I never put my laptop on my lap. It really functions as a desktop computer, or rather a coffee table-top computer, and the only physical harm it brings me is a sore back, which is more my fault than its. (I tend to slam away at the thing while hunched over said coffee table.) So the following problem isn’t an issue for me, though it apparently deserves mentioning. At least according to a friend, who often uses her laptop in the manner for which it was named. Just a moment ago, after hearing me read the lead of this AP article, she cries out, “Oh my God, yeah! I’m way scared of that!”

“That” is the dreaded Toasted Skin Syndrome.

Toasted Skin Syndrome is a mottled skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure. It kind of looks like a red cobweb beneath the surface of the skin (fair warning: that link is to The Dermatology Blog and is, by definition, not something you want to look at if you and I have anything in common) and is also less well-known by its other name – Erythema ab igne. (As if Toasted Skin Syndrome needed an even stranger name.)

Evidently, anything hot and prolonged can cause the condition, from overuse of heating pads to sitting too long and too often by the fireplace to, yes, dumbly getting too much touch time with your 125-degreeish laptop. There has been some links to skin cancer, but that’s rare, and this unflattering toasting is pretty much harmless. The skin discoloration can be permanent, though, so unless you’re into spidery body art, you might want to make sure to get some chill time in between laptop sessions.

The article notes two recent cases of the syndrome. One involved a 12-year-old boy who toasted his left thigh after over-enjoying computer games for hours a day for many a month. The other involved a law-school student who spent about six hours a day working with her laptop on her laptop. All told, there have been 10 reported cases in medical journals in the last six years.

Had these folks read their users manuals, they might have avoided the syndrome, as it seems Apple, Hewlett Packard and Dell all have verbiage warning about exposing their laptops directly to skin for long periods. I wonder if they also warn dudes about “elevated scrotum temperatures,” which can lead to infertility. Hmm.

Anyway, my friend here says she’s taken to putting an oversized pillow in between her and her beloved Macbook (“MacBook Pro, bitch,” I’ve just been informed). I’m not sure what that means for her have-laptop-will-travel approach, but it sounds comfy enough. Sure beats a bizarro new tattoo.

Image: Daquella manera

The post Laptop Toast: Feel the Burn appeared first on EcoSalon.

Naturally, I came across two articles in the New York Times discussing the effects of computers, technology and PDA’s on our lives, just as I was preparing to head out on a solitary 3-week artist retreat in Colorado. The need to get away from the whirlwind of daily life in order to find time and space for reflection was not a new concept for me.

The articles focused specifically on the brain, and its need to recharge (ironic digi-analogy, yes). The first, “Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain” follows neuroscientists on a journey off the grid to study the affects of digital devices on our brains. The second, “Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime,” takes a look at people’s extreme multitasking using technology while exercising, and references personal accounts of gym users who simultaneously watch TV and surf the Internet, while jogging or aerobicizing on a workout machine.

Personally, I’ve never much liked gyms or treadmills, and instead have always preferred to run outside. Even then I find myself bringing along my iPhone so that I can listen to music along the way. (Oh, and then I won’t miss any calls or texts that way, did I mention that?)

It occurred to me that this is one reason why I’ve always loved gardening. It’s an opportunity to step outside, get outdoors and commune with plants and living energy while taking a break from the technology lurking indoors. A moment of quiet meditation, watering, weeding or simply inspecting one’s plants’ progress gives the brain a chance to take a break.

So, head out to the garden and take a moment. Let your thoughts wander, feel wonder at the amazing changes in natural life, and allow your mind to rest.

Image: quinn.anya

The post Take a Brain Break appeared first on EcoSalon.

With the arrival of netbooks and the iPad, computers are getting smaller and smaller – but compared to what we’ll be sporting five years from now, they’re still downright clunky. The computer of the future isn’t just teeny tiny – it’s a wearable fashion accessory that gets its power from our daily movements.

The HOLO 2.0, dreamed up by a group of designers as the next-generation computer in the year 2015, looks sort of like a sporty bracelet but performs all of the same functions as your laptop.

Its battery is charged by the kinetic movements of your hand, and it includes an interactive holographic display that projects photos, chat, web browsers and other computer functions. Need a bigger display? No problem, say the HOLO 2.0 designers – you can simply hook it up to the included desktop docking station.

