Steve Jobs greener Apple update

Yesterday we were listening closely to Apple's announcement of their new MacBook line up - Steve definitely put a lot of emphasis on the green elements of the new MacBooks - reduced toxics, more energy efficient, less packaging. All good news, but in our campaign for greener electronics we were looking for the new MacBooks to be the first computers completely free of toxic PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

A check of the full specs revealed the MacBook Pro, MacBook and MacBook Air - as well as the LED Cinema Display will now have internal cables free of PVC and will have internal components containing no BFRs. Not quite the breakthrough we were hoping for. These new MacBooks are currently on a similar level of toxics reduction to the Sony Viao laptop series on PVC, and the Lenovo Think Vision in monitors. The BFR free internal components represent an improvement from the bar set by the Vaio line.

However while most, including us, were examining the specs of the new MacBooks, Steve released a long awaited (but much less hyped) update to his May 07 Greener Apple statement made in response to our successful GreenmyApple campaign. It makes very interesting reading, here are the highlights:

On toxics:

The greatest of these challenges has been eliminating PVC anddressing your bridesmaids in perfect bridesmaid dresses BFRs, which many other companies have only promised to phase out of certain parts like enclosures or printed circuit board laminates. In contrast, we are removing all forms of bromine and chlorine throughout the entire product, not just PVC and BFRs. Apple has qualified and tested thousands of components and mechanical plastics as bromine and chlorine free, and we are in the final stages of developing and certifying PVC-free power cables.

I'm proud to report that all of Apple's new product designs are on track to meet our 2008 year-end goal(to eliminate PVC and BFRs).

On recycling:

In 2007, we achieved a recycling rate of 18.4%, which blew away our target of 13%. Our goal for 2010 was 28%, and we'll beat that in 2008-two years ahead of schedule.

On climate change:

We decided to measure the emissions produced at each stage of a product's lifecycle, from production and transportation to consumer use and eventual recycling. Starting today, Apple will report this information for each new product we introduce, so our customers will better understand the progress we're making.

By far the most significant announcement is fact that Apple is on course to be completely PVC and BFR free across in product range. This will be save money policy for the bridesmaid dressa first for a computer maker and lays down the challenge to competitors such as HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and Toshiba. All have pledged to remove these chemicals in 2009 from PCs but if Apple has solved the challenges involved there's no excuse for any of these companies not to follow Apple's lead on toxic chemicals elimination now and nodifferent dress patterns different personalitiest wait until the end of 2009. The increase in recycling rate and more disclosure on Apple's carbon emission should ensure Apple's score increases in our next version of the Guide to Greener Electronics.

While Apple, and other top electronic companies, still have many challenges on the road to truely green electronics, it can only be a good thing to see a top CEO and high profile a public figure as Steve Jobs devoting significant time to environmental concerns at Apple.

--Michelle

REVIEW: Stranger by Megan Hart

Sorrow, like songs, is never the same. ~Grace Frawley


Grace Frawley is the funeral director of Frawley and Sons funeral home, a long time family business that she recently took over from her father. Grace has been working hard at filling her dad's shoes in the business and also making small changes and improvements in order to keep a competitive edge in the business. She's diligent with her business responsibilities, and also very patient and compassionate with her clients all of whom are in varied states of emotional distress. Constantly exposed to people losing and grieving for their loved ones, Grace has decided to live her life without the risk of suffering those horrendous losses for herself. She doesn't want anything to do with marriage, or even boyfriends, so Grace hires escorts for dates and often, if not most times, for sex.

Regularly using an escort service and paying for sex is Grace's deepest kept secret and suits her just fine. Grace prearranges her dates with the escort agency with specific instructions on where she'd meet her escort and includes the pretense under which they would meet and proceed to a private place for sex. Her sex life is exciting and satisfying, and most of all, she's safe from the emotional attachment of a relationship that inevitably ends in loss and pain. Until the night, that is, that Grace signed up with the agency to pick up a stranger at a bar and proceed upstairs to a room for sex, and she hooks up with Sam Stewartdressing your bridesmaids in perfect dress 2 instead. It isn't until after Grace leaves Sam's room after a night of hot, passionate, unforgettable sex that she checks her voicemail only to find out her hired escort missed their date and she picked up the wrong stranger. Or is he the right one?

