consumption

In 1899 economist/sociologist Thorstein Veblen introduced the term Conspicuous Consumption to describe what he believed to be the evils of wealth accumulation in the nouveau riche upper class of the Gilded Age (Veblen was not exactly a "right wing" economist). You can best think of Conspicuous Consumption today as the notion that consumerism and "keeping up with the Joneses" drives economics.

One of my friends, Helen Priest from Meridian Energy, coined a new version of the term this week--conspicuous sustainability. She is here from New Zealand's largest (and all green) power company visiting Silicon … Read more

At CNET, we've been publishing information about HDTV power consumption for a year and a half in our Quick Guide, which currently lists the results of our tests of more than 50 televisions. Until now, this data has been restricted to the Guide, but it really belongs in each individual HDTV review. That's why we're pleased to announce the "Juice box," a new chart that summarizes the television's power consumption and scores it against other models.

You can check out an example here. Clicking the phrase "Juice box" takes you to an … Read more

Now that we're all sufficiently terrified that global warming will turn Kansas City into a beach town, there's been a wave of technological efforts designed to put us on an energy diet. Likewise, a proliferation of gadgets have hit the market claiming to monitor our piggish ways, though most of them are fairly limited in scope.

But a device called the "Intelliworks" claims to act as a traffic cop for the entire household or workplace by controlling the total flow of electricity. While plugged into a regular wall socket, "it automatically optimizes the voltage and … Read more

News flash: Americans have money to throw around. And we like to spend it on shiny, new gadgets.

The Consumer Electronics Association, a trade group representing electronics companies, released a study Thursday that shows the average American adult spends $1,200 on electronic gizmos each year. The result is that the average U.S. household has about 25 consumer electronics products each.

Though we're still snatching up CE mainstays like cell phones and cameras, the top growth sectors in the industry are digital video recorders, network routers, MP3 players and cable modems, according to the study. So, though it'… Read more

Herald the dawn of Loki, Norse god of mischief and now high-speed chip-to-chip signaling.

At the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, Rambus, the company everyone seems to love to hate, showed off for the first time a technology code-named Loki that it says could significantly cut down the energy consumed by input/output devices.

The experimental device can operate at 6.25 gigabits per second and pass information at 2.2 milliwatts per gigabit. Similar products on the market now can transfer more gigabits per second, but they operate at around 15 to 30 milliwatts per gigabit. … Read more

Just what the world needs: More plasma TVs. Not that we mind having screens, of course (especially if it means lower prices for us).

So we wholeheartedly endorse NEC's move to update its high-end XR line of displays, which range from 42 to 60 inches. Interestingly enough, the changes don't involve the usual visual upgrades for the already-full-featured models: Shiny Shiny says the major difference is less power consumption, which NEC claims will be lowered by 22 percent. Pricing isn't yet known, though you can bet they won't be cheap. But if you hang onto one … Read more

Just to show how much we care, Crave does its level best to provide constant updates on superficial household appliances as the news breaks. Just yesterday, for example, we offered up the Porsche-design toaster. But in the last 24 hours, sources close to our sink have passed along word that said toaster is just one of a line of Porsche kitchen products, which include a kettle and coffee machine. We ask only that you remember where you heard it first.

(Photo: WhereDidYouBuyThat.com)