Author: Serkadis

This post is part of the IT Innovation series, sponsored by Sun & Intel. Read more at ITInnovation.com.
Of course, the content of this post consists entirely of the thoughts and opinions of the author.

We’ve discussed in the past the differences between invention and innovation — where invention is the creation of something new, and innovation is the actual process of putting it into practice. We’ve pointed out that the patent system is supposed to encourage the latter (innovation — as seen in the command that the system “promote the progress”) but in practice tends to promote the former at the expense of the latter. The problem is that people who aren’t that familiar with the process of innovation think that the two things are the same. But, in reality, innovation is an ongoing process, whereby people have to keep trying out different ideas to make something useful. Anyone who’s built a business learns this quickly: the original idea is usually meaningless by the time anything successful comes around. Real innovation is a process of continually trying out new ideas and tweaking them slightly until you figure out what really attracts the market’s attention. Studies have shown that real innovation is this kind of ongoing process, rather than the “flash of insight” concept pushed by patent system supporters.

Of course, when innovation is an ongoing process, patents tend to hold back that process. That’s because they make it so that only one player in the field — who perhaps is not the one best equipped to innovate — gets to run that process. Everyone else is held back. It also slows down the pace of innovation, since without competition, the patent holder has less incentive to keep trying out those new ideas to find what works best. As we’ve learned for years and years, competition breeds innovation — but the patent system is designed to cut out competition for no particular reason.

Defenders of the patent system will often claim that the more socially beneficial result is for competitors to come up with something completely new, rather than building off the work of others. However, there is little evidence to support this particular interpretation. In fact, most research into true innovation shows that it is much more efficient for all parties to have access to as many possible solutions as possible — and holding back those options results in sub-optimal social results.

Yet another new study has shown this to be the case. Some researchers ran a contest of sorts, where they asked various people to submit “programs” in a contest to produce the best results:

A group of researchers set out to answer this question, and published their results in Science last week. To tackle the issue, the researchers set up a computer-based tournament based on Robert Axelrod’s ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ competitions in the late 1970s. In this type of tournament, entrants submit computerized strategies that compete against each other in a virtual world. Individuals, or “agents,” with the most successful strategies survive and reproduce, while less successful strategies die out.

In each round of the social learning tournament, automated agents could choose from 100 behaviors, each of which returned a certain payoff. The payoffs changed over the course of the tournament, simulating changing environmental conditions that might render a behavior more or less useful. In any round, agents could make one of three moves: use a behavior they already knew (Exploit), use asocial learning to test a new behavior by trial-and-error (Innovate), or learn socially by watching a behavior that another agent was performing in that round (Observe). Out of the three possible moves, only Exploit resulted in a payoff; the two learning moves would only return information about how profitable the behavior was in the current environmental conditions. Social learning was especially costly; if Observe was played when no other agent was performing a novel behavior, the agent learned nothing.

The results, however, showed that the runaway winners of the contest were those that used “social learning” the most. In other words, they were the ones who took what, on the face of things, appeared to be the most “costly” move — and focused on what was working best for others and then using it successfully themselves. In other words, yet again, we see that the strategies that make the most sense for the greatest output tend to be those where participants in a market have the ability to copy others. Now, this upsets those who may have come up with the results first, but as other studies have shown, it’s rarely the exclusivity of patents that leads to that invention in the first place. So if you don’t need exclusivity to invent, and a more open solution of copying leads to greater overall output and social benefit… what, exactly, is the reason for creating these kinds of monopolies anyway?

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The Lancia and Chrysler branding decision, which was announced yesterday during Fiat’s 5-years business plan presentation, ended months of speculation and debate on how the automaker would market the combined lineup across Europe. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said that all Lancia and Chrysler vehicles sold in continental Europe will wear the Lancia badge, while the Chrysler badge will only be used on Lancia and Chrysler cars sold in the UK and Ireland.

“The Lancia brand will be most impacted by the Chrysler alliance as the two ranges will be fully integrated into a new full-liner brand,” Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said.

Fiat chose to predominately use the Lancia brand because consumer study shows that in Europe Lancia cars could command a higher price than Chrysler.

Lance sales grew 9.2 percent to 112,000 in 2009, while Chrysler brand sales decline 60.2 percent to 11,500 units.

2010 Detroit: 2009 Lancia Delta based Chrysler:

All Photos Copyright © 2010 Omar Rana – egmCarTech.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

Tony Hawk’s moving from riding to shredding. Following an unplanned and premature confirmation from Tony Hawk himself, Activision has officially announced that the next Tony Hawk game is called Tony Hawk: Shred.

Bears have been getting burned trying to bet against this market, which has made fools of everyone.

At this point, your gut might be to go short, but all the carcasses on the side of the road have scared you off.

To this effect Waverly Advisors has put out a note on the spread between the S&P 500 futures and Russell 2000 today futures.

