Author: Serkadis

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

37signals ID
37signals ID begins rolling out
Here’s a list of many of the major changes that come along with the 37signals ID username and password system upgrade.

37signals Launchpad: A video walkthrough
The Launchpad lets you access all your 37signals products from a single screen. Move between them with a click, jump back into each app where you left off, rename, reorder, and organize your workflow.

37signals ID update: Now you can have different email addresses for each Basecamp
Now you can have a different email address for each Basecamp account. Just log into a Basecamp account, click “My Info” and edit the email field.

How to: Merge multiple 37signals IDs together
We launched a feature that lets people merge/link different 37signals IDs together. This is helpful if you’ve created two or more different 37signals IDs by accident. Or maybe you created separate identities on purpose originally but would prefer a single ID instead.

Quick tips for accessing your new 37signals Launchpad
Have you transitioned your account to a 37signals ID? If so, here’s a shortcut to the universal login and Launchpad: http://37s.me. And if you’re a Safari user, try this: Add the 37s Launchpad as the first item in your Bookmarks Bar. Then hit cmd+1 to quickly load it up!

Highrise
Car accident? Highrise cases are perfect for handling the aftermath
A car accident is a real pain to deal with on many levels. One way to make the process easier is to use Highrise to collect all the information you’ll need to track: details on the other driver/car, witnesses, passengers, accident location, insurance, attorneys, and more.

Multiple products
Why Basecamp and Campfire would be a better learning management system
“At our university, we use Blackboard as a Learning Management System, and I can’t say that it’s good at all. In this post, I outline the most important shortcomings of Blackboard, the benefits of Basecamp and Campfire, and why the latter would be a better fit for our classes…The thing is that [37signals] products are not designed for education, they are designed for business. Yet, Basecamp and Campfire would be a much better overall fit than the Blackboard we currently use.”

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Article Tags: Copenhagen Conference, Steve McIntyre, YouTube

6 Part YouTube

Global Warming, Or A Lot of Hot Air? Part 1 (FoxNews Dec 20 2009)

All six parts of the hour-long special aired during prime time Sunday night on Fox News featuring Steve McIntyre and Ross McKittrick are now online below. Both Phil Jones and Michael Mann ducked requests for interviews. I can perhaps understand Jones situation, since he has not been giving other interviews, but in Mann’s case he’s been on a media blitz writing op-eds for the Washington Post and giving interviews to dozens more. His bias, (or perhaps cowardice) is showing. If his work is so “robust”, why not defend himself in this venue?

Source: wattsupwiththat.com

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CHILE, EFE
Sin un acuerdo internacional para mitigar los efectos del cambio climático, el costo de este problema podría significar para América Latina y el Caribe hasta el 137% de su PIB actual en el año 2100, según la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (Cepal).

Las predicciones están contenidas en el informe ‘La economía del cambio climático en América Latina y el Caribe’, de la Cepal, elaborado para ser presentado en un evento paralelo a la Cumbre sobre el Cambio Climático que se celebra en Copenhague (Dinamarca).

Grave repercusión
Según el documento, sin acciones de mitigación la región podría sufrir para fines del siglo pérdidas importantes en el sector agrícola y en la biodiversidad, fuertes presiones sobre la infraestructura y un aumento en la intensidad de fenómenos naturales extremos.

Las proyecciones se basan en cálculos de 15 países: Argentina, Belice, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, República Dominicana y Uruguay.

Aunque es la segunda región mundial que menos gases de efecto invernadero emite (la primera es África), América Latina y el Caribe están sufriendo los efectos del calentamiento global más que ninguna otra, según el informe.

Fuente Bibliográfica

Since the holidays are in full swing, I thought I would get a little nostalgic at this time of year and talk about the history of hydrogen used help people travel. As noted in the headline, the first hydrogen vehicle for carrying people from point A to point B was not a car, train or boat.

The first hydrogen vehicle was actually a manned balloon filled with H2 created by Jacques Alexandre César Charles and flown over Paris, France in 1783. Charles worked with two brothers Anne-Jean Robert and Nicolas-Louis Robert who helped develop part of the balloon.

Approximately 4 months before the first manned hydrogen balloon was flown, an unmanned balloon was flown and it scared the local peasants so much they stabbed it with pitchforks when it landed. The launching of the manned hydrogen balloon was attended by approximately 400,000 people including dignitaries like Ben Franklin.

The manned hydrogen balloon attained a height of about 1,800 feet, stayed in the air about 2 hours and traveled 22 miles outside of Paris.

According to Absolute Astronomy about Charles’ experiments with hydrogen balloons, “He developed several useful inventions, including a valve to let hydrogen out of the balloon and other devices, such as the hydrometer and reflecting goniometer, and improved the Gravesand heliostat and Fahrenheit’s aerometer. In addition he confirmed Benjamin Franklin’s electrical experiments.”

