Wind turbines are getting cheaper, taller, and now... Floating!

Wind power is growing, and the generation opportunities exist even in places where there's not a lot of wind. The New Your Times reports a start-up called Altaeros Energies is preparing to introduce its first commercial pilot of an airborne wind turbine in Alaska. Known as the BAT — or Buoyant Airborne Turbine — the enormous, white helium-filled doughnut surrounding a rotor will float about 1,000 feet in the air and feed enough electricity to power more than a dozen homes through one of the cables tethering it to the ground.

Take a look at the picture. This is a floating, helium-filled wind turbine! Since the wind is always stronger the higher up you go, wind power is becoming possible even in places like the southeast where traditional wind power (fixed towers) is not feasible. 

Are there potential problems? Let's think. Low flying airplanes, for one. How about the ability to withstand storms, or even hurricanes? And then there's safety. Will this thing remain tethered or float away? How about target practice? Do you think a hunter or two might be interested in seeing if they can get a bullet to reach the floating windmill?

We shouldn't poo-poo this start-up. We should celebrate the innovation and look forward to watching its first application. Just make sure you fly above 1,000 feet. 

Want people to like you at work? Try this...

Being liked at work, reports the Wall Street Journal, is a key for achieving success. If people like you, there are many advantages. You're more apt to be hired in the first place, and once hired, you'll get plum assignments. You're more likely to get help from coworkers, and be forgiven more quickly when you make mistakes.

So you want to be more likable? Here's how: 1) Be curious about others. Make eye contact (or if that's too difficult, look at their nose - unless they have a funny nose - then look at their eyebrows - unless they have a unibrow...) Ask questions about their opinions and their favorite activities. Don't dwell on yourself; rather, focus on THEM. 2) Listen. Actually listen to what people are saying and follow up with questions ABOUT THEM. Don't just listen to them and immediately talk about yourself and your wonderful life. Focus on THEM. 3) Smile. What more needs to be said. Just smile more and people will enjoy being around you. 4) Be authentic. Try to be natural. Except don't be natural if being natural for you is being nasty. In that case, fake it and act nice. Being nice is more important. Shoot for an Academy Award in niceness. 5) Find common ground with others. If you share an activity, politics, family activities, then talk about those common topics.

Good luck. And remember… Smile!

Wireless electricity is supposedly coming to consumers, says CNN.

Imagine a house with no electrical outlets. You bring in a new blender, flick the switch, and presto!, electricity flows and the you have instant daiquiris! At least what CNN is reporting in a recent online report. 

The idea is infrastructure could be created in a house to create a giant electromagnetic field, strong enough to power light bulbs and appliances. A new startup has been created to bring us this wireless "resonance" technology, WiTricity.

There's no question that placing an energy consuming device in a magnetic field induces an electric current. If it's strong enough, power will flow. The folks at WiTricity claim its perfectly safe, stating the electricity is the same as we are experiencing in our WiFi routers, only a lot stronger.

In a WiTricity home, your smartphone will recharge in your pocket, lightbulbs will automatically come to life without being plugged in, and your TV will work without a mess of cords. Your electric car (we'll all have those soon as well) will charge in your garage without being plugged in. I know it sounds like a joke, but I am not making this up.

The company's first application is in the medical field, recharging a heart pump implanted into a patient's chest. This makes perfect sense, considering the options of operating to replace a device next to the heart, or leading a power cord from the body to the wall socket. (Ok, now I am trying to be funny.)

The challenge, CNN reports, is the limited distance the power can travel. It also seems to me that living around a constant electromagnetic field - the old EMF issue - will raise more questions and concerns about health. However for now, limited applications that get electricity to places where it's hard to attach a plug - like inside a body - is promising.