Which is why we in the end are forced to rely on outside services for our gadget-recycling needs, but in case you’re really wondering “why should I recycle it, I’ve got a perfectly good garbage bin right here,” hold up and think. While gadgets are relatively self-contained little devices, they can, and oft times do, use potentially harmful chemical and non-chemical components that, when discarded in say a landfill, can leak into the surrounding environment and do quite a bit of damage.

In addition, when recycling gadgets many expensive parts and minerals can be re-collected and reused, cutting down on production costs and material use  and in the long run not only helping the environment, but saving you money. 

But every company- and every gadget- is different. Some major companies like Apple and Dell have programs for re-collecting old computers, while for smaller gadgets the best way to recycle is to look for community electronics and equipment disposals. Apple has even begun reusing old components in their newest line of “green” MacBooks. Many times local dumps even have specials days for disposing of your old gadgets. But one good guide to recycling comes from Wired.com, with a list of how and where to get rid of certain gadgets and how. 

So do a little eco-thinking next time you have an old phone or MP3 player- or any old gizmo- to get rid of. The environment will thank you.

It is the age of touch-screen everything, brought to its culmination in the ever popular iPhone, so it was only a matter of time before the personal touch-screen computer evolved. One example of this type of innovation has come into its own in the ASUS Convertible Eee PC T91. This exceptional model of PC was made specifically to bring the touchscreen feature to the masses.

Unveiled at the 2009 CES, the T91 is labeled as a “multi touch notebook” and features, among other things, a swivel frame, 8.9” LED backlight, is about 1” thick and weighs only 2lbs. As far as tablet PCs go, this one is well designed, but the T91 doesn’t aim to be the biggest and best, instead its target audience is young students who lack the fund for larger, more mainstream laptops like Apple’s mecca of MacBooks. In this vein the T91 is equipped with an optional TV tuner, swivel frame, GPS system, and Windows XP Home. With all this the laptop can easily become a home theatre of navigation system at the drop of a hat, and weighing only 2lbs, is easily transported from home to school, something that can become a chore with conventional laptops.

As a student myself the price and the features of the T91 are appealing. I find myself more and more in need of my computer as a home theatre, especially with friends, and let’s not forget the joys of a touch screen, helping me surf quicker and find files easier. Not to mention the up-and-coming popularity of the tablet PC. 

Powered by an Intel Atom Z520 processor, this little jem from the Taiwanese computer company will be sold mainly in the UK, Europe and Asia, and while catering for students the estimated price is expected around $500- something I can certainly live with. My only question is, will it play my iTunes?

What makes me confident in the T91 is the number of names behind it such as Windows and Intel. While ASUS may be a foreign name to consumers, man can count on the company’s counterparts to bring them into the purchase. As a student I can also attest to the appeal of the sleek little tablet-computer, good for entertainment and at a price that’s just right. Now we’ll just have to see how it rates on the Green Electronics scale.

The omission makes sense, really. If you’re all about portability and compactness (but don’t want the tiny screen of a smart phone) you probably aren’t carrying around a stack of data DVDs, so who needs an optical drive to access them? However, if your UMPC does everything else you need it to do, it does seem a little weird to have it be unable to play that discount DVD you found in a bargain bin during some down time on a business trip. The thing is, there’s another reason to not have an optical drive.

That problem is power consumption.

When Sony’s PSP (PlayStation Portable) first came out, all those years ago, one of the things it did which its competitor’s didn’t was include an optical drive–it was a UMD drive. The Universal Media Disc was yet another attempt by Sony to establish a new media format that they could control. Too young to remember Betamax? Perhaps the failure of the MiniDisc is more fresh in your mind? On top of those two bombs, Sony Memory Sticks aren’t exactly being used by, well, anyone aside from Sony. Still, the UMD drive was in the PSP–and everyone complained about it.

The problem? Any time you have a moving part, you’re going to draw more battery power to move that part. The UMD drive helped run the PSP’s batteries dry that much faster. So, logically, an optical drive on a UMPC would be an equally bad idea. While the Vye S37′s official product page doesn’t mention battery life, specifically, a review of the UMPC the S37 is based on (the SR8KPO6S–catchy name!) over at WindowsForDevices.com claims that the 3-cell battery the S37 comes with can survive for 3.5 hours while the 6-cell battery (both batteries come with each S37) will keep you going for 7.2 hours.

That said, one can’t help but wonder how much longer each battery would last without that damn optical drive on there.

The Vye S37 is available now for around $1300.

All things considered, a program that offers such a myriad of measurements may suggest a cumbersome interface, after all there are 17 categories alone from which you can select a multitude of different units. Those categories are: Area, Clothing, Currency, Data Storage, Energy, Flow, Fuel Consumption, Kitchen, Length, Power, Pressure, Speed, Temperature, Time, Torque, Volume, and Mass. However, this program offers a simple, streamlined approach. From the main screen you select a category from a list (which also offers easy to identify icons), then a unit to convert from and a unit to convert to. At the base of the main screen is your standard calculator interface from which you enter the amount you want converted. There is even a sliding scale for precision, which adjusts how many decimal places you want the conversion to be accurate to.

Now, I know it’s difficult to get excited over such a simple utility, but that’s the greatest strength of such an application: its simplicity, which adds to it’s practicality. Though it may not be an exciting game, it is very handy. And who knows, maybe it’ll settle a few bar bets too.