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All the entries posted on December 03, 2007.
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Home > Plugged In > Archives > 2007 > December > 03
Monday, December 3, 2007
Willing to shell out more green for “green” electronics?
The majority of Americans say they care about the environment, but a relatively small percentage is willing to pay extra for “green” electronics that use less electricity or are made by companies they perceive to be environmentally friendly, according to a survey out today.
In a poll of 5,000 consumers, Forrester Research found that 12 percent of consumers fall into a category it calls “Bright Green” - consumers who are ecologically concerned enough to pay extra for environmentally friendly goods.
Another 41 percent are “Greens” that care about the environment but aren’t willing - at least not yet - to pay extra for environmentally friendly goods.
And about 44 percent are not green at all, according to Forrester. (About 3 percent gave no response).
Even though it’s often the target of environmental groups, Apple (surprise, surprise) had the “greenest” customer base, according to Forrester, followed respectively by Compaq, Gateway, eMachines and Dell, which has been making the environment a big selling point lately.
Bottom line, according to Forrester: Tech companies can make a lot more money by making and marketing their products as environmentally friendly. (As Steve Jobs and Michael Dell have already figured out).
Read Forrester’s press release here
Find your house on Google Earth
If you’re looking for something to lollygag with, try Google Earth.
Go to “Google Earth” in the search function. Then plug in your city and zoom in on your house. Then zoom out and look for buildings or areas you don’t recognize and then zoom back in. You’ll find topographical surprises about your area that you’d never catch by walking or driving by.
Or pull up New York City’s lower Manhattan to see the original city and then where city planners began a uniform block formation starting around Houston Street.
I spent a couple of hours on it over the weekend, and easily could have spent longer.
But as interesting and helpful as it is, Google Earth isn’t nearly as useful as the latest service that Google is working on.
It’s testing a technology to find the location of mobile-phone users. Google has dubbed it “My Location.” According to PC World, it isn’t as precise as Google Earth but will at least find what neighborhood you’re in.