Apple’s iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case not for you? – try the Stacked battery case

Apple’s iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case has been widely criticised – briefly:

● “it’s ugly”

● “makes the phone too big”

● “small capacity compared to alternatives” (Apple 1,877mAh – Mophie Juice Pack Air 2,750mAh)

● “expensive compared to alternatives”

● “picks up cat hair & lint”

The Verge: “Apple’s new $99 iPhone battery case doesn’t measure up”


Credit: The Verge/YouTube

http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9867996/apple-smart-battery-case-iphone-6-6s-hands-on

Unbox Therapy: “This thing looks weird.”


Credit: Unbox Therapy/YouTube

Stacked has a different idea – a relatively slim case, with a separate battery, which can be magnetically attached to the case to charge the phone when necessary, but adds no bulk at other times. And both the phone & the Stacked battery charge by attaching magnetically to the Stacked charger. No more cables. Finally, the Stacked battery has greater capacity than the Apple at 2,750 mAh, & can be increased without limit, by buying extra batteries, if required.


Credit: Stacked/Vimeo

https://bgr.com/2015/12/23/iphone-battery-case-review-stacked-vs-apple/

Manufacturer’s web site:
http://www.poweredbystacked.com/ / new iPhone battery case The Hunchback of Cupertino Apple’s makes a killing selling high-margin iPhone accessories cables leather cases iPhones have relatively weak battery life compared to the competition Mophie battery cases big business Apple capture a sizable chunk of it offering its own first-party option main problem with the case ugly really ugly design aesthetically completely ruins the look of the iPhone battery case considered attractive Spyder’s sleek battery another option iPhone users similar hump design much much cooler than Apple’s Stacked unique battery case solution iPhone 6/6s iPhone 6/6s Plus adds wireless charging Stacked nifty novel iPhone charging solution three separate pieces first component case holds the iPhone far slimmer battery case separate 2,750 mAh power pack special wall charger separate power pack Stacked attaches back case magnetically transmits power wirelessly through case iPhone connects to the wall charger magnetically recharged wall charger wirelessly charge charge carry multiple packs always have power juice up your iPhone connect iPhone case directly wireless wall charger charge phone home desk power pack Stacked’s design big bulky case when you need power slap a power pack on it remove the pack phone slim video testing Stacked iPhone case battery cases thickness smartphones smart phones remove the power pack juice up charge time Stacked cases charge with 99% efficiency plugged into the wall Apple charger Apple sell battery cases current design not very attractive the iPhone of battery cases Stacked solution very smart novel works well charges quickly no noticeable signal loss phone in the case wireless charging iPhone cool bonus Stacked available iPhone 6 6s iPhone 6/6s Plus $129.99 black model free Prime shipping while gold white models one power pack additional packs sold separately /

Formula E, season 2, round 3, Punta del Este, Uruguay – extended video highlights

Just posted:

http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/formula-e-season-2-round-3-punta-del_19.html / Formula E all electric racing series Formula E, season 2, round 3, Punta del Este, Uruguay ePrix stadium races F1 FIA electricity sport electric vehicles EV terrific acceleration pass passing possible tracks with tight corners technology range race organizers Spark-Renault SRT_01E built French company Spark Racing Technology carbon fiber aluminum chassis Dallara electric powertrain electronics McLaren Electronics Systems Williams Advanced Engineering building 200 kiloWatt battery pack batteries powertrain generate 270 horsepower five-speed paddle shift gearbox fixed gear ratios Michelin 18 inch tires wet dry conditions sound 80 decibel whine full grid 20 cars FIA Formula E strategy street courses dedicated circuits tire wear grip management battery life charge prematurely testing drivers learn knowledge teams construction constructors constructing FanBoost pit stop second fully charged car advances in battery technology battery swaps charging battery Renault Michelin DHL Qualcomm Richard Branson Virgin Racing team Leonardo DiCaprio Venturi team lithium ion LiIon battery charge recharge range battery management system BMS /

Surface area of solar panels required to power the world

Larger image (1 MB): http://landartgenerator.org/pdf/PosterSolar.pdf
Credit: Land Art Generator Initiative

Solar panels convert light from the Sun into electricity. It’s likely there are a number of them on your roof or a roof near you. Are there enough roofs or other unused surface area to power your city? Your state? Country? World? Or would land area have to diverted from other purposes?

