Apple Reveals iPad Tablet

The day has finally arrived, after long speculation, Apple has finally unveiled its new tablet. The tablet, named the iPad, is a pound and a half and has close to 9.7 inch visible display (1024 x 768 display). Apple reports a 10 hour battery life while watching video or a month of standby charge. Storage capacities from 16-64 GB. It can be thought of as an oversize iPhone which Steve Jobs hopes will fill a gap between the iPhone and MacBook. Bad news for Adobe, like the iPhone, there is no support for flash on websites.

802.11n wifi, Bluetooth, speaker, microphone, accelerometer and compass. We’re hoping an external keyboard and mouse can be used with the bluetooth. Update: Even if its not possible to do through bluetooth, a keyboard can be attached to the iPad as an alternate means of typing. Pricing starts at an amazingly low $499 with 3G support costing extra. This price point seems to indicate Apple lowering the price artificially low in an attempt to corner the media and app distribution market. The product release is a major event in itself but the pricepoint’s implications to various industries is monumental.

Certain developers reportedly got a head start in developing for the new platform. A standout was the work the New York Times did for the device. Typography, design and overall usability is stellar.

More images after the jump.

Ipad Not Charging Due To Under-Powered USB Ports on Certain Windows and Macs PCs

Apple’s long anticipated iPad has finally arrived and while it may be too early to receive comprehensive comments from public, some users has already started to complain about inability to charge iPad through commonly available USB ports on certain laptops. When this occurs, a message with “Not Charging” will be displayed in the status bar next to battery icon.

This root cause is pointed to under-powered USB ports that is insufficient to provide enough juice to charge the relatively power hungry iPad as compared to other mobile devices such as iPhone. And based on actual feedback from certain online users, apparently many Windows based laptops as well as older Macs machines like MacBook Pro are facing such phenomenon while it seems that latest MacBooks and iMacs users have no complaint on this so far. If you notice, Apple’s official support site does provide some clues and based on support article from its website, typically all older type of Macs computers can only able to provide 5V with 500mA on each USB port as similar to other Windows based PC. Whereas some newer Intel-based Macs like MacBook is capable to ramp up to 12V at 1200mA whenever needed. For instance: When a more power hungry device such as the 9.7-inch iPad is connected and that may explain why such phenomenon doesn’t happen on those newer MacBook.

And as a quick workaround, consumers are recommended to utilize the 10-watt USB power adapter that will able to fully charge the iPad within hours. And even when they connect to those low-powered USB port, iPad may still able to get some extra power (even through at a slower rate) to work without any issue.

EPEAT Certifies Hard-to-Repair MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Back in July, Apple made waves when they removed all of their products from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) registry. The company said that their design direction was no longer consistent with EPEAT requirements, namely their focus on moving towards lighter, thinner products like the MacBook Pro with Retina Display that used industrial strength glue to keep parts in place as opposed to screws.

That glue it instead of screw it approach meant that parts like the battery were now impossible to remove without special tools, which hinders disassembly for repair or recycling.

After public outcry over their stepping away from EPEAT, Apple quickly changed their minds and once again listed all of their products with the registry, which gave everyone hope that they would be working towards better repairability with their products. But the story doesn't end there.

Just last Friday, EPEAT announced that it was certifying five ultrathin notebooks, including the MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

EPEAT said this in their press release, "The findings released today are the culmination of a lengthy review of a number of specific criteria – and of a broad array of notebook products registered in the EPEAT system. Specific areas of concern addressed included whether products could be upgraded, if tools were commonly available to accomplish upgrades, and whether materials of concern including batteries could be easily removed from ultrathin products."

These findings are surprising since they are in direct conflict with what Robert Frisbee, CEO of EPEAT, said back in July when Apple initially walked away from the program. At the time he said that the MacBook Pro with Retina Display wouldn't be eligible for certification because “If the battery is glued to the case it means you can’t recycle the case and you can’t recycle the battery."

© iFixit

EPEAT says its independent Product Verification Committee (PVC) were able to confirm that the ultrabooks met the requirements for certification. But there is one part of the press release that hints that they left the standards a little murky in order to include these new lighter, thinner laptops:

The EPEAT PVC determined that, based on the clear wording of the relevant criteria, products could be considered upgradable if they contained an externally-accessible port through which additional capacity could be supplied to the registered product (or if they could be upgraded through physical replacement of parts).
The PVC also ruled that tools required for disassembly or upgrade of registered products are deemed ‘commonly available’ if they can be purchased by any individual or business on the open market, are not proprietary and do not require agreements between the buyer and seller.
The PVC declined to specify precise parameters for what constitutes “easy and safe” disassembly or removal of components, because they noted such terms could encompass different details depending on the specifics of the product class in question and must be demonstrated in action.

EPEAT goes on to say that all five of the laptops that they certified, which included ultrabooks from Toshiba, Lenova and Samsung as well, were able to be totally disassembled according to the manufacturer's disassembly instructions and that all the batteries were able to be removed within two minutes.

