WIMM Labs and Foxconn have teamed up to create the WIMM One and they are currently going to be selling it to developers to start creating excitement and so they can begin creating apps for the device. It features a transflective TFT 160×160 resolution display that apparently bodes well in sunlight. Some of the other features include:

• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• GPS
• Magnetometer
• Accelerometer
• Vibrate motor

Pair this little device up with the ability to communicate with your phone and we may have a gem on our hands. Ultimately, developers are the ones who will really make or break the WIMM One Android watch. There may even be an app store coming so this could get interesting.

The Orbital phone is designed with features that will help with balance and equilibrium making it easier to be used with only one hand. Its shape resembles that of an hourglass making it easier to hold onto without dropping. Users can use it from either end so they don’t have to change the orientation before answering calls. There is also a finger loop on the back to help prevent users from dropping the phone.

We’re not sure if there are any special buttons but photos indicate Android may be the preferred OS if it should ever come to market. Either way, the Orbital phone looks like a good concept phone for the disabled.

Toyota’s GRMN II concept hybrid car will be showcased at the Nürburgring 24-hour endurance race from June 23 through June 26, held at the famous racetrack near Nürburg, Germany. GRMN stands for “GAZOO Racing Tuned by MN” with GAZOO  standing for a motorsports development program in Japan, and MN standing for “master of Nürburgring.”

GRMN II features a mid-engine layout, with the 3.5 liter 2GR-FXE engine driving power to the rear wheels. Meanwhile, electric motors up at the front drive power to the front wheels, for a stable ride and better maneuverability. The car features both hybrid and electric-only modes, which lets you choose whether to go for spirited driving or keep the emissions at (or near) zero for an eco-friendlier ride.

If you’re into cars, you probably know that “the Ring” is one of the more challenging tracks in the world. What’s more interesting is that it’s a public access toll road, so you can go ahead and time your laps for 20 Euro a pop.

pix

Take any LCD touchscreen outside in direct sunlight, and you will probably see a washed out display, and can’t figure out anything onscreen. But with Pixel Qi displays, the device can automatically switch from color screen when indoors to a greyscale or black-and-white electronic ink paper when outdoors, featuring crisp displays with high contrast. There’s another advantage to this technology. Because a 10-inch Pixel Qi display can consume as little as 0.5 Watts in black and white mode, a tablet can be designed with small solar panel that generates 1 Watt of electricity and power the device–including processor and peripherals–while outdoors.

Pixel Qi founder Mary Lou Jepsen has put forth this idea, which is an interesting concept to watch out for. While we probably won’t see any tablet with a solar-charging battery and an e-ink screen soon, this kind of device might be suitable for certain scenarios that require a user to be away from power outlets for extended periods, such as camping, hiking or in rural, developing regions. Hey, isn’t this one of the power design concepts originally planned for the OLPC?

The EcoPad is a design concept from Yanko Design that incorporates the use of human touch as a source of power. According to the designers, the EcoPad no longer needs an external power source to charge the batteries. The device will involve nano piezo electricity film that can convert human touch into usable energy. This way, your fingers charge the tablet every time you use it.

Of course, being a concept design, we won’t see the technology in tablets anytime soon, although we do hope that tablet manufacturers take heed. Being able to charge your tablet when you use it (as opposed to draining the battery during use) is one way to save on electricity bills and reduce your carbon footprint. An additional benefit is that you don’t have to worry about running out of charge during extended use away from your home or office desk.

Pictured above is the Huawei Leaf, which is designed by Swedish architecture and design studio Claesson Koivisto Rune. The phone is said to be a “reaction against overloaded functions,” which basically means it’s not your run-of-the-mill smartphone that runs Android. It seems the phone is designed pretty well, but is not designed for anything more advanced than the usual dumbphone, which can do calls and text messages.

The Huawei Leaf was designed with human ergonomics in mind. The phone is folded up, so that it fits your face when making calls, and for easier reading of text messages. The phone is also said to be balanced in weight and with keypads easily accessible to the thumbs. I kind of recall similar phone designs, like the Nokia 8110 “banana” phone featured in the Matrix movie. Sure, it wasn’t very pocketable, but place it against your face, and it feels like you’re holding an old-fashioned landline handset that curves properly against your cheek.

