There's a great article about the inner workings of a Kenyan cooperative which produces Honey and Beeswax, and the ingenious little bits they use to make it. Apparently they produced 8 tonnes of Honey in 2008 and made over Ksh640,000 - over $12,000AUD. I especially like the bit where they said the honey is collected at night, by completely naked men (so no bees get caught in their clothing). This article is a must-read.

Via

How piracy makes your life better, or, the Napster effect. Academy Award Winning Films Distributed For Free At 'Kopime' Stations

At a cafe in Berlin is a 'kiosk'. Quite simply, someone puts in their USB stick and pushes a button, and the movies are uploaded to their USB stick.

The mechanism by which this works is dead simple. The image below shows the off-the-shelf device which facilitates the transfer of the files.

A system which lets users select their movies would be simple to set up, Red Room DVD offers these services already, but by removing the physical media, the distributor could save lots of money, and solve many problems. I've gone to Red Room kiosks, and the movies I really want are always unavailable, because somebody else has rented them.

While there are a number of minor issues such as DRM, digital distribution is catching on. It's easy to see the possibilities for the legitimate application of this technology.
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If I could tame a wild animal I'd have a Polar Bear

Why a Polar Bear is a perfect pet.

Polar bear, Saint-Felicien zoo, Quebec. by Aramisse

I'd have a pet Polar Bear, because Polar Bears are awesome. I would ride it to work, let it eat annoying dogs and small children, and play fetch with it.

Masdar Breaks Ground on Largest Solar Plant in Middle East

Masdar, the new sustainable super-city being developed by Abu Dhabi, recently announced that it is building the largest grid-connected solar plant in the Middle East. The 10 MW solar plant will be half thin-film and half crystalline silicon photovoltaics, with 5 MW of thin film solar panels being provided by Arizona-based First Solar. The Masdar solar power plant is expected to reduce emissions of 15,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually and cost around $50 million.

Designed by Foster + Partners, Masdar is poised to be the world’s most sustainable city. Their masterplan envisions a dvelopment that is zero-waste, car-free, and carbon neutral. Solar power will be an essential resource for the city, as the sun will also power their Rapid Transit System.

First Solar’s thin film photovoltaics utilize Cadmium Telluride as a semiconductor, which enables them to use only 1-2% of the semiconductor material required for traditional photovoltaic panels. Manufacturing a thin film panel takes around 2.5 hours from start to finish using First Solar’s process. The efficiency of these panels is estimated to be around 9%, and costs are expected to be below $1 per peak Watt per module. Currently, commercial efficiencies for traditional photovoltaics are above 20%, but costs rise above $1.5 per peak Watt.

The real treat here is that they're using thin-film solar cells on a massive scale ( 5MW ). This will be one of the first applications of to-grid power, and I'm sure there will be lots learned from this project. I'm a big fan of thin-film solar cells, I think it's only a matter of time before they comprise 100% of new solar installations, due to their increasing economy - the $1/watt barrier is generally regarded as the cutoff for any sustainable technology, and companies like nanosolar and First Solar are beginning to produce systems which meet that economy!

Via Reuters

Versabikes: Adaptable bikes –Bear that eco-friendly tag!

Conventional bikes are quite sustainable as far as their usability
and utility is concerned. But, frame size might make you dispense them
off as all users don’t have similar heights. The problem begins
when a cyclist needs to resells his/her bike, but can’t find
anyone because of the frame size. So how can a bike somehow adapt or
grow with a user or multiple users? Nathan Durflinger addresses this difficulty through his unique bike design.

The final design while flaunting to be eco-friendly does adjust to a
range of different user heights. Pieces of finished plywood,
polycarbonate, or machined aluminum could be made use of in fabricating
one. The frame would accept all standard bike hardware found at most
bike shops. The frame of the bike has been designed to expand out or
contract in on motion. The bike could be manufactured in two different
sizes:

Via [ The Design Blog ]