The computer you're reading this on may not seem like a huge energy waster, but the power consumption adds up when joined by the other PCs worldwide (Stamford, Conn., research firm Gartner estimates there are more than one billion). A study released last week puts a finer point on this assertion, reporting that U.S. workers waste $2.8 billion annually in energy costs by failing to shut off their PCs at the end of the work day. What's more, machines left on during off hours may emit up to 20 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) this year alone, roughly the equivalent impact of four million cars.

The 2009 PC Energy Report, (conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by London-based energy-management software maker 1E Ltd and the Alliance to Save Energy, a Washington, D.C., coalition of business, government and environmental organizations) says that nearly half of U.S. workers leave their PCs running overnight. Among reasons cited, according to the report: it takes too long to shut them down, people forget to turn them off or they deliberately leave them on so they can receive software updates overnight.

Hard to believe it's been 25 years since Apple's slick TV spot, which aired during the third quarter of an otherwise forgettable Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Raiders and the Washington Redskins, ushered in the era of the Macintosh. The commercial depicts a drab future for humanity (in which, for some inexplicable reason, everyone is bald) a la George Orwell's 1984, featuring rows of gray-clad people complacently listening to "Big Brother" on a telescreen until a woman dressed in bright orange shorts rushes into the room, smashing the tedium with a well-placed throw of her Olympic-style hammer. (YouTube, of course, has the clip if you care to reminisce.)

This commercial, which ran two days before Apple's Macintosh hit the market, was a harbinger of the company's larger-than-life (and highly successful, for the most part) approach to selling technology. The first Macintosh was the original all-in-one personal computer, featuring a nine-inch (22.9-centimeter) monitor, floppy disk drive and eight-megahertz Motorola 68000 microprocessor sitting in a beige plastic tower. Its price tag: $2,500.

Could your computer be turned into a utility that you pay for based on how powerful it is and how often you use it? The world's largest software company thinks so.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week published a Microsoft patent application that signaled the software giant's interest in developing a metered pay-as-you-go computing system in which consumers would pay a monthly fee to use their PCs but little or nothing up front to buy them.

Although the patent office rejected Microsoft's application, reports tech news Web site Ars Technica, the company laid out a plan for the future of computing, where bits and bytes are delivered to one's home similar to the way utility companies deliver electricity. Based upon documents available on the patent office's Web site, Microsoft's application lacked sufficient detail in several areas, including descriptions of the service and how it is different from other ideas already issued patents, according to patent examiner Murali Dega. Microsoft has the ability to tweak its application and resubmit. When contacted, the company would not disclose its plans regarding the patent application or the proposed metering service.

Was it worth the buzz?

Apple today unveiled its new MacBook notebooks, most notable for their lowered price, high-performance graphics cards and, in some models, all-metal chassis: The new MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro are made from a single block of aluminum. Apple, which has been promising greener, more environmentally friendly electronics announced that the new MacBook family also meets Energy Star 4.0, Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Gold and Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) environmental standards, and contains no brominated flame retardants. They use PVC-free internal cables and components, as well as displays that are free of mercury and arsenic. The LED (light emitting diode)-backlit display uses up to 30 percent less energy than previous MacBooks displays.