Will the Huawei Leaf succeed in a competitive mobile phone market, though? It’s probably good as a niche phone–something that a person who just wants texts and calls, or something good for use as a second phone (you know, the kind that you actually use for making calls). If you can install Android, though, this would be one sexy, marketable phone.

Belgian automaker Imperia has jumped in with a hybrid plug-in vehicle that will sure put cars like the leaf to shame for no other reason than the fact that this particular hybrid actually looks like it belongs on the Autobahn. The Imperia GP has a 212 horsepower engine paired up with a 134 horsepowered electric engine. That means this particular plug-in hybrid can go 45 miles on a single charge. More importantly the GP can go from 0-60 in about four seconds so those riding in it will never have to know they are actually helping the environment.

Of course all of this depends on the car actually hitting the market. While a concept model was revealed at the Brussels auto show, Imperia has given no indication of when someone can buy the car.

This three wheeled, two person vehicle is known as the MET and perhaps the neatest thing about this little car is that the battery pack for the car is by the third wheel. The battery packs are also extremely cheap which means that a person can usually own more than one at a time. This way, instead of having to stop at home and charge the car whenever its battery pack runs out they can simply switch out the battery pack quickly and easily. As of now there has been no official price released for the MET nor when they will actually be available.

[Geeky Gadgets]

Toyota in particular is trying to produce as many different kinds of electric vehicles and hybrids and one of the ones they have been working on for a couple of years was an ultra compact iQ Electric Vehicle. The first step towards actually getting these cars into the hands of drivers is the auto show next month where the company will show off a near production prototype. This particular model is supposed to be very much like the FT-EV but with a better battery that can travel as many as 65 miles on just one charge. Toyota says it will begin leasing the car to European customers in 2012 with North America to follow soon after.

The Wind Explorer traveled more than 5,000 km (3,107 miles) from Perth, through Adelaide, and to Melbourne. The cost of gasoline? None. The trip was powered all by wind.

The Wind Explorer prototype, built by Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer in Germany, is powered by lithium-ion batteries that can be charged using a mobile wind turbine. The car is said to achieve full charge overnight, although, of course, we assume this is during a particularly windy day.

The Wind Explorer is very compact, at 200 Kg (440 lbs), and sits low on the ground, aiding in aerodynamics. So far, the car has only been tested in Austalia, but the creators are confident that this kind of technology has great potential, especially amid global warming issues. The car has zero carbon emissions, and is noiseless.

The ESFLOW operates thanks to two different motors that are both housed over each of its rear wheels. Because of these dual motors, the ESFLOW still has plenty of kick, being able to go from 0 to 60 in just five seconds. The ESFLOW is expected to debut next month at the International Motor Show in Geneva and if there will be one drawback to the car it will be that it won’t be nearly as economical as the Leaf. While the Nissan Leaf has an MSRP of around $32,000 the ESFLOW will have a more expensive and lighter body made of aluminum and other composite materials making the car a higher price.

Turkish auto maker Etox may not be ready to give Tesla a run for its money just yet when it comes to producing a hot rod that runs completely on electricity but it is getting closer. Perhaps the one thing that could topple Tesla in popularity is the fact that the Etox electric Zafer could only cost about $19,000 when it hits showrooms. The major drawback for the Zafer EV would however be how fast it is expected to go. Estimates from industry insiders say that the electric Zafer is looking to top out at 75 MPH, which isn’t exactly the top speed most sports car drivers are looking for.

In India, for example, Tata Motors has come up with the Tata Nano that’s priced almost the same as a motorcycle, but with the added benefit of 4 wheels, a roof and some (small) trunk space. Mitsubishi wants in on the mini car game, and so it has introduced the Global Small concept.

The concept car will debut at the Geneva Motor Show, and while Mitsubishi has not released any specifications or details, the car will likely be powered by a 1.0 to 1.2 liter engine mated with a CVT. Added features are a regenerative braking system, which will return braking energy into whatever power source the car has. The tires will be low-friction, and the brakes low-drag. The body itself will be designed with aerodynamics in mind. All this will contribute to fuel efficiency.

According to Mitsubishi, production will start March 2012 at a new Thailand facility, and will be priced tentatively at about $13,119.

One company, 350Green is looking to making driving an Electric Vehicle just a little bit easier by installing several charging stations in commercial areas that are heavily trafficked in the Bay area. This particular project will basically be a sort of test for other companies in other parts of the country to see just how successful independent charging stations can be. These particular charging stations will be located in Albany, Menlo Park, Milbrae, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Sunnyvale and they will all be installed at no cost to the businesses surrounding the charging stations. The project in the Bay area is expected to be completed by 2012.

