In previous reports from Greenpeace, HP, Lenovo, and Dell haven’t done very badly, but the trio has failed to meet Greenpeaces expectations this time. They made promises they could not keep. All three had promised to eliminate PVC and brominated flame retardants in their products by the end of this year, but now they will apparently not be able to meet that deadline.

The only one to offer up a new deadline is Lenovo, who says they will now do it by the end of 2010. On the other end of the spectrum, Philips has jumped from 15th place to 4th, largely due to new recycling initiatives.

A world where gadgets are powered by blood? It could happen sooner then you think. It won’t be long until our gadgets are full fledged living entities soon after that. Maybe. In a not too distant future Piezoelectric nanowires may reside in our blood vessels. They would use the energy created by blood flow to power gadgets. Stuff like pacemakers, iPods, anything designers can dream up really.

It sounds pretty amazing, but the reality is that it may cause some sort of new diseases in our bodies or make us more susceptible to them. These things never work out the way you think. If it happens at all, it won’t be for a long long time hopefully.

The idea of hackers bringing down the entire US power grid is scary. Most people think that this scenario strictly belongs in sci-fi movies and that it couldn’t happen, but according to security analysts, the threat is real. The threat is a real possibility due to the use of smart grids involving two million devices, which are largely wireless, sending data back and forth between power stations and homes.

Researchers at Seattle based IOActive claim that they have proven that the devices are vulnerable to virus attack by hacking. Equipment worth just $500 was enough to create a worm virus which spread rapidly across the network. Had that been a real hacker, there would have been some serious damage.

When you think about the homeless, you likely think about wool blankets, shopping carts and cardboard box shelters. Add the cell phone to that list. According to advocates who work with the district’s homeless, the proportion of homeless people who own and use a cellphone is 30% to 40%.

It seems bizarre, but the gadget once considered a luxury, is now being used by the homeless to keep up with food stamp programs, housing applications and checking emails. There’s also the obvious need for the 911 feature. It makes sense, as a pay as you go phone with 200 minutes can cost about $20 or $30. It’s a lifeline.

We may never be able to swim as fast as fish, but guys like Ted Ciamillo are hard at work to make sure we can at least get second place. The Greek engineer has come up with a contraption called Lunocet, which is basically a dolphin-inspired 2.5 pound monofin.

It’s lightweight and made of carbon fiber and fiberglass, and spans almost a meter. It’s capable of propelling swimmers almost 33 miles per hour, converting nearly 80 percent of the applied energy into thrust. The appendage is efficient, lightweight and fast. And can propel swimmers almost twice the speed of Michael Phelps.

What you are looking at in the pic above is a virtual reality helmet that recreates sights, smells, sounds and even tastes from far-flung destinations. Created by British scientists, the device will allow users a life-like experience of places such as Kenya’s Masai Mara while never leaving home. You could greet friends and family on the other side of the world as though they were present in the same room. Previously, scientists have only had success with virtual reality technology recreating sound and vision. This helmet named the Virtual Cocoon could change all that.

The prototype helmet connects wirelessly to a computer which feeds information about a virtual world or another part of the real world. It features a high definition high dynamic screen that produces pictures ten times darker, or 30 times brighter than the conventional television. A tube is connected to a box of chemicals which releases smells under the wearer’s nose, while a similar device can spray flavors directly into the mouth and provide a texture of sensation.

Doktor A, the creator this and other steampunk toys must be a mad genius living in the wrong time period. You can see his work currently on display at Gallery1988.

Just arrange cards in a semi circle in front of the device, place the planchard in the center of the cards, then set dial A to the spirit you wish to contact. Set dial B to the time since death if known. After that, you fully wind the patented clockwork mechanism. Next, you sit in a circle around the device and join hands. Once the spirit is contacted start asking questions using Morse code via the tap key mounted on top of the case.

Chalk this one up as yet another thing that will be lying around your home, waiting for infants and those with Homer Simpson IQs to put in their mouths. Hershey’s is teaming up with Jazwares to develop a line of consumer electronics that will have you craving sugar and running out to get some chocolate.

