Apple has set a lofty goal for itself: use only renewable materials in its products to protect the environment and avoid “blood minerals.” In its 2017 Environmental Responsibility Report, released today ahead of Earth Day, the company said it is “challenging ourselves to one day end our reliance on mining altogether.” Greenpeace, however, thinks that’s not enough. The non-profit praised Apple’s commitment, but had a caveat: it also wants the company to make devices that last longer and are easier to repair.

In an interview with Vice News, Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environmental, policy and social initiatives, said “we’re actually doing something that we rarely do, which is announce a goal before we’ve completely figured out how to do it. So we’re a little nervous, but we also think it’s really important, because as a sector, we believe it’s where technology should be going.”

Using only recycled materials not only reduces environmental impact, but also helps prevent human rights abuses, such as the use of child labor to mine cobalt, which is essential for lithium-ion batteries, and minerals from conflict zones. (Apple recently stopped buying cobalt mined in Congo and audited its supply chain).

Other mined materials used in Apple products include aluminum, copper, tin and tungsten. In its Environmental Responsibility Report, Apple said “to start, we’re encouraging more customers to recycle their old devices through Apple Renew. And we’re piloting innovative new recycling techniques, like our line of disassembly robots, so we can put reclaimed materials to better use in new products. It’s an ambitious goal that will require many years of collaboration across multiple Apple teams, our suppliers, and specialty retailers—but our work is already under way.”

Of course, one reason why Apple is doing this is the publicity that will be generated if it is able to declare iPhones and other products conflict-free.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say that one of the reasons that it appeals to us to use more recycled materials is that it gives us a different potential answer to that question,” Jackson, who served as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 to 2013, told Vice News.

This may help Apple foster goodwill among consumers, who are starting to make more purchasing decisions based on social issues.

For many smartphone users, however, a sticking point is that Apple products, including iPhones, have a reputation for being harder to repair than devices from other manufacturers. Greenpeace called the company out on this issue, saying that “while transitioning to 100 percent recycled materials is critical to reducing the sector’s footprint, it is also fundamental for Apple and other major IT companies to design products that last, are easy to repair and recyclable at the end of life.”

Jackson told Vice News that “a lot of people buy Apple products because they know they do last.” But as the publication points out, electrical appliances in general have shorter lifespans than they did just a decade ago and that Apple itself says iPhones and Apple Watches are only supposed to last three years.

Still, Apple’s promise is a step in the right direction, even if the company still doesn’t know how exactly it will come to fruition. For one thing, it puts onus on competitors to keep up.

“This commitment, and Apple’s recent progress in transitioning its supply chain in Asia to renewable energy, puts it far ahead of others in the sector,” said Greenpeace in its statement. “Major IT brands such as Samsung, Huawei and Microsoft should quickly match Apple’s leadership, if they don’t want to risk falling even further behind.”

“Apple’s announcement comes less than a month after Samsung’s commitment to refurbish and recycle 4.3 million Galaxy Note 7s recalled worldwide, sending a strong signal to Samsung and the rest of the sector that much greater innovation is possible,” it added.

Featured Image: Zhang Peng/LightRocket/Getty Images

Facebook will assemble an independent Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) panel to oversee its development of a direct brain-to-computer typing interface it previewed today at its F8 conference. Facebook’s R&D department Building 8’s head Regina Dugan tells TechCrunch “It’s early days . . . we’re in the process of forming it right now.”

Meanwhile, much of the work on the brain interface is being conducted by Facebook’s university research partners like UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins. Facebook’s technical lead on the project Mark Chevillet says “they’re all held to the same standards as the NIH or other government bodies funding their work, so they already are working with institutional review boards at these universities that are ensuring that those standards are met.” Institutional review boards ensure test subjects aren’t being abused and research is being done as safely as possible.

Regina Dugan presents at F8

Facebook hopes to uses optical neural imaging technology to scan the brain 100 times per second to detect thoughts and turn them into text. Meanwhile, it’s working on “skin-hearing” that could translate sounds into haptic feedback that people can learn to understand like braille. Dugan insists “None of the work that we do that is related to this will be absent of these kinds of institutional review boards.”

So at least there will be independent ethicists working to minimize the potential for malicious use of Facebook’s brain-reading technology to steal or police people’s thoughts.

During our interview, Dugan showed her cognisance of people’s concerns, repeating the start of her keynote speech today saying “I’ve never seen a technology that you developed with great impact that didn’t have unintended consequences that needed to be guard railed or managed. In any new technology you see a lot of hype talk, some apocalyptic talk, and then there’s serious work which is really focused on bringing successful outcomes to bear in a responsible way.”

