The version you see produces 0.7 volts and a 0.1 milliamp current. It runs for about 30 hours, which is pretty long given the size of the cell. You can imagine that 0.7 volts and 0.1 milliamp current are not enough to power any gadget of yours, but of course, this mini-cell is just a step in development.
I would not have imagined that you could do anything else with a Post-It note, but some folks from the MIT Media Lab have invented a system called Quickies. What they do is take ordinary sticky notes, and make them digital and intelligent. These gadgets were developed by a grad student named Pranav Mistry. Quickies use an electronic pad and embedded RFID tags to figure out not only what is written on the note, but also where the not is stickied. “Quickies are just a functional demo right now, but it won’t be long until printing RFID tags on paper get cheap enough (and RFID readers get ubiquitous enough) that it’ll make sense to have Post-Its that are just a little bit more clever than your average piece of paper. “
Here is an actual device that was sold back in the 1930’s. It was pretty cool at that time. Here is what the actual ad stated in Popular Mechanics. “MEALS can literally be cooked on the run through the use of the automatic cooker shown in the photo above. The cooker is mounted on the rear bumper of the motor tourist’s car and an extension from the exhaust pipe connected up with it, as shown in the insert. The cooker contains a steam pressure kettle which is heated by the hot exhaust gases. An hour’s drive is quite sufficient to thoroughly cook meats and vegetables. Total weight of the unit is so slight that running qualities of the car remain quite unaffected. Motor tours are much more pleasant when one is assured of a well-prepared meal at the end of the trip.”
This is a cool watch called the UR 202 and is driven by compressed air. The inner space of the watch is airproof, and there are built in turbines that spin as long as temperature changes to drive the watch. In order to compensate for sharp movements and increase the watches lifespan, there is a 3-position selector switch on the back of the watch for turbine speed adjustments.
“In addition, the reading manner is fairly innovative. The three dials accompanied by their own rotating blocks is used to indicate hours and, at the same time, they adjust their length to mark the minutes.”
A company called MTI Micro claims that it is ready to start mass producing Fuel Cell prototypes for digital cameras in the next few months. In fact, they say they will be ready by 2009. The fuel cells are methanol-based, and should start showing up in laptops, cellphones, and digital cameras. “The main advantage of fuel cells is that they will last twice as long as a battery pack of the same size. … And the recharge time is almost nonexistent,” Lim told News.com. “Powering up a fuel cell-based phone only requires squirting in some new fuel or putting in a new cartridge.” What I am concerned about is the safety issue. After all, methanol is very flammable, right?
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The Micro Temp Digital Thermometer will allow you to take the temperature of any surface simply by pressing its button. And it is accurate to within 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Cost is $24.95. ” By measuring infrared radiation, the MicroTemp thermometer can tell you the temperature of any surface with the touch of a button. Lightweight and portable, it’s useful for lots of do-it-yourself projects, including PC maintenance, automotive inspection, HVAC applications, food prep, metallurgy and much more. Includes wrist strap. Requires 2 LR44 batteries, included.”
Via Source
A lot of people still use CD players, even though digital music seems to be the future. Here is a CD player that is very stylish, and will attract a lot of attention. It can be placed on an entire wall, and turn that wall into a real speaker. Thanks to the technology of smart material Feonic. And the panel of the player won’t show any control button until it is powered on. Pretty cool!
via Source
Here is a mouthful to say. The Multifunction Digital Solar Charger. It crams a lot of stuff into its plastic body. Along with the solar cells that charge various gadgets, there is an FM radio, LED Flashlight, and a UV Bank Note Checker. It’s from China, so I guess the Chinese have problems with their currency. This gadget is suppose to check to see if its the real thing. Cost is about $50.
I think that we will see a lot more of these in the future. Subaru (Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd) has introduced a small car that plugs in to be made available in the United States. The car will be tested by the New York Power Authority, however tests of the Subaru R1e are currently going on in Japan and the UK. The car’s range is only 50 miles, which would be great for city use. It can reach a top speed of 60 MPH and has a quick charge option which charges the car 80% in Fifteen Minutes. Check out the Subaru site for more info.
Privacy is very important these days. Sharing personal information always puts you at risk. Here is a gadget that puts all your medical information on a business sized USB flash drive. The device is called the Wallet MediCard, and is an ultra slim USB flash card that will fit your medical documentation on its circuits. You can also fill out personal health records on the outside of it as well. Sounds a bit too risky to me.
via chipchick
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