GaiaGeek

Slashdot has a discussion on Western Digital’s new low-power consumption Caviar GP hard drives - the GP standing for GreenPower. It turns out that not only do the drives save about 10W of power over other hard drives with similar specs, but these drives are some of the quietest hard drives around, making them ideal for quiet rooms and anyone doing home studio recording with their computer (or just anyone who likes a quiet computer).

These drives are great if you’re using a desktop system, but they still use more power than a typical laptop drive, or a solid-state disk drive with no spinning platter. Unless you really need a desktop, a laptop remains the computer to use for the least power consumption (and they also happen to be far more practical for surfing the web from your sofa).

CNET has photos of the Mitsubishi iMiEV from the 2008 New York Auto Show. The 4-door car can get about 100 miles of travel when its lithium ion batteries are fully charged. This seems to be a more passenger oriented version than the car Mitsubishi unveiled last year, featured by Treehugger, which had a more sporty look and a solar roof. It makes a great deal of sense to put a solar roof on an electric car, knowing that it can charge for free while you’re at work all day. That might bring of reversal to our tendencies to look for a parking spot in the shade on a hot sunny day.

CNN / Money Magazine note that self-made billionaire Warren Buffet has been investing in America’s railroads. The article points out that technology improvements have resulted in trains getting 80% more mileage from a gallon of diesel than they did in 1980, and that “for distances of more than 1,000 miles, using trains rather than trucks alone reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 65%.”

It seems that if the U.S. is to ever become energy independent, using our existing railroads is clearly one way to go. Interestingly, due to trains making predictable stops and specific locations, they would also be an excellent candidate for using hydrogen fuel-cells. A quick Google search found this page discussing the idea.

CNet’s Green Tech blog is reporting on solar company Konarka which has developed what amounts to solar-powered plastic. Flexible solar cells are not new, but this seems to take things a step further in that solar cells would be easily integrated with just about anything plastic. They are not as efficient as rooftop-type solar panels, but if coupled with low power devices, they present the possibility for portable electronics that never need recharging.

While they also claim to have developed inkjet printed solar cells, I think it’s safe to assume we won’t be printing solar cells from our home printers - at least not without some interesting hardware changes.

Now, if they wanted to make this idea even more green, they could build solar cells integrated in plastic made from corn.

Wired offers up a Wiki page on how to Fly Through Airport Security. One of the best points listed and something I always do myself is the practice of putting your wallet, keys, phone, watch and belt into your carry on bag. Anything else metal that can be easily removed should go in there as well, though I recommend that metal jewelry be left at home or already packed in your carry-on bag when possible. Another good tip is wearing shoes without laces, which is also good for the security of your own belongings, since you’re less likely to notice someone taking your bag instead of theirs if your crouched down tying your shoes.

A thought on watches: I stopped wearing mine when I realized the chances of me not having my phone on me are pretty much zero. I honestly haven’t missed it. It’s one less thing to remove when going through airport security, one less potentially expensive item to worry about losing, and now I don’t have a funny little tan line around my wrist during the summer.

I’m often asked for advice on how to find a cheap airline ticket, so I’ve outlined my pointers for finding the cheapest tickets.

- Head to kayak.com and register for a free account. You can search for flights without registering, but doing so gives you the option to search with the “My dates are flexible” option. When you perform a search, click that option and change the date flexibility to “3 days before and after” for both the departing flight and the returning flight. Note that the feature doesn’t work for every airline it searches. For instance, let’s say you search on the June 6 with 3 days before and after. It may list the lowest price of $500 on the June 6 and $700 for June 7. However, center your search around a flight on the June 7 and it may find a lowest price of $450 instead of $700. Point being, it’s worth playing with the dates if you are flexible and really looking for the cheapest ticket.

- The cheapest round-trip tickets will generally be the ones where the trip is less than 30 days in duration. Keep this in mind if you’re planning a month long trip overseas, as cutting the trip length from 32 days to 29 days could save you some money on the flight (and on accommodation, of course).

- Flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Saturdays tend to be the cheapest. This is because people tend to start their trips on a Thursday or Friday and end them on a Sunday or Monday to get the weekend in.

- Flexibility with the dates is key. If you’re really flexible, try moving the whole trip back a week, two weeks - even a month, if nothing else just to see if the prices change.

