The DORmino mouse is a cool concept for a green gadget designed to make the notebook’s heat energy be reused in a cycle, and this idea is based on the use of nanowires, induction charging technologies and thermo electricity.

Both the notebook and the mouse are common peripherals which many are working with and it is sad to lose the energy powering the two devices.

DORmino prototype powers from the long mouse pad under the two devices where the power is channeled into the mouse.
The project was accepted at Greener Gadgets Competition this year.

It is nothing but complete fantasy at this point, and will likely be tomorrow’s paleo-future, but this “concept device” from Nokia is intriguing:

Featured in The Museum of Modern Art Design and The Elastic Mind exhibition, the Morph concept device is a bridge between highly advanced technologies and their potential benefits to end-users. This device concept showcases some revolutionary leaps being explored by Nokia Research Center (NRC) in collaboration with the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre (United Kingdom) – nanoscale technologies that will potentially create a world of radically different devices that open up an entirely new spectrum of possibilities.

Morph concept technologies might create fantastic opportunities for mobile devices:

• Devices become self-cleaning and electronics offering an entirely new aesthetic dimension
• Built-in solar absorption might charge a device, whilst batteries become smaller, longer lasting and faster to charge
• Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices

To get a full sense of what they are envisioning, check out the demonstration video.

Like I said, nothing but fantasy at this point. For Communion of Dreams I mostly stayed away from nanotech, since the capabilities it presents in theory are so radically powerful. We’re still early enough in learning how to manipulate material at the molecular level that it is not yet apparent what the real limitations are - it would be fairly easy to envision nearly god-like powers becoming available. And for me, such power isn’t that interesting - there is just too much you can do with it, for it to be a worthwhile device for writing. I prefer a more nitty-gritty tech level, with real limitations and problems for my characters to learn to use and overcome.

But it is fun to see something like the Morph concept come along, just as it was fun back in the 60s to watch the Pan Am shuttle match up to the space station in 2001: A Space Odyssey (an homage to which I have in Communion, though it may not be obvious).

Jim Downey

(Via MeFi.)