KEY POINTS:
Some technologies - or the business cases supporting them - sound just too good to be true. That looked to be the case with SpiralFrog, a free music download service announced in September last year in the United States.
As we continue our end-of-year catch-up on technologies that have featured in this column, SpiralFrog came close to collecting the prize for the first high-tech product or service that didn't last the distance. But it seems to be clinging to life.
Spiralfrog
A year after announcing its intention to launch an ad-supported music download service, and nine months later than signalled, SpiralFrog's service has croaked into life. However, only North American users are being catered for so far. That is despite Robin Kent, the service's founding chief executive, saying New Zealand downloaders would have access to songs by the middle of this year.
Missing deadlines isn't the only thing that's been going on at the company. Kent and numerous SpiralFrog directors and executives left at the start of the year. The new bosses invite visitors to the SpiralFrog website to submit their email address for notification of when the service will be coming to their country. So far, there's no fresh word on New Zealand. In the meantime, the company is claiming a catalogue of 800,000 songs and 3500 music videos.
Alpine wasp
This brilliant-sounding scheme still needs to claw its way out of the too-good-to-be-true basket. Auckland company TGR Helicorp said it hoped to start flight testing in April of an unmanned helicopter, the Alpine Wasp, that would be used to rescue climbers in difficulty on Mt Everest. But the Wasp hasn't flown yet. The delay, says TGR's Trevor Rogers, is not technical but bureaucratic. He hopes testing will take place over the summer and the US$5 million ($6.5 million) chopper, which he is funding, will be in Nepal by next April. In the meantime, Rogers says the hold-up has allowed tweaking of the craft's design, including the replacement of the diesel engine with a more powerful model.
Getting a helicopter to fly in the thin atmosphere of Mt Everest's summit is a feat achieved only once before, by multi-billion-dollar manufacturer Eurocopter.
The Wasp, sibling of TGR's unmanned Snark military helicopter, has a turbocharger, supercharger and purpose-built air injection system which Rogers reckons will give it a ceiling of 9500m - if it is allowed to get off the ground.
X1 roadster
There's been a change of tack by Ian Wright, the Silicon Valley-based New Zealander who has designed and built a prototype electric roadster, the X1, that out-sprints Ferraris and Porsches. Originally, Wright planned to go after a chunk of the US$1.5 billion Californian market for top-end sports cars, selling his two-seater speedster for US$100,000. But now he thinks there's a bigger market making electric power trains - the technology his company, Wrightspeed, specialises in - for America's pickup truck fleet. Whereas the X1's lithium-ion battery is charged by plugging into the mains and has a 160km range, he is working on a hybrid, with a diesel generator, for the extended range required by commercial vehicles. The electrical engineer continues to seek funding for his ideas.
Marine energy
Two technologies for extracting energy from the sea have featured in this column. One converts wave motion into electricity and the other uses tidal currents. Scottish company Ocean Power delivery had been looking for local manufacturers of the Pelamis, a 120m-long contraption capable of generating enough power for about 500 homes. Having received five bids, the company has put its plans on hold until it has gauged the success of its first commercial Pelamis deployment off the coast of Portugal. Chris Curlett of Power Generation Systems, which is working with Ocean Power Delivery, says it's likely to be the middle of next year before there is any progress in deploying the Pelamis here.
Crest Energy, which wants to place 200 22m diameter turbines in the Kaipara Harbour's 9km/h tidal flow, is also bullish about its prospects. Despite months of delay in getting resource consent, Crest director Anthony Hopkins says government moves to create an emissions trading scheme and marine energy fund are positive developments. As time goes by, more turbine suppliers are also entering the market. And the company has successfully raised funds to push ahead with its resource consent application, now expected to be heard in February. "Things are all going in the right direction, which is extremely encouraging," Hopkins says.
* Anthony Doesburg is an Auckland-based technology journalist
