Amazon wants to build flying warehouses in the sky

We’ve all heard before about Amazon’s plans to deliver orders via drone , but a recently-unearthed patent shows the company could one day push the concept to a startling extreme. Discovered by Zoe Leavitt , an analyst for CB insights, the patent describes an “airborne fulfillment center utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles for item delivery” – what is essentially a giant flying warehouse in the sky. The airborne fulfillment centers would exist aboard a giant airship , floating at altitudes of around 45,000 feet. As Amazon orders came in, individual drones would be deployed to deliver the goods. Smaller airships would be used to return the drones, resupply the fulfillment center with new inventory, and shuttle workers back and forth from the facility. While drones launched from the ground have a fairly limited range, the aerial deployment would allow the drones to cover a much wider delivery area. The warehouses would also be mobile, allowing Amazon to easily shift position depending on consumer demand. For example, the patent explains one of the warehouses could be positioned near a stadium during a game to allow fans to immediately purchase team merchandise or snacks during the game. Related: Amazon’s new Prime Air delivery drone is part helicopter, part airplane The concept is just that for now – there’s no indication that Amazon will de deploying drone-carrying blimps in the near future. However, don’t be surprised if airborne drone delivery one day replaces FedEx or the postal service. Via The Verge Images via Zoe Leavitt and Wikimedia Commons

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Amazon wants to build flying warehouses in the sky

Thoth Technology patents 12-mile-high inflatable space elevator

The hardest part about space travel is actually getting to space. Tearing through Earth’s atmosphere and escaping its gravitational pull requires a huge amount of fuel and money to be successful. A Canadian space technology company, Thoth Technology, has just been granted a patent for an inflatable space elevator that promises to reduce the cost of getting to space by 30 percent. The patent is for an elevator more than 12 miles (20 km) high and 755 ft in diameter, supported by pneumatically pressurized cells filled with air or another gas. Read the rest of Thoth Technology patents 12-mile-high inflatable space elevator

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Thoth Technology patents 12-mile-high inflatable space elevator

Toyota gives away more than 5,600 hydrogen fuel-cell patents, for free

Taking a page out of Tesla’s book , Toyota has announced that more than 5,600 of its fuel-cell-related patents are available for use—for free. Toyota hopes that its announcement at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show will spur development and introduction of innovative fuel cell technologies around the world. Read the rest of Toyota gives away more than 5,600 hydrogen fuel-cell patents, for free Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: 2015 CES , 2016 Mirai , ces , consumer electronics show , fuel cell , fuel cell vehicle , green car , green transportation , hydrogen , hydrogen fuel cell vehicle , patents , Toyota , Toyota Mirai

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Toyota gives away more than 5,600 hydrogen fuel-cell patents, for free

Apple Patents (Intentionally) Flexible ‘Smart Paper’ Display

The US Patent and Trademark Office has just granted the latest batch of Apple’s patents, and as usual, none of us has any idea which of them will go anywhere. But one of them— #8,855,727 , to be precise—is rather interesting (if not entirely original). It suggests the possibility of a flexible, double-sided display that would serve as a “digital periodical.” Missing Attachment Missing Attachment Missing Attachment Read the rest of Apple Patents (Intentionally) Flexible ‘Smart Paper’ Display Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg Post tags: apple , digital periodical , flexible display , green design , green technology , inewspaper , iPad , magazines , Newspapers , OLED , patent , smart paper , tablet

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Apple Patents (Intentionally) Flexible ‘Smart Paper’ Display

Would You Use Amazon’s Preemptive Return Tool for Gifts You Don’t Want?

We’ve all got relatives that seem to be missing the  gift giving gene — remember those horrible holiday sweaters and itchy scarves of your childhood? Well, Amazon.com has a plan to curb unwanted presents and they’ve filed a patent to make sure nobody steals their idea. Amazon’s new tool would allow giftees to opt in to see the gifts they’ll be getting from people and — before they’re even sent from the warehouse — decide if they don’t want them.

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Would You Use Amazon’s Preemptive Return Tool for Gifts You Don’t Want?

Green Tech’s Big Patent Problem

You may remember the battle that raged between pharmaceutical companies who wanted to hold on to their patents and African nations who couldn’t afford the non-generic price tag on the AIDS drugs that would help their dying populations. A similar problem is brewing over green energy technologies: developing countries are demanding that the U.S.

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Green Tech’s Big Patent Problem

Green Decontaminants Could Clean Up Terrorist Attacks

There’s nothing remotely green about nerve gas, mustard gas, anthrax, and other nasty chemical agents that could be used in a terrorist attack. The cleanup process, on the other hand, doesn’t have to be completely unsustainable, according to U.S.

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Green Decontaminants Could Clean Up Terrorist Attacks