IR radiation solar panel uses tiny antennas, has 80% efficiency

Source: Idaho National Laboratory 

There is all sorts of ways to produce clean energy, but the smartest and cleanest of all is definitely solar panels. There is absolutely no moving parts, noise or intermediate materials. Just beautiful clean energy. The catch? Low efficiency that in reality is far from the theoretical 20%, high manufacturing costs and productivity only during daytime -preferably with lots of sunshine. The researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory are addressing all these shortcomings. By putting loads of nanoantennas on cheap base material, they manage to collect energy in infra-red frequencies by day and night.

Source: Thinkgeek 

Things are simple. You have six hearts. To activate all of them and be in full strength you have to be near the love of your life. Stray away and your power falls to two and a half hearts. Although a present of limited usability apart from valentine’s day, it is a fun proposition. Just be careful about a few things:

• Before washing make sure you remove all parts that are not supposed to be washed…
• Buy two shirts, just one shirt is not fun.
• Make sure no other couples wear them near you, as it will get very complicated as to who loves who…

A pair of shirts plus transmitter pack will cost you at Thinkgeek $61.97.

Link 1: Crave

Link 2: Thinkgeek

Internet access enjoyed by only 33.4% of Greeks

 Source: National Statistical Service of Greece

Since 2002, the National Statistical Service of Greece is announcing its study results on Internet usage in Greece, according to EU standards. The graph above presents computer usage -the blue line- and more importantly Internet usage -the red line. So here is the high points:

• Internet access in the Greek population has more than doubled in five years.
• Internet and computer usage are more or less synonymous.
• The percentage of computer users without Internet access is shrinking -the reason the two lines converge. It was 39% in 2002 and went down to 17% in 2007!
• Both computer and Internet usage have accelerated since 2005.
• The potential for the IT and Internet market is still large due to the untapped part of the population that currently uses non of the two.