Non-Space Prize Roundup - November 7, 2008

Comments on a Health Care X PRIZE - neXt PRIZE - Their Health Care X PRIZE request for ideas is generating feedback.

What's Your Crazy Green Idea? Contest - neXt PRIZE - The contest is over, and you thought voting was over for a while too, but now it's time to vote on the contest's winning videos.

T-Mobile Utilizes Accelerometers in New G1 With Android - Space 2.0 Blog - It's a space blog, and there are space aspects to the application, but from the consumer point of view it's a down-to-Earth product. The prize links are indirect; the winner of their 2007 Business Plan competition, Lumedyne, is mentioned, and Google Android itself includes a $10M prize competition for software applications on that mobile platform.

Dreamforce: Neil Young shows off his green machine - CNet News (link from X PRIZE Foundation news scroller) - Automotive X PRIZE contestant Neil Young and partners shows off their vehicle. Long may you run.

Boyz Under the Hood - Rolling Stone (linke from X PRIZE Foundation news scroller) - In addition to clocking their suburban opponents at state science fairs, the EVX Club has crushed colleges and high-financed corporate start-ups with back-to-back titles in the coveted Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's Tour De Sol, a prestigious eco-car challenge. They modified a Saturn to run on soybean fuel, and transformed a Slovakian kit car into a wildly sporty hybrid called the Hybrid X. "Hybrids don't have to be slow and ugly like a Prius," says 18-year-old EV member, Lawrence Jones-Mahoney. "They can be efficient and cool." ... Car geeks rank West Philly High in the top 10 X-Prize teams to take the trophy.

X PRIZE Foundation - RaySquirrel - An Obama poster highlights the X PRIZE Foundation.

PowerBeam Beams Wireless Electricity Into Devices - Space 2.0 Blog (link from Space for All) - It's not the Beam Power Competition, but it uses a similar concept:

Using technology originally developed for space based applications, California-based start-up PowerBeam, has brought the concept down to earth by developing and patenting a wireless electricity delivery system that delivers electrical power to any location in a room without sending the power through wires. ... PowerBeam’s founders are focused on stationary products that truly benefit from the freedom of “cutting the cord” or products that claim to be wireless but are still tethered to a power cord. The initial applications the company plans to introduce are: digital photo frames, wireless speakers, LED lamps and other related LED lighting products, all of which are markets that the company says have been experiencing rapid growth.

The “Giggle Factor” Fades When Wild Ideas Become Real - Space 2.0 Blog - The blog has more on beamed power and non-space applications.