Articles by Jerome Woody

The Day the Earth Stood Still trailer

Cool trailer. The Day the Earth Stood Still is one of the better disaster movies to come out this year. Keanu Reeves’ cold logic about solving Earth’s problems is bone-chilling.

Actor touts renewable energy 30 years ago

I wanted to post this before editorial found it, because when I see something this cool, I like to plant my flag on it. The following is a segment from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s program "Marketplace," back in 1978. To repeat: Nineteen. Seventy. Eight.

Wal-Mart discontinues selling green PC in stores

Remember the gPC? It's Everex's $199 "green" Linux computer, the one Wal-Mart stocked up on during the last holiday season. Well, it seems the "experiment" is over, with an unsatisfied Wal-Mart putting those famous price-cutting scissors on their plan to sell the cheap PC in their stores.

According to the AP, Wal-Mart concluded that their middle-American consumer base was not hip to the gPC's Linux-based operating system. However, seeing the appeal of the computer to a more geeky clientele, Wal-Mart will continue to sell it on their website.

Why should anyone care? Far as I know, this was the first mass production of consumer electronics with some green features (low power consumption -- not enough to make it completely green, but a start).

I know what you're thinking: "If it's just the OS they didn't like, why not slap Microsoft Windows on it?" Trust me on this: putting Windows on a green computer is not a good idea.

Wind-powered autonomous artificial life

A friend of mine showed me this video last weekend, and I just wanted to show you all how freaking cool it is. It's a ongoing work of Dutch artist Theo Jansen, who's literally creating artificial creatures that can move on their own and survive autonomously on a beach. Wind-powered and updated using simulated genetic evolution ... well, just look!