Hi All,

I must have had my watch set to a day earlier, Earth Day was yesterday but I figured 1 day late is never too late for eco-friendly gadgets.

So here’s a round-up of various different eco-friendly and green gadgets you can buy to save the world:

Solar Alarm Clock - Great stuff, they should make all alarm clocks with a solar panel. How hard is that? Probably not that hard, look at all the caculators made today, they come with a solar panel. I think it’s just a simple matter of “thinking” by engineers. (Yes, engineers should really focus on making the environment better too, not just numbers…)

Solar Powered USB Bikini - This is great stuff, more celebrities like Pamela Anderson should promote solar-powered bikinis. (Think of how many hot girls would do the same…)

Recycled Bike Chain Clock - At $20, you can beat any other recycled bike chain clock out there, if there is any… Now, if you can make this thing solar powered by adding a small solar cell hacked off a calculator, it will complete the masterpiece.

Recycled Parts Collector’s Motorcycle - As a motor-head myself constantly trying to go fast on my 2007 GSX-R600, this one is a thing of beauty, simply priceless…

via Make

Satellite Solar Cooker - This one is classic, you could probably cook almost anything as long as you have sunlight.

Solar skateboard - Wow, I love finding new inventions that people invent through Google Patent Search, this one is my favorite.

Solar Cap - Make sure to get one of these for your next ball game for sheezy.

Solar Power Cells for your jacket - You can now convert your jacket into a “solar-powered” jacket simply by lugging this device and re-charge all your daily gadgets such as cellphone, iPod, etc…etc…

via Engadget

Solar Roof - That’s right, if you own a home, it’s time to get that Photovoltaic energy from your new Solar Roof. If you can afford it and you don’t have it, it’s time to serious think about getting one…

Solar Laptop Charger - Ha, this one is basically a gigantic collection of solar cells but hey, you can power your laptop using the sun’s energy. It’s a must if you are thinking about heading out to the desert and go camping. Make sure to bring a broadband card with you too so you can access the internet or use a blackberry as a broadband modem like me.

Yey, that completes our plethora of gadgets dedicated to the Earth day and making our Earth more green.

You can also check out the “Earth” section for more eco-friendly related articles on Zedomax.com or also check out “Gadgets” section over at Keetsa.com, our sister blog that focuses only on eco-friendly and green.

Check out this cool little hack, it’s an open-source motor controller for an electric bike. There’s no pictures of a finished version but can’t wait to see this circuit in action!

n brief the PicOx is a PicAxe 08M based digital Controller that performs an ADC of a Hall-effect throttle and an ADC of a Hall-based current sensor. These two parameters determine the “Mark” value of a 15Khz PWM signal that does the switching to the Output stage. At the end of the project the Controller can sustain 48V @ 75 Amps repeatedly for approx 5 second bursts and is really only limited by the In-Line breaker that cuts the supply voltage, though the entire system’s overall design objective is met reliably at 48V 50Amp operation…

via HackedGadgets

The other day, my home had power-outage for like 6 hours. I could go buy a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), or I can make my own UPS using a car battery.

Well, I am just hoping this DIY UPS lasts 6 hours so I can keep using my spare laptop, which shouldn’t need that much power anyways to run off the UPS. But if I tried to run my desktop PC, it’d probably last only 2-3 hours at most, maybe even less.

This DIY is for 220 Volts so you will have to make some calculations to make sure you are providing the correct number of invertors and etc…etc… Btw, if you do use it for powering up your laptop, you don’t need an invertor as most laptops are around 12VDC anyways, which is what car batteries are at. (But you will need to hack an adaptor to the laptop for sure)

In this article we look at how you can cobble together a 220 Volt power supply using components you can buy at your local automotive store. But first it is important to understand a few basics about batteries, and how to convert 12 Volt DC battery supplied electricity into 220 Volt AC current that your household appliances can use.

A twelve Volt battery is a storage device that, when charged, stores electricity in chemical structures that can reverse and release electricity if required. Batteries are typically rated in Amp Hours (AH) - ie how many Amps for how many hours the battery will perform. An inverter is a device which can take the DC current from a battery and convert it into 220V AC current for your appliances.

To calculate how many batteries you need, and how big an inverter is quite simple. Investigate the specification plates on the back of each appliance. In the case of my laptop, the power supply is a 90W unit.

For an inverter one can work on a rule of thumb that to produce 100W will require approximately 10 Amps, hence in reality the lap top requires about 10 AH of battery life per hour. With a 90 AH battery one can therefore expect about 9 hours of power before the battery provides too little current to keep the inverter going. But it is not this simple.

[via] scienceinafrica

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Here’s a funny hack using a cellphone, wires, and a 16pF capacitor.

Take one SonyEricsson K800i, rewire the capacitor (which feeds the camera flash) with a pair of 16uf caps and you have a cell phone capable of dumping those farads into a human body. Just take a photo using the camera’s xenon flash and shoot.

If you can’t read the multimeter in murk of what looks like a typical teenager’s bedroom, it shows 300 volts. Cameron20020, the video’s creator, describes it thus:

“…while it doesn’t make a big spark, it hurts a f*****g lot.”

via covertress.blogspot

Wow, check out this Yahoo news that microfiber fabric might produce electricity. We might just be able to start generating electricity everytime we move a finger!

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. scientists have developed a microfiber fabric that generates its own electricity, making enough current to recharge a cell phone or ensure that a small MP3 music player never runs out of power.

via Yahoo

Check out this really cool parts organizer you can make using plastic bottles and save the earth at the same time!

If you’re like me, you have a ton of PCBs laying around from things you’ve taken apart. Put them to good use and salvage the components from them.

via MakeZine

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Ever thought of turning electrical waves floating in the air into electricity? Well, here a guide if you need it.

This is btw, similar to the new “wireless” batteries that Phillips is working on.  (i think it’s phillips…)

via HighT3ch

Wow, this is something that could really change the world!

Advances in biomechanical engineering could use energy generated while walking, hiking or running to power any device requiring portable power, including night-vision goggles and other battery-operated devices used by soldiers as well as robotic prosthetic limbs, cell phones and computers in remote locations where no other energy sources are available.

via DailyTechImpressions

This is just what every young Jedi needs, their very own light sabre construction kit, now you know how Luke built his own light sabre for the Return of the Jedi! Clearly he had an Amazon account.