Tag: Technology
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Controlling the Four Elements. Or: Why Heat Pumps Are Cool.
Despite my attempts to post mainly geeky and weird stuff peppered with (very often not down-to-earth) physics, I got involved in some serious discussions on renewable energy, sustainability, heat pumps, and the pleasures of Building Your Own Stuff. So I will describe what I am actually working on / playing with when I am not…
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My Google Searches Might Heat Your Home
Sorry, but this is not about Search Term Poetry! Rather the contrary: Imagine your search terms could be utilized for something down-to-earth, for something useful. Google states: See more comparisons for Google services here! (Though I am disappointed they did not convert to bath tubs!) If Google’s computers run in their data centers in the…
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The First Heat Pump Ever Was Built in Austria
I have confessed recently that I am from Austria. So the patriot in me wants to entertain her readers with the story of a milestone in the history of engineering thermodynamics – set by an Austrian! The development of the first heat pump is attributed to Peter von Rittinger [1]. (Note that [1] is by a Swiss author,…
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Discovering Your Life Being Cliché
You are browsing the internet in order to test – by anecdotal evidence – if your original ideas are that original or your most creative writing that creative. Within milliseconds you detect that everything has already been told, shared, pictured, thought, sketched. For every clever business idea I had, I found zillions of companies that already had implemented version 3.0 of this idea.…
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Einstein and His Patents
No, this is not about Einstein’s achievements as a moonlighting scientific paradigm shifter, while working as a patent examiner in his day job. Einstein is famous for the theories of special and general relativity, and for the correct explanation of the photoelectric effect that has been rewarded with the Nobel prize. It is not so common knowledge that he contributed…
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111 Years: A Shining Example of Sustainable Product Development?
The centennial light bulb has celebrated its 110th birthday last year and the story has percolated the web. According to its web cam the bulb is still alive. This light bulb has caused quite a stir when featured in the documentary on planned obsolescence: The Light Bulb Conspiracy. Actually, the bulb technology is very different from modern incandescent bulbs (that are not so…