I love it when people develop clever power generators. Especially when it can be used to create a self sustaining environment where originally the environment “wastes” power.

This one is from the UK. Power is generated from a ramp that moves up and down as vehicles pass. The electricity generated can be used to power traffic lights and road signs. There are some videos on the website.

(via we make money not art).

I predict that before the year 2040 people like you and me could own this kind of robots, and some of the robots from animes I watched since I was a kid, or at least some of their features, would come to reality.

Update: Another mecha that looks like Gundam

Ternyata ada beberapa orang yang berpikiran sama. Idenya antara lain energi yang dihasilkan itu dikembalikan lagi ke power grid, atau digunakan untuk mensupply ke gym sendiri. Ada yang punya ide juga untuk memberi diskon gym berdasarkan besarnya energi yang dihasilkan.

Saya dari dulu selalu tertarik dengan sumber energi alternatif (non-fossil) yang bisa diperbaharui dan sustainable, antara lain solar cells, bio-diesel, arus laut, angin, dan lain-lainnya. Tapi kadang yang simple seperti tenaga manusia ini malah terlewatkan, mungkin karena energi yang dihasilkan sangat negligable dan tidak praktis untuk dijadikan sumber pembangkit listrik masal. Kecuali semua penduduk Indonesia diharuskan berlari di atas treadmill selama 3 jam sehari, lalu energi yang dihasilkan disimpan di baterai untuk digunakan sebagai penerangan malam harinya. Tapi ini tentu saja tidak masuk akal.

Tapi mungkin tidak perlu berpikir jauh-jauh. Mungkin energi yang dihasilkan cukup digunakan secara lokal saja. Misalnya kalau energinya dari treadmill ya digunakan untuk menghidupi sistem monitoring dari treadmill itu sendiri. Mirip seperti alat untuk merecharge baterai mobile phone atau GPS device di mana penggunanya harus memutar suatu tuas sampai menghasilkan energi yang cukup untuk merecharge baterainya di saat emergency, misalnya saat berpetualang di rimba belantara, hiking atau lagi off-road.

Ada sumber energi apa lagi yang bisa dihasilkan oleh tenaga manusia? Khususnya yang selama ini bisa dianggap terbuang begitu saja.

Update: Ada desa terpencil di Colombia bernama Gaviotas yang menjadi self-sufficient dengan mengimplementasikan ide-ide brilian. Informasi lebih lanjut.

Update 2007-03-06: Ternyata sudah menjadi kenyataan sekarang.

Any others?

A MELBOURNE invention that claims to slash vehicle petrol bills by up to 20 per cent and reduce harmful engine emissions will go on sale tomorrow.

This is what the distributor has to say about it:

Typically, a fuel injection system only vaporises 80 to 85% of fuel injected into a combustion chamber. The remaining 15 to 20% maintains its liquid form and is wasted through incomplete vaporisation. Vaporate minimises this vapor loss to provide average savings between 10 to 20% on total fuel costs for 6cyl & 8cyl family cars and larger 4WDs.

Vaporate costs about AU $300 and must be installed by a mechanic. Repco (the distributor) claims that normally it can be done in under 2 hours. And there’s a Flash illustration showing how it works on the Vaporate website. It doesn’t seem too complicated, but I just don’t get it at first. I’m neither an engineer nor a mechanic by any means. How does attaching a thick metal ring improve the vaporisation process? I suspected it has something to do with heat, and looks like I’m in the right direction, it uses a clever trick with pressure and temperature as answered by this explanation.

I’ll give you an example to get you started. For example, I would imagine that when I arrive at home or at work, the mobile device would wirelessly and automatically synchronize with my home or work computer without my intervention. It would also inform me if it had found a new Wi-Fi network (maybe the neighbour had just installed it). When I’m walking in the mall, for example, it would detect if there were any wireless network or other services that I could use during my visit at the mall, for example a mall shops directory, free internet access, movie schedules, ordering food from the food court, paying for parking, etc.

I would really appreciate it if you could write your ideas as comments to this post, and you could write in English (preferred) or Indonesian if you’d like. Thanks!

Host Doug Kaye says, “This is the one interview I hope everyone will hear.”

In his lated book, Beyond Fear, security guru Bruce Schneier goes beyond cryptography and network security to challenge our post-9/11 national security practices. Here are some teasers:

• “We’re seeing so much nonsense after 9/11, and so many people are saying things about security, about terrorism that just makes no sense.”
• “Homeland security measures are an enormous waste of money.”
• “If the goal of security is to protect against yesterday’s attacks, we’re really good at it.”
• “The system didn’t fail in the way the designers expected.”
• “Attackers exploit the rarity of failures.”
• “More people are killed every year by pigs than by sharks, which shows you how good we are at evaluating risk.”
• “Did you ever wonder why tweezers were confiscated at security checkpoints, but matches and cigarette lighters–actual combustible materials–were not?…If the tweezers lobby had more power, I’m sure they would have been allowed on board as well.”
• “When the U.S. Government says that security against terrorism is worth curtailing individual civil liberties, it’s because the cost of that decision is not borne by those making it.”
• “…people make bad security trade-offs when they’re scared.”

Read or listen to this terrific interview in which Bruce also says what he thinks of the 9/11 hearings and answers questions from listeners regarding spam and biometrics. This is one of our best.

My close friends in Sydney treated me a nice birthday dinner at Hurricane’s Grill, Bondi Beach. My initial expectations were high due to various comments given by my friends regarding this restaurant. It turned out that the food and service was, overall, excellent. I had the “Ribs and Steak” which consists of a half-rack of grilled pork ribs and a 200gr steak. I also ordered creamy mushroom sauce, which was very rich and creamy, I think everyone liked it. I had been warned about the generous portions served at Hurricane’s, but I can usually eat a lot. I was given a choice of pork or lamb, but I was not in the mood for lamb. I was a little bit disappointed with the steak though, it was nice, but together with the ribs it’s like comparing driving a 1995 Toyota Corolla (which was a good car when I had it) and driving my friend Fernando’s Toyota MR2 Spyder. I wish I had ordered the Portuguese chicken instead of the steak, the chicken was full of flavour and tender. The ribs was the best ribs I’ve ever had, better than Tony Roma’s. We also ordered ceasar salad and onion rings which were not bad, but not really that special in my opinion. I had a Crown Lager to wash off the delicious pork ribs. The price tag is a little bit too expensive for a student like myself, but at a “mere” AU$35 for a huge and delicious portion of ribs and steak and a quality beer, it is a bargain for most working Australians. Plus, there’s a beautiful beach right across the road.

An interesting thing I found when I was looking for the restaurant’s website to put in this post is that Hurricane’s Grill is an EPSON Australia customer. One of the top results in Google led me to a PDF document in EPSON Australia’s website describing the system that the restaurant had commissioned from EPSON Australia to be used for POS, kitchen order and receipt printing. The restaurant waiters also use handheld devices to take orders from the patrons, which I presume are linked via a wireless network to the kitchen’s ordering system. The restaurant’s main objective for having the system was to minimise the time from taking orders to serving the orders to the tables. I have seen this kind of system being used in a Wagamama restaurant when I was in London around July 2003, so it’s not a new concept to me. But it’s still an intriguing idea for a business opportunity. :D

Hurricane's Grill
130 Roscoe Street, Bondi Beach
Sydney NSW 2026 Australia
Website: http://hurricanesgrill.com/
Reservations: +61 2 9130 7101