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Stonington Police Sgt. David Knowles put a fresh battery in the stun gun that Russell E. Kirby allegedly used in the May 2002 kidnapping of Leslie Buck and pulled the trigger Wednesday in a Norwich courtroom.

The electronic “zap” sound that emitted from the Thunder Power 120,000-volt stun gun startled some of the court spectators. So did the blue electrical “arc” that appeared between the two contact points at the top of the device.

The stun gun, which Kirby allegedly held to the back of Buck’s neck when he accosted her in the garage of her Mystic home on May 2, 2002, was one of dozens of items that prosecutor Paul J. Narducci introduced into evidence on the second day of Kirby’s trial.

The evidence containers held everything from white cloth gloves to a Colt 1911 .45-caliber pistol. The packages had been torn open and discussed at Kirby’s first trial in 2004. The second time around, the physical evidence could be more important than ever , since the state is attempting to make its case without the victim’s testimony Satellite M100 , Satellite M105.

The 72-year-old handyman’s first conviction, in 2004, was overturned by the state Supreme Court. The justices ruled that Buck’s statements and a 911 call she made following her kidnapping were not admissible because Kirby was unable to confront her at trial. Leslie Buck escaped from Kirby only to die two days later under suspicious circumstances. Stonington police charged her husband, Charles Buck, with her murder last year, and he is in prison, awaiting trial.

On Wednesday, Narducci asked witnesses to tell the jury how the evidence in the Kirby case was collected and preserved. The panel heard from the operator of the wrecker that towed Buck’s white Buick Park Avenue car, which she said Kirby used in the kidnapping, from her garage to the Stonington Police Department. Knowles, Satellite M40 , Satellite M45  the detective sergeant, said he processed the car at the police station and found a duffel bag on the back-seat floor containing two stun guns, the Colt pistol, a hickory log, lengths of rope and other items. He held each of them up for the jury to see, including the stun gun. Knowles also described finding related items, including the box for the Colt pistol, when the department executed a search warrant at Kirby’s home on Long Pond Road.

The jury also heard from Mystic optician Clayton Cobb, who confirmed that a pair of eye glasses with bifocal lenses and bent frames that was found in the duffle bag belonged to Mrs. Buck. Molly Cichon, the emergency room nurse that treated Buck at Lawrence & Memorial, described her injuries as the prosecutor introduced her report into evidence. Later, Detective Cody Floyd showed the jury photographs he had taken of Leslie Buck’s injuries the day after the kidnapping.

Developers of an “extreme” hybrid electric car system took Gov. Jack Markell for a spin around Dover on Tuesday, part of a cross-country tour aimed at winning Washington state-based AFS Trinity a place at the heart of an electric car revolution

“We have been asked point blank by people in the state: Would we be interested in licensing our technology to Fisker?’” Furia said. “Absolutely. We’re shopping for a place where we could build. This isn’t the only state.”

A few months ago, you had no desire for a tablet computer. The market, after all, has hyped tablets for years, to little effect.

Now, with Apple expected to launch its tablet, you’ve mortgaged your house so you can buy one. Analysts are projecting that we’ll buy tens of millions of such tablets this year.

Why?

Because Apple has blessed the category as “cool.”

Sure, Apple gets it wrong sometimes. How many Apple TVs do you own? “Zero” is the correct answer. But on balance, we’re willing to bet Apple will get a product right.

It’s therefore ironic that Apple tends not to enjoy the fruits of being a market maker–not as much as its rivals do, anyway.

For example, Microsoft has built a massive profit machine on the personal computer, a market that Apple created with its groundbreaking Apple II back in 1977. But it was Microsoft, not Apple, that has been breaking ground on new facilities to accommodate its dominance in the market ever since.

Recent history suggests that Apple may be turning the corner, given its success in both introducing and monetizing the iPod and iPhone. The company may not fare as well in the tablet market, though PowerBook G4 12 inch battery , PowerBook G4 15 inch battery , PowerBook G4 17-inch battery .

Why? It’s a matter of price. Apple succeeds in the mass market only at lower price points, and it’s generally not willing to drop prices to get there. The iPod was priced at a premium to competing music players, but the cost was still within the budget of tens of millions of people.

The same is true of the iPhone, thanks to subsidies from a wireless carrier. Take away those subsidies, and Apple’s market share in smartphones would be much, much smaller than it is today.

With a projected price tag of $1,000, Apple’s tablet is not going to fit those same budgets A1061 ,A1078 , A1079 . It will be a luxury item, not a necessity.

But that’s OK. Apple is a premium brand. It doesn’t seem to want to be anything more (or less).

