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Sony said that a small percentage of Vaio laptops with Nvidia graphics chips may experience problems and the company offered to provide an extended warranty to cover the cost of repair. This follows similar statements by Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell.

Sony Vaio VGN-AR series laptop

(Credit: Sony)

Nvidia first disclosed the problem with its graphics chips in July 2008, saying at the time that graphics processors manufactured with a certain material set were failing in the field at a higher than normal rate.

In a Sony eSupport USA notice dated August 3, the company said: "Sony, in cooperation with Nvidia, has been looking into any possible effect to Vaio notebooks with Nvidia graphic processors. Until recently we had not identified any Vaio models that were affected by this issue."

The statement continues. "However, after closely monitoring the situation, Sony has now determined that a very small percentage of Vaio computers with the Nvidia graphics chips may experience this issue. These PCs may exhibit distorted video, duplicate images or a blank screen due to a failure of the Nvidia graphics chip."

I just saved the U.S. economy, and it only took a minute and a half! Yay me.

Well, I didn't actually save it, but after playing a quick round of the free casual game "Trillion Dollar Bailout!" an image of a newspaper appeared on my screen with the headline "Economy Saved! World Rejoices!!!" Apparently, amid all the disagreement over how the $787 billion economic stimulus package should be divvied up, I managed to make wise choices as to who and what should get funding. A regular Paul Krugman I am.

Wish you were an economic adviser to Obama? Now you can be, kind of.

(Credit: AddictingGames)

Ah, if only rescuing the faltering economy were as easy as this newly posted little title on AddictingGames makes it out to be. You just decide whether you want to deliver a bag of money or a slap in the face to the CEOs and homeowners who pop up along New York's skyline and city streets holding signs asking for cash.

It's pretty clear what sort of choices will net you a win. "Punish greedy fat cats and save honest peoples! Hand out moneys to homeowners. Put the hurt on dudes in suits! Do it right and save the world!" reads the game's introduction screen (and no, that wasn't me who put an "s" at the end of people and money).

Sadly, playing this game won't save homeowners from foreclosure or bail out the banks, but it's a harmless enough way to pass a few minutes.

AddictingGames, by the way, also recently brought us the free online game "Hero on The Hudson," which tasks players with emulating the success of US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger landing a passenger jet on water.

A few days ago I blogged about the Open It, a package opener. I thought it was a pretty good product, partially because it was designed by a group of women.

The OpenX

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

Soon after I posted the blog, I was solicited to review the OpenX opener. On Tuesday, I received a few samples.

The OpenX comes in a box that you can open without any tools, which is a good start. It has an ergonomic shape with a good grip and two cutting blades. The first blade stays retracted, and you need to push it out with your right thumb to cut a slit when opening a package. You push the second, U-shaped blade into the slit and zip it along the package to open it.

I tried the tool with a few packages and it worked well, especially with those impossible plastic clamshells. However, it's not really helpful with packages thicker than its 5mm long blade or packages that require a screwdriver to open. Also, the OpenX doesn't give you enough leverage to cut strong packing materials that would normally require a pair of strong scissors.

One more thing: the OpenX is not lefty-friendly. You need to be right-handed to operate its retractable blade, which is a big shortcoming.

I don't think the OpenX can outdo the Open It; nonetheless, it is a handy tool that costs only about $7. And that's the story of how I became a reviewer of package openers for the first, and hopefully last, time.

Update: We fixed the video. Thanks for your patience.

The maker of Natralock packaging has a new take on the traditional clamshell enclosures in which most of our favorite gadgets are sold.

Packaging company MeadWestvaco sent us this pretty much out of the blue. But it's a neat idea, so we thought we'd try it out here at Crave. The company says Natralock is better for the environment (half the plastic of clamshell); isn't totally impossible to open; and won't put you in danger of slicing yourself when it comes time for presents this December. As we always say, the fewer the injuries, the happier the holiday.

CNET's Josh Lowensohn tests out the company's claim that it would be hard for thieves to rip open Natralock's recyclable paperboard in a store, but it takes just a snip of some scissors to free your newest toy.

