Tags: Add new tag, design, easy to use, lighting, switch, touch, usable
Hi all.
Stayed at a hotel last week, it was charming, newly designed in its interior, lovely atmosphere. If it wasn´t for one important problem. The lighting switch. After a transportation by train, by another train, by flight and by another train and at last by a metro. At last, walking to the hotel, at night, tired, taking the tiny elevator up, wanting only to get into bed, I could not find this important lihgting switch. Poking around for some while, decided to take the elevator back down to the reception asking for help to find this switch. They cordially showed me. It was hidden down somewhere, at foot level, as not to disturb the design impression. It was a touch switch, when found, very easy to use. But impossible to find, in a black dark room. Usability is about products easy to use, sure, though they must also be logically and visually placed, right??
Tags: Add new tag, computer display, ICT products, image quality, laptop, LCD display
The Iphone pointed out the direction and the rest of the industry is eager to follow. The touchscreens are coming! It’s not that new of course. Touchscreens have been around for some time in ATMs and similar applications. But now with the launch of Windows 7 the road is paved. Many of the major brands have already launched notebooks with touchscreens. I just can’t help but wonder what the glossy screen will look like after a few hours…
Posted by Martin Soderberg
Tags:
Recycled usable green IT
Do you separate and recycle your household garbage? How many times did you walk to the recycling station wondering where all that plastic would end up?
Did you know that TCO Certified products have been designed for recycling since 1995. They are built in a way so that they are easy to disassemble and all different plastic materials are labeled so that they can be sorted into different containers at the recycling station. All you have to do as a consumer is to leave the product to the correct recycling facility in accordance with the take back program stated by the manufacturer in the user manual.
Wouldn’t it be great if all this recycled plastic was used for something and got back in the market and replaced virgin materials in new products?
The new TCO Certified Edge display from Lenovo ThinkVision, L2251x Wide is built from 100% recycled plastics. 65% of that plastic is post consumer plastics that have been on the market in other plastic products recycled by consumers. The other 35% is industry recycled plastics.
This display also has a motion sensor to turn it off when the user is not in front of it. That is smart as it saves a lot of energy! Look for the TCO Certified Edge label to find cutting edge technology.
Tags: display, environment, Green IT, TCO Certified Edge
OK Green IT enthusiasts, here’s a product worth noticing.
Lenovo ThinkVision L2251x Wide - World First TCO Certified Edge display
Today we’re proud to announce, together with PC maker Lenovo, the launch of the first computer monitor to achieve the groundbreaking TCO Certified Edge award for achievement in environmental and high performance design. The Lenovo ThinkVision L2251x Wide desktop computer display achieved this world first in recognition of its 65 % post consumer recycled plastic content. Including such a high percentage of post consumer plastics has long been a challenge among industry and we at TCO are thrilled to reward this cutting edge achievement. Other eco-friendly features include recycled packaging materials as well as a proximity sensor to save energy when you’re away from the computer.
TCO Certified Edge is a supplemental award open to those products that already meet the worldwide TCO Certified criteria for environment and usability in IT design. The purpose of the award is to identify leading edge products and technologies that go beyond the requirements in existing eco-labeling programs.
Check out full details and product specs in our multimedia press room or login to TCO Development’s website
Tags: Green IT, procurement, usability, verification
..and another to offer green it solutions. Since we at TCO Development started to develop our certification programme that declared greener displays with better usability we have had many contacts with public procurers and private professional purchasers. When it comes to actually purchasing a greener product it can sometimes be difficult to know whether a product really fulfils the criteria the purchasers have set up, and the vendors sometimes have difficulties translating and understand the demand and criteria set up by the purchasers. Verification and certification schemes are often of good help here. And, therefore I got very excited when I saw Consip, the Italian company working with efficiency in public administration, asking vendors to offer them 75.000 computer desktops that were according to the requirements in TCO-certified. A clear statement; this is what we want. The users should have a green desktop with proven usability qualities. Action is everything!
Also, see the cut-and-paste procurement document developed by UNEP/ICLEI: http://procureitfair.org/publications-en/Publication_2744/at_download/fullfile
Tags: cable chaos, earth hour, energy saving company award, functional smart solutions, recyclable
Today we welcome our Guest Blogger Mr John de Boer, export manager at Götessons.
Götessons is one of the exhibitors in the TCO Show Office. We learn from them how to combine IT work with smart energy saving solutions in an eco friendly way.