The US Department of Energy calculated, in 2009, that by 2030, world energy consumption in all forms would be 678 quadrillion BTU¹ (715 exaJoules^2,3).

So, what area of solar panels is required to produce that amount of energy from sunlight?

http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127
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¹ “British thermal unit”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_thermal_unit

² “Joule”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule

³ “exaJoule”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule#Exajoule / 2009 International Energy Agency IEA updated estimates implementation of demand-side efficiency measures worldwide long-range estimates overestimated US Department of Energy Energy Information Administration world consumption of energy all formsbarrels of petroleum cubic meters natural gas watts of hydro power projected 678 quadrillion BTU 715 exajoules 2030 44% increase over 2008 levels 1980 were 283 quadrillion BTU 500 quadrillion BTU 2009 surface area infrastructural investment amount of power using only solar panels create fuel vehicles equipment electricity generated create hydrogen big number 678,000,000,000,000,000 BTU kWh Btu kWh kiloWatt hours 198,721,800,000,000 kWh 199,721 tWh average household uses approximately 18,000 kWh per year 1/11 billion of the total world usage capacity .2 kW per SM square metre meter of land efficiency of 20% 1000 watts 1 kW 1 kiloWatt capacity square meter capacity kW multiply number of hours square meters photovoltaic panel outputting 0.2kW capacity kilowatts x hours kWh 70% average sunshine days per year world Africa Arabian peninsula 250 sun days per year 8 hours of daylight average 2,000 hours per year direct sunlight multiply each square meter by 2,000 yearly kWh capacity per square meter of 400 kWh global yearly demand kWh per square meter 198,721,800,000,000 / 400 496,804,500,000 square meters 496,805 square kilometers 191,817 square miles area required to power the world with solar panels roughly equal to the area of Spain 5,000 super-site installations around the world average 25 per country measure less than 10km a side UAE United Arab Emirates plans construct 1,500MW capacity 2020 area 3 km per side power itself as a nation completely solar energy USA United Nations 170,000 square kilometers of forest destroyed each year constructed solar farms 1.2 million square kilometers farmland in China area of solar farm required power world in 2030 compare to Saharan Desert Saharan Desert 9,064,958 square kilometers 18 times the total required area to fuel the world another measure unpopulated area of the Sahara desert over 9 million km² square kilometres covered with solar panels provide 630 terawatts total power Earth’s current energy consumption rate 13.5 TW at any given moment including oil gas coal nuclear hydroelectric measure multiplier area needed very conservative compare highways area of US interstate highway system constructed 35 years 94,000 square kilometers US consumes 20% of the world’s energy area of USA highway run the world nation required infrastructure golf courses typical golf course covers square kilometer worst case scenario projections 2030 growth BTU load sources of clean energy wave energy
world wave energy potential 2,100,000,000,000 kWh 2,100 tWh required load wind 5 MW turbine 17 gWh per year turbines manufacturing machine installation turbine existing hydroelectric environment construct dams rivers design new large-scale hydro effect ecosystems watersheds existing river well-planned run-of-the-river projects hydroelectric power accounted for 6% of the energy production in the world technologies improving efficiencies technology will continue to get better and better /

Wave generated electricity – pilot plant opened in Western Australia

Credit: Carnegie Wave Energy

This is the first wave electric power generation plant connected to a grid anywhere in the world. Other things that set it apart are that it is all below water (providing a degree of protection from storms & invisible from the shore) & incorporation of a reverse osmosis desalination plant.

Energy generated by the acton of waves on the bouys is brought ashore as high pressure water. There, a hydro-electric turbine converts the energy to electricity.

