Aptera Update

Read my most recent Aptera Newsletter today and there is some good video and article links. Company is still saying they will be selling to the public by October of this year. Bad news for us Colorado boys is that it will only be sold in California. They still want to build their customer support infrastructure as they go into production.

Edmunds did an article on the car along with an embedded video. Here's a small taste of what they said:

"With a curb weight of just 1,760 pounds - slated to drop to 1,500 pound in the final production version - and a drag coefficient that's about half that of the most aerodynamic production cars on the market today, the battery-electric Aptera 2e can go at least 100 miles on a full charge with two 180-pound adults and 250 pounds of cargo on board, Wilbur said, That's a fuel-efficiency equivalent of getting 200 miles per gallon.Configure the vehicle as a range-extended plug-in hybrid with an internal combustion engine generating juice for the electric motor once the initial grid charge is depleted and fuel efficiency jumps to more than 300 miles per gallon-equivalent"

The price tag of 25-45 thousand is still a little steep for me and I'd like to read something about how it does on ice an snow. Still, this little vehicle appeals to my inner geek.

[Image captured from http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2009/02/2010-aptera-2e-a-first-look-at-california-companys-three-wheeled-ev.html]

IBM Five Innovations that will change our lives

Every year, or at least for the last three, IBM comes up with a list of five innovations they think will have the most impact on our lives within five years. This year the list includes:

• Energy saving solar technology will be built into asphalt, paint and windows
• You will have a crystal ball for your health
• You will talk to the Web . . . and the Web will talk back
• You will have your own digital shopping assistants
• Forgetting will become a distant memory

Go to the article for a detailed explanation of each item. Or watch the video...



I don't remember hearing about these lists before, so I went online to look up the previous lists.

2007 Five in Five

• It will be easy for you to be green and save money doing it
• The way you drive will be completely different
• You are what you eat, so you will know what you eat
• Your cell phone will be your wallet, your ticket broker, your concierge, your bank, your shopping buddy and more
• Doctors will get enhanced "super-senses" to better diagnose and treat you.

2006 Five in Five (We're only two years out from seeing these??? Still waiting for my phone to read my mind....or come close.)

• We will be able to access health care remotely, from just about anywhere in the world
• Real-time speech translation--once a vision only in science fiction--will become te norm
• There will be a 3-D internet
• Technologies the size of a few atoms will address areas of environmental importance
• Our mobile phones will come close to reading our minds

[Image: ger01065.jpg | WITZ Konrad | Heilspiegel Altarpiece. Augustus & the Sibyl of the Tiber. | c.1435-1438 | Swiss | Gothic (Late) | | Basel. Switzerland. | | ©Kathleen Cohen | http://worldart.sjsu.edu/VieO4416?sid=9113&x=1971264]

Hacking a Birthday Cake

My wife is a junkie for those competition cooking shows on the Food Network. They gather together a group of chefs and challenge them to create a cake or an ice sculpture or gingerbread house based on a certain theme in a limited amount of time. Don't tell my wife, but I now find that even when she isn't home, I will turn on one of these shows and wish I had followed my dreams of becoming a chef or at the very least, landed that job I wanted when I was 16 at Dunkin's Donuts.

Coolest thing I've seen watching these programs. That sugar can be blown and shaped in the same way that glass is blown and shaped. The added bonus.....you can eat your mistakes and failures. I am so going to try this soon!

Anyway, a friend was throwing a birthday party for a mutual teaching buddy. She asked me if I would make the cake and I said sure even though it was the next evening and I didn't have much time to prepare. I approached it just like a food network challenge. I had a time limit. I had my building material. The birthday girl's passion is Earth Science. She loves those rocks with maybe dinosaurs coming in a close second. So, I had a theme. I knew I didn't have the skill yet to blow a dinosaur out of a lump of melted sugar so I ran down to the local toy store to look at the plastic variety. I found a six inch tyrannosaurus and I was off and running.

I built a base out of a 9 X 13 chocolate cake. I created a tranquil lagoon out of cream cheese frosting tinted blue. It flowed off the side of the cake as a majestic waterfall. (As majestic as a two and half inch drop can get!) I piped a happy birthday message on the lagoon along with a few lillypads in green. I tried to create a frosting frog but ended up scratching that idea as it always ended up looking like that slime monster from Ghost Busters. Then I created a barren landscape with chocolate frosting and topped that with broken malt balls to give it a rocky appearance. I was going to try to create some sugar trees but time was running out and I needed a nap before the party. So, I just finished it off with the plastic dinosaur.






My only competition at the party was a pan of brownies. The woman who made them beat me hands down in terms of taste. Although, I think my presentation and adherence to theme made me the overall desert winner!


Happy Birthday Cyndi!

Gyrobike

A few years back another technology teacher and I had seen a video of a robotic leg that used gyros to help it balance. Later we sat drinking refreshments, eating pretzels and wondered why gyro technology had never been applied to wheelchairs or bicycles. I guess it has, at least for bikes. A company called Gyrobike has developed flywheel technology for your family bicycle. It should make learning to ride a bike easier since it is will be easier to balance at slower speeds. Here's a quote from the website that explains why:

Gyroscopes are spinning wheels that exhibit a special property called precession. When a force is put at the top of a spinning wheel (such as a rider falling on a bicycle), rather than falling, the gyroscope simply turns, or precesses, in the direction of the fall. This occurs on normal bike wheels when the bike is traveling at higher speeds. Hence, it is easier to ride a bicycle once you "get going". GyroBike takes advantage of this property even when the bike is moving slowly. The fly wheel inside the GyroBike spins independently of the bike wheel. Thus, even when a rider is moving very slowly on his or her bicycle, the precession of the GyroBike is still felt. If the rider begins to fall, the GyroBike causes the front wheel to precess under the rider's weight, restabilizing the bike.

See this article to learn a bit more about the four engineering students who developed this idea as part of a class project at Dartmouth.





[Image: Captured from Wired:"GyroBike Teaches Kids How To Kill a Spill":http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2006/04/gyrobike_teache.html

How to Innovate Without Extra Money

Today is my first day back with students. It's the real start to the school year. The first few weeks can sometimes be overwhelming when you start thinking about all the hurdles and expectations. I've seen many a young teacher with sweaty brow and shaking hands stumbling through the hall ways during the first week mumbling, "It's too much. It's too much."

My advice: Relax and look for the good things. It is so easy to get caught up with the problems, the lack of resources, and bad coffee. You'll do fine.

In that vein, I thought I'd share a positive article from Edutopia.com called "Overcoming Technology Barriers: How to Innovate Without Extra Money or Support" It's written with the struggling teacher in mind, giving him or her some advice on how to start using technology in their classrooms now. Don't wait for your state or district to come through with those funds, all you need to be innovative is you. Here are the main points:

• Innovate with the Tools You Already Have
• Seek Out Free, Easy-to-Use Digital Resources
• Overcome Your Fear of the Unknown
• Start with Small, Fast Projects That Enhance Learning
• Learn with Your Students
  

The article is a quick read and it might get you motivated to stretch a little this year. Here are a couple short quotes if you are too stressed to read an entire one page article:

Of course, teachers don't need to wait for districts to create formal opportunities for professional growth. "Find someone to learn with, a study group or buddy in your own building or in another school," Conery says. "Take a unit you love and talk about how you can infuse technology to enhance learning and go even deeper."

It's not about the stuff," Carleton emphasizes. "It's about making connections and working with what you already have.

[Image: "No money in Switzerland": Flickr: Uploaded on November 12, 2006 by pug freak: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pugfreak/295278828/]