Latest Stories
  • By Corey Conley The Good: Solar Lamps We’re not talking about the kind they sell at Home Depot, we’re talking about the kind that can bring light to the 1.3 billion people living without electricity. Currently the lion’s share of these people turn to good, old-fashioned fire to light the night, with all its attendant expenses and hazards. Fuel burning light sources are expensive, cause fires, generate pollution, and worst of all aren’t very bright. It’s an odd fact that the world’s poorest pay the most for each lumen of light....0May 17, 2012

    The GB&U: Solar Lamps, Fatty Chemicals, and Getting Roasted by a Camry

    By Corey Conley The Good: Solar Lamps We’re not talking about the kind they sell at Home Depot, we’re talking about the kind that can bring light to the 1.3 billion people living without electricity. Currently the lion’s share of these people turn to good, old-fashioned fire to light the night, with all its attendant expenses and hazards. Fuel burning light sources are expensive, cause fires, generate pollution, and worst of all aren’t very bright. It’s an odd fact that the world’s poorest pay the most for each lumen of light….

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  • By Ryan Egly Like most people in this age of digital point-and-shoot cameras, I am an amateur photographer. Family events, nature, pets, and for the predictable college student on Facebook, beer – all are familiar material for that never-ending quest to capture life in the way we wish to portray it. And the way I wish to portray it oft finds expression in an object that’s as common as it is overlooked. I have been enthusiastically documenting this object for years and hope to someday put together a tasteful photo...0May 16, 2012

    The Second Can: A Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Refresher

    By Ryan Egly Like most people in this age of digital point-and-shoot cameras, I am an amateur photographer. Family events, nature, pets, and for the predictable college student on Facebook, beer – all are familiar material for that never-ending quest to capture life in the way we wish to portray it. And the way I wish to portray it oft finds expression in an object that’s as common as it is overlooked. I have been enthusiastically documenting this object for years and hope to someday put together a tasteful photo…

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  • By Linzy Novotny Hundreds of thousands of patents are granted each year. Needless to say, few of these will ever make a significant impact on our lives – after all, there can only be so many technological breakthroughs. Still, thousands of inventors look for ways to make our daily lives easier (and a quick buck besides). Few things are more “daily life” than the bathroom, which is rife with special challenges just begging for an inventive mind. With that in mind, we humbly offer this list of bathroom gadgets that...0May 11, 2012

    All the Small Things: 10 Bathroom Innovations

    By Linzy Novotny Hundreds of thousands of patents are granted each year. Needless to say, few of these will ever make a significant impact on our lives – after all, there can only be so many technological breakthroughs. Still, thousands of inventors look for ways to make our daily lives easier (and a quick buck besides). Few things are more “daily life” than the bathroom, which is rife with special challenges just begging for an inventive mind. With that in mind, we humbly offer this list of bathroom gadgets that…

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  • By Carolina Luna Chances are you’ve probably purchased a “Fair Trade” product. This social movement and international certification process aims to promote sustainable farming practices, improved social conditions, and increases wages among the poor farms that provide much of the world with its food. But what, exactly, lies behind the good intentions of the fair trade system? Advocates claim the fair trade system offers these smaller-scale farmers a more direct, environmentally responsible, and socially just trade relation between them and the consumers in wealthier countries. But how much is the...0May 10, 2012

    Nvate Ndepth: How Fair is Fair Trade?

    By Carolina Luna Chances are you’ve probably purchased a “Fair Trade” product. This social movement and international certification process aims to promote sustainable farming practices, improved social conditions, and increases wages among the poor farms that provide much of the world with its food. But what, exactly, lies behind the good intentions of the fair trade system? Advocates claim the fair trade system offers these smaller-scale farmers a more direct, environmentally responsible, and socially just trade relation between them and the consumers in wealthier countries. But how much is the…

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  • By Linzy Novotny Tattoos have always been identified with pain, and for good reason; there’s nothing comfortable about a needle shoving pigment repeatedly into your skin, and removing an unwanted tat can be an ordeal. However, recent innovations in this millennia-old art form are changing the way we get tattoos, and get rid of them. Scott Jaramillo, 18, of Denver, Colo., got his first tattoo in March 2011 at the annual Tattoofest in Tampa, Fla. At the suggestion of his tattoo artist, Art Hazell, Jaramillo used a numbing cream and...

