Science

Sony is jumping on the 'save the earth' bandwagon with its "Take Back Recycling Program". Starting September 15, 2007, Sony will recycle its customers' Sony-brand electronic products free of charge. Sony's new recycling program is coming at a good ... time. Lately, electronic waste has been growing; in 2005, between 1.9 million and 2.2 million tons of electronics products were discarded in the U.S., and as little as 345,000 tons was recycled. With the increase in the number of electronic gadgets being produced and the decrease in prices, once a new product comes along the old one ... (view more)

Love your iPod, iPhone, or iMac? If you're an owner of any of these popular devices, there's a good chance you've been impressed with Apple's products in the past. For the last few years, it has experienced almost unrivaled satisfaction from ... consumers. Unfortunately, that seems to have changed. According to the University of Michigan's annual rankings (cited through the American Customer Satisfaction Index, or ACSI), Apple dropped some five percentage points in its overall customer satisfaction ranking. That's a plummet from an impressive 84 to a still-stellar 79. Also dropping in the ... (view more)

North Americans usually assume a moral obligation when conserving energy. An individual will likely turn off the lights in an empty room or shut off the water when brushing their teeth. But, if this energy-conscious person is one of the many ... millions of computer users who leave their PC sitting idle, they are actually contributing to over a days worth of wasted energy in just one hour of computer use. Industry analysts are now reporting that a standard desktop PC, with its many cooling fans and whirring disk drives, uses enough energy to illuminate up to three 100-watt light bulbs, more if ... (view more)

If you've taken a stroll through the park recently, you might have noticed a number of dogs sporting collars with attached ID tags, trinkets, G.P.S. equipment and...G.P.S. equipment? Garmin, a manufacturer of global positioning equipment, now makes ... tracking devices that keeps tabs on dogs whether they are walking through the park for exercise or chasing down a rabbit during a hunt. The latest Global Positioning System comes in two parts: a hand-held unit for the owner and another device that is mounted directly onto the collar or harness of the animal. (Source: nytimes.com ) Now if the dog ... (view more)

Dell and Lenovo, two of the largest personal computer manufacturers in the world, have announced plans to launch the first batch of mainstream laptop computers that come equipped with Wireless USB (Universal Serial Bus) technology. The latest in ... Wi-Fi allows electronics, such as a personal computer and a printer, to communicate without the use of cables. Wireless technology uses radio waves that send bits of data through the air. The concept is not foreign in the technological world. Internationally-recognized brands like Bluetooth, WiFi and WiMax essentially all do the same thing. (Source: ... (view more)

Google and Intel have decided to "go green" and are hoping to start a worldwide campaign that will motivate every computer-maker to do the same. The two technological powerhouses recently unveiled the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a voluntary ... program that they hope will eventually make energy-saving computers the only ones available on the market. (Source: usatoday.com ) Typically, a standard PC wastes about half of the energy it draws. While power-saving technology is available to manufacturers, it costs roughly $20 extra per PC. While $20 may not seem like very much, it adds up to a ... (view more)

If you're going to "Blame Canada", blame it for some of the most exciting scientific research in recent decades. Mere months after 20-somethings from McMaster University in Hamilton, ON won acclaim for their "CPR Glove", a professor at the ... University of Western Ontario in London is now being credited for a major discovery. According to the London Free Press, geologist Neil Banerjee has stumbled upon evidence of life some 3.35 billion -- yes, billion -- years ago. The finding surrounds a series of fossilized tunnels in Australia. The pathways were carved a very, very long time ago by microbes ... (view more)

The next Apple shareholders' meeting will bring new pressure for the company to adopt more environmental purposes. And the benchmark for the new green standard is none other than the company's archrival, Dell. Trillium Asset Management is asking ... Apple shareholders to support a motion that would hold the company accountable for its environmental practices, by requiring the company to create a schedule for eliminating toxic materials from its hardware products. (Source: appleinsider.com ) "Consumers have grown to expect more from Apple, a leader in product design and innovation," said Shelley ... (view more)

Last year, former Vice President and one-time presidential hopeful Al Gore ushered the once subtle fear of global warming into the mainstream. Although we all knew the earth was getting warmer as a result of our messy, polluting little lives, Gore's ... documentary slammed home the importance of beginning a "greener" existence NOW. One of the most alarming contributors to global warming, unexpectedly, are car emissions. Now that the word is out, more and more consumers are interested in those vehicles that limit their impact on the environment. (Source: cnn.com ) Recently, CNET took a close look ... (view more)

VMware, a small Silicon Valley software-producing company, is attempting to tackle the industry's leader in software manufacturing, namely: Microsoft. VMware is a relatively young company and has been experimenting with cutting edge technology ... called "virtual-machine software". A virtual machine essentially mimics a computer so that several copies of an operating system can run on one physical machine. Tasks can be completed using less electricity and less space compared to a standard PC. (Source: nytimes.com ) It is also a product that occupies strategic ground in computing, as a layer of ... (view more)