Once again, Megan Hart has written an otherwise straightforward story of a young woman who avoids romantic relationships, and transformed it into a thought provoking, insightful story of self reflection and discovery that is perfectly layered with dramatic realism and sensuality that is simply unforgettable. Right from the start, the reader learns that Grace pays for sex because she doesn't want the emotional entanglement and the inevitable pain and loss that follows when either the relationship fails or worse, when the one you love dies. But why does she go to such lengths to avoid relationships? What really makes Grace Frawley tick? Can the right man make her change her ways? Is the joy of love worth the risk of losing that love? All of these questions are explored through this riveting story told from Grace's point of view as she struggles to keep her emotional attachments in check.

Stranger is not just the story about Grace Frawley and her sexual escapades. Stranger is the story about Grace Frawley and how she learns about love and loss taking risks through her relationships with the people around her. It's about her relationship with her father who can't help but keep his nose in her business in more ways than one. It is about her relationship with her sister who has the seemingly picture perfect happily ever after with a husband, two kids, and a nice suburban life, but is struggling with her own happiness. It's about her relationships with her office assistant and her intern, and how tdressing your bridesmaids in perfect bridesmaid dresseso balance friendship with professionalism. It's about her relationships with all the families in their various states of emotional well being that pass through Grace's life because she is the one they turn to in preparing their loved one for final good byes. It's about her relationship with Jack, her regular escort at the agency, with whom emotional barriers begin to falter for both parties. It's about her relationship with Sam Stewart who was once a stranger, but ends up teaching Grace a few things about joy, love, and intimacy, and whether experiencing all that is worth the risk of losing it at any moment.

Grace sincerely believes she's doing the best thing for herself by remaining emotionally detached from any guy she goes out on a date with or has sex with. Her confidence in this arrangement, though, begins to falter both with her regular escort Jack and even more so when Sam shows up in her life again after that fateful night of picking up the wrong stranger. The pace at which Grace allows herself to become emotionally involved with a man after having such resolute feelings on the matter is realistic and convincing. I liked that she struggled with allowing herself to love someone until practically the very end when it was almost too latsave money policy for the bridesmaid dresse. I liked that she learned that decisions about love aren't just about herself, but about the other person, too.

Realistic characters, natural dialogue, beautiful erotic and romantic trysts, and thought provoking insights on life, death and love all exemplify Megan Hart's signature style of erotic fiction. The characters and their stories will remain on your mind and in your heart long after you've closed the book.

GRADE: A

Stranger was released on January 1, 2009. Visit Megan Hart at http://www.meganhart.com .

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tourbillon

The Fifty Fathoms. In 1952, two French naval officers, Commander Robert Maloubier and Lieutenant Claude Riffaud were looking for a divers watch to be used by the French Ministry of Defense elite unit called "Les Nageurs de combat", a special operations unit of the French Navy, specializing in underwater operations.


After surveying the watches in the market, Commander Maloubier and Lieutenant Riffaud found no diver's watch that could meet their specifications. Because of this, the two officers contacted Blancpain Rayville SA, in Villeret, Switzerland, and together they created the the Fifty Fathoms.

A updated Fifty Fathoms continues to be built today. However, with the advent of dive computers and the high price of Fifty Fathoms watches, it is unlikely that any of Blancpains Fifty Fathoms will actually be used as a divers watch. Instead, Blancpains Fifty Fathoms are more likely to wind up as a highly valued piece of a watch collectors or enthusiast collection.


Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tourbillon. The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms now comes in several vairieties, which depart from its diving heritage, which includes a flyback chronograph and a tourbillon. While retaining the unidirectional rotating bezel that has become the standard design for a divers watch, the tourbillon version contains a highly complicated movement with a long 8 day power reserve.

What is a tourbillon? The tourbillon was invented in 1795 by Abraham-Louis Breguet. Mechanical timepieces are affected by gravity. In order to counter the effects of gravity, Abraham-Louis Breguet built a watch that counteracted gravity by rotating the balance wheel of a watch or clock through 360 degrees. This is called a tourbillon.