It could be that low-cost applications will make the hefty price tag seem skinny, but I doubt it. Not until the cost drops to $500 or so will Apple’s tablet hit the mainstream. And by that time, Sony, Samsung, Dell, and others will undoubtedly have competing products in the market.

Dell and Samsung, in particular, could give Apple grief. Both have traditionally been known for offering “cheap and good-enough” products. Samsung, however, has been moving upmarket: my new high-definition LCD TV is Samsung, and the reason is quality, not cost.

Dell, for its part, is learning that design sells, as evidenced by its sleek Z series laptop line.

If any of these mass-market vendors cracks the code on cool at a compelling price, Apple may yet again play the role of market maker…but not market beneficiary–not at the scale that its innovations deserve, anyway.

Apple is a mass-market luxury company. Its tablet is going to fly off the shelves as price-insensitive early adopters buy into its hype. But the mainstream market, which values design but must also pinch pennies, is simply not going to buy into a $1,000 luxury item. It can’t.

Wal-Mart, Best Buy, HP, Dell, Intel, and Toshiba are not known for being particularly green companies. After all, they each contribute a lot to global warming and waste, which is something all companies do.  However, they all look to try and do something about this problem, which can be seen with this new label that they have designed. United under The Sustainability Consortium, these companies have designed a label with University of Arkansas and Arizona State University to make better goals and products to be green. It has already drawn some fire from Treehugger, as this is yet another label to be used, as opposed to ones that already exist. However, it could mean some good things for these companies and the environment.

Hybrid and electric vehicles are center stage at this year’s Detroit Auto Show – and for good reason.
 
In addition to the buzz around concept cars from GM, Ford, Nissan and other traditional auto makers, Tesla, Fisker, Better Place and the other new guys in town are broadening the business and technology model for next-generation driving options. But remember to pay attention to those battery companies behind the curtain – they are about to climb into the driver’s seat for electric vehicle and smart grid innovation around the world.

As Cynthia Artin discusses in her Smart Money column this month, the connections among smart grid, smart auto and battery investment ecosystems are well established and will become even stronger in 2010. Announcements in the past few weeks put the spotlight on a new ecosystem balance of power,  as companies in the battery segment become strategic ecosystem investors.
 
Fisker Automotive’s new $115 million round of venture capital includes a $23 million share from A123 Systems, which will also supply the advanced battery systems for the automaker going forward. After its September 2009 IPO helped to jumpstart the market last September, A123 has climbed to a $2 billion plus market capitalization – so the $23 million investment in Fisker may be just the beginning of its support for strategic ecosystem partners.
 
Ener1 another battery technology company with strategic electric vehicle partnerships, is tapping even deeper pockets in establishing a global ecosystem for batteries, smart autos and smart grid residential connections. In December, Ener1 reported a $20 million strategic investment from Itochu, a Japanese commercial trading company and distributor that has a long-standing relationship with EnerDel, the battery production division of Ener1 based in Indianapolis. Itochu is an industry giant valued at about $100 billion, with strong interests in renewable energy utilities and automotive sectors as well as extensive real estate holdings in Japan. One of the projects that Itochu will support with Ener1 in Japan will be the installation of advanced battery systems for residential smart grid energy storage – starting with a pilot project in a new Tokyo residential complex  VGP-BSP13/S , VGP-BPS13 , VGP-BPS13A/B  .
 
The model is to create a secondary market for the advanced batteries developed for electric vehicles. Using these batteries for power storage and for auto charging in residential settings will spread the cost of battery development and manufacturing, support smart grid load balancing and ultimately make the batteries  VGP-BPL2 , VGP-BPS2 , VGP-BPS2A  themselves more affordable.
 
Commenting on this project, Charles Gassenheimer, CEO of Ener1 said, “We are pushing hard to drive pioneering initiatives like this to develop a secondary market for automotive grade lithium-ion batteries. I believe this secondary market will be a key enabler to reducing battery costs for automotive buyers and accelerating the growth of the market for electric powered vehicles.”
 
Naoki Ota, Chief Operating Officer for EnerDel noted, “These are the first projects anywhere in the world to bring all the critical elements of a smart, sustainable network that connects renewable energy and transportation in the places where people live and work.”
 
To round out this interconnected investor-investee relationship, Ener1 has made its own investment in an electric automaker. THINK, the Norwegian company behind the Think City electric car will move production to Ener1’s home state of Indiana after EnerDel’s investment made it at 31% shareholder in the previously struggling company. As with Fisker and A123, the EnerDel investment includes a strategic ecosystem partnership agreement –future Think City electric cars will incorporate Ener1 battery technology and THINK components will be incorporated into future projects with Itochu in Japan.
 