    Rethink Ink: New tech takes the sting out of tattoos

    Posted on May 8, 2012 | No Comments
    By Linzy Novotny Tattoos have always been identified with pain, and for good reason; there’s nothing comfortable about a needle shoving pigment repeatedly into your skin, and removing an unwanted tat can be an ordeal. However, recent innovations in this millennia-old art form are changing the way we get tattoos, and get rid of them. Scott Jaramillo, 18, of Denver, Colo., got his first tattoo in March 2011 at the annual Tattoofest in Tampa, Fla. At the suggestion of his tattoo artist, Art Hazell, Jaramillo used a numbing cream and...

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  • By Beatty Jamieson It is always a shame to cover your super-chic phone in a bulky case that doesn’t do your sexy device any justice. You want to enjoy its smooth face, welcoming curves, and crisp edges, but the significant investment of money forces us to protect our tech love as if it were a child. “How much shock resistance, water proofness, and anti-dust coating do I really need?” This is the internal conversation you may find yourself having in the aisle at Best Buy as you survey their assortment...

    Liquipel: Make Your Smartphone Watersafe

    Posted on May 7, 2012 | No Comments
    By Beatty Jamieson It is always a shame to cover your super-chic phone in a bulky case that doesn’t do your sexy device any justice. You want to enjoy its smooth face, welcoming curves, and crisp edges, but the significant investment of money forces us to protect our tech love as if it were a child. “How much shock resistance, water proofness, and anti-dust coating do I really need?” This is the internal conversation you may find yourself having in the aisle at Best Buy as you survey their assortment...

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  • By Beatty Jamieson The Amazon Kindle is one of those seemingly minor evolutions of technology that has an out-sized impact. The common Kindle was a bonifide hit, selling millions even before Amazon’s own budget-minded “Fire” tablet debuted. Now they’re moving in on the once-exclusive space of the local library, allowing their paying “Prime” customers to check out books at no additional cost. When Amazon announced their Lending Library in November 2011, it raised more than a few eyebrows. Would authors mind letting more people read their books for less revenue...

    Something Borrowed: The Kindle Lending Library may change e-publishing… again

    Posted on May 4, 2012 | No Comments
    By Beatty Jamieson The Amazon Kindle is one of those seemingly minor evolutions of technology that has an out-sized impact. The common Kindle was a bonifide hit, selling millions even before Amazon’s own budget-minded “Fire” tablet debuted. Now they’re moving in on the once-exclusive space of the local library, allowing their paying “Prime” customers to check out books at no additional cost. When Amazon announced their Lending Library in November 2011, it raised more than a few eyebrows. Would authors mind letting more people read their books for less revenue...

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  • By Rachel Flynn The world is full of crap. Most of it is not worth having. Some it is. Here are this month’s picks for…crap we want! Clocky, the running alarm clock made by Nanda Clocky is the perfect solution for the snooze-abuser. Clocky allows the snooze to be hit only once before rolling from its bedside perch to land somewhere else in the room, all while blaring an alarm. The only way to turn Clocky off is to get up and find him. Each day, the diabolical wheeled clock...

    Crap We Want

    Posted on May 3, 2012 | No Comments
    By Rachel Flynn The world is full of crap. Most of it is not worth having. Some it is. Here are this month’s picks for…crap we want! Clocky, the running alarm clock made by Nanda Clocky is the perfect solution for the snooze-abuser. Clocky allows the snooze to be hit only once before rolling from its bedside perch to land somewhere else in the room, all while blaring an alarm. The only way to turn Clocky off is to get up and find him. Each day, the diabolical wheeled clock...

