water

Sunbathing in Vietnam, kind of

Editor's note: CNET editor and Crave contributor Dong Ngo is spending part of December in his homeland of Vietnam and is filing occasional dispatches chronicling his impressions of how technology has permeated the culture there. Click here for more of Dong's stories from abroad.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam--It took me a few minutes to realize how crowded Ho Chi Minh City is, and a few hours to experience the first power outage. Welcome to the dry season of the South.

The season lasts from November until April. It's when this part of the country experiences its most severe energy shortage, with rolling blackouts taking place in HCM several times a week, if not daily.

(Unlike the four-season North of the country, the South of Vietnam has only two seasons--dry and rainy. Nonetheless, it's generally sunny all year around in Ho Chi Minh City. It's hot, too, with the exception of a few weeks around Christmas when it gets a little chilly, around 60 degrees F. However, it's always humid here and you'd probably want to shower a few times a day.)

Most businesses, and even some households here, have a backup power generator. Drive around the city at any given time, and chances are you'll see some of these in operation.

With the sharp population increase, Ho Chi Minh City, now home to about 10 million, is facing an apparent energy crisis. According to HCM City Power Company, the city's power demand is now in excess of 1,000 to 2,500 megawatts every day.

To battle this, the city has turned to a source of energy that it has a lot of: the sun. Since July, it has been developing a program to support businesses that produce and sell solar-powered appliances, including water heater and lighting systems. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 859: Don't get your flops in a watt

Rafe and Molly square off over the reuse of air conditioning technology, the fail whale sinks a deal between Facebook and Twitter, Gmail is cracked, and an enterprising astronaut creates the ultimate in must-have space tech: a zero-G coffee cup.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 859

Twitter rebuffs a Facebook poke? http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10106391-2.html

Gmail exploit may allow attackers to forward e-mail http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10106275-83.html http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/breaking-gmail-security-flaw-more-domains-get-stollen/

EU strikes down French “3 strikes” copyright infringement law http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/23/1952248

Has … Read more

The most beautiful water bottle ever?

A few years ago, concerns about packaging waste and my carbon footprint prompted me to abandon single-use plastic water bottles in favor of a reusable Nalgene bottle. But then, concerns about exposure to BPA prompted me to switch to a Sigg. Still, I don't care much for drinking out of aluminum, and I don't find the Sigg designs all that appealing.

If only the Kor Hydration Vessel ($30) was around when I was looking for a replacement bottle. Inspired by the look of blown glass, the 750ml bottle is made of BPA-free plastic with an integrated handle. At … Read more

Bottle cap tripod steadies your shot

Lone travelers, vain photographers, or anyone too shy to ask someone to take their picture finally have a convenient way to include themselves in their photographs, thanks to Dynomighty Design's bottle cap tripod.

The $10 gadget fits (not screws) onto almost any bottle top and a universal tripod adapter on the opposite end holds your digicam in place while you sneak into the shot.

Captain Obvious says: depending on the size of your camera, be sure that the bottle you use is at least half full (or empty), or you'll find yourself waving goodbye to both gadgets at … Read more

What innovations are most important to world's future?

I was thinking recently about the many problems facing our fragile planet--economic crisis, global warming, massive water shortages, and so on--and got to wondering what can be done to solve them.

In part, this stemmed from the recent American election and what it meant for our country and the world, but also from thinking about the ongoing alternate-reality game being run by the Institute for the Future, Superstruct, which tasks players with coming up with ideas that could help stave off a fictional extinction of the human race.

One problem, it seems to me, is that there are so many … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 853: The Netbook and the girl

On today's Buzz Out Loud, sage dating tips from a bunch of old married people. Meanwhile, Microsoft launches an online store where you can go buy things if you like to pay more than you have to; a girl offers to pimp your start-up for a mere $75 a day and we give her about a million dollars worth of grief; and Google loves the iPhone more than Android--at least for now! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 853

Microsoft launches online store: Is there deeper meaning here? http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=10849 http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10097239-75.html … Read more

Sydney Water skipping Vista

Sydney Water CIO Tim Catley today said the organization, Australia's largest water utility, would likely skip Vista and instead plan ahead to install Windows 7 on its 4,000 desktops, which are currently running Windows XP.

Catley, who since 2005 has worked to turn around Sydney Water's IT operations, said he would likely skip Vista because the threat of Microsoft putting the screws on hardware vendors to end support for XP had dissipated.

"I think we might skip Vista and wait for 7 to come along," Catley told ZDNet.com.au after delivering a speech at … Read more

Hawaii's new wave power

Ocean Power Technologies announced Thursday that it will be installing a water-power buoy system to tie into Hawaii's Oahu Island power grid.

The New Jersey-based company makes ocean buoys that harness the energy of ocean waves to generate electricity that is then sent back to shore via underwater cable.

Through a partnership with the U.S. Navy, Ocean Power has been developing technology that could supplement electricity needs for the military in Hawaii .

"We are pleased to be a part of the Navy's effort to develop and commercialize new technologies to reduce the Navy's dependence on … Read more

Hot or cold filtered water at the touch of a button

Everybody loves water. In fact, it's one of those things that you pretty much need to love. Except, there are those few people who don't like "the taste" or find it "boring". (Yes, you know who you are). Regardless, for the rest of us "normal" folk, we are left to decide between tap, filtered, bottled, or delivery (even bigger bottles).

Municipal water is regulated by the EPA and is held to a stringent set of standards. (Bottled water, FYI, is safeguarded by the FDA). However, many people opt to add an extra … Read more

WaterMill turns air into water

Summer has officially come to a close, yet it seems still to linger in the air. Baseball playoffs are just getting underway, BBQ parties are still going strong, and it's still hot out. It's downright humid, in fact. So hot and humid that a nice, cool glass of water sounds great right about now. If, like me, you're dreaming of water being not in the air, but in a glass, then WaterMill might be just what you're looking for.

WaterMill by Element Four is a combination dehumidifier and water purifier. I know that when I feel … Read more