Eco-friendly Solar-powered Big Belly Bins eat up the garbage

New Big Belly Bins is latest innovation currently under trial in Greek End Road Park, Cambridge, Britain. These innovative “garbage eaters” use solar energy to compress the garbage inside – making it possible for each bin to store approximately 8 times that of a normal trash bin can hold.

Sensors are affixed inside the bin so that the garbage gets crushed (whenever it reaches a certain level), and this is all powered by a 12V battery that gets recharged through the solar panels attached on the outside. A very minimal amount of sunlight is required for the crushing/compacting process to take place inside the bin. The dustbin has the capacity to house almost 800 liters of waste which is around 85% of the bin’s total capacity – before sending off wireless signals for emptying.

This is a great way to save on fuel costs and the pollution caused by community workers driving around neighborhoods with their trucks for the frequent emptying of garbage bins. Now with the advent of the Big Belly Bins, the frequency in emptying garbage bins has lowered tremendously.

The Big Belly Bins are fast gaining popularity in Cambridge, and it seems like this innovative “garbage crunching” device will shortly be put up in other places as well. These solar-powered bins are already a hit in other countries such as the United States.

These new eco-friendly garbage bins cost three times more than any ordinary trash bin and are priced at £3,000. The garbage bins also boast some of the hi-tech gadget features, as they are SIM card compatible and can automatically send an email or SMS to a particular number in case they have reached their maximum capacity.

These eco-friendly and smart Big Belly garbage bins are a great way to keep your surroundings and the environment clean and green!

World’s smallest video camera

Video camera can be small as a grain of salt which measures only 1 cubic millimeter. Such a super tiny video camera was developed by engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration. Despite the super tiny size, this super tiny video cam is able to record video at a resolution of 62,500 pixels.

The super tiny video cam is attached with an electrical cable, which allows high-res images and videos to be transmitted through it, while it’s recording video.

This tiny camera is not expensive to create. It’s perfect for use in medicine and the inexpensive cost lets it be disposable which saves doctors time from having to sterilize a video camera each time after use.

The camera can be used for automotive designs, such as to replace the sideview mirrors, making cars even more aerodynamic. Frauhofer Institute plans to roll out the super tiny cam to the market next year. Its super tiny size also imposes a worry, while it’s used as a spy cam that is too tiny to be detectable.

Cave like, Podtime sleeping pods

The digital lifestyle has made power naps all the more important for increased productivity. And for those employers who themselves believe in power naps, Podtime has designed sleep pods to provide the luxury of sleep at your workplace. Unlike the sleep pods we have told you about in the past, this one is designed to let you rest in bed-like comfort. The pods are made from recyclable material and it features high quality foam mattresses and pillows covered in faux leather. The pods are properly ventilated, so you can even lock your pod from the inside to rest in peace. Each pod has a digital clock to let you keep a track of the time. Unfortunately, the pods are not available for sale but on booking basis at 25 Canada Square.

Patrick Priebe’s DIY Pulse Laser Gun-Don’t mess with it

Patrick Priebe – a hobbyist – has produced a deadly DIY Pulse Laser Gun in the comfort of his own home. This device shoots lasers that is basically a huge amount of energy that gets converted into light-based every in less than a second – producing holes in invariably everything! It sure is a weapon to look out for as it looks simple but can actually punch some holes through your body in less than a second!

The main component of this device is the small-sized head of the pulse laser gun that actually generates a kW-pulse of infra-red light which can actually shoot holes on materials like 5mm styrofoam, plastic and even a razorblade. The shooting range that is most effective would be preferably dark and 3m at maximum in order to punch a 5mm hole preceded by an ignition. The DIY Pulse laser gun is pretty much portable and a compact device as its weight is a mere 2 pounds and the length of the gun is 32 cm.

The materials that were used while making the device were aluminum / brass for making casing and plexi for making the center-plate. All the components of the gun were handcrafted and 70 hours of hard work went in to create the DIY Pulse Laser Gun.

