Green Goods

After watching a Frontline episode about the state of water quality, I decided I needed to put more action to my thoughts and begin to revamp how I live my life, so I have been changing over to some of the new 'green' products on the market. These products fill a new and rapidly increasing market, and I have heard that some "don't do anything" and some are the next best thing. So, I thought I'd take you along on my journey by sharing my experiences with the products I have been using.

Most of these are being bought as I run out of other things, so it is in a fairly random order. Also, we all know about CFLs, and we all should be using them, so I won't bother to beat that subject to death. (Although I await consumer LED lamps with bated breath...)

Sturdi® Degradables
These trash bags come in your normal kitchen-size as well as ubiquitous black trash bag and lawn/leaf. They claim to be 100% degradable, as in, they will break down over time, mostly due to interaction with light. Not quite as cool as fully biodegradable bags would be, but a step in the right direction. These bags don't have any of those fancy 'technologies' of the bigger brands, but they are just as robust as any other trash bag I've ever used.
My rating: 5/5

TerraCycle™ All Purpose Cleaner
A great product from a great company. This cleaner works great for every day use, and is completely non-toxic and packaged in what they call "waste-stream" packaging. Essentially, your bottle of cleaner once was a liter bottle of something else, and the spray cap was a spray cap to something else as well. I have been using this to clean sticky messes up off my kitchen counter (non-toxic, remember?), and it works great, especially if you give it about 10 seconds to soak for a big mess. For example, the very first thing I used it on was a big gob of honey that had spilled down the side of my honey jar and coalesced on the counter. Being a chore to clean up, it sat there for 2-3 days (I know, I know). First I sprayed cleaner on and tried to wipe immediately to limited success, but then I sprayed a bit on, let it sit for about 15 seconds, and wiped the whole mess up with my (biodegradable) sponge in one go. The only downside is that, like other cleaners, it doesn't smell so great, but at least it isn't caustic-bleach-smell. This company also offers a bathroom cleaner that I have not yet tried.
My rating: 5/5

Scotch-Brite™ biodegradable absorbent sponges
I got these sponges to lessen the amount of paper towels I use. They pretty much seem like your average traditional sponge, except that, being made from recycled paper, they will biodegrade once I throw them away. I have found them to be dead useful, and even if they start to break apart a little sooner than their cousins (which they do), I personally don't want to keep a sponge for years anyway. You can find the whole range of products here. I have only used the above-mentioned sponges, but I plan on using the others as well.
My rating: 4/5


Ecos Free & Clear Liquid Laundry Detergent
After being a long-time Tide user, I've switched over to this detergent. I chose the free & clear version with no dyes or scents, since I think both of those are superfluous in something you are going to pour down the drain. (I don't buy detergent to look at or smell...) So far it has been working great, even on my work-shirts that get various grime, grease and dirt on them. I was always a fan of the 'bleach-alternative' Tide products, so my only disappointment is the slightly reduced function on bad stains. However, since these are probably in the minority of your laundry, grab a stain stick or spray and you should be set to go.
My rating: 4/5


Method® gel hand wash refill
Again, I chose the 'free of dyes + perfumes' (a.k.a. 'go naked') version for basically the same reason as above. Also, though, I didn't like the two other scents that were available at that particular retailer. This soap is everything you expect from a soap, and is not antibacterial, which, if you are not in a hospital, clinic, or nursing home, you probably don't need. It's another topic, but antibacterial soaps are a very, very bad thing, so trust me here. The refills also come in these sweet pouches that the manufacturer claims allows an "83% savings in plastic, water + energy." I'm all for it.
My rating: 5/5


Method® all surface wipes
Same 'go naked' version as the soap above. I like the advent of these cleaning wipes, and now I can get them in a greener version. Generally, it is better to use a reusable cloth and a bottle of spray, but sometimes you have something to clean up that you'd rather not keep around, or you need the portability the wipes offer. And at least these are "compostable" and made with eco-friendly cleaning agents. The wipes are made from bamboo, and the packaging is also minimized. Sometimes the lid can leak air a little, though, causing your wipes to begin to dry out, so make sure you snap it tight, or maybe put the bag inside another bag for long-term storage.
My rating: 4/5

That's all for now. I have a few other things I am currently using, and I plan on continuing to pursue these products further, so I will have more suggestions and reviews later on. Let me know what you think or suggest other products for me to try by leaving a comment.


Note: I have not, in any way, been reimbursed for any of these reviews by any company or person. These are purely my opinions. All product names are registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers.

Xybernaut MA-V

I recently bought a Xybernaut MA-V wearable computer off eBay, and I am working on building a wearable computer interface for everyday use. My aim is to have a wearable computer with the following capabilities:

• Monocular Head-mounted Display (HMD)
• Voice-activated functionality
• Go-anywhere web access
• Bluetooth, and functionality to tie in your cell phone while wearing the device, so that you can make/receive calls, send SMS and MMS and whatnot all from the device
• Integrated camera(s) to capture what you are seeing. Also: low-light vision (thinking IR illumination right now, versus 'real' night vision), infrared, ultraviolet, 'full-spectrum'
• A simple interface built specifically for it's purposes. Lots of voice interaction and keyboard shortcuts (for my wrist-mounted keyboard).

Some of those (general) aims are long-term, and some are shorter. (E.g. I won't be affording FLIR anytime soon.) Other functionality thoughts I will be pursuing follow:

• Advanced pattern recognition via the mounted camera. This is your classic sci-fi case of recognizing faces of people you know and offering additional information automatically. I will be pursuing smaller things first, as I am no genius AI programmer. For example, I have considered those apps that recognize UPC barcodes. With that, you could be looking at a package of something in a store and be offered additional information, such as prices at other retailers/online, manufacturer information, reviews, etc.
  
• GPS. With the above, you could combine these to create a function that gives you the menu, hours, and phone number of the restaurant you just looked at (pattern-recognition on sign, plus gps location, plus google maps/earth). You could also tweet a thought, a picture of what you are seeing, and your exact location at the time ("Look at that great sunset.").
• Enhanced memory/knowledge. E.g.: Storage of the video footage from the mounted camera for the past X amount of time.. allows 'instant-replay' functionality for your life, basically. You could also save something you just saw for later reference or for posting online. E.g.: Built in and quick access to reference materials, like Wikipedia, dictionaries, ebooks, etc. That way, when Harriet Bosse comes up in conversation, you know exactly who people are talking about.
• Enhanced vision. As stated above, I would like to implement various camera systems, including low-light vision, infrared, ultraviolet, 'full-spectrum,' etc. The added insights into the world around you gained by these additional filters would be interesting, at the least. It's difficult to even speculate, but imagine seeing temperatures around you. It's a type of ambient computing that I believe would be valuable. Digital zooming would also be very useful.
  

These are just the beginning, and as I progress through this project I expect my aims and goals to evolve. If you have ideas, feel free to leave a comment.

The MA-V came preloaded with Windows 2000, but the only preloaded software (other than the OS package) was a battery meter, which is easily replaced. I asked friends for suggestions for a small Linux distribution, which led me to Damn Small Linux (DSL). It looks like a great distro for my project, so in the coming days I will be testing it out, and I will continue updating you on my progress on this project.