Microsoft Surface

This is so cool, yes, even cooler than an iphone! The build of it reminds me of the old glasstop video games where you sat across from your opponent for some wicked Pacman battles.
YouTube also has some funny parodies on MS Surface, but I'm including an informative one that shows you some of the amazing possibilities of this device. Microsoft has many more videos on their site too.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags - Goodbye barcodes! (Scientific American)

RFID tags have some very efficiency-enabling and cost-reducing uses, however they also come with a full set of privacy issues. We already use RFID tags in many of our everyday lives with drive-thru toll passes, implanted animal ID chips, door security cards, and other ways we may not even be aware of. Walmart uses them for their Supply Chain Management System and requires that their suppliers shift to this technology as well. Due to the power and volume of the Walmart retail system, their initiative will help reduce the cost of individual tags so that they become a more realistic alternative for other businesses and uses.

"Drilling for Hot Rocks: Google Sinks Cash into Advanced Geothermal Technology (Scientific American)

"For $1 billion over the next 40 years, the U.S. could develop 100 gigawatts (a gigawatt equals one billion watts) of electricity generation that emits no air pollution and pumps out power to the grid even more reliably than coal-fired power plants, according to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now Google.org—the charitable wing of the search engine giant—has chipped in nearly $11 million for this renewable resource: so-called geothermal power, or tapping the Earth's heat to make electricity.

That makes Google.org the largest funder of enhanced geothermal research in the country, outspending the U.S. government. The Australian government has pledged $43.5 million for such projects and already has several in the works, as do Europe and Japan.

But no such advanced geothermal plants are online in the U.S. at present, and may not be for many years to come...

"EGS is not for tomorrow," adds Lucien Bronicki, Ormat's co-founder and chief technology officer. "You have to reduce the cost of drilling to be able to go deep. You have to improve the efficiency of the pumps so you don't lose too much electricity pumping water around."

But for Google, one of the world's largest consumers of energy for its endlessly multiplying data centers, access to a googol's worth of clean energy is quite appealing. "EGS is a very exciting opportunity," Reichert adds. "We have a long way to go to bring it to commercial reality.""

Ikea investing 50 millions Euros in green technology

"...Ikea's pledge to invest €50 million ($77 million) in greentech points to a vast new market in which people would make more buying decisions that reduce their carbon footprint and allow them to use energy efficiently.

The company plans to invest in companies developing products that it could carry in its stores, including solar panels, energy-efficient lighting and water-purification kit..."

The Gina Light from BMW: "Haute Couture Carmaking for the Future" (Financial Times)

"Concept cars are built to surprise, signal new directions and push accepted limits – a bit like what haute couture dresses do in the fashion world.

But even by those standards, BMW startled motoring circles in June when it published a study for a car whose outer skin is made of cloth.

Built around a flexible metal structure, the Gina Light is covered with a sheet of durable fabric that stretches to fit when the doors open or close. Two eyelid-like slits appear in the cloth when its headlights are turned on. The model provided some clues about preoccupations and plans at the world’s top-selling luxury carmaker.

A century after Henry Ford launched the Model T, revolutionising how cars were made and sold, BMW and other manufacturers are preparing themselves for a future of intensifying cost and regulatory pressures..."

"In Booming Dubai, Call It the Anti-'Credit Crunch'" (Wall Street Journal)

"The booming Persian Gulf is starting to suffer from its own form of a credit and lending crisis.

As oil-fueled economic growth in the region surges, banks are finding that they don't have enough cash to meet all the demand from businesses to expand their operations.

The development means that unless banks are able to boost their deposits or develop new financial instruments, a lack of finance could provide an important brake on how quickly the region can grow....

"One of the big issues in the U.A.E. is the lack of financial instruments," says Mohsin Khan, the IMF's regional director for the Middle East and Central Asia. In particular, the fund is working to develop markets for "sukuk" bonds, a form of Islamic fund raising that can be traded without violating the Koran's prohibition on usury.

