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Apple sues recycler for allegedly reselling 100,000 iPhones, iPads and Watches
Apple has filed a lawsuit against its former contractor GEEP Canada for allegedly reselling over 100,000 iPhones, iPads and Watches that were supposed to be disassembled and recycled.
Microsoft details its plan to become ‘water positive’ by 2030
Microsoft plans to replenish more water than it uses by 2030.
Rocket Lab proves it can recover a rocket in mid-air
Last year, Rocket Lab announced that it would attempt to reuse the first stage of its Electron rocket. Rocket Lab pulled off this stunt in early March. One helicopter dropped the Electron test stage over open ocean in New Zealand.
Apple's iPhone trade-in program hits UK retail stores from today
Apple has offered online trade-ins for the last few years, and now it's bringing its in-store version across the pond to the UK. The fruity phone flinger is letting customers wander into one of the company's retail outlets, drop off their elderly hardware and walk out with credit for a replacement. Apple released the following statement, which should sound familiar to anyone who had already read the US version -- after all, all someone did was add the phrase "in the UK" to the text. "iPhones hold great value. So, Apple Retail Stores in the UK are launching a new program to assist customers who wish to bring in their previous-generation iPhone for reuse or recycling. In addition to helping support the environment, customers will be able to receive a credit for their returned phone that they can use toward the purchase of a new iPhone." Update: We're also hearing news that the trade-in program has gone live in a few other European countries this morning. We've contacted Apple and will let you know what the official line is when we hear back.
Apple extends recycling program across the UK
In a move that's sure to please Apple's critics at Greenpeace, Apple has now taken its popular US recycling program across the Atlantic to the UK, where it will be known as the Reuse and Recycling Programme. The project provides a way to take your old Mac, PC, iPod, iPhone or iPad -- working or not -- and send it to a company where it will be properly recycled. What's really nice is that in many cases, your recycling effort results in cash in your pocket. In some cases that amount can be minimal (£7 for an original 8 GB iPhone) or nonexistent, while others can end up with quite the wad of spendolas (£550 for a Mac Pro 3.33 GHz). For our friends in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Great Britain who might want to trade up to a newer model and keep their old unit out of the rubbish tip, head on out to this page on the Apple UK site and see how much your old kit is worth. [Awesome Steptoe and Son image courtesy of Engadget]
Flowfold turns scrap sailcloth and recycled plastic into an attractive iPad 2 sleeve
If you're looking for an eco-friendly case for your iPad 2, you should take a closer look at Flowfold for the iPad. It's an attractive sleeve made of reclaimed sailcloth and recycled plastic bottle felt. This combination of recycled materials produces a sleeve that's weather-resistant on the outside and soft on the inside. It's available in some stylish-looking patterns, too. The Flowfold iPad 2 case is a Kickstarter project from Charles Friedman, who also makes a wallet with the same materials. He came up with the idea for the Flowfold while working as sailmaker in Yarmouth, Maine. He used surplus sailcloth to fix his grandfather's wallet and spent the next five years perfecting the design from his home in coastal Maine. The iPad 2 case joins the wallet in his product lineup and is available online at Kickstarter. The first production run of sleeves will ship on December 14. [Via Inhabitat]
Apple puts PCs on free recycling party list, opens doors to iPads, iPhones
After being forced to pay off the door man to get into Apple's electronics recycling party for years now, PCs are finally getting in for free -- VIP style. Apple has revised its Reuse and Recycling Program and opened the gates to sheep from another shepherd's flock. The new rules are quite a departure from past protocol, which charged PC users 30 bones to recycle non-Apple computers and displays -- unless of course they agreed to purchase a Mac, in which case Apple would kindly do it for free. As part of the restructured program, ripe old iPads and iPhones are now eligible for Apple's exchange program as well, where you'll get a gift card if your device is actually worth anything. The company still recycles old iPods and mobile phones (regardless of manufacturer) for free, and offers 10% off a new iPod if you hand over an old one. With the revised plan it's safe to say the folks at Apple ditched the program's old theme song, "It's Not Easy Being Green," and are instead spinning a new track. Sparkly silver jacket not included.
Amazon adds electronics to trade-in program, pawns 2,550 gadgets and counting
If you've got some spare gadgets and need to make a quick buck gift card, there are any number of ways -- Walmart, Target, Best Buy and even eBay will instantly quote you a dollar figure these days. Now, Amazon is joining their ranks as the latest firm eager to stockpile still-somewhat-valuable tech, by adding electronics as the latest category for trade-ins. Pick from the 2,550 items currently recognized and describe the condition your camera / GPS / calculator is in, and Amazon will let you know how many dollars worth of credit it can give you alongside a prepaid shipping label. We can't tell if Amazon will give you better deals than the competition, but this beautiful brown Zune did fairly well. Never you mind that it typically sells for upwards of $40 at auction -- Amazon has mouths to feed, you know?
The Daily Grind: When have reused graphics bothered you?
