power consumption

Apple's iPad costs precious little for you to charge it each year, according to a new study.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) conducted a study recently to see how much the iPad costs in electricity if users fully charge it every other day. The research agency, which is funded by electric power companies, found that the iPad will cost owners $1.36 a year, thanks to its consumption of just 12 kWh of electricity each year.

The EPRI assumed that there are now 67 million iPads in the world and applied the average energy use to each device … Read more

Sony is looking to revolutionize the inefficient way in which we consume power.

A new concept video from the electronics giant shows how we could use power more efficiently in the year 2030 by switching to smart outlets with authentication and wireless charging on a broad scale, assuming we survive the zombie Mayan apocalypse.

The prototype power outlet, integrated with a short-range wireless FeliCa transmitter (and a new RFID over power line technology), allows the user to swipe a pay card across the faceplate and pay for energy on the spot. What makes it truly interesting is if humankind keeps progressing towards alternative energies (such as wind, solar, and biomass), then our outlets could give us options as to what source from which we obtain our power. The video description notes that with this outlet, "the user can actively control and manage power consumption on a user basis as well as on a device basis." … Read more

Perhaps you are aware that we conduct power consumption testing across a number of review categories.

David Katzmaier started it with TV reviews in 2006. We rolled it out to desktops, laptops, and monitors in 2009. At least for most desktops, measuring power consumption no longer makes sense. So we're going to stop.

I wish we'd started testing energy usage on desktops earlier, particularly with Intel's old power hog Pentium D chips. The problem is Moore's Law. Intel's Sandy Bridge chips (sorry, "second-generation Core") are too damn efficient. They're also pretty much everywhere.

The result is that our power draw tests aren't all that interesting anymore for mainstream PCs. The chart below helps illustrate the point.… Read more

A semiconductor start-up has emerged from stealth mode with designs on making processors more power-efficient.

Silicon Valley-based SuVolta is launching today with its PowerShrink low-power platform. The company claims that PowerShrink helps to reduce chip power consumption by 50 percent or more without causing any deterioration in a device's performance.

To achieve such power efficiency, SuVolta addresses "electrical variation of the millions of transistors on a chip." As processors become smaller, transistors require different voltage levels to operate. Those different levels cause power leakage, lending to reduced power efficiency. With SuVolta's technology in place, chipmakers can … Read more

After some real-world tests, Microsoft has concluded IE9 is the most energy-efficient of the major browsers on the market.

Microsoft compared its new browser with Opera 11, Firefox 4, Chrome 10, and Safari 5 on an Intel laptop, measuring how many watts the machine consumed with the browser idling, showing a news site, and running graphics-intensive Web tests.

The upshot: IE9 is the most efficient in the test, meaning it'll take the smallest toll on the battery.

"We hope and encourage the industry and other browser vendors to follow us on the path to a more power efficient … Read more

If you've recently purchased a new Blu-ray player, there's a decent chance it has a "Quick Start" mode promising faster boot-up speeds, as low as 5 seconds. The only problem is that quick-start modes always mean increased power consumption, and without an accurate power meter, it's tough to tell whether or not faster start-up speeds are worth the extra juice. We've had a chance to test a couple 2010 models with quick-start modes (and several without), and we have a good sense of exactly how much quick start will cost you.

The short answer … Read more

Surprisingly few people get to see what goes on inside the glass-walled CNET New York Labs, which is where our editors and Labs team test desktop and laptop computers.

To help keep you in the loop about how systems are benchmarked, field-tested, and reviewed, we've decided to throw the Labs' doors open for a rare tour, and allow a CNET TV crew to get a behind-the-scenes peek at what we do every day.

For the PC review process, we start with new systems getting shipped to the Labs, look at the setup and benchmarking requirements for desktops and laptops, … Read more

Many companies are investing in the green market by creating energy efficient appliances, but those new devices tend to be pricey. Besides, why replace something that still works? Tenrehte Technologies, a start-up located in Rochester, NY and Austin, TX, would like to help people reduce the power consumption of products they already own.

PICOwatt, Tenrehte's first product, allows consumers to turn off any appliance with just a few clicks. Appliances plugged into the device are controlled by the consumer via Wi-Fi. Energy usage, timers, and power are all controlled with a smartphone or computer. For example, instead of using … Read more

Eric's finally going Horde. With Blizzard's recent announcement that it will allow faction changes in the World of Warcraft, Eric is seeing this as an opportunity to inject some excitement back into the game. Dong, of course, disagrees.

Then we awkwardly inject some technology into the episode with discussions about wireless router stress testing and GamutVision.

Finally, some dating advice for our loyal readers. Don't say we never did anything for you.

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our main page and click the podcast link on the right. Don't forget to leave us … Read more