Seems like every other day someone is coming up with a new and improved something or other. No field is more likely to do this than the field of science and technology well, okay the air freshener people are probably vying for a very close second. Here are a few that have caught my attention.
Sony has developed the XEL-1 OLED television. The "O" before the LED stands for organic. It is a mere three millimeters thick. But Sony likes to point out that it has prototypes that are only one tenth as thick. Pretty soon you will be able to just paste these things to the wall.
These organic light emitting diodes produce stunning colors and the highest contrast possible. The only problem is that right now they are available only in eleven inch models because the special glass required is not made in larger sizes at this time. Another downside, its current cost is a whopping $2,500.
I remember the first color television set my husband and I bought a few months after we were married. It had a thirteen inch diagonal screen. I was really small and you had to sit really close. So I think that we will wait a while on this one. Shoot, we haven't even bought our first flat screen TV yet. Check out www.sonystyle.com
The car maker, Infiniti, has developed a finish for their cars that repairs itself. Is that crazy or what? It isn't proof against the angry neighbor who wants to take his house key to your car, but it handles scrapes from branches quite well.
According to the magazine Popular Science (yes, it is my subscription and not my husband's) "The clear coat contains a synthetic resin that, when activated by daytime heat and sunlight, flows into surface wounds, repairing the damage in anywhere from a day to a week, depending on temperature and the depth of the scratch." Wow, that's one long sentence. They also go on to say that because of the extra resin in the coating, that the finish is more durable than most. I can't afford an Infiniti, but maybe by the time my Jeep needs repainting, this coating will be available for it. Go to www.infiniti.com for more information.
Here's a bit of green technology form Serious Materials. It's called Ecorock and it is intended as a replacement for drywall, plasterboard, wallboard or whatever you prefer to call it. I call is messy and a pain to use. Don't ever drop a sheet of it. Bernd and I renovated a house once and because I had more patience than he did I ended up being the Queen of Drywall. I'd be happy to hand that crown to someone else.
Drywall is produced by baking gypsum in 500 F kilns which spew out about 20 billion pounds of greenhouse gases a year. Serious Material's replacement product congeals without heat and uses recycled materials that don't require mining. And it holds up even better than conventional drywall and it uses just 20% of the energy to produce. It is impervious to termites and mold and costs about the same as high-end drywall; about $14 to $18 per 4' x 8' sheet. www.seriousmaterials.com If we ever build our own house, we're going with this stuff.
This one is for my husband who has a thing about bad smells. You know how the traps in your drains can get gunked up? And if it's a drain to a sink that has an overflow outlet, how a rotten smell can come up out of there as the water flows down the drain? Yeah, well the only solution is to take the whole wretched thing apart, clean out the foul smelling gunk, put it all back together and hope nothing leaks and that your back survives the whole process until now. Ta Dah! PF Waterworks has come up with the Permaflow, a self-cleaning drain trap.
Not only will it cure the smelly problem, they say it will clear a clog. Just turn the knob on the outside and a flexible rubber paddle inside rotates through the trap to push the clog along. They say it also helps to keep the gunk from accumulating in the first place with an angle in the incoming pipe that causes enough turbulence to carry the potential mess away. It has six gaskets to protect the seal and remained watertight in tests for up to 31,000 rotations. They say they start at $40. Visit www.pfwaterworks.net I think we will get a couple and just put a note on our calendar, along with the note about treating the septic tank once a month, to give that baby a turn.
I love wearing black. It's slimming, goes with anything and makes me look way cool. Well, maybe not so much way cool. The only drawback is that wearing black on a sunny day is HOT. And I don't mean that in the sense that Paris Hilton might.
Enter Schoeller Textiles and their product called Coldblack. Black fabrics that have been treated with their Coldblack technology during the drying process actually reflect 80% of the heat rays, which is nearly as much as white fabrics. WooHoo! They also provide UPF 30+ protection against harmful ultraviolet rays. Coldblack treated fabrics, when held under a heat lamp, stayed 10F cooler on the surface and 22F cooler on the inside than untreated fabrics. Check out www.schoeller-textiles.com for more information.
When I first set about to write this article, I thought that maybe I would come at it from the standpoint of unnecessarily complicating things. You know, like buying a big, huge, and expensive elliptical machine when all you really need to get a good cardiovascular workout is a jump rope. Well, okay, that might require a little more coordination than the machine, but we can all do with a little more of that. Then as I got into it, I realized that there is some really good stuff out there. Stuff that can actually make our lives easier and better. I hope you enjoyed the tour.
Dianne Lehmann is a jewelry designer who has been in business since January of 2000. Her interest in designing and manufacturing jewelry goes back beyond that to 1994. It took her many years of trying various creative outlets to finally figure out that making jewelry is where she could really shine. Dianne began with simply stringing beads onto cable and has progressed from there. She is now an accomplished lapidary (cuts and polishes stones) and silversmith. Dianne and her husband, Bernd, live in northern Arizona and both love to hike. Dianne can not help but pick up rocks (they are her first love) and some of these find their way into her jewelry. Dianne makes one-of-a-kind pieces that she hopes give people as much joy to view as she gets from the making of them.If you like, you may view her work at http://www.syzygyjewelry.com
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
tweet this!