by L J Furman on August 21, 2010
Apple,
Blackberry,
Dell,
HP,
Lenovo,
Motorola,
Panasonic,
Sony,
Toshiba and other consumer electronics companies can be
less unsustainable than their competitors and less unsustainable tomorrow than they are today. However, given:
- The state of the art in manufacturing,
- Electronics are made with designs that are supplanted before they wear out, and
- Recycling consumer electronics is expensive and releases toxins,
the consumer electronics industry can not, almost by definition, be "Sustainable." For what they need to do, click beneath the fold.
[click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Apple,
Consumer Electronics,
Dell,
HP,
iPad,
Lenovo,
Newton,
Panasonic,
Sony,
Sustainability,
Toshiba
by L J Furman on August 21, 2010
Farshad Manjoo, “10 Lessons from the Coolest Company, Anywhere,” in Fast Company, offers some interesting history and observations on Apple. He writes:
The one-time underdog from Cupertino is the biggest music company in the world and soon may rule the market for e-books as well. What's next? Farming? Toothbrushes? Fixing the airline industry?
As much as I respect Steve Jobs, I don't see him changing farming or fixing the government, as is suggested in the Fast Company article. The cool iPhone / iPad apps that identify trees and constellations can not tap a maple tree, milk a cow, slaughter and butcher a cow, hog, or chicken. The iPhone can't even scramble eggs or make a cup of coffee.
Apple makes mistakes, as the "Death Grip" on the iPhone 4 proves. And they are on and overloading the AT&T network; maybe they should switch to another carrier. Be that as it may, as Manjoo says:
Right now, it seems as if Apple could do all that and more. The company's surge over the past few years has resembled a space-shuttle launch -- a series of rapid, tightly choreographed explosions that leave everyone dumbfounded and smiling. The whole thing has happened so quickly, and seemed so natural, that there has been little opportunity to understand what we have been witnessing.
[click to continue…]
Tagged as:
Apple,
Built to Last,
iMac,
iPad,
Mac,
Newton,
Outside the Box,
Steve Jobs,
Technology
by jonathansoroko on August 19, 2010
These speak for themselves, for the most part. But it might be worth noting that none we've noticed have electric assist, either by hybrid electric or solar electric, which are both, we believe, in limited use around the world.
From FrogMob, the mob-sourced section of the FrogDesign Blog, Work Bikes:
From the Cool Tools section of Kevin Kelly's site, kk.org:
The XtraCycle:
XtraCycle - Free Radical - after-market modification/accessory
This is only one of nine variations of the Free Radical Conversion kit. See that - and bicycles with cargo carrying included, at XtraCycle.
Cool Tools also has great suggestions about bicycle repair tools, and other modifications. Check their Autonomous Motion section, their Bikes/Trikes subsection of their Street Use archives for more work bike info, including Velowalla, an archive of bike/trike use for business in India.
Tagged as:
Bicycles,
green transportation,
tricycles,
trikes
by jonathansoroko on August 18, 2010
by jonathansoroko on August 17, 2010
Moreover, Mr. Read's understatement - the entire post is three short grafs and two images - makes his post more affecting, rather than less.
Here's a NASA image of the affected area as of August 14, 2009 (Mr. Read, without saying so, anticipates speculation that this caused by seasonal variation):
2009 image
h
One year and one day later, August 15th, 2010:
Max Read's exemplary post, The Satellite Pics of Pakistan's Devastasting Floods, from Gawker.com
