Conferences shouldn’t cost the Earth
Given the worsening ecological situation, can showering conference attendees with gifts still be seen as an act of thoughtfulness?
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Tagged ‘sustainability’ (15 posts)
Lanyards. What are they good for?
Lanyards – the piece of fabric that allows you to hang a conference badge from your neck – have a lifespan of just a few hours. How can we change that?
Built to not last
Khoi Vinh:
Several times a year, Apple rolls out hardware products that are, in terms of pure design smarts and innovation, leagues beyond what their competitors are capable of. Their machines are more beautiful, better built and, admittedly, longer-lasting than just about any other high tech hardware out there. But if the durability of, say, a Dell laptop is two or three years, and if Apple’s hardware improves on that two or even three times, it’s still not doing that much better than the mean. What would be really impressive is an iPod or iPhone that lasts for decades.
I felt an immediate and desperate yearning for the new MacBook Pro when it was unveiled, as I do after many of Apple’s product announcements. Yet I soon realised that I can wait a little longer before upgrading my current set-up. In fact, I’m finding myself looking at people using older Apple hardware with increasing admiration.
As such, I’m not sure I buy into Khoi’s argument. Apple product can last if treated with care, and those scratches perhaps highlight a problem with our own attitudes, not Apple’s.
Be sure to read the comments and Khoi’s follow up too.
How to use a paper towel
A short yet entertaining TEDx presentation by Joe Smith on how to dry your hands using only a single paper towel.
iWant
I’ve recently felt frustrated and annoyed as once again friends and colleagues open their wallets and buy the latest product unveiled by Steve Jobs.
SXSW: Greener is better
I’ve decided to attend next years SXSW Interactive festival followed by a tour of North America. The details of where I’ll be visiting and for how long remain undecided, but I imagine my itinerary will be varied and involve much travelling by train.
Enough: A counter argument
A few months ago I wrote about not upgrading to the iPhone 4, regardless of the fact I’m eligible for a free upgrade. This turned out to be something of a radical position but I enjoyed the debate that followed.
A greener conference badge for dConstruct
dConstruct has long combined its conference programme with the name badge, a simple yet cost-effective design. This year we hope to go one better.
Four hundred and twenty-nine pounds
As the masses on Twitter congratulate themselves on their latest technology purchase, I feel strangely removed from all the excitement.
Reflecting on Hack The Planet
A follow-up on Hack The Planet, our hack day held in Birmingham last month.
Green my South By
Once again, I feel the duty falls upon me to remind those attending this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, that you really need not pick up that big, heavy, cumbersome and frankly useless bag of marketing junk.
A green focus
I ended my review of 2009 promising to write more about green issues and how I plan to lessen my impact on the environment. Now I expand on those ideas further.
Hack The Planet is tomorrow!
Just a quick reminder that Hack The Planet takes place tomorrow, starting at 10am.
The Multipack Presents: Being Green
After the success of the first ‘Multipack Presents’ event in February, so we return to the plush offices of One Black Bear to learn how the web can help us become eco-friendly citizens.
Nothing green about SXSW
Friday saw the start of this years SXSW interactive, film and music festivals in Austin Texas, and once again they highlight the scourge of swag: the ‘stuff we all get’ that soon becomes the stuff we don’t want.