The Problem of Electronic Waste in Vancouver, WA

In today's fast-paced world, electronic gadgets have become inseparable from our daily lives. However, rapid technological advancements and the constant desire for the latest devices have led to a significant issue—electronic waste, or e-waste. Electronic waste has grown to record levels. This refers to discarded electronic products; their management is a pressing concern, especially in places like Vancouver.

E-waste includes various items, from smartphones and laptops to refrigerators and televisions. The problem with these discarded items is their sheer volume and their harmful substances, such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. When improperly disposed of, these substances can contaminate our soil and water, posing serious environmental and health risks.

Vancouver, WA, is taking strides to manage this issue effectively. The city offers various e-waste recycling programs, encouraging residents to responsibly dispose of their electronic items. These programs help reduce environmental pollution and recover valuable materials like gold, silver, and copper, which can be reused in manufacturing new products.

For individuals unfamiliar with technology or e-waste, it's essential to understand the importance of proper disposal. Participating in local recycling programs, donating functional electronics for reuse, and choosing eco-friendly gadgets are small steps that make a big difference.

For a complete list of drop-off locations in Clark County, use Recycling A-Z and type "electronic materials" into the search box.

By taking action, the residents of Vancouver, WA, can lead by example and showcase how community efforts can combat the growing problem of electronic waste. Let's all do our part in creating a sustainable future.

R

What is 5Ge? And Why Is It On My iPhone?

Oh look - a new carrier indicator from AT&T that suggests that I’m receiving 5G to my iPhone! How cool is that! Boom!

Well, not really. It’s actually not true. Let’s break this lie down a bit.

5G refers to the “5th Generation” wireless communication standard which will offer theoretical speeds up to 1gbs - extremely fast, especially considering 4G LTE service offers around 30mbps (30 megabytes a second as compared to 1,000 megabytes a second).

The problem is that 5G is going to take a whole different set of hardware to transmit and receive 5G signals. That’s going to take a lot of time and capital investment by carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. 5G is supposed to roll-out nation-wide over the next couple of years. But it’s not here. Not yet.

So why am I being lied to? AT&T Senior VP for Wireless Technology Igal Elbaz defended AT&T’s 5Ge practices by arguing “what we’re trying to do is let [consumers] know that there is an enhanced experience in their market.” And yeah, they’re getting sued by the other carriers who say AT&T is misleading consumers .

You see, even though my iPhone says that I’m operating on a 5G network (E is AT&T marketing lingo for “Evolution”, it’s not even part of the 5G standard), it’s really not. Bummer-drag. It’s still on that 4G LTE network but using a mechanism to aggregate carrier signals (4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM) that offer a wee bit of a speed improvement (AT&T says an average of 40mbps with theoretical speeds up to 400mbps) but it’s not 5G, per se.

The 5Ge thing appeared on my iPhone XS after receiving the iOS 12.2 update, but it’s not really 5G. Have AT&T? If you have an older iPhone, or an iPhone XR, or older Android phone, you may not see the 5Ge indicator. That’s because those phones don’t support the signal aggregation thing I was just talking about. Also, you may not be in a market that AT&T has brought this whoopla to; AT&T seems to think they can roll this tech out to 400 markets by 2020.

So, sorry to swot your hopes like that but, hey, just keeping it real.

R

Google Calendar Not Listed on iPhone

So you have a Google Calendar. It's not your primary calendar and it's not appearing on your iPhone, and yeah that's frustrating. Here's the fix.

1. Login to Google.
   

2. Go to Google Calendar.
   

3. Make sure that the calendar you're after appears in the left-hand navigation.
   

4. If it does, then you want to go to this link:
   

5. https://calendar.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect
   

6. This is Google's calendar sync configuring tool for iOS devices. There'll be a list of calendars that will match what you first saw in the left-hand navigation on the Calendar screen.
   

7. Select TRUE for the calendars you want to have appear on your iPhone or iPad; hit the Save button lower right hand side of screen.

The calendar sync settings will be pushed to your iPhone in a couple of minutes after that. It takes a few minutes for your phone to poll for a calendar update.

As new calendars are added, you may need to revisit this screen to configure the calendar sync settings again.