirted with vegetarianism like I have, then you’re probably aware of a range of meat substitutes, all of which pale in comparison to the real thing. But now Beyond Meat CEO and founder Ethan Brown says that mock meat is about 80 percent of the way to being able to sub in for the real thing without anyone being the wiser, in terms of taste, texture and appearance. → Read More
For large companies that have a long list of suppliers that they work with, it’s not only difficult to manage communication with all of them, but understanding the environmental impact of each supplier is next to impossible. It’s not a sexy space to work in by any means but the addressable market is comprised of Fortune 500 companies and the government itself, which is bound to… → Read More
Kickstarter might be better known for funding films and hardware projects, but it’s now getting its first synthetic biology proposal. A Singularity University alum, a Stanford post-doc and a Stanford Ph.D. are looking to use synthetic biology and software from startup Genome Compiler to creating plants that glow. While the first several generations of plants might be weaker at emitting… → Read More
Biomimicry is an engineering field that takes cues from nature to help solve and address human problems, and Google today launched a new website at its Google Green initiative that highlights some of the ways nature’s engineers can inspire and guide human behavior. The site uses gorgeous National Geographic images along with brief descriptions of how the natural antecedent relates to the human… → Read More
Google has long had an interest in renewable energy and has now invested more than $1 billion of its own money in alternative energy projects. However, as the company notes in a blog post and white paper today, it’s not always easy for companies that want to buy renewable energy to do so, given that most utilities don’t yet offer a renewable power option yet. In its white paper, Google… → Read More
Japanese startup Terra Motors officially debuted its electric tuk-tuk (a type of three-wheeled passenger vehicle common in Asia), a tricycle that costs just over $6,000 U.S. and gets 31 miles on a 2 hour charge. The electric vehicle stands at the opposite end of the spectrum from something like the Tesla Model S Roadster, and for good reason: it’s designed to be affordable for emerging markets in… → Read More
There is no shortage of cloud-based file storage and synchronization solutions: Dropbox, Box.net, Ubuntu One, and on and on and on. Most offer pretty much the same things. A few niche players offer something special, like Spideroak’s approach to encryption, or ownCloud’s host-it-yourself solution. QloudSync puts forward two interesting differentiators: it’s powered by 100% renewable energy, and… → Read More
President Obama inadvertently triggered national geek outrage, after he mistakenly mixed up the warring science fiction universes of Star Wars and Star Trek. During a press conference related to recently triggered budget cutbacks, known as the “sequester,” he said, “I can’t do some kind of Jedi Mind Meld on congressional Republicans,” referring to the partisan gridlock that has prevented… → Read More
As American science students struggle to compete with the global competition, Oklahoma is moving forward with a law that could ban Biology teachers from failing students who argue that humans co-existed with dinosaurs. The state legislator’s committee in charge of education standards has approved a law that would forbid teachers from penalizing students who argue against widely accepted… → Read More
Tesla Motors CEO and founder Elon Musk definitely isn’t the best guy to try to pull a fast one on. The visionary entrepreneur set Twitter a titter when he claimed earlier this week that New York Times writer John Broder had fudged details about the Tesla Models S car’s range in cold weather, resulting in what he termed a “fake” article. Musk promised evidence, and now he has delivered, via the… → Read More
Rally.org, the U.S.-based crowdfunding platform designed for socially-minded causes, is taking its mission to Europe. Today, the startup is opening an incubator in Berlin, its first outside of the U.S., and on a limited beta will start to process donations made on its proprietary payment platform in euros, with the intention of adding British pounds and other currencies in the very near future. → Read More
You know those mobile devices that everyone keeps raving about? Turns out it’s a huge business. Shocker, I know. Strategy Analytics recently estimated that about 1.6 billion mobile phones shipped in 2012. What’s more, according to Canalys’ report today, the tablet market grew by 75 percent in the fourth quarter to 46.2 million units, with total shipments hitting 114.6 million in 2012. → Read More
Apple has released its 2013 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, and it features a number of updates from last year, including Apple’s decision to join the Fair Labor Association (a notable first), and conduct audits of its suppliers in tandem with that outside watchdog organization. The results seem to be a tightening of Apple’s code of conduct for suppliers all around, in terms of… → Read More
The Bonsai is gadget with a soul, one that hopes to make a global difference by changing the way we go about an activity many do on a daily basis. It’s a shaving accessory, and it’s being funded via Indiegogo right now, with creator Craig Battin and his team looking for $125,000 to turn their final prototype into a production shipping device. → Read More