It’s streamlined, sexy and green – what’s not to love? Well, there is one catch: a lot of the technology included in this concept is still entirely theoretical. As of right now, there’s no mobile device that can project 3D holographic displays into thin air. Still, it’s intriguing enough to make us cross our fingers that it all works out and preemptively ask, “Where can we get one?”

Images: tuvie

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If you’ve ever wondered just what kind of carbon footprint you’re putting down as you go about your everyday business, here’s a free gadget that can help you figure it out. ECOBOT is a tiny Adobe Air application that installs on your computer (Windows, Mac, and Linux), and analyzes the amount of power, fuel, and paper – yes, paper – you use daily. Once you’re in the know, you’ll be able to figure out where you need to cut back.

This tiny app can’t be beat when it comes to tracking fuel consumption. If you install it on a laptop and input information on the various wireless networks you use regularly (home, work, coffee shop), ECOBOT will automatically calculate the distance when you switch from one network to another. The app prompts you to enter the method of travel and adds that distance to your trip history so it can report back on how much fuel you’re using. Suddenly, that weekly drive across town to that little bistro with WiFi might not look so appealing. If you don’t have a laptop, you can still enter your car travel data manually.

ECOBOT also automatically figures out how much power your computer is using, and spits out data whenever you need it. If you provide additional information about other power sources you use regularly like video games systems, TVs, fans, and vacuum cleaners, you’ll get an even more accurate picture of your power consumption.

Even though we’re trending toward a paperless society, we still use a lot of the paper in our daily lives. ECOBOT automatically keeps an eye on how much your printing from your computer, and tracks other paper products if you like. Just log in all the newspapers, magazines and other paper-based products you buy for a clearer picture of just how much of the stuff you’re using.

ECOBOT won’t make suggestions on where or how to cut back on fuel, power, or paper consumption, but it does go a long way toward helping you gauge what effect your attempts to keep their usage under control are having. Sometimes “going green” feels like a moving target – it’s hard to monitor the effects of small changes. ECOBOT is a neat way to see how our choices make a difference.

The post Decrease Your Carbon Footprint with the ECOBOT App appeared first on EcoSalon.

Free speech is one thing: Inflamed free speech aimed at unleashing rage on blogs is often disturbing and disruptive and contributes to a much harsher environment on the web.

Anger management experts liken keyboard rage to road rage. The irresistible urge to vent instantly and anonymously empowers those in our society who feel the most powerless. The screen is the enemy, the keyboard the weapon for launching attacks free of eye-to-eye confrontation or personal consequences.

This maliciousness is what prompted the Washington Post blog to turn off reader comments, explaining the comment area had decayed into a bottomless pit of vicious name-calling attacks on anyone from Post reporters to public figures or other contributors.

“In short, online reader comments have become home for the kind of claptrap that those same media wouldn’t dare print in their op/ed sections,” says communications consultant Steven Silvers, who ads that most local newspaper sites have not followed the Post’s lead.  “It’s because comments are a cheap way to make money,” he figures. “Lots of comments generate lots of space for online ads without paying reporters.”

Instead, sites are urging readers to stick to appropriate comments and to use their real names when registering to identify themselves with others and lend credibility to their contributions. It is believed site visitors are more likely to trust insights shared from “real” people – and your contributions could also boost your profile since they can be traced by search engines.

That said, many are divided on whether or not requiring real user names for visitors to sites would tame comments or simply make us more vulnerable to being exposed via Google by schools and employers who might not like what we spewed about climate change, cosmetic poisons or drug-fed cattle. While the green blogitat isn’t the only turf witnessing trolling, it appears to lure more than its share of alarmist soothsayers and obstreperous disbelievers.

Ending Web Anonymity

Rather than hiding behind protective pseudonyms like Kazooguy, Dogtown and Doctorpsycho1960, those who comment would have to come out of the laptop closet and reveal themselves as John Jones, Mary Worth and Alan Stein.

According to Sue on the Web, an alternative site that has written about the hardships of keyboard rage, ranters are “hiding behind the pixels on the screen and safe in a viral world where no one knows their names.” The founder also observes the rage is no longer limited to the comment section reserved for readers.

