The appropriately-called Backpack Power Plant is capable of generating 500 watts and can quietly produce electricity from a stream four feet or deeper.  To install the generator, the user digs a trench on either side of the stream or river for two lightweight anchors.  A rope connects the anchors to the generator, keeping it afloat through tension.

It performs best at flow speeds of 2.3 meters per second, but can work at a variety of speeds.  It produces no heat or exhaust emissions.

Bourne has designed a more-powerful and lighter version for military use in remote locations.  The civilian version will sell for $3,000 and could be used in developing countries or by any hydroelectricity enthusiast.

via Wired Science

Photo by Alaskan Dude.

Music professor Fredric Lieberman and sociologist Rebecca G. Adams have studied the Grateful Dead for some time now and say the current trends that create customer and client loyalty mirror the way the Dead did business decades ago. They point out, for example, that The Dead cultivated loyal customers with reward systems long before it was popular to do so, gave away their product wisely by allowing fans to tape shows, and learned the value of referral networking long before MySpace existed.

According to Barnes, the decision [to let fans tape shows] was not entirely selfless: it reflected a shrewd assessment that tape sharing would widen their audience, a ban would be unenforceable, and anyone inclined to tape a show would probably spend money elsewhere, such as on merchandise or tickets. The Dead became one of the most profitable bands of all time.

All in all, the Grateful Dead was as much a business as it was a band. The takeaway message is that it's possible to develop a viable business strategy while staying true to your roots and mission. The Dead found ways to keep customers happy using methods that seemed unorthodox at the time, but were still very effective. Don't be afraid to try new things like social networking or new advertising methods to keep your clients and customers happy, too.

Have you stepped outside your comfort zone to try a new approach to getting clients for your freelancing business? Have you come up with new ways to motivate the team you manage at work? Share your thoughts in the comments.

According to UBC, it will be a net energy producer with fuel cells, a solar PV array, solar hot water heaters, ground source heat pumps and a biomass co-generation system on site.  The building will collect, store and use rainwater and stormwater, so that it's not only providing its own electricity needs, but all of its water needs as well.

CIRS will be a testing ground for sustainable building technologies and all activity, including energy use and human behavior within the building, will be logged.  It will also host simulations and performances to educate the public on sustainability as part of its Group Decision Environment Theatre.

Sounds pretty amazing to me, but we'll have to see how it stacks up when it's completed to know if it's truly the "greenest."

via Ecofriend

UltraDefrag is available as a portable application and in a GUI and ultra lightweight command-line only version—the lightweight version is designated as "micro" in the download list and is at the top of the screen, make sure to scroll down for the GUI version if you want to interact with the program like in the screenshot above.

With UltraDefrag you can defragment your entire disk, defragment based on the file and folder—handy if your disk defragmentation is limited to a handful of frequently edited and altered files—and set it up to defragment during the boot process to access files Windows usually has locked.

UltraDefrag is open-source and available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows. Have a favorite tool for managing your disks? Let's hear about it in the comments.