hankmt - Slashdot User

Wal-Mart's $200 Linux PC Sells Out-> 0

Submitted by

hankmt

on Sunday November 11 2007, @03:49PM

hankmt writes "About a week ago Wal-Mart began selling a $200 linux machine running on a 1.5 ghz Via C7 processor and 512 megs of RAM. While the specs are useless for vista, it works blazingly fast on Ubuntu with the Enlightenment Window Manager. The machine is now officially sold out of their online warehouses, and the product sales page at WalMart.com is full of glowing reviews from new and old linux users alike."
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Creating Tornadoes to Power Cities-> 0

Submitted by

hankmt

on Tuesday July 31 2007, @12:28PM

hankmt writes ""On a list of 'holy sh*t that doesn't really sound like a good idea' ideas, creating tornadoes to power cities has got to be pretty close to the top. But really, does it sound any more foolish than attempting to control the force of atomic explosions?"

Well, nuclear power can work, so, the article states, why not start harnessing other destructive forces, like tornadoes. Louis Michaud has proposed a 20 kilometer high, 200 meter wide, 200 megawatt power station containing a controlled tornado. Obviously a lot of research needs to be done first. He's already creating tornadoes in the lab, albeit very small ones. But he believes that power from a tornado plant would be cheaper and cleaner than fossil fuel, and more constant and abundant than current renewable sources.

As long as they don't put one in my back yard."
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America's First Cellulosic Ethanol Plant-> 0

Submitted by

hankmt

on Saturday July 14 2007, @09:49PM

hankmt writes ""The state of Georgia just granted Range Fuels a permit to create the first cellulosic ethanol plant in America. HECK YES! This is very exciting...why?"

In short: First: Because cellulosic ethanol produces ethanol from cellulose, which all plants have, instead of sugar, which is only abundant in food crops. Second: Because while corn ethanol only produces 1.3 units of energy for everyone unit of energy that goes into growing the crop and converting the sugar to ethanol, cellulosic ethanol can produce as much as 16 units of energy for every one unit of energy put into the process.

The new plant will be online, producing 100 million gallons in 2008."
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McDonald's Grease Powering McDonald's Trucks-> 0

Submitted by

hankmt

on Thursday July 05 2007, @04:49PM

hankmt writes "McDonald's, known mostly for smiling like an evil clown while the world gets fatter and fatter, is now actually doing something productive with all of those kilojoules of grease. The company is planning on powering its entire UK truck fleet with bio-diesel created from its own waste vegetable oil.

The fuel will be composed of 85% fryer oil and 15% virgin rapeseed oil. However, Matthew Howe, Senior VP of McDonald's UK was quoted saying "As we get better at the refinement we will be able to remove virgin rape from the process," a line which we sincerely hope never gets taken out of context."
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Whirling Twirling Propeller Trike-> 0

Submitted by

hankmt

on Wednesday July 04 2007, @12:58AM

hankmt writes "A student at MIT has built a tricycle that applies force to a giant rear fan, instead of directly to the wheels. The effect...well, it's best to look for yourself, but it would be pretty useful on the post-apocalyptic roads of the Australian Outback. The blades of the trike even have built in LED lights which display colored patterns...and also warn pedestrians of their impending deaths."
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Floating Offshore Wind Rigs Use Oil Rig Technology-> 0

Submitted by

hankmt

on Tuesday July 03 2007, @07:26PM

hankmt writes "The three biggest problems with wind turbines are: 1. Bird Kill 2. Some people hate to look at them and 3. Bugs gum up the works and decrease efficiency. Which is why it would be wonderful if we could build wind farms 50 to 100 miles off-shore, where there are no birds, bugs or neighbors. Unfortunately, up until now, there's been no way to build floating wind turbines. But now, thanks to Norsk Hydro, a company that once built floating oil rigs, soon there will be floating wind farms all over the world. The first one should come online in 2007, with larger projects in the works for 2009."
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40% of all electricity used by turned off devices-> 0

Submitted by WWMPCDD on Thursday June 21 2007, @12:30PM

WWMPCDD writes "The Department of Energy estimates that in the average home, 40 percent of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Add that all up, and it equals the annual output of 17 power plants, the government says."
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New Lightbulb 50% Efficient...Never Burns Out.-> 1

Submitted by

hankmt

on Thursday June 21 2007, @12:11PM

hankmt writes "Ceravision has just been awarded a patent for a new kind of light. The system is four times more efficient than Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs and it contains now hazardous materials. It basically works by using a microwave emitter to create a high intensity electric field inside a chamber filled with gas. The gas quickly converts to plasma, an the plasma releases more than 50% of it's energy as light.

The device uses components that are all already in mass production, so it could be available relatively quickly. The high directionality of the light makes it perfect for rear projection screens and medical applications, but it could be entering the mass consumer market as a "edison-type" bulb in the next five years."
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Original Star Trek Props Anchor Home Theater->

Submitted by Manny Calavera on Wednesday June 20 2007, @11:05AM

Manny Calavera writes "How could anyone top the Trekkie-themed areas we've already seen? Well, Gary Sekulow found a way to add his own "Trek" twist. http://www.electronichouse.com/article/original_st ar_trek_props_anchor_home_theater/"
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Veoh TV Beta Launch -- Internet TV's Killer App->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 20 2007, @11:05AM

An anonymous reader writes "Veoh (www.veoh.com), today announced the beta launch of VeohTV — a revolutionary application that builds on the success of its acclaimed Veoh Player and immediately transforms the online video landscape. This is the most disruptive, innovative application in the Internet Television space to date, aiming to take down Joost before it even gets up. VeohTV acts as a specialized video browser and DVR (digital video recorder) for discovering, viewing and managing online video. VeohTV combines the breadth of the Internet with the simplicity of traditional TV and betters it with a patent-pending smart recommendation engine so that viewers can discover more of what they want to watch. Because VeohTV supports open Internet standards, it has access to virtually all of the content on the Internet. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2 _archive/2007/07/01/100117044/index.htm?section=mo ney_technology"
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