With promises of the PlayStation Home service to begin its open beta phase this Fall, SCEE boss David Reeves admitted that they were perhaps getting a bit too ambitious with some of the planned non-gamer applications for it. He admitted that many of these applications such as blatant sponsorships might turn off many gamers. Check out what else he said in our full article after the jump.

In life, it helps to have someone who can hold you accountable for your actions. In the case of electronics companies, it seems that Greenpeace is their accountability partner. The organization has recently released the current company rankings in its Greener Electronics Scale. To find out how certain companies fared, get "green-minded" and turn to the full article after the jump.

Now we know this is not new at all, but since the increasing amount of revelations from documentaries the world over, it's becoming pretty apparent that the idea of recycling isn't exactly as environment-friendly as popular culture would make it seem. There are factors associated with keeping the world clean, and due to crisis on some of those fronts, recycling could simply be just another idealist's dream. Reality sets in once you read the full story.

Most of us think that people suffering from total blindness are treated only with either drugs, surgery, or laser therapy. For the most part, that's true. However, desperate times call for unconventional measures so doctors in England used human teeth to snatch a blind man back from the darkness of visual loss. A remarkable story of recovery follows after the jump.

Sony's looking all green as they launch their new recycling program. By next month Sony will be launching a new nationwide campaign where people will be able to dispose of their unwanted electronics in an environmentally safe manner.

The Sony Take Back Recycling Program will be putting up 75 "eCycling" centers throughout the US where people can drop off their electronics.

Once the program takes off, the program is expected to increase the number of eCycling centers to 150. The idea is to have an eCycling Center within 20 miles of 95% of the US.

The program was made in collaboration with WM Recycle America. Sony products will be recylced free of charge while other brands will include a recycling fee. Consumers can either drop if off personally or ship it in through specific WM Recycle America locations.

Stan Glasgow, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics, says about the service:

Providing the highest level of service and support doesn’t stop once a purchase is made. We believe it is Sony’s responsibility to provide customers with end-of-life solutions for all the products we manufacture. Through the Take Back Recycling Program, our customers will know that their Sony products will be recycled in an environmentally responsible manner.

Thanks to Surftycoon for the tip!

Everyone sure is raving about the Wii Balance Board for Nintendo's up and coming health and fitness title, Wii Fit, aren't they? It seems like such an ingenious creation, we just have to give Ninty all them snaps for such a bright lightbulb moment. But let's not be too hasty. Apparently, more than just Nintendo, there's somebody else out there to whom we can trace back the development of the Balance Board. 25 years back, in fact.

But before you think that this is another "Nintendo-stole-this-idea" post, halt right there. Rather, this is an exemplification of one of the more successful revisionisms (recycling, if you must) in gaming and its corresponding technology. Ian Bogost, via Water Cooler Games, has revealed that back in 1982, an Atari VCS peripheral called the Joyboard was released by Amiga.

 

You older folks probably would remember it, or then again maybe not. Either way, what's fact is that it did not enjoy the same attention as the Fit board now is getting. I guess you can say it was ahead of its time. The design is pretty much like its modern counterpart, although of course, this one's "much less sophisticated than Fit [Board]", but essentially, they both have the same functions.

As a parting note, here's what the author had to say about this reinvention:

My point is not that Nintendo has "stolen" the idea of a balance board from Amiga, nor that their revisions are unimportant. Rather, I want to suggest that product like Wii Fit don't come out of a vacuum. Fit evolved from decades of experimentation in physical interfaces and creative game design. Game players and critics alike would do well to learn some history about their medium to help make sense of new entries like this one.

Yeah, it's all about knowing your roots, baby!

Some people believe that it does, including a number of restaurants. One such establishment in California, Chez Panisse, eschewed bottled water in favor of filtered tap water. "For us, it's about doing the right thing," said Chez Panisse general manager Michael Kossa-Rienzi. Many other fine-dining establishments have joined this cause as well.

It's not that the bottled water itself directly affects the environment - it's the fumes and gases generated by the manufacturing process of bottled water, and the fuel consumed by transporting these to stores that contribute to pollution.

Shipping bottled water, which is heavier than most other commodities, expends more fuel. ABC News also calculated that drinking 1 liter of bottled water in Chicago which was transported from France amounts to consuming about 2 ounces of fuel oil. And this estimate does not include the oil used to make the plastic. By contrast, delivering tap water use little or no fuel at all.

Ruth Caplan of Sierra Caplan offers more numbers to chew on regarding bottled water harming the environment."Each year, people are drinking 30 billion throwaway bottles of water," she said. "If you put them end to end, it would go around the world more than 150 times." She adds that 4 out of 5 plastic water bottles end up in landfills instead of getting recycled.

In an effort to curb the pollution problem - as well as save taxpayers' money - even San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered local city departments not to buy bottled water.

