OK, yeah, we think the Artigo is cute. But is it functional? Via has just taken advantage of its ultra-small, ultra-lower power (though admittedly less than state-of-the-art chips) to pack what used to be Dell's top of the line gaming PC (in 2001) into a teeny, tiny package.

Of course, the Artigo, as shipped, is bare-bones, and will take quite a bit of labor before actually accomplishing much, but it is an interesting statement. The $300 device (yes...we agree, that's expensive) ships without RAM or a harddrive (or a keyboard, mouse, monitor etc.) What it does come with is Via's low-power 1ghz C7 processor, a network adapter, build-in HD audio and video, and a weight of barely more than 1 lb. But the statement I'm seeing here is more than "Look! It's tiny!"

It's more like "Look, 70% of us don't need your fancy gaming PCs." In fact, the Artigo won't even run Vista; you're stuck either with XP or pretty much any form of Linux. The thing is, most people can't tell the difference between XP and Vista, and a vast majority of users just need something that'll run Firefox and Word without crashing (so that's everything except Windows ME...right?) And the great thing is, by using new technology to build slower computers, power use drops dramatically...even at peak consumption the Artigo comes in under 30 watts.

Unfortunately, this isn't really built for those users. You need to buy the RAM and the harddrive and the operating system...and then install all the software yourself. So while it's an interesting experiment, I think I'll stick with something that someone built for me, even if that does decrease the amount of Geek Cred I have.

Nonetheless, you should check out this excellent review at ExtremeTech.

Via Via (I've always wanted to say that...) and Good Clean Tech

Generally when people offer up miracle devices from backyard and basement tinkering, we're pretty skeptical. But it's hard to argue with Michael Brown. Especially when he hooks his "Dryer Miser" up to a Whirlpool dryer, turns it on, and pulls out dry clothes using half as much energy as the exact same dryer without his device.

The device, really, is fairly simple. Instead of using a traditional air-in-contact-with-heating-coils heater, it uses an oil as the heat-transfer medium. The oil is then used to heat the air that gets blown into the drying drum. The heat transfer between the oil and the air is nearly two times more efficient than the air simply being blow across ultra hot heating coils.

The device is so much more efficient that it can be plugged into a regular 110 V plug (instead of 220s now required by dryers.) Considering how simple this is, it's a marvel (or perhaps a travesty) that GE or Whirlpool didn't think of it first. Additionally, the heating unit only ever reaches about 150 F, since the heat-transfer is so much more efficient. Traditional dryers have to heat their elements up to 1000 F in order to reach optimal efficiency, resulting in about 15,000 household fires each year.

The device can be installed by a technician in 30 minutes at a total cost of around $300, which would be recouped in less then four years. A quick calculation based on the number of households with electric dryers (around 80 million) and the average amount spent on electricity for drying clothes a year ($85 per household) shows that this device could indeed save several billion dollars per year just in America.

Already Brown is in talks with a major European manufacturer to integrate the device into new units, and he's raised several million dollars in angel funding. He's also talking to the EPA about getting his dryers Energy Star rated. Up until now, dryers have been so inefficient that not a single one on the market has been awarded with the Energy Star label.

While it would have been easy to call his dryers the most efficient on Earth. Brown always qualifies the statement with "aside from the sun." And that's a touch of modesty that, to me anyway, is very welcome.

Via CNet Clean Tech