Read and learn from John´s blog:
For Optimum office productivity a well balanced environment is required,
were the equipment complements and supports the user. We produce our own designed functional solutions to help create the ideal office working space. But we feel that it is essential that we bear in mind how, where and for what purpose we manufacture, blending durable usability with ergonomics and only giving the “Green Light” to Eco Friendly Products.
Sweden’s prestigious Smart energy saving Company award
We are proud to have been nominated for Sweden’s prestigious Smart energy saving Company award,
we recommend electricity saving and Eco Friendly products.
Here are three of these eco friendly products, also as examples of good Usability:
Eco Power Cable Complete Set
You have probably heard about Earth Hour in which the whole world switches-off to save the Earth’s resources for one hour.
OK, now imagine being able to turn off unnecessary electricity consumption every day, without even thinking about it. This is REALLY to conserve the Earth’s resources! With the ECO power you do just that … not just for 60 minutes but during 365 days a year!
Saving about 40% of normal power consumption in your office while at the same time clearing your hazardous cable chaos!
XrossIt
The uniqueness of the XrossIT Computer Holder is that it is a patented Universal Computer holder for any cpu, laptop or server of up to ½ m. It adapts to changing hardware trends giving it an extremely long life cycle. XrossIt is Manufactured 100% in Sweden & is fully recyclable.
Recycling Station SetupIT
A Patented, rotating recycling bin placed under each work station with removable containers,
one for paper and one for other materials.
John de Boer
www.gotessons.com
Tags: China, legislation, Packagning, waste
We have a worldwide problem with littering. But it looks like there might be some good news coming up ahead. China – the world’s largest packaging producing market, is taking steps to do something about it.
China is preparing to issue a new packaging legislation which takes a life-cycle cradle-to-cradle approach. The suggested legislation will not only ban packaging which is neither reusable, recyclable nor biodegradable, it will also ban PVC and the use of certain materials, ink and dye solvents. The new legislation will also require postconsumer household waste sorting, establish waste collection systems, and the nationwide construction of Eco-Zones, Special Industrial Zones for recycling and reprocessing plants. To be imposed nationwide this packaging legislation is more comprehensive than that of the EU, Germany and Japan. They also plan on stiff penalties for those who do not comply.
As China is the world’s largest packaging producing market and the packaging sector in China is growing by 36% annually, let us all hope it goes as planned. The implications for all players in the Global Packaging Supply Chain are tremendous.
Tags: black level, colour temperature, contrast, light output, luminance uniformity, resolution, RGB colour gamut and colour gray scale, TCO Certified Projectors 1.0, TCO Image Size
Yesterday I promised all of you more information related to our latest certification TCO Certified Projectors 1.0. Today I explain the main reason to why TCO Development decided to develop TCO Certified for projectors. …..The amount of question on projectors increased– what to think about when buying a projector and how to adjust the projector to get the optimal picture were common questions. Good picture quality and low noise are key factors when choosing a projector. During our development we found:
• Product specifications presenting an extensive list of values that most people have difficulties understanding.
• Most values presented are measured with the projector set to its extreme to maximise this single value. This means that neither are the values true information nor are product specifications possible to compare.
• Trying to understand how to combine the values to choose projector for the intended use is a challenge.
We also know that some parameters need to be within a certain range to produce a high quality picture. Those are; light output, resolution, contrast, black level, luminance uniformity, colour temperature, RGB colour gamut and colour gray scale.
Another important parameter to consider when buying a projector is in what ambient lighting condition the projector will be used in. With these issues in mind we found that most users knows how big picture size they want to have and if the projector will be used for watching film or show PowerPoint’s on. The solution is TCO Image Size – the maximum area for which the projector has been tested with all important visual ergonomic criteria considered for producing a high quality picture. TCO Image Size is tested for two ambient lighting conditions office and video. With lightning condition office the room is enlightened to allow you to take notes. In lightning condition video the room is dark but not darker than you are able to get another cup of coffee without falling over you best friend.
Conclusion – when buying a projector in the future you only have to ask for TCO Image Size for office or video purpose.
Here you find more information on TCO Image Size and how TCO Certified for Projectors will support you.
Posted by Annika Overodder
Tags: first, NEC, Projectors, TCO Certified, world
Today at an NEC Nordic partner event in Saltsjöbaden, outside Stockholm, TCO Development handed over the first certificates of TCO Certified Projectors 1.0 to NEC.
We are happy to have NEC as our first customer on TCO Certified projectors. For me personally it was very rewarding to participate in the event and get positive feedback on all the work we have put in to this project for the last two years. There is more to read at our web site. will get back to all of you with more information on the products and how we hope the criterions will be useful for you when you consider buying a projector next time I am blogging!
Posted by Annika Overodder
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