Slashdot Mirror
Domain: rolexawards.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to rolexawards.com.
Comments · 13
-
Re:Themoelectrics Already Pretty GoodThis is still way too expensive for developing countries - even though the refrigerator itself may cost less to build and service, the energy costs don't really improve. With few or overstressed power systems, this isn't going to help.
What can help is "Pot-in-pot" refrigerators. Two nesting unglazed ceramic pots, separated by wet sand and covered with a wet towel, will keep the interior cold enough thru evaporative cooling to keep vegetables fresh for up to two weeks.
-
Re:A pile of hooplaI agree. I would expand on your comment with two points: 1) If money were the primary incentive, then yes, us scientists would have finished our MBAs and moved to Manhattan years ago. And given how well we're paid, the incentives for scientific innovation are already in place: enormous intellectual freedom, short-term excitement that comes from incremental progress, and the promise of a strong sense of accomplishment after long-term success. 2) Prizes already exist which are more in reach than a Nobel. Examples:
- MacArthur Fellowship ($500,000)
- Feynman Grand Prize ($250,000)
- Rolex Award ($100,000)
-
Just the industrialized world??Also, his white LEDS need far less energy than normal incandescent lamps and can thus provide plenty of opportunity for energy-saving in the industrialized world.
Third world too, Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday sent white LEDs to Nepal, India and Sri-Lanka. A whole village can be illuminated with 100W.
Light Up The World Foundation
Dr. Irvine-Halliday at Rolex Awards -
the low-tech originalThis reminds me of a low-tech equivalent which won a humanitarian award for making a big difference in impoverished countries' local communities.
Good stuff.
-
Lets not forget the simpler implementation
Here is a very simple system that even works out in the middle of nowhere.
Rolex Awards -
Re:Coolgardie SafeIf so then he's losing 60 cents on each one he sells
No, because the manufacturing cost is 30 cents.
-
Old News
Wow, this is from 2000.
-
Re:I'm happy for him and all but..Maybe I'm just used to the break neck pace of computer advancement, but this seems a little.. late.
The original Rolex Award was made in 2000. What spurred the submitter was someone posting about it on a buletin board recently. I don't really object to reading about this; but it would have been much better to cite a primary source, like the the RolexAwards site which has full report on this invention and the background.
-
It's from 2000, but still coolSomeone a few posts down posted a link the the Rolex Awards site, but not the info page about the invention itself.
That page is located here.
-
Re:I'm happy for him and all but..
It is not a Time Award but a Rolex Award and indeed very old news (2000!).
-
Nor is it a new prize. He won this in 2000!
-
Link to rolex awards?
How about posting the link to the actual award website?
-
Re:IT's not for you!No doubt about it, but not until Kaman can reduce the price drastically. By say, 90% or so. I don't see that happening for many years. To the majority of people in the developing world, a dilapidated, fourth-hand, $10 bicycle is a lifetime investment.
The Segway HT also seems a bit too heavy. 65 pounds is a lot of weight to carry in and out of the office every day. Also, these things will be very hard to secure. There's an encrypted key associated with each unit, but that's hardly going to stop a thief from tearing the ignition guts out and "hot-wiring" it like a car, or--even simpler--tackling you as you round a dark corner and whizzing away with both $3,000 scooter and key intact. A bicycle, by comparison, is easier to nick but requires far less mazuma to replace, thereby making it less attractive to steal.
I may be cynical, but b/c these things are so expensive that my unscientific estimate of the frequency of attempted nicking incidents would be something on the order of "every time you turn it on."
Lots of potential, to be sure, but this is still the proof-of-concept/early adopter stage. In other words, it's a nifty toy for trust-funded ecology fanatics and "Hammacher Schlemmer" subscribers.
I'm kind of bummed b/c I thought it was going to use a revolutionary engine of some kind. Something totally wild and super efficient, like a high-torque Stirling or hydrogen-powered Wankel (rotary). In that case the engine itself would have been a revolutionary "core technology," not these self-balancing whirligigs that he uses to balance the scooter.
The Segway is definitely cool, but it doesn't quite live up to its billing as the Next Leap Forward in human progress. In my mind, it's not much compared to such low-tech miracles as the HippoRoller and the Pot-in-Pot Cooling System (story 1), (story 2)).