iPhorest: Plant a tree from your iPhone

Posted in iPhone Accessories by Conner Flynn on March 23rd, 2009

iPhorest: Plant a tree from your iPhoneThis is a pretty neat application. It allows iPhone users to plant a virtual tree from their phone while simultaneously activating the planting of a real tree. Originally showcased at TED, the app is now available to the masses on iTunes.

The real trees are planted by the Conservation Fund, and they will begin with the restoration of a vulnerable wildlife habitat along the Gulf Coast. It’s sponsored by Ecolife Apparel, makers of cotton “green” underwear, and was developed by iPhactory.

Dell whips out green 24-inch LCD

Posted in Dell by Shane McGlaun on February 26th, 2009

Dell G2410 LCDOne of the biggest places that you can save on your power usage in your home or business is by cutting off devices like TVs and PC LCDs that draw power even when they aren’t being used. Dell has announced a new 14-inch LCD that has features for green power savings.

The display is called the G2410 24-inch Wide Green Flat Panel monitor. Typically, 24-inch LCDs have a resolution of 1920 x 1200, but dell cuts the G2410 back to 1920 x 1080, plenty for full 1080p movies and content. However, the gamer out there will be disappointed by the lack of full resolution.

Western Digital launches 2TB Caviar Green hard drive

Posted in Western Digital by Conner Flynn on January 27th, 2009

Western Digital launches 2TB Caviar Green hard driveWestern Digital has finally launched the industry’s first 2TB internal hard drive today in the US. It’s the highest capacity single HDD in the known universe, dubbed the 2TB Caviar Green. It’s available now for $299. The 3.5-inch platform drive includes 32MB of cache and is based on WD’s 500GB per platter technology with 400Gb/in2 areal density.

HotHardware had a sneak peek at the drive and has some benchmark results: The WD managed to hold its own against the Spinpoint F1 and Barracuda 7200.11.

Hybrid Flash Light keeps batteries charged and out of landfill

Posted in Green Gadget by Shane McGlaun on December 10th, 2008

Hybrid Flash LightI don’t know what it is about flashlights and kids. My daughter has every toy a 4-year-old could want and as is the way of the world, she would rather play with a box or my flashlight than all the toys in her room. That means that every time I need my flashlight I have to search her room for it and when I find it, the batteries are usually dead.

A new green flashlight called the Hybrid Solar Light uses solar cells to keep the battery charged. The battery is able to store energy for a claimed three years. Light output from Hybrid solar Light is not that strong at 40 lumens, but it will work in a blackout or to look under the couch for your remote. Water resistance to 80 feet is promised as well.

Natural Year Phone for stoners

Posted in Concepts by Conner Flynn on December 8th, 2008

Natural Year Phone for stonersThis concept takes green to a whole new insane level. The Natural Year Phone concept from designer Je-Hyun Kim makes sense since most of us replace our cellphones at least every two-years or so. A phone constructed mostly of all natural material like hay would certainly be Earth Friendly.

That natural material just happens to look a lot like pot. You may also notice that a piece has been broken off. No doubt destined for the bowl of some homemade pipe. All I can say is that if you want to use this phone, don’t leave it laying around anywhere near your stoner friends.

Greenpeace’s Green Scorecard

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on November 25th, 2008

Greenpeace’s Green ScorecardIt’s that time again. Greenpeace has released their new Guide to Greener Electronics. Compared to last year, there are many changes. Some you might expect, some you may not have foreseen.

Some manufacturers went up on the scale, while others went down. Nokia is the standout at the top, right at the 7 out of 10 mark, but poor Nintendo… The Big N is once again stuck at 1 out of 10. How did Apple fare? They fail once again and drop to the 14th position out of 18 companies.

UPS goes label free with new printer

Posted in Printers by Conner Flynn on November 13th, 2008

UPS goes label free with new printerThis thing may look like an X-Man accessory or strange sci-fi gun that straps on your arm and sucks your precious lifeforce with every round it fires, but no, as cool as that would be, it’s just something UPS is using so they can get all label-free. It’s HP’s Handheld sp400 All-in-One, which scans barcodes and prints sorting info directly onto boxes with quick-drying ink. No paper labels are required at all. UPS has been testing it out at a shipping center in Orlando, where they reportedly used it on 40,000 boxes with not a single error. Of course there was that one guy they pants in order to tattoo his butt cheeks, but that doesn’t count.

This device alone will make the company much greener. It will replace several larger, less green pieces of equipment like a giant thermal printer, PC, monitor and scanner. According to UPS the company will save 92,456 hours, 1,338 tons of paper and 3,807 tons of carbon emissions a year. That’s pretty big.

E-note concept saves paper

Posted in Concepts by Conner Flynn on October 27th, 2008

E-note concept saves paperThe Post-it note is pretty handy. It’s something that everyone has used at one point or another. Just imagine how many trees it takes to keep us in Post-it notes every year. Whatever the number is, the E-note concept from Sequoia Studio can keep those trees firmly in the ground. It uses tactile and flexible electronic paper technology, and can be stuck and unstuck easily thanks to a “Gecko” glue.

Whether it picks up hair and dirt and becomes useless, we aren’t sure. The E-note is solar powered, giving it enough juice to take care of your message and reminders across before it runs out. It even has a visual alarm, an organizer and the ability to change between 8 different colors. We want this on our desks ASAP.

