Entries tagged with power - Channel 10

Go Green With Edison

sarahintampa — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:31:00 GMT

Edison is a new download that helps you with PC Power Management. The app comes from a company called Verdiem, which offers similar technology for large enterprises for a fee. With Edison, though, you’ll get those same power-saving tools for free. After you download and register the program, you can customize your settings through a set of easy-to-use tabs. You can specify when you use your PC the most, edit settings for both "work" and "home," use a slider to adjust your savings level, and more. But the best part of this app is where it tells you what your estimated annual power savings will be. Edison provides those figures in dollars, Kilowatt hours, and even in pounds of CO2 saved! You can download Edison from www.microsoft.com/environment – the link is on the right. (via Steve Clayton)

Dell’s New Studio Hybrid PCs

sarahintampa — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:01:00 GMT

At long last, the new “green” PCs that have been under development at Dell have finally arrived. The Dell Studio Hybrid PC is 80% smaller than the conventional desktop mini-tower while also using 70% less power than typical desktop PCs. Their small form factor lets them fit almost anywhere and the optional wireless keyboard and mouse help kill the clutter. The PCs are Energy Star 4.0 compliant (of course!)and can be customized with 6 interchangeable color sleeves or even a sleeve made of environmentally- friendly bamboo. Despite their small size, the Studio Hybrid still finds room for a CD/DVD drive, analog and digital sound ports, a gigabit networking port, and HDMI and DVI ports. The PCs start at $499 and go up depending on your customizations like selecting a Blu-Ray drive, more memory, or a larger hard drive.

Make Your PC Wake From Sleep Automatically

sarahintampa — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:46:00 GMT

A lot of people these days are becoming more aware of the energy savings to be had by shutting down unused equipment when it’s not in use. And while it’s no problem to shut off the TV and the end of the evening a lot of people have trouble doing the same for the PC. This is mainly because it’s nice to have all your work on your computer right there where you left it when you return in the morning. Of course, this is what “sleep” mode is for – you can save energy without losing your place.

But wouldn’t it be nice if your computer knew when to wake up for you? Well, it can! Using the Task Scheduler (In Vista: Control Panel\System and Maintenance\Administrative Tools\Task Scheduler), you can make your PC wake up at the designated time you want just by having it run a simple task – like say, launching then closing the command prompt window.

For example:

Schedule a task that executes the command cmd.exe with command line arguments [/c “exit”] (without the []) and make sure to set the ‘Wake computer up to execute this task’ in the power options. Schedule the task for when you want your computer to wake up and you will never have to wait on it again.

(Thanks to Thomas Delrue for this tip!)

The Incredible Black & Decker Nano Battery

Larry — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:44:00 GMT

Here's something for your holiday wish list that you may have never heard of. The Black & Decker VPX AC/USB Power Source is awesome, it uses a123 Systems batteries, which are nano-technology batteries with twice the power of regular lithium-polymer batteries. They can take rough abuse (can be shot clean through with a nail gun and not burst into flames - always a plus in my house) and can dump all their power in minutes.

The Black & Decker Power Source has a standard USB plug to supply power to gadgets (Zune, iPod, phone, etc...) AND an AC plug. Yeah, that's right, like a wall plug -- it has an AC inverter built into it. So if you can't plug it into the USB port to charge it, then just use your standard wall wart to charge it using the AC plug. The VPX AC/USB Power Source + 1 VPX battery can be bought together on Amazon for $39.

RC hobbyists are buying the battery packs and ripping them apart to get at the batteries. They are claiming 400+ charge cycles and still 100% power (the manufacturer claims 1000+ charge cycles before they start taking a performance hit.) They are charging them at 8 amps, which is insane, but they take the abuse really well. And they have very little internal resistance, which means they can hold a charge for a long time.

Green Awnings powering both your home and your plants

Laura — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:30:00 GMT

The environmental health clinic at NYU approaches health from an environmental point of view. That being said, we all know it is necessary for plant growth in order for humans to live. In this clip you will see how the health clinic has created Solar Cells, on something they call the Green Awning, that produce power in the form of LED lights that can power your home and feed your plants all at the same time.