Toxic

Gadgets

The Dirty Toxic Secret Behind Our Disposable Gadgets

3:40PM November 10, 2010 | Sam Biddle

No piece of electronics lasts forever, craftsmanship aside. But it might be the case that some devices we buy are meant for an early grave—so we can upgrade. And who pays the price? Maybe, the entire planet does. More »


60 Minutes Reporter Investigates China’s E-Waste Pits, Gets Attacked

3:25PM November 7, 2008 | Gizmodo US Edition

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley went to Guiyi, China to document the lives of Chinese e-waste workers there. He was able to get footage of what these pits, which process much of the toxic electronic scrap we in the West throw away, look like–despite being jumped by angry e-waste lot owners and nearly having his camera confiscated.

More »


Computing

Greenpeace on Apple MacBook 2008 Redesign: Good, but Not Good Enough

2:00AM October 20, 2008 | Jack Loftus

Greenpeace is dead set on giving Apple and Steve Jobs an inferiority complex. With one hand, the environmental group patted Apple on the head after the unveiling of its redesigned MacBook aluminium notebooks. With the other hand, however, it managed to knock Apple down a peg or two for still not doing enough to save the environment. “Compared to where Apple was before Tuesday, its laptops are definitely better. That in and of itself is a good thing. But not all toxic pieces have been eliminated yet,” said Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International’s toxics campaigner. If Apple were a person, we imagine this is the point where he or she would run away, or go goth at the very least, because they’d “never be good enough” for Greenpeace.

More »