- Flights from big cities have smaller prices. For instance, flights from a major airline hubs like Chicago to London will almost certainly be cheaper than a flight from Milwaukee to London. It may mean taking the bus to the nearest big city, but you might save $300 - and some headaches, since any time you have a layover, there’s a chance of a missed flight, a canceled flight or your bag getting diverted to some other city.

- If you’re flying internationally, checkout flights with foreign regional airlines. This is an extension of the point above for international destinations. For instance, if you’re headed to Southeast Asia, a flight into Bangkok will almost certainly be the cheapest ticket. From there, you can get a cheap ticket to whatever regional destination you need - plus you have the option of spending a few days in another city. The same idea holds true for flights to Europe by flying to London or Dublin, then getting a cheap flight on one of the no-frills budget European airlines like Ryanair or EasyJet to Paris, Rome, Berlin or Barcelona. Kayak’s U.K. site at kayak.co.uk may be helpful if you try this, as sometimes you can find flights on there that don’t show up on the U.S. site and end up being cheaper, even after the exchange rate from British pounds to U.S. dollars (but make sure you use a credit card with a low currency conversion fee, like those by Capital One).

- As for how far in advance to book the flight date, this can vary drastically. In general you need to book at least a week in advance to get a decent price, as once your less than 7 days out, the prices go up - but I’ve seen exceptions to this, especially flying between major hubs, where you can still get a cheap flight just days beforehand. If you’ll be flying during a heavy travel season, like summer in Europe, it’s generally true that the earlier you book, the better, as if you wait until one or two weeks out in during those times, you might have trouble even finding a seat. After you do a flight search with kayak.com, checkout the Chart tab at the top of the results page. This will show you a range of prices by date for the two cities you’re searching on.

- If you find a cheap flight, but it’s on some unheard of foreign airline, check out the airline reviews on airlinequality.com. Most the foreign airlines are on par with the U.S. and European based airlines, and are often times even better.

- Use the right credit card. This is a whole other topic, but as an example, if you book a flight with a Discover Platinum card during one of their special promotions, you can get 5% cash back. Additionally, some cards provide automatic travel insurance and even lost luggage compensation.

- Whatever airline you fly, see if they’re partnered with an airline you have a frequent flyer account with for mileage credit. A round-trip flight to from Chicago to Bangkok will score you about 17,000 miles, bringing you within reach of the 25,000 miles you need for a free round-trip domestic flight with most U.S. carriers. If the airline you’re flying with is partnered with a local airline you don’t have a frequent flyer account with, then open one! It’s always free to open a frequent flyer account, and that way you’re getting credit for the miles where you otherwise wouldn’t.

Whenever I pack, I always put my important, water-sensitive items in zip-lock bags to keep them dry - things like my passport, camera, and even a large zip-lock bag that I can put my laptop in should the need arise. Doing this gives you some assurance that if you’re ever caught in a downpour, these items will remain safe and dry even if you get drenched.

This can be of greater importance if you’re going to an island or other destination where boats are used for local transportation. Even in mildly choppy waters, an awful lot of water can spray into smaller-sized boats, soaking you and your luggage or backpack. If you’re ever caught in this situation and happen to have a rain poncho, you might consider wrapping it around your bag instead of yourself, but you should still keep your key items in zip-lock bags, as the other risk to your camera comes when getting in our out of a boat: one wrong move and your bag could take a dunk, as happened to a friend of mine while she was traveling in India. While zip-lock bags are not ideal waterproof bags, they cost next to nothing, and your camera will probably be fine as long as the zip-lock is sealed and you grab your bag quickly, before it becomes fully submerged (and even if that happens, your camera will likely still be fine).

This is a great use for used zip-lock bags: ones that you aren’t quite comfortable re-using for food items, but are clean enough after a quick rinse to put your camera or passport in for the sake of keeping things dry. You don’t need to limit their use to cameras and passports, either: I use them to keep small items organized within my bag. You can also make use of the bags when you reach your destination: keep crackers, cookies or other snack food in them for freshness and to keep out ants - something especially important if you’re in the tropics.

To further protect your gadgets and other water-sensitive items, throw a adsorbent silica gel packet, which often come with new electronics and vitamin supplements, into the bag with your camera or mp3 player. These packets are included with such items because they soak up humidity which can damage electronic components - and they can serve the same purpose when traveling in humid environments or if your bag gets soaked. They’re lightweight and free, as long as you remember to hang on to them when you get them.

If you’ll be spending a lot of time on the water and need some serious water protection, definitely look into a proper waterproof bag that’s designed for the job, otherwise known as a dry bag.