Sundance Channel

Green tech finds: Earthships and solar get affordable

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:17:11 +0000

Think "green tech" automatically means "expensive?" Nope: costs are dropping on everything from Earthships to solar power. An affordable Earthship: I've been in love with the Earthship building concept for years, but no way I'd ever be able to afford one. That may be changing, though: the "Simple Survival" model Earthship is designed to provide the amenities of these self-sufficient structures without the "mortgage bondage." Check it out above.

Green tech finds: Wildlife goes virtual, Farmville gets real

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:09:28 +0000

Assembly lines rolling out the Focus Electric: Think Nissan's the only game in town for a true electric vehicle? Not anymore: Ford's started production of its 2012 Focus Electric in Michigan. (via @edbegleyjr) Ranger Rick comes to the iPhone: Your kids bug you to play games on your smartphone? The National Wildlife Federation has created a way to make sure they're learning something. The new Ranger Rick mobile apps provide games for kids as young as 2 (yes, 2!) to sharpen their knowledge about wild animals.

Best of the Web: Smell your Facebook updates & Google gets jiggy wit it

Blair Pfander — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:00:11 +0000

Google Music: Yesterday, Google launched its first music sharing and downloading platform, "Google Music," as a direct competitor to iTunes. Yes, you have to buy the songs (drag), but users can share whatever they purchase with friends for one free listen...

Visit random corners of the Earth via Globe Genie

Matthew Rodriguez — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:55:33 +0000

MIT grad student Joe McMichael created Globe Genie, a fun chat roulette-like experience, but instead of randomly connecting you with a stranger (or, as if often the case, their penis), it instantly transports you to a random corner of the world (or at least the random corners that have been visited by the Google Maps Street View camera). As The New York Times writes, with a press of the "teleport" button "this could be a stretch of highway in rural Denmark, a corner in downtown Denver or the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro" (and no surprise penises!). I think the usage of the word teleport is fitting...

Green tech finds, 9/15/11

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 19:03:46 +0000

Pig poop, coconuts, and seaweed: all the stuff of good green tech finds this week. An affordable, fast and tip-proof electric motorcycle: Lit Motors CEO Daniel Kim claims all of those qualities come together in the C-1 concept, which could be available as early as 2013. Check it out in the video above. (via GreenTech Pastures)

Green tech finds (5/26/11)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 26 May 2011 19:51:52 +0000

Diaper-eating mushrooms, recycled oil booms, and global warming's effects on your wi-fi signal... this week's green tech finds.

Solar and wind power for apartment dwellers: Jonathan Globerson's Greenerator concept allows apartment dwellers to harvest both wind and solar power from their balconies. (via Inhabitat)
GM recycling oil booms into Volt parts: Lots of oil booms left over from last year's BP oil spill. Instead of letting them get tossed into landfills, GM is collecting these materials and recycling them into air-deflecting baffles for the Chevy Volt. (via Earth 911)

Green tech finds (5/19/11)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:30:22 +0000

Off-grid in the Big Apple, and geothermal energy capture that doesn't cause earthquakes... your green tech finds for the week.

The recycling robot: Finnish start-up ZenRobotics claims its ZenRobotics Recycler, a robot designed to sort recyclables from other waste, has correctly identified half the materials presented to it in tests. See the "trailer" for the robot above. (via Good News from Finland)
Can electric vehicles work in car sharing programs: Electric Vehicle Update discusses the potential issues, and solutions, for incorporating EVs (with their long charging time) into "on-demand" car sharing services. (via Cleantechies)

Green tech finds (5/12/11)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 12 May 2011 18:15:41 +0000

Car parts made from dandelions, "flying" trains, and power-producing toilets... this week's green tech finds.

A field guide for tree species... on your phone: The new Leafsnap app allows you to identify species of trees simply by taking a picture of a leaf. Users can also share images and locations, making for potentially useful data on tree species. (via Grist and The Guardian)
Car parts made from dandelions: The "milky-white substance that seeps from dandelion roots" may work as a sustainable source of "rubber" for car parts such as cup holders and floor mats. Ford and The Ohio State University are experimenting...

What’s on the back of a website?

Matthew Rodriguez — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:06:03 +0000

For your today’s procrastination, check out Back of a Webpage: an independent project from the creative minds of Jeff Lam and Josephine Yatar, it’s an amusing and clever look some popular websites such as Facebook, Google, and Flickr (above). Lets get one for SUNfiltered up there! [Via]

Earth Week green tech finds (4/21/11)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:41:26 +0000

A new green smart phone, water from diesel, and the dirtiness of your data... your Earth Week green tech finds.