The grass is greener on the Lawn PC

Posted in Concepts by Conner Flynn on October 26th, 2008

The grass is greener on the Lawn PCDesigner David Veldkamp created this futuristic concept PC he calls the LawnPC. The device would create all the power it needs from solar cells embedded in the grass that sits on top of the PC. The grass isn’t real grass, it’s actually made from natural cotton fabric that carries inkjet printed solar cells. The use of cotton makes the blades biodegradable, just like real grass. The idea is that hundreds of these blades can generate all the power the system needs at about 60 Watts per hour. The blades transfer energy to the battery plug-in at the bottom of each blade. The Lawn PC is also completely wireless.

All the electricity is generated by the machine. Which doesn’t even require a cooling fan. The natural air flow in between the lawn is enough to cool the system. All you have to worry about is placing the system near a window or a vent, where it can get all the light and air it needs. The lawn is removable, so it will also power your other electronic devices. Those devices will look like they do now, just with a blade of grass sticking out of them like an organic antenna.

Ovetto Recycling Egg looks hungry

Posted in Home by Conner Flynn on October 7th, 2008

Ovetto Recycling Egg looks hungryThe Ovetto Recycling Egg may not have landed with Mork From Ork, but it’s ready to help you recycle. It’s creator, Gianluca Soldi, has high hopes for the Ovetto as “an object that meets the needs of domestic waste separation in order to educate the population to correctly dispose of waste in order to be able to consequently recycle it.”

It not only fits easily in modern homes and offices, but it looks pretty damn awesome in a 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of way. It may be the neatest egg I’ve ever seen. And it’s good for the environment. The Ovetto is even made of recycled polypropylene. At £139.99 you really can’t go wrong with a futuristic egg. I’m just saying.

Audi Travolution lets you know when that light will change

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on September 22nd, 2008

Audi Travolution lets you know when that light will changeYou have to develop a rhythm regarding stop lights. You don’t want to completely stop just as the light turns green. Fortunately for those with a bad sense of timing, Audi’s Travolution takes it upon itself to keep track of when the light changes. Audi is currently testing the system.

It works because “Travolution” networks cars with traffic signals wirelessly. This way you will always know exactly when the upcoming light is going to change, which tells you how fast you should be going. It’s a great way to save fuel, and might even help traffic to move more efficiently. One day it may even come standard in all cars. Next the car will be stopping for you whether you like it or not.

The EcoJohn incinerates waste

Posted in Home by Conner Flynn on September 4th, 2008

The EcoJohn incinerates wasteThis self-contained and waterless toilet is called the EcoJohn Sr Toilet. Quite simply, it burns the crap you normally flush, into white ash. It operates just like a regular toilet, except that water doesn’t take away your waste. Just close the lid and the waste is whisked away like South Park’s Mr. hankey the x mas poo on Christmas eve. It’s final destination is a burn chamber where it is cremated. A small bit of smoke is belched out and filtered through a catalytic converter before hitting the air.

There is some water involved, just minimal. The toilet is equipped with a small reservoir that holds about a quart of water. Press a special rinse button, and it’s easy to keep the bowl and auger clean. It’s the perfect water saving device, though I’m not sure how I would feel about having a chimney on my toilet.

HP reduces shipping materials by 97%, ships laptop in its bag

Posted in HP by Conner Flynn on September 4th, 2008

HP reduces shipping materials by 97%, ships laptop in its own bagIt seems like common sense right? Package gadgets in a way that protects them, yet minimizes shipping materials. Not only is it good for the environment, it will save your company a whole lot of dough. How many times have you opened a box full of Styrofoam and other unnecessary packing materials, only to throw most of it away? Apparently it took awhile for HP to figure this out, but they are feeling much better now.

They are selling the new Pavilion dv692 laptop in its own recycled material laptop bag. Other then that, the only packing material in the bag with the laptop are some air bubbles. They ditched the extra cardboard and styrofoam, reducing the packing materials by a stunning 97%. It’s being sold at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, but I think we’d all like to see this become a larger trend. Hopefully other companies are paying attention. It’s simple, economical and beyond time. I recently bought an Acer Aspire 6920 and at the time I was happy to find that the box was not nearly as full of garbage as I feared it would be. This is a brilliant move.

The Blade will save gas & money

Posted in Automotive by Conner Flynn on September 3rd, 2008

The Blade will save gas & moneyThis device sounds too good to be true. It’s called the Blade and it screws onto the end of your tailpipe. Through extensive testing, it supposedly shows from 16-34% savings on gas! That’s an average of about 3.8 MPG’s. As an example, a US driver goes an average of about 30 miles per day or 10,800 miles per year. At the national average of 22 MPG that means about 490 gallons of gas. At $4, that’s roughly $2,000.

Apparently, when you add the BLADE to your tailpipe, you would only use about 418 gallons or about $1,675. Your savings would be roughly $325! Since I suck at math, I’m forced to take their word for it. The device costs $200, so you could make your money back in several months and still be saving after that. It saves gas, money and the environment. What more do you want?

The Sun Fold Bike concept

Posted in Concepts by Conner Flynn on August 11th, 2008

Sun Fold Bike concept
This one was conceived as a green and portable commuter transport. What we have here is a fold-up bike that runs on solar power obviously. The name says it all. Power is stored in a battery that you can use at night, and you can even power your other gadgets, like your iPod.

It looks kinda cool in bike form, but when you fold it up it resembles an alien egg that appears to be sending signals to it’s home world. In fact it’s not sending signals, but it’s pointed upward so that it can track the sun’s movements in order to maximize the power it’s sucking down. Even so, it’s still creepy. One day it might get it in it’s head that you belong in that egg so it will keep you there as it points toward the sun, warming you in your egg, so that you can hatch out as a new lifeform.





Other blogs from the Topic Soup Network that you might like:

PopTherapy.com - A therapeutic guide to popular culture

WeathyReader.com - Where reading pays off.

HealthyReader.com web site

Botropolis.com web site