GigaOm discusses Apple’s recent announcement of Steve Jobs not keynoting the next MacWorld, and the jan 2009 event being the last MacWolrd for Apple.

The End of Macworld

Om Malik | Wednesday, December 17, 2008 | 3:00 PM PT | 9 comments

Yesterday, the world was abuzz over the news that Apple was pulling out of Macworld. While many were taken aback, as the publication Macworld (no affiliation with the show) notes, Apple has been backing away from trade shows for a few years already, among them the Apple Expo, in Paris, whose 2009 show has now reportedly been canceled.

In fact, the latest move, which led to further speculation about the health of CEO Steve Jobs and helped push Apple’s stock down some 6.5 percent today, is a sign of how the world of technology is changing. With virtually every technology service and product a mere click away, live video streams that allow people to watch events in real time — and liveblogging for those that want to read about them — trade shows are a relic of the past, like pinups from the 1940s.

Conferences are battling the green movement and recession to cut costs, and it is a sign of the times when Apple decides to end its biggest party/event for Mac Lovers. I’ve been to plenty MacWorld’s as I joined Apple in 1985, and even when working for Microsoft I went to MacWorld..

But, after 25 years does Apple need to be the main draw for a social event?

I’m stunned that Apple has taken a 25-year-old event that has been the single best meeting place for the entire community of users and vendors of Apple-related products and treated it like a piece of garbage stuck to the bottom of its shoe. (hat tip to Daring Fireball)

Knowing how Jobs thinks, I am sure he has other plans for what to do with his money and resources that would work on MacWorld events.  Jobs also isn’t forced to do product announcements in January.  In a Web 2.0 world why be constrained to an annual event?  Talk about a bad product planning.  You hold up your Xmas sales as people anticipate new models being introduced at MacWorld. Then you try and sell them the new stuff after they spent their money at Xmas.

This may have worked during better times, but during a recession, Apple needs to be in tune with consumer spending habits.

In Economist Technology Quarterly, there is an article about Telecom’s saving energy.  According to the article, Telecom networking and devices comprise 1% of the global greenhouse-gas emissions.

Technology Quarterly

Monitor

How green is your network?

Dec 4th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Environment: Telecoms firms are reducing the power consumption of their networks, for economic and environmental reasons

Illustration by Belle Mellor

LIKE many other industries, the telecoms industry is increasingly worried about its energy consumption and the associated carbon footprint. This is not just because rising energy prices have made it more expensive to run telecoms networks; it is also because telecoms networks and devices account for nearly 1% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, and the industry wants to avoid criticism from green campaigners. Unlike many other firms, however, telecoms operators find their carbon footprints quite easy to work out. That is because their footprints are dominated by one thing: running their networks.

Why? Ericsson says 1/2 their operating cost is electricity.

Typically, around half of the operating expenditure of a network company goes on electricity, according to Ericsson, a leading telecoms-equipment manufacturer. The proportion tends to be higher for operators in the developing world because their base-stations may be in remote areas, and therefore require diesel-fuelled generators. So the recent spike in energy prices has prompted operators to look for ways to cut costs. “The operators are feeling it,” says Elaine Weidman, Ericsson’s director of corporate responsibility.

Their energy tips are common sense.

Fortunately there are some relatively simple ways to reduce the energy consumption of a base-station. The first is to turn down the air-conditioning. Many mobile operators now run base-stations at a standard temperature of 35ºC, rather than the previous norm of 25-30ºC. Studies show that the higher temperature does not reduce the equipment’s reliability or life expectancy. “The biggest restriction is actually our technicians, who do not like going into the hut to work at 35 degrees,” says Andy MacLeod, Vodafone’s global networks director.

Operating at this temperature means ambient air can be used for cooling, even in hot countries. An air-filter is installed on one side of the cabin, and a fan is installed on the other, resulting in a steady flow of air. Vodafone plans to replace air-conditioning with this simpler approach, called “freecooling”, in the majority of its base-stations over the next three years, as part of a plan to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% between 2006 and 2020.

Other energy-saving tips are even simpler. In many hot countries, telecoms firms paint the exterior of base-stations white to deflect the sun. Another power-saving measure is to turn off base-stations completely when they are not busy. In densely populated areas, many base-stations are installed to boost the network’s capacity, rather than to provide essential coverage. In quiet periods when there are fewer calls to handle, such as the middle of the night, some base-stations can be turned off. A further trick is to redesign the base-station to make it more energy-efficient. A technique called “remote radio-head” involves shifting radio equipment from the cabin to the top of the mast, where it is cooled naturally.