Nissan says that when the plant is finally completed it will be able to produce 200,000 Leaf batteries a year, which of course means that Nissan will be able to step up the production of the Leafs themselves. Carlos Tavares who is the chairman of the American branch of Nissan automotive issued a statement in which he said that “Nissan is making significant strides to be one of the largest producers of electric vehicles and batteries in the United States.”

The construction of the plant is expected to cost around $1.7 billion, and 80 percent of that amount is coming from a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The new Ram plug-in hybrid is one such truck that Chrysler hopes will make car and truck enthusiasts think of that company when they think of green vehicles. The Ram hybrid works to pair a 12 Kwh battery with Chrysler’s very own hemi engine they are known so well for. The battery, made by Electrovaya has been billed as one that will allow drivers to go 20 miles on electricity alone and after that the car’s regular combustion engine would kick in.

Unfortunately, at the moment, Chrysler is not offering this particular truck to individual consumers but it can’t be too long before the company decides to offer the Ram to a wider audience.

The Car DVR looks a lot like some kind of odd desk lamp but it is in fact a motion activated video camera that is also equipped with an SD card. The Car DVR works best when it is placed on the dashboard or somewhere in the back of the vehicle where it can simply be set and left to do its job. The device will record high quality 640 x 480 video but only when the car is moving. The point of the DVR is when the driver gets into an accident; the video it records will serve as proof of who was the real culprit in the accident. While the camera only records 20 minutes total, the Car DVR costs a measly $40 a piece so it’s not hard to own more than one in each vehicle.

[Geeky Gadgets]

The Comodo console has a touchscreen display that comes equipped with a speakerphone, a backup camera display, a GPS antenna and an always on cellular modem that allows the console to connect to a 3G wireless network. Using this particular connection drivers can connect to internet radio stations like Pandora and can listen to the music as they travel across the landscape. Of course music isn’t the only positive with this console. The Comodo’s GPS navigation will give real time updates on traffic and warn drivers when they are approaching dangerous terrain. It will also warn when someone is speeding.

Now the Whip LiFe has suffered another setback as the Department of Transportation still refuses to give a thumbs up on the little EV that can reach a top speed of 65 MPH and can go as many as 100 miles on a single charge. The car sells for about $32,995 (or at least it will when sales are legal) and the company claims that somewhere around 500 people have pre-ordered the car and are simply waiting for them to be made available. Wheego says they are still optimistic that the US government will approve the car by the end of January but later in the winter or early spring is more likely.

Professor Srdjan Capkun of ETH Zurich and his research team took 10 different models from the eight major car makers who put out Keyless Entry cars and found that every single one of the cars was eminently hackable.

Keyless Entry cars send and receive signals to and from the wireless key fob and while most of the time the fob and the car need to be close together in order to get the car to start, the professor was able to massively amplify the signals using basic antennas. This meant that someone could steal a car from outside someone’s house while the fob was inside, or the car could be stolen from outside a grocery store while the owner was inside shopping. Truly no car is theft proof in this day and age.

With the partnership, GM will have an entire year of exclusivity in order to put Powermat devices inside their vehicles. With the Powermats fitting in the middle of the car like a compartment that holds devices like your cell phone or iPod, these Powermats will both hold them and charge them.

GM has said that these consoles will also be put in the back of their cars for those passengers. The company says that the first cars to have these will be the Volt but they plan to use them across the fleet of their vehicles. They are not expected to be incorporated until at least 2012.

Starting this spring, anyone who wishes to buy the $299 special OnStar rearview mirror, as well as pay the $18.95 per month fee will be able to do so. Best Buy will be on of the main retailers of the service, GM announced yesterday. The auto maker says that the mirror will work in 99 percent of the top 20 non-GM selling vehicles over the last few decades, in other words, somewhere around 55 million autos will be able to employ the service.

The OnStar service has been in use by six million subscribers since its release over 10 years ago.

I’m a watch geek, and I’ve seen Avant-garde watches of all sorts. But this strikes me as something really simple and straight to the point, but with a learning curve, though.

I assume that some point among the swirls correspond to the hour and minute hand of a traditional analog watch, respectively. So, it’s nothing really new, like the NOOKA watches that indicate time via dots. It’s more like the Tokyo Flash watch concept, which shows the time in an analog fashion, although with a twist.

