About Contact Archives Photos Videos Calendar Shop
December 4, 2008

Computer Startup Focuses On Saving Energy

Frank Gruber 1 Comments »
You may not realize it but your desktop computer is probably a energy hog. Laptops usually are more energy efficient due to their small size and need to save battery power while on the go but desktop computers do not have these same interests. I recently met the founders of a computer startup looking to address the energy saving desktop niche by creating a couple of different computers that save a considerable amount of energy lessening it footprint on the environment. I recently got a chance to talk with a startup from Raliegh, North Caroline called Burr Technologies. Co-founder Aaron Milano tells the Burr Technologies story and shows off its line of energy saving computers on episode 60 on SOMEWHAT FRANK in the video above.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

December 1, 2008

WeAddUp.com Draws Attention To Green Causes

Frank Gruber 1 Comments »
Carpooling, sharing a shower or buying a hybrid are all causes that could help stop climate change. We Add Up is a company looking to help draw attention to ways to help stop climate change by creating products (mainly tee shirts) tied to a pledge to take action. Each person that makes a pledge for a particular cause is assigned a unique number and it is printed on your tee shirt, tote or other product. The number represents the number of people currently supporting a cause. I reviewed We Add Up previously back in May 2008 but I recently got a chance to talk with We Add Up Co-founder Jill Palermo (of the mother daughter duo) in episode 59 on SOMEWHAT FRANK. You can watch the two minute video interview as Jill explains WeAddUp (above).

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

November 11, 2008

Eco-Friendly Tech at the Green Festival in DC

Frank Gruber 0 Comments »
The Green Festival came to Washington, D.C. this past weekend and I decided to check it out in search of innovative new eco-friendly personal technology gadgets and gizmos. There were a number of products and services at the event and I decided to capture a few of them and stream them live to the Web via Flixwagon and have posted them in this article. I also took some photos at the event.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

October 24, 2008

Wattzon: A Personalized Energy Tracker

Frank Gruber 0 Comments »
"It's gettin' hot in herre, so take off all your clothes." from the popular Nelly song, Hot In Herre WattzOn Rather than shed all your clothes you might want to first determine why it is getting so hot in here - on the planet Earth. Climate change is definitely something that has take center stage as the Earth is heating up. But we all can help to lessen our individual impact on climate change. Something as simple as unplugging your coffeemaker or toaster after use can help to save energy and reduce your negative impact on climate change. I find it is difficult to measure the various things I am doing to impact climate change. WattzOn recently launched to create tools to help us all determine our energy consumption.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

October 13, 2008

21 Hour TECH cocktail Day

Frank Gruber 1 Comments »
I have been co-hosting TECH cocktail events in local technology communities for over two and a half years now. In that time I have hosted events in Boulder, Boston, D.C. and Chicago. Recently, we hosted our first event on a college campus by hitting the road and heading down to the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana for a "Big Ten Conference" style event which I mentioned previously. It was a lot of fun but it was a LONG day.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

September 8, 2008

Video: Cool Globes & Ideas For A Cooler Planet

Frank Gruber 2 Comments »
With the melting of the polar ice caps due to global warming, raising awareness of actionable items to combat the problem has become a top priority. Technology has played a role in this global warming and we all can do little things to help make sure the planet stays just a little cooler. Cool Globes is a non-profit organization that aims to help raise awareness by rallying local, national and international artists to create "cool" globes depicting potential ways to cool the planet. I recently visited the Cool Globes exhibit as it traveled to Washington, DC and created video episode 44 for SOMEWHAT FRANK. Check out the video (below) showcasing the Cool Globes project. Also check out these photos from my Cool Globes visit.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

June 5, 2008

DOPPLR Estimates Your Carbon Footprint

Frank Gruber 0 Comments »
If you are a heavy traveler you might not realize it but every time you take an airplane flight you drastically negatively affect your carbon footprint on the environment. In an effort to make travels aware of this very fact, traveling social network Dopplr has teamed with AMEE to calculate your carbon footprint. By investigating past and current trips logged in Dopplr your CO2 emissions are posted on a seperate tab. Users can then contribute their number to the rest of the community or keep it private. I have included an example of the output carbon emissions below.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

May 19, 2008

WE ADD UP T-Shirts Count Your Green Efforts

Frank Gruber 1 Comments »
What are you doing to help combat global warming? WE ADD UP looks to help you answer this very question by making it easier to make it blatantly clear on a t-shirt. We Add Up is counting each and every person that takes a green pledge which includes twenty plus different options from buying a hybrid to showering together. WE ADD UP puts a hand printed number on each shirt that helps to count identify your number in the global count. WE ADD UP prints its shirts on organic t-shirts.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

April 22, 2008

Sungevity: Solar Power Made Easy

Frank Gruber 2 Comments »
Looking to do something to help the environment on Earth Day? Why not try adding solar panels to your home? Sungevity, a Berkeley-based startup, is looking to help make the process of adding solar powered panels to your home as easy as putting in your address and identifying your home on a map.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

April 22, 2008

First Bloom Helps Replant Trees on Earth Day

Jen Consalvo 0 Comments »
"The environment is where we all meet; where all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become." —Lady Bird Johnson

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

March 25, 2008

emPivot: YouTube For Green Videos

Frank Gruber 1 Comments »
With the melting of the polar ice caps a lot more focus has been placed on the environment lately. Going green has been a popular topic, one that I have written about before as I compiled a list of green Web 2.0 sites. Well, I just found another worth taking a look at in emPivot. emPivot, a Washinton, DC based startup, is like YouTube for "Green" videos as it offers a video sharing site specifically for "Green" media.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

November 28, 2007

Google Aims To Save The Planet: Surprised?

Frank Gruber 1 Comments »
Google announced today that they will be looking to get into trying to save the planet by announcing a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. I happy to see Google is taking such a stance and it makes me wonder what will Google do next. In the last week alone Google has announced they are making broadband switches, going to be offering a TV-related product soon, releasing a mobile phone platform soon and a Google Magazine was even spotted in print in China. It is a pretty amazing to think that a single textbox search engine could come to create such a diverse list of products.

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

September 15, 2007

Do You Do Good With E-Waste?

Frank Gruber 0 Comments »
With Apple putting out iPods and other products out every quarter it inevitable that you will want to get rid of some of your old electronic equipment or e-waste. What do you do with your old electronics? Good question right. Well, you can recycle it - what else can you do?

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

July 29, 2007

The Magic Touch Of Technology

Frank Gruber 0 Comments »
Technology can make life so much easier. Where would we be without the advancements in technology? Computer and wireless technologies have taken off in the last few decades helping to facilitate a wave of innovation in the space. However, advancements in technology have a price many of us are not...

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It

March 15, 2007

Go Green Web 2.0 Style

Frank Gruber 12 Comments »
As scientists recently drafted a report that describes a dire outlook for planet Earth, the effects of global warming on the planet have literally been a hot topic (no pun intended) and even made a recent stop at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. However, there are a number of environmental...

Read The Rest Of This Article

Sphere It