Verizon has even specified energy efficiency savings in devices.

The same problem also affects fixed-line telecoms networks, as broadband infrastructure is upgraded from copper wires to optical fibres and new equipment is installed to handle larger volumes of data. Verizon, a big American operator which is deploying a high-speed fibre network in several regions, has asked equipment-makers to build gear that requires less power. A poll carried out by Verizon found that most of its suppliers thought they would be able to reduce power consumption in new equipment by 10-15% without loss of performance. It has set a goal of 20% for equipment being installed from 2009, says Chuck Graff, Verizon’s director of network technology.

WSJ has an article about HP’s decision to offer greener batteries from Boston Power.

Battery Deal Takes On Green Hue

Boston Power's Devices for Laptop Maker H-P Won't Be Replaced as Often

By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY

A small Boston-area company backed by venture capitalists won a contract from Hewlett-Packard Co. to make batteries that will be sold as so-called green power supplies for laptop computers.

The contract awarded to Boston Power Co. marks a rare inroad for a U.S. company in the rechargeable-battery business for consumer electronics. Japan's Sony Corp., Sanyo Electric Co. and Panasonic Corp. dominate the world-wide market.

Boston Power, based in Westborough, Mass., says its batteries can be recharged to full capacity more than 1,000 times -- three to four times as often as current batteries, which lose their recharging capability after 250 or so charges. The company says that means its batteries won't be replaced as often, reducing the number of batteries in landfills. H-P, the laptop-market leader, is providing a three-year warranty on the batteries, which it calls the "Enviro" line. That is triple the typical lithium-ion battery warranty.

The market test is whether users will pay more for a battery that lasts longer.

H-P said it expects to charge $20 to $30 more for the Enviro batteries than current replacement batteries, which typically cost $100 to $160. Shipments are to start early next year.

News.com has an article discussing Dell’s data center sales wins with Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Akamai, and Baidu.

Dell racks up Microsoft as data center customer

Posted by Ina Fried

When it comes to picking a spot for a data center, Google and Microsoft often have the same sites in mind. But when it comes to how they build, the two companies take far different approaches.

Google relies largely on its own design expertise, contracting for and building its own server designs. Microsoft, meanwhile, relies on outside companies to build the hardware, though it certainly takes an active role in designing the centers themselves.

A custom Dell server known as Xanadu built for an unnamed data center customer.

(Credit: Dell)

Dell is one of the companies that helps power Microsoft's server farms, including the ones that power Microsoft's operating system in the cloud, Windows Azure.

Data centers have been a bright spot for Dell, which has struggled in recent years. On its own, Dell's data center business would be a top 5 server vendor, said Forrest Norrod, the Dell vice president who heads its data center effort. In its most recent earnings conference call, CEO Michael Dell called out Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Akamai, and Baidu as key customers in that arena.

What did Dell do?  They listened to the customers and designed for customer’s environment and requirements.

It turned out that customers at the highest end didn't really need some of the hallmarks of Dell's servers. Built-in management code and redundancy might appeal to the average business, but to a customer that expects to burn through their servers, such features are costly and unnecessary.

Meanwhile, other features like extreme power efficiency and density were the things that companies would pay a premium to get.

And they reprioritized features.

It turns out there are a lot of things you don't need when building a server that is going to go in one of these data centers. For example, expansion ports are definitely out, as are legacy I/O ports. Memory slots need to be limited to the minimum necessary (and then kept full so they don't change the thermodynamics).

Instead of redundant fans or power supplies, Norrod said, Dell learned what customers really needed was one good one, since a system wasn't likely to be touched until it failed, at which time it would be replaced.

Dell saved energy and eliminated waste.  Sounds Green to me.

IJust saw the new Apple ads for Greenest Family of Notebooks

Here is the Apple url http://www.apple.com/mac/green-notebooks/

The highly recyclable, even more energy efficient MacBook family has been designed with the environment in mind.

When we redesigned the new Macbook, our designers and engineers set a goal of making not only the greenest notebook Apple ever produced, but the greenest family of notebooks. So every new Macbook has been built using materials that are highly recyclable and free of many harmful substances present in other computers. Apple engineers also designed the software and hardware to work together, in order to maximize energy efficiency and minimize the carbon footprint of the MacBook. Even the packaging was reconsidered and reduced, so there would be smaller boxes to ship and less material to recycle. The result is exactly what we hoped for: the greenest family of notebooks ever made.

Google says it has the most efficient data centers.

Apple says it has the greenest family of notebooks.

Who is next?

Who has the Greenest Software?  I bet you Apple will claim their OS while Microsoft spends on its Vista ads.