The value of sukuks issued rose to $47.10 billion in 2007 compared with about $25 billion in 2006 and $10 billion in 2005."...

Another factor adding to the crunch is the dollar's recent strength, which has driven away many foreign speculators who had bet the U.A.E. would cut its peg to the dollar, or revalue the local currency, the dirham."

Toilets at Google (Check out the buttons!)

Wooden Laptop from Fujitsu

"Japanese laptop vendor Fujitsu asserts its environmental awareness by releasing a wooden laptop. The "WoodShell" PC adopts cedar wood and bio-based plastics for its housing...

Fujitsu's wooden laptop is only available in Japan at the moment, and it's unclear whether the company plans to launch it globally...

The WoodShell laptop was showcased at Japan Design 2008 alongside another, more conventional-looking, but still eco-friendly laptop called the FMV BIBLO NX. The latter is built from corn-based plastic instead of the more common, petrochemical-based materials."

Solar panels on big-box U.S. retailers' roofs! Cool!! (IHT)

"Retailers are typically obsessed with what to put under their roofs, not on them. Yet the biggest store chains in the United States are coming to see their immense, flat roofs as an untapped resource.

In recent months, chains including Wal-Mart Stores, Kohl's, Safeway and Whole Foods Market have installed solar panels on roofs of their stores to generate electricity on a large scale. One reason they are racing is to beat a Dec. 31 deadline to gain tax advantages for these projects. ...

American retailers are following the lead of stores in Europe, which are much further along. Store-roof projects are so numerous in parts of Germany that they can be spotted in satellite photos. Government subsidies there, however, have lasted for years.

"In Germany, there are none of the concerns you find in the United States about whether support will be around next year," said Jenny Chase, an energy analyst in London. ...

Bernard Sosnick, an analyst with Gilford Securities who has examined Wal-Mart's plans, said the day might come when people can pull their electric cars up to a store and recharge them with power from the roof or even from wind turbines in the parking lot.

"It's not as over the horizon as it might seem," he said."

"Eye Spy: U.S. Scientists Develop Eye-Shaped Camera" (Reuters)

"CHICAGO (Reuters) - Borrowing one of nature's best designs, U.S. scientists have built an eye-shaped camera using standard sensor materials and say it could improve the performance of digital cameras and enhance imaging of the human body.

The device might even lead to the development of prosthetic devices including a bionic eye, they said..."

Yeah!! My Kiva loan money has all been raised!

I didn't think the money would be raised so fast! I'm excited to see how the loan process will continue and what Christine's group will be able to achieve with the loan!!

Looking for a good way to spend $25? (and get it returned to you!)

$1,550.00		Loan Request
$1,000.00		Raised so far
$550.00		still needed

"Christine Kiwanuka is the leader of a group of five women. She is 48 years old and is married with six children. Her eldest child is 20 years old and her youngest is 8 years old. All of her children are in school. Christine lives in a semi-urban slum on the outskirts of Kampala that is prone to flooding during the rainy season.

Christine plans on using this loan to increase her stock by purchasing wholesale and to install piped water in her home. Christine will then be able to sell more products, including water, and increase her profits. With the profits, Christine will continue to pay school fees. She hopes to eventually be able to afford to buy a motorcycle to rent out and to purchase a refrigerator to sell cold drinks..."

Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier - Poissy, France

How do you dogear a Kindle?

Kindle, the new electronic book! Sounds pretty cool and eliminates the need for storage and ordering of books. You can read about it on Wired, and also NPR did a (poolside) review of the handy new gadget. Priced at $359 on Amazon, I hope the price comes down to less than $200 in a year or so. By then, too, I'm hoping they can make a more durable version that can get dropped and rained on, as tends to be the lifestyle of my electronic gizmos :)

From Wired: "Since the Kindle was launched last November, it has been the subject of careful dissection, review, and speculation by countless blogs and news outlets, sparking one of techland's all-too-frequent debates: Is Amazon's new e-reader a game-changer?"...

