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Remember Beacon Power, that startup using 2,800-pound flywheels to cut noxious emissions? Well, three years later, the company is wrapping up construction of its first plant, a 20-megawatt operation that just happens to be the world's largest. The Stephentown, NY facility is home to 200 of these flywheels, which store and output energy as needed, essentially matching the power supply with the demands of the grid. The result, the company promises, is reduced energy waste and stable electrical frequencies hovering around 60Hz. And while the plant's already up and running at 18 megawatts, it won't be until later this month that Beacon finishes building it out so that it reaches its full capacity. Full PR and champagne-popping celebration plans after the break. Beacon Power's Stephentown, NY flywheel plant    CNET  

It takes a lot of energy for computing systems or data centers to patch up critical errors, but what if we devoted less power to fixing less urgent issues? That's the basic idea behind EnerJ -- a new power-saving system that could cut a chip's energy consumption by 90 percent, simply by prioritizing critical problems over those that are less threatening. Unlike, say, liquid cooling techniques, the University of Washington's framework focuses exclusively on the programming side of the equation and revolves around two interlocking pieces of code: one that handles crucial, precision-based tasks (e.g., password encryption), and another designed to deal with processes that can continue to function, even when facing small errors. The system's software would separate the two codes, meaning that energy from one section of the chip would never be used to fix a major problem that the other should address, while allowing engineers to more efficiently allocate voltage to each regi...

As seems to be the case each year, one or two stars show up to demonstrate new technology here at the All Things D  'Science Fair,' and it just so happens that a pair from the University of Pennsylvania are soaking up the limelight this go 'round. uBeam's the company, and based on what we saw at D9, we're guessing that you'll be hearing an awful lot more from the duo in the coming months. The company's mission is to provide wireless power -- hardly a new concept, but it's all sorts of refreshing to see what's often thought of as a pipe dream get an injection of reality. The outfit is literally comprised of two people for the moment, with the prototype shown here concocted just a few weeks ago. The goal? To get uBeam transmitters installed in as many locales as possible, and then to hit critical mass from a device standpoint. Imagine walking into a restaurant with uBeam transmitters in the ceiling, and watching your handset magically recharge as yo...

A very strange thing popped up on mobile graphic benchmarking site NenaMark the other day -- an entry for the Droid Bionic. Now, it would be very easy to fake this test, and you'd be right to be skeptical given the incomplete score and the fact that it's reporting PowerVR's SGX 540 GPU, instead of the Tegra 2 we saw at CES. But, let's not be too hasty -- we heard back in April that NVIDIA's mobile chip wasn't playing nice with Verizon's LTE. Perhaps when Motorola said it was delaying the Bionic to incorporate "several enhancements" it really meant "rebuilding the phone with a more LTE friendly CPU." Both Samsung and Texas Instruments use the SGX 540, and Moto has previously turned to TI's OMAP for the Droid, Droid 2, and Droid X. Then again, a single, suspiciously low benchmark score isn't the most convincing basis for a rumor. Droid Life NenaMark

With handset screens getting larger and applications such as streaming primetime shows and video chat becoming more prevalent, it's not surprising that some handsets such as the HTC Evo 4G include a built-in kickstand. Most phones, though, suffer from LifeCall commercial syndrome –- when they've fallen, they can't get up. To offer some assistance, a whole cottage industry of pocketable products – many with inventive designs -- have appeared to let you enjoy your handset's screen without your hands in the way. But how universal are they? I tested a variety of popular and unusually-shaped handsets -- including the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, Droid 2, Droid X, BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Torch, Palm Pre, HP Veer, Samsung Captivate and the monstrous Samsung Infuse -- finding, for example, that some phones fit in some stands only when their physical keyboards were extended. Surprised at how well a few of the stands held up, I even tried them with a few tablets, including ...

