Up from initial claims of “No Oil is Spilling”, the Coast Guard now reports that 210,000 gallons of oil are spewing into the Gulf of Mexico each day from the destroyed BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon – and presumably have been since the rig exploded on April 20.

With the total amount of oil spilled during the 1969 oil rig blowout off the coast of Santa Barbara, CA being surpassed every single day, it is difficult to fully comprehend the sheer quantity of oil – and destruction – involved in this disaster. This is the first of several infographics we’ll be posting to convey the amount of damage BP, Transocean, and Halliburton have done to America.

Download the full sized version: [pdf] [jpg]

Stay tuned to Tango Echo for more on the spill – news items in the Twitter feed and infographics and commentary in the articles.

Data security is always a concern when getting rid of an old computer. Gocke and I have come up with a new method to guarantee your privacy. I think it’s a real money making scheme. Watch and learn.

As always, you can see the rest of the Dispatch From the TE Labs videos here on Tango Echo, under the tag telabs

On the surface, it’s a hell of an idea.

Unfortunately, that surface is the Pacific Ocean, and beneath it lies miles and miles of silent, black, swirling water, churning with both massive, forceful waves and curious sea beasts who are slowly realizing they missed lunch. And the Plastiki is six people on top of 12,000 recycled bottles, just trying to make a point.

Yes. It’s really come to this.

The Plastiki is the child of David de Rothschild and his latest foray into the world of saving the environment with lots of time and money. On his 60-foot catamaran built solely from recycled materials, his mission is to get the craft from San Francisco to Sydney, with a quick stop in the Pacific Garbage Patch to take samples.

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When it comes to donating to charities, a few fundamental problems exist. One: There are millions of them. Two: Not too many of us have millions of dollars to donate. Three: Life’s busy. We might be out of town during the Walk for a Cure, might not have time to call in during the annual Jerry Lewis Telethon, might forget we wanted to fish out our credit cards and donate to that charity we heard about last week. Lucky for us — and the world at large — technology is stepping in to help.

Following last week’s post about the Hydros water filtration bottle, we have this story of a musician who is redefining water reclamation in California.

What do Devo, Mars, and California’s water problems have in common? Read more after the jump.