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Tag: Green

Nest Learning Thermostat at CES

Posted by Andrew at 11:48 PM on January 18, 2012

Nest Smart ThermostatThe nest thermostat has received more than its fair share of press coverage recently, but that’s because it’s both smart, cool and well-designed. Todd chats with Kate from nest about this great new product.

The nest thermostat is a smart thermostat that learns from your habits and behaviours and adjusts itself to match them, turning the heat up when you want it and down when you are out of the home. It’s exceptionally easy to use – you turn it up, you turn it down, that’s it. The nest has several learning modes, including schedule learning and activity detection, which help it keep you comfortable but the energy costs down.

The nest thermostat costs $249 but it’s on back order because it’s been so popular. The thermostat comes with everything you need to install the devices yourself, including a screwdriver!

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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PowerSkin Charges Smartphones and Portable Gamers

Posted by Andrew at 6:48 AM on January 11, 2012

At CES International 2012, PowerSkin has announced new portable power solutions for smartphones and other rechargeable devices. SolarCharge, Key Charge and Gaming Skins are all designed to keep the mobile user going for longer.

PowerSkins SolarChargeThe SolarCharge is a universal charger for all types of smartphone including iPhone, Android and Blackberry, and it comprises a 1000 mAh battery paired with a solar panel in a one-piece housing. The SolarCharge recharges smartphones (and other devices) via a supplied micro-USB connector and other connectors are available for non-standard devices. The battery in the SolarCharge itself is recharged via USB from a PC, via a micro-USB mains charger or from the sun through the solar panel, so there are plenty of options for the mobile user. The blue rubberised skin has embedded LEDs to show the battery’s charge level.

PowerSkins KeyChargeThe KeyCharge has a smaller capacity at 750 mAh and is intended for a quick boost rather than a full recharge. Small enough to fit on a keychain, the KeyCharge only comes with a micro-USB connector and consequently is not suitable for use with iPhones or iPods. Two variants are available to cater for the different positions of the micro-USB connector on smartphones, i.e. side or bottom. As with the SolarCharge, the KeyCharge is recharged via a micro-USB connector, either from a PC or from a mains adaptor.

Also on display at CES will be PowerSkin’s Gaming Skins for iOS and Nintendo 3DS, which were announced in December 2011, along with an array of battery-boosting smartphone skins for all the popular makes.

PowerSkins

PowerSkin’s SolarCharge, $69.99, and KeyCharge, $24.99, will both be available beginning February on www.Power-Skin.com. Visit PowerSkin’s booth at the Hilton Suites, Booth # 28-128.

My Tree Lot Finder: Find Your Perfect Christmas Tree

Posted by Jeffrey Powers at 10:41 AM on November 30, 2011
My Tree Lot Finder

My Tree Lot Finder

Looking for that perfect holiday tree? The lots seem to pop up within 24 hours of Thanksgiving. But which one do you go to?

A new application has hit the Android market. My Tree Lot Finder ™ can help you find the best tree lots; those “Mom and Pop” lots that use quality trees for best selection. That way, you don’t have to search for hours to find that perfect tree.

The app helps you not only save time and money by locating the perfect tree, but also gives you care instructions for your new purchase. That way, if you are a N00b when it comes to trees, you don’t have to act like one.

“Have you ever headed out after dark to find that perfect tree?  Kids in tow?  The first lot you go to had nothing but dead and dried trees,” says Wayne Irving II, creator of My Tree Lot Finder. “ Wouldn’t it be nice to know where the next tree lot to you is?  So you are not driving further than you have to?”

You can search trees by Zipcode or just scour the map within the app. Target a lot and get driving directions. It will also let you know where the tree farms are and where the non-profit lots (like Boy Scouts, fund-raising lots, etc) are located.

Some lots also have other amenities, such as selling ornaments or if the tree farms have other cool events like hay or pony rides, if they also offer things like Yule logs, wreaths or more.

The application is only available for Android at this time. The parent company – Iconosys - is a member of the National Organization for Youth Safety (NOYS).

Ford Announces the Green Escape, Focus on the Enviroment

Posted by Alan Buckingham at 5:26 PM on November 17, 2011

Much of the focus lately on Ford products has surrounded technology, as in Ford Sync.  That changed yesterday, however, with the announcement of the new Ford Green Escape.  That’s green as in environmentally friendly, although you can get it in green the color also.  The emphasis for the Green Escape is in two areas – the components and the noise.

