The Cape City Green Week and the recently held Brands and Branding for Good Conference are examples of the fact that ‘green awareness’ is spreading to beyond merely forming part of corporate CSI, to becoming wiser about the issues of green computing and green IT in a media sense.

Green computing can be broken down into green use (reducing the energy consumption of computers and other information systems, as well as using them in an environmentally sound manner); green disposal (refurbishing and re-using old computers, and properly recycling unwanted computers and other electronic equipment); and green design (designing energy-efficient and environmentally sound components; computers; servers; cooling equipment; and data centres).

I recently blogged about how South African are starting to recycle their computing equipment and old cell phones, as this keeps harmful materials such as lead and mercury out of landfills.

While media consumption is definitely on the increase – particularly in the mobile sector, with cellphone contract holders claiming a new handset every two years – the resulting ‘waste’ is fast accumulating. Take action by recycling your outdated phone, if possible – by giving it to someone less fortunate, for example.

What are your thoughts on getting businesses more ‘green-wise’? Do you work in a paper-free environment or conduct online searches on the more energy-efficient ‘Blackle‘? Feel free to share your comments below.

Ok so we all know Google right? It’s like the biggest and most popular search engine in existence. With almost 20.000 full-time employees and millions of servers worldwide. Google earns more that $20 billion each year. You’d think such a powerful corporation would leave no room for spin-offs and joke sites. You’d be wrong, as we’re about to present a complete list of 16 such sites cunningly arranged in 4 categories.

1. Hater sites

In this first category we’ll encounter sites clearly created for the soul purpose of insulting Google. Rock on, good people!

-www.fuckgoogle.com – We’re not exactly sure how this site came into being or why there’s a “fuck” standing right there in the search bar when you first open the site, but if there’s one thing that’s certain is that this site can’t find shit. It’s clear that someone made it only to bitch-slap Google (and we’re totally fine with that).
-www.gofuckyourselfgoogle.com – I think by now we can safely say these h8rz are pretty good at making their point in the address bar. If “go fuck yourself google” wasn’t clear enough there’s a disclaimer explaining how Google doesn’t endorse the site (boy, where did you get that idea…). Taking it a step further there’s a Yahoo search engine on the site. With Yahoo being one of Google’s worst adversaries the point is clear but what really bugs us is why’s there a “How to make money with Google AdSense” on the site.

2. Prank sites

This category is for sites that are just made as pranks and won’t be of much use when you stop laughing.

-www.moogle.com – This is a pretty simple site, there’s a search bar, a wacky name and a catchy phrase beneath the search bar, what more could you want? To actually find stuff!
-www.doogle.org – As explained by it’s creator it’s “The Feckin’ Search Engine of Ireland”. With useful categories as “feck, drink, arse, girls and eurovision” this site is pretty much a dead on prank. To spice it up a bit every time you search for something a word characteristic for Ireland appears in the search bar right next to your query (why? cuz it’s the feckin’ search engine of Ireland!).
-unluckytime.com – The name supposedly came from Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” search option and converted into “Unlucky” this site became the bearer of “the world’s worst search engine” (it says it right there on the page). So basically whatever your query is this site will change it each time to look for something completely different (and usually funny). Knowing this you probably shouldn’t use the “I’m Feeling Unlucky” button. -www.thatsloco.com – Formerly known as www.googleloco.com, the site changed it’s address so as not to appear affiliated with Google in any way. Though it’s logo still stands (or shakes) “Google Loco”, this is a pure prank. With the color of the search bar changing and the “Loco Search” and “I’m Feeling Loco!” buttons it can still be used to find stuff. Having already made “Google Loco” the guys didn’t seem to stop there also making “EPIC Google” (a constantly enlarging Google) and “Weenie Google” (a constantly shrinking Google).
-www.googoth.com – Similarly wacky to the site mentioned above, there was a time when this dark site had search capabilities. Sad to say, it has been “under heavy maintenance” for quite a while now.
-www.bigfuckinggoogle.com – This site would come as pretty useful, if you were blind as a bat! The search bar is basically the size of your screen and in the bottom part there’s a HUGE search button (no problem for all of you with Parkinson’s!).
-www.lmgtfy.com – Ever get tired of people asking you dumb questions? Well no more! Lmgtfy stands for “let me Google that for you” so when you search for something the site comes up with a link, you send that link to the person bothering you with the dumb question and when the link is opened the site sarcastically bitch slaps them about the simplicity of using Google. Check it out!