Now, if you’re wondering about the first hydrogen car invented it was by an engineer in Switzerland named Francois Isaac de Rivaz in 1807. Rivaz created a 4-wheel vehicle and the hydrogen oddly enough was contained within a small balloon.

So, with this historical perspective it is not difficult to see that hydrogen vehicles are not a new phenomenon. Instead, hydrogen has been used to carry people around for more than 225 years and will continue to do so for hundreds of years to come.

Ah, the Vancouver Olympics. The example of intellectual property entitlement insanity that just keeps on giving and giving and giving. It’s no secret that the Vancouver Olympics has convinced the Canadian government to grant it extra special intellectual property rights that go way beyond what would be allowed for any normal business. This includes getting special control over words like “2010,” and “Vancouver” if you use them in any way associated with the sporting event known as the Olympics (also protected). It’s using these extra rights to stop ticket reselling and to take down signs they don’t like (even on private property).

And, of course, acting in a maximalist manner also means little respect for anyone else’s intellectual property or free speech rights. We’ve already noted that some musicians have complained about a contractual gag order, that forbids any musician performing at any Olympics event to speak ill of the Olympics ever. However, it appears that the Vancouver Olympics folks are taking the maximalism even further. Michael Scott points us to a complaint from a musician who wrote a song which she thought the Olympic committee might like. She sent it to them, and was surprised to get back a contract demanding she sign over all ownership and royalties associated with the song before they would even listen to it. And, of course, it would also grant them the ability to do whatever they wanted with the song.

Now, I recognize that many folks in these sorts of business will not listen to/view/read/etc. any sort of “unsolicited” material for fear of later running into a legal fight if something they do is similar. But, as such you just make it clear that you refuse to pay attention to any unsolicited material sent in. You don’t send a contract that would require the creator to hand over all copyrights and royalties in a work. I guess, if you’re the Olympics, however, you do exactly that.

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BUENOS AIRES, TIERRAMÉRICA

Los habitantes de la norteña Puna están lejos de todo menos del Sol. Viven en aldeas pequeñas y dispersas, sobre un suelo árido y a miles de metros sobre el nivel del mar, que van camino a convertirse en ‘pueblos solares’.

En el norte de la noroccidental provincia de argentina de Jujuy, los pobladores comprueban que la energía del Sol, una fuente limpia e inagotable, puede reemplazar a la leña, cada vez más escasa, mediante una serie de proyectos que desarrolla la Fundación EcoAndina.

Su trabajo
EcoAndina busca mejorar las condiciones de vida de las poblaciones locales, aprovechando la riqueza sustentable del Sol, del viento y del agua, y manteniendo la identidad cultural e histórica de esas comunidades, muy vulnerables y con exiguos recursos materiales.
Desde que comenzó su labor, hace dos décadas, se instalaron en la zona unos 400 equipos de energía solar en 30 sitios.
Cocinas familiares y comunitarias, hornos panaderos, calefactores, colectores de agua caliente y riego por goteo son las técnicas y dispositivos que se desarrollan a partir de distintas aplicaciones de esta energía.

¿Cómo lo hacen?
Además de cocinar en hornos tan efectivos como los de gas, las familias pueden acceder a calefacción y agua caliente para sus hogares. En las escuelas hay colectores solares para entibiar las aulas y paneles fotovoltaicos que producen electricidad.
Los proyectos se realizan con financiamiento de fuentes diversas. Uno de estos programas permitió desarrollar una tecnología para verificar la reducción de emisiones de dióxido de carbono por emplear las cocinas solares. La certificación permitirá obtener créditos de carbono que se venden en el mercado y dejan fondos para adquirir nuevos artefactos.

Antes
Silvia Rojo, presidenta de EcoAndina, explicó que tradicionalmente la población puneña cubría su demanda térmica con tres tipos de plantas leñosas: tolas, queñoas y yaretas. Pero su extracción provocó una grave desertificación, pérdida de diversidad de especies y daños a las cuencas hídricas.

Fuente Bibliográfica

The Na’vi, Avatar’s humanoids, were built for looks, not so much for their local environment. For example, they have breasts, big eyes and sternocleidomastoids because human moviewatchers like these features, even though the Na’vi are described as being non-mammalian in other respects.

If you look closely, you’ll see that the Na’vi have a little muscle running down their necks. We’ve got them, too—it’s called the sternocleidomastoid muscle—and it’s a uniquely mammalian feature. Ours make a very distinctive V-shape, and when creature designers want an alien to seem attractive and familiar to its human viewers, they often slap one on. “Even C3PO has it, in the form of little pistons on his neck. Watch Star Trek: The good guys always have them, and the bad guys don’t. It’s a classic alien designer trick.”

