“Imagine sheer mountains of discarded Pentium IIIs, tractor trailers overflowing with discarded wall warts. Photojournalist Natalie Behring visited Guiyu, China and documented the world’s biggest digital dump where, for $2 per day, the locals sort, disassemble, and pulverize hundreds of tons of e-waste. The payoff is huge: computer waste contains 17 times more gold than gold ore, 40 times more copper than copper ore. But the detritus also leaches chemicals and metals into local water supplies.”Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- What the Copyright Office thinks about Fair Use @ Ars Technica
- Crucial Technology Interview @ HardwareLogic
- Why OS X is Important for Windows Security @ OSWeekly
- When Will Operating Systems Truly Accept Outsiders? @ OSWeekly
- Why Microsoft Will Never Sue Patent Violators @ MadPenguin
- Cyber Snipa Scout Webcam Review @ Tweaknews
- How to Professionally Repair DVDs Without Spending $500 @ OCModShop
- SMC SMC2870W Wireless Bridge @ Phoronix
- Vista: Return Icons to the Smaller Classic XP Size @ OCModShop
- HP Pushes Strongly into Mobility Space @ Hardware Zone
Garbage Mining
You may remember in a previous PC Perspective podcast, Jon bringing the topic of e-waste up. Slashdot has a link to a story that follows up that topic with a look at why it is done. The actual people in the electronic waste dump get contaminated water and a couple of bucks a day, to harvest waste in which the density of precious metals recovered is higher than in ore mining. Read on for a very interesting slide show.