Recyclemania at Dell: The Austin, TX-based computer and electronics maker announced it recycled more than 150 million pounds of e-waste in 2010. (via GreenTech Pastures)
Google, Department of Energy mapping EV charging stations: The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory is working with Google to map electric vehicle charging stations, along with other alternative vehicle fuels. (via Earth Techling)

Green tech finds (3/24/11)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:02:57 +0000

Lots of solar this week... plus an app for Earth Hour, and lighter footprints for U.S. embassies.

Water, water everywhere: It's World Water Week, and this cool new interactive map and tool allows you to explore water supplies and consumption by country, and to see the embodied water in a wide range of products. (via @togethergreen)
The Earth Hour app: Earth Hour 2011 is this Saturday... and this year, while the lights are off, you can check in on activities around the world with the Earth Hour iPhone app. (via The Alternative Consumer)

Playing with Google’s new tool (heh)

Em and Lo — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:00:37 +0000

We're totally hooked on Google's new book search tool, which lets you search and graph the frequency of words in millions of books from 1800 to today. You can even compare and contrast two words or phrases to see how they fare in print over the years. It's intended for scholars, but it's free for anyone to use. "We wanted to show what becomes possible when you apply very high-turbo data analysis to questions in the humanities,” said one of the geniuses behind the toy -- er, tool. He calls the method "culturomics" -- which is a hell of a lot catchier than the tool's title: the Books Ngram Viewer (gotta love the nerd factor). We took the tool for a test drive...

Google’s Zeitgeist 2010

Matthew Rodriguez — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:09:09 +0000

This YouTube video from Google takes a look back at this year and “based on the aggregation of billions of search queries people typed into Google this year…captures the spirit of 2010.” And of course the spirit stick of 2010 will be waved by Antoine Dodson who will beat any bed intruder with said spirit [...]

The most beautiful images on Google Street View

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:00:37 +0000

I’m a big fan of artist Jon Rafman’s one part detective and one part curatorial digital project, 9 Eyes. He scours Google’s Street View and other blogs to find and compile compelling snapshots of what he writes “captures what Cartier-Bresson titled “the decisive moment,” as if I were a photojournalist responding instantaneously to an emerging [...]

Green tech finds (10/14/10)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:48:31 +0000

A solar-powered motorcycle, a geothermal motherlode in West Virginia, and Abraham Lincoln meets clean energy... your green tech finds for the week.

The solar-powered Suzuki: Purdue University physics major Tony Danger Coiro has received a provisional patent for the '78 Suzuki motorcycle he converted into a solar-powered vehicle. Check it out in the video above... (via Cleantechies)
More Google renewable investments: The Internet giant has announced a $5 billion investment in a mid-Atlantic offshore wind "grid."

Play with your own Google balls

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:41:37 +0000

Remember the Google homepage that featured their logo as interactive bouncy balls? Well you can create your own with your own message on this website, which utilizes code that was written by Rob Hawkes. [Hat tip: @tcarmody]

Green tech finds (9/9/10)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:15:06 +0000

A bee beard for David Cameron, subway energy harvesting, and using search technology to identify endangered species... this week's green tech finds.

The Wolverine solar cell: Researchers at MIT actually looked to plants, not the X-Men, when creating a solar cell that "heals" its own UV damage.
Tweet for the honey bees: British marketing firm LBi has created a "twittition" (Twitter petition) to support honey bee populations in the UK. Each tweet added to the petition adds a bee to a "bee beard" on a likeness of Prime Minister David Cameron (shown above).

Green tech finds (7/22/10)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:46:33 +0000

Infrared photography, a green Motel 6, and solar in the South Pole... this week's green tech finds.

Lower-carbon flying: Air travel is pretty energy and carbon-intensive, but GE's trying to make flying a bit greener with "software that will help pilots choose the most environmentally efficient flight trajectories taking into account conditions on four dimensions – latitude, longitude, altitude and time."
California's the green energy leader... right? Maybe now, but according to Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic, Alaska and Hawaii may have some of the most innovative approaches out there for moving to low-carbon energy sources.

Google homepage surprise

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:17:30 +0000

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the classic arcade video game Pac-Man, Google has a surprise on their main homepage. This is currently dominating Twitter’s top trending list. Without spoiling too much, go to www.google.com and wait a few seconds and let the logo fully load. You’ll get a playable surprise that “packs” quite [...]

