I wouldn’t call myself a Windows fanboy anymore than I would call myself a fanboy of the English language. I’ve never really played with a Mac. The weird shortcuts, the strange navigation; it’s all foreign to me. So, when I found out that Microsoft was slashing Windows 7 prices in half for the pre-order I instantly thought to promote such a great deal. And so the following disclaimer is in order: for all Mac aficionados, please don’t take this as choosing sides in this most epic of battles.

But a deal is a deal. $50 ($64 Canadian) to upgrade an XP or Vista operating system. That’s a massive 70% off of the price tag come October 22nd when Windows 7 hits retail. But before you get carried away, here’s all you need to know:

What is it?

Upgrade from XP/Vista to Windows 7 for 70%-off the retail price. Available through various online retailers including Amazon until July 11th/while supplies last.



There are numerous reasons to ditch your old 4-stroke lawn mower; the ever present fear of escalating fuel prices, maintenance, the environmental impact. But my number one reason to ditch the gas powered mower has to be that damn blasted pull chord. How many cuss words has this archaic form of engineering induced? How many backs have been thrown out or hernias endured? Sure the newer mowers sport more effective pull-chords but if you’re going to upgrade why not ditch the gas can and do away with spine-wrenching altogether? Enter the Neuton CE 6 Lawn Mower.

‘Cut’s a 19” Path!’ Neuton proclaims about their battery powered eco-mower. On a single charge you can cover 15,000 sq ft or 1/3 of an acre. But with a second battery included you can double that number before you have to put the grass-cutting on hold for a recharge. This lean-mean-green-cutting machine utilizes 360 watt-hours of battery energy, dissuading those from thinking this is your grandma’s eco-mower. This kind of power means thick, wet grass is no match.



Plus: Mini-projectors finding their way into smartphones. And an ecomill that'll really save on your energy bill
Mind Controlled Wheelchair

You know how in some versions of X-Men Prof. Xavier is able to control his wheelchair with his telekinetic abilities? It makes you wish that it was that easy to give mobility to those that paralyzed. But if Toyota has anything to say about it, it may very well become that easy. Toyota has teamed up with researchers in Japan to create the world’s fastest EEG sensor. The prototype is capable of interpreting specific brain waves in as little as 125 milliseconds. That’s virtually instantaneous, allowing user’s to command the chair to turn left of right on a whim. The command to stop the chair is for the user to simply puff out their check, an action tracked by a separate component. The technology has largely focused on tracking brain waves associated with imaginary hand and foot operations, but Toyota hopes to develop a similar devices that is based on emotional feedback. Toyota hopes to see the chair go into commercial production in the health care industry.

Source


The iPhone is capable of many things; making phone calls, sending texts, simulating a monkey rolling around in a clear plastic ball. But projecting images is not among its listed features. PhoneSuit looks to change all that with the MiLi Pro iPhone / iPod Video Projector.

 

Building off your portable video affection, the MiLi Pro promises to turn your iPhone movies, video podcasts, and images into impromptu theatre experience. It has its own rechargeable power supply, so it wont be draining the already power hungry touch-screen phone. At its best, the projector is capable of a 640x480 resolution. The image can then be fine tuned with an adjustment wheel to get the best picture, depending on the surface you’re broadcasting onto.

Increasing its versatility is that the MiLi Pro can project from various sources. While its primary selling point is for use with an iPhone/iPod, it will also ship with a VGA cable to work with your laptop/PC as well as a RCA cable which adds support for DVD player projection. They’ve also included integrated speakers into the unit, so everyone can enjoy the film you’re projecting onto the back of the seat in front of you on the airplane (let’s face it, airplane movies are hit and miss).



An on-demand, illuminated bike lane? Gesture controls with your iPhone? A touch-screen wall? Yup, they're all in this week's Looking Ahead

LightLane Provides Bikers with Impromptu Illuminated Cycling Lane

When you’re on your bike the only thing to fear is fear itself. And cars. And snow. And sand. Also, stones, bits of trash, the night…Well, LightLane looks to mitigate the last item on the list, providing cyclists with a clever cushion on those dusk till dawn bike rides. In addition to some potent LEDs, the LightLane uses two diode-pumped solid state green lasers to dynamically ‘paint’ a line on the left of the rider. This long stretch of neon-green light provides a makeshift bike lane that drivers can readily see and hopefully respect.

The product, at one time simply relegated to the realm of ‘concept,’ has been met with overwhelming support, prompting the designers to move the LightLane into production.




