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Apple’s just knocked $200 off the cost of their iPhone range in the US, just in time for the fourth quarter and the coming Festive rush. All this just as Steve Jobs announced the new line of iPods.
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Apple’s use of the traditional 2G GSM system, coupled with built in Wifi on the iPhone was reported by Steve Jobs as being an energy saving measure. Power savings when compared to using 3G technologies are expected to sweeten the idea of the iPhone through extended battery life. This of course does not help the major mobile phone operators, who must have been left smarting when they realised that Apple, the defacto tech design company had not adopted the 3G technology they’ve spent so much cash rolling the network out for. Saying all that, Apple have also announced that the iPhone will be available through Apple Stores, meaning that Apple fans and Gurus won't just be limited to O2's offerings..
A guide to how and where to dispose of your computer so it doesn't end up in a toxic dump.
By Elizabeth Grossman
To prevent your old electronics from being melted down over a rudimentary stove in Guiyu, China, or being tossed into a landfill in Lagos, Nigeria, you'll want to choose a reputable recycler. Plenty of computer recyclers operate with transparency and environmental integrity. But in the absence of a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for the industry, you have to ask hard questions and demand real answers. Each year, between 20 and 50 million tons of electronic waste is generated globally. Most of it winds up in the developing world. Some of the most popular destinations for dumping computer hardware include China, India, and Nigeria. It can be 10 times cheaper for a “recycler” to ship waste to China than to dispose of it properly at home. With the market for e-waste expected to top $11 billion by 2009, it’s lucrative to dump on the developing world. |  |
You'll want to ask what the recycler does with equipment, where it sends parts for materials recovery and what it does with usable machinery and components. A reputable recycler should be able to tell you where CRTs, metals and plastics are sent, and if the company exports or uses prison labor. The recycler should also be able to tell you how it handles data destruction. Also ask if the recycler or reuse organization wipes the hard drive for you and provides documentation that it has done so. Or can the recycler tell you how to do this before you let go of your equipment?
 | If you are donating your equipment to a reuse organization, ask if equipment is tested before it is passed on for donation and if the company only ships working equipment. Ask who their recipient organizations are. You want to make sure equipment is going directly to qualified recipients, not speculative brokers. If the answer to any of these questions is, "We don't know," or, "We can't tell you," you may want to send your equipment elsewhere, as any reputable recycler or reuse organization should be able to provide answers. One of the easiest options is to use your computer manufacturer's recycling program. Major manufacturers are acutely aware of the liabilities associated with not handling equipment properly and don't want to be the subject of a muckraking expose'. |
Safari released for Windows Users. Update for the Mac
What Apple Says: Download UpdatesChanges in Safari 3.0.3 for Windows beta:
Changes in Safari 3.0.3 for Mac OS X beta:
Coming Soon
FeedbackGive Apple engineers your feedback on the Safari 3 beta. Just click the bug button in the toolbar to get started. Plug-insFor a richer browsing experience,Êyou may want to install plug-ins for Safari on Windows.
| The Mac's browser has just been updated, albeit in a Beta version to Safari 3. A free download available direct from Apple (assuming you can't wait until the full blown version) can be found here. We've yet to try this release, but reckon that the added benifit of a Windows Xp or Vista version will widen the appeal of Apple over Microsoft applications. The only downside to this release is that it needs OS 10.4.9 to run on the mac. If you're using an older OS, it's probably best if you stick with earlier versions of Safari, rather than updating your operating system. Why youÕll love Safari
Source: www.apple.com |
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World's First Commercial Spaceport, courtesy of Virgin Galactic
Photos: Courtesy URS/Foster + Partners | Good-bye, Cape Canaveral. It's been nice knowing you, Edwards Air Force Base. The future hub of space travel won't be some restricted-access military installation. It will be in the middle of the New Mexico desert — and look surprisingly like a cylon raider from Battlestar Galactica. |
This fall, the New Mexico Spaceport Authority unveiled the design for the world's first public launching and landing site for space vehicles, Spaceport America, future home to Virgin Galactic and the X Prize cup. The plan — by UK architecture firm Foster + Partners and San Francisco-based engineering shop URS — includes a passenger terminal and a hangar big enough for seven craft. When it's completed in 2010, the project will have set New Mexico's taxpayers back an estimated $225 million. And with that kind of money, you can buy a lot of sci-fi panache. "The spaceport design had to be a vision of the future, not the past," says Will Whitehorn, Virgin Galactic's president. "It's not a railroad station we're building out there." While Spaceport America's anchor tenant will be Virgin — which is still hoping for a 2009 launch despite a recent explosion at its development facility in Southern California — other private space ventures are invited to dock there as well. Can't afford a $200,000 ticket to the heavens? Just head 200 miles east to see if you can hitch a ride from Roswell instead.
Article Courtesy of Wired Magazine, Author Miyoko Ohtake
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Source: Time Magazine |  |
A screen saver is not an energy saver. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 75% of all the electricity consumed in the home is standby power used to keep electronics running when those TVs, DVRs, computers, monitors and stereos are "off." The average desktop computer, not including the monitor, consumes from 60 to 250 watts a day. Compared with a machine left on 24/7, a computer that is in use four hours a day and turned off the rest of the time would save you about $70 a year. The carbon impact would be even greater. Shutting it off would reduce the machine's CO2 emissions 83%, to just 63 kg a year.