“I’ve lost count of the amount of complaints I’ve received over the years from members who have been sent inappropriate and insulting personal messages because someone did not agree with a comment he or she posted on the forum,” she says. “On occasion, even after polite warnings to stop, I have resorted to banning such members from our community.”

Reasons to Use Real Names

While appreciating the voices of those out of the mainstream, some readers and writers would rather go the route of the daily newspaper where letters to the editor are voiced with reason and using authentic names. Forcing individuals to stand behind their real handles doesn’t interfere with free speech, but could make great strides in keeping websites from deteriorating into hostile underground infernos for venting frustration. It has emerged a fun social media sport for many who can strike hard and then distance themselves from what they say.

That fun isn’t restricted to the average troll up all day using the WiFi at the nearby coffee house. Corporate plants engaging in digital marketing are usually the first in line to comment on controversial content, using deceitful public relations tactics to defend an industry’s turf. Typically, the approach is to come off as an everyday Joe user and challenge the methods of reporting (i.e. lazy, shoddy, not well researched, biased) or to provide links to glowing marketing pieces written about the same subject.

Reasons to Maintain Pseudonyms

The idea of being exposed via Google can cause problems for readers who would rather an employer not know how they really feel about petroleum exports, water shortages or the misguided politics in the Middle East. It also could chill the heated debate now raging on the web following controversial content – and on occasion – interesting ideas are voiced by enraged readers.

“It’s all a sideshow,” shares one avid follower of independent news sites, who says he occasionally uses his real name but feels it should be people’s option to use their names or not. “If someone uses the name Dieselsnowman it tells you something about him. I try to ignore the freaks, and I find other commentators often dog pile on them anyway.”

Reporters seem to be learning to ignore it, as well, after years of scathing criticism. Steven Silvers finds some reporters have stopped looking at feedback to their stories, no longer interested in what their most vocal readers are saying. “I see that there are a hundred comments posted to a story and won’t even look,” one reporter told him. “I know what kind of stuff is in there and it is just disgusting.”

Coping with the Crazed Elements

It really is up to web editors to discourage inappropriate comments and to resist forcing blog writers into the position of defending their opinions or reporting, as with any credible media outlet. Meanwhile, banning repeat offenders from sites is a good tactic until a time when the process might change. Some of the more incensed contributors should be urged to take time out before reacting – the usual method recommended in anger management therapy. Read that blog, then walk away, count to 10, take a few breaths, and relax before reacting. Most people will find staying contained when making that important comment will greatly contribute to the legitimacy of their words.

Image: CarbonNYC

The post When Trolls Attack: Would Requiring Real Usernames Improve Discussions Online? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Phantom energy sucks. Even when turned off, plugged-in electric devices are draining the juice in your house, a phenomenon that can add up to more than 65 billion kilowatt-hours of power each year. Save energy, and you save major cash.

The Union of Concerned Scientists calls the culprits of this waste vampires which silently suck away more than $5.8 billion annually of extra energy, which sends more than 87 billion pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. Although few of us are in the dark about this waste, we do little or nothing to limit the stand-by mode of our glowing devices, mostly because we are too tired, or too busy, too lazy. Also, some cable boxes lose all their data when unplugged and microwave ovens are installed in 50s fashion – inserted in a wall shelf with no access to the cord.

Unplugging when possible is the easiest weapon to combat these vampires and the little things make a big difference. A huge time saver also is to plug your electronics into a power strip or surge suppressor that can be shut off with a single switch.

First, you should identify the nocturnal monsters. They’re not as hot as the Cullins family but are powerful nonetheless. Here are the top 10:

1. Adapters with rechargeable battery-powered cordless phones

We have these in several rooms and I’m sure you do, too. You don’t want the phones to go dead, but you also need to curb that extra $100 to $200 you are spending each year on those phantoms.

2. Cell phones and chargers

How many times do you leave the charger plugged into the outlet and hanging on the counter or your desk? Just start to notice this and pull the plug.

3. Televisions

If you’re able to get behind your TV unplug it after viewing. If not, connect it to a power strip. You’ll deserve an Emmy for effort.

