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This blog is to raise awareness and educate the general public on Eco friendly, energy efficient computer products.

This Blog is run by a group of Algonquin College students in the Computer System Technician Program.

Permalink (Microsoft Quietly Changes WP7 Specs to Allow Phones without Cameras | PCWorldから) Microsoft quietly downgraded the hardware requirements for its Windows Phone 7 operating system in late September to make optional the inclusion of cameras in mobiles using the operating system. The move came just prior to the arrival on the market of phones running the latest version of the OS, WinPho 7.5 or “Mango.” During the first iteration of the OS, Microsoft kept a hard line on what it wanted to see in WP7 phones, but now it seems to be backing off its standards. While high standards may not be popular with some phone makers, they do set the floor for a device so consumers can get a consistent experience across a platform. If you make your own hardware, as Apple does, that’s not a problem. But if you only make the software for a device, as Microsoft does with WP7 or Google does with Android, ensuring that kind of consistent experience can be problematic. When Windows Phone 7 was introduced, it was apparent that Microsoft was going to take a harder line on what it would allow hardware makers to call a WP7 phone than it did with its previous smartphone OS, Windows Mobile. That was seen by some observers as a good thing — something that would allow WP7 to avoid the pitfalls that have beset Google’s Android since its introduction.
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Permalink ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), the first general purpose electronic computer - a 30-ton machine housed at the University of Pennsylvania. Developed in secret starting in 1943, ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory. The completed machine was announced to the public on February 14, 1946. (AP Photo, via In Focus)
Permalink After spending their childhood playing online games, students at Choate Rosemary Hall will soon be able to live inside one. When the academic year begins next autumn, the tony Connecticut prep school will open the Kohler Environmental Center, a living-learning facility where teams of students will compete with one another to see who can live most energy efficiently. Think of it as a sort of SimCity meets Survivor: Wallingford. via fastcompany:
Permalink IBM brings solar power to data centers | Green Tech - CNET News A solar technician at IBM’s Bangalore, India research facility. (Credit: IBM) IBM is bringing electric power—in the form of solar panels—to data centers with trouble getting power in the first place. The company tomorrow will detail a pilot project which couples solar power with water-cooled servers that run on high-voltage direct-current. The method results in about a ten percent energy savings by reducing the losses that normally happen in converting from alternating power from the grid to the direct current servers run on, according to Murali Kota, the chief scientist of nanotechnology at IBM India who developed the pilot as a side project. That level of energy reduction is significant for large data centers with many servers, but the implications of solar and servers are potentially profound for places that don’t have access to reliable power, Kota said. A bank, for example, that wanted to set up a remote branch and operate a data center could use solar power as a way to supplement power from the grid and on-site generators. IBM plans to offer the system in custom engagements next year. Clients in developing countries have already shown an interest. “Everybody is talking about getting connectivity from the grid. The cities are already overloaded so they need ways to generate local power,” Kota said. “You can start connecting unconnected parts of the world using this kind of system.”
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New Green Tech Could Revolutionize Data Centers -- Especially in Emerging Markets

Energy use in data centers accounts for 2% of electricity consumption in the United States and 1.2% worldwide, according to a new report by Stanford University professor Jonathan Koomey. While…

(Source: smarterplanet)

Permalink Electric 2012 Ford Focus now available to reserve online | The Verge While it may not have the style of an electric DeLorean, Ford’s now letting consumers get in line for the 2012 all-electric Focus, which carries a base MSRP of $39,200. The Focus will be going head to head with Nissan’s Leaf and Chevy’s Volt in the expanding electric car market, but Ford is going into battle without announcing detailed mileage information. Nissan claims 100 miles per charge in the Leaf, while the Volt only gets 35 miles, but backs that up with a fuel-based electric generator that adds over 300 miles to its range. For Ford’s part, the only thing said on its site is that the Focus is “competitive with other electric vehicles on the market.”