Though many people plug their mobile devices into their cars, they may be burning more gas than they know.
Many people have shrugged off the need for a portable charger due to the fact that they have an adaptor or a USB port that allows them to simply plug their devices into their vehicles so they can charge them up during their daily commutes and any other trips they need to make.
However, that technique may be more costly and may have a far greater impact on the environment than expected.
It has recently been pointed out in a number of reports that driving while talking on a cell phone isn’t the only harmful thing that these devices can do when they are used in vehicles. Even when the driver isn’t actively using them, if a smartphone is plugged into a car and is charging, instead of using a portable charger, it actually reduces the mileage of the vehicle in a measurable way. How much? According to a retired General Motors Co. engineering exec who studies power usage in vehicles, Jon Bereisa, people charging their smartphones in their cars are slashing their fuel efficiency by 0.03 miles per gallon of gasoline.
A portable charger is now seen as the best tool to avoid this harm to the environment and a driver’s wallet.
When considering the number of vehicles and smartphones across the United States, Bereisa’s calculations show that charging using a car instead of an external battery pack could actually send an additional 970,000 tons of global warming-boosting carbon dioxide into the air.
That said, according to Delphi Automotive Plc vice president of engineering and program management, Mary Gustanski, “Do I think we’re at peak USB? No.” She added that “We’ll get more and more creative to not only allow you to connect with USB but also to connect wireless. Consumers want their car to be just like their home.”
While mobile technology may be evolving so that it will one day offer a solution that won’t have nearly as much of a negative impact on fuel consumption, until that day has come, a portable that fits easily in a pocket, handbag or glove compartment might be the ideal solution for fuel economy-conscious drivers who care about the environment and who are hoping to spend as little as possible at the pumps.
The Oculus Rift has been greatly anticipated and yet now that it’s entering the market, it’s doing so without fanfare.
With the debut of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, many people would have expected that there would come with the launch of a huge marketing campaign, or at least a glitzy launch party, but that is not the case.
Unlike with the launches of new smartphones and game consoles, the Oculus Rift is simply being slipped onto shelves.
The early adopters who pre-ordered their virtual reality headsets will be receiving theirs just as they would any other package that they’ve ordered, except in this case they needed to be willing to drop $600 in order to obtain it. For many, it came as a surprise that the Oculus Rift launch was simply a matter of putting the product out there to buy and that it didn’t come with a huge amount of noise. With the amount of effort the company had put into bringing exposure during the time before the launch, it seems that the launch itself was rather anticlimactic.
The virtual reality headset has come a very long way since it was first designed out of smartphone parts.
It is now a form of wearable technology that provides an immersive VR experience that is miles away from the nauseating effects for which similar inventions were known a couple of decades ago.
In 2014, Oculus was acquired by Facebook for a hefty $2 billion. Since then, it has put out a number of wearable technology headset devices meant exclusively for developers. That said, The consumer version of the Oculus Rift was rolled out on Monday. It could be that the lack of noise is the result of the first wave having already been sold out. Pre-orders bought out the entire stock and fresh devices won’t be available to purchase until the summer.
For that reason, it could be that there wasn’t really the need for a lot of hoopla with the launch, as there was enough of a racket made over this virtual reality headset to sell it out before its launch even happened. What will be interesting is to see what the early adopters will think of these devices and the VR experience they provide. It will also help to answer questions that people have been having with regards to whether or not they will cause health issues or even motion sickness among users.
When considering the number of vehicles and smartphones across the United States, Bereisa’s calculations show that charging using a car instead of an external battery pack could actually send an additional 970,000 tons of global warming-boosting carbon dioxide into the air.