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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Greenpeace Thrilled By Apple’s Green Announcement

Apple-S-Site-Boasts-A-Greener
Wondering whether Apple’s public pledges of environmental responsibility would appease the company’s Green critics? Wonder no more. Greenpeace just publicly lauded the company’s suddenly forward-thinking stance on its own impact on the environment:

It’s not everything we asked for. Apple has declared a phase out of the worst chemicals in its product range, Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs) and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) by 2008. That beats Dell and other computer manufactures’ pledge to phase them out by 2009. Way to go Steve!

But there’s always more to be done, of course:

But while customers in the US will be able to return their Apple products for recycling knowing that their gear won’t end up in the e-waste mountains of Asia and India, Apple isn’t making that promise to anyone but customers in the USA. Elsewhere in the world, an Apple product today can still be tomorrow’s e-waste. Other manufacturers offer worldwide takeback and recycling. Apple should too!

Either way, a big change. One other note: In all the excitement yesterday, I somehow missed that Steve’s environment made a public commitment to start using LED displays this year, all but confirming a long-standing rumor that upcoming laptops would soon transition away from LCD technology. All of which makes me extra-happy that I have held off on buying a new computer, eh?
Eh? Enh.
Tasty news from Apple! | Greenpeace International

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About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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2 comments

    “all but confirming a long-standing rumor that upcoming laptops would soon transition away from LCD technology.”

    I don’t believe this is a transition away from LCD technology. The LEDs would replace the LCD backlight, which I think is now some form of flourescent lamp. This would eliminate the toxins (no more mercury in the backlight) and produce a brighter backlight with less energy consumption.

    But I don’t think the LCD itself will change.

    “One other note: In all the excitement yesterday, I somehow missed that Steve’s environment made a public commitment to start using LED displays this year, all but confirming a long-standing rumor that upcoming laptops would soon transition away from LCD technology.”

    Err,… that’s LEDs for backlighting, isn’t it? OLEDs are a stretch away for computer screens.

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