Most of the Ziiiro watches come in minimalist designs, in various colors and strap styles–including rubber, metallic and plastic. These are great for collections or for gifts to people who are into watches or eccentric designs.

The Ziiiro minimalist watch retails for 110 to 149 euros, or about US$ 145 to US$ 200 from the Ziiiro store.

The first version of the Ford MyKey would actually allow parents to set the top speeds which children could drive the car. There are several different speeds that can be set and a chime sounds every time a speed limit is hit. Now the advances in the MyKey will make it so that specific channels on an included Sirius radio will be made unavailable if parents decide that the content is far too adult or explicit for them to listen to.

These new additions will first be launched on the new Ford Taurus and Ford Explorer. Officials at Ford say that in the end the point of MyKey is actually to let parents feel more comfortable giving the keys to the car because of the limits that can be put in place.

Seoul, South Korea has announced that it is the first in the world to roll out all electric commercial bus service for its city. While there have previously been several different pilot programs all over the world and there have been other electric vehicle forms of public transportation, this is the first all-electric commercial busing program.

The initiative is in concert with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hankuk Fiber. These particular buses are expected to be able to run for about 52 miles on a single charge (about 30 minutes of activity) and can hit a maximum speed of 62 miles per hour.

It’s not so much that the logo itself is the antenna, (word is that Dell was looking to do something like that and put the patent out on same) but rather that the antenna forms a window for the logo, allowing it to be safely ensconced in the chassis but not easily blocked by us fat-fingered human beings who are just holding the darn thing wrong. And in some cases, this is already in progress, apparently: the iPad was recently discovered by some to have an antenna built around the logo.

Now here’s the part that’s a bit of a surprise: Apple’s patent not only shows how you can get logo antennas in desktops, laptops, tablets, and other devices like cell phones, but as it turns out, reports suggest that the patent also shows off other possibilities for logo antennas, like netbooks, wrist watches, and “other wearable devices”.

Does that mean that Apple’s looking to work out a line of ultraportable net-surfing devices you can wear on your person? Not necessarily. But we’ve seen some strange stuff from Apple before, and putting anything past them is generally a bad bet. Speculative in the extreme, I know…but why would they make mention, in a patent, of possible things that could be done with their new tech if they didn’t have at least some interest in making them happen?

Maybe Apple’s got some interesting new devices in the pipe for us, and frankly, I look forward to seeing where this patent takes them.

While trotting out their new Fit EV, Honda also gave a short look at their newest Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), the Honda Accord. While the Accord is still very much in the test stages, the Japanese automaker did offer some specifics including saying that this Accord would use a new kind of hybrid engine specifically designed for midsize and large Honda cars. The new engine will start appearing in their fleet in 2012.

While the Accord was a sight to see, it was the Fit EV that really stole the show. While the Accord is expected to have just 10 to 15 miles range in the city on battery alone, the Fit can go as far as 100 miles without a recharge. The Fit EV can also be fully charged in just under 12 hours.

We all know how portable or external hard drives work–plug them into a USB slot and you’re packing storage. But we also know that, most of the time, the USB drive is just solid plastic on top. That’s where the Float steps in–they took that flat surface on the hard drive and turned it into a trackpad, so that you can move your cursor around on top of your portable hard drive.It’s also got a carbon fiber casing, a few LED lights and a glass base for some more aesthetic embellishment, as well as USB 3.0 for super-fast transfer speeds.

It’s kind of obvious in retrospect–you’ve got all that dead space just sitting there and it’s connected by USB anyway, so why not use it–and it also leaves me wondering why no one’s thought to build, say, a corded mouse with a thumb drive built in, so that you can store things to your mouse.  Saves room in your laptop case, after all, and the more room you save in your laptop case, the lighter your load, and the better a job you’ll be able to do with carting things around. This happens to be the basic principle behind the LaCie Float, and it’s frankly a good one.

While it’s unclear when exactly we’ll be able to lay hands on one of these (they’re still in the design phase right now), the word is that they’ll be packing storage between 256 gig and one full terabyte when they actually go to production. There’s also no word yet on just how much these will cost, which is a shame, because I certainly wouldn’t mind getting hands on one.