They note:

“Small caps have outperformed large caps by a wide margin during the past 4 quarters and, despite some undeniable positive economic developments and declining yields on low-grade corporate debt, we currently see them as richly priced from a historical perspective (including the typical sustained outperformance during economic recovery periods).   In brief,  we see a substantial portion of the current spread between large and small cap US equities as a function of increased speculative appetite that can rapidly moderate in the face of macro headwinds. “

 “Tactically, the spread appears overextended from a historical perspective and we are initiating a position here cautiously.   As with all mean-reversion plays, the goal is to leave sufficiently wide parameters between legs as we scale into our position.”

Again, this is not a directional bet on the market, but a bet on the reversal of this overextended situation that could pay off even if the market doesn’t turn around, but will likely pay of big if the market does turn around.

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Aired April 21, 2010
By Chris Hurst, KNDU TV


KENNEWICK, Wash.–  It’s been a rough month for Randy Dorn, elected for and praised because of his work to eliminate the WASL.

After his DUI in March, he’s been actively trying to polish his tarnished image. But is he doing all he can, or is there more he can do to teach students and help his career for the future?

In a new public service announcement, Dorn admits his guilt and also warns students on the dangers of drinking and driving, just in time for prom season.

But is he doing all he can to show he’s made a mistake? Some say he’s not going far enough.

“I think what he’s done is he’s tried to in some respects explain away the condition, by talking about how he just barely went over the alcohol limit and how it doesn’t impair his capacity to serve publicly,” says Columbia Basin College political science professor, Gary Bullert.

Part of the problem experts say is Dorn is not only an elected public official, but in charge of our children’s education, meaning character is even more important.

“I would say that its probably in the “C” to “D” range if you wanted to grade the superintendent. He’s in a kind of special relationship because of his role in education,” he says.

In an age where politicians have become increasingly synonymous with scandal, election consultants think he’s at least on the right track.

“It’s important go get out front very early and to be forthright and forthcoming with the whole situation,” says Sean McGrath, a consultant for political candidates [for full disclosure, he is also the current general manager for the Tri-Cities Fever.] “He appears to have done that, to be in the process of doing that now.”

The New York Times: Pollution before the first Earth Day was not only visible, it was in your face: Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire. An oil spill fouled 30 miles of Southern California beaches. And thick smog choked many cities’ skies. Not anymore.

On Thursday, 40 years after that first Earth Day in 1970, smog levels nationwide have dropped by about a quarter, and lead levels in the air are down more than 90 percent. Formerly fetid lakes and burning rivers are now open to swimmers.

The challenges to the planet today are largely invisible — and therefore tougher to tackle.

”To suggest that we’ve made progress is not to say the problem is over,” said William Ruckelshaus, who in 1970 became the first head of the Environmental Protection Agency. ”What we’ve done is shift from the very visible kinds of issues to those that are a lot more subtle today.”

Issues such as climate change are less obvious to the naked eye. Since the first Earth Day, carbon dioxide levels in the air have increased by 19 percent, pushing the average annual world temperature up about 1 degree Fahrenheit, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

”We’ve cleaned up what you can see and left everything else in limbo,” said Kathleen Rogers, president of the Earth Day Network.

Improvements took shape in the form of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and changes in the way businesses treat the environment, said Denis Hayes. Those reforms, he added, grew out of the first Earth Day, an event Hayes helped coordinate.

”It is the most powerful, sweeping, society-wide change America has had since the New Deal,” Hayes said. ”The air is cleaner despite the fact that we have twice as many vehicles traveling twice as many miles.”

Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said progress in the past 40 years is about more than just laws. It’s also about innovation that made cleaner cars. And that innovation, Sutley said, ”is going to be the answer for tackling climate change.”

No place illustrates progress more than the Cuyahoga River.

Cleveland’s main river used to periodically catch fire. On June 22, 1969, trash and an oil slick ignited. The river burned for half an hour, drawing national attention to water pollution nationwide.

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At the 2010 Beijing Motor Show today, Bentley unveiled two unique Continental models, which have been built exclusive for the world’s largest automotive market – China. The Chinese market has become Bentley’s third most important single market for the brand globally in terms of sales and one of the fastest growing.

Since Bentley entered China in 2002, sales have increased nearly ten-fold to 421 cars in 2009, a trend that the company says continues despite the recent global recession.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Bentley Continental GT.

Known as the Design Series China, the centerpiece of each Continental model is a three-tone interior that blends the main leather, accent color and insert color for a some nice visual impact. Exterior color choices include Orange Flame and Magenta Metallic.

The Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed China gets a range of engineering upgrades developed exclusively for the Chinese market including a bespoke ‘comfort’ suspension setting, refinement and handling upgrades. The model also gets special edition status emblems including ‘Speed China’ treadplates and wing badges.

