All posts tagged: electronics

How to Buy Ethical and Eco-Friendly Electronics (2026)

How to Buy Ethical and Eco-Friendly Electronics (2026)

Published by skeptic

We all love shiny new electronics. But every new smartphone or laptop comes with baggage. Weighing climate dread, terrible working conditions, energy usage, and worries over hellish e-waste graveyards can quickly kill your excitement about shopping for a new gadget. None of us wants to be complicit, but what can we do if these issues concern us? Sadly, there’s no easy way to find ethically manufactured and eco-friendly electronics. But there are things you can do to reduce any negative impact your purchases may have. Here are a few ideas we’ve compiled, with the help of Alex Crumbie, writer and researcher at Ethical Consumer, a UK magazine that ranks brands across various categories, from environmental reporting to workers’ rights. Updated March 2026: I’ve conducted a new expert interview, added options for buying used or refurbished, added Framework laptops, and removed some older picks. Table of Contents AccordionItemContainerButton Repair What You Have The best way to minimize your impact is to avoid buying new devices if you can. The unpalatable truth is that every new gadget …

How to Organize Your Tech and Purge That Random Box of Cables

How to Organize Your Tech and Purge That Random Box of Cables

Published by skeptic

While it is an absolute privilege to lay hands on the latest tech, my home as a gadget reviewer often resembles a warehouse. Piled high with cardboard boxes and cables trailing everywhere, just getting to my desk is a battle on some days. Every surface is littered with chargers, security cameras, routers, and phones. To manage the flow of devices and preserve my sanity, I had to get organized. I won’t lie to you. It’s not fun to purge your random cable collection, sorting stuff into labeled boxes, and letting go of old gadgets you no longer use. But you can benefit from my experience, and I promise it will make your life easier. It’s tough to start, but once you have a system, you will never return to the chaos. Start With Your Box of Random Cables Photograph: Simon Hill If you don’t know what it is, you are not allowed to keep it. We all have a box of random cables—a tangled mess that we lug with us on every house move and …

How to Buy Used or Refurbished Electronics (2026)

How to Buy Used or Refurbished Electronics (2026)

Published by skeptic

You can save money and help save the planet by buying used or refurbished electronics instead of new devices. Since most of the environmental impact of devices comes from the manufacturing phase, buying secondhand gear can reduce your carbon footprint. Do it right, and buying refurbished can feel much like buying new. This guide delves into what you need to know about refurbished terminology, offers tips on what to look for to snag yourself the best deals, and lists some of the best places to buy refurbished gadgets and used electronics. You may also be interested in How to Buy Ethical and Eco-Friendly Electronics, The Best Used Tech to Buy and Sell, What to Think About Before Buying a Used Smartphone, and How to Responsibly Dispose of Your Electronics. Updated March 2026: I’ve added some tips for buying, new links to refurbished sellers, and advice on what to do after you buy. Table of Contents AccordionItemContainerButton What Does Refurbished Mean? There is no legal definition of refurbished. Some sellers prefer used, pre-loved, secondhand, reconditioned—the list …

Ukraine strikes Russian electronics plant that builds missile components

Ukraine strikes Russian electronics plant that builds missile components

Published by Sam Flores

KYIV — A Ukrainian missile strike inflicted heavy damage on a key plant supplying electronic components for the Russian war machine, Kyiv officials said. Russian officials on Wednesday sharply condemned the strike, which was carried out using British-produced medium-range missiles, saying that it was intended to derail peace talks, though negotiations seem to have hit a wall for other reasons. Source link

How to Responsibly Dispose of Your Electronics (2026)

How to Responsibly Dispose of Your Electronics (2026)

Published by skeptic

Whether you have an old phone languishing in a desk drawer or a broken laptop gathering dust in the back of a closet, there will never be a better time to dispose of it. There’s a good chance your unwanted gadget can return to useful service, and it may even make you a little cash or help someone else. Recycling should be the last resort, but if there’s no other option for your device, there are ways to recycle electronics responsibly. Global e-waste topped 62 million metric tons in 2022, according to the latest data published by the United Nations Global E-Waste Monitor, and just 22.3 percent of that waste was collected and recycled. Too many old electronics end up in landfills and hellish e-waste graveyards in poor countries, where they poison communities. The problem is only growing worse, with an estimated increase of 2.6 million tons every year, taking us to 82 million by 2030. Governments, companies, and people are waking up to the fact that we must do better. The big question is, how? Here are …