Actually, I wonder if they aren’t actually plants, a la the Delvians of Farscape, another bunch of blue skinned, sexy aliens.

More: Mark Morford on the kinky hotness of the Na’vi.

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, GM

In the search for an auto industry outside, General Motors has announced that Chris Liddell will become the automaker’s vice chairman and CFO in 2010.

Set to replace Ray G. Young — a 20-year veteran of GM — Liddell, the former Chief Financial Officer for software giant Microsoft, will report to GM’s chairman and acting CEO Ed Whitacre and use his financial expertise to right the General’s ship after one of the worst years in the automaker’s history.

Liddell, an engineering and philosophy major, oversaw Microsoft’s global acquisitions, accounting and reporting while leading its financial team, and will depart from the software colossus on December 31. More details on this corporate breath of fresh air in the press release after the break.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading BREAKING: Ex-Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell named CFO of General Motors

BREAKING: Ex-Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell named CFO of General Motors originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s the Santa Claus rally, within the market. Tons of major stocks are at-or-breaking 52-week highs today. Momentum continues:

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See Also:

• Option Markets Expect A Huge Rally
• This Deflation Is Why The Dollar Can Rally A Lot
• The Christmas Retail Rally Could Be Toast

Article Tags: ClimateGate, David H. Douglass, John Christy

The CRU e-mails have revealed how the normal conventions of the peer review process appear to have been compromised by a team* of global warming scientists, with the willing cooperation of the editor of the International Journal of Climatology (IJC), Glenn McGregor. The team spent nearly a year preparing and publishing a paper that attempted to rebut a previously published paper in IJC by Douglass, Christy, Pearson, and Singer (DCPS). The DCPS paper, reviewed and accepted in the traditional manner, had shown that the IPCC models that predicted significant “global warming” in fact largely disagreed with the observational data.

We will let the reader judge whether this team effort, revealed in dozens of e-mails and taking nearly a year, involves inappropriate behavior, including (a) unusual cooperation between authors and editor, (b) misstatement of known facts, (c) character assassination, (d) avoidance of traditional scientific give-and-take, (e) using confidential information, (f) misrepresentation (or misunderstanding) of the scientific question posed by DCPS, (g) withholding data, and more.

*The team is a group of climate scientists who frequently collaborate and publish papers which often support the hypothesis of human-caused global warming. For this essay, the leading team members include Ben Santer, Phil Jones, Timothy Osborn, and Tom Wigley, with lesser roles for several others.

Click source to read FULL article by David H. Douglass and John R. Christy

Source: americanthinker.com

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Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Chrysler, Fiat

Fiat currently owns 20 percent of Chrysler and can raise its stake to 35 percent once it satisfies three criteria: builds a plant in the U.S. to assemble fuel efficient engines; builds a 40 mpg car in the U.S. and expands Chrysler’s international reach. For each milestone achieved, Fiat gets another five percent of Chrysler. The first hurdle looks like it will be cleared next year, with Fiat committing to building the 500’s 1.4-liter, 92-horsepower engine in Dundee, Michigan at what was once the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance plant.

According to Automotive News, Fiat is putting $179 million into the location. Yet while the powerplants will be built in Michigan, they’ll be shipped immediately to Mexico to be placed in the waiting engine bays of the cutest car in the world. That’s because 500 production will happen at Fiat’s Toluca, Mexico factory. Half of those finished cars will come to America, half will go to Brazil, with sales predicted to begin at the end of next year.

As for what to make of the alliance so far, and recent news like Chrysler’s speak-no-evil plans for Detroit Auto Show, Fiat CEO Marchionne said that it is going to take two years “to show some real results. We’ll try and do it faster,” he said, “but by the end of 2011 and in early 2012, you should be able to tell how our plan is working.”

[Sources: Automotive News – sub. req.; Drive.com.au | Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

REPORT: Fiat makes 500 engine plant in Michigan official originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No Blizzard game has appeared on a console in a decade now, but that doesn’t mean the company will stick only to developing for PC. Blizzard’s J. Allen Brack recently told Gamasutra that they remain open to

Baldwin Filters’ patent pending Channel Flow air filters provide superior filtration solutions in a lightweight, compact design for easy installation in less space. This straight-through air flow technology not only allows for less installation space, but offers manufacturers flexibility in design configuration.

The Baldwin Design
Baldwin’s Channel Flow filter has more surface area than a traditional air filter, while requiring the same or less installation space. The Channel Flow media is formed by layering alternating rows of flat sheets and corrugated media. When completed, the media resembles a honeycomb network of channels.

As the media pack is formed, alternating channels are sealed with a bead of adhesive. Air enters open channels and flows through the media and out through adjacent open channels.

Increased air flow is needed for higher performance engines. Increased air flow is also needed to meet tougher exhaust emission standards.

