Articles tagged with: Yahoo

Yahoo! Flickr Bikes with Camera and GPS Launched
Posted in Automobiles, Eco-friendly products, Solar, Technology on 28 September 2008

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Wanna Ride?? This one shall prove to be an eco-friendly one with an inveterate entertainment. Yahoo’s newest bike is a complete showstopper. Armed with solar panel, a GPS enabled mobile phone hidden and a script to constantly take pictures at 60 seconds, this bike will be able to map out route that you take (and geotagged it properly) and upload to Flicker account instantly. Beneath the installation on the bikes, there is a Nokia N95 (based on the meta tag found on the pictures), a Solar panels which power the camera phone and Custom Python script installed on the phone which fires off the shutter every 60 seconds while the phone’s accelerometer detects that you’re in motion, and uploads the resulting photo with geotags to the bike’s Flickr account.

Being launched as a part of the company’s new “Start Wearing Purple” marketing campaign, this does have a feminine angle to it but it is well-equipped with valuables to attract men as well. Though initially starting from San Fransico and New York, these bikes would soon be pedaling around the world in countries such as Singapore, Denmark and the U.K.
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If this happens to interest you, you can actually download the software to your symbian phone and capture the images yourself.
Via ohgizmo

Google Turns America’s Largest Investor in Geothermal Energy
Posted in Renewable, Solar, Technology, Wind on 31 August 2008

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal Energy is almost like the step-child of renewable resources and the Solar and Wind Energy departments get the treatment of being the perfect brand ambassadors for green energy. This is due to a couple of factors. One is that people do not quite comprehend how valuable and immense the potential of geothermal energy is and secondly those who know about its worth are still unable to find ways to properly harness it. But that seems to be changing fast off late as people seem to have rediscovered its magic.

Google, which has an interest in affordable power to run its growing numbers of server farms, is heavily investing (through Google.org) in research into the development of geothermal power. In the US, Google is the largest funding source for geothermal research. While traditionally the US and North European nations have been considered Geothermal Energy hubs, there seems to be a new leader in the race as well.

The Australian government is investing nearly four times as much as Google to develop geothermal power for Australia. The Australian group estimates that just 1 percent of the country’s geothermal capacity could provide 26,000 years worth of clean electricity. With more countries like Australia and firms like Google investing both money and time in Geothermal Energy, the future indeed looks ‘steaming hot’ for the energy that lays hidden in the heart of the planet.

Via Ecogeek