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 Friday, April 11, 2008
 Posted by Roberto
 10:34 AM   0 comments   

DIGITALLY AUGMENTED OBJECTS AND ENVIRONMENTS

Computers are becoming invisible and integrated into our lives. Our clothes can monitor our heart rate, breathing and motion. Sensors like accelerometers, for measuring acceleration or detecting and measuring vibrations, light detectors, are worn as soft computers "in a noninvasive, non-weight-bearing way".

Tom Igoe, who leads physical computing for the N.Y.U. program said:
"The end goal is not the communication but the quality of life that the communication affords." He offered an example: the Toyota Prius, an electric hybrid, and many other new cars report fuel consumption instantaneously to the driver. Whenever you can help people "measure how they do something, they change how they do it". It becomes a live-in video game, but a live-in video game with a purpose.

Other examples of sensors being integrated into unexpected areas include the PhyTalk system from Phytech. It uses sensors placed on fruit trees or other crops to provide information to farmers. One sensor monitors tiny changes in stem diameter, while another tracks size and growth of fruit. Avi Lulu, the company's chief executive, said: "We are not irrigating what we think the plants need; we're irrigating what the plants really need"

Some plant lovers might be interested in Botanicalls, a simpler project developed by the New York University program in interactive telecommunications. It will measure soil moisture and send a message to the owner when the soil is too dry. When the plant gets the water, it also sends a thank-you note.

At the Intel Corporation's Digital Health Group, Eric Dishman, director of product research and innovation, said he saw many opportunities for making embedded computers that could help people. His group is focusing on preventing falls, social health and cognitive assistance. Sunny Consolvo, at Intel, has been working to create a system using similar sensors that gives feedback to users about their degree of physical activity with subtle and often coded metaphors. What she calls a "glanceable" display converts distances of walking and climbing stairs into a picture of a garden. "As you work through the week, the garden blooms. And if you meet your goal, a butterfly flies" she said.


Article's Source:
The New York Times, My Life in a Video Game (Batteries Not Included)

Links:
Sparkfun, online store catering to developers and prototypers
Phytech, Monitoring Growing Plants
Botanicalls, The Plants Have Your Number
MIT, Things That Think Consortium

 

 Wednesday, April 02, 2008
 Posted by Roberto
 1:17 AM   0 comments   

WALL STREET CASTLES MADE OF SAND



Story Link:
Wall Street Castles Made of Sand

 

 Friday, March 14, 2008
 Posted by Roberto
 8:36 PM   0 comments   

THE SUB-PRIME CRISIS



The fickle finger of blame has shifted from the large household name rating agencies to a formerly obscure benchmark index called ABX. Without getting into the gritty details, here's the essential story: banks and other institutions holding sub-prime debt need to value them for accounting purposes on a "mark to market" basis, ostensibly the market value at the time. So how do you place a market value on obscure and often opaque debt? Well, the practice, particularly with big banks, has been to use the ABX benchmark.

ABX is maintained by a London-based company called Markit Group. ABX exists not for valuation purposes, but rather as something that speculators can bet on -- a way to gamble on sub-prime debt without actually owning any. ABX is based on pricing for just 20 specific bond deals. And there you have it: a market that is estimated in the trillions of dollars is being valued based on the prices of a very thin benchmark.

What we have here is a case of unintended consequences from unintended use. With so much money at stake, one would think it would be in the common interest to develop a robust, dependable benchmark index. Apparently, it was easier to press the already existing ABX index into double-duty, and the consequences speak for themselves. It's an object lesson for data publishers: just because your data may have multiple uses doesn't mean you should necessarily encourage them. As commercial databases become increasingly integral to the customers and industries we serve, we all take on more responsibility along with our enviable market positions.

You may be wondering who owns Markit Group. Well, in a little bit of parting irony, it turns out Markit is largely owned by a consortium of banks, including, well, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, among many others.

