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While not nearly as outrageous as its sQuba submarine car, Rinspeed’s shape-shifting iChange all-electric concept car, debuting at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, has more than its fair share of eccentricities. As the name not so gracefully suggests, it sports iPhone integration that lets you dock the mobile and control the headlights and turn signals, among other functions — no steering capabilities, unfortunately. The phone can also adjust the height of the bubble roof to make room for two passengers in the back. Left to its own devices, the bubble adjusts dynamically to maximize fuel efficiency. As for the specs, it’s got a 150 kilowatt motor, top speed of about 137MPH, solar panel roofing to power the A/C, a Harman/Kardon infotainment system with GPS navigation, goes 0 to 62MPH in under four seconds, and is all powered by lithium ion batteries available in two different stack configurations optimized for short and long trips, respectively. See it for yourself in the video after the break — soundtrack not included, so be sure to add your own techno beats.
Gallery: Rinspeed’s iChange EV is an iPhone-integrated shape shifter
[Via The College Driver]
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By Evan Ackerman

At Mobile World Congress 2009 this week, LG was displaying a new cell phone with a solar panel battery back that won’t need to be plugged in until the sun goes dead in 6-odd billion years. Ten minutes of sun gets you three minutes of talk time, which is not half bad… The phone is due to be released in Europe by the end of this year, but hopefully LG will take the obvious step of just manufacturing battery backs with integrated solar panels, which would allow existing handsets to be quickly and easily converted to solar charging.

The other thing in that picture is a solar powered Bluetooth hands-free speakerphone, the LG HFB-500. LG was giving these out at their press conference at CES, and it was just too nifty to include in our CES swag giveaway (sorry). It comes with a suction mount to stick it in the windshield of your car, as well as a power adapter that you’ll ideally never use. It’s got an on/off button (it shuts off automatically), a big call answer button, and some volume buttons. That’s it. I’ve had it up on the windshield of my car since January, and I’ve never had to charge it, it’s just always there and ready to go. The LG HFB-500 costs $70 or $80 depending on where you look, which is maybe a little steep, but having gadgets that are ever present and functional without any plugs or maintenance whatsoever is worth a little extra money, I’d say.

[ LG Press Release ] VIA [ DVICE ]

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The entirety of civilization seems fairly well and dedicated to one-upping each other in the “green” department, and Samsung is looking to up the ante once again by stating that “blue is the new green” and putting out the new Blue Earth solar phone to prove it. Sadly, the Blue Earth isn’t quite ready to go — currently it’s only to be seen in non-working mockup form, though the hardware is certainly looking good. Samsung’s showing off its eco-packaging and built-in energy-saving functionality, including an “Eco Walk” function to let you know how many trees you save by walking places. The phone itself is built from castor bean extract and recycled plastic, and Samsung claims the integrated solar panel saves up to 34.6% of the battery’s energy. They’re also showing off a hand-crank generator, external solar chargers, and even a solar-charged stereo headset. It’s clear that Samsung isn’t just playing lip service to green (or blue, as the case may be) but at this point in time this technology is likely to act more as a gimmick and promise of things to come than a truly life-changing device.
Gallery: Samsung’s Blue Earth is saving the world from behind glass

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If you’ve got some 60 x 60 solar panels, a few diodes, some scotch tape, and a little time on your hands, you may never need to plug in your DS ever again. According to “dark sponge,” a poster over at Instructables, you can convert the Lite into a solar-powered wonder that will obviate the need for your standard PSU, and make your green leaning friends, er… green with envy. The mod involves slapping panels on both the bottom and top of the device which — when wired in parallel — get 6 volts of power at 80 mA, which is apparently perfect for a trickle charge. The only downside is you’ll have to leave the device face down for a bit, and it’s advised to keep it out of the sun all day. Still, it’s an excellent mod that doesn’t seem too difficult to execute, and ends up saving hassle and energy… and who can knock that?

[Via SlashGear]
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Samsung’s Blue Earth handset might just be taking the green thing to a whole new extreme. Made from PCM, a recycled plastic from water bottles, the phone boast an “eco” mode for efficiently adjusting screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth usage, and an “eco walk” app / built-in pedometer to tell you how much CO2 emission you’ve saved by walking instead of driving. The best part? It’s got a giant solar panel on the back that’ll apparently charge it enough to make a phone call anytime the sun’s peaking out. Of the form factor, Sammy says it “symbolizes a flat and well rounded shiny pebble” — which we hope means it can skip puddles with the best of ‘em. It’ll come in recycled packaging with an energy efficient charger. What we don’t know, unfortunately, is what makes this phone tick, neither OS nor hardware specs. Not a word on price yet, but UK environmentalists can look forward to this one second half of this year.

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