Volkswagen and Sanyo join hands to develop new lighter batteries for hybrids

Volkswagen AG along with Japan's Sanyo Electric is in the process of developing a lithium-ion battery, a key component of hybrid and electric cars. Sanyo is going through a restructuring and believes its battery business is key to its turnaround. Sanyo is currently manufacturing nickel-hydrogen batteries that can be recharged repeatedly and supplying them to Honda Motor Co. and Ford Motor Co. Volkswagen and subsidiary Audi AG will also adopt Sanyo-made nickel-hydrogen batteries for use in the Volkswagen group's first hybrid model, to be rolled out as early as next year. Toyota, which has enjoyed enormous successes with Prius hybrid model, has worked with Matsushita Electric Industrial, known for its Panasonic brand, to start mass-production of a lithium-ion battery for use in Toyota's hybrid models by 2010.
By working with Sanyo, Volkswagen hopes to catch up with rivals in eco-friendly vehicles. The lithium-ion battery that Sanyo and Volkswagen will develop will be smaller than a nickel-hydrogen battery, making it possible to design lighter cars than those using conventional batteries.

Nike Wi-Fi sneakers – Wi-Fi detection on the go

Among the many ways to detect the strength and location of Wi-Fi hotspots around you, there are things that work off your USB port, applications, even t-shirts. But this takes the cake - Wi-Fi sneakers. They're nice looking shoes and they'll tell you if there's an available network in your current vicinity. And think how handy it is that they're a sneaker. If you discover a hotspot but the signal strength is a bit on the weak side, you can use those sneakers to run a few blocks over to see if it boosts up a bit.
It's a great little all-in-one. You'll need to ask Nike for the price & also make sure you don't talk a walk in them on a rainy day. Nobody wants to get electrocuted detecting a wifi signal when a storm is on the verge.

Wanetlight an LED chandelier controlled by the WiiMote

After the WaSnake here comes the Wanetlight a luminous suspension composed of 25 blown glass candles that form a three-dimensional matrix of light. It is composed of 5x5x5 LEDs clustered in the three axes (LxWxH). The cluster forms a luminous 3-D screen cage. Each LED can be individually piloted to enable users to configure all sorts of light compositions in space. It is controlled by a Wiimote, which commands the sensors that pilot the ascending/descending movements of the LEDs.