Tesla’s Solar Powered Island
Tesla, an energy storage company, has acquired SolarCity and claims that the entire island of Ta’u in American Samoa is using solar power for almost all its energy needs.
Previously, Ta’u relied on diesel generators to run, which was neither economically nor environmentally friendly. Additionally, there would be temporary power outages because the diesel would not be shipped to the island on time.
With the implementation of the solar power grid, the 600 residents of Ta’u will no longer worry about outages. Ta’u is very sunny most of the time, but even on days where clouds cover the sky, there will still be energy available — the solar panels can store up to three days of energy.
Battery Technology
Researchers at the University of Central Florida created a battery that lasts longer with minimal charge time.
The battery uses supercapacitors, electrical tools that are capable of storing large amounts of energy and can also be recharged up to 100 more times than the standard lithium-ion batteries that are widely used in phones today.
“If they were to replace the batteries with these supercapacitors, you could charge your mobile phone in a few seconds, and you wouldn’t need to charge it again for over a week,” Nitin Choudhary, a professor at University of Central Florida, said in a press release.
They are not ready for commercial use yet and the researchers are currently working to patent the new process.
Diabetes Sock Tracker
A health startup is helping diabetes patients track their health by placing temperature sensors inside of socks.
Diabetes patients can suffer from various foot problems, including foot swelling. These foot problems may lead to greater health concerns like foot infection and forced amputation of the foot if not diagnosed early.
Siren Care, the name of the startup, uses temperature sensors in socks so that diabetes patients can diagnose their health concerns earlier on. This allows patients to seek treatment to prevent more serious health issues.
The information from the sock is relayed to a smartphone app. If temperatures reach a dangerous level, the app will alert the user to seek medical attention for their feet.
Touchscreen-Compatible Fingerprint Stickers
A new Kickstarter project is helping cell phone users access their devices in the cold, all the while keeping their hands warm.
Nanotips, a Vancouver-based company, is making touchscreen stickers called TAPS that allows users to unlock and use their phones while wearing any type of glove.
Each TAPS has a unique fingerprint on it, so that the user can unlock and access his or her device using his or her TAPS fingerprint. In addition, the unique fingerprint is a safety measure that allows only the bearer of the TAPS to access the device.
Unfortunately, it appears that the user’s own fingerprint cannot be added to the TAPS sticker. This means for phones that recognize only one fingerprint, the user will be unable to unlock their device with their own fingerprint if they are using TAPS for unlocking.
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