The components that go into building the Green Escape are all made from environmentally friendly materials designed to make it 85% recyclable.  Some of the features include seats that contain 5% soy foam, carpet made from 25 recycled 20 ounce plastic bottles, dash insulation made from 10 pounds of scrap cotton from the clothing industry, and a climate control gasket made from 100% recycled tires.  In addition to the eco-friendly components, there are also features like the EcoBoost engine and a six-speed automatic transmission.

Ford’s engineers also put a lot of thought into noise levels and worked out ways to make the new Green Escape as quiet as possible.  For instance the body structure is 20 percent stiffer to help reduce road noise, the sunroof has a fabric mesh deflector to reduce wind noise when open, and the exterior mirrors are what Ford calls “aero-acoustically optimized” which also helps to reduce wind noise, both with the windows open and shut.

Ford also used special sound treatment methods to audibly insulate the carpet, dash panel, and interior trim panels to further reduce the transmission of noise.  They even enhanced door and windows sealing.

Of course, the Green Escape still contains those great tech features that today’s Ford customers have come to expect.  The Sync computer system helps the driver control everything from music to phone to directions.  The Green Escape also has a great aerodynamic look that fits the small-sized SUV.

 

GNC-2011-10-24 #716 Back to Basics

Posted by geeknews at 1:23 AM on October 25, 2011

Back to basics on this show and, I tighten up the timeline. Lots of tech as always and a huge number of comments have come in pre-show… Today I try pulling unique articles from Google+. Hope you like the new sources.

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Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Tele-Coils
Netflix -800k
Ive versus Jobs
Jobs top Seller Amazon 2011.
Tsunami Debris & Hawaii.
Hard Drive Shortage.
Really See Through Walls.

Show Links:
Sprint to Apple we have a Problem.
Sprint to Users Screw You!
Have a Moon Rock?
Apple product prices cheaper?
Google Antitrust Actions?
Ten Themes on Jobs Book.
FOIA no we don’t have that ;)
Solar Panel War.
WiFi Saturation.
7 Billion!
AT&T asks to Kick Sprint.
Siri + iPad = No one Home.
Google eyes Europe Fiber.
iTunes Dev Building iTV?
Google Reader Change.
Jobs gets Last Word?
Origins of Podcasting.
Macbook Pro Upgrades.
Cool Video.
Prison Tech.
Mosquitoes Genetically Modified.
10 Million iPhones in China.
Best Post It Note Yet.
iPad 2 Security.
Shelby.TV
Find Software.
MonoPrice.com #1
Happy B’day iPod.
Cloud Storage Concerns.
35,000 Windows Phone 7 Apps.
Amped Wireless.
Supernote cool App.
Android Tablets 27%.
Printed Chip.
Congrats Arianespace.
Extreme Pi.
95,085 Record.
Hacker Things.
Divided Brain RSA Animation.
Pen Star Video.
60 Minutes Steve Jobs.

Credits:
Jack Ellis – Executive Producer
Mike Baine – Associate Producer

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GNC-2011-10-17 #714 All the News

Posted by geeknews at 1:38 AM on October 18, 2011

You will love the rack overheat alarm going off in the middle of the show. Adds for some comedy and bewilderment by me as I have never heard that alarm coming out of the rack. Lots of great tech news and the show goes way long tonight. Will get that back in check as I do not have to report on “All the News”

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Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listener Links:
SteamPunk Synth.
iris versus Siri?
Magnet Magic.
Wow How about this one.
Big Brother E-Toll watching us.