3. Useful sites

If there were such sites that did not belong in pranks or useless, these would be the ones.

-www.blackle.com – Never thought Google would care about energy savings but wrong again. Blackle is the normal Google search engine but with a pitch black background that actually saves Watts of energy with the monitor not having to cope with the bright whiteness of the normal Google background.
-www.zoozle.org – A creative torrent search spin-off. Not really sure why they thought putting a “z” instead of a “g” would make it popular but I guess it worked as it wound up on this totally non-popular blog.
-www.googlefight.com – Now this is something worth trying. What this site basically does is it compares 2 queries for the amount of search results and it does it in quite a dramatic way (“Round one, (stick)fight!”).
-www.yahooglesearch.com – If you want your search to be really comprehensive you should probably try this site. Using a deadly combo of Yahoo and Google this site provides the results of using both search engines at the same time.
-www.bing-vs-google.com – Well if someone could fuse Yahoo with Google why not do the same with Bing. Yep, you guessed it, a combination of Bing and Google, now all we have to do is wait for someone wicked enough to create a Yahoo-Bing-Google search site, that would be fun to see.

4. Miscellaneous sites

Well these are the ones that couldn’t enter any of the categories above, they’re just retarded.

-www.loogle.com – If there was a spin-off site that was down right stupid it’s this one. With a phrase like “Find Something Interesting” you’d wind up thinking it could actually find something!
-www.nooble.nl – Uh oh, what a catchy name, I sure hope this site is as catchy as it’s name! It’s not. Some kind of Netherlands search engine looking remarkably similar to a noob spin-off of Google. It does find stuff, but the weird martian like language on the main page kinda sets off.

If you find it hard to gaze on white screen with black text. Then just try the opposite, ie make background colour darker (if not black) and foreground colour lighter.

For instance you can try this custom google search engine. It is same as google but with darker theme which really light on eyes.

Blackle also mention how much watts of energy has been saved by using it.

Since it uses dark colour for its theme, less number of pixels of your monitor are used and therefore less electrical energy is consumed, moreover it keeps your vision healthy. Otherwise, when we stare at a website like google search page, most of the pixel are lit and it like gazing at a bright light bulb which degrades vision.

Now if you want to try this on larger scale like making all web pages darker

Follow below mention steps (only for firefox users)

WARNING: THIS MIGHT DISTURB THE VISUALS OF WEBSITE.

1. go to >>> Tool>Options>Contents
2. There click on colours button under fonts option.
3. Select darker colour for background and brighter for font.
4. Uncheck -> Use system colours and Allow pages to choose their own colour
5. OK and OK

Daca iti place sa te dixtrezi facand misto de Chuck Norris, politist sexan, afla ca si Guagal se dixtreaza tot asa.

“Fa click” pe Google si tasteaza “find Chuck Norris”, dupa care apasa pe butonul de “I’m feeling lucky” (ma simt nenorocit) si scalda-te in jetul de umor de corporatie. Are noroc Google ca Chuck e prea ocupat sa fie awesome pentru a la scoate serverele in afara legii.

Daca esti un eco-geek, nu-ti place de Chuck Norris, nu-ti plac femeile si tot ce ai face toata ziua e sa imbratisezi copaci, folosete acest motor de cautare, care probabil o sa ti se para jmeker. (jmeker intr-un sens eco, adica reciclabil)

P.S.: Daca esti suficient de prost incat sa nu intelegi de ce e un site eco, atunci mori.

RTÉ denies censorship of the Afri advert due to a ‘Rossport reference.’ Afri have accused RTÉ of censorship as an attempt to publicise the event. 98FM aired the ad. Midwest Radio declined to air the ad as it had to consult the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) on a reference to the Rossport Five.