Work at home and home at work with Cisco’s Umi and TelePresence video calling systems

It was only a matter of time before Cisco’s Umi and TelePresence services got together for some HD video calling synergy, and the company has finally enabled “full interoperability” between the two. Not only that, but the networking giant is also rolling out a free HD calling client called Umi Connect for PC and Mac (think SkypeHD) and a new Umi 720 system that works with slower broadband connections. The 720 will cost $399 upon its market arrival this summer, while the already available Umi 1080 gets a much-needed-yet-still-underwhelming hundred dollar price drop to $499. Service fees have also fallen from $275 to $99 a year and from $24.95 to $9.95 monthly for those who are commitment-averse. Maybe now you can persuade the bossman (or bosslady, as it were) to finally let you work from home — though pants-free employment will undoubtedly remain off, or maybe just under, the table. PR’s after the break.

This Hawaiian house- Star Wars themed home theater

The new range of home theater equipment has brought the cinematic experience of the movie halls into your living room. But for those who want to customize the whole experience, prefer to do it in style by turning their TV rooms into themed home theaters complete with state-of-the-art home-theater amenities. And once again sci-fi themed home theater takes the lead. Modern Home Systems, San Diego has customized this luxurious Star Wars inspired home theater inside this roughly 10,000-square-foot estate in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The luxurious Star Wars theater set in a 20-by-14-foot space embeds the hi-fi technology to turn the reel life experience into real life experience, with a 107-inch Stewart Filmscreen display, life-size R2D2 and C3PO robots that talk, a three-dimensional fiber optic ceiling and a motorized pocket door entrance. The home theater room features two full racks of equipment that rotates 180 degrees for convenience of the homeowners.

Besides a dedicated sci-fi home theater, the main aim was to give uniformity of control and one-button access to each of the six TVs in the home to make it convenient for his kids to enjoy their sci-fi cinema right at the TV instead of having to go to a utility room to load in a DVD.

JBL’s On Air Wireless AirPlay speaker dock, gets official

When we first peeked this AirPlay-enabled speaker dock, we were admittedly excited to see how things would turn out after it made rounds through the FCC. JBL just tossed up the splash page for the On Air Wireless speaker and we’ve gotta say — it looks to be a promising means of streaming your jams. The system connects wirelessly to your AirPlay-enabled Mac and iOS device on 4.2 or later and packs a screen that’ll display the track info of the song you’re rocking out to. What’s more, the rounded grill sports a dual alarm clock, FM radio, and a USB port for future firmware updates. As you might have surmised by now, the dock is not yet available for purchase and there’s no word on price. If you’re interested, though, be sure to hit the source link, sign up for more info and get ready to headbang this spring.

Breville’s VTT296 2 Slice Radio Toaster

The inventor of the VTT296 2 Slice Radio Toaster may have gotten this idea from Blankman’s Toaster Plus, but either way you look at it, it’s a neat toaster. The UK company, Breville, designed this kitchen appliance for those who need news, sports and talk along with their toast.

There’s nothing too special about the toaster itself. It has the usual bread slice thickness options and a controller for toast darkness. The main talking point, the radio, is also nothing too special, other than being housed of the side of a toaster. The controls are located under the side speaker and include tuning, presets, and volume. There is also an aux-in 3.5 mm jack for connecting pretty much anything. The best part, if it’s something you’re interested in, is that you won’t have to put cough up a lot of dough to get it: $68 and the toaster is yours.

Keyport Slide Gets a LED Insert

Okay, so maybe it’s just the natural evolution of things, but it seems as if the purveyors of the Keyport Slide have finally given owners of the $80 key vault a LED-tipped insert so they can more easily unlock poorly lit keyholes everywhere. For those wishing to obtain such convenient luminescence, its up for preorder on the company’s website for $9.99 (for the LED only of course), and if all goes well, it’ll ship on March 18th. Ten bucks is steep for a couple of measly LEDs, but it sure beats the flashlight-in-mouth method (on a number of fronts).

Necono cat camera for cat lovers

A Japanese manufacturer of lomocams has recently introduced one of the strangest looking cameras in the world.This digital camera is built in the shape of one cute looking cat. It’s definitely not up there if you’re looking for a camera to take high-quality photographs, according to the designers, the whole purpose of them creating a the camera in a cat’s shape is to lighten up the mood of the subjects, as who can resist smiling if there was a cute cat shoved in your face instead of some professional looking SLR? You even have the ability to add on extra accessories like a view finder for you to shoot photos more easily instead of looking through a peephole. The camera is an ideal gift for kids or any cat lovers, and will be on sale in May or June for $191 this year.