TechRoar

It is time to draw your attention to things that look good on your ears, and I’m talking about technology, not earrings. Mankind has enjoyed a few short years of using a mobile phone hands free and tapping its feet to music from various mp3 players. Yet the glory of these years has been considerably hampered by the existence of the annoying – you’ve guessed it – wires. Bluetooth technology has been around since 1999 but it’s only quite recently that companies have put anything into the market that looks half decent.

(i)  The Ripple Headset
This trendy new device is the design of Ilya Fridman. The circular contours of the headset reveal the inspiration behind them; the movement of rippling water. It clips onto your ear just like a fake earring would and has two simple functions; speaking and listening. The button in the centre changes from orange to green when active, and it needs to be pressed to activate the talk function.
200 hours standby, 5.5 hours talk time

(ii) The PinkTooth Headset
ChicBuds, as the name suggests, dedicates its time to making shiny earphones that girls absolutely love. These come ornamented in Swarovski crystals and are not just pretty; they function well too! The battery lasts 200 hours on standby and can handle 6 hours of nonstop chatting. Sound quality, by the way, is Swarovski-crystal clear.


(iii) The HBH-PV720 by Sony Ericsson
They might not sparkle like ChicBuds, but these wireless Sony headsets are stylish nonetheless. They come with three interchangeable faceplates and can be worn about the neck, suspended off a sleek black chain when not in use.
Furthermore, this model comes with an impressive battery; 800 hours on standby and 11 hours of talk time.

While solar power may be a great, cheap way of heating up the bath water, this form of renewable energy can simply not be depended upon 24 hours of the day. What we lack is a decent power storage system but Professor Donald Sadoway may have the answer. The TR10 is a liquid battery and the result of the efforts of Sadoway and his design team at MIT.

This battery is unique because all its active components are liquid; the two electrodes are molten metals magnesium and antimony, while the electrolyte is a molten salt. The liquids are of different densities so they automatically form three separate layers, the relative volumes of which change each time the battery charges or discharges. The TR10 has the ability to rapidly absorb and store large amounts of energy. Sadoway claims that the electrodes of his battery can work at electrical currents “tens of times higher than any that’s ever been measured.”

Photovoltaic technology has developed quickly over recent years but has never been used on a large scale. The liquid battery, says Sadoway “is capable of storing the grid.” Is this really feasible? Economically, yes: The TR10 costs less than a third of the modern battery since the materials it uses are inexpensive and the design is simple enough to cut manufacturing costs too. Since none of the active materials are solid, the battery has a longer life. (No component cracks or degrades over time.)

For any of you concerned about the highly volatile nature of molten magnesium and toxicity of antimony, don’t sweat it out too soon. The liquid battery developed at MIT is only a prototype and its creators are testing out alternative metals and salts. They hope to get a commercial battery ready for the market in 3-5 years. So perhaps in the next decade, your own house will cut down its carbon footprint and run solely on shiny roof shingles and a trashcan-sized Super- Battery.