Recycle Your Old Cell Phone

This holiday season when you open your gift and find a brand new cell phone for you to tinker around with, don't forget to be green and recycle your old phone.

I found this awesome post that has all kinds of information about recycling your old cell. You can drop it off at certain retail locations such as a few select Target and Radio Shack stores. You can even mail it in. If the cell phone is in good condition you might want to donate to a charity like Call to Protect that refurbishes old cells and gives them to people who have suffered domestic abuse.

So if you need to recycle your old phone, read Bluetooth? iPhone? Don't just ditch the Old Phone.

Happy Birthday to the Internet

The Internet turns 40 years old today. It's all grown up. Who knew?

On October 29th, 1969, "the first two nodes of ARPANET were interconnected between UCLA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and SRI International (SRI) in Menlo Park, California". I suppose the rest is history. Eventually came the now-dead Geocities, broadband, file sharing, social media, pictures of cats and Kanye West memes.

It really is hard to imagine life without the crazy World Wide Web these days. It's just as ordinary as turning the lights on or cranking the heat during the winter. We use the Internet on our phones, personal computers and our video game consoles and expect to be able to do so without a wait or a series of crazy dial-up noises.

I think my first encounter with the Internet was around 1993 or so. My friend was on AOL I believe, and we would log into chat rooms after school and make fun of people. Looking around at message boards these days, I suppose that really not that much has changed. So what about you guys? What was your first encounter with the Internet?

Source- Mashable

New Study Finds More Than One Third of Employees Telework

According to new research from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, nearly two in five employed U.S. online adults work from home at least one day a month. The study, The Telework and the Technologies Enabling Work Outside Corporate Walls, also shows that most teleworkers plan to spend at least $925 over the next year on technology products to help them work from home.

More than 38 million employed U.S. online adults, or 37 percent of the total U.S. workforce, work from home at least once a month. Employees say focusing on tasks without disruptions and running a business from home are the top reasons for teleworking. The top benefits include flexible hours, reduced travel time/costs and fewer disruptions/greater productivity. Ninety-eight percent of teleworkers use computer/IT technology, 90 percent use communication technologies and 75 percent use CE accessories.

The increasing number of teleworkers has benefits for the environment as well. CEA research has shown that a single day of telecommuting saves between 16 and 23-kilowatt hours of electricity or the equivalent of up to 12 hours of an average household's electricity use. One day of telework also eliminates the need for 1.4 gallons of gasoline and reduces CO2 emissions 17 to 23 kilograms. A worker with a one-way commute of 22 miles, commuting five days a week, will also save about 50% of the annual electricity consumption of the average household by working from home one day each week.

For more on the study's finding, check out the CEA press release.

Feds Offer Cyber Security Tips for National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month!

As part of this initiative, the Federal Trade Commission has launched a new site focused on the cybersecurity. OnGuardOnline.gov provides practical tips from the federal government and technology industry to help consumers be on guard against Internet fraud, secure their computers, and protect their personal information.

Topics include computer security, broadband Internet, identity theft, Internet auctions, email scams, and social networking sites. The site also offers a variety of practical tips and tools consumers can use to be safe online, including a glossary of Internet terms, and tutorial videos on topics like spam filtering and wireless security. There is even a game, The Case of the Cyber Criminal, that teaches tips on how to protect privacy online.

For more tips on cybersecurity, also check out StaySafeOnline.org.

It's National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week

For the week of Oct. 18 - 24, the Environmental Protection Agency is observing National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week to focus on the importance of educating parents and children about the dangerous health effects of lead exposure, especially lead paint hazards in housing.

This year's slogan -- "What's on Your Walls?" -- aims to raise awareness that the greatest lead exposures can occur when paint on the walls and trim in a home is disturbed. Lead paint has the potential to affect many generations living in a home as a result of lead dust created from disturbing older paint during renovations and repair activities.

Common renovation activities like sanding, cutting and demolition can create hazardous lead dust and chips by disturbing lead-based paint, which can be harmful to children.

To protect against lead hazards associated with common renovation activities, on April 22, 2008, EPA issued a rule requiring the use of lead-safe practices and other actions aimed at preventing lead poisoning. Under the rule, beginning in April 2010, contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.

To learn more about lead paint safety for your home, check out the EPA's Lead Awareness Program.

