CES – Apple: Greenpeace Ranks Apple Highest Among Tech Companies: Whaaaaa?

Given their long and storied feud, you would think Captain Ahab would have a better chance than Apple of being accepted by Greenpeace. Believe it or not, the impossible has actually happened.

Indeed, Greenpeace has ranked Apple highest on the list of eco-conscious tech companies. In fact, they got a perfect score thanks to their commitment to eliminate all toxic PVC and BFRs from their product line. Has Apple finally got the Greenpeace endangered species-protected monkey off its back?

January 7, 2010

Greenpeace's Electronics Guide cuts through the greenwash at CES

Apple, Sony Ericsson and Nokia products free of worst hazardous substances – Samsung, Dell, Lenovo and LGE disappoint

LAS VEGAS - As technology companies jostle for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) , Greenpeace's newest edition of the Guide to Greener Electronics, released at CES, cuts through the greenwash. Apple, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia lead the way for introducing products free of the worst hazardous substances with HP following just behind.

Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, and LGE pick up penalty points in the Guide (1) for failing to follow through on a promised phase-out of toxic chemicals in their products. The majority of the companies in the Guide had pledged to remove toxic PVC vinyl plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) (2) from their product range by the end of 2009, which would have meant a greater show of greener, toxic-free products for visitors to preview at the CES. But, for now, it's a no show for these companies, who have delayed their phase-out to 2011 or beyond.

"It's time for a little less conversation and a lot more action on removing toxic chemicals," said Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International Electronics campaigner. "Apple is leading and HP is playing catch up, but the lack of action from other companies is ensuring that customers and the environment are still losing out."

Several companies see their scores reduced in this edition of the Guide, with the bar being raised on hazardous substances. Having endorsed the precautionary principle, companies now need to actively support bans on PVC, BFRs and chlorinated flame retardants (CFRs) during the revision of the European Union‘s Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electronics Directive.

"Companies need to support legislative bans to ensure a consistent phase out of PVC and BFRs across all electronic products," said Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner. "Sony Ericsson and Apple are already calling on EU institutions to support such a ban. Other big players, such as HP and Dell – who have so far been silent - and Acer, need to ensure the ban is passed in the European Union parliament."

Nokia leads the ranking with a score of 7.3. Sony Ericsson follows closely, and is the only company to score full marks on all the toxic chemicals criteria. In third place is Toshiba, but it risks losing points if it fails to meet its commitment to market new models of all its consumer electronics products that are free of PVC and BFRs by April 1, 2010. Philips comes in fourth place, while Apple rises from ninth place to fifth.

Samsung drops dramatically from second place to a tied seventh place for failing to eliminate BFRs in all its products by January 2010. With only its latest models of mobile phones free of toxic substances, it has set January 2011 as the deadline for eliminating them from new models of its notebooks and still has no definitive timeline for removing them from its TVs and household appliances. Nintendo continues to languish at the bottom of the ranking.

"In 2010, we should see significant developments, with products free of PVC and BFRs in the PC and TV markets," continued Harrell. "Any company failing to achieve this goal is taking a big gamble with its green reputation. More positively, it's good to see non-ranked companies beyond the PC and TV sectors, like Cisco (3), committing to eliminate these harmful substances."

[Greenpeace]

CES – PALM!: Palm Pre Plus (Verizon) First Hands-On: Super-Fast, Button Removal Is No Problem

Jon Rubinstein dropped the news only minutes ago that the new Palm devices—the slightly-upgraded Pre Plus and Pixi Plus—would be arriving on Verizon later this month.

I got some hands-on time with them, and while the Pre Plus has had the navigational button removed, little else has been touched aesthetically. The inductive TouchStone back comes as standard now—but looks just like it always did. Still feels rubbery, which I like. Makes you feel like you're holding a proper gadget. The removal of the button isn't big news, I don't think it'll hamper use of the Pre, with the touch input being reliable most of the time anyway.

Otherwise, everything else is exactly the same. The keyboard is actually improved and a lot less mushy—instead it feels solid when you press down and comes back up quickly. The bottom edge of the slide-out QWERTY can still cut cheese, it's still that sharp. Shame they didn't improve upon that aspect. Or make it even SHARPER to do the "Plus" name justice. I want to cut a steak.

It's speedier, thanks to the double RAM that's been added, and noticeably easier flipping between apps and programs. The screen is responsive, but no more responsive than it was before. All in all, it's the same Pre experience you've had before, just faster. Oh, and guess you'll have to fork out for a TouchStone now.

CES – The Future: Haier's Completely Wireless TV Hands On: No Cables For Video... or Power

Wireless power has gone from lab prototype to working product in a little over 18 months, and Haier stuck MIT's WiTricity into a TV along with WHDI wireless video for complete wirelessness. Complete. Wireless. Ness.