While there have been previous attempts at a watch displaying information from a mobile phone, none have been marketable so far. Hopefully, Fossil’s attempt at creating a watch that connects to Android phones will be successful. The concept watch bears an LCD that can display information to a connected Android phone (through Bluetooth or WiFi, I suppose). This might include weather information, battery status and email, SMS and missed call counts.

This way, you can just leave the phone in your pocket and just glance at your watch to see if there’s anything interesting happening with the phone.

Fossil markets affordable but stylish watches (I have a Chronograph dating to 2002), and this one will be no different. Watch and Android enthusiasts say the watch will likely retail for $200 or so.

How about letting the watch act as a Bluetooth receiver as well, so we can use it for talking, like Knight Rider’s Michael Knight?

On December 15th, Hertz will add the Fortwo Electric Vehicles to their already green fleet. The rental car company has already announced that they will be adding the Nissan Leaf and the Coda Sedan to their fleet in greater and greater numbers as the months roll on. Unfortunately for those who wish to use the Fortwo EVs, Hertz will not be rolling out these particular vehicles in many markets. At the present time the Fortwo EVs will only be marched out in San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C. While it is a safe bet that sooner or later Hertz will expand its rental fleet of EVs to other markets, there is no word on when that may be or even concrete evidence that such plans are in the works.

While the law that mandates this is drawing quite a bit of attention this week, it was actually encapsulated in George W. Bush’s 2007 Transportation Safety Act. That act slowly incorporates the new addition with just 10 percent of new cars manufactured needing the camera by 2012. In 2013, the number of cars that must be produced by each manufacturer jumps to 40 percent and in 2014 every car manufactured needs to have the back-up camera. Studies show that these cameras can save just over 300 lives and avoid somewhere in the neighborhood of 18,000 car accident related injuries each year. What exactly this will do to prices of cars in the long run has yet to be seen.

The recently-granted patent, aptly called “Magnetic connector with optical signal path” entails a connection system that essentially unifies most of the computer’s input/output ports, alongside the power connection. This includes USB, ethernet networking, video output via DVI, and an optical drive.

This patent might hint at a future implementation of a universal dock, in which a Mac will only have one interface (perhaps alongside a few built-in USB ports for convenience), through which all else connects. This will be particularly useful for small devices like the 11-inch MacBook Air, which already does away with erstwhile standard I/O like an optical drive and ports like a standard video port and Ethernet port.

This new MagSafe concept might also hint at additional connectivity options for surface devices like the iPad and even the iPhone and iPod Touch.

This way, you will have reduced cable clutter, and in case you trip on the Ethernet cord, your precious MacBook won’t come crashing along with it. That is, if people are still using Ethernet cables in the future.

We earlier reported that Parker Brothers Choppers, a bike shop in Florida, has built five units. But it seems they built more–a total of 10 Light Cycles–and now there are only four left for sale. The price seems to have increased from $35,000 to $55,000, though.

The custom-built and street-legal replicas of the Tron Light Cycle are built on steel frames, fiberglass bodies and a V-twin Suzuki TLR1000 engine. Braking power comes from a custom friction drum built into the hub-less design.

Each bike weighs 474 pounds, is about 100 inches long and 23 inches wide. What’s great is that the creators say the Light Cycle lookalike handles just like an actual sportsbike. Technically speaking, though, the bike is not a replica, per se, since the Tron bikes are in virtual reality. But the creators designed the Light Cycle with the movie pictures and visuals in mind.

If you’re ordering one for yourself, you can choose between actual gauges or virtual ones. If you have an iPad, you can order your bike with a built-in dock for the iPad, where you can view virtual gauges and other stats.

Hurry! There are only four units left.

Honda showcased its BRIO prototype in India earlier this year, and has unveiled its latest design at the recent Thailand International Motor Expo.

The supermini car is in line with Honda’s “new small concept.” Most manufacturers these days–particularly Asian carmakers–have small cars that cater to the young and energy-conscious market. Some examples include the Hyundai i10, Mazda2, Suzuki Alto, and even the Ford Fiesta. The Honda BRIO, at 3.6m long and 1.68m wide, will be smaller than the Honda City and Conda Fit.

So called A-class vehicles, these cars focus on compactness and energy efficiency. They also have low sticker prices, which appeal to the youth. Honda will likely market the BRIO with something in the lines of “my first Honda.”

