(Latest update to this post: 5th January 2017 - the URL for this post has changed and is now here)

Some time ago, Julie and Scott Brusaw grabbed the imagination of several million people, with an invention that may eventually benefit the lives of hundreds of times that number: a modular system of intelligent solar paving slabs made of non-slip, highly durable glass, with many applications.

Apart from generating electricity, these paving slabs can provide variable signage or illumination from high intensity LEDs, keep road surfaces free of snow or ice, and perform a variety of other useful functions.

These smart slabs will also act as local components of the Smart Grid.

Click the graphic, or go here, for more information from my web site.

(Original post: December 25th, 2010)

The Uno electric motorcycle seems to be a whole step up from the Segway (or at least cooler and a lot more fun).

The Uno isn't a unicycle, BTW, whatever the title of the linked page says! It has two independently-controlled wheels side by side, each with its own motor and automatic control system.

Like the Segway, it uses digital gyroscopes with electronic control of electric motors to keep the vehicle dynamically stable and to adjust its speed. Also like the Segway, you lean forward to go faster and back to slow down and stop (if you keep leaning back, the Uno will reverse).

Unlike the Segway, you turn just by leaning left or right, as you would on a normal bike or motorbike. The lean is detected and the inside wheel lifts and is turned by its motor at a slower rate than the motor driving the outside wheel, so that the two wheels behave like a single wheel with a wide, flexible tire. The Uno has only one control - an on/off switch!

When this article was written the top speed was 10 MPH (a limitation of the electronics, not the power), but a speed of 30 MPH was planned.

I don't know how commercially successful this wonderful eco-friendly invention will be, but its 18-year-old Canadian inventor Ben Gulack deserves good fortune.

If you are interested in the latest information about it, you will find many recent articles here.

Thanks to my friend bilklb for this one!