Yep, everybody wants it, yet not everybody can afford it. The latest hybrids that are on the market cost a tad bit more than the regular gasoline ones (if the price is lower, there might be incentives for manufacturers in that state which gives tax discounts to them for selling these hybrids thus lowering the price commensurately). The proliferation of green technology in the marketplace is not to be viewed as a move towards a totally green earth sometime soon. Most of them are still outrageously priced and it may be some more years before they become affordable enough for the regular JOE. The current economic crisis that is sweeping the globe is not helping either, high gas prices, low property prices, fluctuating money markets and crazy legislation all adds up to one ugly picture so green might have to take the back seat ahead of basic necessities (I wouldn’t buy a new hybrid and shell out a ton of money when my mortgage is on the rocks now would I?).
Laws on how people should live and how business should be conducted to become green is seen by most as a lot of hoopla for legislation is merely a law written on paper that we pay for with our taxes. One guy even expressed his disgust at how lawmakers are telling us to live our lives through laws and such measures when these vital environmental systems which are very much needed are out of reach by those who should be “GREEN”. Why not use the energy and effort used in making these laws into developing industry and the infrastructure that is needed to make the earth safer and greener instead. Congress and the senate spends thousands if not millions of dollars during sessions and hearings just to tell us people whom they should be serving how to live our lives and how much we should pay the government they represent whom we voted into power. Kind of hypocritical, the people we elect, telling us how to live our lives.
Methanol Micro-Fuel Cells
The technology has advanced to the point which makes fuel-cell technology more environmentally feasible than other fuel-cell fields of application. The revolution comes with the development of Mobion by MTIMicro, a corporation that developed alternative power sources for today’s power hungry gizmos and gadgets. The fuel cell and supporting technology that they have designed and patented takes the technology to the microscopic level and eliminates much of the troublesome hardware that plagues regular fuel-cells. The design shows that technology can indeed make fuel cells, viable as a commercial product as back-up power source for recharging cellular phones, digital cameras, mobile PC’s, and just about any gadget and gizmo people of today cannot live without. This adds to the list of promising technologies that are currently being offered and are still being refined to make tomorrow a more sustainable gadget rich world that does not rely on the grid for power. Imagine having to go on vacation or a business trip overseas and not have to lug around all the chargers and power cords necessary to keep your gadgets powered up. Like the previously featured solar backpacks and luggage that have built-in solar panels to charge a stand-by battery which in turn gives up it’s charge when you use it to charge your gadgets and gizmo’s, along and the human powered bionic charger the technologies are truly cutting edge and green.
The Mobion mobile fuel cell charger uses a revolutionary direct methanol fuel cell design that uses methanol in cartridges (which can be similar to the ones you use for your paintball guns) which when tested allowed a regular cellular device for about 10 times without running to the wall outlet. This increases the power capabilities of a mobile device by 10%, till the next cartridge that is which if ample supply is available can truly take the road warrior away from the wall socket indefinitely. There are currently two versions of the prototype being previewed, one with a USB power socket on it’s side for some of the more miniaturized devices use the standard for communicating with a host computer and charging. The company is looking for an OEM partner who would ideally be a manufacturer of chargers and re-chargers. The company has signed a deal with Duracell for the marketing and supply of the required methanol-filled cartridges which makes the magic charger work.
The system works like an ordinary fuel cell with a fuel(methanol), ion exchange cells(membranes which facilitate the splitting of the methanol), system that collects and re-injects waste water back into the system, and of course the electronics that manages and makes everything works but on a microscopic scale. The only major difference is the elimination of the standard plumbing which is used to deliver fuel to the cells but instead using proprietary electronics to carry out the process with a micro pump to deliver the fuel straight to the cells for power generation. The cell warms up like a laptop when it is used and there is an evaporator system that cools the whole thing down (which also evaporates excess water which cools the cooling pads).
Microsoft —- We want you. Yahoo —–Naaah.
As the story goes, Microsoft (which is considered to be the biggest corporation in the Information Technology arena) gives a taste of what it plans for Yahoo (one of the biggest and most widely used search engines on earth) on what it’s plans are for this year. But glad as they should be, they say no for they say the offer the company (Microsoft) is bidding for their company is too low. Yes, news has reached the internet that the investors/shareholders of Yahoo have turned down the offer of the software giant well before it has formally been formalized as a true and intentional act.
There has been speculation on the move but Microsoft has again expresses it’s willingness to negotiate and talk with these so-called investors on their stand not to sell. Microsoft has taken this stand way back in the early days of the company when the budding company released Windows as their own gamble in the upcoming personal computer market software boom. With rumors or facts circulating within the industry that the said operating systems which we all know as Windows, was derived from initial work in conjunction with IBM in their OS-Warp series of operating systems which never managed to beat the one released by Microsoft for it beat the industry giant at the initial punch. Microsoft went on to take what it wanted (companies and products) and settled out of court any complainants ending with ownership of either the product or the company itself that made the said products. The conquer and take stance has been known to many in the early days of the Personal computer but has become more and more obscure in today’s world of MP3 players and multi function cellular phones.
The rejection of an industry giant for the offer of Microsoft might provide insight on the company’s future allowing diversity and equal opportunity with all those who partake in the battle that is business. With the economy struggling, the US is said to be already in recession even as the federal government tries to avert such which might be too late and too much out of control. Microsoft, like all US-based companies would have to slow down or trim down it’s ranks to be able to survive this coming economic ‘recession’ which is beginning to take firm hold of the great American Nation.