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Save gas and money with your iPhone
There's a great article at Treehugger on saving money with your iPhone. Specifically, they explore four categories: automotive, travel, energy consumption and green shopping.Applications like iGas, which helps you find cheap fueling stations, and GasHog, which measures fuel efficiency, are listed. However, what's interesting to me aren't applications. PrimoSpot lets New Yorkers (Manhattan and Brooklyn only) find available parking spots, even identifying parking meters that are about to expire. That's pretty cool, and should save you some driving around.SmartLinc lets you monitor your home's energy consumption and even remotely control lighting, heating and AC use, all from your iPhone. It's $1,400US to get set up, but definitely a useful service. Many people still yearn for an Apple tablet. The iPhone is that tablet. Once you start to think of it as a computer with great telephone software, you'll begin to see that's exactly what it is.
Samsung launches free Recycling Direct program for consumers
Hopefully by now you know that the gadget in your pocket or notebook on your lap is full of toxic ooze seeping into your fingers with every tap. This has retailers and manufacturers scrambling to help you recycle those wares, the latest being Samsung with its new Recycling Direct plan. It expands on the company's trio of limited recycling programs that cover only mobile phones, toner, and office equipment. The new program will accept any obsolete or broken product free of charge -- assuming it has a "Samsung" label somewhere on it. (You can recycle other stuff too for a fee.) Partnerships are currently being negotiated with "respected" facilities in all 50 states, meaning you'll be able can lay your old celly or washing machine to rest in person starting next month.[Via Crave]
Dell expands recycling program, no purchase required
PC manufacturers and governments alike are catching on to the fact that the average, well-meaning consumption sloth would love to recycle their gear, as long as it's free and someone else does the work. Dell, Apple and others offer programs which allow free recycling of product with the purchase of new, presumably, replacement gear. Now Dell has one-upped the industry by allowing Dell owners to arrange for free-pickup of any Dell-branded product, anytime -- no purchase required. After Dell customers enter their asset tag(s) on Dell's recycling website, they simply print out the pre-paid air bill and follow the instructions to pack and schedule the collection of their equipment. Yeah, ok, there's still effort involved and there's always the risk of your Ditty ending up in the digital dump, but until toll-booth operators or other robotic life forms can be dispatched, it's about as close to effortless as your gonna get.[Via CNET]
