Toyota's recall of its Prius Hybrid car has now extended to Australia, after Toyota Australia announced that it will start a safety recall campaign on the current models of the Prius - which have been on sale since July of last year in Australia. This effects a total of 2,378 cars in Australia - joining the already 430,000 cars affected by the recall in Japan, the United States, Europe and other territories where it has been sold - but most are said to be found in North America.

Two other hybrids - the Lexus HS250H and the Sai sedan - have been suspended from sale as they share the same glitch.

Toyota has said that the recall was because of "inconsistent break feel during slow and steady braking on certain road conditions such as a pot hole, bumpy or slippery road surfaces when the ABS is activated." Only 111 cases have been reported, with two being found in Australia; and that no accidents have been recorded in Australia. The repairs will be free of charge.

Toyota has stressed that it is not related to the recall in North America, Europe and China because of the accelerator pedal and slipping floor mats.

Everybody craves to get a gold medal, because it means that for one day (or longer), you were the best at something out of the entire world. The Olympics are no exception, with the medal designs for both the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics games, both held in Vancouver, being unveiled today. But the medals are not exactly what we are here to discuss, but because they have been made with old circuit boards.

Yes, that little bit of that circuit board from your laptop, and any used consumer electronics, that you recycled could potentially be part of one of the biggest, most abstract and heaviest medals in Olympics history.

The medals will come in two different shapes – a circular shaped medal that will be used for the Olympics, and a squared circle medal for the Paralympics. Each medal will weigh between 500 to 576 grams, depending on the medal, and will feature a signature artwork at the front – meaning that no two medals are the same.

Each artwork that will be featured on the front of the medal are pieces of a much larger artwork of an orca whale (Olympics) or a raven (Paralympics), and a silk scarf will be handed in conjunction with the medal to help  the athlete locate the other pieces.

Dahon, maker of folding bikes, has now shown off another gizmo at the Eurobike show. Called the BioLogic FreeCharge, the silicone-encased box which hooks up with your bike’s generator hub and siphons the power to the box and then charges your gadgets via a USB port, which allows you to charge your iPhone, iPod and your mobile (if it has a USB connector that is used for power). Inside the casing, there is a battery and circuitry to both store electricity and to smooth the bumps and spikes in the output while riding.

If you are known to get lost, but don’t want to use the Maps feature because it sucks too much of your battery, just use this device while you ride. Now, you can use the Maps app without killing the battery.

It goes on sale for about $99 and will be released next March.

China might have found a permanent solution to that smoke that has been building up in Beijing for years, as starting next June, any vehicles with that have been labelled as “green” by local authorities will be the only cars that can enter the city centre.

According to Gasgoo, vehicles will be rated either a green label or a yellow label, with certain roads restricted to yellow-labelled cars in Beijing. The standard for a yellow-label car means that your car is a high emission or polluting car.

From October of this year, restrictions are said to be tighter for yellow-labelled cars. No words if this will expand, but maybe China has finally done something environmental.

Image from: gmetrail/Flickr (CC)

Got to love green technology, and this is no exception. A park bench that uses solar energy to light up and power a Wi-Fi hotspot, and is made out of aluminium and recycled plastic – so it’s also environmentally friendly as well. Because of the design, the outer cover can be changed to “various environments of the park”.

Unfortunately, this thing is sadly not in production, nor will it ever. This is a concept design, so no free internet, nor sleek-looking seat to rest your butt on.

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