December 2009

A day may be coming, and soon, when the necessity for multiple everyday electronic gadgets, all performing separate functions, can be consolidated into one. Imagine an iPod with the capabilities of the Kindle and a smartphone with the capabilities of a Macbook or netbook. Yes, Apple may be just that close to having the everything gadget (known for now as the Apple tablet, Apple iSlate, and/or Apple iGuide) in April. 

It is currently just speculation, but sources believe a January 26 launch event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts could be the introduction of one of the most powerful mobile Apple tools yet.

The Apple tablet would be the hybrid or middle sibling between the iPod Touch and Macbook. Sometimes, hovering in the middle of two perennial all-star products can be a negative, but in this case it brings the best of both worlds, together.

Apple has a way of creating new products that shake up the status quo in a big way. Think Macintosh, iPod and iPhone. All three of those products were darlings in the consumer’s eye because ease-of-use and good looks were the centerpiece of their design. The iPod and iPhone also captured huge portions of already mature industries. Now look at eBook readers, with three major players: Amazon’s Kindle 2, the Barnes & Noble Nook, and Sony’s eReader. It’s a fledgling market with huge growth potential and lots of users wanting more out of their devices.

A strong third quarter had BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion believing it would survive competition from the iPhone.

But the RIM smart phone’s resurgence is in doubt after two outages had Blackberry users without messaging service twice in the last two weeks.

Research in Motion blames the problem on a recent messenger update, but customers aren’t likely to care about the particulars. In reality, the Christmas-season debacle is likely to cost Blackberry dearly in its battle with the iPhone.

Don’t be surprised if Apple plays up the incident much like its advertising campaign depicting PC’s as an old-fashioned, often problem-rattled option. You know the one. Where Mac has a hip, slick style compared to the plump, confused PC representative.

Bamboo products offer an alternative to mainstream materials like metals and plastics that appear in most consumer goods today. Bamboo grows quickly and is adaptable to many climates making it a compelling renewable resource. It also creates an opportunity for people to work with raw materials directly and connect with nature if they grow their own. But the subway creates opportunities too right?

Yes, it’s a more efficient way to travel because less energy per person is expended and less carbon is pushed into the atmosphere than if those same people used cars. One look at a bamboo bike flying past you on the sidewalk while you hurry toward the subway may convince you to try something new though. Building  bamboo products like bikes can be a very rewarding experience for anyone who chooses to do it themselves but as with most things, there’s a catch.

Amazon’s Kindle 2 is enjoying a wave of hype this holiday season. The wildly popular device has an revived foe in Sony who signed a major deal with media powerhouse News Corporation.

News Corporation will offer Sony e-reader owners subscriptions for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for $14.99, the New York Post exclusively for $9.99, and the Dow Jones’ MarketWatch financial news for $10.99.

WSJ subscribers with Sony’s latest e-reader called “Daily Edition” can opt for an evening update called WSJ Plus for an additional five dollars. The Daily Edition lets users to take notes, highlight text, and search for words on a built in dictionary. It also borrowed a major Kindle 2 feature of downloading content wirelessly.

LED lights look like a great choice for traffic signals. They burn brighter, last longer, and use a heck of a lot less energy than incandescent bulbs. LED’s can even be networked to allow cities to observe the lights in real time. The only drawback seems to be that they don’t burn hot enough to melt snow and ice.

Back in April, a 34 year old woman in Illinois was involved in a deadly crash at an LED powered traffic light. She had the green light to turn left but the oncoming car didn’t see the red light because the signal was hidden under snow.

Reusing manure is no new trick for agricultural workers who have long used the excreted waste to accelerate growth in cropland and forage land. A USDA agreement, however, may recognize a new use for cow pies in an effort to reduce emissions by dairy workers.

A memorandum of understanding between three major players in dairy farming (the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, the USDA and dairy producers) announced the goal to help accelerate a 25% reduction in gas emissions by 2020. With advancements in energy producing technology and increased societal knowledge about greenhouse gas emissions, now is the time, more than ever for the three parties to commit to a change.

Each player in the memorandum will have an important role in implementing the change, and each will help drive the goal at different stages along the way, but perhaps most important, is the role of the USDA to conduct research and create awareness.