4. Power Tools

Cordless drills and circular saws? Home Renovations suggests you go this route, and if you don’t, we suggest you keep your tools unplugged.

5. Microwaves

You should see the dinosaur in the teacher’s lounge at my kids’ school! Scary, and it never gets unplugged, unless I go in there and do the job. It’s so easy to unplug when these appliances are freestanding and not inserted into cabinets. Experts say the clocks use more power than the ovens themselves.

6. DVD players

These should be on the same power strip as the TV to avoid draining the grid.

7. Digital Clocks

It can be alarming to think these essential time tellers suck energy when standing by all day while you are away. CBS News tells us a good guide is to unplug anything with a digital clock. If you don’t mind the flashing clocks, put them on a surge protector and shut them off, and only turn them on when you’re using the appliance. The memory chips are on, even when we’re not using the appliance.

8. Computers

Is that lap top hooked up when you go to sleep? Is the docking station still active when you are getting your Zzz’s? Try powering down at night to have sweeter dreams.

9. Computer Monitors

We forget to unplug these, as well, wanting them fired up and ready to go when we are ready to work.

10. Digital camera chargers

Just like our cell phones, we get in the habit of recharging and forgetting. Learning new habits is challenging the results make for a much brighter energy picture.

Image: j/f/photos, alanclarkdesign, pasukaru76, UweHermann, mattbuck4950, William Hook, kanonn, samantha celera, Let Ideas Compete, g_kat26 and Andrew*.

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Perhaps it’s the fact the yard is covered with green grass, which is a water no-no in my world, yet a feature imposed by our homeowner association regulations. How we’d love to replace it with artichokes and succulents.

Maybe it’s because my garage is in the back of the house and leads to the backdoor entrance. That sure makes it convenient for unloading backpacks and groceries.

I suppose both of these excuses keep me from perching on the brick steps out front, except once in a blue moon, like on the magical night of Halloween, when hundreds of candy-crazed strangers travel to our “safe” suburban neighborhood to trick-or-treat up and down the tree-lined streets.

Yes, my front yard has practically become a stranger to me, nearly a decade after the baby-rearing years when my girls ran wild with the Bernsteins, the Murphys and the Ritters, the sidewalks their playgrounds for colorful chalk graffiti and clunky, three-wheel vehicles.

It’s kind of eerie how people don’t venture out front anymore.

The children in those other families have gone off to college. They’re the same children that showed up at my front door when my first daughter was born, asking “Can we see the baby, Mrs. Bradley?” Before going away, they had graduated from a variety of private schools in the city. When I was growing up, every kid on my block went to the same public school.

Our pediatrician, who lives in the hood, came over when both daughters were born and delivered hand-knit sweaters she had made for them in her spare time. We no longer go to her house for annual neighborhood Christmas parties. We just see her face when the girls contract a bug, break an arm or crush a finger in a door.

Sure, once in a while, I park at the curb or a soccer mom picks the girls up out front, and I wave to Mrs. Bernstein across the street. But on most days, I shuttle them through the back.

Once inside the back door, my daughters quickly become shut-ins, burdened with hours of homework, entertained after with hours of FarmVille or shows like NCIS. When I was growing up, everyone ran out front after homework, playing ball in the street, climbing trees and doing cartwheels or just shooting the breeze on the curb.

What has changed for me and my family?

Is it having personal computers that lure us into a false sense of “community connection” that actually keeps us from having a real one in our very own neighborhoods? Is it the security issue which gives parents a false sense of panic over children being abducted on their lawns by a stranger? Calming that hysteria is the subject of the eye-opening book, Free Range Kids.

I know it’s not just a city thing because last Friday night, on our way to a friend’s home for dinner, we drove down a thoroughly urban street where parents with toddlers were hanging out on their stoop, the children playing and the dad pouring his wife a glass of red wine.

I felt envious. Here I live in one of the most coveted neighborhoods of San Francisco, and I’m lacking all that I truly desire on a Friday evening: the family outside taking in the sunset, sipping organic wine, moving to the rhythm of a glider, and waving hello to other families doing the same. I guess you could say I need to move to the country. But, then again, think of that couple on their stoop on Divisadero Street.