(Credit: Zibra)

One of the things I hate about my job, and there aren't many of them, is opening packages. Especially when I receive one of those products that comes in an annoying airtight clamshell plastic case that requires brute force and a sharp knife to open. I don't like sharp knives, nor do I like the sharp edges of the plastic cases.

For this reason, I was very excited to find out about the new Open It Zibra introduced on Tuesday. It's not rocket science, just a tool designed to open all types of hard plastic cases while keeping your hands free from the edges. The device features patented angular jaws engineered to provide maximum leverage while cutting.

The tool can open any package that might otherwise require multiple tools, thanks to its mini screwdriver, box cutter blade, and those aforementioned patented jaws.

According to Zibra, the new tool was designed by groups of female consumers working with Zibra. The groups are known as "Because Women Know," and it seems they really do know this time (not that I have any other ideas about other times). Zibra says the tool can be safely be used by anyone, including the elderly.

Ironically, judging from the picture, it seems the product is housed in a clamshell plastic bag itself. I guess things really need to get worse before they get better.

The Open It is available now for about $10 at retails stores and online.

It took about two decades for the packaging creature known as the "oyster" or "clamshell" to conquer the world of consumer electronics. But the hard-to-open casings of plastic considered by many to be toxic could start to disappear soon, according to some experts in packaging and design.

Although clamshells remain widespread, a small but growing number of companies are housing products in packages that are not only easier to open, but manufactured more efficiently with recycled or recyclable ingredients.

Oyster packaging forms what may seem like a hermetic seal around a wide array of goods, including MP3 players, Webcams, USB drives, mice, headsets, software, printer cartridges, and batteries.

"Clamshell packaging is so over," said Wendy Jedlicka, a packaging designer. "We know it sucks. We're fixing that." Jedlicka belongs to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a group that met last week in San Francisco that has grown to more than 300 member organizations in a few years.

More than a handful of packaging manufacturers have introduced eco-friendly alternatives to oysters within the past several years.

However, retailers have favored the rigid clamshell casings that deter shoplifters, are easy and cheap to ship and store, and offer a peek of the product inside.

The expansion of big-box stores, particularly bulk outlets that lack display cases, will drive demand for clamshells by 5.3 percent each year to $2.7 billion in sales within the next two years, according to the Freedonia Group, a market research firm. At that pace, more than 8 billion oyster packs will be produced by 2015.

However, growth could be hampered by corporations' sustainability efforts, along with spikes in petroleum prices, the firm added. Despite the energy-intensive process of spinning plastics from fossil fuels, traditional plastics still remain cheaper than those from recycled or plant-based materials.

Although greener alternatives to clamshells are a small niche in the packaging world, they may win favor with the public for reasons totally unrelated to their environmental footprint.

Clamshells can make products impossible to free with bare hands. Some attempts at grappling with knives and scissors have led to amputated fingertips and severed tendons. "The degree of injuries can be pretty severe, depending on the frustration of getting a package open," said Melissa Barton, an emergency room physician at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit.

She sees at least one patient each week--more around Christmas--suffer cuts and worse, usually from box cutters and other tools used to puncture and pry open the packaging.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that there were some 6,500 emergency room visits related to plastic packaging in 2004.

Some packaging makers are creating resealable, snap-out, or perforated designs that could reduce the amount of wounds and cursing triggered by clamshells.

Despite those steps, environmental groups dislike the toxicity and waste of using virgin plastics for disposable purposes. Some people go to extremes to avoid plastic trimmings for everyday goods, but find few practical alternatives.

"Consumers are becoming much more sensitive to the environmental ramifications of excess packaging," said Tod Marks, a senior editor at Consumer Reports.

The magazine for two years published an "Oyster Awards" hall of shame for hard-to-open packaging. Last year's winner was an Oral-B electric toothbrush tucking clamshells into a tight plastic and cardboard shell.

There weren't enough changes in packaging to warrant awards for 2008, but Consumer Reports will focus on packaging sustainability later this year, Marks said.

Packaging accounts for nearly one-third of consumer garbage, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And plastics comprise 12 percent of U.S. waste each year, but are rarely recycled, while some scientists fear that irresponsible dumping is making a plastic soup of the world's oceans.