Article's Source:
InfoCommerce Group: The Deep Dangers of Double-Duty Data

The Markit Group:
Markit was founded in 2001 as the first independent source of credit derivative pricing. As a private company with privileged relationships with 16 shareholder banks, Markit has unparalleled access to a valuable dataset spanning credit, equities and the broader OTC derivative universe. Markit customers (close to 1,000) are investment banks, hedge funds, asset managers, central banks, regulators, rating agencies and insurance companies.
Markit, Benchmark Financial Data and Services

 

 Friday, February 08, 2008
 Posted by Roberto
 5:39 PM   0 comments   

ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDEX

EPI

The 2008 EPI (Environmental Performance Index) was released by the World Economic Forum in Davos, created by the Yale Center for Environmental law and Policy (Yale University) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (Columbia University).

The full information is available at:
EPI Homepage
Summary for Policymakers (.pdf)
Main Report (.pdf)
EPI 2008 Data File (.xls)
EPI 2008 Rankings (.pdf)

 

 Thursday, January 17, 2008
 Posted by Roberto
 10:20 PM   0 comments   

CRAMER ON FINANCIALS: THE TRUTH IS TOO PAINFUL!

Wall Street extended its 2008 plunge today, sending the Dow Jones Industrials down 306 points after a regional Federal Reserve report showed a sharp and unexpected decline in manufacturing activity...

Check out the following Two Videos:
Jim Cramer discusses doomed financials and the Fed
Jim Cramer CNBC Meltdown Video

 

 Saturday, December 22, 2007
 Posted by Roberto
 6:04 PM   0 comments   

CARBON OFFSETTING - IS IT CHEATING?

Cheatneutral.com is a brilliant satire on carbon offsetting!


Cheatneutral Logic:

From now on, you can calmly tell your long-suffering partner that you've cheated, but it's ok - you've paid a small amount to a website which will reinvest that money into virtuous people who will pledge to do no cheating, on your behalf. The amount of cheating in the world equalizes, and everything is ok!!!


FIVE ways that Cheatneutral is like Carbon Offsetting:

1.
Cheatneutral tries to make it seem acceptable to cheat on your partner. In the same way, carbon offsetting tries to make it acceptable to carry on emitting excess carbon.

2.
Cheatneutral doesn't really do much to reduce the amount of cheating in the world. Carbon offsetting does very little to reduce global carbon emissions.

3.
It seems impossible to measure how much harm cheating on someone does. With carbon offsetting, there is currently no practically feasible way of measuring how much carbon offset projects actually save.

4.
Having Cheatneutral's services available could actually encourages you to cheat more. If the carbon offsetters persuade you that it's possible to offset your emissions, you'll carry on emitting excess carbon through your lifestyle rather than think about reducing your emissions.

5.
Cheatneutral is fundamentally the wrong way to go about solving problems with your relationships. Carbon offsetting is fundamentally the wrong way to go about tackling climate change.


TWO ways which Cheatneutral is not like Carbon Offsetting:

1.
Cheatneutral doesn't make any money. Offset companies in the voluntary carbon market take a cut of every transaction and make a profit.

2.
Cheatneutral is a joke. Carbon offsetting presents itself as a credible solution to climate change, described by the government's chief scientist Sir David King as "the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even than the threat of terrorism..."


Source:
CheatNeutral.com
CheatNeutral.com Video

Links:
Carbon Trade Watch
Action Carbone

 

 Friday, December 21, 2007
 Posted by Roberto
 4:46 PM   0 comments   

EXPERIMENTAL FURNITURE

FlexibleLove

FlexibleLove experimental furniture are made from recycled paper and wood products.

A honeycomb structure, used throughout the entire FlexibleLove line, produces an accordion-like result that allows each piece to be extended and collapsed with ease, changing length and shape with a simple pull at each end.

Folding Chair Video
FlexibleLove Experimental Furniture

 

 Tuesday, October 02, 2007
 Posted by Roberto
 10:47 AM   0 comments   

THE END OF CHEAP OIL

Seth J. Itzkan, President, Planet-TECH Associates:

" Discoveries of oil have been declining since the 1960s.
  We now use oil at 5 times the rate it is discovered.
  One hundred years ago we discovered it faster than we could use it. "

Production Versus Discovery
Giant Oil Fields
Graphs
Peak Oil
Life After the Oil Crash
The Nature of the New World
Power of Community - How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
Planet-TECH Associates Futures Research and Consulting

 
NERO wearing the Adidog shirt
 
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