Last week, a Harvard researcher estimated that every time you look for something on Google, it produces 7 grams of CO2. This is about the same amount of CO2 as is expended by the amount of energy it takes to boil a kettle of water. The report also included other scary numbers, like even looking at a web page is polluting the environment at the rate of 0.2 grams of CO2 per second.
I suppose maybe the point of all this is to raise awareness about the impact of technology on the environment or something, but really, what are we supposed to do? Just breathing produces something like 0.01 grams of CO2 per second. OMG EVERYBODY PANIC! Really, though, you have to think about these numbers in larger context rather than freaking out about them. When was the last time you looked for something in the yellow pages, for example? Or spent time on the phone asking for directions to places? Or traveled to different stores to compare prices on things?
There’s no denying that services like Google specifically, and computers in general, suck up power and to some extent aren’t great for the environment. But just about everything short of planting a tree isn’t great for the environment… The important thing is to be generally aware of the impact of your lifestyle, and try to mitigate things where possible. And sometimes services like Google can help you with that, by enabling you to locate information faster and more efficiently.
So, don’t freak out, and click here. You’ll feel a little better.
[ The following concerns a paid campaign currently running on the site. ]
Another week, another batch of questions answered over on the Laptop Experts site. I’m still answering 6 each weekday, as there are always curious minds in need of answers. Here are just a few of last week’s questions.
Have a particularly tough issue with your notebook that you just can’t figure out? Or maybe you feel like giving out a few answers of your own. Either way, the Laptop Experts site is your destination.
What you see here is probably the most awesomest way to arrive at a senior prom that you could possibly imagine. The GP Limo was designed and built by Michael Pettipas to seat 7 people (6 passengers and an experienced driver) and you might think that providing an authentic F1 experience to his riders would be enough, but apparently it’s not. You see Michael actually wants the GP Limo to beat the Bugatti Veyron’s 253 mph record for a street legal vehicle. (Yeah, believe it or not the GP Limo is actually street legal!)
At the moment the GPLimos.com website claims the car was actually shooting for a top speed of 300 mph during tests at the Bonneville Salt Flats, but that was over 3 years ago, and given the fact that the Veyron and the SSC Ultimate Aero TT still sit at the top of the record list, I assume things didn’t quite work out as Michael had hoped.
I don’t know if I’m quite ready to sacrifice my boxes of Commodore 64 floppies just yet (I wonder what their shelf life is anyways) but re-using them as CD sleeves seems about as useful a way to recycle them as any. Designer Adam Faja originally came up with the idea, and the sample you see pictured above included a track list printed on an index card in an old school typewriter font to complete the effect. Could 2009 turn out to be a renaissance year for the floppy disk?
Bicyclists and cars don’t have the greatest relationship when it comes to roads. While bicyclists often ignore traffic laws, cars often ignore bicyclists, and everybody gets pissed at everyone else for being selfish jerks. Unfortunately, Light Lane could very well make all that worse… On principle it seems like an okay idea, projecting a virtual bike lane around you to help keep motorists off your ass. But, if you’re trying to make a bike lane where there isn’t a bike lane, I bet the cars trying to get around you aren’t going to be amused, to say the least.
Seriously, at what point does the advantage of having a cordless device become negated when the rechargeable battery adds so much bulk that you can barely lift it? Because I think this cordless hand blender has reached that point. Now I’m sure it would make for a handy tool to have around the kitchen, since I know I can’t manually blend at 10,000 revolutions per minute or whip cream at 1,200 RPM, but you better hope you don’t need to perform either of those actions for longer than 25 minutes. Because that’s how long the 7.2V NiMH battery is good for, and it takes about 8-10 hours to recharge it. And while I’m sure the ‘wand’ form factor is convenient when using the whisk or chopping attachment, can someone explain to me how you’re supposed to use the blender with it?
The cordless hand blender, whisk and universal chopper is available from Pro-Idee for about $81. Separated egg not included.
Sure, many considered Transformers to be the worst film of 2007 (including yours truly) but robots that transform into cars can transcend even the most terrible of scripts. And even I’ll admit the movie spawned some pretty well-designed toys, which is what LEGO fan ‘Gyuta K.‘ based his Barricade Transformer off of. And not just the overall design of the toy either, but how it transforms from a police cruiser to a robot as well. I’ve included a video of him transforming his LEGO version of Barricade, and while it needs a special support frame while in robot mode (he appears to be a bit frail) it’s no less impressive because of it.
The whole point behind LEGOs LEGO bricks is that you can build stuff out of them, right? You can take them apart, put them together, and turn pirate ships into space ships. So I’m not sure why LEGO (in cooperation with Digital Blue) is putting out a line of electronics that are made out of non-deconstructable LEGO bricks.
This summer, you’ll be able to pay $20 – $60 for LEGO-style radios, MP3 players, and digital cameras. I can’t help but think how much cooler it would be if you could take these apart and rebuild them… Like, add more storage blocks, different lens blocks, that kind of thing. Sorta like BUG for kids! Oh well, I suppose you can still add more LEGOs LEGO bricks onto this stuff and build things that way, it’s just not quite as fun.
Being ‘international’ guests at CES meant that David and I couldn’t really use our iPhones for checking email or the web while in Vegas, lest we return home to massive roaming data charges on our phone bills. So Peek was kind enough to supply both of us with one of their ‘Simply Email’ devices during our stay so we could stay on top of email when our laptops were buried in our bags. The Peek is definitely a unique device as it seems to go against the current trend of convergence when it comes to mobile devices. It does email, a little bit of text messaging, and that’s basically it. Overall the devices performed as advertised, and it was definitely nice having access to email no matter where we were during the show, but if you’re thinking about picking one up for yourself, it’s important to be aware of the Peek’s limitations beforehand. More after the jump.
Related Tags: Eco-friendly
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