Show Links:
Privacy in College.
No Privacy on Mobile.
Baby Play Staged?
RIM new whipping boy.
Sony Style?
Amazon Lockers.
Bill Shock Notices?
Einstein still right.
GE Solar.
Mobile Camera Showdown.
Playbook Plea?
Traffic Stats during RIM Blackout.
Battle for Public Domain.
Warner Brothers Clueless.
ICANN says bring it on.
Happy Birthday Email.
Cyborgs are Us.
QR Code Test.
iPad and iOS 5
Chime.in Launch.
Apple to show us the Money.
SOFIA!
Jobs Memorial.
Ceglia Tells Lawyer to Tell Judge NO!
T-Mobile 4g Unlimited.
Green Macbooks?
Amazon cleaning House.
500px App Rocks.
Did we get lucky?
Find My Friends = 1st Divorce.
Caffeine Express.
Magnet Madness (MUST WATCH).
Radical Moog Synth on iPad.
Instapaper App.
Mark Cuban on OWS.
Asteroids are Coming.
Our Last Transit of Venus!
Virgin Atlantic in Images.
Virgin Atlantic Signs NASA Contract.
Siri Then and Now.
H.265 Spec due in Feb.
iPad replace Playbook.
100 Year Space Mission?
Fake Voice.
Vdio can it Deliver?
Android Fragmentation.
iCloud or Google??
Siri Fix.
iPad Case Comments.
Black Friday PS3 Package.
Your Kidding Correct?

Credits:
Jack Ellis – Executive Producer
Mike Baine – Associate Producer

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GNC-2011-10-03 #710 Monster Show

Posted by geeknews at 1:15 AM on October 4, 2011

Monster show tonight with a Ton of stories, I only cover the upcoming iPhone announcements ever briefly as most of you will get the details early tomorrow morning. I want to welcome all of the new Google+ Listeners as those following me over their has exploded! Subscribe to the show and get signed up for the newsletter.

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Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Listener Links:
World’s Ugliest Computer Case.
Sponsor Shout Out.

Show Links:
60 in France About to Lose Internet
Sprint Betting the Farm?
Rental Apps in iTunes?
Listen live 10am PST.
Steve Jobs Last Big Thing?
Diggnation to end in December.
Facebook Patent shows Evil.
Too Much Freedom of Speech?
Cali Reader Privacy Act.
Linux Admins Heads Up!
ASCAP gets Crushed!
YouTube plus a 100 Million.
AOL Spends big on Content.
Hulu being Destroyed from Within.
Wanna be an Astronaut?
P2P Lawsuits going down under.
RIAA Insider spills beans.
To Kickstart or Not?
Target to get Roku Boxes.
Parallels versus VMware.
IBM bigger than Microsoft!
Arrington pulling big names.
Chrome to Android?
Cassini captures Geyser Image.
Comet gets sucked into Sun.
Artic Ozone hole Big.
Soyuz back to Space.
Rosette Nebula.
Meteor Shower coming.
Adobe Updates.
BitTorrent Streaming!
Timelines lawsuit.
Disaster Opportunist.
Colleges cannot keep up with Bandwidth.
Huff Post does 1 Billion Page Views.
TSA Rudeness has no Bounds.
Rhapsody to buy Napster.
Japan Update.
Old PC Power Pigs!
GM Innovation.
System Building?
Chrome Update to counter MS.
UK ISP Outage.
Insanity!
Ballmer gets a Raise.
New MySpace Pitch.
ifttt.com?

Credits: Jack Ellis – Executive Producer
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GNC #698 Need some More Cores!

Posted by geeknews at 10:25 PM on August 22, 2011

Meetup in Albuquerque is Wednesday night details out tonight to those who have agreed to meetup.. Really need more cores on the road, time for a laptop update buy man really hate buying another PC you all know the drill. Show 700 Contest Details!

Are you a Fan of this show or others at TPN follow the producers? Click Me!
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Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Google Mapping Amazon.
Recording Google+ Hangouts.
Automotive Internet Radio.
UW System Battle over Broadband.

Show Links:
Google TV SDK on Street.
Rdio Family Plans.
OTT on the Climb.
AT&T Perspective.
Is it time for a new Innovator.
Twitter Photo Galleries.
Green with Hard drive options.
Broadband Gateway Drug.
Mobile Advertising Infographic.
Glassboard.
Wikileaks on the run.
Wikileaks Conspiracy.
Cloud Music Storage good to go!
Volunteer and Give up Rights?
More ISP Speak out in New Zealand.
Web Break at work adds Productivity.
Cooking for a long time.
Download.com ha Issues.
Your HP Touchpad.
GE On Shoring?
FTC Do not Track.
Vudu on the Move.
DropBox for Lion.
MacBook Upgrades.
Missouri Teachers Fight.
iOS 5 and LTE.
Microsoft courts Webos Developers.
Skypoe and GroupMe.
The First Camcorder Pirate!
Hotmail Calendar.
Apple to move to ARM?
Toothpaste Squeezer.
Logitech Labdesk.
Cadilac Toothpast Squeezer.
Wingstand.
Game Boy Swim Suit.
Akamai Video Streaming Outlook.
Fox TV Fans Revolt.
Hulu Ad Blocker.
Skip the Phone Support Queue.
PS3 $250.00.
Hulu WD TV.
Verizon LTE 15 More Markets.
Storing Bread I win!

