Joe Levi presents Greener Living through Technology

As most of you already know, I’m a web developer. Web developers are the people responsible for implimenting the designs of web designers, and hooking them to their “back-ends” (databases, servers, etc.).

Earlier this week I launched www.myLifePlay.com, the latest site to be added to my portfolio.

myLifePlay, a Performance Design brand, contracts the expertise of personnel and availability of raw materials from my employer: Lifetime Products. Their product line focuses on “Park quality equipoment for your backyard.” After having seen some of their prototypes, all I can says is “wow!” These are playsets like you’ve never imagined!

There are basically three types of playsets: wood, metal, and plastic.

• Wood must be treated to prevent (read: slow the progression of) rot, must be painted or stained regularly, and runs the risks of developing slivers. Additionally, most wood is treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), which contains arsenic which can cause cancer¹.
• Plastic (in its various forms) can fade, be brittle, or even be tied to causing cancer if it is of the PVC variety^{2, 3, 4}. Performance Design uses blow-molded polyethylene, a plastic-like material that is light-weight, strong, durable, stain-resistant, fade-resistant, chip-resistant, and won’t warp or crack like other plastics.
• Metal has always been the strongest, metal rusts, in the past paints on metals have contained lead, and paint doesn’t “stick” to metal very well. Performance Design’s Powder Coating process addresses those concerns. Basically, powder coating is a cool process where “paint” is electrostatically “painted” on a metal piece, then run through a furnace to its melting point, this physically bonds the (now liquid) powder to the metal, making it hard to tell where the metal stops and the coating starts.

I want one… uh, for the kids…

Many of you know that I used to build and sell computers while working for a former employer. The question “How do I Buy a Computer” was often asked of me (I even re-wrote much of my former employers “Computer Buying Guide”).

And although this Video isn’t the way you should buy a computer, it’s commentary on computers in general is hilarious.

[ Video ]

ZDNet published a video pointing out the shortcomings of Digital Rights Management (DRM). Instead of accepting the total control demanded by the MPAA and RIAA, ZDNet chief editor David Berlind proposes a new acronym: CRAP. Standing for Content, Restriction, Annulment and Protection. Berlind details the problems with different content providers using different CRAP mechanisms.

“And guess what? If you try to connect these three universes, they don’t connect. Doesn’t happen. Sorry. Nada. This music won’t play here. This music won’t play here. And this music won’t play here. That to me is a problem. That’s why I say that all these devices, for example, the iPods that you buy out in the stores today, are a load of CRAP. I’m not going to buy any of this CRAP. Stop buying this CRAP. Don’t buy any technology that has CRAP in it, because all it’s going to do is make it impossible for you to take the content that you’re paying good money for and play it anywhere you want.”

[ Video | Transcript ]