A spokesperson for RTÉ stated that it had asked Afri to clear the ad with the BCI under the 1988 Radio and Television Act, as RTÉ had referred previous ads under this ruling.

I have to say I haven’t heard the ad, but, some are sensitive these days.

(PS I had a sinister smile when I blackled ‘Midwest Radio’ the first result was http://www.midwestradio.ie/MWR/index.php?page=death-notices).

Ik moet de slogan van het oude postbus 51 spotje gewoon gebruiken als titel. Het is door de eenvoud een krachtig statement dat niet door iedereen op waarde wordt geschat. Gisteren een lange discussie gehad over wat je als één persoon wel en niet kunt bereiken. Je kunt veel bereiken, kijk bijvoorbeeld naar Jane Goodall, die in honderden landen duizenden aanhangers heeft. Echter, om boven die grote massa uit te komen heb je geluk, doorzettingsvermogen en visie nodig. Dat heeft niet iedereen en zeker niet in die combinatie.

Ik kan dus niet anders dan toegeven dat de actie van één persoon minder is dan een druppel op een gloeiende plaat. Eén druppel is al verdampt voordat het een vuur bereikt. Maar een waterstraal bestaat uit meerdere druppels en kan dan ineens een vuur blussen. Vele druppels samen zijn krachtig en kunnen veel bereiken. Toch laten veel mensen hun hoofd hangen en zich meevoeren door de massa. Ze gedragen zich kritiekloos en zijn schaamteloos onderdeel van de consumptie maatschappij. Argumenten zijn aan veel mensen niet besteed want:

“wij kunnen niets doen, de overheid moet wat doen”
“wij kunnen niets doen, want de fabrikant is zo machtig”
“ik kan niets doen, want de buurman doet ook niets en dan heb ik alleen mezelf”

Mensen zijn bang om hun luxe leventje kwijt te raken en hun gretig bij elkaar geharkte flatscreen, dure auto, mobiele telefoon of andere luxe artikel te verliezen. Beter dat te verliezen dan de planeet denk ik, maar goed. Wat kun je als eenling dan wel doen, zonder dat het je raakt in je portemonnee of je kunstmatig hoge levensstandaard? Ja, ik stel inderdaad een compromis voor.

Stop het ontvangen van de telefoongids en goudengids als je er toch niets mee doet

Plak een ja/nee sticker op je brievenbus

Verkopen/Recyclen van je oude mobiele telefoon

Gebruik google black in plaats van google colour, zo bespaar je energie

Een laatste actietip: schoon je gmail of hotmail account op. Meer mailtjes bewaren betekent meer server ruimte om dat te kunnen doen. Meer server ruimte betekent meer energieverbruik. Succes met de eenvoudige “een beter milieu begint bij jezelf”-acties!!

De afgelopen tijd is communicatieburo de Lynx voor Netwerk Platteland bezig met het schrijven van een klimaatbrochure. In deze brochure beschrijven we projecten die innovatief zijn op het gebied van duurzaamheid/klimaat. Zo kun je denken aan het gebruik van zonnecollectoren, maar ook het gebruik van het aardwarmte

Supposedly, producing a light colored screen [such as white] consumes more energy than producing a dark colored screen [such as black]. Because of this, Google has launched a new search engine, called Blackle.

Saving energy by using a different search engine? I’m down.

Blackle.com

This is probably such old news, but I just found out about it. :]

Google and Yahoo! are the two most prolific search machines in the world. Whenever someone looks up at something online, each click of the mouse makes the backend data centre slightly busier. These data centres index and reference the internet and are the engines of internet. However, every activity at the data centre also emits greenhouse gases.

Both Google and Yahoo! are actively trying to reduce their carbon footprints. Google has Blackle, the all black energy saving user page. By reducing the use of colour (white) into Black, the energy consumption is eased off! In fact, Blackle has a meter that shows the energy saved by using the Blackle.