In the past, she says the safeguards have been able to keep up with the pace of invention. “In the early days of the Human Genome Project there was a lot of conversation about whether we’d build a super race or whether people would be discriminated against for their genetic conditions and so on” Dugan explains. “People took that very seriously and were responsible about it, so they formed what was called a ELSI panel . . . By the time that we got the technology available to us, that framework, that contractual, ethical framework had already been built, so that work will be done here too. That work will have to be done.”

Building 8 R&D division head Regina Dugan at Facebook’s Area 404 lab

In just the span of a week, Facebook went from being criticized for not innovating and just copying Snapchat, to merely using its social network monopoly to squash the innovation of others, to innovating so far into the future that it scares us and conjures dystopic thoughts.

Worryingly, Dugan eventually appeared frustrated in response to my inquiries about how her team thinks about safety precautions for brain interfaces, saying “The flip side of the question that you’re asking is ‘why invent it at all?’ and I just believe that the optimistic perspective is that on balance, technological advances have really meant good things for the world if they’re handled responsibly.”

Facebook’s domination of social networking and advertising give it billions in profit per quarter to pour into R&D. But its old “Move fast and break things” philosophy is a lot more frightening when its building brain scanners. Hopefully Facebook will prioritize the assembly of the ELSI ethics board Dugan promised and being as transparent as possible about the development of this exciting-yet-unnerving technology.

T

he Spectre 13 x360 that I strangely loved from late last year is back with a 4K screen and pen support for the Windows Creators update that went global this month. There’s also a new EliteBook x360 for enterprise users, with beefed-up security via a fingerprint scanner, Windows Hello and always-on security monitoring for the BIOS.

One x360 laptop is better for work, the other for multimedia. Both are some of the best Windows machines out there, but with a few caveats.

A Secure Laptop Is Only As Good As The Network It’s On

HP EliteBooks are often sold in contracts to corporations or startups that need Windows systems in bulk for their employees. The EliteBook x360 is no different, except we haven’t seen the x360 hinge with a pen before on an EliteBook. The result is a work machine that can be laid flat with its dual microphones for a conference call, but can transform into a tablet with pen support — reminiscent of the Microsoft Surface experience. This functionality is assisted by the Windows Creators update that added Paint 3D, Windows Ink in Photos/Edge and a whole suite of features that I went over already.

Specs-wise, the EliteBook x360 is similar to its consumer-oriented counterpart. A Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, a sharp 1080p HD screen and lots of legacy ports — HDMI-out, microSD, secure card, Kensington lock slot, etc. — are all included.

But if it’s just a powerful Windows laptop you’re looking for, then the Spectre will suit you just fine.

The difference between the EliteBook and the Spectre is most notably: security. Every 15 seconds the BIOS is scanned for tampering. If detected, the EliteBook shuts down and installs a fresh copy of the BIOS. Of course, the whole system is also encrypted and supported by Windows 10 Pro.

There’s also quite a few ways to lock the system: Windows Hello facial recognition (via infrared camera), a fingerprint sensor or the HP WorkWise app (iOS/Android) that acts like as a proximity lock, like the key fob to a Tesla or similar luxury car.

Battery life is solid, ranging from 12 to 15 hours in my personal use.

However, your system is really only as secure as your connection to the internet is and the services you use. A VPN, good judgement of networks, sites, files and personal network security (or the corporate network managed by an IT manager) is what will decide whether your system gets compromised or not.

But fret not: if all of that physical access security isn’t enough, HP partnered with 3M to start shipping EliteBooks with an optional SureView privacy filter. It activates 35 degrees from the center viewpoint, getting brighter, not darker to provide a privacy filter. The con is you’ll take an hour battery life penalty, but the trade-off is it can be easily activated from the keyboard.

4K And Pen Support — That’s it?

I’m torn with the new Spectre x360: I recommended it wholeheartedly last year, as did a number of other publications. It’s been less than six months and now there’s a 4K option with the same internals.

In the real-world, having a 4K screen doesn’t offer that much of an advantage over the original model — other than limited high-res content consumption, or if you just like pixels. To top it off, 13-inch 4K screen doesn’t adhere to any color grading standard (like Adobe’s for example), which would make it great for multimedia editing.

So it really is just a pretty face, driven by otherwise compelling hardware.

However, the quality of the visual upgrade is highly noticeable. The regular full HD panel looks like an Etch-A-Sketch in comparison. When buying a new laptop like this, you’ll need to ask yourself if trading a few hours of battery life for 3,840 x 2,160 pixels is worth it — in this case, it really isn’t.

While I used to proudly reach 10 hours of usage on the HD Spectre x360, I can only get by 6-7 hours on the 4K model. Time I could have spent working or watching (with content) on a less crisp, but still vibrant and sharp HD screen.

In summary, I’d pass on the 4K for the consumer x360 and go for extra security on the enterprise x360.

Prices as Reviewed: $1,269+ for EliteBook x360, $1,599 for Spectre x360 with 4K