Follow the jump for the high-res image gallery and the press release for more details.

Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed China:

Bentley Continental GT Design Series China:

Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed China:

Bentley Continental GT Design Series China:

Press Release:

BENTLEY – EXCLUSIVELY FOR CHINA

* Bentley Motors to launch unique special-edition Continental models for China
* Continental Flying Spur Speed China and the Continental GT Design Series China to make debut at 2010 Auto China Motor Show in Beijing

(Crewe, England)Bentley Motors is ready to unveil two unique Continental models which have been engineered and designed exclusively for the China market. These special edition cars will be created at Bentley’s Crewe headquarters with both models offering a range of striking features specially commissioned for Chinese customers.

The Chinese market is now the third most important single market for Bentley globally in terms of sales and one of the fastest growing. Since Bentley entered China in 2002, sales have grown nearly ten-fold to 421 cars in 2009, a trend that continues despite the recent global recession.

From Bentley’s first dealership in Shenzhen, the network has grown to become nine-strong in 2010 (with dealers in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Nanjing and Qingdao) and will grow with four new showrooms to open during the course of this year, the first of which will be in Kunming. Now two new models are to be launched specifically for this unique market.

The Continental GT Design Series China, which will debut at the 2010 Auto China Motor Show, highlights the creativity of Bentley’s stylists working in partnership with the company’s colour and trim experts to create some vibrant, design-led interiors.

The centrepiece of each Design Series China car is the three-tone interior that blends a main leather hide colour with accent and insert colours to create a visually impactful cabin for drivers and passengers to enjoy. This skilful and imaginative use of contrasting colours, as well as the application of accent colours to the smallest detail like the car’s seat belts, floor mats, seat piping or the hand-stitching applied to the steering wheel, further underlines this Bentley’s unique appearance.

The Design Series China cars will be the first Bentley’s to feature Orange and Magenta as accent colours and the vast Bentley paint palette is further extended with the introduction of Orange Flame and Magenta Metallic.

As well as creating a ‘talking point’ with the imaginative use of three contrasting hide colours, Bentley’s styling team has selected some striking wood veneers including Piano Black and dark-stained Burr Walnut. The rare Amboyna veneer, usually only available as a cost option, has also been reserved for the Design Series China editions.

These cars will be further distinguished by some subtle exterior and interior ‘Design Series China’ motifs. These include an exterior wing badge, treadplate and name badge positioned on the centre console – all bearing the Design Series China signature.

Bentley is also launching the Continental Flying Spur Speed China which retains all the potent performance of the company’s Continental Flying Spur Speed, the world’s fastest luxury four-door saloon, but with a range of engineering upgrades developed for the Chinese market.

A bespoke ‘comfort’ suspension setting has been developed for the Speed China which emphasises the car’s superior ride quality for both driver and passengers, whilst ensuring the class-leading performance of the W12 6-litre engine is in no way diminished. The car is capable of achieving a potential top speed of 200mph/322km/h and a 0-60mph sprint time of just 4.5 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.8 seconds).

The Flying Spur Speed’s distinctive, sporty 20-inch multi-spoke Speed wheels are retained to emphasise the car’s athletic character but for the Speed China, this performance is balanced with greater refinement through the re-tuning of the exhaust to produce a quieter note.

The Speed China’s refinement and handling upgrades are also accompanied by a range of design features that accentuate its special edition status. ‘Speed China’ treadplates and wing badges (with a matching badge visible on the centre console) have been created for this car and Bentley’s famous ‘B’ emblem has been affixed to both ‘C’ pillars.

Bentley’s ability to add extra, well-executed, touches of luxury can be found in the custom leather cushions for rear passengers which are embroidered with Bentley wings. Each car will also come with a special display case for the ignition key. Geoff Dowding, Regional Director, Asia and Middle East, comments:

“Bentley has a long and proud tradition of creating exclusive cars designed to meet the styling and driving tastes of our customers, wherever in the world they might be. Designed and offered exclusively for our customers in China, these special-edition Bentleys showcase our styling and engineering teams’ abilities and also underlines our desire to create cars for this influential market.”

Both models can be seen on the Bentley stand in Hall E5 of the Auto China Motor Show in Beijing which runs between 23rd April and the 2nd May in the New International Exhibition Centre.

– By: Kap Shah

Filed under: Convertible, Lotus, UK, Design/Style

While twist-and-go aficionados will recognize the Lambretta name for its classic Italian scooters, fashionistas know it as a British clothier. Now the latter has teamed up with Caterham to jump into the realm of open-air transport as well.

The special edition Caterham Seven by Lambretta features a special Union Jack paint scheme, matched inside on the dashboard, carpets and leather seats. A classic Moto-Lita steering wheel and the requisite special Lambretta logos complete the package, motivated by a 125-horsepower 1.6-liter four sourced from Ford and mated to a five-speed gearbox.

