By Timothy B. Hurst •
October 12, 2009
The new green-themed Reclaim made by Samsung is more than your standard phone with slick green branding — though there’s a bit of that too.
What’s green (or blue), smaller than a deck of cards and will remind you to unplug the charger from the wall after charging? The Reclaim, the new green-themed smart phone made by Samsung for Sprint, is loaded with a bunch of green content, a handful eco-conscious accessories and an attention to sustainable packaging that make it more “green” than most other phones out there.
But you can’t just slap a case made from forty percent corn plastic, dip it in green paint and call it green, can you? The folks at Sprint sent me the new Reclaim so I could answer those questions myself.
By Allison Wolff •
August 25, 2009
A flurry of emails has been flying around the web warning that cell phone use could be risky business for you and, if you have one, your baby. As an avid multitasker who has mastered talking on the cell phone while doing ten other things, baby in hand, I decided to do a little research to see, well, what the research says.
After poking around on this issue, I can tell you that I’m worried. I’ve passed a few of the articles I’ve found to my husband and he’s so worried that he is planning to deactivate our wireless router and hard-wire both of our computers this week-and he’s constantly turning my Blackberry off. This causes a bit of bickering given how dependent I’ve become on that damn little device. It’s the number I use for my consulting business, I use it for email and texting when I un-tether myself from my computer, and, like most people, my friends and family try me there first. Now, friends think I’ve forgotten them and clients think I’m a flake because I don’t answer their calls and don’t return messages for days until I’ve discovered them (my mommy brain can’t seem to remember to check messages if my phone isn’t on to tell me that I have them). The bickering stops as soon as my husband says “Would you rather scramble little Emerson’s brain?”
By Lisa Wojnovich •
July 16, 2009
Researchers at the University of York have recently come up with a method of recycling that seems like it fell from the pages of a science fiction novel. They want to turn discarded television screens into components for biomedicine.
By Adam Williams •
February 26, 2009
Chinese mobile phone manufacturer ZTE recently unveiled its Coral-200, a solar-powered cell phone. eNews 2.0 reports:
The phone model is powered through a pack of solar cells mounted on the top of it. In a nutshell, while the technical specs of the phone are not quite detailed at this moment, analysts do not expect that the device will do many things besides voice calling and text messaging, especially
[...]
By Carlota Bindner •
February 17, 2009
Blackberry Storm and Apple iPhone move aside there is a new touch-screen cell phone coming out that is looking to reduce energy and material waste, the Samsung Blue Earth. Samsung has been working on its image as an eco-friendly company under their campaign “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG Mobile” and now they definitely have up the anty. In a press release from the 16th of February, Samsung introduced their new cell phone, Blue Earth. As a geeky mom who loves the idea of eco-friendly technology, the Blue Earth definitely has caught my eye.
By Jerry James Stone •
January 31, 2009
In a sampling of two thousand recycled mobile phones, 99 percent were found to have sensitive data like banking information and confidential emails.
The sampling was done by Regenersis. They processed over 2 million handsets in 2008; that’s one handset every 15 seconds. During a random sampling in December they discovered how many mobiles had not been wiped clean: a lot!
By Ariel Schwartz •
January 8, 2009
Je-Hyun Kim’s Natural Year Phone design almost makes cell phones cool in my book. The phone, which is made up of hay, a screen, and keys, is designed only to last as long as its functional life cycle (2 years) before it biodegrades and falls apart.
By Andrew Williams •
January 7, 2009
Motorola has announced plans to launch the world’s first completely carbon neutral mobile phone, at CES 2009 in Las Vegas.
The shell of the W233 Renew is made entirely of recycled water bottles, and will be available via T-Mobile within the next three months. The struggling cell phone manufacturer has also teamed up with CarbonFund.org to offset the energy used in the manufacture, distribution and operation of each phone throughout its lifetime.
By Ariel Schwartz •
December 12, 2008
I don’t know about you, but I constantly picture radiation penetrating my brain when I’m talking on my cell phone. Omega Pharma, a Belgian company specializing in health products, claims it has created a device that can calm my fears— a chip that counteracts mobile phone radiation.
By Ariel Schwartz •
November 21, 2008
Keeping track of your carbon footprint can be hard; you may walk or take the bus everywhere, but how much CO2 is that cross-country plane trip letting loose? UbiGreen, a new cell phone application developed by Intel and the University of Washington, senses whether you’re in a plane, train, or car to let you know exactly what your carbon footprint is.
By Derek Markham •
November 13, 2008
In this tight economy, families are looking for ways to cut their spending and to save money. One easy way to save on monthly costs and stretch your budget is by cutting your phone bill down to size.
The Telecommunications Research & Action Center (TRAC) has just published their guide to slimming down your phone bills, which can save you up to half on your phone service.
