Cell phones and laptops may seem like pretty minor offenders when it comes to energy guzzling. But as they become ubiquitous all over the planet, their growing power consumption is emerging as a major source of concern for those trying to conserve energy and stop global warming.

Communication gadgets and other consumer electronics burn up 15 percent of all the electricity consumed in households around the world, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. If the use of electronics continues to spread at the current pace, their energy draw could double by 2022 and triple by 2030. At that point, they would absorb as much electricity as all houses in the U.S. and Japan today.

But are electric gadgets vampires or saviors? Telecommuters who would otherwise burn gasoline to get to work, or drivers who get to their destination quicker by using a GPS device are actually saving energy, argues the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

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With the economy affecting all manner of consumer spending, it’s a little surprising to hear upbeat commentary from the flat-panel sector.

But according to Scott Birnbaum, vice president of Samsung’s LCD unit, its sales are benefiting from “vidification,” a term he uses to describe consumers trying to create a big-screen experience at home.

“When you went to the movie theater, you had this incredible picture and sound,” he says, and makers of televisions, PCs and even cellphones are all looking for ways to offer a similar viewing environment.

For PCs, manufacturers are quickly adopting a 16:9 aspect ratio, the length-to-height ratio that has been a standard for HD television screens, Mr. Birnbaum says. That means that laptops are becoming less boxy and more like wide-format TV screens, a trend that computer makers have capitalized on to goose sales. When one of these laptops is side-by-side with an older model, he says, “people are gravitating to the new format very quickly.”

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Five major U.K. carriers are banding together to pool customer data so that it can be put into a giant database and then be used to sell advertising, The Register reports today. How long do you think it will take before this “database” idea lands on American shores? First they charge you hundreds of dollars for calls, then they sell you for pennies.

This is no different than, say, Phorm, NebuAd or any of the other tricks being cooked up by service providers in a desperate attempt to recreate Google’s business model. In the process, they are playing loose and fast with people’s privacy. Jeez, no wonder people hate their phone companies.

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The Amish have the undeserved reputation of being Luddites, of people who refuse to employ new technology. It’s well known the strictest of them don’t use electricity, or automobiles, but rather farm with manual tools and ride in a horse and buggy. In any debate about the merits of embracing new technology, the Amish stand out as offering an honorable alternative of refusal. Yet Amish lives are anything but anti-technological. In fact on my several visits with them, I have found them to be ingenious hackers and tinkers, the ultimate makers and do-it-yourselfers and surprisingly pro technology.

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We take them with us to the dinner table, the bedroom, even the bathroom stall. But in recent years, some of us have started taking our beloved cellphones someplace really startling: the grave. “It seems that everyone under 40 who dies takes their cellphone with them,” says Noelle Potvin, family service counselor for Hollywood Forever, a funeral home and cemetery in Hollywood, Calif. “It’s a trend with BlackBerrys, too. We even had one guy who was buried with his Game Boy.”

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A longish article from Reuters today speculates on whether Research in Motion (RIMM) could be bought out, now that its share price has received a 50 percent haircut in the last month, to $59.03, and its market capitalization has fizzled to a mere $33.4 billion. Noting Microsoft’s (MSFT) struggles against Google (GOOG) on one front in the cellphone wars and Apple (AAPL) on the other, Reuters quotes Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek–who yesterday raised his rating on the stock to “Buy” from “Hold”–as saying “RIM is a massive strategic fit” for Microsoft, adding, “I’m fairly certain they have a standing offer to buy them at $50 (a share).”

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Qualcomm (QCOM) CEO Paul Jacobs this morning said in an interview on CNBC that customers are keeping their cellphones for longer than they have in the past. That’s a troubling development for the handset business, which relies heavily on replacement phones for revenue growth.

“We’re seeing some evidence there’s a lengthening of replacement cycles,” Jacobs said.

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It must be tough to be a delegate at the Democratic National Convention–you have to know when to scream for Hillary, when to scream for Obama and when not to scream at all. And then you have to learn the art of shaking hands and networking while listening for really important announcements such as someone somewhere offering free pizza. Life may be easier if you have a swanky cellphone. At least, that’s what a bunch of companies are trying to convince you as they push their mobile-related products in Denver.

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Nokia (NOK) shares are headed higher this morning on better-than-expected second-quarter results.

For the quarter, the company posted net sales of $13.151 billion Euros, up 4 percent both year-over-year and sequentially, and ahead of the Street consensus of 12.8 billion Euros. Earnings per share, excluding special items, were in line at 36 Euro cents.

The company sold 122 million phones in the quarter, up 21 percent year-over-year and 6 percent sequentially. Smartphone units totaled 15.3 million; the company estimates the industry shipped 37.1 million smartphones in Q2. Average selling prices fell to 74 Euros from 90 a year ago and 79 in the first quarter. Nokia said 30 percent of the year over year decline and 40 percent of the sequential decline reflected exchange-rate related factors.

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In a few weeks, the Apple faithful and other gadget mavens will line up as part of the mad rush to be among the first to buy the new 3G iPhone on July 11. Contrast that with the rest of the wireless business, where once-hot device makers such as Motorola Inc. cannot even give away many of their products.

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YouTube videos that show a group of friends apparently cooking kernels of popcorn with their cellphones have been viewed more than a million times since they were uploaded last week. The clever parlor trick looks amazing enough, but there’s a hitch: It’s not physically possible, according to University of Virginia physics professor Louis Bloomfield.

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We often cover semiconductors that require less energy, but we rarely talk to the companies behind those chips to find out what else they might be doing to reduce their power consumption. However, Norm Fjeldheim, chief information officer for Qualcomm, recently shared a few tidbits about what the cellphone chip maker is doing to keep corporate consumption down–and it all starts with information technology (not everyone is jumping ship to build “cleantech” firms).

While it was some 20 years that the Qualcomm IT department instigated a recycling effort that’s still in effect on the Qualcomm campus today, it is within the last five years that Qualcomm has made its biggest strides. In 2004 it began construction on a new corporate building and attached a data center to the corporate offices.

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Hospitals and airplanes ban the use of cellphones, because their electromagnetic transmissions can interfere with sensitive electrical devices. Could the brain also fall into that category? Of course, all our thoughts, sensations and actions arise from bioelectricity generated by neurons and transmitted through complex neural circuits inside our skulls. Electrical signals between neurons generate electric fields that radiate out of brain tissue as electrical waves that can be picked up by electrodes touching a person’s scalp. Measurements of such brainwaves in EEGs provide powerful insight into brain function and a valuable diagnostic tool for doctors. Indeed, so fundamental are brainwaves to the internal workings of the mind, they have become the ultimate, legal definition drawing the line between life and death.

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Google’s biggest threat may not be Microsoft or Yahoo. No, one of the most formidable challenges facing Google is likely sitting in your pocket or purse. It’s your cellphone, and it will put added pressure on Google and other Internet companies to revamp the way they handle online marketing.

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Last week, three of the nation’s largest cable companies quietly pulled the plug on a joint cellphone venture with Sprint Nextel Corp. called Pivot. The goal of this service offering was to help the cablers compete with the Telco Triple Play (video, voice and data). In theory, a Quadruple Play (video, voice, data plus a mobile phone) would seal the deal and make the cable offer irresistible to consumers. In practice, it just didn’t work.

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