Author: Jacqueline Emigh

By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews

Flanked by other eco-wares ranging from Philips light bulbs to a home soda-making machine, PC manufacturers on hand at Pepcom’s EcoFocus conference touted new computers that, while Energy Star 5.0-compliant, also happen to be made from recycled and/or non-hazardous stuff.

Lenovo demo’d its new 14-inch L-412 (pictured right) and 15-inch L-512 ThinkPads, two laptops launched last week with customer’s choice of Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processors. Both feature palm rests, covers, and cases which are 20% comprised of recycled material, such as office water jugs and old IT equipment.

Likewise, Sony’s Vaio W Series “mini-notebook” (pictured below) also on display — based on a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom processor, with 10.1-inch 1366 x 768 backlit LCD — uses reprocessed plastic from DVD and CD waste in its palm rest, cover, and incidental parts.

Not to be left out of the eco equation, HP demo’d an all-in-one PC that was introduced last week. The new computer-targeted Pavilion All-in-One 200-5020 PC is designed not just to save on energy and space, but also to reflect HP’s commitment to ridding PCs of hazardous materials.

HP has issued company directives to halt the use of mercury in notebook LED displays by the end of this year, and to stop any remaining use of brominated flame retardant (BFR) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in computing products launched in 2011.

Meanwhile, Soda-Club Group’s soda making machine requires no electricity whatsoever — and no disposable bottles or metal cans, either, for that matter.

Consequently, Sodastream is reminiscent in some ways of the old-fashioned home ice cream-making machines that were apparently all the rage partly through the last century. But forget about any hand cranking here.

You can make your own carbonated soda or sparkling water in just about any flavor you want at the proverbial push of a button. All you need is a Sodastream starter kit — varying in configuration from model to model, but basically including a carbonator and carbonating bottles with “fizz-preserving caps” — and some flavoring, also company-supplied. Oh, yeah, and some water, too.

At the same time, Philips proved that the emphasis on energy conservation keeps working its way down from data centers and laptops to the light bulb level.

Philips’ environmentally friendly LED bulbs last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs, while also gobbling up less electricity and producing brighter light, Betanews was told.

The latest additions to Philips’ line-up, released last week, include ten new models, geared to specific purposes such as indoor spot and flood lighting, track fixtures, outdoor security lighting, along with wall sconces and other “mood-setting applications.”

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews

Literally on the wheels of a gourmet cupcake truck, Lenovo this week rolled out the 14- and 15-inch editions of its emerging ThinkPad Edge laptop line-up.

Priced starting at $499, and slated for availability in April, Lenovo’s latest notebooks offer the same capabilities as the 13-inch Edge released in January, while adding wider screens and an illuminated keyboard, said Jay McBain, Lenovo’s director of small and medium business. McBain gave Betanews a briefing aboard what can easily be described as the most unique setting we’ve ever experienced for a product demo: a concessions truck operated by an early user, a New York City-based mobile cupcake company named Cupcake Stop.

Holding an Edge PC in his lap, Cupcake Stop entrepreneur Lev Ekster touted the Edge keyboard as both easy to use and especially spill resistant, a key advantage in a work environment where 75 cupcake varieties are both baked and sold from a single truck.

For the Edge models, Lenovo has gotten rid of the ThinkPad’s embedded number pad, along with keys such as System Request which are geared more to IT administrators than to consumers or most business users.

Ekster told Betanews that he uses the Edge to run all aspects of the business, started almost a year ago. He’ll expand soon to add a second truck, plus a brick-and-mortar cupcake store; and he’ll introduce overnight delivery services of flash-frozen cupcakes to destinations across the US and Canada, and to the UK and Japan.

It has come to this: The venue for a press demonstration of Lenovo’s latest ThinkPad Edge models, the concessions truck from The Cupcake Stop in New York City.

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For Ekster’s purposes, the Edge handles tasks that include recipe management, payroll, inventory control, and social networking capabilities. For instance,
Ekster uses Twitter and Facebook to communicate the truck’s locations throughout New York City on specific days of the week, and suggestions and other feedback from customers for new cupcake flavors.

As additional benefits of the Edge, Ekster pointed to its wireless connectivity, its built-in fingerprint reader, and a tool named Rescue and Recovery, designed to help safeguard sensitive data by performing back-ups to a second Windows OS located in a separate partition on board.

Ekster acknowledged that the fingerprint reader — used to help identify him in accessing accounts on various Web sites — makes him feel “cool and spy-like.”

Wireless options on the Edge laptops include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and support for wide area wireless network services from Qualcomm Gobi 2000 GPS (which in the US is supported by 3G networks from AT&T and Verizon).

The Edge notebooks also come with built-in high res, “low light sensitive” cameras; a choice of Intel Core or Celeron processors; hard drive storage of 250, 320, or 500 GB; up to 4 GB memory; and — for home-oriented entertainment — VGA and HDMI out, plus a choice of DVD/RW or Blu-ray drive.

To mark the launch of the 14- and 15-inch editions, Ekster — a recent law school graduate — whipped up a special red velvet cupcake, frosted in the Edge color scheme of “Heatwave Red – Gloss” with silver trim. The laptops also come in smooth and glossy Midnight Black, with the same silver trim.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010