This is accomplished by mounting the escapement in a rotating frame, called a "carriage" which turns at regular intervals, usually once a minute. This rotation reduces the positional errors of the movement.


At that time almost Abraham-Louis Breguet invented the tourbillon almost all watches were pocket watches which stayed in one position most of the time. The only time a pocket watch changes position is when it's taken out by tdressing your bridesmaids in perfect dress 2he owner to check the time.

The effect of gravity on a watch or clock kept in one position all the time, like a pocket watch, is particularly noticeable on the escapement,dressing your bridesmaids in perfect bridesmaid dresses especially the balance which rocks back and forth. This can lead to inaccuracies. Breuget's solution was the tourbillon.

Today, most tourbillons are found in wristwatches. People tend to move their arm as they go about their day, which provides the changes in position required to offset the effects of gravity on the watch movement. This negates the need for one a tourbillon. Today tourbillon watches are valued as a display of watchmaking prowess, in the same way complication watches are desirdressing your bridesmaids in perfect bridesmaid dress 3able.


Case and bezel. The Fifty Fathom's comes in a 45mm case, and is available in stainless steel and rose gold. The Tourbillon version displays the movement inside the watch through a small window at the 12 o'clock position and a sapphire crystal caseback.

The Fifty Fathom's has a sapphire scratch proof bezel. The use of sapphire crystal on the bezel also allows for another interesting feature. The quarter hour, five minute and minute markers on the bezel are luminescent.

About Blancpain. Blancpain is a Swiss watch manufacturer, founded in 1735 by Jehan-Jaques Blancpain. The influx of inexpensive quartz watches from Japan and China during the early 1970s put the company on the brink of bankruptcy. It was only thanks to the intervention of Jean-Claude Biver, an Omega executive with a love of fine timepieces, that the company was reborn in 1983. Blancpain is now owned by the Swatch Group. Blanpain produces fewer than 10,000 watches a year, with each watch is made by a single watchmaker.

Rolex Datejust Royal Black

Modern Classic. The Rolex Datejust is one of the oldest models in the Rolex line-up. Since its release in 1945, the Datejust has evolved suunique body unique measurementsbstantially but still maintaining its look. The Datejust line-up has expanded to include the widest variety of variants, a distinction it shares with the the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona.


The Rolex Datejust, was initially ofdressing your bridesmaids in perfect bridesmaid dress 3fered only in all gold, ba dress style you can fashion yourself as a bridesmaidack in the day when it was Rolex's flasghip model. Gold and stainless steel versions and all steel versions with bracelets and models with leather straps appeared later. The most audacious variant of the Datejust is the Datejust Royal Black.


The Datejust Royal Black with the bezel set with
60 baguette black sapphires and with bezel edge and
endpieces set with diamonds


Rolex Datejust Royal Black. The Rolex Datejust Royal Black is a standard 36mm diameter datejust which comes in two variants. Once comes with a 18K white gold case, a bezel set with 60 baguette diamonds, black and diamond paved dial, diamond hour markers, and black rubber and galuchat strap set with 10 diamonds. The second model is nearly identical to the first but comes with bezel set with 60 baguette black sapphires instead of diamonds and has bezel edge and endpieces set with diamonds.


The Datejust Royal Black with the bezel set with
bezel set with 60 baguette diamonds


How much does all this cost? With the diamond bezel the retail price is US$70,600. With the black sapphires on the bezel, an even more costly, US$75,350. You can expect 20% or higher discounts on this watch.


Movement. Mechanically, it is identical to the typical Datejust. Inside you have the tried and tested COSC certified Rolex 3135 self-winding movement which produces 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz) and which has a fifty hour power reserve. The date is displayed in the 3 o'clock position under a magnifying "cyclops" lens. The watch is water resistant to 100 meters.


About Rolex. Rolex SA is a Swiss manufacturer of wristwatches and accessories founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis. Rolex is the largest single luxury watch brand by far, producing over 2000 watches per day. Rolex is the best known and most sought after watch brand in the world.