Exploring recent regulations in Melbourne that mandate screen curfews above ground level at night, this discussion highlights the environmental and health benefits of such measures. The conversation draws parallels with similar rules in Germany and emphasises the potential for energy savings and improved well-being.

Balancing Screen Usage for a Greener Future

So I was reading a recent Guardian article about our friends down under in Melbourne who had introduced a new rule, putting a curfew on screens above ground level in public places at night. So basically saying they need to be turned off or severely dimmed down. And I thought actually this is a really good idea. We don't need to pollute environments where people, generally speaking, are not going to be there in the middle of the night and interrupt people's sleep and circadian rhythm. We wouldn't do the same with noise. We have rules and regulations around that. And I believe this law already exists in Germany and has been very popular. It's also greener, so you're not going to consume as much energy. And with modern hardware, we can easily control those screens remotely, powering them on and off as and when we wish to. So although I obviously advocate very much for screens, I don't think they necessarily need to be on all the time, especially at night.

Explore how partnering with Google Chrome OS enables greener digital signage solutions. Discover the benefits of recycling old hardware with Chrome OS Flex, reducing landfill waste and saving costs for IT companies.

Sustainable Digital Signage with Google Chrome OS

So we partner with the team at Google Chrome OS for a lot of our digital signage projects. One of the benefits of working with Chrome OS is that it's actually very green. There's multiple reasons for that. So the system itself has been built in such a way where you can easily power cycle the device and has quite a low CPU threshold. So it's not burning lots of energy, which is green. But actually, the bigger thing they have is something called Flex. So Flex is the ability to recycle previous hardware. So you might take an old Intel NUC, which is no longer being used. You can flex Google Chrome OS onto that device and effectively turn it into a Chrome device, which you could then use for digital signage. The thing is, digital signage doesn't necessarily need the latest and greatest computer hardware. It needs amazing software on it, which is screen-focused, in order to power up that screen. And the panels last for ages. So you may have a very outdated screen running potentially really outdated software. But recycling an old NUC device and then attaching that to the screen, launching on Chrome OS brings it right up to a modern spec and standard, and it should work perfectly. So as IT companies start to think about, like, how are we sending too many devices out to landfill, we can recycle so many of these for digital signage. It also saves you a lot of money, too. Microsoft Mechanics www.microsoft.com www.microsoft.com