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), however, reminds people that bottled water also helps the environment. IBWA member Stephen Kay says that bottled water promotes the use of lighter and biodegradable plastics, as well as encourages the habit of recycling (ever notice the recycling-related symbols on bottled water and other packaged beverages?).

He also points out that it is quite unfair that bottled water is singled out among many other packaged consumables reportedly threatening the environment, and that people are also making a mistake by not looking at the big picture when it comes to preserving the environment.

Talk about reckless imprudence leading to a grave waste of money. Some guy shipped a plasma TV without using any safety supplies and common sense. What we have in these pictures is a guide on how to throw away a perfectly good piece of home entertainment.

We're not sure what the person was thinking exactly when he did this. Did he have something against consumer electronics? Did he do it on purpose? Man, we're stumped.

The poor TV won't be good for anything other than recycling now. This is yet another reminder to get a company you trust to deliver stuff that you care about.

See the pictures that tell the sad tale of this TV after the jump.

It recently came to Apple Inc. that some environmental organizations are criticizing it for not being a good model in terms of removing toxic chemicals from its new products as well as recycling old products.

CEO Steve Jobs came up then with a press release highlighting his company's plans about the matter. Jobs revealed though that these measures aren't exactly new, and that they've been doing this long before the said complaints made mass media. It's just that he felt the need to inform Apple's consumers and stakeholders because the above mentioned allegations are rather serious.

The list is quite long and the Read link should take to Jobs' complete statement. But some of the most important highlights include:

• Apple completely eliminated the use of CRTs in mid-2006. Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard and Lenovo still ship CRT displays today.
• Apple products met both the spirit and letter of the RoHS restrictions on cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants years before RoHS went into effect.
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of arsenic in all of its displays by the end of 2008.
• Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.
• Apple plans to completely eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs in its products by the end of 2008.
• Apple recycled 13 million pounds of e-waste in 2006, which is equal to 9.5% of the weight of all products Apple sold seven years earlier.
• We expect this percentage to grow to 13% in 2007, and to 20% in 2008. By 2010, we forecast recycling 19 million pounds of e-waste per year — nearly 30% of the product weight we sold seven years earlier.
• All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed in the U.S., and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal.
• Apple products are designed using high quality materials that are in high demand from recyclers.

This was sneaky. Both the QJ and Exophase forums have discovered that Network Update's been picking up a FW 3.30 (yes, that's 3.30) firmware update in the airwaves. Exophase even has a downloadable EBOOT of it. It's not up on PlayStation.com as we write this, though...

(Yes, we know the pic to the right says 2.71. It was either that or the internationally recognized symbol for recycling.)

Which is why there's no full changelog to bring for now. Wait for the update to this when PS.com decides to play catchup, or when one of us bravely decides to sacrifice his or her personal PSP to the all-consuming maw of FW 3.30 to see what's changed (or at least far enough to see the changelog). Or we'll just update this article after the results of that ultimate sacrifice (until they come out with a downgrader...) reveals the changelog.

Otherwise, here's what's known to be the changes in 3.30, so far, via both sources (and we also don't know why they'd skip 3.2x...):

• display thumbnails under RSS Channel
• expanded support for PlayStation Network-downloaded PSOne games (but what specific support?)
• support for displaying thumbnails for files in VIDEO folder (more reason to use a file stealthing device now, ain't it?)
• option to set Disc-Load speed to Fast or Normal

Downloadable below conveniently comes in a folder named "UPDATE", thus saving you the hassle of having to create that folder on the PSP Memory Stick/PSP/GAME subdirectory.

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Update: We had a hard time grabbing this update because the official PlayStation site suddenly became tricky and sneaky as the FW 3.30 itself. In the site's System Update page, details on the new firmware update went up and then it suddenly reverted to February's 3.11 update. We had to refresh our page over and over and when the latest update was on display once more, we immediately took a snapshot of the changelog.

With that jazz out of the way, here's the real deal:

* This update is for those who own PSP units with model number PSP-1001. If you happen to have purchased your handheld outside North America, don't attempt to perform this update at all.
* It is true that video game compatibility has been improved as the list of supported PlayStation Network (PSN) titles has been expanded.
* It is true that thumbnail images of items has been added t o the RSS channel.
* It is also true that thumbnail images of videos stored in the "Video" folder of your memory stick.
* Speaking of which, the following formats are also now playable in the said "Video" folder: MPEG-4/H.264 AVC Main Profile (AVC CABAC) with sizes 720x480, 352x480, and 480x272
* Most importantly, a "Use Wireless Hotspot" feature has been added under Network Settings.

As always, we recommend assessing whether you're ready to download the new firmware or not. You can also try and wait until the loyal homebrew stalwarts have given this a thorough look.

Thanks to Hockeyroks33 and TwistyValhalla for the heads up!

Download: FW 3.30 Update
Discuss: PSP Updates Firmware Discussion Forum