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GNC #697 Police State?

Posted by geeknews at 1:19 AM on August 19, 2011

Meetup in Albuquerque is on for next week if you want to attend please email me ASAP. We are also collecting prizes for show #700 if you would like to donate a product or service drop me a line. This show gets very serious almost out of the gate we all need to make sure we protect our freedoms.

Are you a Fan of this show or others at TPN follow the producers? Click Me!
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Geek News Central Facebook Page
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Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Space Hotel.
1994 Tablet.

Show Links:
Canada Police State?
HP #1
HP #2
HP #3
HP #4
Reid Hoffman Interview.
Juice-Jacking.
TextBook P2P.
Chegg for College Students.
$*(* AT&T
Scoble on Google+
Yankee’s Bashing or Trademark Violation.
FBI_Surveillance_VAN?
S&P Retaliation.
Cut your Headphone jack in Half and Patent it.
DHS Scanning us on the Streets?
Darpa we found it.
AES Cracked?
NASA Space Weather Video.
NASA says Aliens to destroy us over Environment?
iPhone for T-Mobile?
Lion Updated.
Microsoft App Store.
70/30 AT&T & Verizon Iphone.
Music Publisher says Uncle.
Redbox Coupons and Tricks.
Netgear SetTop Box.
MafiaaFire Plugin.
uTorrent 100 Million Active Users!
Follow the BitTorrent Money.
CTRL-F “Find”
Energize Me!
Fox ask those cut off to cry!
Vid.ly = Very Expensive.
Netflix vs Amazon Video.
Nomad.
Cover some P2P Tracks.
1 Million Dollar Vacation to Space.
HDHomerun.
Skitch.
Foursquare adds Events.
Firefox 7 Beta.

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GNC #695 Free Speech Watch

Posted by geeknews at 1:30 AM on August 12, 2011

Thank you for your amazing support of the show. At 695 Episodes they are as exciting for me to do as the day I recorded the first one. Do you have a prize you would like to donate for show #700. Several companies have already stepped up and we are going to have a huge giveaway pool of gadgets and gear.. Speaking of Gear make sure you check out the latest episodes of The Gadget Professor and Robot Underpants!

Are you a Fan of this show or others at TPN follow the producers? Click Me!
Mobile Video Feed!

Sponsored by:
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GoToMyPC access your computer Free for 30 Days!

Subscribe Today:  Audio Video (HD) |  Mobile Video iTunes Zune
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Follow @geeknews on Twitter
Geek News Central Facebook Page
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Apple is King!

Show Links:
Happy Birthday PC @ 30!
Chill.
Free Speech Watch.
What’s good for the Goose is good…..
Don’t Cry!
CrowdMug?
Parking in Motion!
1.2 Billion on What?
Don’t send me your email!
Cancer Cure?
New Patch Monitoring.
Ford Net?
Sony cuts Prices on Google TV.
Carbonite IPO!
Amazon Flips Apple the Bird.
Apple is King of the Hill.
USB 3.0 @ 100 Watts.
Google + Games Implemented the Right way!
Power Consumption of Gadgets.
Privacy at Linked In?
Block Sites – Lower Prices.
New Zealand 3 Strikes on Clock!
DtecNet Evil Empire.
Apple Projectors.
Breaking Netflix Down.
Vudu Flips Apple the Bird.
Yap.Tv makes you Yap?
Disney Pay for Cable or No Net Media!
P2P moving on up!
Zediva Shutters.
**** Social Media Propaganda ****
Yahoo Ups their Image.
FTC Crawls through Google.
Google Video App 2.2 and Up 4×4!
Shuttle Head to Head.
Rover oh Rover Where are Though Rover!
Mach 20 and then Warp!
Facebook Slows Down.
T-Mobile more Like AT&T everyday!

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