Apple’s patent filings today reveal one concept outside their usual product-focused applications, detailing a method for harnessing wind power in a manner different from that employed in traditional turbines. Electricity gathered from a wind turbine would be converted to heat energy and stored in a “low-heat capacity fluid” in Apple’s patent, allowing it to be tapped on an as-needed basis… → Read More
Induction charging seems ready for its time in the spotlight, with the Nexus 4, Droid DNA and Lumia 920 all shipping with wireless charging based on the Qi standard built-in. Now a concept design that offers solar-powered wireless charging cleverly hidden inside a futuristic looking bonzai tree hopes to become a reality with the help of Kickstarter. → Read More
Google just announced that it has invested $75 million in a 50 MW wind farm in Rippey, Iowa, a small town an hour outside of Des Moines. This is Google’s second wind energy investment in the state. In 2010, Google entered a long-term contract to buy green energy for its Iowa data center, but this is the company’s first direct investment into an Iowa wind project. → Read More
When Apple introduced the Retina MacBook Pro and new MacBook Airs in June, it also quietly noted it would be withdrawing its computers from voluntary EPEAT environmental standards qualification. It got back in line, but questions of whether the MacBook Pro in particular could meet the EPEAT standards, which include a provision for upgradeability “with commonly available tools” remained. → Read More
Editor’s note: Sal Cangeloso is the editor of Geek.com and wrote a new book on an odd topic. It’s called LED Lighting: A Primer to Lighting the Future and it focuses on the upcoming explosion in LED manufacturing, offering a basic understanding of the technology and an interesting look at the history of LED lights.
You can buy LED Lighting: A Primer to Lighting the Future here and the first… → Read More
Peer into the drawers of the average gadget addict and you’re sure to find a tangled mess of unused chargers gathering dust. Mobile phones are a prime offender in creating redundant gadget junk, with new models released every few months to drive upgrades. Indeed, U.K. carrier O2 calculates there are now more than 100 million unused phone chargers languishing in Brits’ drawers — which is why it… → Read More
That was fast: Mobiplug Networks, a startup focusing on smartphone-controlled smart home technology, which was featured only in August as part of TechStars’ most recent class in Boulder, Colorado, has today announced a new CEO and news that it has picked up $2.7 million Series A round of funding, led by Boulder-based VC Foundry Group. Bullet Time Ventures, SK Ventures, Social Leverage, Clarion… → Read More
Just when you thought it was safe to ignore the app economy, we have the LIFX, a Kickstarter-funded lightbulb you control from your iOS or Android device. Why, you ask? Because it’s a lightbulb controlled via smartphone, that’s why.
The product is just one day old on Kickstarter, and it already hit the $283,394 mark which means it’s definitely getting funded. The bulb itself costs $69. → Read More
Not only were there country pavilions at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco last week, but also themed ones like Hardware Alley and the Impact Pavilion.
Here, you could peruse startups in the themes of health, energy and transport, a few of which were put together by the Greenstart accelerator programme and Solar Mosaic.
We caught up with the guys to hear what they had on display.
Here… → Read More
Peer-to-peer bike rental service Spinlister was chosen by the audience from amongst the Startup Alley companies today to pitch on stage as part of the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield in San Francisco this week.
There are over 100 million bikes in the US and over a billion on the planet. But most bikes are not used daily, meaning there’s plenty of opportunity to meet demand. Normal bike rental… → Read More
Atlanta-based Urjanet announced today that it has closed a $4 million Series B round of funding, two years after its initial launch. The company provides energy data for heavy energy consumers, mostly in the form of enterprise customers, to enable them to make better business decisions around current energy use, how future projects will impact energy expenditure, and see the return on investment… → Read More
Hardware generally doesn’t interest me too much, so when I heard about the Open Compute project I didn’t give it too much attention. Casually reading up on the subject a little more left me even less interested. Why should Facebook have to design their own hardware, I wondered? Wouldn’t hardware vendors be clambering over each other to supply Facebook with gobs and gobs of servers for their data… → Read More
Professor Keon Jae Lee at the Korean Advanced Institute Of Science And Technology created a solid-state flexible battery that retains is energy level when folded, spindled, and or mildly mutilated. The battery could mean future ereaders and tablets could be paper thin and partially foldable, ushering in interesting new device designs. → Read More
Our week in the Southeast gave us plenty of memorable moments, but perhaps my favorite of the entire trip was when I stumbled upon the Elf — a pedal-solar electric hybrid vehicle from Organic Transit in Durham, NC. It’s one of those products that — given the right financing and marketing — could be completely disruptive in Urban areas.
The vehicles come in two models… → Read More
Defining an energy efficiency strategy can be challenging for big organizations with multiple large buildings. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that it has installed energy analysis SPARC520 equipment for its Washington, D.C. headquarters. → Read More
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