Search

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street had its worst day since the 1987 stock market crash on Wednesday, as bleak economic data fed worries that all the efforts to unlock credit markets may not stave off a severe recession.

It's no secret that your game console is not going to do much to save you money on your next power bill. However, Energy Star is finally prepared to set guidelines on energy consumption for these devices. In order earn an Energy Star seal of approval, manufacturers will have to use less than one watt during 'off' mode, and less than 5 watts in standby. The devices must also automatically power down after sitting idle for an hour. Furthermore, any set-top box and DVD/Blu Ray/Movie playback functions have to come within 10% of current Energy Star requirements.

As you know from all the other appliances in your home, being Energy Star certified is a choice, not a requirement. So it will be up to the manufactures to decide whether or not to comply—and somehow I doubt that many will so so right off the bat. I, for one, frequently leave my console on pause for hours while I go and do something else. That is one way I can see powering down after an hour being a real bitch. [GoodCleanTech via Treehugger via Kotaku]

  Gamestop Coupons

Cablevision doubles Wi-Fi network area: Cablevision continues its inexorable march to install Wi-Fi for its cable customers across its territory. The company said this morning that they had installed Optimum WiFi in more areas, including Connecticut and Westchester/Dutchess counties in New York. Cablevision's plan calls for them to spend $300m to install thousands of Wi-Fi nodes for outdoor use only by their current cable data customers at no additional charge.

Burbank airport might go free: The local paper says that the airport authority might switch to free Wi-Fi to attract more passengers. But the paper gets the details wrong on the finance side. The three cellular providers who pay the authority a fee of about $30,000 per year would remain, operating their cellular voice and data services. Rather, T-Mobile is the Wi-Fi provider, and the regional authority would have to work out a deal with them, ostensibly. No other airport authority in Southern California provides free Wi-Fi, but it's an increasingly common option among 2nd and 3rd tier airports that attracts hundreds of thousands to millions of passengers a year, such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Sacramento.