Filed under: Transportation
There may still be a dearth of electric vehicle charging stations in the US, but it looks like some cities in Australia could soon be overflowing with ‘em, at least if a group of companies’ rather ambitious plans actually pan out. That group is led by US-based Better Place, which has previously helped bring charging stations to Denmark and Israel, and now hopes to out-do those previous efforts in a big way by outfitting Australia’s three largest cities with 200,000 and 250,000 charging stations
apiece. That, the company says, would cost $1 billion Australian dollars (or roughly $667 million US), which is where Australian power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital come in. The company’s would also apparently scatter about 150 battery switch stations throughout each city, and drivers would have to sign up for cellphone-like contracts to make use of the network. As lofty a goal as that may seem, the companies seem fairly confident that they’ll be able to pull it off, and that the charging stations could be in place as soon as 2012 — after which, they hope, folks will finally start buying electric vehicles en masse.
Read – AFP, “Australia plans electric vehicle network”
Read – AP, “Sparse plug-ins for electric cars spark creativity”
[Via Daily Tech, image courtesy Better Place]
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household
Sure you can go crazy and drop a
few hundred bucks on a high-tech door lock, or you can follow the lead of the folks from Makers Local 256 and build this USB-authenticated deadbolt, which should set you back just $60 — or no doubt less if you can scavange up some spare parts. The setup is based on
Arduino’s slightly lesser known cousin the Freeduino, and effectively turns any standard USB thumb drive into a key, which can be just as easily lost or misplaced as a regular key but not as easily duplicated. What’s more, it’s not the data on the drive that gets read by the lock, but rather the serial number on a chip, which leaves the rest of the drive free for you to use as you please. Head on past the break to check it out in action.
Continue reading USB-authenticated deadbolt lock promises to only let geeks pass
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Filed under: Cellphones
Sure, we’ve seen a lot of product announcements from Hop-on accompanied by janky product renders over the years — but we’ve never seen an actual Hop-on phone, so we’re a little skeptical of the company’s promise this morning to release an Android phone at CES this year. What’s more, it’s supposed to come in under $200, which is right in character for a manufacturer whose major claim to fame is the “disposable” cell phone, we suppose. We’ll see if such a phone actually appears at the show — Hop-on boldly says this mythical device will make it “competitive in the high-end phone market,” which is probably sending shock waves through the offices of HTC, Apple, and RIM as we speak.
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Filed under: Home Entertainment
If you’ve always though the idea of Home Automation was cool, but thought it was too expensive, you should head over to Engadget HD as they check out the first affordable Home Automation in-wall touch panel from Embedded Automation — of course we use the word affordable very loosely around here, as there’s nothing cheap about a $1000 7-inch touch screen, but compared to the $7000 panels out there, it’s a steal. To find out what we liked, other than the price, easy of install, openness, and out of the box experience, click on through to the HD side.
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Filed under: Podcasts
We’re back, just as promised! This week, Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel discuss the finer points of new ASUS laptops, Casio digicams, and a score of other compelling, enthralling, and generally fascinating items that will tickle your braincells and delight your many respectable senses. Sit back, relax, kick off your shoes, crack open a can of Dr. Terrific’s Party Juice, and enjoy the soothing sounds and delightful pseudo-sights of the Engadget Podcast.
Note: We’re waiting on Apple now to get the iTunes feed — and spot in the store — back up and running. Feel free to ping them with requests to make it happen.
Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, and Nilay Patel
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Professor Murder – Dutch Hex
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