The Google job experiment

Matthew Rodriguez — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:05:53 +0000

Wanting a change to a creative advertising firm, which is often a highly competitive process, 28-year-old copywriter Alec Brownstein showed social media and marketing "experts" how to really leverage the power of the Internet along with some good old fashion psychology. While researching his favorite creative directors on Google, Brownstein noticed that there was no sponsored ad links (which appear at the top of the search results) attached to their names. If these directors were like the rest of us narcissists, he assumed they Googled themselves.

Google Maps launches bicycling directions today

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:18:47 +0000

While more American cities are including bicycling in transportation planning, and even shooting for status as "bicycle friendly communities," it can still be tough to get around on a bike. Today, during the opening sessions of the National Bike Summit 2010 in Washington, D.C., Google will be announcing its contribution to making biking easier: a bicycling directions option in Google Maps.

Google Suggests some awful things

Bradford Shellhammer — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:39:37 +0000

The Google Suggests feature is usually spot on, but sometimes it spits something at you that just doesn’t make much sense. The technology takes other people’s searches, caches them, and then predicts what you’re typing in the search box. The Huffington Post has asked readers to grab an image of the most inappropriate things Google [...]

Green tech finds (10/8/09)

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:44:21 +0000

Cars, fuels, and internet-based power management for your home: our green tech finds for the week...

Beyond carbon emissions: Clean Production Action and ChemSec have released a new report focused on "the advances that seven electronics companies have made when it comes to eliminating hazardous materials from their products." (via ZDNet GreenTech Patures)
It's an honor just to be nominated: The LA Auto Show has announced the finalists for its Green Car of the Year Award, which will be presented at the show in December.

Street criminals foiled by Google Street View

Andrew Hearst — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:25:13 +0000

When two crooks in the Dutch town of Groningen decided to separate a teenager from his bicycle last September, they had the misfortune to do it when a Google Street View car was passing by. The Sydney Morning Herald has a great slide show of the moments before the theft. The images allowed the police [...]

Artist Spotlight: Ji Lee, “Insanely Awesome Designer”

Matthew Rodriguez — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:48:38 +0000

Okay, not to oversell it, but Ji Lee really is an insanely awesome designer. He is currently the Creative Director of Google Labs at…uhm, Google, which you may have heard of. If not, I suggest visiting the Internets. His freelance and independent projects, many which are topical, have captured a lot of buzz from his [...]

Tutorial: Creating Event or Location Map Markers

Sundance Channel — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Eco-mmunity. This website aims to connect people to all the green resources in the world. One of those resources is environmental events and important environmental locations. Creating event and location markers in Eco-mmunity is a great way to create awareness about ways to lessen damage to the environment, and also to protect special [...]

TUTORIAL: Advertising Your Business

Sundance Channel — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Eco-mmunity. This website aims to connect people to all the green resources in the world. Listing your business here is free and it can only help spread the word about the sustainable value of your goods and services. Step One – Create a membership with Sundance Channel. Once you have logged in to [...]

Virginia is for Levers

Sundance Channel — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:30:00 +0000

Polls just closed in Virginia, but this is not the end to what we’ll be hearing about this state. The get-out-the-vote slogan here should have been “Rock the Vote (but not too much!)” Polls were not prepared for high voter turnout in the state this election. Voting machines broke down in northern Virginia (but that’s [...]

Obama’s Family Skeletons

Sundance Channel — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Aarrgggghhh! Murphy’s Law has struck again. Here we are in the home stretch of this historic election, four days from the finish line when every narrative of the last 10 months is reaching a high-pitched whine, and my most crucial research tool is on the fritz. This is seriously vexing. I’m talking, of course, about [...]

Voter: What’s Your Type?

Sundance Channel — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:00:00 +0000

University of Iowa Professor and author of the book, How Voters Decide [books.google.com], David Redlawsk has broken down how voters make decisions into four categories of voters: confirmative, fast & frugal, intuitive, and rational. Confirmative: These voters vote along party lines. The look for any additional information they gather to further confirm their beliefs. Fast [...]

Eleventh-Hour Name Calling

Sundance Channel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Dave the Dentist, Tito the Builder, Joe the Florist, Phil the Bricklayer and Pam the Republican Teacher are just a few of the characters John McCain has met in his own great schlep through Central Florida the critical battleground states of Ohio and Florida. While Sarah Palin is running around spouting keywords like “terrorist” and [...]