Compared most other sources of renewable energy, wave energy has the advantage of being available 24 hours per day.





http://www.sciencenewspost.com/worlds-first-grid-connected-wave-power-station-switched-on-in-australia/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CETO

Carnegie Wave Energy web site
http://carnegiewave.com/ / world first grid connected grid-connected wave power station switched on in Australia also supplies zero emission zero-emission desalinated water activated coast Western Australia WA testing demonstrations Australian company Carnegie Wave Energy switched on pilot project begun feeding wave-generated electricity into local WA grid first array wave power generators connected electricity grid Australia worldwide Ivor Frischknecht CEO Australian Renewable Energy Agency provided $13 million $32 million project company’s technology named CETO Greek goddess of the sea converts ocean swell zero-emission renewable power zero-emission desalinated freshwater company system different from other wave energy devices operates under water safer from large storms corrosion invisible from the shore round submerged buoys tethered seabed pump units installed depth between 25 50 metres waves crashing buoys drive pumps push pressurised seawater through pipeline beneath ocean floor onshore hydroelectric power station high-pressure water drives turbine generates electricity high-pressure water supply reverse osmosis desalination plant replacing reducing reliance greenhouse gas-emitting electrically-driven pumps required plants Sophie Vorath RenewEconomy project sell power Australian Department of Defence supply Australia’s largest naval base HMAS Stirling Garden Island sell fresh water base Carnegie’s newly commissioned desalination plant fully integrated into the project project’s three buoys installed installation second buoy during testing phase first 240kW peak capacity CETO 5 wave unit operated successfully more than 2,000 hours Frischknecht statement larger CETO 6 units being developed four times power generating capacity Carnegie chief executive Michael Ottaviano The West Australian project much bigger versions capable of powering towns challenge scale cost make the technology bigger make our projects bigger that’s what get your costs down economy of scale wave resources Western Australia best in the world theoretically resources hit our coastline power the state /

Best wishes

Credit: think-solar-power.com

All the very best from Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech!

Bubble level in Google Search

Credit: Übergizmo

On your smart phone, call up a Google search bar – widget, browser – doesn't seem to matter – & type:

bubble level

On at least some smartphones, both iOS & Android, you will see a simulated bubble level as shown in the image above.

Tested successfully on iPhone 6+, Samsung Note 4 & Note 3

Some devices, including Samsung S3 & S4 display, “Device not supported”.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/2015/12/search-google-bubble-level/

Thanks to Phil, Peter & John for help with testing. / Search Google Bubble Level nifty feature love about Google answer your search results displayed at a glance convert from one measure to another search results display summary answer links expanded answer Google search double up as a tool need a bubble level screenshot above searching for “bubble level” Google result actual working bubble level displayed search results not all phones are supported could potentially be your browser settings works on iOS devices Android only thing unfamiliar bubble level spirit level tools use to determine ground is level surface used by landscape photographers ensure that their cameras are level tripod placed on an uneven surface handy hang paintings photos on the wall make sure that it isn’t crooked replace actual bubble/spirit levels in a pinch don’t want to go out and buy one specifically should be able to get the job done /

Sixteen lens compact camera with performance of an SLR – development continues

Shutterbug: “it slid snugly into the front pocket of my skinny jeans”
Credit: Shutterbug

You may remember previous mention of development of the Light L16 camera, which uses 16 cameras with phone-size sensors to produce 40+ Megapixel images at focal lengths of 35-150 mm.¹

More information is now available, including:

Co-operative arrangement with Foxconn to develop the technology for smartphones. This is expected to be the wide-angle variant, with around 18-80mm zoom,¹ mentioned in my previous article.

Hands-on review by Shutterbug photography magazine:
http://www.shutterbug.com/content/16-cameras-one-light-announces-l16-multi-aperture-computational-camera-pocket-sized-dslr#fkJZqv2hz8v4ML85.97

Presentation by Dr. Rajiv Laroia, co-founder & CTO, on the underlying technolgy:


More comprehensive developer’s web site:
https://light.co/

Light is accepting deposits to reserve a camera for delivery in late 2016.
__________