No word yet on what powerplant will go under the BRIO’s hood, but it will likely be similar to the lower-end City’s 1.2 Liter SOHC engine. Asian emission caps for “eco cars” will mean that the BRIO should do better than 47 MPG, which should be better than the Ford Fiesta’s 40 MPG highway results.

Touchscreens are great, but the one big limitation is that touchscreen keyboards don’t have the familiar tactile feel of a real keyboard. Have you tried touch-typing on an iPad? Or how about a small Android phone? It’s just not the same.

For fast typing, there’s no substitute to a real keyboard or keypad. Microsoft recognizes this, and might soon have the technology to transform an erstwhile flat touchscreen into a surface that’s shaped just like a keyboard or keypad.

The technology involves a “light-induced shape-memory polymer display screen” in which ultraviolet light changes the shape or topography of a layer of the screen. Differing UV wavelengths will result in different heights, shapes, hardness and softness, meaning this could theoretically create a keyboard/keypad springy enough for practical uses.

An on-demand tactile keyboard will definitely be a welcome addition to touch-screen devices like tablets and mobile phones. Users will get the best of both worlds–a wide touchscreen display with a real tactile keyboard/keypad.

Ever the innovator in the microprocessor design business, Intel has recently revealed a prototype design for a CPU architecture that can support up to 1,000 or more cores.

The architecture is the basis for Intel’s Single-Chip Cloud Computer, which was earlier introduced as a prototype 48-core, 125-watt processor cast in a 45 nm chip. The “cloud” nomenclature was used because of the way each core communicated with one another. The links are via a high-speed network on-chip, rather than communicating via cache.

According to Intel, this architecture is arbitrarily scalable, meaning it could theoretically reach to thousands of cores, and the only limiting factor would be size.

The chip is still experimental, but the concept of onboard “cloud computing” might pave the way for better hardware architectures in the future.

The design was found as an FCC patent application, so we probably won’t see the iCapsule on the shelves anytime soon. But if–and once–it ever gets released, it will be a clamshell case that will give laptop-like functionality to the iPad.

You get a slot for your iPad, along with a wireless keyboard that connects to the iPad via Bluetooth. The keyboard itself is powered by a set of AA batteries. The iPad can supposedly be inserted in a landscape or portrait orientation, for flexibility.

No word on pricing yet, but the iCapsule will be carried under the RocketFish brand, which means it will likely be sold by Best Buy.

Concepts like this lug-around case pretty much like the iBook G3 or classmate PC are good things in my book. They give ruggedness (or at least the illusion, thereof) to any small gadget.

This is the 2nd known delay for the California startup car company and it is one that could eventually spell the death of the group before it really gets off the ground. New CEO Steve Heller, who replaced Kevin Czinger in early November, says the delay is due to making sure that production goes smoothly. The Coda car is actually being produced in China, using Coda specifications and directions and when the units are almost finished they will be shipped to the Coda plant in California to install the electric drive train. Heller insists that there aren’t any real problems with the process but that as a new CEO, he simply wants to make sure the procedure is moving as efficiently as possible.

The Coda is expected to cost about $44,000 when it finally does hit the market

Renault-Nissan is banking on the popularity of Electric Vehicles to continue to climb right along with gas prices and has announced a plan to step up production of models like the Leaf to the point where they will be making around 500,000 units per year within the next 3 years. Renault Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said that sales of the Leaf are expected to approach 20,000 units by the end of the year and that he expects Electric Vehicles to make up 10 percent of all automobile sales by 2020. It is because of this that his company has stepped up production of both cars and battery packs to a level few other companies are willing to go right now.

When she was 21, designer Emily Cummins invented a portable refridgerator that used water evaporation as a cooling agent. Her device basically looks like a cylinder with mesh and holes all over, but there’s more to this gadget than meets the eye.

The solar-powered fridge consists of a sealed metal inner cylinder that contains the food items to be cooled. The outer cylinder, meanwhile, can be made of any solid material like wood or plastic, with holes drilled on the surface. The gap in between is then filled with any material that can be soaked with water (sand, soil, wool).

When the water evaporates, it takes with it the heat from the filler material and the inner cylinder. It’s an exothermic reaction. If you remember your elementary science correctly, that means heat is escaping, and the object inside is cooled down.

Simply add more water when moisture runs low, and you’re good to go.

This is certainly cool gear you can take along to camping trips. But it’s already being used by thousands in developing communities in Africa that don’t have electricity–certainly a more noble application of such technology.