Where do your gadgets really come from? The folks behind Sourcemap, a crowdsourced, open source project, hope to answer that question by cataloging where the components that make up our devices originate. It’s an effort to provide a measure of supply chain transparency, according to project founder Leo Bonanni (see his Greener Gadgets 2010 talk […]
Apple, Intel help keep gadgets free of conflict minerals
Now we’re getting somewhere. Apple and Intel should feel pretty jazzed about forcing the electronics industry to take conflict minerals seriously and lending their support to keep consumer electronics supply chains free of the “blood diamonds” of the technology world. Gadgets, gadgets everywhere The past few years has been a paradise for gadget lovers. An […]
Can Microsoft Kinect with the smart home?
Besides leading to explosive sales for Microsoft, its Kinect add-on for the Xbox 360 has also turned into an impressive “innovation platform,” to quote Tim O’Reilly. One of those innovations comes from Nitrogen (aka Mike) who hacked a Kinect sensor bar to interface with a home automation control system. As you can see in the […]
Quit spurning your readers with buggy iPad apps
By now you know that I’m pretty enamored by my iPad, particularly it’s knack for dematerialization. Newspapers? Plenty of apps and the iPad’s own browser deliver my news fix. Magazines? I roll my own, thanks. Life was good. Until last week, when The New York Times iOS app called it quits. No number of resets […]
Apple’s pentalobe screws for the iPhone take “planned obsolescence to the next level”
That’s what iFixit’s CEO, Kyle Wiens, thinks about Apple’s latest attempt to thwart hardware hackers. And it’s hard to disagree with him. While Apple has made enormous strides in greening its gadget slate, it still falls short on one critical aspect of reducing e-waste: designing repairable electronics. In addition to its penchant for non-user replaceable […]
iPad owners, ditch paper mags with Flipboard and Longform.org
iPad magazines like Wired and Popular Science blend interesting articles, photography that often looks stunning on the iPad’s screen (just imagine those pics on iPad 2’s rumored resolution bump…) and a smattering of interactivity. Exciting stuff, but what if you just want to curl up on your couch with a lengthy, thought-provoking article? Well, there’s […]
CES 2011 Green Watch: This year’s hits and misses
Move over 3D HDTVs, CES 2011 was a tablet maker’s playground. But beside the iPad fighters, what did the trade show have in store for green consumers? Let’s have a look at trends and companies that made this year memorable for eco-conscious techies, and those we’d rather forget. Hits Ford: Who needs an auto show? […]
CES 2011 Green Watch: Green Plug debuts smart power supply tech
Green Plug is paving the way for smarter, more efficient power supplies and chargers with its new Green Power Processor (GPP). The startup is billing the tiny, system-on-chip (SoC) as a solution to analog power supplies that draw a constant amount of power regardless of whether the electronics make the best use of all that […]
Amazon’s Kindle lending feature is a go
Talk about coming in under the wire. Amazon’s promise to activate a Nook-like 14-day lending feature on its bestselling Kindle e-reader before year’s end has been kept, just barely. (I’d like to think that my protestations played a part, but who am I kidding.) Now you too can loan someone a Kindle e-book that’s been […]
Kindle tops Amazon’s bestseller list
It takes some doing to unseat the final Hogwarts adventure, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as Amazon’s top selling item in its history. And its own Kindle 3 e-reader was just the gadget to do it. In what’s become tradition, Amazon is once again reporting gangbusters sales of its Kindle e-reader. This is in […]
