Technabob » forest

World’s First Vertical Forest Takes Off

Hazel Chua — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:00:31 +0000

When Stefano Boeri announced his plans to build the world’s first ever vertical forest (dubbed as the Bosco Verticale), some people were amazed while some were skeptical. His plans to construct an urban forest in Milan sounded grand and complicated, but they’re slowly being built to fruition.

The tall skyscraper isn’t exactly just a forest. Rather, it houses luxury apartments which will each have a huge balcony that will hold around 900 small trees and plant species. The plans indicate that the plans will cover a total space of approximately 10,000 square meters.

The main benefit of having a truly green apartment is (you guessed it!) cleaner living. The plants can help filter out pollution, take in carbon dioxide and give you fresher O2-filled air, reduce noise pollution, improve your micro-climate, and shield you from the sun’s hot rays as well. (Spend less on air-conditioning, but spend more on lights. I think it’s a fair trade off.)

[via Pop Up City]

Print A Forest: 100 Documents = 1 Tree

Hazel Chua — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:30:38 +0000

A lot of offices are going paperless to show that they’re trying to be more green (the good, environmental kind) and eco-friendly. However, there are still many instances where physical copies of documents are still required.

That’s where Print A Forest comes in.

So how does it work? Well, first you need to download a piece of software so you can start “printing forests.” Each document that you will print via the program will include a small sponsored ad at the bottom of each page you print. Print 100 pages, and you will have donated enough money to plant a tree. How about that?

The problem is, of course, on people’s willingness to have ads printed on their documents. It’s one thing to click on ads on a certain site to donate a few grains (or was it cups?) of rice to impoverished people in need (now that I think about it, were those sites for real? Or were they just scam sites to get people to click on ads?), but it’s another to have ads printed right on your documents.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

If you don’t mind and want to get in on the green movement, learn more about Print A Forest, or get the program, head on over to their site to get started.

[via PSFK via Oh Gizmo!]

Camouflage Night Vision Camera Snaps Sneaky Pics

Technabob — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:20:32 +0000

Bushnell’s new Trail Scout Pro 5.0 night vision digital camera is designed to be mounted to a tree in the forest, and automatically snaps 5-megapixel digital photos of anything that crosses its path.

In addition to being able to shoot night vision pics, the $270 (street price) camera switches into a full color mode during daylight. You can also set it up to snap 15-second movie clips instead of high-res photos if you’re trying to capture that elusive Sasquatch in action.

The battery powered camera is supposed to work for about 30 days on a single set of batteries, since it’s not wasting any juice unless it’s triggered.

I guess this thing is designed for hunters to keep an eye on what’s roaming out in the trees at night, but the whole idea of seeing what’s going on in the darkness of the woods feels a little Blair Witch Project to me.

[Order from Amazon]