plants

Dell closing N.C. manufacturing plant

Dell is closing its desktop PC manufacturing plant in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The cost-cutting move will ax 905 jobs, with 600 workers set to be laid off in November and the rest in January, Dell said Wednesday.

"This is a difficult decision, especially for our North Carolina colleagues, but a necessary one for Dell customers and our company," Frank Miller, vice president of Dell's Public Business Unit Supply Chain, said in a statement.

Dell had announced some layoffs at the North Carolina plant in March but gave no indication that the plant itself might be in danger … Read more

Claustrophobic garden helper

Garden Organizer Deluxe aims to help coordinate gardens and remember all the fine details that go into growing plants. While its intentions are good, we hated operating this claustrophobic program.

The program's interface got off to a bad start with us and things didn't really improve. While we generally viewed gardening as a happy, fun hobby, this program did nothing to reflect that spirit. With its gray layout and enormous collection of microscopic command icons, we felt nothing but dread navigating our way through this program. We needed to seriously study the Help file's instructions because nothing … Read more

Prepara sprouts dirt-free garden

It's hard to ignore the incessant messages to buy local, plant a garden, check for organic labels, and lead a sustainable lifestyle, yet most of us dismiss these suggestions as practices that require too much money, time, and effort.

And it's true--they really do.

Last summer I went through a green phase, heading to the plant store to purchase soil, seeds, shovels, pots, and everything else that Martha Stewart suggests I buy. Well, $120 and two weeks later, I had forgotten I'd even planted a garden and deemed my project a failure.

Thankfully, there is hope for … Read more

Not your ordinary zombie game

Plants vs. Zombies is a fun, funny, and remarkably well-designed game that should prove addictive for newcomers to tower-defense games, as well as challenging and satisfying to serious fans of this real-time-strategy subgenre. The interface and gameplay start out simply: you must plant seeds, collect sunlight, and tend a gridded garden that is your only defense against ravenous waves of the cartoonish undead. Zombies advance right to left in rows, and you have to decide which kind of plants to use and where to put them, whether you choose sunflowers to accelerate sunlight production or a variety of other plants … Read more

Garden database

With so many different species of plants, flowers, and vegetables, it can be difficult arranging your garden each year. Gardens and Plants offers an unparalleled database for keeping your garden organized in the soil and on the computer. This comprehensive program isn't for the casual, weekend gardener who likes to plant a few tomatoes each year. Instead, it's geared toward the professional gardener who needs to do more than look up plants.

This program has a fairly simple layout that helps users explore the complex plant world. With a generous screen and a row of icons down the … Read more

Not your average magic wand

One of my longtime goals is to make my own herb garden, but I seem to have the black thumb of death. No matter what kind of plant I try to grow, they always seem to end up crunchy, wilted, and pathetically small.

I do have one plant that is still living, a large potted plant in my living room that I'm watching for a friend on vacation. Watering it is a big pain, however, because I don't own a watering can, so I have to repeatedly fill up a glass and dribble it over the roots when … Read more

Green news harvest: Ethanol industry falls short

A sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary.

Goals for Ethanol Production Are in Peril - The New York Times"The ethanol industry is on its back despite the billions of dollars they have gotten in taxpayer assistance, and a guaranteed market," according to one analyst. And the industry is unlikely to meet government production mandates. Saudi Oil Min: Renewables Push Could Create Energy Havoc - Dow JonesSaudi oil minister warns of a "nightmare scenario of diminishing energy supplies" if renewable energy is adopted too quickly. How Better Place plans to revive the electric car - CNET Australia… Read more

Intel to close plants, up to 6,000 workers affected

Updated at 3:00 p.m. PST with comments from an Intel spokesperson.

Intel said on Wednesday it will close chip plants to align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions. Between 5,000 and 6,000 employees will be affected.

The world's largest chipmaker will halt production at five "older" factories.

The company plans to close two existing assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia, and one in Cavite, Philippines, and will halt production at Fab 20, an older 200mm wafer fabrication facility in Hillsboro, Ore., Intel said. Additionally, wafer production operations will end at the D2 … Read more

Timing rumors surface for AMD plant spin-off

Advanced Micro Devices chip plant spin-off rumors won't die. Probably because they may be partially--or more than partially--true.

But the timing is the big unknown. AMD claims the launch of its so-called Asset Smart strategy is not imminent.

The latest rumor was triggered by a blog at the Austin American Statesman that said AMD may "spin-off of its manufacturing operations within two weeks." The blog cites a Wall Street securities analyst, John Lau with Jefferies & Co.

AMD said that's not so. "We hope to get it done by the end of the year. There'… Read more