Six Solutions for Saving Water and Saving Lives

As part of its role as the non-government advisor for the United Nations, Pasadena, California-based Art Center College of Design teamed up with another NGO, Un Techo Para Mi Pais, and embarked upon a humanitarian design charrette to help bring safe, clean water to the slums of Chile. [Detail]

40 Fantastic Time-Wasting Web Sites

Sure, you should probably be working. But why bother when you can vaporize hours by checking out these engaging Web sites? [Detail]

Chinese "Sun Dial" is the World's Largest Solar-Powered Office Building

China, constantly straddling the line between super-polluter and clean tech pioneer, has unveiled what for the time being is the world’s largest solar-powered office building . The fan-like roof of the 800,000 square-foot facility located in Dezhou in Shangdong Province was cleverly designed to resemble an ancient sun dial, though rather than ticking off the passing hours, the building houses exhibition centers, research facilities, meeting and convention spaces and a hotel, all of which are powered by the hundreds of solar panels adorning its roof. [Detail]

Power Plug Wall Sockets WIth USB Ports Built In

USB is as close as we're probably going to get to a universal gadget-charger standard. But to charge something without occupying a precious free port on your computer, you need a power brick adapter. Not with these $10 wall sockets from True Power.
These will fit with the wiring already in your home, giving you two powered USB ports (or "holes" as Prickly Pete would say) for each wall socket. They're available next year.

Homes on Stilts: The Last Architecture Trend of the Decade

The clock is ticking down on the last design trends of the aughts. Squeaking in just before the calendar flips is this unlikely development: a fashion for stilted homes. Why stilted? Whatever their actual environmental benefit might be, stilts express a culture-wide desire to tread lightly on the land. These homes hint at mobility; without basements or foundations, they could be gone tomorrow. They're also a throwback to the virtuously simple tropical huts and the early days of prefab. [Detail]