Stormblade Turbine is More Efficient, Quietly Neighbor-Friendly January 03, 2007

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Nobody wants a wind turbine in their backyard, because the things are noisy and kill birds. But now inventors at Stormblade Turbine might have made the windmill a neighborhood-friendly device, solving that noise problem while doubling the efficiency of current turbines. This weird-looking jet engine-on-a-stick is somehow able to accelerate wind into its blades that are nestled safely in their enclosure, concentrating the breeze while keeping the birds and bats out of harm's way.

The prototype operates quietly in wind speeds from 7mph to 120mph, twice the range of conventional wind turbines, plus it's a lot smaller and easier to maintain. Install two of them next to each other and they'll look like a pair of eyes peering into the wind. Meanwhile, you'll be looking at selling power back to the electric company. – Charlie White

Silent wind turbine is ultra-efficient [Engineer Live, via treehugger]

RIAA to AllofMP3: You Owe Us $1.65 Trillion January 03, 2007

Read more Digital Audio

Bloodsucking record labels and their lapdog the RIAA have filed suit in New York federal court against Russian music downloading site Allof MP3.com, seeking $1.65 trillion. That's $150,000 for each song that was downloaded from the site from June to October of last year. The undaunted AllofMP3.com responds, pretty much saying, "Tough shit, you're filing a suit in New York and we're in Russia. Nya nya nya nya nya nya."

Meanwhile, the site is still up and running, gleefully noting that iTunes revenues have decreased by 65% and wishing all a Happy New Year. Beatles songs, DRM-free, for $.17 each? Sounds like a good deal. – Charlie White

RIAA sues AllofMP3 for $1.65 trillion  [Zero Paid]

Turn Your Old iPod Into a Diagnostics Tool January 03, 2007

Read more Portable Media

Sure, you could load up a flash drive with diagnostic, anti-virus, and data recovery software to fix up a sick computer, but it's kind of boring. If you've got an old iPod kicking around you might as well turn it into the hippest computer recovery tool around.

TechTool Protogo is a suite of diagnostic tools for your Mac designed to be loaded up on an iPod. I would be all about getting this on my old 10GB 2nd gen except for two small problems: I have a PC, and it's a whopping $150 for the software. Someone out there has got to be able to whip up a suite like this that's all freeware and can have the same iPod functionality. Let's see it, dudes. –Adam Frucci

Product Page [via Red Ferret]

Cars Of The Future: Designers Battle It Out January 03, 2007

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The Fourth Peugeot Design Competition has just kicked off and people are being invited to choose what they think should make it to the final.

The variety of concept cars on offer is quite stunning and there are 30 to choose from, out of 4,000 submissions. I’m quite partial to the ground hugging E-Motion above although I still can’t see me getting more than 30 metres out of my driveway before crappy local roads ripped that undercarriage right off.

In 2005, the cute and cuddly Moovie (see it after the jump) clinched the title so it will be interesting to see if eco-friendly two-seaters, sports cars or family-oriented Transformer-type cars will steal the show.

Practicality is not really a limiting factor for many of these designs and despite the originality, we’ll be lucky to see any of these of in production before we start queuing for our pensions. Still, it’s good to dream. Jump now to see some shots of last year’s winner. -Martin Lynch

[Gizmag]

Samsung’s ‘Blackberry-Killer’ Finally Hits UK January 03, 2007

Read more Gadgets , Mobile phones , PDA , Peripherals , Smartphones , Wireless

Vodafone has a started taking orders for Samsung’s Blackberry-wannabe, the SGH-i320 smartphone. Our US cousins caught a whiff of this back in February of last year and have been playing with it for some months now but, this is the first sign of it here. The i320 is not 3G but it’s still got plenty to keep you happy, if fat phones are your thing. Despite its girth it’s quite light at 95g and runs Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5. Here are some of the other key features:

“Measuring 11.1 x 5.9 x 1.2cm, the tri-band phone with EDGE support features a 2.2-inch, 240 x 320 pixel, 65,536-colour display, a QWERTY keyboard, a 1.3mp camera and Bluetooth. It uses Windows Mobile 5, has 120MB of memory on board, along with a MicroSD slot for more.”

Depending on the mobile contract you opt for, the price ranges from £0 to £120 here. -Martin Lynch

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Stay Warm With USB-heated Gloves January 03, 2007

Read more Gadgets , Laptops , PC , Peripherals

You got to give it to Thanko, they really have the best interests of their consumers at heart. I mean, what other peripheral company would create entire ranges of heated PC products designed to keep you warm while you pull long shifts working or surfing for porn? Meet the latest addition: the Thanko USB Warm Gloves.

These will make such a welcome addition to your other hot Thanko USB oddities we have covered, such as the Heated Mousepad and Heated Optical Mouse. You can see where this is going. These grey gloves are powered off the USB port to keep your digits toasty and, even better, can be worn fingerless or with a heated cover. Sounds wacky, I could use these.

Expect to pay around £25, after which you will have proudly affirmed your Uber-Geek status for at least another year. –Martin Lynch

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