A review of two Eco-conscious media players from the NY times

Just came across this review of two green media players from David Pogue of the NY Times.

The first device reviewed is the Motion Street eMotion Solar, which can play mp3's, video, and also has a couple of classic Nintendo games to play.

And it's completely solar powered.

In fact, with an adapter, the integrated solar panels can be used to charge a phone, or a USB chargeable device, which might eliminate the need to carry around a separate solar charger.

The second media player reviewed is the Baylis Eco-Media Player, named after Trevor Baylis, an Eco-Conscious inventor.


The Eco-Media Player is cranked for power (1 minute gives you 40 minutes of play). It's kind of like the swiss army knife of media players: it's a flashlight, music and video player, audio recorder, phone charger, mass storage device, picture viewer, and an FM radio, among other things.


It seems like, if you were going to choose a media player to bring camping, or keep something in your bag for emergencies, these two green media players would beat an iPod any day.

Reducing energy drain at home

For Green IT NYC's first official post, let's start with one of the easiest ways to "green" your tech life at home: less energy use.

Use power strips to plug in your chargers
By plugging your phone, camera, or battery chargers into a power strip that can be turned off, you prevent "phantom drain" by those devices. Most chargers do use current even when they aren't being used.








If you want to go the extra mile, you can get a Smart Strip, which is a power strip with a control outlet. When you turn off the appliance plugged into the control outlet, power is cut to the rest of the outlets as well.

I have my external hard drive plugged into the control outlet on mine, so that when I turn off the hard drive, my monitor and speakers go off with it. To turn them back on, I turn the hard drive back on and the monitor and speakers come on automatically.

Become familiar with the types of rechargeable batteries your devices use, so that you can prevent over or undercharging them
Check out this battery charging guide (this one focuses on cell phones, but it still holds true for their use in other devices) to get the most out of your device's battery.

Solar chargers work
For most small devices, a solar charger can be ideal. Connectors are made for most types of phones, iPods, and even laptops.














Check out Solio for all your solar charging needs. You can also get a backpack version.

Check back for more tips in the next post.