Mathmos' eight-inch tall windlights are pretty simple—just a generator, 2.4-inch propeller and two LED lights—but that doesn't stop them from having their own cute, glowing eco-charm. Basically when the wind blows strongly enough, they light up: dot them about your garden and you'd have a great display, but only if the wind is blowing. If you're in London, Jason Bruges Studio has arranged hundreds of them into a 45-foot high Aeolian Tower scultpure at the Southbank which is showing until November 16th. But if you want just one, it'll cost you around $US18. [Technabob]

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Overclocking is nothing new, but rarely is it promoted by a PC manufacturer, let alone in a netbook. But MSI has released the v1.09 BIOS update for their Wind mini-notebook that allows users to function key toggle an 8%, 15% or 24% automatic overclock that can translate to a 30% performance boost (as independently tested). You'll notice the extra power in apps like Photoshop especially, but keep in mind that it probably won't do wonders for the battery life. All in all, however, it sounds like an absolute must-have update. [Electric Vagabond]

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Earlier this month we peeked at official shots of the MSI Wind's 3.5G-equipped refresh, the 10" U120. Now news from Taiwan is that the U120 will hit the wild in November at $US552 (converted) in both white and black, with an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB memory and a 120GB hard drive loaded with Windows XP in addition to the built-in 3.5G module. Whether the November date is worldwide or Asia only does not yet appear to be confirmed. [DigiTimes]

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MSI hasn't been shy about their Wind U120, a 10" netbook that should pack a 120GB hard drive, SSD options, 802.11n Wi-Fi and 3G (HSDPA) fun. But from these first official shots of the unofficial sequel to the praised MSI Wind, we see that not much has changed about the exterior beyond adding a new two-tone style with a black border around the screen (probably to help colours pop). Then again, popping in a SIM card to surf the web from anywhere is a pretty solid update in itself. Look for the Wind U120 priced under $US600 this December. [Fudzilla]

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Netbooks were supposed to be this great inroad for Linux development, but it turns out that the XP side of the netbook business is doing a lot better in the area of customer satisfaction: MSI today told Laptop that, according to internal studies, "The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks."

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Ohmigod, it's a MacBook Mini! Oh, wait, no it's not. It's a cheap MSI Wind clone with a fake Mac backing on it, put together with dremel, six white LEDs, tape and aluminium foil. Impressive, but not quite what people have been waiting for. But hey, nice work nonetheless! I'm sure it works to fool people in coffee shops. [Gadget Lab]

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Google, who in aggregate, effectively knows everything, unsurprisingly has a solution for our energy problems. The plan, called Clean Energy 2030 will cost $US4.4 trillion over its 22-year span, if we start on it right now. Google says it'll give us back a net of $US1 trillion, like half of which will be savings on Google's massive power bill notes the former Fake Steve.

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Hackintosh machines are nothing new, but the guys over at APC have got a rough guide to troubleshooting the process of installing OS X onto an MSI Wind netbook.

You have to make some small sacrifices (like losing the headphone and microphone jacks) and if you want wireless you'll need to open your Wind up, but for $700 bucks or so, this solution makes it one of the cheapest Mac options around. And while it's not exactly legal in the eyes of Apple and their army of lawyers, that doesn't mean it can't be done.

[APC Mag]

(Photo by Steve Morse)
Not to be outdone by those crazy Danish bastards out on the isle of Samso, Science Daily reports an equally crazy group of Missourian bastards in Rock Port now generate all their electricity using wind turbines. Rock Port went completely wind-powered last week, making use of the 75 wind turbines spread out across three Missouri counties, and local experts are excited about the potential for wind power throughout the state. However, PopSci thinks it won't be so easy to make this a widespread trend in the US.

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The idea of diving out of an aeroplane with essentially just a thin envelope of fabric protecting me from splattering my organs all over concrete like postmodern art makes me want to pee myself. Yet somehow jumping off a giant, bird-blending propeller blade, almost thirty stories up, makes me want to poop myself too. And that's exactly what these insane base jumpers do, on video no less.

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