It may still be a small world, but the smart energy and smart auto ecosystems are expanding at an impressive clip.

Intel has been pretty good about making sure the higher-end Core i5 and Core i7 processors are on the market, and those are all grand and good, but what about those looking for something a little cheaper and mid-range? Well, it looks like HP is on the ball, and has three new laptops coming with the Core i3 processor. This is great, as the HP Pavilion dv7t, the Pavilion dv6t, and the Pavilion dv4i all recieve the option of Core i3. Even better, just for those who care, all three of these are already on sale on LogicBuy. Follow the links to get in on them!

It happens every day. You hit the power button on your laptop and you wait. First it seems like nothing is happening. The screen is black, but your power light is on and you hear low whirring noises. Then you see the logo of the laptop manufacturer and some text. You continue to wait as the screen goes black again, and then you hear more mysterious whirring noises. Finally, you see the Windows logo that tells you your operating system is still booting.

This slow and confusing preboot period occurs when the system’s BIOS (basic input/output system) performs a POST (power on self test) and can last for 10 seconds or more, dramatically increasing overall start times. On our tests over the past couple of years, notebook start times took an average of 55 to 66 seconds, across all the major Windows and Mac systems we tested.

Even so called “instant-on” operating systems like DeviceVM’s Splashtop and Google’s upcoming Chrome OS cannot begin loading until the BIOS has completed its POST.

“In the ’90s, people were complaining that BIOSes took a minute [to POST]. So there was a big push from Microsoft and the BIOS makers to start getting down to 10 or 15 seconds,” said Brian Richardson, senior technical marketing engineer at American Megatrends, a leading BIOS vendor. “Now people are used to turning on the TiVo that instantly has that program from last night, and they want that experience on their computers.”

Fortunately, the push for faster start-ups continues. BIOS manufacturers and notebook vendors are hard at work cutting the POST time down to a second or less

Lenovo is not only refreshing their current notebook lineup this year, but they have just announced an all-new Thinkpad; the Edge. This notebook is designed to be a cross between a small-business and consumer notebook, adding a spark of color and style not really seen in current ThinkPads. The biggest change that people will notice besides the glossy top is the completely redesigned Chiclet-style keyboard. In this review we look at the new 13-inch ThinkPad Edge and see how well it stacks up to previous ThinkPad models FRU 92P1141  , FRU 92P1137 , .

Our 13-inch Lenovo ThinkPad Edge Specifications:

Windows 7 Professional 32-bit
Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 (1.3GHz, 800MHz FSB, 3MB Cache)
13.3″ 1366 x 768 WXGA Glossy Display
Intel X4500M Integrated Graphics
4GB DDR3 RAM (2GB x 2)
320GB Fujitsu 5400RPM Hard Drive
Intel 6250AGN+WiMax, Bluetooth 2.0, Gobi 2000 WWAN
Built-in web camera
6-cell 11.25v 63Wh Battery
Dimensions: (LxWxH) 8.9 x 12.6 x 0.5″ – 1.4″
Weight: 3lbs 14.4oz
MSRP: $549 starting, $899 as configured

Auto manufacturer Chrysler said this week it has chosen A123Systems, a Watertown company based on technology developed at MIT, to make batteries for its new Envi line of electric and hybrid cars.

A123Systems was co-founded in 2001 by Yet-Ming Chiang, the Kyocera Professor of Ceramics in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Several of the company’s key early employees also came from MIT.

The company’s batteries are a variation of the lithium-ion technology that has become a standard for many applications including many laptop computers. They use a novel nano-structured iron-phosphate material for the electrodes, in place of the cobalt-oxide used in most lithium-ion batteries.

Batteries made with the new material, initially developed by Chiang, are considered much safer than older lithium-ion batteries, some of which overheated and even occasionally burst into flames –Â a problem that led to massive product recalls. The Watertown company’s batteries are also expected to be much longer lasting, unlike today’s laptop batteries that must be replaced every few years.

The A123Systems battery will power Chrysler’s new Envi line, which is initially expected to be made up of a two-seater sports car, a minivan, a luxury sedan and two Jeep wagons. Some of these will be pure electric cars, rechargeable overnight through a standard household outlet, and some will be hybrids that could travel 40 miles on battery power alone. The first of the five models is slated to go on sale next year, though the automaker has not specified which one.

GM had previously announced that it was considering A123Systems batteries for its electric car, the Chevy Volt, but then selected the Korean company LG Chem Ltd. instead. It is considering A123 for a later version of the car.

MIT has a license agreement with A123Systems, which includes a royalty arrangement as well as shares in the company. The Institute also made a small initial investment in the company in 2001.