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Monday, January 24, 2011

LED headlights can add up to six miles of electric vehicle range

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/24/led-headlights-can-add-up-to-six-miles-of-electric-vehicle-range/

LED lighting can add up to six miles of electric vehicle range

We've been charting the progression of in-home lighting, CFLs replacing incandescents but themselves slowly walking the path obsolescence as LED bulbs get cheaper and more common. It's much the same on the vehicle lighting front, with LEDs taking over more and more automotive lighting, and now OSRAM Sylvania is giving us another reason to make that happen sooner. LED bulbs can provide the same amount of light as traditional incandescent car bulbs with less than 25 percent the energy draw. On a gas-powered auto that's not such a big deal, where LEDs are being used primarily because of benefits like cooler temps, longer life, and greater stylistic freedom, but on an EV that reduction in current draw can offer as much as a six mile boost in range on a single charge. That may not sound like much, but if you ever run out of juice five miles from home you might just change your mind.

Continue reading LED headlights can add up to six miles of electric vehicle range

LED headlights can add up to six miles of electric vehicle range originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why You Might Want to Wait for a 4G Phone [Buying]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5741627/why-you-might-want-to-wait-for-a-4g-phone

If you're getting pretty excited about all the new speedy, 4G phones coming out right now, you're probably thinking of picking one up. Tech blog Tested reminds us that it's still a new technology, and you may be better off waiting.

We've already addressed the differences between 4G on each carrier, but 4G has a lot of general advantages and disadvantages over the standard 3G phones most of us are still rocking. Of course we all know the advantage: blindingly fast speed. But that isn't the whole story.

At the top of 4G's list of disadvantages is bad battery life. As with 3G, mobile data is a bit of a battery suck, and 4G is going to be a worse offender than 3G. Battery life is already a pretty big problem on a lot of today's smartphones, so if you think you're going to find yourself toggling 4G off just to make it through your day, it may not be worth springing for a whole new phone right now. Furthermore, to combat this, many phones will have larger batteries, making the phones bigger and heavier (but likely still having less than stellar battery life). And, while you can get some pretty blindingly fast speed on 4G right now, as more people pick it up, your average speed will decline a bit. It will, of course, be faster than 3G, just not as much faster as you might think right now—meaning that switch might not be as worth it as you think.

Check out the article at Tested for even more reasons you might want to wait, including some interesting info on voice standards and frequencies. Of course, this doesn't mean you shouldn't spring for a new 4G phone—particularly if your current phone is older than dirt—but the much more realistic view on the technology is welcome for those of us making phone buying decisions.

The Pros and Cons of Adopting 4G Android Phones Today [Tested]

TeamSnap Manages Your Team's Schedule, Communications, and More [Downloads]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5741110/teamsnap-manages-your-teams-schedule-games-and-more

iOS: TeamSnap is a compact app for your iOS devices that makes team management a breeze. Keep track of games, practices, send group message, even track who is bringing refreshments.

TeamSnap is a comprehensive team management tool that condenses what would normally be clipboards of information, long email threads, and other spread out communications into dashboard. You can track team rosters and team contact info, game schedules, view and upload photos, generate maps to and from your games and other events, and more.

TeamSnap has a freemium model. The base app and account is free and includes the team roster, schedule, messages, and public sharing of schedules and such. The basic account includes extras like photos and refreshment tracking (cost: $6.95 a month or $55 a year) and the premium account includes even more extras like team stats, a customizations like team logos and color themes (cost: $9.95 per month or $79 a year). Check out the full price schedule here.

TeamSnap

Budding Molecular Cuisine Chefs Take Note... [Cooking]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5741090/budding-molecular-cuisine-chefs-take-note

...for Think Geek has a Molecular Cuisine Starter Kit that should get you well on the way toward that coveted sous chef job at Alinea you've been eyeing ever since Chez Gizmodo's Taste Test.

At $70, it's not necessarily cheap, but the exotic vaporizer dishes you'll be cooking up in the near future at your chic molecular gastro-pub will no doubt make that money back and then some. The full, expanded materials list includes:

5 sets of food-additives:
- Agar-agar - 10 sachets of 20g each
- Calcium Lactate - 10 sachets of 20g each
- Sodium Alginate - 10 sachets of 20g each
- Soy Lecithin - 10 sachets of 20g each
- Xanthan Gum - 10 sachets of 20g each

1 set of tools:
- 1 syringe
- 5 pipettes
- 3 lengths of 18" silicone tubing
- 1 slotted spoon
1 set of measuring spoons

When all is said and done you'll have 50 different dishes to make and experiment with using family and friends. Just don't kill them! Instead, slay them figuratively with your Beet Foam and Arugula Spaghetti.[Think Geek]

Acer Aspire One 522 with AMD Ontario shows up on Amazon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/22/acer-aspire-one-522-with-amd-ontario-shows-up-on-amazon/

Sure, we had known a few bits and pieces about Acer's forthcoming AMD Fusion-powered netbook but you can always count on Amazon to dish out the spec and pricing details we've been waiting for. Unlike the Fusion HP Pavilion dm1 we just reviewed, which packs a higher-end AMD Zacate E-350 APU, the Aspire One 522 is powered by AMD's netbook-class 1GHz C-50 Ontario processor. The 10.1-inch laptop still melds that CPU with Radeon HD 6250 graphics so it should be able to handle full HD video and some light gaming, and for $330 we're certainly expecting it to trounce Atom netbooks in both price and graphics prowess. Other than that, the 2.8-pound Aspire One 522 seems to be a lot like the previous AMD Neo-powered Aspire One 521 -- it looks to have a similar chassis and has 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, HDMI port, Windows 7 Starter, and a 4400mAh battery, which apparently provides six hours of battery life. No word on when the 522 will actually come out of the pre-order stage and start shipping, but our guess is that it shouldn't be too long of a wait.

Acer Aspire One 522 with AMD Ontario shows up on Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Jan 2011 19:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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