The concept of the country can and should always be in our minds. It is that concept that keeps neighbor connected with neighbor, every night, not just that one October night when we venture out to the stoop.

This is the latest entry in Luanne Bradley’s column, Life in the Green Lane.

Images: tomask, Luanne Bradley

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Read all about it! Entertainment Weekly has published the first video advert with built-in speakers to get the attention of readers conditioned to respond to screens.

A report by the BBC explains the screen is built into a wafer-thin, cardboard insert and contains an ad for Pepsi Max, as well as trailers for CBS television.

“This is an extraordinary way to refresh how we interact with consumers,” said Pepsi-Cola’s chief marketing officer, Frank Cooper.

Desperate ploy, marketing breakthrough or annoyance? The chip technology, which holds up to 40 minutes of video, is likened to those singing greeting cards which have gained popularity. They are activated when you open the card.

The cardboard can add bulk to the magazines, and some male consumer have already complained it makes it hard to roll up a journal and stick it in your pocket.

BBC News‘ Los Angeles correspondent, Rajesh Mirchandani, says the magazine advert is mounted inside a cardboard insert and is instantly distinguishable from a normal flimsy page.

“You can’t really flick through the magazine, because the 4-page insert that includes the video screen is relatively bulky,” he reports.

“And when you do open up the relevant page, the actual advert takes several seconds to load and play and that’s a lifetime’s lag in the advertiser’s world,” he added.

Magazine containing the screens have been sent to several thousand subscribers in Los Angeles and New York. Will they catch on by other magazines to save the trade? We shall see.

Some other facts about the adverts:

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If you were to update the list of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, the internet would almost certainly make the cut. With the exception of antibiotics I can think of very few other 20th century inventions that have changed society and people’s lives for good quite so profoundly.

Yet our digital addiction is also taking its toll on the environment. Coming up with hard numbers on a global scale is quite a challenge but that doesn’t stop people trying. A few days ago a UK Sunday Times article reported a surprising calculation that searching on Google – one of the most powerful web tools ever – uses far more energy than the rest of the web. Based on some publicly available information and a bit of guesswork, the article claims that it emits 7g of carbon per Google search – half the amount of energy needed to boil your kettle for a cup of tea. With more than 200 million web searches daily across the world, that’s a lot of tea. Apparently that compares with just 0.02g of carbon per second of browsing an ordinary website.

When I saw the article I was intrigued but cautious – the numbers are estimates and cannot be verified since Google is notoriously secretive and won’t even reveal the location of its servers. Also, I knew that it probably doesn’t adjust for a lot of variables such as the fact that Google is thought to buy a lot of machines and run them slowly (they do this for a techie reason but it’s also greener as it makes them chew up less power than would otherwise occur). Since then the story has been partially debunked – Google itself has rubbished the claim and the physicist quoted in the story says he said nothing of the sort and anyway he drinks coffee, not tea.

So phew, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and dismiss it as little more than an alarmist storm in a tea (or coffee) cup?

Perhaps not. There is a case for taking this opportunity to think about the carbon footprint of our computer habits. What we do know is that since 2007 the information technology and communications industry has emitted more greenhouse gas than aviation globally – and this figure is growing.

Computers and the internet are green when it’s replacing an offline activity that would also consume energy – such as printing a newspaper or magazine or driving to the shops. However, when it’s additional activity it’s a different story. Increasingly, we get our entertainment online or we might look up an online dictionary or encyclopaedia rather than use the one already on the shelf.

People often assume that reading things online is greener than reading something printed on dead trees. The reality is that it depends on how long you read something for because of the energy consumption. If you read the newspaper for less than 30 minutes a day, it’s greener to read it online, but beyond that it’s greener to read it in print, according to Swedish researchers. Reading it on an e-reader such as Amazon’s Kindle is greener still – but that’s purely in energy consumption and doesn’t look at the entire life cycle of the gadget.

I’m not saying that we should turn our backs on such a wonderful and useful tool as the internet – EcoSalon is a website, after all! But perhaps cutting back on our dependence is not such a bad idea – and don’t forget to turn your computer off (or set it to ‘sleep’ or ‘hibernate’ mode) if you’re leaving it for any length of time too.

Image: blupic

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