Excellent news from chipmaking giant Intel. CEO Brian M. Krzanich announced at CES that all of the microprocessors that it ships in 2014 will not contain conflict minerals. The company reported that it “had achieved a critical milestone and the minerals used in microprocessor silicon and packages manufactured in Intel’s factories are ‘conflict-free’ as concluded […]
Nokia puts suppliers on notice with anti-conflict mineral policy
Rare earth mining and its associated trade bankrolls a lot of the violence that’s gripping the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). And given the convoluted supply chains that have become a hallmark of today’s global economy, these “conflict minerals” can wind up in your electronics. That’s a problem. Nokia has taken an official stance on […]
Infographic: Spotlight on conflict minerals
Venkel Ltd., a producer of electronics components headquartered in Austin, Texas, has released an infographic that explores the sources of four conflict minerals, coined 3TG (tungsten, tantalum, tin and gold). This comes as the SEC finds itself embroiled in a clash over conflict mineral provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act. Conflict minerals describe earth metals that come […]
Banned! Apple nixes conflict mineral-y, e-waste-y Phone Story app
Game maker with a message, Molleindustria (NSFW), may have stumbled on a sure-fire way to shine a light on the dark side of the electronics industry: create an iOS app about it and get it banned by Apple. Long story short, the company created a game called Phone Story based on the unsavory practices surrounding the […]
Sourcemap: Rattle (and tattle on) those supply chains
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 […]
U.S. Law Tackles Conflict Minerals
Tucked into the financial reform legislation that President Obama signed into law were rules that require companies to disclose whether their products are manufactured from “conflict minerals” — essentially metals and materials that come from the war-torn Congo. Conflict minerals…