Tired of “arriving at work hot and sweaty, having to change from cycle to office clothing, getting dirty chain grease on his pants, fixing a messy flat tire, having to bicycles stolen within six months, and being heckled for riding ‘one of these funny looking fold-up bikes’”? Richard Thorpe was. So he designed and built a bike to fix those problems. And you, what did you do?

To be fair, Thorpe is an educated and experienced race car designer. And yet, something was lacking in his life. So he quit his job at McLaren and started working a new, greener form of transportation. He’s dubbed this bike-redux the GoCycle, which he designed in his London flat. This “new class of powered-two wheeler” uses an electric ‘turbo boost’ system it ranges between 6 and 20 miles, with the variable being how much you’re willing to help. The idea here is that you can take a bit of stress out of your daily ride by getting some assistance on those troublesome inclines (thus reducing the number of times you have to arrive at work ‘hot and sweaty’).



Finally. That’s the first thing that popped into my head when I heard that Honda is considering bolstering their hybrid line up with low-cost models. The news comes courtesy of Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, wherein Honda President Takeo Fukui reportedly states that the automaker is hard at work on two new hybrids that will cost less than Honda’s current offering, the Insight ($19,800). The move would be a reactionary one against less-than-stellar sales of the Insight (Honda figures to miss projected sales of the Insight by as much as 30 percent), as well as a move against the popularity of rival’s Toyota Prius. So, what do these new hybrids look like?

AutoBlogGreen speculates that one likely candidate is a hybrid version of the Honda Fit (pictured above). This diminutive automobile would be able to provide great fuel efficiency based on its compact design. And with a rumoured price of just $15,800 it would be one of the most affordable hybrids on the planet. Such a move, it is hoped, would mark the beginning of an affordable, entry-level hybrid market, one that both cash-strapped citizens and environmentally conscious drivers are in dire need of (the all electric market, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter).




Ah, another summer, another iPhone and another iPhone OS. So many new features, some many disgruntled iPod Touch owners (yes, you once again have to shell out $10 for the update, free for iPhone owners). But, without further ado, here’s what you can expect from the updated operating systm.

Copy/Past

Finally, the most fundamental aspect of modern computer technology comes to the iPhone. With the touch screen, selecting text is a breeze but up until this update it was not a possibility. Apple has finally rectified this archaism and you can now copy and paste until your heart’s content.

Spotlight Search

This new addition is accessed by swiping to the left from the main screen. This brings up a search box and a keyboard. Start typing and results will appear, letter by letter. Spotlight searches through media (music, videos etc) and contacts, as well as apps and emails. It’s a great way to browse through what can be a daunting amount of information and what’s best is that it provides instant access, allowing you to launch videos and play music right from the search screen. (In other search-related updates, Apple has also added the ability to search email over IMAP, enabling users to search, say a Gmail account, without having to launch the browser and log into Gmail itself.)



The Earth gets just a little greener this week thanks to a multi-purpose solar charger, a greener Windows, and government road map that isn't about fiscal stimulus

2-in-1 Solar Charger/USB Hub

Have you been lugging around a clunky USB hub and a solar charger? Well, today’s your day. Thanks to Brando the two indispensable gadgets are contained in one single cube. Featuring 4 USB ports, the aptly named USB Solar Charging 4-Port Hub provides portable connectivity for the gadget aficionado. Bu wait, there's more! On the go and off the grid? Why not plug-in your cell phone (6 different connectors supplied*) or most any other USB-charging device and recharge nature’s way. The whole shebang only ways 56 grams, has a built in lithium-ion battery to store juice for later use, and can also charge from a wall outlet, tripling its use as an emergency backup power source. All this for a scant $20.



So, what’s new to Energizer’s Energi To Go portable device chargers? Well besides supporting a whole slew of portable devices (PMPs, PNDs, MP3 Players, portable DVD players, cell phones, just to name a few) Energizer has also added a few new solar charging options to compliment what is already an expansive lineup. And in an apparent bid to buck the trend that Energizer=expensive, a few of them are actually affordable to the average consumer.

All in all there are 3 separate lines, each with a target audience. The AP line, for instance, offers battery-life extension for the iPhone in the form of a case-like shell (similar to the mophie's JuicePack and Incase's Power Slider). Two models are available, with the lower-end being dubbed the AP1000 ($50) which provides 3 additional hours of talk time (or 16+hours of music). The AP1500 ($100) bumps that number 5 additional hours.


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