Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Make Your Own Fuel Cell
Stephen Friend has the first hand-built fuel cell-powered house in the US. No, not another hopeful boil-your-own-yogurt demo for an impractical technology, but a real, sustainable achievement that makes its own hydrogen in a cedar shed out back. And it has a huge advantage over electric systems favored by his neighbors on Stuart Island, an off-the-grid Pacific Northwest paradise in Washington’s Puget Sound. Most residents there use solar power but must rely on noisy backup generators as well, since their batteries don’t hold enough energy to get them through the winter. So with the help of two buddies, Friend, a Merck vice president and pioneer in digital gene arrays, drew a back-of-the-envelope plan for an energy storage system that extends the life of battery banks. In 2004, they started rigging up a Rube Goldberg contraption that uses solar panels and electrolyzers to generate hydrogen and allows Web-based monitoring of its proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell. In late 2006, a bemused but impressed inspector granted state approval. Now the system, which they built for around $50,000, taps any surplus solar electricity to fill a 500-gallon hydrogen fuel tank, enough reserve for about 14 days’ worth of power (a second tank can be added to double that capacity). Friend thinks of the setup as sort of a TiVo for energy — bank hydrogen during the summer, then consume as it’s needed.
1) GENERATE SOLAR POWER
Jason Lerner, an alternative-energy expert and family friend, installed the home’s photovoltaic panels (cost: around $13,400) in the front yard. The cells pump out 1.6 kW during the sunniest hours of the day, which is just under a typical load for the Friend family.
2) TURN WATER INTO H AND O
Two laboratory-grade electrolyzers (Hogen GC 600 units at $7,900 each) run on solar electricity and water to make 0.3 gallon of hydrogen per minute, which is then forced into a steel tank at 200 psi. A second tank may be added to double the capacity to a month’s worth of power.
3) LEARN TO PLUMB FOR H
High-end stainless steel tubing prevents the plumbing from corroding. (Hydrogen ions are the active ingredient in acid.) A blast of nitrogen can be used to remove the air from an empty 500-gallon propane tank, which can then be carefully filled with home-brewed hydrogen.
4) TURN H AND O BACK INTO H2O
A 148-pound, 48-volt fuel cell combines hydrogen with the oxygen in air to charge the battery bank. An inverter converts the DC electricity to AC for the home’s 110-volt system. Find this gear at www.fuelcellstore.com. The builders caution that these products aren’t perfect.
5) AUTOMATE AND MONITOR
The crew connected system switches to relays controlled by battery voltage. After 20 minutes sans sun, the electrolyzers shut down, and the house is powered by the fuel cell. A satellite link transmits reports on voltage and tank capacity, and a hydrogen sniffer checks for leaks.
For more information please visit the links in the referneces...
References
http://www.wired.com/wired/arcive/15.03/play.html?pg=9
http://www.siei.org/mainpage.html
http://www.fuelcellstore.com/
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Linux Smartphones
It's only been about two years since Linux started becoming a significant factor in mobile phones, an arena that has been dominated by Symbian, Microsoft, and proprietary operating systems. With the burgeoning complexity of mobile phones, feature phones, and smart phones -- plus increasing time-to-market pressures -- there's a clear movement toward off-the-shelf, third-party operating systems based on industry standards, and Linux figures to be a major beneficiary of that trend.
Linux is doomed to gain more share as even major players like Nokia and PalmOne will have a hard to compete with their OS in terms of features and complexity... not everyone can build an OS nowadays.
Grundig B700
Gupp Phreedom
On the one hand, it's an ugly wedge of technology. On the other hand, it might be the wonderful Sharp Zaurus' GSM-enabled spiritual sequel. Gupp Technologies' Phreedom smartphone will be out this summer, offering VoIP calling in addition to GSM, 2.5" screen, WiFi, push email, 320 MB memory and a 312MHz PXA270 CPU.
Greenphone
FIC Neo1973
D-Link V-Click
Moto "MING" A1200
Haier (China) recently showcased their new good looking N60 smartphone operating on Access Linux Platform. The Haier N60 features a SDIO expansion card slot, a swiveling 240×320 touch screen with 262k colors, a 400-Mhz processor, built-in MP3 and MPEG4 players, built-in 59MB memory, a Li-Ion batter providing up to 180 minutes talk time and 200 hours standby time, a 1.3-megapixel camera, as well as Infrared and USB connectivity (no Bluetooth, which is a downside).
This tri-band GSM phone measures 48×25 x 94 mm and weighs 131 grams.
ImCoSys Linux Smartphone
TI OMAP 730 processor
Quad band GSM support
GPRS support
WiFi and USB support
64MB Flash, 64MB SDRAM
SD slot
240 x 320 transflective TFT screen
Touch screen
GPS module
Measures 125 x 64 x 18 mm
40 polyphonic MIDI sounds
Uses embedded Linux Supports various document formats.
What has Linux to do with cellphones ?
Linux is likely to have a very bright future in the mobile phone industry specifically, the class of mobile phones that are considered smart phones. Motorola currently holds the torch for Linux on mobile phones in the U.S. market and has developed a unique platform called Moto Juix for its high functionality phones that is based on a melding of Java and Linux technologies.
Linux is collectively created by a large group of open-source programmers, many of whom work for companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard that sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of high-end server computers running the Unix-like operating system. Now, though, several companies are advocating use of Linux in smaller devices.
What Motorola articulated is the future for their high-end handset lineup is Linux, said Yankee Group wireless technologies analyst John Jackson. This is a pretty interesting statement from a company with the size, scope and market of Motorola. The operating system isn't that interesting. It's coupling Linux and Java together, The company hasn't changed its strategy of encouraging the use of Java for programmers who write cell phone software such as games or business applications.
Although they will be pioneers in Linux cell phones, the fact that application is written in Java leaves them reasonably insulated from the underlying operating system.
What do u think about the future of Linux cell phones ?
Friday, March 9, 2007
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Free SMS To INDIA
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Do you love your Ipod...
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Windows professsional 2007 Refurbished
How to change the product key for windows professional 2007
Follow these steps:
Close all Microsoft Office applications.
Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
Locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft
\Office\12.0\Registration
Note You may also find another subkey that resembles the following subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Registration\
{91120000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}
If you find additional subkeys that reference Microsoft 12.0 registration, open each subkey, and then identify the product by the ProductName entry.
For example: ProductName=Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
When you find the subkey for the product from which you want to remove the existing product license key, delete the following entries:
* DigitalProductID
* ProductID
Exit Registry Editor.
The next time that you try to run an Office application, you will be prompted for a new product license key. Then, you can enter the product license key.
Hit the "Install Now" button and you Office app, will be updated with the new key. After updating you can activate you Office app, without reinstalling it.
Try these keys...
KGFVY-7733B-8WCK9-KTG64-BC7D8
DBXYD-TF477-46YM4-W74MH-6YDQ8
v9mtg-3gx8p-d3y4r-68bq8-4q8vd
tp3fh-cvjr2-mr7g7-w2hfw-tjchd
Free Internet Calling
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- Make free calls to any other InPhonex user. Tell all your friends and family to join and you can talk free no matter where they are located.
- Add another phone line without any expense. Teenagers can use a Free Internet Calling account as their own line and talk to their group of friends as much as they want, free of charge. You can sign up for two Free Internet Calling accounts using two separate email addresses.