Google announced today that it's throwing $55 million dollars to the wind... energy, that is. A post to the official Google blog said the company has invested the aforementioned amount in the Alta Wind Energy Center, which is set to generate 1,550 megawatts of energy -- enough to reportedly power 450,000 homes -- from a batch of turbines in the Mojave Dessert. Developed by Terra-Gen Power, the operation will carry the resulting energy via transmission lines to "major population centers." The ever-humble internet giant pointed out that this particular injection of funds marks a total investment of $400 million in the clean energy sector. In fact, El Goog signed a deal last year to power several of its data centers with wind power, and most recently announced the opening of a seawater-cooled data center in Finland. Physorg Google

It probably won't help you if you leave your oven on, but if you let lights linger after leaving home, Ubiquitous' iRemotTap may help you save a few Kilowatts. This seemingly vanilla powerstip is anything but, boasting the odd addition of a tiny OS embedded in a wireless LAN chip -- all the better to turn your lights off. Users can control the internet-enabled socket stick remotely via a mobile or desktop web browser, allowing them to switch off gadgets and lights after leaving the house. Can't be bothered to log in to switch off? No worries, this plug powers devices down automatically after they reach a pre-defined power consumption limit. If you're forgetful enough to need a light switch in the cloud, Ubiquitous is hoping to sell you peace of mind for less than ¥10,000 ($122) -- whenever these taps get out of R&D, that is. Vid's after the break, if you need convincing. DigInfo TV

Powermat's Power Matt proclaimed his cord-cutting capabilities to the people while bearing a striking resemblance to Superman. And now, just as the Kryptonian joined the Justice League, Power Matt has teamed up with the Wireless Power Consortium to benefit all mankind -- or at least get us closer to universal contactless chargers. With the pun-loving hero embracing the power of  Qi , we're just aTouchstone away from induction charging nirvana... and the next great action flick, too. Technogorilla Wireless Power Consortium

We're big fans of charming, ungainly Solar Impulse, and of Captain Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg's quest to circumnavigate the globe in a solar-powered plane. In case you missed the live stream: the Swiss flier just got a little closer to that goal by completing its first international flight, taking off near Berne, Switzerland and landing in Brussels, Belgium, just under 13 hours later. That's half the flight time of an earlier test, in which the craft's 200-foot wingspan, covered with 12,000 photovoltaic solar cells, kept it aloft for 26 hours. Of course, a controlled test flight is one thing -- making solar-powered flight commercially viable means proving your plane can successfully navigate busy airspace. To see Solar Impulse come in for a smooth landing, peep the video after the break. Forbes Solar Impulse

It's been a little over two years since we first came across Scarpar's all-terrain powerboard, and now it's just about ready to hit the streets, or mountains, or whatever. The Australian startup is currently accepting reservations for its surprisingly powerful electric skateboards -- now in two flavors. Scarpar's Model X comes equipped with two 1.5-kilowatt DC Motors and tops out at 28MPH, while the Model S offers two 750-watt motors and hits 18MPH. You can reserve one now for $500 or $600, depending on how much power you want under your feet, but be prepared to shell out either $2,800 or $3,800 when it's finally time to buy. Scarpar expects the things to ship sometime in December, so don't go making any summer vacation plans for you and your new off-roader just yet.   Scarpar

Don't you hate it when you preorder something and it doesn't show up for, like, a year? We know of at least 960 early adopters who can feel your pain. The Pivot Power strip, which lets you rearrange six outlets to plug in adapters of any size, went on sale in June of last year for $23 a pop. But, because the community-driven website Quirky is selling it, the ordering process wasn't as simple as paying and waiting for it to show up on your doorstep: the company would only ship them when 960 people "committed" to buying them -- not unlike how a certain number of people are needed to activate aGroupon deal. Well, the company quickly met its goal, the strip is at last shipping, and Jake Zien, the inventor (that's that giddy fellow up there) couldn't be more pleased. When we first reported on the Pivot Power strip's availability, more than half of those pre-sale slots had already been filled  so we're not sure just what took so long . Since then, Zien ...

A lot of portable PC power cells last for only four or five hours, after which you'll find yourself chained to a wall socket. Good thing there are external batteries to keep us in current when a plug's nowhere to be found, and  Tom's Hardware  has done some benchmarking on a slew of such devices so you'll know which one's suited for you. A Dell Vostro 3300 and an Inspiron Mini 10 running Windows 7 were used to put packs from Amstron, Brunton, Digipower, Electrovaya, Energizer, Lenmar, PowerTraveller andTekkeon through some real-world paces -- we're talking word processing and web surfing, not fragging and film editing. So if you're in the market for a mobile power unit, hit the source link and get the down and dirty on which external battery's best. Tom's Hardware