Yahoo! on the other hand, had rendered itself carbon neutral in 2007 by buying offsets against its footprint. Now Yahoo! is working towards zeroing out carbon offsets. The goal is to reduce 40% in carbon intensity in data centres in 2014.More and more widespread use of the internet will increase the CO2 output. As of today, Yahoo! services 500 million users worldwide. The energy consumption from data centres only in US was 60 billion Kilowatt hour and is expected to become 100 billion Kilowatt hour in the next 5 years. Thus emission from this electronic form is a real problem and reduction a real time issue.

Yahoo is using innovations like cloud computing and virtualization to eliminate the extra and unrequired usage. Thus it is a system that is efficient, more reliable and reduces wastage in the systems.

The other small and efficient way to get cut energy usage is to use the ambient temperature of surroundings and use colder places to increase on the free cooling and reduce the electricity consumption on cooling. All things together: Smarter computers using less electricity smart buildings and smart grid, smart location and Cloud computing and virtualization can help make a difference in reducing carbon emissions.

Hace poco un estudio demostró que si la pagina de búsqueda de Google cambiase su impoluto color blanco por un negro más siniestro se conseguirían, ahorrar 750 megawattios por hora en todo el mundo.

A partir de este estudio surgió Blackle, creado por Heap Media, para ofrecer el mismo motor de búsqueda de Google pero en su versión ecológica.
Si bien el ahorro no es brutal, es una pequeña ayuda más que desde luego no viene mal y cuesta bastante poco, e incluso habrá algunos a los que les guste el look de este Blackle.

“Pedimos que establezcas Blackle como tu página de inicio, de esta manera cada vez que cargues el navegador estarás ahorrando energía. ¡Recuerda, cada vez cuenta!”, Es la petición que nos hacen desde el propio buscador.

Como curiosidad el buscador contiene una especie de contador con los wattios por hora que se han ahorrado

So I was browsing blogs today. I was seriously that bored. But I learned some interesting stuff. I found out a little bit more about warp speed, and also that some guy is in Brussels right now visiting some other guy from some other country I forgot about, and that there’s a custom google search called blackle, which is essentially google, but black. This new black google will save a lot of power if everyone used it instead of white google, because apparently black uses less electricity than white when displayed on a monitor. Go figure. So, if you want to help a little, go Blackle for searches.

En un intento de ir un punto más allá, me decidí a hacer una comparativa de la diferencia del consumo real de un monitor LCD trabajando con la versión clásica de Google y la versión “blackle”. Si queréis descargar el informe de la comparativa de medidas podéis hacerlo aquí.

Si no os apetece leeros las cuatro páginas del informe, las conclusiones son claras: en el caso de  las nuevas pantallas “planas” de tecnología LCD o LED, que tan rápidamente se han extendido desbancando a los tradicionales monitores CRT, no hay una diferencia significativa de consumo entre la versión clásica de Google y la versión ”blackle”. Como apunte final, tras el análisis de las medidas obtenidas, recomiendo tener conectado el equipo informático a una regleta de enchufes con interruptor que permita desconectarlo de forma fácil de la red eléctrica cuando no vayamos a utilizarlo durante un periodo de tiempo prolongado, de modo que evitemos el elevado consumo residual en modo de espera (stand by) que tienen estos equipos.

Captura de pantalla de la versión española de Google blackle

How would you like if you could save energy while searching? According to a theory; a computer’s monitor consumes more power in displaying white color while it comparatively uses very less amount  of power in displaying black.

Blackle - Energy Saving Search

So friends now start using Blackle – Energy Saving Search and contribute toward the environment. Mainly Blackle is a Google! Custom Search Engine. It has been created by Heap Media just to remind us that even small contributions can also lead to big changes. Therefore I request

What others are saying:

• EcoIron>>Black Google Would Save 750 MW-Hour a Year
• Google Blog>>Is black new green?
• Wikipedia>>Blackle.com
• Techlogg>>Blackle vs Google Power Savings

Links about Blackle:

• Blackle Energy Saving Tips
• Follow Blackle @ Twitter

Da, da ştiu, e grozav noul look. Tipa ce se plictiseste pe plajă vă face poftă de mare, de vacanţă, dar mai ales de bere. Îi drept că şi pe mine mă bagă în pofte, şi abia aştept să ies din hibernarea asta prelungită în care mă ţine învăţatul pentru licenţă. Nu sunt sigur dacă e dimineaţă sau dupamsa, în poză, dar oricum se potriveşte, zic eu, şi voi mă aprobaţi.

