Wow FIC has come out with this sweet Linux phone. Drool.... I love it. I'm way more excited about the future of this than the iPhone.

Intel is pimp. I hope this does wonders for their stock price.

Maloney also talked about Intel's upcoming 45nm processors, and in particular the new Silverthorne core, one that will likely be featured in upcoming UMPC's as it is an extremely low power part, likely around 1.5W.

He also brought in ASUS's CEO to introduce

a new and surprisingly inexpensive laptop that is designed to spread the internet and computing to less affluent regions of the world. Shih announced that the Eee PC will have two models, one priced at $199 and the other at $299. Shih revealed some specifications of the Eee PC as well, noting that it had 512MB of memory, was running Linux, and that it was designed to be an easy way for the rest of the world to get connected to the internet.

I say this is any easy way for ME to get connected to the net. I'd love this cheap mini lappy. That looks sweet.

Wow, I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it on the internet... Famous last words?

Anyway, these huge heat sinks are ridiculous!

They look like they should be in a motorcycle or car, not strapped onto your CPU or GPU... Wow. That is cool in a non-sustainable power wasting kind of way.

Hey this new EV is pretty sweet. They are importing the ZX40 (specs) from China. It can go up to 40 miles on a charge and has a max speed of 25. It's pretty much an electric two person moped with lots of cargo room.

Since it has lead acid batteries, it has the problem of wearing out batteries more quickly during deeper discharges. For instance the specs say driving 20 miles between charges will give you 1000 cycles (20,000 miles) but doing 30 miles between charges will only give you 500 cycles (15,000 miles) before needing replacement batteries.

Interestingly it uses 0.19 kWh/mile or 5.26 miles/kWh. Seattle City Light electricity is only 4.06 cents a kWh so that is $0.007776/mile. You could go 250 miles for $1.94. You'd have to take into account the cost of replacement batteries but DANG! I wonder what kind of mileage you could get out of a Prius by staying at or below 25mph and only going 20 or 30 miles per trip.

Anyway the coolest thing about this is you could conceivably go totally green by installing your own solar power panels for charging the vehicle (assuming it could be hooked up during the day).

Lets assume that you drive 20 miles per day, 5 days a week between work and errands. You would get 1,000 trips (200 weeks) or roughly 4 years on a set of batteries. This would use about 950kWh per year. In Seattle a 1kW solar system should cover your needs for the car charging. At the high rate of $10/W for a PV solar system, you'd pay $10K for your charging system. With the current 30% federal rebate and Washington Renewable Energy System Cost Recovery, it would only cost $5,500.

Spread out over a conservative 20 year useful solar panel life, you'd pay $1,100 for four years of 20,000 miles of driving power.

This vehicle comes with 4 Tianjin Blue Sky (6FM150) 12V 150Ah (10h Rate). I had trouble finding example batteries for comparison rated at the 10h discharge rate. As a substitute, I'll quote a 200Ah battery for $350 with a 20h discharge rate. This one weighs 15lbs more but I'll use it as a WAG for replacement costs.

So between the solar charger and replacement batteries, you'd spend $2,500 over four years on 20,000 miles. That is 12.5 cents/mile. Keep in mind that businesses & government reimburse at a rate of about 40 cents/mile. If you compare this to a $2.50/gal gas vehicle, it would be the same cost for fuel as a 20mpg vehicle, EXCEPT YOU WOULD HAVE ZERO EMISSIONS!!!

Also remember that you'd miss out on 4 to 7 oil changes in that time so that could save another $100 or so plus any other maintenance needed. Electric motors are far more reliable than internal combustion engines.

Still, $750/year ($3/day) for transportation is CHEAP! Granted bicycling or walking would be cheaper per mile. But if you account for the cost of your time it could be a wash by the end of the year. AND YOU CAN FINALLY DRIVE GUILT FREE!

I wanted to review the Zap Xebra (above) which is on sale here in Kirkland, WA, but could not find details on their battery life or power consumption. Stay tuned.

Next-Gen Prius to get lithium ion battery and 113 mpg - AutoblogGreen

Oh my pimp. This article says that Toyota engineers are targeting 113mpg Prius for 2009 with advanced LiOn batteries replacing the current NiMH. Also new in 2009 will be factory installed plug-and-charge capabilities. And don't forget that Lithium Ion batteries are smaller than Nickle Metal Hydride so there should be more cargo room to(and in the) boot!