Technology Madness

Travel between Los Angelis and Seattle in one tank of Compressed AIR

Could the Air Car be the next generation motor vehicle? Could this charming (but looks very retro) car be the starting of ‘death’ count-down for the oil-petroleum guzzler automotive industry in coming days?

Air Car is running exclusively on compressed air, it emits only air - zero pollution. The air car claims to be able to drive 106 miles per gallon which is 170 kilometer per gallon. Now lets say if car has 10 gallon tank, it means you can drive 1060 Miles in one tank of Gas (opppss, sorry, please read AIR, not gas) that is approximately distance between Los Angelis and Seattle. Wow, now this is amazing fuel economy.

It’s NOT a dream or a project on paper but ZPM (http://zeropollutionmotors.us) will begin taking reservations in mid-2009 for US deliveries of our compressed air vehicle in 2010. It is estimated to have a retail price of $17,800USD. A six-seater model is the first Air Car scheduled to enter the US. On top of all cool specs, this car has no keys - just an access card which can be read directly from your pocket. Also, Refilling the car tank will cost $2 (…that is unless the price of air goes up… he he)

Check it out. Watch this you tube video:

Via [popularmechanics.com and blog.sabasearch.com]

Tags: Air Car, Air-Powered Car, compressed air engine, Eco-Friendly Car, Fuel economy, Green Car, Tata Air Car, Zero Pollution Motors

Conference Bike turns corporate meetings into a funride

I have seen many companies trying may weird type of things for team building events, ranging from group cooking class to wine/beer testing events. Recently I was in one of the boring party at local brewery. I also notice that less people are attending such company wide meeting at some boring place. Employee with children will attend if picnic is set up at corn field or apple picking farm.

To add a twist in the long conference party ideas, Conference Bike is nice idea for arranging conference. Especially when team members like to sweat a bit. The Dutch Bicycle Company has created a Conference Bike, which promises to be the sure-fire ice-breaker in corporate and/or social environment. (and corporate bosses and executive look like children in a park) CoBi-7 retails for $12,750 in the States while the 5-seater model sells for $8,750. The 400lb bike measures 2.5m L x 1.8m W x 1.4m H and can run upto 1o mph speed.

In case you’re wondering how this bike would be useful in scenarios other than a corporate set up, let me tell you, the two models of the bike, CoBi-5 (good for 5 persons) and CoBi-7 (good for 7 persons) are already being used to employees on the Amazon.com campus in California, Google.com campus in Mountain View CA, as a tour bike in Berlin, and as a corporate team-building tool in London and other major cities.

You tube video about Conference Bike:

Google Employee Riding Conference bike:

Via [Conference Bike and Seven-Person Conference Bicycle and cobi and trend watch and beyondsatire.us]

Extra reading: A Tasty Team Building Exercise

Technorati Tags: Conference Bike, CoBi-5 and CoBi-7, Eric Staller, environmentally-friendly vehicles, Lifestyle

Del.icio.us Tags: Conference Bike, CoBi-5 and CoBi-7, Eric Staller, environmentally-friendly vehicles, Lifestyle

Similar reading:

• BBQ-Donut: Innovative eco-friendly leisure water craft
• Topless meetings for team focus?
• 9 tips for running more productive meetings
• Email and meetings
• More Meeting Effectiveness Ideas
• Ultimate Meeting/Convention Knowledge/Tactics

Tags: Conference Bike, corporate meeting

Earth Hour Day - Dark city, bright idea

Today is earth hour day. People all over the world have been switching off lights for an hour to show concern at global warming. Google.com homepage as a gesture (keeping google.com homepage with black background) to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour. This event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

What is earth hour?

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world, including Copenhagen, Chicago, Melbourne, Dubai, and Tel Aviv, will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation.

Which cities involved around the world?

List of cities? http://www9.earthhourus.org/cities.php

What I can do about it?

You can do something to reduce the energy consumption of your home PC by joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Also, turn off your (non-emergency) home lights at 8.PM for 1 hour.

More information:

Climate Savers Computing Initiative 

Earth Hour 

Earth hour day wikipedia.org page

Flicking the switch - before and after earth hour pictures/photos, here, here and here

Suggestion to Google.com:

Google.com or such major traffic website should do this (blackout their home page) everyday around 5.00 PM (office leaving time) to remind people to turn off their office light and computer before they go home. Small things make a big difference.

Google.com homepage on earth hour day: (March 29)

Australia Sydney during earth hour: 

Frequent flashes of far-off lightning lit the clouds as Sydney’s skyline went dark at 8 pm.

Via [Google.com earth hour page and earthhour.org]

Technorati tags: earth hour energy conservation save the world Dark city, bright idea global warming Climate Savers Computing Initiative