December 28th, 2010
As I was getting to work this morning, I walked pass the giant recycling bin I had on the driveway. The bin was filled with assorted paper products such as newspaper, paper gift boxes, and cardboard containers; it was so full, we could not even close the lid for the past several days. My family tries to recycle everything diligently, from your regular plastic bottles and aluminum cans, to shipping boxes we acquired from work (Teczilla, that is). We even saved up plastic bags that were punctured with holes and disposed of them at selected supermarket with recycling bins. With all our recycling efforts, however, I noticed something that we ignored this very morning.
Wrapper paper.
According to earth911, gift wraps industries account for $2.6 billion in retail sales, which translates to a whole lot of wrapping papers, gift bags, and bows! However, not everyone can sort recyclables properly, because 1) not all wrapper papers are recyclable, such as those with glitters or dyes, 2) fibers in those materials may not be good recyclable fibers, and 3) tapes stuck to wrapping papers are actually not recyclable. I admittedly have been guilty of purchasing the prettiest, sparkling wrapping papers in the past, but never thought about the consequences.
Besides gift wraps, holidays can generate tremendous amount of waste, and many of them are actually recyclable. For instance, City of San Francisco has been recycling Christmas trees for decades, turning unwanted trees into biofuel, which helps generate electricity for the city. Make sure to check your local recycling authority on rules and regulations to ensure your recycling effort is most efficient.
Tags: Green Living
Posted in Green Living | 106 Comments »
July 30th, 2010
When Hewlett-Packard announced plans to purchase ailing Palm for $1.2 billion on April 28, it was not interested in the Palm Smartphones alone. The main motovation is the WebOS technology.
When HP finalized its purchase of Palm on July 1, it confirmed plans to produce a WebOS tablet, as well as smartphones and netbooks, but it did not announce a timetable for doing so.
Recently, HP filed a trademark application to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It is seeking to trademark the name “PalmPad” for computer hardware and mobile device. The tablet is expected to compete directly with the Apple iPad and will include touchscreen capabilities and other features, according to industry experts.
HP had shown a tablet called the Slate at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, but the Slate ran on Windows 7. It is probably developing tabelets running in both Windows and WebOS.
Rumor has speculated that “PalmPad” may become available by the end of the year. I can’t wait to see more competition in the tablet market.
Posted in Smartphone | 182 Comments »
July 23rd, 2010
Google Nexus One by HTC is put to pasture.
Google first announced at the beginning of the year that it would be shaking up the tight grip that cell phone carriers had on customers by offering us the chance to buy it direct from them, unlocked and unsubsidized.
Fast forward 6 months and that didn’t go quite as planned with Google now in the final clearance stages of shifting the last few boxes.
Some carriers will continue to sell the Nexus One overseas, but US consumers will be out of luck.
Now it’s back to the carrier-controlled model of phone design and distribution. Do you think that’s ever going to change in this country?
Posted in Smartphone | 199 Comments »
July 22nd, 2010
How do you locate yourself without GPS? You use cell phone towers.
Research in Motion, the maker of Blackberry Smartphones, is employing cell-tower triangulation in its Locate Service for the Application Platform, and the new Geolocation service promises to provide better GPS-type services for customer.
Imagine if you are indoor without GPS signal, your Blackberry Apps is still able to guide you to restaurants or any points of interest (POI). Although the Geolocation service is less accurate than GPS, it provides a quicker location fix. Typically, it takes 30 seconds to 1 minute for GPS lock. GPS also drains the phone battery too.
This service provides App developers a trade-off choice between speed, accuracy and power consumption.
Posted in Smartphone | 181 Comments »
January 27th, 2010
Teczilla blog is back! I will be updating news about smartphones, green life and Teczilla.
You can read about the archive for this blog at my Facebook Fans page.
Posted in Teczilla | 4 Comments »
