Eco-friendly gadgets: Features of 2010

What are prominent and amazing to the consumers’ choice this year, is not only cool gadgets doing cool stuffs making our daily life not so miserable. Eco-friendly gadgets are most likely their choice because of the ever growing crisis of global warming and its effects to nature and mankind.

Besides of several devices with 3D technology that were introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show 2010, the “green” products were also prominently featured in this edition of the trade show.

The gadgets that were showcased in the said show ranged from basic solar chargers to computers to even a bike. These products also have a participation in The Greener Gadgets Conference that took place last February 25, 2010 in New York

Products didn’t only bear green colors to represent their commitment in loving our nature; they showcased products that are energy-saving which allow a decrease in the rate of greenhouse gases and gas emissions. Some of the gadgets have less concentration of mercury, less emission of carbon-dioxide (CO2), and a decreased used of toxic substances.

Some participants also presented hydrogen-based products where water vapor is produced in order to operate, so the air pollution is minimal. For example: A car with an electric engine and a hydrogen fuel battery that would release zero pollution into the air.

However, in spite of the efforts to produce these devices and products, some companies need to have a stronger commitment to help protect our planet. According to the last Greenpeace report about electronic industry, some companies like Toshiba, Sony Ericsson and Nokia are the most ecological firms (report of January 2010). But other companies like Nintendo, Lenovo, Microsoft and Fujitsu are not having good positions in the “greener electronics ranking”.

Even though eco-friendly products haven’t been tested regarding their durability and capability from those of other non-eco-friendly technologies, it is still a trend that people would follow; and a supporting campaign to save and preserve earth and nature.

A Technological Way of Feeding your Baby

Feeding a baby is an enjoyable activity, right?

Well, maybe not always, especially if some spoonfuls of food are not reaching their final destination: Your baby’s mouth. Instead, they end up on the floor or your baby’s clothes.

The ThinkGeek JetBib could be a really useful gadget, especially if you want to feed your little baby without having pieces of food everywhere. It includes a bib with a printed landing strip and a plane-shaped spoon (an airliner).

Both the plane-shaped spoon and the bib (that is to say, the landing strip) come with luminous LEDs that serve two purposes: On one hand, flashing red lights on the plane’s wings will spark your baby’s curiosity; on the other hand, as the gaping baby is making some delicate moves, the motion-activated LED lights in bib will illuminate to guide the plane toward a safe landing without unexpected deviations of the flight. Of course, the final destination is your baby’s mouth.

JetBib is recommended for children age 12 months and older. Maybe is not a very sophisticated gadget, but it can catch your baby’s attention and, at the same time, your child will have a lot of fun with this. Of course, it will also save your time and effort if you don’t have to clean the whole surrounding area after feeding your child.

As mentioned before, the Leds on the bib are motion activated and they are placed on the sides of the landing strip. The red lights on the plane can be controlled by using an on/off button and each set comes with three removable spoons that can be cleaned up in a very easy way.

This completely shows that technologies are for all sort of ages, and even babies could get a handful of them.

Kit Bernal

BJ 3-1D

Touch and Go

These days, or should I say “techno-days”, wiser and amazing technology have completely absorbed people along with their daily activities. “Instant” is the right word for our technological needs. And these instants include electronic notebooks, laptops, and netbooks.

Touch screen-gadgets has defined the beginning of wiser and exceptional technology. And HP, one of the first companies to design their products with touch technology, introduced a new netbook that allows users to use online resources in a fresh way when they need to access and use web sites, e-mail, social networks, instant messaging, photos, music and more.

The Compaq AirLife 100 includes a 10.1-inch bright screen, Android operating system (full multitasking support), and a customized touch interface.

Definitely, HP is taking advantage of its legacy and innovation in the touch technology. This way, the customized touch interface offers a new touch navigation experience, an easy system to make zoom in and out on web pages in the browser and a set of additional touch resources and shortcuts menu.

This new netbook also reinforces the strategic agreement signed on November 2009 between HP and the European telecommunications company Telefonica to define a partnership that provides mobile broadband services to markets located in Europe and Latin America.

According to the companies, HP and Telefonica have created this association in order to offer an unsurpassable online experience for customers. These would definitely make online sourcing easier

Kit Bernal
BJ 3-1D