¹ full-frame 35mm equivalent / focus zoom move mirrors calibrate multiple lenses unique Light L16 four spiders 16 cameras arranged haphazard fashion tiny mirrors thin sheet glass shoot pictures bizarre multi-camera Light executives fully operational version camera develop developing development software editing tools custom circuitry put camera in the hands of the masses performs as advertised sample gallery images taken L16 impressive revolutionary new type professional-level camera high-resolution images adjust depth of field your pictures after take shot excels low light nothing bigger smartphone sensor expensive plastic lens embedded phone-like face no moving parts optical zoom range 35mm 150mm front L16 flat multiple lenses embedded behind transparent glass pane panel optical porthole feeds light separate 13-megapixel sensor camera capture images three discrete focal lengths five sensors five 35mm lenses point straight out 11 cameras lens arrangement Light team folded optics like periscopes sensors tucked behind five 70mm lenses six 150mm lenses perpendicular front camera little robotic mirrors visible through front L16 deflect photons right angles toward sensors long-zoom lens barrels positioned sideways ample room pack more lens elements in each barrel Light co-founder CEO Dave Grannan extra room makes huge difference camera’s optical oomph big heavy lenses conventional camera 15 glass elements flourite element some exotic material spherical elements slight asphere aspherical very expensive process glass lens molded-plastic technology cellphones been perfected lenses so good diffraction limited aspherical on each surface five both sides 10 aspherical surfaces incremental cost aspherical zero plastic mold punch them out glass very expensive five barrel Android iPhone at volume costs dollar camera need 16 sensors 16 multi-element lenses 11 mirrors take photograph holy grail Light L16 slim compact camera performs like bulky DSLR without expensive interchangeable lenses large sensor success camera’s internal infrastructure change the way smartphones take pictures today’s smartphone cameras already excellent small sensors poor performance low light pleasantly shallow depth of field bokeh DSLR larger-sensor camera optical-zoom lens zoom digital zoom image negatively impact detail image quality definition smartphone cameras creative solutions Nokia Lumia 1020 crammed 41 megapixels sensor crop and digitally zoom without destroying image detail. Panasonic’s Lumix CM1 larger sensor smartphone body image capabilities dedicated compact camera more megapixels small sensor better image quality large sensor optically zoom multi-camera multi-lens approach complex computational imaging Light big-sensor image quality very high resolution big-lens zoom flat-fronted futuristic brick power 16 smartphone sensors Light co-founder CEO Dr. Rajiv Laroia sensors Light camera tandem mimic benefits very large sensor sensors Light relatively cheap amount computational magic unites them all small sensors very unpredictable pixel level cramming tiny sensor full pixels size of those pixels smaller number of photons pixel level accuracy image bucket collects photons pixels sensors modern cellphone sensors 5,000 photons Laroia explains pixel sensing on/off signal sensing shades construct image sense shades photons light energy quantum mechanics level light energy statistical probabilistic small sensors record grain noise low-light settings DSLRs more detailed pictures dark larger sensors Light L16 distributed array smaller sensors spread out the work mimic much bigger pixel using multiple sensors Laroia says effective sensor area becomes lot larger noise goes down significantly dynamic range increases significantly dynamic range increases tenfold how many sensors take a photo L16 photo depending focal length cameras capturing shots stitching together create single high-resolution image 35mm widest-angle field of view five 35mm cameras fire images captured sensors slightly overlap camera stitch together seamless image lining up shots additional five-camera capture 70mm 35mm shot 150mm one quarter 70mm slightly overlapping geometry parallax mirrors deflecting photons 70mm 150mm aren’t static actuators slightly tilt adjust each photo mirrors seated front 70mm lenses quickly adjust capture image more detail 52 megapixels detail file size between 30 and 50MB 70mm pointed center image upper left quadrant 13-megapixel picture quarter scene upper right quadrant one stays middle image quality best there 13 megapixel sensors one 52-megapixel image 70mm 150mm modules camera takes 70mm photo 150mm 52 megapixels image resolution room crop digitally retain detail dynamic range crop light energy edges tradeoff 70mm 52 megapixels 40 megapixels DSLRs cameras capturing so much data different aperture values focal lengths post-shot retouching options groundbreaking time exposure set at the time take picture depth of field ISO dynamic range adjusted after the fact 11 PhDs computational optics depth map great 3D information developer write indoor mapping app leverages that information facial recognition precise information 3D-printing app non-removable battery 128GB fixed internal storage touchscreen manual controls While Light ship L16 earliest pre-orders response camera slimmer versions camera in the works smartphones smartphone Light’s imaging technology internal components can get slimmer design modified eliminate 150mm lenses 18mm focal length DSLR quality low-light performance shallow depth of field zoom /