We'd really like to believe that the MacBook Pro with Retina Display was easy to disassemble and that the battery was easily removed, but a teardown by the disassembly experts at iFixit found it pretty much impossible to remove the battery without causing damage and Apple itself sent out a memo to its technicians saying that the battery was "not a replaceable part."

Add to that the fact that ordinary people who want to do simple upgrades and repairs at home, don't have access to special tools and detailed disassembly instructions. So why would EPEAT approve these ultrabooks? This leads us to believe that pressure to include these notebooks on the registry was more of a factor than the products' actual repairability.

To that point Greenpeace's Casey Harrell released a statement saying:

It’s unclear why EPEAT caved in, but the impact is that EPEAT has confused consumers and businesses who want to buy green electronics that can be repaired and will last a long time, and sets a dangerous trend for the burgeoning market of ultrabooks.

Consumers will not risk violating their product warranty to change a battery using instructions they don’t have with tools they don't own, and are sure to conclude that the entire process is too complicated and instead buy a new product. The result will be electronics with a shorter lifespan and more e-waste.

Electronics need to be designed so that people can upgrade and repair them as easily as possible. If companies can’t make products that can be easily fixed, they shouldn’t be sold.

EPEAT's decision to include these products is pretty disappointing and, unfortunately, calls into question the standards by which they verify products in the first place and the value of EPEAT certification in general.

EPEAT Defends Decision to Certify Ultrathin Notebooks

Earlier this week, there was quite a bit of controversy over EPEAT's decision to certify five ultrathin notebooks, including the hard-to-repair MacBook Pro with Retina Display. It seemed that the organization was bowing to industry pressure instead of upholding green standards, particularly because it went against remarks its own CEO had made about the difficulty of recycling those products. EPEAT sent out a response yesterday defending their decision and giving some specifics on why those products made the grade.

From EPEAT's response:

As we have since the launch of the EPEAT registry six years ago, EPEAT continues to impartially apply and verify the standard. A few observations on the recent Verification investigation (Round 2012-05) of multiple ultralight products:

Regarding upgrade capability, the criteria specifically state that products may be upgraded or extended “by a high performance serial bus (IEEE Std 1394TM [B4]) or Universal Serial Bus (USB)”. Regardless of opinions about whether or not that is appropriate or acceptable language, the hard fact is that EPEAT has no authority to ‘flunk’ products if they meet the explicit terms of the standard.

Regarding disassembly: The criteria under discussion are located in the section of the standard that addresses Design for End of Life – that is, design for effective recycling. The criteria investigated are not aimed at refurbishment or repair. Again, people may think that there should be more in the standard about disassembly for repair and refurbishment – and we welcome their views – but these criteria do not apply to that topic.

The standard also doesn’t forbid specific construction methods such as fasteners versus adhesives – it just requires products to be easy to disassemble for recycling. The test lab went through the disassembly process and reported that the products were all easy to disassemble with commonly available tools.

The response goes on to say that all the heat over this recent crop of verifications is taking away from all the good that EPEAT has done by establishing a set of standards that companies can conform to -- those standards have led to industry-wide changes for the better, such as easier recyclability and fewer toxic materials being used. The registry has also given consumers a way to easily find products that are meeting those standards. I wholeheartedly agree with that and, as the response says, without a set of standards and a program to certify them, companies often have little incentive to make changes if they feel they will go unnoticed.

But there's also a responsibility to keep standards up-to-date and stringent as technologies change and EPEAT concedes in its response that its standards need to be revised with consideration to these new lighter, thinner computer products.

"The computer standard was written in 2005 (and slightly revised in 2009) - before slates and ultralight products were anywhere near as significant as they are now. Frankly the standard does not yet address the environmental issues with these products as effectively as it might, and the upcoming revision process will very likely make changes to do so more effectively.

EPEAT is bound to the current standard with all its strengths and imperfections until it is changed in a formal process. Such a process has begun – we encourage interested parties to participate and improve the criteria."

This is a great opportunity to create a better verification process. Lets make sure EPEAT knows what we want from our products, including better repairability. 

Foldable Notebook with Flexible OLED Screen!

Brilliant! The Feno is a folding notebook.Typically we expect a hinge between the display and keyboard, but the Feno has an additional hinge within the display! This not only makes the size more compact but also explores future use of flexible OLED screens. The pice de rsistance is the pop-out mouse! Just pop it out and you are good to go!

Designer: Niels van Hoof

    

Amazing concept laptop

The system uses an external water tank, hence the Plantbook continuously absorbs water when soaking it in water and generates electrolysis using power stored in a solar heat plate installed on the top. In this process, it is operated using hydrogen as energy source and discharges oxygen. If put it into a water bottle while do not use it, it automatically charges a battery and discharges oxygen. A leaf-shaped strap hanging on the top is made with silicon. It plays a role of a hand ring and a green LED indicates when the battery is charged. Using this LED, users can check how much spare capacity the batter has.