Look for 1 to 4GB USB drives shaped like your favorite treats. It’s not just USB drives though. Expect some digital cameras, earphones and speakers too, whether they take the form of Hershey’s Kisses or Mr. Goodbar. Prices should be in the $15 to $30 range. No release date yet. Expect them to end up in Halloween bags in affluent neighborhoods…Or regular neighborhoods by mistake.

Something interesting is happening in Germany and for once it has nothing to do with David Hasselhoff. It has to do with the fact that municipal budgets are tight. Many towns throughout the world are turning off street lights at night to save money. Saving money and electricity is awesome. But we need light when we need light. Like when old ladies are walking home.

So some German towns seem to have found a solution. Their lighting grids have been modified with a system called Dial4Light. That means that residents can use their cellphones to turn on the lights street by street. When 15 minutes passes, a timer turns the street dark again. That means less wasted energy and residents still have light.

Sirius XM is preparing to file for bankruptcy and it could happen within days, according to the New York Times. A bankruptcy would make Sirius XM one of the largest casualties of the economy. It would be the second-largest Chapter 11 filing so far this year.

The article speculates that the move might be designed to pressure Dish Network and EchoStar owner Charles Ergen into making an offer. According to the Wall Street Journal, he offered to purchase the satellite radio group last year, but was brushed off. Anyway, he apparently wants to try again.

Check out this great innovation in the world of packaging. Shown at the Nepcon world expo in Japan, a company named Sealedair demonstrated the ‘Pack in instance’ packing system. It looks like a perfect way to pack delicate items for shipment and it can be used no matter what product or box size you’re working with.

Just insert the packing material, inject the gel and you have a perfect mold of the object where it rests comfortably. It may just be the future of packing materials. I assume the real trick would be to make it cheap enough to be affordable to use.

You want to eat healthy, but it’s hard. Those nutritional labels are small for a reason. So they are hard to read. You’d rather focus on how delicious those chips are going to taste in an Oreo sandwich. But some of us actually want to know what we are putting in our bodies. Some people are obsessive about it. Whether you are just watching your sodium intake or you believe that too much high fructose corn syrup will give you erectile dysfunction, it could sure be easier to read those labels with a shopping cart like this.

These carts feature a built-in magnifying glass so you can easily read the package as well as have a closer look at the shrinking boxes they are giving us for the same money. The carts can be found at a co-op in Geneva, Switzerland, but I think we here in the US could do with some.

Looks like there was a happy ending for Chris Ogle. He’s the New Zealander who purchased an MP3 player that turned out to be full of classified US Army stuff from a thrift store. According to Reuters, the man gave the device back to US authorities.

But as a reward for his cooperation, he got a brand new MP3 player. We don’t know what brand he got, but we suspect that Uncle Sam bought it for him with your tax money. We will probably never know. But, hey at least they did that much for him.

New York Representative Pete King wants the US to have a law that requires all cameraphones make noise when they take a picture. It’s not unheard of. Japan and South Korea already have similar laws. In his quest for cameraphone sound King has re-introduced the “Camera Phone Predator Alert Act,” , which sounds very urgent and dramatic.

They tried it first in 2007, but it died. The idea behind the bill is to prevent people from taking cameraphone pictures without other people knowing. That’s what the sound is all about. It would sound off and be “audible within a reasonable radius” and you would not be able to disable it.

When you buy used stuff like computers, ipods etc, you can sometimes find surprises inside. Cool games, songs you like, porn… Chris Ogle bought an MP3 player for $14.50 at an Oklahoma second-hand store that had a much bigger surprise inside. 60 files that contained classified info like Iraq and Afghanistan deployed soldiers’ personal info, mission briefing and even a base equipment manifest.

Chris says the MP3 player never worked properly, so when he plugged it in to see why, he found the files. What he got was huge lists of soldier’s SSNs, cellphone numbers and health info. Chris is reportedly returning it to the DOD upon request. Hell, we all lose our flash drives from time to time.