Google goes black

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Lovers of the achromatic color of maximum darkness, be acquainted to your new search engine! 

A new website has turned Google's white screen black in a bid to do its bit for the environment by saving energy.

Blackle, a customised version of Google's search engine, is based on claims that monitors need more power to display a light screen than a dark one.

The idea was inspired by a post on the ecoIron blog in January which claimed that a black Google would save 750 megawatt hours a year worldwide given the popularity of the search engine.

However critics are unsure about the energy savings and some say that clarity is lost because black web pages are harder to read.

Toby Heap, of Australian company Heap Media which runs Blackle, said in his blog: 'We believe there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up.'

Sian Berry of the Green Party said the energy saved was equivalent to 750,000 kettles being boiled for an hour. She said: 'If you have the old style of chunky monitor, having most of the screen black does reduce the amount of energy used.

'But if you have got a flat screen it won't make any difference.'

Google said Blackle was independent of it although it does allow people to set up customised search engines.

It added: 'This is one example of the ways in which people can use Google's technology in innovative ways.' 

 - retrieved from metro.co.uk

I already tried to use this one. Somehow, it yielded the same search results as with Google. But the site could throttle your searches since it lacks features of the conventional Google, such as the 'Cached' and 'Similar Pages' options.

 

Blackle.com

 

Best Foot Forward

Wearing this in public was once a taboo, but now everyone suddenly got mad on rubber slippers and is more than willing to spend grands of bucks. Yes, you read it right. Whopping hundreds of bucks for a rubber slipper. I'm talking about that Brazilian sandals brand, Havaianas.

Havaianas was first created in 1962, and since then, São Paulo Alpargatas SA, the manufacturers of the sandals, has already fabricated more than two billion pairs. It is exported internationally and featured in numerous stores in the United States and where else, the Philippines.

Havaianas' design is inspired by the Japanese rice straw and wood zori sandals used with kimonos. They employ a simple, functional design. The most popular on their designs features a small symbol of the Brazilian flag on the strap.

Whoever brought this rubber slipper in the Philippines is clever. He/She surely knows the tastes and penchants of the Filipinos. Proof of this is the instauration of different styles and designs especially crafted for the flip-flop lovers.

Havaianas flip-flops now come in different and unique designs. And they are continuing to create more everyday.

I can't blame the people for their continuous patronage of these rather high-priced merchandise. It is the quality and the comfort that these slippers give the people which they hanker.

But not everyone can afford to own these must-haves. Who would anyway buy eight hundred pesos worth of rubber slippers when they can just spend it for food, or anything else essential. So, what's an alternative? Rip-offs.

A smart Filipino marketeer would definitely create a product which is much likely the same with the original but way cheaper. Sure, minus the comfort and quality. But whatever, at least you own one. I'm talking about the Havaianas rip-off, Havana which by the way only costs P50.00 or even less.

Though I own some pair of these rubber slippers, I don't think it's practicable to purchase one. I mean, there are a lot of cheaper rubber slippers out there in the market, though they might not be that comfy. But you judge guys.