UPDATE: "China Eases Internet Restrictions for Foreign Journalists" (International Herald Tribune)

"BEIJING: The Chinese authorities, bowing to criticism from Olympic officials, foreign journalists and Western political leaders, have lifted some of the restrictions that blocked Web sites at the Main Press Center for the Summer Games, although other politically sensitive sites remained inaccessible Friday."...

Access to sites the government normally blocks expanded throughout the day Friday. The first sites unblocked included those of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Radio Free Asia and the Chinese language service of the BBC.

By early evening, reporters at the press center could read about topics that have long been taboo here: Taiwanese independence, jailed Chinese dissidents and the 1989 crackdown on protestors in Tiananmen Square.

Other sites, particularly those that mention Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement, remained off limits...."

The WORLD Islands - Dubai, UAE

If I were as rich as Michael Klein (see earlier post), I would surely buy the whole world, as in "The World" islands in Dubai, UAE! This is yet another mind-blowing project underway in the constantly evolving Emirati city of Dubai.

"It was developed by Nakheel Properties and was originally conceived by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai." (Wiki)

All of the islands have been sold and construction is well under way. They are being formed from sand dredged from the sea, which by the massive volume required, makes me wonder what will be the ecological impact of this landshift.

"Brazil Rides Wave of Growth" (International Herald Tribune)

Brazil is on the rise! This article is another example of how small loans (e.g. through Kiva.org, discussed in an earlier post) can make a huge difference in people's lives by affording them the opportunity to take care of themselves and their families through working and earning a paycheck.

"FORTALEZA, Brazil: Desperate to escape her hand-to-mouth existence in one of Brazil's poorest regions, Maria Benedita Sousa used a small loan five years ago to buy two sewing machines and start her own business making women's underwear.

Today Sousa, a mother of three who started out working in a jeans factory making minimum wage, employs 25 people in a modest two-room factory that produces 55,000 pairs of cotton underpants a month. She bought and renovated a house for her family and is now thinking of buying a second car. Her daughter, who is studying to be a pharmacist, could be the first family member ever to finish college."

"...Instead, he (President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) has fueled Brazil's growth through a deft combination of respect for financial markets and targeted social programs, which are lifting millions out of poverty, said David Fleischer, a political analyst and emeritus professor at the University of Brasilia. Sousa is one such beneficiary..."

"Klein to Leave Citi with More than $42m" (Financial Times)

Congratulations Mr. Klein. I'm trying to understand why/how one person deserves that much money. Wouldn't it be great if he invested a large portion of it into something beneficial to the world such as microloans (e.g. Kiva.org - see earlier post for info). Imagine having the power to drastically improve people's lives by helping entrepreneurs around the world to be successful and self-sufficient.

"Citigroup will pay Michael Klein more than $42m in cash and stock after the high-profile banker decided to leave the financial services group and pledged not to work for a rival until October of next year.

Mr Klein’s package, which Citi detailed on Friday, is one of the largest sums paid to a departing banker who was not a chief executive since the beginning of the credit crunch. It is more than that received by his former boss, Chuck Prince..."

"Advertising Slowdown Weighs on Media Groups" (Financial Times)

In the current economic climate, companies are trimming their advertising budgets, which is hurting media groups that depend on this revenue stream for survival.

"Advertising weakness is spreading from newspaper and radio groups to the rest of the media and casting a shadow over a year that was supposed to benefit from the Beijing Olympics and a high-spending election season, analysts warn.

The biggest threat to the industry from big advertisers such as car dealers, banks, retailers and airlines, among others, as they tighten their belts..."

Media Ecology

Relatively new branch of communications study that examines how media environments effect people's lives.

"Media ecology looks into the matter of how media of communication affect human perception, understanding, feeling, and value; and how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our chances of survival...

Media ecology is the study of media as environments..."