Green Computing. Green computing, the study and practice of efficient and eco- friendly computing resources, is now under the attention of not only environmental organizations, but also businesses from other industries. In recent years, companies in the computer industry have come to realize that going green is in their best interest, both in terms of public relations and reduced costs. This article will take a look at several green initiatives currently under way in the computer industry, as well as issues that have been raised regarding these initiatives. We will also have a talk with VIA to learn more about the future of green computing. The field of “green technology ” encompasses a broad range of subjects — from new energy- generation techniques to the study of advanced materials to be used in our daily life. Green technology focuses on reducing the environmental impact of industrial processes and innovative technologies caused by the Earth’s growing population. It has taken upon itself the goal to provide society’s needs in ways that do not damage or deplete natural resources. BibMe Free Bibliography & Citation Maker - MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard. MS Paint, the first app you used for editing images, will probably be killed off in future updates of Windows 10, replaced by the new app Paint 3D. Microsoft lists. Search the world's information, including webpages, images, videos and more. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for. Mainly this means creating fully recyclable products, reducing pollution, proposing alternative technologies in various fields, and creating a center of economic activity around technologies that benefit the environment. Perhaps the most talked about aspect of green technology is the promise of alternative energy sources. Sun, wind, water, sugar — we’ve heard about them all. However, scientists are working on other aspects of the problem as well, testing building materials and studying chemical processes to reduce the use and generation of hazardous substances. Nanotechnology is also being used in an attempt to manipulate materials at the nanometer scale; scientists are hoping it can transform manufacturing on a global level, from government purchasing to a technological revolution. The huge amount of computing manufactured worldwide has a direct impact on environment issues, and scientists are conducting numerous studies in order to reduce the negative impact of computing technology on our natural resources. Companies are addressing e- waste by offering take- back recycling programs and other solutions, with lower energy consumption and less wasted hardware. A central point of research is testing and applying alternative nonhazardous materials in the products’ manufacturing process. VIA Technologies Green Computing. VIA Technologies, a Taiwanese company that manufactures motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and other computer hardware, introduced its initiative for “green computing” in 2. With this green vision, the company has been focusing on power efficiency throughout the design and manufacturing process of its products. Its environmentally friendly products are manufactured using a range of clean- computing strategies, and the company is striving to educate markets on the benefits of green computing for the sake of the environment, as well as productivity and overall user experience. This July, we asked for software tips from the 2017 Microsoft Office National Champions, a set of charming teens who are officially the best at using PowerPoint, Word. Carbon- free computing. One of the VIA Technologies’ ideas is to reduce the “carbon footprint” of users — the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO2). Greenhouse gases naturally blanket the Earth and are responsible for its more or less stable temperature. An increase in the concentration of the main greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorocarbons — is believed to be responsible for Earth’s increasing temperature, which could lead to severe floods and droughts, rising sea levels, and other environmental effects, affecting both life and the world’s economy. After the 1. 99. 7 Kyoto Protocol for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the world has finally taken the first step in reducing emissions. The emissions are mainly a result of fossil- fuel- burning power plants. In the United States, such electricity generation is responsible for 3. VIA aims to offer the world’s first PC products certified carbon free, taking responsibility for the amounts of CO2 they emit. The company works with environmental experts to calculate the electricity used by the device over its lifetime, generally three years. From this data, one can conclude how much carbon dioxide the device will emit into the atmosphere during its operation. This estimate will serve as an indicator, and the company will pay regional organizations for the “sequestering,” or offsetting, of the emissions. Offsetting carbon dioxide can be achieved in different ways. One way is to plant trees that absorb CO2 as they grow, in the region in which the processors were purchased. The necessary amount of trees per processor is represented by VIA’s Tree. Mark rating system. In addition, VIA promotes the use of such alternative energy sources as solar power, so power plants wouldn’t need to burn as much fossil fuels, reducing the amount of energy used. Wetlands also provide a great service in sequestering some of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. Although they make up only 4 to 6 percent of the Earth’s landmass, wetlands are capable of absorbing 2. VIA is working closely with organizations responsible for preserving wetlands and other natural habitats, and others who support extensive recycling programs for ICT equipment. The amount paid to these organizations will be represented by a proportion of the carbon- free product’s price. Carbon- emissions control has been a key issue for many companies who have expressed a firm commitment to sustainability. Dell is a good example of a company with a green image, known for its free worldwide product- recycling program. Dell’s Plant a Tree for Me project allows customers to offset their