So, the absolute first Volt ever bought was sold the other day in a charity auction for $225,000. At first blush that price may seem outrageous given that the Volt can be had for roughly $41,000–but then again the sale will benefit science, math, engineering, and technology education in Detroit Public Schools.

For days after the auction closed, the question of who would pay that much for what amounts to a four passenger, midsize sedan with really cool technology went unanswered. Some speculated that perhaps it was renowned car enthusiast Jay Leno or some other Hollywood bigwig, but when the answer was finally revealed it came in the unexpected package of NASCAR team owner, Rick Hendrick.

Hendrick is owner of Hendrick Motorsports and chairman of Hendrick Automotive Group. When combined, his racing teams–including one piloted by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.–have earned more than 185 NASCAR Cup Series victories, making Hendrick only the second team owner in modern NASCAR to earn that credit.

“This was an opportunity to own a piece of history while giving back to the community,” said Hendrick. “I have been a Chevrolet dealer for more than 30 years, and the Volt is one of the most exciting and important new cars since we opened our first dealership in 1976.”

The Volt that Hendrick bought was the second production Volt off the line–the absolute first one will be installed as a permanent exhibit piece at General Motors’ Heritage Center in Michigan. Hats off to Hendrick that is an awesome donation!

How generous are you and your fellow country-persons?  Australia and New Zealand shared first place, and the United States tied for fifth, in a first-of-its kind survey ranking 153 nations on the willingness of their citizens to donate time and money to charity.

China ranked near the bottom, barely higher than last-place Madagascar.

The report, released Wednesday by the British-based Charities Aid Foundation, showed striking variations in charitable behavior around the world.

For example, it found that only 4 percent of Lithuanians gave money to charity, compared with 83 percent of people in Malta; 61 percent of people in Turkmenistan did volunteer work, compared with 2 percent of Cambodians.

The overall rankings were a composite of three categories — the percentage of people who donated money, donated time and helped a stranger in the month prior to being surveyed.  Europeans Denmark and Germany rank quite low, which was surprising for me.

Just like this Q & A from the LA Times (below) says, many if not most charity car programs take fees that drastically reduce the amount of funds being passed on to your favorite charity.  At www.CharityCar.us we don’t have to take any fees because the cars themselves are going directly to auto recyclers across North America.

Please be careful next time you donate your car, make sure to find out if there are fees being charged and what percentage goes to the charity of your choice.

Apple has donated the source code for MacPaint to the Computer History Museum. MacPaint was part of the original Macintosh launch back in 1984 and was featured prominently in its advertising. It was featured in an advertising brochure that was circulated with Time and Newsweek in December, 1983. The ad introduced the concept of using a mouse to click on the screen, and MacPaint was featured as an example application utilize the windows/mouse interface.

Those who spend a lot of time using Adobe Photoshop constantly use such features as the lasso tool for selecting non-rectangular shapes, and the paint bucket for filling closed areas with a pattern, and later, color. Both first appeared in MacPaint. The program was unique at the time for its ability to create graphics that could then be used in other applications.

Many corporations pretend to be good corporate environmental citizens because it serves their bottom line but Hewlett-Packard has really stepped up to the plate.  Battery recycling and reducing gold in chips are among the technollogies HP has given to a shared patent scheme.  Hewlett-Packard is waiving royalties on technology for a battery recycling point, and instead giving the patent to an initiative which aims to copy the benefits of open source development, by making patents for sustainable technology available without royalties.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) announced late last week that HP will join the likes of IBM, Nokia and Sony in making some of its patented technology freely available under the Eco-Patent Commons scheme. The scheme, launched in January 2008, is a joint effort between the WBCSD and IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony.

“The premise of the Commons is that the free sharing of these patents leads to new collaborations and innovation aimed at helping others become more eco-efficient and/or operate in a more sustainable way,” said Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD.
Battery Recycling

HP is contributing three patents to the scheme that has attracted over a hundred such donations so far. The tech giant’s contributions are the patent for a battery recycling station which allows consumers to swap used batteries for new ones or credit.

The company has also submitted the patents for a process which it claims could help eliminate the need for anti-oxidant metal coatings during certain stages of microchip and circuit board assembly.  Hats off to HP for their donation.