Links to green gadget-related websites
Some handy links to green gadget-related websites: Green Gadgets For Dummies.
via gGadget.org.
Author Archive for Joe Hutsko
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From Radio Netherlands Worldwide:
With the future of digital reading undeniable, we decided to speak to someone who knows gadgets. Joe Hutsko joins Marnie to talk about e-readers vs. books, the advantages, disadvantages, and which of the two is greener.
Listen to interview via gGadget.org via Mud graffiti and book pulp | Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
Green Gadgets For Dummies: THE Book Every Tech Geek Should Own – The Fun Times Guide to Living Green
The Fun Times Guide to Living Green reviews my new book, Green Gadgets For Dummies:
Green Gadgets For Dummies: THE Book Every Tech Geek Should Own
Wake up! Your beloved electronics are sucking the life out of your budget…not to mention the enormous environmental impact they have!
Luckily Green Gadgets for Dummies is swooping in for the rescue!
Before we get in to a quick breakdown of the awesomeness that is Green Gadgets for Dummies, check out these statistics from Planet Green that show why we need greener gadgets:
15 percent: Percentage of money spent on powering your computer dedicated to computing, worldwide; the rest of the $250 billion is spent on energy wasted in idling.
70 percent: Percentage of waste composed of discarded electronics, out of all hazardous waste.
529 pounds: Amount of fossil fuels required to manufacture a 53-pound computer system (including the monitor), along with 49 pounds of chemicals and 1.5 tons of water.
15 billion: Batteries produced annually worldwide.
40 percent: Of the energy used for electronics in your home is used while these devices are turned off.
Author Joey Hutsko does an amazing job at helping us learn how to shop for greener gadgets, avoid “greenwashed” products, and get the electronics we currently own to run more efficiently…all in a super fun and witty manner.
Read the full review: Green Gadgets For Dummies: THE Book Every Tech Geek Should Own – The Fun Times Guide to Living Green.
September 30, 2009, 9:30 AM
NYTimes.com | Green Inc.: Apple Expands Environmental Disclosures
By JOE HUTSKO
Apple last week updated its Apple and the Environment Web site to include a life cycle impact section that, the company says, accounts for its total carbon footprint of 10.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
The emissions, organized by category, include those arising from manufacturing (38 percent); transportation (5 percent); product use (53 percent); facilities (3 percent); and recycling (1 percent).
“Because 53 percent of Apple’s greenhouse gas emissions are a result of the power our products consume, we design those products to be as energy-efficient as possible,” the company stated on its new Web site, adding that “Mac OS X even regulates processor activity between keystrokes, saving milliwatts of energy.”
A recent BusinessWeek article reported that carbon emissions for Hewlett-Packard and Dell were 8.4 million tons and 471,000 tons respectively. However, both companies “exclude product use and at least some manufacturing,” the article noted, and those companies “have said that including those factors would boost their carbon totals several-fold.”
Downloadable reports for all of Apple’s existing and recently retired products provide detailed breakdowns of each product’s environmental virtues (or shortcomings) — including whether it uses mercury-free LED displays or arsenic-free display glass. Also covered are the use of toxic substances like brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chlorides, which are noxious when burned.
Apple says that all of its handheld products — iPhones and iPods — are now “PVC-free,” and that the majority of circuit boards and internal cables in its plastic-housed MacBooks are free of BFRs and PVCs. It also describes its remaining desktop, notebook, display and server products as being “BFR-free” and having “PVC-free internal cables.”
Asked whether any other electronics manufacturers are reporting the CO2 life-cycle impact for entire product lines, Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International’s toxics campaigner, said, “Not the way Apple is.”
“Others are doing some interesting reporting of their supply-chain emissions,” he added, “and HP is doing a lot of work there.”
via Apple Expands Environmental Disclosures – Green Inc. Blog – NYTimes.com.
via gGadget » Blog Archive » Apple Expands Environmental Disclosures – Green Inc. Blog – NYTimes.com .
While everyone’s following the blogs covering Apple’s announcements today, I checked iTunes to see if there might be an iPhone update available before the show’s over.
Low and behold, I’m downloading the iPhone OS 3.1 Software Update and installing it on my iPhone 3G as I write this.
Here is what appears in the dialog after you click Download, or Download and Install:
iPhone OS 3.1 Software Update
This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
- Genius recommendations for Applications
- iTunes 9 support
- Genius Mixes
- Organize your apps directly in iTunes
- Improved syncing options for music, movies, TV shows, podcasts and photos
- iTunes U content organization
- Redeem iTunes Gift cards, codes and certificates in the App Store
- Display available iTunes account credits in the App Store and iTunes Store
- Browse and download ringtones wirelessly from the iTunes Store*
- Save video from Mail and MMS into Camera Roll
- Option to “Save as new clip” when trimming a video on iPhone 3GS
- Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on
- Remotely lock iPhone with a passcode via MobileMe
- Use Voice Control with iPhone 3GS with Bluetooth headsets
- Paste phone numbers into Keypad
- Option to use Home button to turn on Accessibility features on iPhone 3GS
- Warn when visiting fraudulent websites in Safari (anti-phishing)
- Improved Exchange calendar synching and invitation handling
- Fixes issue that caused some app icons to display incorrectly
- Products compatible with this software update:
iPhone
iPhone 3G
iPhone 3GS
The update completed just as I finished writing this post, and now when I check Settings > General > About I see Version 3.1 7C144) and Carrier AT&T 5.0. Stay tuned for more details.
Green Inc.: Are E-Readers Greener Than Books?
By Joe Hutsko
Published: August 31, 2009
A new study analyzing the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader’s impact on the environment suggests that, on average, the carbon emitted over the life of the device is offset after the first year of use.
Via: gGadget » Blog Archive » Green Inc.: Are E-Readers Greener Than Books? .
It happens all the time: You’re using an iPhone app and you accidentally press the Home button, which takes you home whether you like it or not. Here’s an easy trick to undo an accidental Home key press:
Keep the Home button held down, then touch and hold on the screen for two seconds then let go of the Home button. You stay in the app rather than go home.
UPDATE: Listen to the segment here The Rude Awakening 07-01-09.
On Ocean 98.1 The Rude Awakening (98.1 FM WOCM in Ocean City, MD) at 8 AM to talk about Green Gadgets For Dummies.
Excellent story in the New York Times about advances in making it easier to properly dispose of unwanted or hopelessly useless consumer electronics products.
Read the full story at: A Green Way to Dump Low-Tech Electronics – NYTimes.com.
My new book, Green Gadgets For Dummies, is now available in paperback and Kindle editions.
Below is a brief description of the book, followed by the book’s foreword by Tom Zeller Jr., editor of the New York Times Green Inc. section.
Thanks to everyone who provided so much support and assistance throughout the writing of the book.
(Special thanks to Wiley project editor Nicole Sholly, who made the process a learning experience that set me up for my next book, Macs All-in-One For Dummies (2nd edition).)
Continue reading ‘Just released: Green Gadgets For Dummies, by Joe Hutsko’
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