Camping is fun- but for these things.

No more though.

Here is this cool piece of equipment:

Solar powered shower shelter

As featured here- This solar shower turns out to be an ideal solution in these no shower situations. Just unfold the carry bag made of nylon, your so called shelter will be quickly popped up.

Almost like a private changing room- this could even provide you with hot shower by heating water using solar energy. Hows that?

Some more specifications:

This ecologically friendly outdoor unit is made of fiberglass pole frame, 70 denier / 190T polyester material while with the help of the stakes included you can easily fix it to a near standing tree for stable shower position. In addition to that, the shed also features 5 gallon PVC Solar Shower. This ultra portable camping item works perfectly and includes enough head room.

Good piece of gadgetry mixed with eco-advantage

Cheers

Shalabh

I love to read books and loves the smell of paper and holding that book in my hands. At the same time, there are times when I wish I had a particular book in hand or could immediately start reading a book as soon as I see it online.

There are times when I want to share or mark stuff- and those things are not easy in the paper books.

Ah if only eBooks were not this energy guzzling electricity (rechargable) battery operated devices.

Well there is Hope.

Enjoy

Shalabh Pandey (@shalabhpandey on twitter)

Maati (@maati on twitter)

LG made some advancements and has announced the launch of a prototype for a solar eBook reader.

And no it will presumably not be bulky or heavy.

As reported here:

The thin-film solar cell featured in the e-book measures 10 centimeters in width and length, it was developed to perfectly fit the 6-inch display panel for e-book currently mass produced by LG Display. The solar cell measures 0.7 millimeter in thickness and weighs a mere 20 grams, the less thickness of a credit card and the weight of a fountain pen.

A bit of a downer, in my opinion, is the charging time and battery life. You need to charge for 5 hours for a full days reading. But LG says it is going to be more efficient as technology progresses. Optimism also shared at Wired by Charlie Shorrel

Solar headphones

What’s cool is the performance. Reportably it could fire up almost 2.67 hours of power at full blast volume just by being 1 hour in the sunlight.

The Q-SOUND headphones would not only allow you to listen to music via any Bluetooth-enabled digital audio player, but also would let you take calls on any Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. If your player doesn’t support Bluetooth there is also a 3.5mm jack to allow for a wired connection. The headband is constructed of flexible plastic incorporating amorphous silicon solar cells, while each rubber-based earpiece can be adjusted to fit differently shaped and sized heads.

This video shows how  thermal mass windows keep cool with solar shades installed. These solar shades are being developed to compliment the thermal mass windows, but have a much wider appeal to any home that experiences large solar gains during the summer.

So while swimming is a fun activity and a great way to exercise or relax, it does increase our reliance on chemicals. So what next?

Here is a solution- a clean fun and sustainable solution- and since Maati is all about sustainability and chemical free living, we are covering this story from the daily green. They do emphasize some problems that come with prolonged exposure to swimming pool chemicals like hair problems, asthama and wheezing in infants, and even this: “In an unpleasant reaction, pee and sweat in water can react with chlorine to form toxic breakdown products known as chloramines. ”
Sure you don’t pee in the pool- but hello! just look at that kid next to you in then pool- he suddenly took a break from screaming and jumping around with his friends and his face squealed. Hang on! He looks more relieved now. Could it be…?
Well jokes apart- some really sexy pools here- we took some pitcures from the slideshow on the site:

Users tout ‘convenience’ as one major factor to buy these hotties

“I think this is absolutely great A must have!!! I love to read but it’s difficult carrying around kids and trying to keep up with books and pages. I can throw this right in my purse and go…Love it!”

Kindle- The iphone of ebook readers- kindles huge response- a video demonstration here

But since Kindle has almost everything- and is cool (almost an iphone of ebook readers)- so what can others do to differentiate? Snippy, as this newly launched ebook reader is called, has solar power. Nothing less *Drumroll*

Here is how it looks:

A big gripe that some people have with devices like ebook readers is that much effort is given to make them appear like the real thing- paper! Then why bother with something that is artificial when the original is still available?… I like the smell of a new book, etc…

But as was mentioned earlier in this post, the main purpose is ease of use- you can pack almost unlimited books, ebook versions can somethimes come cheaper than the paper versions, it is portable (imagine carrying a few if not tens of books/full documents with you all the time!)

Maati.com team