carbon emissions by paying an extra $2 to $4, depending on the product purchased. AMD, a global microprocessor manufacturer, is also working toward reducing energy consumption in its products, cutting back on hazardous waste and reducing its eco- impact. The company’s use of silicon- on- insulator (SOI) technology in its manufacturing, and strained silicon capping films on transistors (known as “dual stress liner” technology), have contributed to reduced power consumption in its products. Solar Computing. Amid the international race toward alternative- energy sources, VIA is setting its eyes on the sun, and the company’s Solar Computing initiative is a significant part of its green- computing projects. For that purpose, VIA partnered with Motech Industries, one of the largest producers of solar cells worldwide. Solar cells fit VIA’s power- efficient silicon, platform, and system technologies and enable the company to develop fully solar- powered devices that are nonpolluting, silent, and highly reliable. Solar cells require very little maintenance throughout their lifetime, and once initial installation costs are covered, they provide energy at virtually no cost. Worldwide production of solar cells has increased rapidly over the last few years; and as more governments begin to recognize the benefits of solar power, and the development of photovoltaic technologies goes on, costs are expected to continue to decline. As part of VIA’s “pc- 1” initiative, the company established the first- ever solar- powered cyber community center in the South Pacific, powered entirely by solar technology. Lead- Free and Ro. HS computing. In February 2. European Union adopted the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (Ro. HS). The legislation restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. The directive is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), which sets collection, recycling, and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative that aims to reduce the huge amounts of toxic e- waste. Driven by these directives, VIA implemented a set of internal regulations in order to develop products that are compliant with these accepted policies, including the use of nonhazardous materials in its production of chipsets, processors, and companion chips. In 2. 00. 1, they focused on lead- free manufacturing, introducing the Enhanced Ball Grid Array (EBGA) package for power efficient VIA processors and the Heat Sink Ball Grid Array (HSBGA) package for their chipsets. RIP, Microsoft Paint. MS Paint, the first app you used for editing images, will probably be killed off in future updates of Windows 1. Paint 3. D. Microsoft lists the 3. Windows 1. 0’s next autumn update, a little X marking the end of an era. The app is certainly a relic, from a time when the casual computer user couldn’t crack open Photoshop or Skitch or Pixelmator or thousands of web apps. MS Paint can’t save image components as layers or vectors; it’s for making flat static images only. It doesn’t smooth lines or guess at your best intentions. It does what you tell it and nothing more, faithfully representing the herky- jerky motion of drawing freehand with a computer mouse. It’s from a time before touch, a time before trackpads. As more sophisticated options appeared, Paint’s janky aesthetic became a conscious choice. Paint” became the metonym for that aesthetic, even if an image was actually created in another app. TV Tropes lists major limitations that came to define a certain look: the wobbly freehand lines, awkward color handling, and inappropriate export settings that give Paint its distinctive look. In 2. 01. 4, Gawker’s Sam Biddle noted Paint’s influence on conspiracy theory images, calling the form “Chart Brut.” In amateur detectives’ attempts at identifying the Boston Marathon bombers, the simplicity and jaggedness of Paint evokes the “crazy wall” aesthetic of red string and scribbled notes, apparently without irony. The same year, internet historian Patrick Davison explored Paint’s influence on the last decade of meme culture, particularly Rage Comics. The outsider- art aesthetic feels appropriate to the relatable everyday content, and makes the art form unthreatening. Of course, Paint offered a few features to smooth things out, like the circle and line tools and the “fill” tool, all used in the stoner comics of the early 1. Crucially, those circles still had jagged curves. The bright colors of stoner comics are flat, as MS Paint didn’t support gradients (without an elaborate hack). Contrast those pixellated lines with the slick, stylish face from this art tutorial: This slickness is built into Paint’s successor, Paint 3. D. From the moment you start sketching, Paint 3. D smooths out your art. It also supports automatic selection tools and content- aware fill to rival Photoshop’s.)By automatically improving art, Paint 3. D hides the process behind the image. Paint’s sloppiness is probably why rage comics got so popular. Looking at a rage comic, you can tell exactly how it was drawn, and how you might draw one yourself. By delivering exactly what the artist draws, MS Paint forms an image that the viewer can mentally reverse- engineer and imitate. Unless you go absolutely nuts with it. Reddit user Toweringhorizon painstakingly assembled the drawing “To a Little Radio” using MS Paint tools like the oil brush, stretching the medium while maintaining a pixelated look. It’s one of the top submissions to MS Paint subreddit, a beautiful collaborative art gallery. Scrolling through this art feels like flipping through the sketchbook of the most artistic kid in high school. There’s an accepted roughness, a desired minimalism. For example, the exquisite raindrops in the work above are reflected in a flat, featureless tabletop. Like a transistor radio, Paint might be showing its age, but this tenacious little gadget should not be underestimated.“To a Little Radio” doesn’t even come close to testing Paint’s limits. As we say goodbye to the app that shaped an era, let us watch this bizarrely soundtracked time lapse of drawing Santa Claus in MS Paint on Windows 7 over the course of 5. We can only believe this is real because faking it would be even harder.
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