Reusing art assets in MMOs isn't done for style but for the continued sanity of the art team. Asking for 50 different variants on a sword design alone is pushing the boundaries of what can be done; asking for 500 different variants will have modeling artists throw their keyboards through a wall. I don't complain about that, but I'm really sad to see that the next latest and greatest armor for Final Fantasy XI's Dragoons is another reskin of the artifact armor, which looks blander and less interesting every time the artists slightly change which parts are purple and which parts are brown. Of course, for the most part we really do accept the slight reskinning and retexturing of game models as a matter of necessity. But there's always a point at which something makes you narrow your eyes in disappointment, one set of armor or another that you wish the art team had put together as an original graphic instead of yet another reuse of an old texture. So when have re-used art assets bothered you? Was it with a certain type of enemy appearing far too often? Armor or weapons that you seemed to be using for eternity? Or just a popular piece of equipment that everyone wanted reskinned ad infinitum? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Recycle old gadgets (and make a buck or two) with eBay Instant Sale
You might already hawk your valuable old gadgets on eBay, but the auction house wants to broker your smaller transactions too -- that's why it launched eBay Instant Sale this last week. If you've got a (moderately recent) gizmo you want to get rid of right away, it looks as easy as can be -- answer the two questions above and get an instant offer, plus a free shipping label to mail it out. From the looks of a few sample queries, you won't get much for older items like the Dell Inspiron 8200 above, but we found a used Palm Pixi in good condition was worth a respectable $57, and even if your old featurephones aren't worth a cent, eBay's partners will recycle them for you and pay your shipping fees. Sure, you could donate the lot and write them off your taxes, but this sounds like it might be a worthy alternative to us.
Tesla, Nissan, and GM working today to find uses for tomorrow's used EV batteries
The single-biggest cost of an electric or hybrid car today? Batteries, of course. A full set of cells is around half the cost of many such vehicles, and that they'll likely need replacing in 10 years means we'll soon have a huge number of formerly very expensive and still very toxic entities lying about. So, many companies that produce cars containing the things are taking this opportunity to hypothesize what to do with them when you're through. They could, of course, be stripped down and recycled, but after a decade they should still offer around half of their capacity, enough to buffer the power generated in a home solar array or wind turbine. In other words: reuse is the name of the game, with SolarCity and Tesla partnering to see if the former can make use of the latter's depleted batteries. GM (creator of the Chevrolet Volt) and Nissan (grower of the Leaf) have recently established similar partnerships with various energy and electrics firms, meaning that today's greenest cars could continue their enviro-friendly ways in the future -- even as their shells rust away in the scrap heap.
Mac 101: Preparing your old Mac for sale or recycling
It happens to all of us eventually (except for the Mac collectors). At some point, we decide that it's time to take that old Mac that we've just replaced and try to get a few bucks out of it. Some of us donate our machines to schools or other worthwhile organizations, and if we have really old equipment, we may just recycle it. In any case, there are some things you'll want to do to prepare the Mac for sale or recycling. Step One: Make sure everything is backed up There's nothing worse than nuking the hard drive on a computer and then realizing that you've just destroyed irreplaceable photos, documents, or recordings. Even if you're using Time Machine to back up your Mac onto an external hard disk drive, I recommend going through your important directories -- Applications, Documents, Downloads, Photos, Music, and Movies -- to make sure that everything has either been migrated to your new Mac or is available from a backup. I'm so paranoid that I usually keep the Time Machine backup and a secondary backup (usually made with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!) for a while, even after I've switched machines. Click the Read More link to learn more about how to get that old Mac ready for sale. Photo by Flickr user sfllaw, licensed under Creative Commons
Cool ways to reuse an old Mac
Most Mac users will be among the first to tell you that they can be a little overprotective about their hardware. Of course, Apple has a great recycling program for older computers. But for some, sending off their old Mac that way would be a little like sending off your old faithful car to cash for clunkers. Sure, there is a benefit, but the idea of what happens to that old reliable friend once it's out of its owners hands inspires shudders. Of course it would be entirely possible to make good use of your old Mac if something predictable, like a media center, or a server for extra storage. Heck, even a reliable little Mac that still works at 10 years old could be put to use as a kid-friendly Internet-free computer for your child's bedroom. Even more fun would be using the ROM disc from an old Apple II to run an emulator for those old classic games that you still love on your shiny modern Mac. And all of these would be good uses, and in the case of the latter a fairly fun one. But, in true Mac geek creative style, some users have put their old Apple computers to even better use -- or at least more creative use.
PowerMac panel reused as Nerf backboard
Cult of Mac comes up with yet another classic re-use of an old Mac: they posted about this PowerMac G5 sidepanel that's been turned into an office space Nerf basketball backboard. The cardboard setup apparently broke down, so they replaced it with this Apple logo-labeled sidepanel from an old PowerMac G5 that had been turned into parts. Beautiful! Of course you should always recycle any old Macs you aren't using any more, and Apple has an official program set up for just that. But I would rather reuse a computer for something like this: simple, functional, and pretty darn ingenious.
Renew your old iPhone with Flipswap
Yesterday, we asked iPhone owners who intend to upgrade just what they'll do with their 1st generation iPhones. Thousands of you answered, with Ebay drawing the top score.Of course, Ebay will be flooded with iPhones soon, so consider alternatives like Flipswap. They offer cash for iPhones (and other model phones) and even pay for shipping. Once they've gotten your phone, they put it back in use.If you're the environmentally consicous type, you'll appreciate this. Phones that cannot be put back into use are disposed of, piece by piece, in "...the greenest methods available today." Also, in lieu of cash, you can trade in your dead phone for a tree as part of their reLeaf Program. Flipswaps estimates they'll plant up to 25,000 trees this year (they take old iPods, too!). It's free, easy and definitely worth the consideration. [Via Lifehacker]
Lil' Nick Neg recycles old PCs for those in need
He may not yet have the resources to build his own PCs and sell them on the cheap, but 15-year old Jacob Komar looks like he could well be a young Nick Neg in the making. As ABC News reports, Komar has already prevented some 1,500 PCs from ending up on the scrap heap since starting his "Computers for Communities" organization in 2001, with him performing all the necessary repairs and finding new homes for them among those in need. Now all he needs is a rivalry with another, bigger company trying to muscle in on his territory, to be followed by the inevitable announcement that the two have made up and will now be working together.[Via The Inquirer, photo courtesy of ABC News]