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  • By Corey Conley Last month marked a milestone of sorts for me. My subscription to World of Warcraft ended. Oh sure, I’ve taken a break before, but this one was different than my last lapse of Blizzard’s technicolor hamster wheel. This one could very well be permanent. What’s more, my incredible shrinking free time over the last year or so meant I had exclusively focused on WoW for my interactive entertainment needs, and other, non-MMOs have ceased to appeal to me. For the first time since I received my Super...

    The Editor’s Brain: Game Over?

    Posted on May 1, 2012 | No Comments
    By Corey Conley Last month marked a milestone of sorts for me. My subscription to World of Warcraft ended. Oh sure, I’ve taken a break before, but this one was different than my last lapse of Blizzard’s technicolor hamster wheel. This one could very well be permanent. What’s more, my incredible shrinking free time over the last year or so meant I had exclusively focused on WoW for my interactive entertainment needs, and other, non-MMOs have ceased to appeal to me. For the first time since I received my Super...

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  • By Marisa Mazart and Corey Conley Would you trust your life to something called “bullet proof custard?” Soldiers and police of the near future may ditch most of their trusty Kevlar plates for comfy packs of liquid armor. While the idea of liquid armor may not inspire confidence, researchers at U.K.-based BAE Systems claim their liquid armor, when mixed with Kevlar, protects better than Kevlar alone. Normal Kevlar armor can have up to thirty sheets of the stiff material, but the superior liquid blend has only ten, which represents a...

    Liquid Armor: Grade-school science goes to war

    Posted on April 27, 2012 | No Comments
    By Marisa Mazart and Corey Conley Would you trust your life to something called “bullet proof custard?” Soldiers and police of the near future may ditch most of their trusty Kevlar plates for comfy packs of liquid armor. While the idea of liquid armor may not inspire confidence, researchers at U.K.-based BAE Systems claim their liquid armor, when mixed with Kevlar, protects better than Kevlar alone. Normal Kevlar armor can have up to thirty sheets of the stiff material, but the superior liquid blend has only ten, which represents a...

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  • By Ryan Egly With even Wal-Mart proudly displaying products touting their organic, “green”, or “all-natural” origins, the message is loud and clear: sustainability is cool. But amidst all the talk of carbon, pollution, and deforestation, the humble H20 has been mostly forgotten. Every product you buy, nearly every choice you make as a consumer, has an impact on the finite freshwater that sustains us. For something so elemental to our survival, how have water issues been relegated to the second tier of environmental concerns? The lack of interest likely has...

    As the population climbs, will the water supply hold?

    Posted on April 26, 2012 | 2 Comments
    By Ryan Egly With even Wal-Mart proudly displaying products touting their organic, “green”, or “all-natural” origins, the message is loud and clear: sustainability is cool. But amidst all the talk of carbon, pollution, and deforestation, the humble H20 has been mostly forgotten. Every product you buy, nearly every choice you make as a consumer, has an impact on the finite freshwater that sustains us. For something so elemental to our survival, how have water issues been relegated to the second tier of environmental concerns? The lack of interest likely has...

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  • Our friends over at FairTradeFederation.org have done something remarkable. For Spring 2012, they’ve put together a Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gift guide. Click Here to peruse these wonderful gifts and get something for that mother or father in your life while making this world a little bit better. There’s no rule that says you can’t also pickup a little fair trade something for yourself. The bicycle chain picture frame and wooden notepad particularly have caught my eye and would look great on my desk.   Click Here to browse the gift...

    Fair Trade Gifts for Mother’s Day & Father’s Day

    Posted on April 23, 2012 | No Comments
    Our friends over at FairTradeFederation.org have done something remarkable. For Spring 2012, they’ve put together a Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gift guide. Click Here to peruse these wonderful gifts and get something for that mother or father in your life while making this world a little bit better. There’s no rule that says you can’t also pickup a little fair trade something for yourself. The bicycle chain picture frame and wooden notepad particularly have caught my eye and would look great on my desk.   Click Here to browse the gift...

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