JuiceBox
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EMW kick-starts JuiceBox, a $99 Level 2 DIY charging station
Electric vehicle charging stations aren't cheap: one of the most affordable Level 2 (240V) units sells for $450 and only supplies 16A. Electric Motor Works (EMW) -- which is best known for its electric conversion kits -- wants to change this with JuiceBox, a 15kW Level 2 EV charger that costs just $99 in kit form (plus $10 shipping). The device, which is launching on Kickstarter today, supplies up to 62A and operates on both 120V and 240V. It's built around an Arduino microcontroller and EMW is making both the hardware and software open source. But wait, there's more! The company is also crowdfunding a Premium Edition of JuiceBox ($199 in kit form) which adds time-of-day charging, a color LCD, ground-fault plus output protection (for outdoor use) and a unique enclosure (hopefully as funky as the one in the picture above). While the DIY kits only require basic assembly and soldering skills, you'll be able to buy fully assembled versions for $100 more. At $329 (shipped), a ready-to-use JuiceBox Premium Edition undercuts other similar charging stations by several hundred dollars. The catch? You'll have to supply your own cables (or buy them separately from EMW), including one with a standard J1772 EV connector. Hit the source link below to check out the campaign, and take a look at the PR after the break.
Neverware's Juicebox 100 squeezes new life into aging school computers (video)
Your typical school computer is probably not a machine you'd like to use on a daily basis -- perennially behind the curve in terms of technology, since educators can't afford smokin' hot video cards and primo processors year after year. Budgets and the resulting reluctance inevitably lead to stale hardware which then goes obsolete... but a tiny startup called Neverware thinks it can end the cycle of woe with virtualization technology. Its single product, the Juicebox a100, can serve up one hundred Windows 7 virtual desktops to existing hardware, pretty much regardless of its age -- all computers need is a working LAN jack, a 500MHz processor and 128MB of memory, so schools could keep their beige boxes and just upgrade the Juicebox instead. Founder Jonathan Hefter doesn't have pricing worked out yet -- and his tiny company only has three of the boxes working at present -- but he's piloted the technology in a pair of schools and is planning a beta soon -- all the while dreaming about how our mountains of e-waste could be transformed into useful computers for the poorer nations of the world. Good luck, dude! Video after the break.
Juice Box PMP used in retro phone digiframe mod
Granted, it's been a tick since we've considered Mattel's Juice Box for any off the wall hack jobs, but a clever fellow with nothing but spare time and a worthless rotary dial telephone figured out a way to rejuvenate it. The "Retro Phone Picture Frame Hack" required an obsolete phone, Juice Box and MP3 / Picture kit, spare SD card, and a basic understanding of wiring. After removing the dial face and getting his hands dirty with the variety of connections within, his picture-packed SD card was situated in while the face of the Juice Box was fixated in the leftover gap. A few silent prayers later, everything was up and running, providing the least costly and most unique digiframe we've seen to date. So if you're considering putting that old phone to rest, be sure to visit the read link and give this mod a hand before ditching such a useful appliance.
Sony shows off range of enviro-friendly "odo" gear
Sony's showing off a whole range of new environmentally-friendly gear in Japan at the moment, all of which can be used without ever having to be plugged in for a recharge. One of the more interesting devices of the lot is the Spin N' Snap digital camera (pictured above), which you charge up simply by placing your fingers in the two holes (which also double as a viewfinder) and spinning it around a few times. Taking a slightly different but equally non-power-hungry route is the Crank N' Capture camera, which can also apparently capture video of some sort. Rounding out the line up are the Pull N' Play stereo headphones, the Push POWER Play device (apparently a viewer of some sort), which you charge by rolling it back and forth on a table, and the "Juice Box," which packs a fold out solar panel that can be used to charge your other devices. What's more, if we're reading the machine translation correctly, it appears that all the devices are made of re-used or recycled plastic. Unfortunately, there's no word on when or if any of them will actually be available, although you can check out a couple more pics courtesy of Impress after the break and plenty more at the link below.[Thanks, kaztm]