Personal Electronics Spiking in Price as AI Industry Buys Up All the Components

Personal Electronics Spiking in Price as AI Industry Buys Up All the Components

Published by José Betancourt

RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images) The AI industry’s obsession with building out enormous data centers to house power-hungry chips has put a major strain on the electronics market. First, the price of graphical processing units (GPUs) started shooting through the roof. Then the price of RAM skyrocketed, followed by both solid-state and mechanical hard drives. While that’s a nightmare scenario for anyone looking to build a desktop computer, the economic pressure is already affecting the rest of the consumer electronics world as well, as The Verge reports. Practically everything has a computer built into it, which could result in everything from hospital equipment to farm tractors becoming more expensive. Tech companies have resorted to pushing back releases of enthusiast GPUs, VR headsets, and gaming consoles as a result of skyrocketing prices. Following record sales in 2025, the smartphone market could also be clobbered this year as RAM supplies run extremely low. Even iPhone maker Apple is “getting squeezed,” as SemiAnalysis’ Sravan Kundojjala told the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, with the AI hype …

Refurbishment automation at the heart of circular electronics

Refurbishment automation at the heart of circular electronics

Published by skeptic

Challenges, opportunities, and Wisematic’s role in the future of smart device refurbishment. The rapid expansion of the global secondary market for consumer electronics has established refurbishment as a central component of the circular economy. In Europe, where sustainability, resource efficiency, and carbon reduction are high political priorities, the refurbishment of smartphones and other smart devices is increasingly recognised as a strategic industry with high importance and long-term growth possibilities. This field sits at the intersection of several technological and operational disciplines: flexible robotics, machine vision, artificial intelligence (AI), reverse logistics, and materials circularity. Refurbishment automation is not merely an extension of traditional manufacturing automation. It represents a distinct discipline with high focus on flexibility and adaptation—it must handle high variation, uncertain conditions, device-specific requirements, and rapidly evolving consumer technologies. Unlike industrial production lines optimised for predictable, uniform inputs, refurbishment facilities encounter a near infinite mix of device types, age profiles, physical conditions, and software states. This positions refurbishment automation among the most technically demanding automation domains. At the same time, the societal and environmental stakes …

How Tampere Uni’s printed electronics forge a sustainable future

How Tampere Uni’s printed electronics forge a sustainable future

Published by skeptic

Electronics are everywhere – from healthcare and agriculture to packaging and logistics – but the way they are made has long carried a high environmental cost. At Tampere University, Professor Matti Mäntysalo and his research group are challenging that status quo by advancing printed electronics and low-energy manufacturing methods that could fundamentally reshape the electronics industry. Rather than focusing solely on individual components, the research targets the entire production system. The goal is clear: make electronics that are flexible, scalable, and dramatically more sustainable, without sacrificing real-world usability. Manufacturing as the starting point Traditional electronics manufacturing relies on high temperatures, complex chemical processes, and material-intensive methods such as etching. Printed electronics flip that logic entirely. Using techniques adapted from the printing industry, such as screen printing, inkjet printing, and roll-to-roll production, electronic components are built layer by layer, adding material only where required. Conductive paths, sensors, capacitors, and even transistors can be printed directly onto flexible substrates. This additive approach significantly reduces waste and chemical use compared to conventional printed circuit board manufacturing. It also …

Scientists use ultrafast laser to flip materials into a different electronic state

Scientists use ultrafast laser to flip materials into a different electronic state

Published by Jenni Sidey

A burst of invisible light can do more than illuminate a surface. In a new study, Michigan State University researchers used an ultrafast laser to gently jolt atoms in a quantum material, then watched the surface change in real time. The shift lasted only while the laser stayed on, but it was enough to flip the material into a different electronic state, like a tiny switch you can turn on and off. The work centers on a layered material called tungsten ditelluride, shortened to WTe2. It has drawn attention for its unusual behavior at the smallest scales. Those surprising traits could matter for future devices, from smaller electronics to parts used in next-generation quantum computers. The team’s approach blended two sides of modern physics. One group built the instrument and ran the experiments. Another group used computer modeling to explain what the atoms were doing and why it changed the material’s behavior. Shear motion in WTe2 driven by tip-enhanced terahertz fields. (CREDIT: Nature Photonics) A Laser, a Needle Tip, and a Nanoscale Nudge The heart …

New solid-state battery design retains 75% capacity after 1,500 cycles

New solid-state battery design retains 75% capacity after 1,500 cycles

Published by Jenni Sidey

A battery that charges fast, holds more energy, and stays safer under stress has become a kind of modern promise. You hear it in electric car ads, in phone launches, and in grid storage plans. Yet the technology behind that promise keeps running into the same hard walls. A new advance from the Paul Scherrer Institute, known as PSI, suggests one of those walls may finally be cracking. Researchers at PSI report a production approach that tackles two stubborn problems in lithium metal all-solid-state batteries, a next-generation design that replaces flammable liquid electrolytes with a solid material. The team says the method helps stop lithium dendrites, which can trigger short circuits. It also steadies the fragile boundary where lithium metal touches the solid electrolyte. The idea sounds technical, but the goal is simple. You want a battery that keeps working after thousands of charge cycles. You also want it to survive fast charging without developing internal damage. The PSI team argues its strategy brings that goal closer. Schematic illustration of (a) the LPSCl pellets manufacturing …