Google committed to carbon neutrality back in 2007, but that’s prior to an overt entry into the mobile phone hardware business through a partnership with someone like HTC. The Nexus One, what many are referring to as the “Google phone”, changes the game a bit because previously Google took into account “. . . purchased electricity, employee commuting, business travel, construction, and server manufacturing” in calculating its carbon footprint.

Add a tight partnership with a mobile device manufacturer to that list and Google’s carbon output is sure to skyrocket. The search giant has committed to re-evaluating its carbon footprint every year and it will be interesting to see how it accommodates the new volume. Other companies already in the mobile space are taking differing approaches to the problem.

A scorching study of more than 525 chickens by Consumer Reports found the bacteria salmonella and campylobacter in 83 percent of the birds.

That’s a huge increase from a 2003 study, and is an obvious cause for concern. Most of us are already familiar with salmonella, but campylobacter is still obscure, although this bacteria is popping up in more chickens than ever, according to the study. The study included chickens from four leading brands: Foster Farms, Perdue, Pilgrim’s Pride and Tyson.

The Department of Agriculture, which already tests chickens for salmonella, doesn’t have any standards for testing or controlling campylobacter. The government should take this study to heart, and put in place better measures to protect consumers from campylobacter.

President Barack Obama originally planned to go the green way, combining two European business trips into one. First, he picks up his Nobel prize in Oslo, Norway, and then he planned to head straight to Denmark for the much-anticipated global warming summit in Copenhagen.

Of course the president of the United States has more to think about than just his carbon footprint, but you might think carbon would at least be part of the conversation when taking a trip to an international conference specifically covering ways to reduce carbon emissions.

Ever wonder what happens when you leave your work computer on at night or just decide to leave your personal computer idling all day? The answer: an absurd amount of energy waste. Now, however, there may be a way to cut unnecessary consumption, even if you still mindlessly choose to leave your computer on. The solution: the fit-PC2.

Big or small. Pink or blue. Mac or PC. No matter how you slice it or dice it, computers require electrical energy to send those little messages from your computer's mouse to your computer's brain.

On average, an active computer requires anywhere from 36 Watts to 250 Watts (widespread to account for the extreme range in different computers). In comparison to other household items, that's almost 3.5 times as much energy from your computer as a sewing machine and just about the same amount as a heat lamp.

In the recent past Amazon has received flack for the way text-to-speech operates on the Kindle 2. It’s buried in text menus and is virtually impossible for someone who is blind or visually impaired to access. Apparently recognizing the business opportunity Amazon has chosen to expand support for the blind and visually impaired by building out new audio menus and a larger font. The Barnes & Noble Nook currently does not have any support for text-to-speech, though its users are certainly interested in it.

Luckily for Barnes & Noble text-to-speech is largely a software implementation as long as the underlying hardware is powerful enough to support it. Forums on the company’s web site are busy with discussion from potential and existing customers looking for the feature. That’s a perfect opportunity for Amazon.

A new technique for retrieving natural gas from deep underground known has hydrofracking is looked at as the savior of energy companies and as a dangerous, must-avoid practice by environmental groups.

The truth? Well, unfortunately the truth hasn’t emerged on exactly how this technique will effect the earth and our drinking water. It’s up to the government to stop companies while researches – and not to mention the public – can come to some consensus on the possible threat here.

The hydrofracking – or hydraulic fracturing - process entails mixing water, sand and chemicals and sending the concoction under high pressure deep underground to create fractures in the rock. The fractures, it is thought, will release the much-sought-after natural gas looming under a large section of New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Who ever would have thought dumping poison in a river would actually be considered the green way to go?

It’s pretty obvious something is wrong with the way we’re taking care of the world when dumping poison into the water supply is the solution to an environmental problem.

But that’s exactly what’s happened this week in Chicago as the invasive species Asian carp were a splash away from entering the Great Lakes – widely thought to be an environmental disaster. Not to mention the voracious carp could potentially swallow up a multibillion-dollar fishing industry at the same time.

So why the poison? Well, the poison was necessary to repair the electric barriers now halting fish from swimming up the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.