Motorola patents solar powered LCD panels

Filed under: Cellphones, Design

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A recently released patent from Motorola reveals a cellphone design that integrates solar panels and the LCD display of the phone. Environmental-lovin’ nerds are sure to be up in arms with a joyous stupor over the announcement of solar integration.

The technology works best with black LCD screens, with 75% of the rays reaching past the display layer. The thin film layer needed to integrate the two technologies is still pretty expensive, which has so far, not allowed for a commercial use of solar-powered cellphones. — Andrew Dobrow

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Solar Powered Bikini keeps your drink cold and the tunes flowing

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The great outdoors become all the more great during the warm days of summer. Though for us, the outside poses the obstacle of finding a source of energy to power our electronics. While we might not go as far as to wear a Solar Powered Bikini, we would thankfully use our girlfriends to supply our beloved electronics with power. Made with a series of 1″ by 4″ photovoltaic film panels which can produce 6.5 volts from 1.5 amps, the Solar Powered Bikini allows woman (and maybe men?) to not only enjoy the sun and get a tan, but to power their iPods and keep their drinks cool.

Designed by Andrew Schneider as part of a design like called iDrink, comes equiped with an included USB connection to create a whole new gadget experience. One day, maybe solar panels will be embedded into cloth to produce a clothing line of power clothes. Not that…we would wear. — Andrew Dobrow

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Icebreaker Robot to record polar data, makes us cold just thinking about it

Filed under: Robots

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The Cool Robot is a real icebreaker. And you might be picturing some suave cyborg who walks around picking up chicks and mouthing innuendos, but in actuality, this thing is built for cold polar weather. The Cool Robot’s job is to carry testing instruments across long spans of seas and oceans to make observations and measurements of snow levels relating to climate change.

Basically a wheeled box with solar panels on top, the robot weighs around 130 pounds and runs completely on solar power, with a top speed of a daredevil-like 2 mph. The Cool Robot is controlled through GPS, can travel about 310 miles in 2 weeks. The Cool Robot was shown at the Arctic Summit Science Week which brought together leading researchers from the Northern Hemisphere, to discuss the effects of global warming on the poles. — Andrew Dobrow

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The Hybrid Laptop Case solar charges your laptop

Filed under: Laptops, Misc. Gadgets

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CES 2007 is 5 days away and counting and more details are pouring through the wire as the 8th approaches. Eclipse Solar Gear is said to be displaying it’s Hybrid Notebook Case which not only looks like it could secure a laptop through a nuclear war, but also has the very cool feature of charging your laptop through solar panels on the case. If it sounds like a helping hand to over heat your lappie, think again. The Hybrid case also includes a thermal cooling system for those hot days.

And if that wasn’t enough, the case also supplies an auxiliary battery capable of giving your Mp3 player and cell phone a charge if they are on the fritz. The case will be available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and casing depending on your needs. — Andrew Dobrow

Eclipse Solar Gear to display Hybrid Notebook Case at 2007 CES [Laptoping]

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