Green Options » mobile phone

WARNING: 99% of All Recycled Cell Phones Contain Owner’s Private Data

Jerry James Stone — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:31:24 +0000

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!

Motorola Renew is World’s First Carbon Neutral Mobile Phone

Andrew Williams — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:11:14 +0000

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.

New Mobile Phone App to Track Carbon Footprint

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:17:56 +0000

A new software application will make keeping track of your carbon footprint as easy as having a mobile phone in your pocket. A London-based start-up has developed software for mobile phones that uses global positioning systems (GPS) to automatically figure out whether you are walking, driving or flying and then calculate your impact on the environment.

Carbon Diem’s inventors claim that, by using GPS to measure the speed and pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode of transport being used. The software then calculates the amount of carbon dioxide the journey has emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input from the user.

One for the Books, Hopefully

Max Lindberg — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:30:55 +0000

With an eye to making it in the record books, Mr. Tan of Songyuan city in China, spent the last six months creating an exact, 48 lb, fully functional replica of his cell phone with camera and internet access included.

He did, however, leave out the vibrate function, which was probably a good idea, and he couldn’t find a battery big enough to power the phone, so he has to plug it into a wall outlet.

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