The European Union attempts to regulate packaging design and waste. California's Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Law encourages the use of recycled plastics. Yet such rules are rare in the United States, where businesses rather than government are driving dramatic changes.

"We're aggressively attacking the clamshell market," said Jeff Kellogg, a vice president of MeadWestvaco. Its Natralock line of packaging features a pop-out, glue-free clear plastic display "blister" surrounded by paperboard of one-third recycled content. Plant-based plastics could also be used.

Compared with clamshells, Natralock packages cost up to 30 percent less and weigh half as much, which cuts shipping expenses, Kellogg added. They also require less energy to seal in a factory, and can run on traditional equipment.

Competing products include Rohrer's Eco-View Pak, a mix of chipboard with a plastic display bubble.

Winterborne's Enviroshell packaging mixes a recycled-plastic blister with cardboard of more than two-thirds recycled material and soy-based inks. The board and plastic aren't fused together, enabling both to be recycled.

Enviroshell packaged the Xbox 360 when it launched in Wal-Mart stores in 2005. Toshiba began using the packaging in 2006 for storage devices.

Wal-Mart's sustainability goals (PDF) include reducing the amount of packaging in its stores by 5 percent by 2013. Its Sam's Club outlets halved the amount of packaging for digital media in 2006.

Phasing out PVC
In the United States, those attempts would remove millions of pounds of landfill-bound trash as well as wasted energy and greenhouse gas pollution, the equivalent of taking 213,000 trucks off the road every year, according to Wal-Mart. To help meet a goal of becoming packaging neutral by 2025, Wal-Mart's packaging scorecard measures suppliers' sustainability.

The retailer is also one of many phasing out toxic PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, formerly the main material for oyster packaging. Its manufacture and disposal is believed to release cancer-linked chemicals, including dioxins.

Other brands shunning PVC include Target, Sears, Johnson & Johnson, and Bath & Body Works. Wal-Mart and Apple worked together to develop iPod packaging free of PVC. Microsoft discontinued PVC in software packaging in 2005 and has since stopped using clamshells in half of its packed products.

PET, the common replacement for PVC, is widely considered better but still ecologically harmful. Plastics from PET, or polyethylene terephthlate, are also commonly used for soda bottles, and are being recycled for use in electronics packaging.

Participation in the Sustainable Design Coalition by businesses across a swath of industries, including electronics, clothing, cosmetics, and food, proves that progress in packaging is accelerating, according to Scott Ballantine, a packaging engineer at Microsoft. He has driven the use of PET recycled from Coke and Pepsi bottles for use in packaging.

Ballantine said he imagines that producers might eventually institute take-back programs for packaging, such as those Dell and HP have instituted to collect used electronics and accessories.

"Maybe someday there will be an 'unpacking' station in the Costcos and Wal-Marts of the world where customers can remove the packaging and companies can collect the materials," he said.

(Credit: Jean Aw, NOTCOT)

OK, honestly, did you notice that Apple bothered to indent the button on the cover of the iPhone box? And have the whole phone slightly embossed? Let us not forget how far those design geeks at Apple go. That bag was incredible too, no creases! And it fit the iPhone boxes perfectly...three stacked would be just right, or perhaps two and some accessories. And the plastic piece that held up the iPhone when you first opened the box. What about that thick foam in the top of the lid? They really did think of everything. I just took some photographs and gushed about the design over at NOTCOT, but I couldn't resist mentioning it here too...after all, we all know that design is about far more than just the products themselves. Feel free to take a peek at more pics of all the details about the iPhone packaging that I couldn't help gushing about here.

P.S. Yes, I have heard that I might have a packaging fetish. It certainly was one of my first design passions as a kid.

(Credit: Red Ferret)

After all these years, it's amazing that those infuriating plastic "bubble packs" are still around. By now, we'd have thought for sure that there would have been a major class action over bodily injury caused by the sharp edges of this horrible stuff.

Until that day, we may have to try out something called the "Package Shark" that supposedly opens the hated material cleanly and, more important, safely. If it works as easily as it appears to in the company's video, we're getting one for sure. We totally agree with Red Ferret's clarion call: "Death to blister packs."