Am pus gri pe mergini si mă gandesc la un negru ca să face-ţi voi economie la curent. Pentru cei ce nu ştiu: monitorul consumă mai puţin când afişază o imagine închisă la culoare. Şi nu zic doar eu asta. Până şi Google are o variantă neagră pe nume Blackle ce şi-a iertat utilizatorii de 128 de kilowaţi-oră. Deci negrul nu este doar un trend ci şi o necesitate .

Cei ce vor să îmi slăvească deosebitele calităţi artistice şi practice, precum şi altruismul desăvârşit îşi pot lăsa cuvintele de laudă printr-un comment. Dar vă rog să nu vă inghesuiţi ca nu cumva să îmi cadă blogu de pe wordpress, un commnet la 2 luni e mai mult decât îmi pot dori.

Şi cum v-am mai obişnuit în ultimle postări vă las la sfarşit un embed de pe tubu cu videouri.

In what I can only say is reminiscent of Blackle (black Google, get it?), Greenpeace Brazil and Almap BBDO have launched the Black Pixel Project, a campaign that looks to educate people on saving energy.

An installed programme blacks out a pixel in each window on their display. They can opt to see, in realtime, how much energy is being saved (and, by extension, how much more is being used) worldwide through this initiative.

There is debate on the technical details of whether BPP actually does help save energy, but I honestly think these guys are missing the point by delving too deep into it. Loosen up, hombres – it’s just a (I’m guessing pro bono) advocacy gimmick designed to:

a. Make people sit up and take notice

b. Snare BBDO some awards

Don’t read too much into it.

This is something I found while trying to change my browser, Firefox, to have both blackle.com and Wolfram|Alpha.com in it’s useful search bar.  The process is very simple.

Firefox has a Search Bar that is located to the right of the Address Bar, near the top of your Firefox window. It comes with Google, Yahoo, and some others pre-installed. If you have a website that you frequently visit, or a site that you would like to search more quickly, this tutorial will help you create a search engine that is customizable to the site of your choice.

It used to be a long and complicated process, but with Firefox 3, it’s incredibly easy, such that a wikiHow article is hardly warranted, but a long article was here and needed to be updated with the simpler method, so here we are.

1. Install the Add to Search Bar extension from Mozilla.
2. Restart Firefox.
3. Browse to a site you’d like to search from the search bar.
4. Right-click in that site’s own search bar and choose Add to search bar.
5. Type the name you’d like Firefox to display when no search parameters are entered. This will appear in grey.
6. Accept the icon or browse to choose another on your PC.
7. Enter a keyword (optional).
8. Click OK.

This is what mine looks like after 5 minutes.

There was the Blackle. Now the Bingle?

Frio, muito frio – o termômetro pendurado no imã de geladeira que eu trouxe de Blumenau marcava 9 graus hoje pela manhã. Agora, à noite, deve tá pior. Como carro a álcool que demora pra esquentar depois de uma noite no relento, minha cabeça demora um pouco a se acostumar com baixas temperaturas, motivos pelo qual, hoje, vou apenas fazer alguns apontamentos.

1) Susan Boyle perdeu. Sim, eu também não acreditei, mas a final do Britain’s Got Talent aconteceu no sábado passado e quem saiu vencedor da terceira edição do programa foi o grupo de dança Diversity. Boyle interpretou novamente a musica “I dreamed a dream”, que a consagrou sucesso mundial depois de mais de 90 milhões de visualizações no YouTube.

Confira o vídeo da trupe vencedora.

