green

Can you laugh about suicide?

Can you laugh about suicide while you're trying to sell someone a car?

It seems that someone at one of Hyundai's ad agencies felt that selling a healthy car merited flogging a dead man. Or, at least, a man who wanted to be dead by his own hand.

The perfect opportunity, the agency must have thought, came with the Hyundai iX35. It has 100 percent water emissions -- nothing noxious, you see. That's a killer feature.

So they made an ad in which a man tries to commit suicide in his garage … Read more

Welcome to the start of a new franchise here at CNET -- the first episode of Hooked Up! It's the only show where the world of celebrity and technology collide.

This week, Kevin Frazier checks out Cee Lo Green's Las Vegas show "Loberace" and the technology that's involved in creating a massive production that only Las Vegas can do. Cee Lo also talks about his personal health goals, Goodie Mob's comeback, and their search for the next big music artist.

I'll also break down some of the best ways to bring the biggest … Read more

If you wanted to impress on Earth Day, you could do worse than this all-electric motorcycle from Canada.

The Sora superbike from Quebec-based Lito Green Motion is finally hitting the streets after years of development and promos. The Canadian Ministry of Transport recently certified the firm as a motorcycle manufacturer, and the $41,000 bike is getting lots of attention.

The Sora, which means "sky" in Japanese, has a 12 kWh lithium polymer battery and a range of 185 miles on a single charge, which takes 8 hours, or 90 minutes with a quick charger. It can be recharged anywhere using a conventional plug. … Read more

The prevailing stereotype of scientists is that they're a bunch of quiet geeks wearing white coats and playing with test tubes in labs. They're not usually associated with moves more often seen on WrestleMania. In the midst of a heated discussion, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hopped out of his chair, only to be playfully restrained by renowned PBS nerd Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Nye and Tyson were part of a panel of science experts gathered together to discuss topics ranging from the origins of the universe to cutting-edge technologies. The panel took place as part of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. You could watch the whole multi-hour discussion, or check out the below video for the juiciest bit.… Read more

The iPad and iPhone are both incredibly popular devices, extremely useful for children of all ages, and increasingly common as standard devices in households around the world. But parental controls for Safari are very limited and that makes it hard for parents to monitor or control what children have access to. With so many unsavory sites online, a tool like MobiGreen Premium becomes more important than ever.

MobiGreen Premium is essentially a Web browser that you can download to your child's iPhone or iPad that will integrate with one of many third-party filtering services that use NetProtector or another … Read more

- Robert's Web site, PowerSeductionandWar.

- A Reddit AMA with Robert Greene.

- Follow Robert Greene on Twitter.

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Apple is a lot greener than it used to be, the company said today.

The iPhone and Mac maker published a new annual environmental report this morning that tracks some of the improvements it has made. The key takeaway: 75 percent of the energy it needs at its corporate facilities is renewable, and the number is even higher at some of its data centers and its headquarters.

"We're committed to greening the grid wherever we have our facilities," Scott Brodrick of Apple's product marketing, told CNET.

The company currently has data centers in Maiden, N.C., and Newark, Calif., and is constructing an additional center in Prineville, Ore., that will run off a mix of energy sources. Apple is also working on a facility in Reno, Nev., though Brodrick would not say when that would be up and running.

These facilities are part of Apple's growing cloud services effort. These data centers have long served up digital content like music, movies, and apps. In 2011, the company added to that load with iCloud, its storage and sync service, which relies on the data centers to store user data and information. The data centers also play a role in powering Siri, the voice-assistant feature found on iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

The Maiden location in particular has quickly become the crown jewel of Apple's data center operations, and has been running on entirely renewable energy sources since last December, Brodrick said. Part of the reason for that is its solar array, which the company touts as the largest of its kind in the U.S. and is promoting in a video:

Among some of the other progress it made last year, Apple says it's now using bio-gas fuel cells along with solar photovoltaic technology at its headquarters. It's also greened some of its products including the newest iMac, which uses 68 percent less material than the previous model. There's also the AirPort Express wireless router, which Apple says uses bio-based polymers.

Even with Apple's progress, the company has not been without its critics. Greenpeace in particular went after Apple hard last year as part of its campaign to bring awareness to the greenness of data centers. It also knocked Apple for transparency on its progress as part of its 18th annual "Guide to Greener Electronics" which was published last November.

"Apple's announcement shows that it has made real progress in its commitment to lead the way to a clean energy future," the group said in a statement today. "Apple's increased level of disclosure about its energy sources helps customers know that their iCloud will be powered by clean energy sources, not coal."

Nonetheless, Greenpeace urged for more disclosure from Apple in any dealings with local utilities and state governments.

"Over the past four years we've reported more comprehensively than any company in our industry, and we've done this by focusing not only on our facilities, which is what many other companies do, but also on our products," Brodrick offered.

Update, 11:30 a.m. PT: Adds statement from Greenpeace.… Read more

Super Stickman Golf 2 (99 cents) is a 2D golf game that is definitely a worthy sequel to the original with new levels, new special course elements, and much more. It's really easy to pick up and play, with tons of fantastical themed courses, interesting power-ups, and excellent physics-based gameplay. Though the game has a huge amount of arcadelike features, the goal is always the same: try to get the ball in the hole in as few shots as possible. The challenge is that it can be much harder than it looks.

Rather than your standard 3D layout seen … Read more

Silicon Valley firms are presenting a rare united front in an effort to end a political logjam that has blocked high-tech immigration reform.

In an unusual show of support that underscores how important the topic has become, executives from Facebook, Google, eBay and other major tech companies sent a letter today to President Obama and congressional leaders asking them to fix immigration law by the end of 2013. The current system is broken, they say, blaming visa shortages, long waits for green cards, and difficulties bringing spouses and children to the United States.

"Because our current immigration system is … Read more