Mark Ontkush
Latest Stories from Mark Ontkush - Page 7
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'Vista Capable' Machines May Not Be
The environmental impact of Microsoft's Vista operating system will be large; it is projected that over 10 million PCs will be scrapped as a direct result of upgrading to Vista, and the UK Green Party thinks it will create a Vista upgrade layer that will
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Laptops that can Change, from Asus
Laptops are notorious for not supporting basic hardware changes, like installing a new hard drive or replacing a video card. What that means is that the thing usually gets disposed of as a whole. However, Asus has come out with a laptop that can
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Prisoners Smash Computers
Did you know that inmates in the US are being afforded the opportunity to recycle eWaste? The program has been running since 1994, through an arm of the government-run corporation UNICOR which opened its first eWaste 'business' in Florida. Since then,
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Interview: Verdiem, Making Computers Use Less Energy
Wouldn't it be great if your PC took energy consumption into its own hands? By this I mean it would turn itself on and off, shut down the monitor, and go to sleep automatically. Sure, there are a lot of products out that manage power consumption for
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The Computer as Art, Friend
Do you throw beautiful things away? Probably not, because if you are like most you enjoy things that have taken some skill and time to create. Take, for instance, this Russian computer case pictured at top. Now, wouldn't you do as much as possible
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Thin Clients are the New Black...
... on the ledger sheet, that is. Because according to a new report, it turns out that using these "super slimmed down" alternatives to the PC could reduce your cost of ownership by up to 25 percent, as compared to an office equipped with traditional
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Save Your Watts With Emergy-C
Many electronic devices, such as cathode ray tubes, plasma screens, and OLEDs consume more energy when displaying certain colors. These devices use the three primary colors of light - red, green, and blue - and turn them on at varying intensities to
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Circular Reasoning on China's Circular Economy
China is drafting its first law on creating a "circular economy" that provides a legal framework for its national sustainable development strategy. Mao Rubai, chairman of the Environmental and Resources Protection Committee of the National People's
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Wee Laddies Give Green Supercomputing a Go
The Scots have developed pretty neat little gadget, a green supercomputer. Although the phrase may be perhaps an oxymoron, the machine does consume 10 times less energy and is 300 times faster than its traditional equivalents. That seems like the right
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No Light Shed on Electronic Purchases
Consumers wanting to buy energy efficient products are being left in the dark about the greenest models to purchase, according to a new study released recently by the National Consumer Council (NCC).
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Bill Encourages Telecommuting in USA
We all know that there are societal benefits to telecommuting: less pollution, less time wasted in traffic, more flexibility, etc. Some countries, like Japan, have offered tax incentives to employers who institute telework programs for a while now, but
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A Laptop Spills Its Guts
Pretty interesting article from PC World about what goes into making a laptop. One thing that is striking is the number of substances (at least 20), and number of countries (over 10) involved in the process. Laptops are truly a global
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IT Freebies Could Be Toxic Junk
O'Reilly (the name comes from Tim O'Reilly, not Bill) has come down hard on the doling out of the schwag at tech conferences. Dale Dougerty, the author, freely admits that he only kept the bag, and who can blame him; the stuff within is mostly junk.
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Virtualization - The Foedus Interview
You probably know that most companies use computers to provide a variety of business-centric services that are critical to their success. These machines are known as 'servers'. Each server usually performs a single, specific duty; there's the email
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The Message and the Medium
There's a witty yarn in transportation engineering concerning traffic jams. When asked to how to reduce congestion and commuting times, the sagely planner responds "stop moving things around so much". It's good advice, especially when it comes to
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Should You Stop Showing Up For Work?
You don't hear a lot about telecommuting these days - I can't decide if it went mainstream it's a forgotten fad. There's no doubt it saves oodles of resources. As a fellow who has tried it for long periods of time, I can respond to two of the biggest
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Things a Little Birdie Told Me About IT
Percentage of senior IT professionals that are concerned about the negative impacts that their company is having on the environment, according to a recent study: 98 Price per ton of scrap whole computers, full truckload, in the global spot market, in US
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The Rise of the CGO
"Career Is Over", a tonguecheek acronym for Chief Information Officer (CIO), appears to be making a comeback as organizations get savvy about IT strategy and consolidate their cash blow. Nick Carr, a prominent proponent of utility computing, thinks