Mesmo com o segundo lugar, Boyle considerou a conquista um “objetivo alcançado”. Contratos com gravadoras já estão em planejamento e até um episódio dos Simpsons foi inspirado na cantora, que já “apareceu” também no SouthPark e no programa americano Oprah Winfrey Show. Agora, aquela dança ali em cima, sei não…

2) O Intercom Sul em Blumenau aconteceu. Ponto. Vou deixar pra falar do evento em outros posts. Vale dizer que as oficinas foram legais, as festas mais ainda (ao menos foi o que disseram), a estrutura do lugar é massa e Blumenau é uma cidade linda. Eu gostei mesmo do chuveiro do hotel. A Deise se realizou tomando chopp e comendo lingüiça (com perdão pelo trocadilho) e a Râmisa pode contar coisas i-na-cre-di-tá-veis sobre a suíte 526.

No Expocom, a apresentação do Blog da Usina foi tranqüila. Pelos comentários do público e a cabeça do jurado que balançava em sinal de aprovação, a gente tá se saindo bem. Mas (sempre tem um mas…), o vencedor da modalidade “blog” desse ano foi o Zona Fantasma. Confira o trabalho dos caras de Porto Alegre e comente. Não concordei com isso, mas ano que vem vamos de novo!

3) Pra não acabar sem deixar nenhum novo link, tem um legal que encontrei há um tempo. Já ouviu falar em Blackle? É uma variação do Google pra notebooks ou telas LCD. Segundo a empresa, o fundo preto propicia uma significativa economia de energia. Idéia legal, com tendência “eco” proposta inovadora. Vou fazer o teste pra ver se economiza mesmo energia e depois posto os resultados aqui.

Something really quick I thought most people should definitely check out.  This little energy saving website called Blackle.com.  It uses a black background instead of a white background to save energy on computers.  Briefly, it takes more energy for a computer to produce white than black.  I will be switching since it is a google search and behaves the same.

Ok you know zanpo as a stupid old game that got beat down by club penguin, but club penguin just got beat down because of the new style.  The people who where looking to play club penguin now have nothing to play, and club penguin is just stupid.  So im moving project c-plow or club-penguin league of war to zanpo.  Zanpo is getting beat down and i want to bring it up because it looks fun actuly.  http://www.zanpo.com/virtualcity.php any one can join zanpo, and you get to build blocks for your city.  Unfortunatly you cant build your own city without paying, but with lots and lots of members it wouldnt matter because we would have more control than the city owner.  Lol, so does any body wanna join?  Its not going to b a fighting project, but i want to build buildings that link together to make bigger buildings.  Its kinda kool.  I hope to get lots of members on this, and they would shut down if they dont get lots of members.  Thats where we come in.  Any one can join it, which is kool, chat is unlimited exept for no bagging on other people, and we would be the only major organization.  Act fast, sign up.  Comment with your screen name. (mine is kora124real)

All right. This one is gonna be a quickie. Exam times are extremely boring, eh ? Can’t help wanting to post something.

I came across this thing called Blackle. Well- all of you know what Google is. Its like the second brain to all of us. Blackle is nothing but – Black Google. Basically it is a non-profit website powered by Google Custom Search, which aims to save energy by displaying a black background color for search result.

Some years back, a research suggested, that if Google used a black screen as background instead of a white one, then it would save 750 mega watts/hour per year ! Why so ?

An all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts. The concept behind Blackle is that computer monitors can be made to consume less energy by displaying darker colors. This concept was first brought to the attention of Heap Media which tried it by utilizing it for screens. A study which tested a variety of CRT and LCD monitors was carried out. Darren Yates, a technology journalist who reviews computer hardware, tested 4 CRT monitors and 23 LCD monitors, and found that the CRT monitors did use more energy displaying a white screen, but less than the calculations made by the idea that inspired Blackle.The LCD monitors tested showed slightly less power use displaying a white screen in the majority of cases, although most of the larger (24-inch) monitors did use slightly less power displaying a black screen.

However, an independent research carried put by Google showed that making the Google homepage black would not reduce energy consumption. To the contrary, on flat-panel monitors (already estimated to be 75% of the market), displaying black may actually increase energy usage.

Well – with contradictory research results, one is really left wondering which one to follow. Is black the new green? Who knows ! At any rate, i found the black screen refreshingly different.

P.S. I'm not self obsessed. Don't usually Google for myself.

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