Obama Smears Scrape Bottom, Break Through, Continue Digging

Sundance Channel — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:00:00 +0000

There’s been recent talk in the blogosphere about “Peak Wingnut Theory,” [blogsearch.google.com] that moment when the lizard brains that still believe Obama is a not-so-secret Muslim plotting with Louis Farrakhan to steal white people’s precious bodily fluids reach the apex of incoherent insanity. Any and every crackpot conspiracy theory will be thrown against the wall [...]

The Amazing Race

Sundance Channel — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000

The New York Times has been running a series of articles about race and how both campaigns have avoided the topic. The article The Times published yesterday, In Voting Booth, Race May Play a Bigger Role [www.nytimes.com] asserts that the public discourses ignores race. The worry, according to the article, is that race is is [...]

Air Space

Sundance Channel — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0000

As Obama rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where does he go? It’s primetime network television! Barack Obama has purchased a half hour of prime time programming on Oct 29th at 8pm, on CBS and NBC. He is the first candidate since–Ross Perot in 1992–to purchase [...]

Reading Comprehension 102: On the Economy

Sundance Channel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Given the lack of damage control in her seemingly never-ending supply of weapons-grade dumb [blogs.reuters.com], it’s tempting to believe that Sarah Palin has all the self-awareness of a coffee grinder. Occasionally, though, something breaks through; she senses people are……mocking her? Is that the right word?…. and feels compelled to take another bite at the apple. [...]

Swing State Destinations

Sundance Channel — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0000

The stakes couldn’t be higher at home or abroad leading into the general election. Polls show McCain and Obama in a dead heat with just six weeks to go. The economy has gone to shit. And if you haven’t been laid off yet, you could be very soon. Seems like the perfect time to pack [...]

2008 Cape Farewell Voyage

Sundance Channel — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:00:00 +0000

The current climate-induced peril the world is experiencing can often be described in very drab, academic jargon that only a scientist would understand. This “members only” quality of the environmental movement presents a major barrier to involving a huge segment of the population in a concerted effort to reverse climate change. There are still people [...]

Clean Up The World Maps Activities Online

Sundance Channel — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:30:00 +0000

SYDNEY, Australia, September 19, 2008 (ENS) – A new online tool will track environmental protection activities across the planet as part of the annual Clean Up the World Weekend, the United Nations Environment Programme announced today. Clean Up the World Weekend, celebrated globally on the third weekend in September, starts today. Clean Up the World [...]

On THE GREEN: BUSINESS

Sundance Channel — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Business makes the human world go around in the 21st century. With the exception of a few native cultures hidden away in jungles, who shoot arrows at helicopters they see as “flying black monsters,” there is no part of the world that is not affected by the way in which the world’s companies conduct business. [...]

Michigan Joins Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Sundance Channel — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:00:00 +0000

LANSING, Michigan, April 22, 2008 (ENS) – Governor Jennifer Granholm today announced that Michigan will be joining the Climate Savers Computing Initiative to encourage the utilization of more energy efficient computers and servers in state offices and agencies. With some 55,000 desktop computers and laptops and nearly 3,700 servers in state government, the annual estimated [...]

Nanosolar INC. Creates Solar Plant in San Jose

Sundance Channel — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:00:00 +0000

Recent studies show that most Americans believe solar power [www.sundancechannel.com] has the greatest likelihood of allowing America to be independent of foreign energy sources. This is interesting since solar power [www.sundancechannel.com] currently provides less than one percent of all the alternative power in the country. There must be something enticing about the idea of getting [...]

The Eco-mmunity Map Is Here!

Sundance Channel — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:30:00 +0000

Eco-mmunity Map Changing the world overwhelms most people who even think about the concept. Sundance Channel’s THE GREEN has shown you innovative companies and inspired individuals initiating green changes. Seeing how other people have changed, learning about steps to living an every day green lifestyle and applauding the efforts of progressive companies are important aspects [...]

Plug ‘em In

Sundance Channel — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:00:00 +0000

Personal transportation is a huge TreeHugger topic, since most of us have to get from one place to another at some point each day; with cars near the top of the transportation list for many, it’s important to know what options are best for you, and, perhaps as importantly, what options are out on the [...]

TreeHugger’s Best Big Idea

Sundance Channel — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:00:00 +0000

At TreeHugger, we a lot of our time talking about scaling things back, using less, reducing our footprints and the like. Most of the time, this behavior serves to cut back on raw material and other resource use, so it makes sense. There are other (more rare) occasions that we’ve found to promote “big” ideas, [...]