With a traditional air filter, air typically enters through the side of the filter housing. The air must then work its way around the filter element, pass through the media, then turn 90° to exit the filter. By eliminating the turns the air needs to make in a traditional air filter, in-line air filters reduce restriction.

DATE STAMPS
The date stamps are components that allow to obtain a time identification of the moulded product. The outer insert and the inner insert must be ordered separately, in order to obtain the needed product.
Upon request, date stamps with special engraving can be realized.

RECYCLING INSERTS
The recycling inserts are components that allow to obtain a specific characterization of the moulded product. Upon request recycling inserts with special engraving can be realized.
Upon request, recycling inserts with special engraving can be realized.

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), Lighting control systems, Audio Control System, Coffee pot, Garage door, Pet feeding and watering, Plant watering, Pool pump and heater, Hot tub and Spa and any thing about the house you can image, all can be controlled and configured as you want through your cell phone or PC from anywhere, this is the magic that the technology of Home automation can be, make things that only can be seen in the movie come true.

However, you are the master to command the Home automation system to do the right thing in the right time; therefore, there must be an interface between you and the Home automation system. Without the Panel PC, the whole Home automation system is just that every independent component installed in your house.

The margin of error of the Panel PC for the Home automation system is as narrow as the Panel PC for industry, so a Panel PC with high performance, high flexibility to upgrade and low MRT (Mean Repair Time) is the essential and critical for the Home automation system.

For the requirements from application such as the Home automation, the professional Panel PC solution provider EBN Technology Corp. presents the X-PPC 708. X-PPC 708 is compact design Panel PC device featured fan-less thermal solution, providing high and stable performance and low maintenance required.

Fanless Panel PC – X-PPC 708 Feature

-Fanless Panel PC built-in Intel ATOM 1.6 GHz processor for low power requirement.
-Durable ultra-slim & robust aluminum chassis
-Compact design and VESA mounting standard for flexible installation
I-/O connection includes 1 x GbE, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x RS-232 ports, 1 x VGA, audio, 1x Gigabit High Speed Ethernet interface (RJ45) and wireless 802.11 b/g

Novasina is pleased to present the new water activity measurement instrument LabSwift-aw. The LabSwift-aw unites newest technology with measurement speed and accuracy. The optional battery grants a versatile application in the laboratory or at the production line.

Product news: LabSwift-aw – fast, practical, innovative

Novasina launches the successor of the well established portable water activity instrument ms1 set aw. The new developped LabSwift-aw impresses with its measurement speed and accuracy, reproducibility and robustness, as well as with the large and clear LC dispaly. The LabSwift-aw with its ergonomic design offers also the possibility for portable measurements thanks to the optional battery.

Special features :

– accurate, reproducible and fast aw-value measurement
– simple menu structure and clear display
– mobile use thanks to a Lithium-ion battery (optional)
– data logging function with SD card
– checking and calibration functions in combination with Novasina humidity standards
– handy carrying case including accessories

Online video is growing every year and will inevitably replace TV watching like we know it in the not-so-distant future. We’re not quite there yet, thanks in part to the established media companies, especially the distribution part, doing everything in their power to stop it or at least slowing it down. A new move in the UK is getting closer to bringing on-demand online video to the TV screen, as the BBC’s Project Canvas is expected to get the go-ahead from the BBC Trust, the governing body which oversees its operations.

The project is a joint venture from the biggest names in British TV, BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five and is also supported by the biggest two broadband providers in the country BT and Carphone Warehouse. It aims to allow access to various online video services, like the BBC’s successful iPlayer, through a set-top box enabling users to get all the content on their TVs without needing a PC.

“By seamlessly converging broadband and broadcast content, project canvas can help secure the future of free-to-air broadcasting and create an open platform that gives online services a route to the TV set,” Richard Halton, Project Canvas programme director said. “The potential for innovation goes far beyond bringing video-on-demand to the TV set and there’s a huge opportunity for a wide range of … (read more)

The main attraction with the LG eXpo and LG IQ is its pico-projector, but we have not seen this accessory being shown off much.

MobileSyrup fortunately has us covered, and have published this short review of the projector and appears to have come away pretty impressed.  Their only complaint was that after about 10 minutes of use the projector had become somewhat hot, but like all projectors this is to be expected.

Read more at MobileSyrup here.

AFP reports that oil exports in northern Iraq were sabotaged Sunday after an attack on a pipeline caused a large oil spill.

The attack marks the fourth incident in six weeks, and comes just a week after contracts for seven oil fields were awarded to international consortiums. 

Beefed up security had limited the number of attacks to the pipeline in recent years, but after 18 months without disturbance, attacks began again in late October.

These attacks come just days after international oil firms spent billions securing oil rights long into the future.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Iraqi Oil Auction Was Like A High-Stakes American Idol
• The Growing Crisis With Iraq’s Oil