I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates as I’m afraid I took the holiday vacation to heart and it took reading some of the latest gadgetry news from CES to get me back in the game.  As you may have noticed from the previous posting, the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show took place [...]]]>

I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates as I’m afraid I took the holiday vacation to heart and it took reading some of the latest gadgetry news from CES to get me back in the game.  As you may have noticed from the previous posting, the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show took place from January 7th to the 10th.

There appears to have been some interesting stuff at CES this year, including the Pocket Radar (which is a lot like it sounds) and the Eye-Fi, a wireless SD card for use with digital cameras.  On the environmentally conscious front were two prominent products: the Picowatt and the Airnergy.

• The Picowatt won its manufacturer, Tenrehte Technologies, an award for “Best of CES” this year.  Tenrehte was founded in 2009 and specializes in Wi-Fi enabled platforms.  The Picowatt is a Wi-Fi enabled Smart Plug that allows home owners to monitor and manage the electricity use of devices connected to the plug.  The device information is accessible via webpage or a Facebook app which will display current and historical electrical usage, as well as allow the user to control power to the device.  The Picowatt is stated to be available to consumers in April for $79.  Your can read our previous post on SmartGrids for more information about Smart energy management.
• The Airnergy is the latest effort in the arena of “free energy” battery rechargers, such as kinetic chargers and solar powered chargers.  In this case, the Airnergy draws its power from Wi-Fi signals and charges devices through a USB port.  This product raises some interesting questions in terms of how much and how quickly the  Airnergy can build up charge from Wi-Fi signals since the amount will vary based on proximity to the wireless source, and how is this going to impact the free Wi-Fi offered by eateries and tea houses?   The product is made by RCA and is expected to be available this year for $40.

That’s just a little news from the 2010 CES.  Coming up next month is the Greener Gadgets Conference on February 25th!

Happy Holidays everyone. Hopefully you’ve gotten your shopping out of the way, and if not then you have my condolences. Now, on to some news. It looks like there are going to be two green events coming up in the next few months.

The first is the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show [...]]]>

Happy Holidays everyone. Hopefully you’ve gotten your shopping out of the way, and if not then you have my condolences. Now, on to some news. It looks like there are going to be two green events coming up in the next few months.

The first is the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) being held in Las Vegas from January 7th to the 10th. There are two aspects of the CES that make it of interest here:

1. Organizers have been attempting to make the show more environmentally friendly through use of recycled materials such as carpeting and paper products. They’re offering food containers and utensils made of bio-degradable materials, and they’re recycling a large percentage of the trash generated by the event. It is a pretty impressive list of actions that you can read about here at CES Greening.
2. Sustainable Planet Spotlight: This will be a feature of more than thirty exhibitors in the area of green technology. Organizers say it will be the largest showing of this type that they have ever had at CES. There will be displays, presentations, and product demos which you can read more about here. Sadly, I’m not going, so I’ll have to wait until after the event to see what innovations get revealed.

The other event of interest is the Greener Gadgets Conference being held in New York City on February 25th. While being smaller than CES, it still promises to be interesting with panels on Green Living and guest speakers such as Jeff Omelchuck from the Green Electronics Council. One of the highlights of the event will be the Green Gadgets Design competition which will be accepting entries until December 31st, 2009. Last year’s winners can be seen here. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve made fun of some of these items before, such as the Standby Monster, but its still interesting to see people attempt to tackle the issues of how to make greener living easier.

One interesting fact is that both events are being produced by the Consumer Electronics Association who, in an attempt to encourage re-use, have offered a discount shipping rate for any booths that happen to be exhibiting at both events.

So let’s keep our eyes out for some green innovation in 2010!