AT&T Executives Rappel Down High-Rise

As part of their support of the Xtreme Descent 2009 fundraiser for a local Boy Scout council, AT&T executives rappelled down the tallest building in Manchester, NH this past weekend.More than 80 participants took the 24-story plunge, each donating a minimum of $1000 for the scouts. That works out to about $41 per floor.

Before each participant stepped off of the building, AT&T offered them a choice of three “lifelines”: a phone call, a text message or an e-mail. Company representatives also filmed mobile video of everyone’s descent to share with friends and family.

This is a really cool way to raise money for a worthy cause, and with more than 80 people raising $1000 or more each, it seems to have been a major success.

Cable Industry: Triple Play Good for Consumers!

According to a recent study commissioned by the National Cable & Television Association, cable’s decade-plus investments in modern digital networks, which they say allows consumers to choose among a wide variety of products and bundled services – including digital high-definition video, high-speed data, and digital voice – provides about $35 billion in annual consumer benefits.

"Consumers as a whole have unequivocally benefited from the transformation of the cable industry over the past ten years and its investment and entry into voice and high-speed data markets,” the report states. “The benefits can be attributed to the cable industry’s massive investments in deployment of advanced communications infrastructure, which enables provision of new digital video, data, and voice services.  Consumers have voted with their feet by subscribing to these new services in ever-increasing numbers.” 

The study, prepared by Microeconomic Consulting & Research Associates, Inc. (MiCRA), found that about 60 percent of cable customers subscribe to broadband Internet service, 26 percent subscribe to digital voice service, and the penetration of each service continues to grow steadily.  The triple-play bundle of digital video, broadband, and digital voice service continues to attract a larger share of cable customers, which provides the greatest opportunity for consumer savings. 

The researches used bundled service figures from the top three cable operators, Comcast, Time Warner and Cox. According to those three, 23% chose a triple play of cable, Internet and phone, in 2008, up from around 10% in 2007.

For more information, download the incredibly detailed PDF of the whole survey. Or just find a triple play bundle available in your area. 

Wal-Mart to have Eco-Rating for Products

In a bold move, Wal-Mart has decided to make a Eco-rating system for all the products they carry. Each supplier will now have to answer questions about how 'green' their products are.

The rating system is sure to help consumers be more Eco-friendly and hopefully it will push companies to become even more green.

Wal-Mart said it would make the announcement of the Eco-Rating system today. To read more on this, click over to USA Today.

Clean Homes Mourn the Loss of Product Pitchman Billy Mays

If you are like me, you have at least one bottle of Orange Glo, OxiClean or some other "as seen on TV" product in your house somewhere and you were saddened by the news of the passing of Billy Mays this weekend. Most American TV watchers (and house cleaners!) could recognize his trademark booming voice from his famous commericals and infomercials.

"It is with incredible sadness that we have to report that Billy Mays died in his sleep last night," said a statement from the Discovery Channel, where Mays was featured on the reality TV show Pitchmen. "Everyone that knows him was aware of his larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth. Billy was a pioneer in his field and helped many people fulfill their dreams. He will be greatly missed as a loyal and compassionate friend. Our deepest sympathies go out to his family at this time of incredible loss."

In honor of Mr. Mays, tell us about your favorite infomercial product and how it changed your life for the better.

Study Finds Finds Clean Energy Economy Generates Significant Job Growth

According to a report recently released by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the number of jobs in America’s emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs between 1998 and 2007.

Pew found that jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent, while traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent between 1998 and 2007. There was a similar pattern at the state level, where job growth in the clean energy economy outperformed overall job growth in 38 states and the District of Columbia during the same period. The report also found that this promising sector is poised to expand significantly, driven by increasing consumer demand, venture capital infusions, and federal and state policy reforms.

“The clean energy economy is poised for explosive growth,” said Lori Grange, interim deputy director of the Pew Center on the States. “These jobs are driving economic growth and environmental sustainability at a time when America needs both. There is a potential competitive advantage for federal and state policy leaders who act now to spur jobs, businesses and investments in the clean energy sector.”

The report also showed that the emerging clean energy economy is creating well-paying jobs in every state for people of all skill levels and educational backgrounds. Included in Pew’s definition are jobs as diverse as engineers, plumbers, administrative assistants, construction workers, machine setters, marketing consultants, teachers and many others, with annual incomes ranging from $21,000 to $111,000.

For more on Pew's findings, download the full Clean Economy report (PDF).