Sure, there's a big power unit on the wall, radiating (totally harmless) RF into the back of the TV, which has a coil inside to receive the juice. It only delivers full strength if it's parallel, so you have to plan ahead and somehow setup the TV in front of the wall that has the power module. Because of all the hocus pocus, the TV itself is a chunkster, and that power transmitter is no slim jim either.

Still, the idea is a good one, and the promise—as both MIT and Intel work their asses off getting wireless power up to snuff—is real.

WHDI is a lot further along in development. Wireless HDMI isn't exactly household, but the tech is now supported by basically all of the biggest CE companies except Panasonic. I'm not going to buy this Haier TV—it might not even be for sale this year—but it's a concrete sign of what's to come.

CES – Defiantly Useful!: MyFord dash and Sync App Ecosystem hands-on

You've read the PR, seen the press shots, and probably snickered a little at the quote from Ford's Derrick Kuzak indicating that his company's latest tech "will cause people to fall in love with their vehicles again." After getting a chance to play with a few entrants into the company's so-called Sync App Ecosystem, and getting behind the wheel of a MyFord-equipped mockup vehicle, we're not laughing -- but we are smiling. It's impressive tech, so read on through to see some videos and check our impressions.

First up was a walk through of what Ford is calling its App Ecosystem. The company is exposing software libraries that will, in theory, allow any device Bluetooth to communicate with the vehicle. That means Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Palm, and whatever else you want are in the game. Applications will be able to write to the Sync display, have the car read text to speech, receive voice commands, and receive some data from the car. Exactly what data remains to be seen, but full ODBII will not be available -- at least not initially. Dreams of a boost gauge widget on your Droid remain unfulfilled.

Existing apps can be easily to add Sync support, and on display was Pandora, Stitcher, and Open Beak (a Twitter client). Pandora quickly connected to the car, displaying the current artist and track and allowing the driver to select new stations simply by speaking. You can even give a thumbs up or a thumbs down just by moving a thumb to press the Sync button. While in action the phone's screen is disabled, preventing distractions, a definite theme of the Ford team.

The current apps on display were impressive, but of course they're just the tip of the iceberg. That any app can be easily updated to support Sync is great news, and that you won't need separate copies of those apps for Sync is even better -- eventually you'll get prompted to download a Pandora update and then, hey presto, infinite channels in your car.

That's cool and the potential is, of course, huge, but that wasn't the only impressive thing on display. MyFord's dashboard of the future dominated the other half of the room, with a mockup Edge cockpit showing off the trio of displays, the primary one being an eight-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen through which nearly every control in the car can be tweaked, including climate control and navigation, and also some other funky stuff, like media playback and even a web browser.

Yes, a car with an integrated web browser. No, it won't let you use it while you're driving. Connectivity is provided by an external 3G or 4G modem, which must be plugged into one of two USB ports tucked beneath the arm rest. Once connected the car serves as a WiFi hotspot, so folks in the backseat can mack on your data plan while you schlep them around town. There's also an SD card reader in there and RCA inputs in to pump video to that eight-inch display -- again, only while it's stopped.

Control is either by touching that main screen or using four-way directional pads on the right and left spokes of the steering wheel, one for each of the two displays up inside the instrument cluster. As you cycle through the backgrounds of the screens change color, a very helpful cue telling you what you're looking at and something that we think, with practice, will mean you'll be able to tweak most settings without ever taking your eyes off the road. It's worth noting that there are few if any actual buttons in the car, most things handled through the MyDash system or via a set of touch-sensitive "buttons" scattered about. Fans of tactile feedback won't be happy here, but it's actually far more intuitive and easy to use with only a glance than we'd thought.

The apps coming to Sync open up a world of possibilities, and MyFord is looking fantastic. Even more intriguing is that this is just the beginning; the possibilities are endless. Apps that track car location and speed to predict congestion? Apps that tell if a driver makes a panic move and warns those behind? A messaging system that'll let you apologize to that guy in the blue Camry you just cut off? All this and more -- coming soon to a Ford near you.

CES 'That Ain't Right!' – Subsidized Nexus One pricing not available to existing T-Mobile customers

Remember when you ran out to buy a T-Mobile G1 right away when it was launched 14 months ago? Google apparently doesn't -- it's only extending the $179 subsidized price for the Nexus One to new T-Mobile customers, meaning existing customers are being told they have to pay the full sticker of $529 for the Snapdragon device. As you can imagine, that's got quite a few T-Mobile customers pretty angry -- especially since Google's systems aren't even allowing upgrade-eligible T-Mo subscribers to purchase at a discount, and there's no customer service line to call and complain. We're hoping this is just a glitch while Google takes its first steps into direct phone sales, but we'll keep an eye on the situation.

CES – Big News: The HP Slate

Here we go -- press images of the HP Slate just hit the web, right as Ballmer showed it off during his CES keynote. The prototype device is said to be coming later this year, and it's running Windows -- Ballmer showed it running the PC Kindle app. It's also multitouch, and can do some gaming -- they showed it playing Frogger. Check one more pic and the teaser vid after the break. And trust us -- we're going to find out everything about this thing before we're done.