I got a charge out of this

Charging iPads.

The annual cost of charging your iPad tablet -- based on fully charging it every other day -- is $1.36, according to a study by the Electric Power Research Institute,

"The analysis shows that each model of the iPad consumes less than 12 kWh of electricity over the course of a year, based on a full charge every other day," EPRI said. "By comparison, a plasma 42" television consumes 358 kWh of electricity a year.

Apple said 67 million of the devices have been purchased worldwide, the power institute said. EPRI calculations found that the average energy used by all iPads in the market is approximately 590 gigawatt hours.

"In a scenario where the number of iPads tripled over the next two years, the energy required would be nearly equivalent to two 250-megawatt (MW) power plants operating at a 50 percent utilization rate. A quadrupling of sales in two years would require energy generated by three 250-MW power plants," the power institute said.

"These results raise important questions about how the shifting reliance from desktop to laptop to mobile devices will change energy use and electricity requirements for the information age," EPRI Vice President Mark McGranaghan said. "At less than a penny per charge these findings bring new meaning to the adage, 'A penny for your thoughts.' "

I'm guessing that some intern in the public relations office came up with that and is real proud of himself.

Here come the tablets and smart phones

The research firm IDC predicts that in 2011, computing’s third major technology wave will become mainstream, when computers held in one’s hand — smartphones and tablets — really take over and start putting personal computers in the rearview mirror.

Next year there will be 330 million smartphones sold worldwide and 42 million media tablets. Tablet sales are expected to more than double next year, and to keep climbing.

“The PC-centric era is over,” the IDC report says. Within 18 months, it forecasts, non-PC devices capable of running software applications will outsell PCs. In tablets, IDC adds, Apple’s iPad will remain the leader, but lower-cost tablets will begin making inroads, especially as demand for tablets really takes off in emerging markets.

Mainstream adoption, according to IDC, is when a technology moves well beyond 15 percent or so of the market. In 2011, for example, IDC predicts half of the 2.1 billion people who regularly use the Internet will do so using non-PC devices.