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Air-Powered Autos
You'd think something called an AirPod would be Apple's latest effort to improve the technology of its famous MP3 player. It isn't. This item weighs in at 485 pounds, a little too big to put in your pocket. But it's designed to be portable; in fact, it's designed to take you places. Unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show, the AirPod boasts a pretty amazing claim to fame: the three-passenger vehicle runs on compressed air.
Specifically, its 46-gallon tank holds air at a pressure of 5,000 pounds per square inch. It reportedly takes just two minutes to fill, and a full tank costs only one euro. What you gain in quick and inexpensive fill-ups, however, you lose to some degree in actual performance. In urban settings, the AirPod's range is 112 miles, and its top speed is just under 45 miles per hour. Additionally, one wonders how long it takes to get up to speed, with its eight-horsepower engine.
Still, certain features make it highly desirable. It does not emit any greenhouse gases. Its air tank and engine don't take up a lot of space. And the driver controls the three-wheeled vehicle with a joystick rather than a steering wheel, contributing to all kinds of gamer and futuristic fantasies. There's no word on whether politicians driving an AirPod might get a discount on their fuel costs.
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Getting to Carnegie Hall via YouTube
It was perhaps the most unconventional way to put together a symphony orchestra one could think of and it was almost inevitable that someone would try it. Instead of auditioning for a spot by showing up and performing before a panel of judges, 3,000 hopefuls tried out for the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra by how else? submitting videos of their performances to YouTube.
The 90 people who make up the final orchestra were chosen by a combination of votes from YouTube viewers and musicians from major orchestras. While some of the successful competitors are professional musicians, others are amateurs, including California surgeon Calvin Lee, who had barely touched his violin for 15 years before auditioning. Nevertheless, his performance of Presto from Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Sonata in G minor wowed viewers despite the fact that he was clearly in pain from no longer having the calluses needed to play the stringed instrument comfortably.
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra will make its debut on April 15 at Carnegie Hall. The members will travel to New York from 30 countries for a three-day meeting with San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas. Meanwhile, the musicians have been giving each other feedback in online comments and via email, helping to form the kind of camaraderie and working relationships that lead to making beautiful music together.
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Shining a Light in the Darkness
Taken for granted in many countries, electricity makes so many things possible. The story is vastly different in Ghana and other parts of rural Africa, where few villages have electricity and the rhythm of activity is dictated by the path of the sun. Now, thanks to Philips Electronics and not-for-profit Ghanian organization KITE, that's changing for the better.
The two organizations are beginning to bring artificial light to the more than 80 percent of villages that lack electricity. The light comes in the form of a solar-powered lantern, a wind-up flashlight and a reading light. All three products use LEDs, whose low power consumption ensures they will stay lit for a long time (the solar-powered lantern will last for seven hours when charged during the day).
This has the potential to change lives; at the end of the day, when it's getting dark and children are done with their chores, they now have light with which to study and learn. The products come at a cost; the lantern alone comes to two months pay for some of the African villagers, but tax relief may soon be available from the government to cut the price nearly in half. Still, that's a small price to pay when compared to the hope and help these lights in the darkness bring.
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