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Inside a small wind-turbine beta test

MUSKEGON, Mich.--Tucked in the back corner of a nondescript office park is an early shoot in the budding green-energy economy--a start-up with big plans for small wind turbines.

Last month, I took a detour from a summer road trip to visit WindTronics and see a prototype of its wind turbine designed for individual homes and commercial buildings. The company's lab, housed in a nearly empty warehouse, is a glimpse into the fervent experimentation going on among green-tech entrepreneurs and, specifically, in small wind.

With people looking for clean and cheaper forms of energy, sales of small wind turbines are brisk and projected to grow … Read more

World's smallest microwave also has world's worst name

In what appears to be another case of "good idea, poor execution," Heinz has partnered with Frazer Designers to invent the world's smallest USB-powered microwave. The little device aims to satisfy the appetites of office workers who have so much work on their plate they can't find the time to step outside for a bite to eat. Stranger still, the microwave is called...the Beanzawave (what?!).

The small turquoise device is officially the smallest microwave ever invented, measuring a tiny 7.4 inches tall, 6.2 inches wide, and 5.9 inches deep. Much like today'… Read more

Small wind turbine works at low wind speeds

Homeowners this fall will be able to buy a wind turbine at hardware stores that tackles the small wind industry's bete noire: slow wind.

WindTronics, based in Muskegon, Mich., has developed a wind turbine sized for individual homes that it says can operate at speeds as low as 2 miles an hour.

It will be sold for $4,500 as the Honeywell Wind Turbine and distributed through Ace Hardware stores in the U.S. starting in October. WindTronics developed the turbine and licensed the technology to buildings systems giant Honeywell.

The fan-like turbine will generate 2,000 kilowatt-hours in … Read more

Tiny MP3 players

Flash-based MP3 players are taking over the marketplace. Unlike their hard-drive-based counterparts, flash MP3 players have no moving parts, affording them entirely skip-free playback and, in most cases, a long battery life. Also, flash chips are tiny, meaning the players that use them can be small to the point of ridiculousness.

Luckily, most (but perhaps not all) manufacturers realize that there is such a thing as too small. We had no trouble finding a collection of manageable MP3 players that won't take up valuable space in a briefcase, a backpack, a purse, or a pocket. And although each measures … Read more

Small wind turbines blow out big sales

Updated on May 29 at 7:25 a.m. PT with corrected figure of installed turbines last year.

Sales of turbines big enough to serve a single home or office building grew rapidly last year and are poised for even faster growth this year, according to a report from the American Wind Energy Association.

The report, published on Thursday (click for PDF), found that sales of small wind turbines smaller than 100 kilowatts grew 78 percent last year, even though there was a sharp drop-off at the end of last year and beginning of this year.

The actual number of … Read more

Webware 100 winner: Microsoft Office Live Small Business

Site: Smallbusiness.officelive.com Category: Productivity

Microsoft Office Live Small Business is Microsoft's business-in-a-box service. It's designed to get a small business on the Web--both publicly, with a Web site, and privately, for collaboration and back-office work. Businesses get their own domain, e-mail, shared workspaces, Web site, and a contact manager tool.

Microsoft Office Live Small Business service is free, but users can tack on more services for additional monthly, and yearly fees. These include more storage, more users, premium ad-free e-mail, and domain name registration.

GE invests in Southwest Windpower for small wind

Southwest Windpower, which makes residential wind turbines, said on Monday it has raised $10 million from existing investors and General Electric to expand its operations.

With the money, the Flagstaff, Ariz.-based company said it intends to grow its European operations and invest in product development.

Southwest Windpower makes the Skystream tower-mounted wind turbine, designed for individual homes or buildings. It was originally developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratories.

These relatively small turbines have a rated capacity of up to 3 kilowatts of electricity. With a good wind source, a homeowner could offset more than half of their electricity … Read more

Microsoft adds Windows version for cheap servers

Microsoft announced a new server for small businesses, though one should not confuse it with a new version of the company's Small Business Server product.

The latter is a bundle of Windows Server and Exchange, among other things, for businesses with 50 or fewer people while the new product, Windows Server 2008 Foundation, is only the operating system and is aimed at single-processor servers with fewer than 15 users.

The new Windows version is Microsoft's answer to the server equivalent of Netbooks, ultra-low cost servers aimed at the smallest of businesses. The product will only be sold preinstalled … Read more

MySpace goes after Yelp with Citysearch partnership

MySpace started off as a hub for indie bands to connect with their fans. Now, with a new partnership with the IAC/InterActiveCorp-owned Citysearch, it's hoping to do the same for the likes of bars, clubs, and restaurants.

Called "MySpace Local," the new section on the News Corp.-owned MySpace will be rooted in existing listings from Citysearch (restricted to major U.S. cities) that are souped up with social features like the ones that you might see on a band or celebrity's MySpace page (photos, videos, comments, and the like). It's launching with just &… Read more