This week Inhabitat marveled at all of the incredible, efficient, and oh-so-sleek vehicles unveiled at this year's Geneva Motors Show. We were excited to see Ferrari roll out its first hybrid vehicle, the 599 HY-KERS while Porsche upped the ante with its stunningly beautiful Nano EV, an all-electric version of the world's cheapest car.

The Maldives also made waves this week with hopeful plans to float their sinking nation using miniature man-made islands. That may be a while off however, so in the meantime why not enjoy the comforts of home at sea aboard this bizarre sofa boat -- a steal at only $16,064. Rounding off our flotilla of floating news, Hexicon unveiled a smart design for a floating array of wind turbines that can be easily installed in deep seas.

We also saw several developments in wearable tech that stand to change how we interact with the wired world. The Glucowizzard is a tiny solar powered chip that can be implanted in a person's wrist to easily monitor glucose levels. If implanting gadgets gets under your skin, then you might be a fan of Microsoft's Skinput system, which uses a micro projector to beam a touchscreen display onto your arm. And to power all that gear on the go, look no further than Bourne Energy's backpack power plant -- a bright blue generator that provides portable hydroelectric power.

Inhabitat's Week in Green: Ferrari, Porsche, and the Glucowizzard originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Turning aged hard drives into clocks has been a common occurrence for years now, but there's still something magical about this rendition. Designed and crafted by Svofski, the Strobeshnik relies on the stroboscopic effect to create the illusion of a persistent numeric display. The HDD platter itself has ten digits, colon and dash marks cut all the way through it, and by carefully timing the light strobes, the illusion is perfected. Check out a video of the startup just below the break -- and be patient, the payoff is spectacularly sweet.

Continue reading Strobeshnik: probably the most awesome hard drive clock of all time

Strobeshnik: probably the most awesome hard drive clock of all time originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/First_iPad_ad_premieres_during_the_Oscars'; Apple's doing the Oscars up right tonight -- not only was Steve Jobs making friends on the red carpet, but the company ran the first iPad ad just now during the broadcast. It's pretty much what you'd expect out of an Apple ad, but, you know, more magical. Get ready for a blitz of these as we lead up to April 3. Video after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading First iPad ad premieres during the Oscars

First iPad ad premieres during the Oscars originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CNET thinks they've snagged a photo of Apple CEO Steve Jobs schmoozing at the Academy Awards. Does this mean the iPad's going to make a last-minute appearance in those outlandish $85,000 gift bags?

Is it him? Supposedly he's next to the woman in the white dress. It'd make sense, given the Up/Pixar connection (FYI, it's "up" for an award...), as well as all the negotiating he's surely been doing behind the scenes in regards to movies and TV shows on the iPad. But it's probably just for Up. Probably.

In any event, is anyone even watching tonight? [CNET]

Lenovo loves its red mousing nipple, Apple digs its aluminum and IBM adores those light pulses. Nearly two full years after we heard this very company touting breakthroughs in science thanks to a nanophotonic switch, in flies a similar technique from Yorktown Heights that could "greatly further energy efficient computing." As the story goes, gurus at IBM have figured out how to replace electrical signals that communicate via copper wires between computer chips with tiny silicon circuits that chat using pulses of light. The device is called a nanophotonic avalanche photodetector, and according to Dr. T.C. Chen, this kind of embedded optical interconnection makes the "prospect of building power-efficient computer systems with performance at the Exaflop level" something that could be seen in the not-so-distant future. Reportedly, the avalanche photodetector demonstrated by IBM is the world's fastest device of its kind, able to receive optical information signals at 40Gbps and simultaneously multiply them tenfold. We know that's over some of your (read: our) heads, but there's a sufficiently nerdy video after the break that gets right down to the whos, whats, whys and wheres.

Continue reading IBM keeps light pulse bandwagon rolling, uses 'em for chip-to-chip communication

IBM keeps light pulse bandwagon rolling, uses 'em for chip-to-chip communication originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The NASA space program? Kind of hamstrung at the moment. But! Coming this April: An "ambitious plan" from the Obama Administration that will officially outline the agency's future, and the future of U.S. space travel. The "plan" arrives this April 15. [MSNBC]

The Inverse Graphing Calculator takes typed words and converts them to the equivalent equations it would take to create them graphically. Hey, that's cool. Like a sorceress's areolas.

The Inverse Graphing Calculator (version beta-1) is like a backwards graphing calculator. Normally, you enter an equation into your calculator and then get a graph of the curve. The way the IGC works is, you type something you'd like as your curve, like 'Hello World' or 'I love you'. The IGC produces an *equation* which has this phrase as its graph!

I didn't bother graphing any part of the equation on my TI-83 (because I haven't used it since high school to play drug dealer), but I trust that it's not just a scam. Of course, there is the distinct possibility that it actually IS a scam and the creator is just waiting for the day somebody wants to see an equation of their bank account info. And on that day, oh boy, on that day. Inverse Graphing Calculator [xamuel] Thanks to Mih0, who only speaks math and works on rockets and stuff. I respect that.

While we love a tech-filled geek cave, an elegant workspace with a great view makes working a pleasure. Today's featured workspace has a beautiful desk, a pleasing environment, and a view of Boston.

Not everyone needs triple monitors or an army of peripherals and being able to work productively with just a laptop goes a long way towards having a clear and airy workspace—cable management is, at it's best after all, camouflaging something that's there to appear as if it isn't.

Lifehacker reader CosmoComet, when he's commuting and working from Boston proper several day a week, finds himself working at this nearly invisible glass and acrylic workspace—he can look right through his desk to see Beacon Street below. Check out a wider view of the workspace in the photos below.

If you have a workspace of your own to show off, throw the pictures on your Flickr account and add it to the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool. Include some details about your setup and why it works for you, and you just might see it featured on the front page of Lifehacker.