Posts by: CBS Interactive Staff

Lithium, the next energy source from the desert?

CBS Interactive staff | Sep 11, 2009

Watch CBS Videos Online

Nothing grows in Chile's Salar de Atacama desert. It's the driest place on the planet, and one of the most remote. But to Tim McKenna, what's underground is paradise. He calls it, "the best place on earth".

McKenna's company produces Lithium, the world's lightest metal. And Lithium powers the batteries in the cell phones, BlackBerrys, and laptops that, in turn, power the world.

In Chile, the extraction process comes naturally: Melting snow from the Andes Mountains runs into underground pools of salt water--or brine. That brine's pumped out. In a network of ponds, the desert sun evaporates out other salts, leaving Lithium brine.

McKenna says: "The sun basically does all the work."
Read more »

Filed under: Green Tech
Leave a comment | Bookmark | Share

Slashdot

Digg

Facebook

Twitter

Delicious

Google

StumbleUpon

close this

Add tag

To add tags, you need to become a member. It's FREE.

Cancel

Log in or sign in

Software aims to stop calls while driving

CBS Interactive Staff | Oct 28, 2008

Dave Teater says his son, Joe, could really light up a room.

"He was always happy, always smiling--I never remember Joe being angry with anybody," Teater said. "He loved life."

Four years ago, 12-year-old Joe was killed by a woman distracted while on her cell phone. She ran a red light and plowed into the Teaters' car.

"You never get over it," he said.

His wife, Judy, survived.

Teater closed his automotive consulting business to take up a cause--warning others, CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg reports.

"I don't think people ought to use a cell phone when they're driving, period," he said.

Now, Teater wants drivers to go the extra mile--with some new technology for cell phones and texting devices.
Read more »

Filed under: Gadgets
Leave a comment | Bookmark | Share

Slashdot

Digg

Facebook

Twitter

Delicious

Google

StumbleUpon

close this

Add tag

To add tags, you need to become a member. It's FREE.

Cancel

Log in or sign in

At 10 years old, whither Google?

CBS Interactive staff | Sep 08, 2008

It wasn't long ago that we weren't able to "Google" people, places and things.

The Google search page design hasn't changed all that much since 1998. (Credit: The Wayback Machine, via CNET Networks)

But, observes CBS News Science and Technology Correspondent Daniel Sieberg, in just 10 years, Google has grown exponentially from garage startup to Web juggernaut--and a verb as well as a noun.

As Google marks its 10th anniversary this weekend, it's become "part of culture, much like Xerox", points out John Battelle, who wrote a bestseller about the rise of Google called The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. He notes that the verb "google" quickly became synonymous with speedy learning on virtually every subject.

"Nearly anything and everything to get smart on any topic exists on the Web," says Battelle, "and Google does a good job of organizing it."
Read more »

Filed under: PC & Peripherals
Leave a comment | Bookmark | Share

Slashdot

Digg

Facebook

Twitter

Delicious

Google

StumbleUpon

close this

Add tag

To add tags, you need to become a member. It's FREE.