The special edition is available to British customers for £26,995, or about $42k in equivalent American funds. Get all the details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Caterham]

Continue reading Caterham 7 special outfitted by Lambretta

Caterham 7 special outfitted by Lambretta originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Foi apresentado nessa última quarta-feira, dia 21, a nova linha 2011 do Celta e Prisma. Embora não tenham havido grandes mudanças em seus modelos, os preços dos carros serão reduzidos para que sejam mais atrativos ao consumidor.

O Prisma vai começar a ser vendido nas versões Joy 1.0 e Maxx 1.4, e os preços serão 5% mais baratos, segundo a montadora. Por exemplo, o Prisma 1.4 que antes custava R$ 37.997 agora está custando R$36.074.

Uma outra mudança menos importante nos novos modelos vai ser o novo tom de preto que a GM usa em todo o mundo, que vai substituir o atual “preto Liszt”. Vamos ver se os novos modelos realmente irão chamar a atenção do consumidor com suas melhorias.

Via | Pit Stop Brasil

Did Facebook just conquer the Web?

Once a mere online yearbook, Facebook has recently grown to become the most trafficked domain on the Internet. But that was just the prelude. The next chapter starts this week, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing a new application that could plant Facebook plug-ins on every square inch of the Internet and let publishers share and collect the public data of each user.  “Facebook is basically going to be the Web,” wrote Slate tech columnist Farhad Manjoo on Twitter.

Here’s the change you’ll notice: websites like Yelp and Slate and CNN will start dropping social “plug-ins” — little Facebook widgets — into their sites. This way, you can see what your friends have read and liked. As Slate’s editor David Plotz explained in a note to readers, “just press the Facebook ‘Like’ button at the bottom of any story, add a
comment if you want, and approve it: A post saying that you have ‘Liked’ the story will appear on your Facebook wall and as part of your
news feed.” If that doesn’t sound terribly revolutionary, it’s because it isn’t. Plug-ins for other social media sites like Digg already exist on many websites.

But wait, there’s more.

Facebook will allow website developers to collect and use our information when we connect to a site. When I press the “like” button, that goes into social clearinghouse of information. Other sites can see the articles I like on CNN, the music I like on Pandora, the food I like on Yelp … and that’s in addition to any information I make public on my Facebook profile. The Facebook team calls this application “Open Graph.” You can call it the future of marketing.

What does this mean for privacy? Open Graph initially sounds pretty invasive. But remember that everything that flows into this reservoir of content is already public. Facebook’s new policy doesn’t make your private information public. It makes your public information a lot more public. Content that was once between you and your pal’s news feed is now playing all your friends’ CNN Facebook plug-ins and sloshing around in a matrix of information. “Public no longer means public on Facebook,” says Mashable’s Christina Warren. “It means public in the
Facebook ecosystem. My advice to you: Be aware of your
privacy settings.”

What does it mean for websites and advertisers? That’s the billion-dollar question. For now, the honest thing is to say we don’t know. The Facebook ecosystem will run on a living, breathing semantic memory of its users’ likes. Sounds like an ad goldmine. Maybe this could pave the way toward true targeted advertising: browsing CNN on my smart phone in Dupont, a mobile ad pops up with a happy hour coupon for a restaurant I said I liked on Yelp. Or imagine a better news aggregation site: a waterfall of links with all of the articles “liked” by friends who self-identify as conservative on Facebook. Facebook search engine? It’s not out of the question.

Facebook, I once wrote, is a bit like a Middle
Eastern country sitting on top of an ocean of oil. But instead of oil, it holds information. Facebook feels a
business-driven pressure to let outsiders (ad companies) drill deep into its
reserves to learn about our music and activities and news-reading habit, so they can shove Coldplay tickets in front of Coldplay fans
and job listings in front of college seniors, and so forth. Open Graph is a step in that direction.

Zuckerberg thinks public information is the new “social norm.” So he assumes we do, as well. But most Americans are pretty jealous about their private information. That’s precisely why the nation erupted in apoplectic howling when our photos and numbers were suddenly upchucked onto the World Wide Web as Facebook purged regional networks. That anger will only be magnified if we suspect that advertisers are pooling our public information in the name of “customizing user experience.”

Facebook envisions the Internet as a fundamentally, inescapably social experience. That’s Zuckerberg’s vision. The question is, will we like it?

A question for you. When was the last time you surfed the net ? Can you remember when you just clicked around looking to discover new sites or a site to occupy your time ? Now ask yourself when was the last time you sat on your couch or laid in bed clicking the remote looking for something to watch on TV.  Finally, how long do you regularly spend  on Facebook ?  How much time do you spend checking out your Wall, your friends’ Wall and hopping from profile to profile checking people out ?

If you are like most, you kill more time hopping around on Facebook than you do exploring the Net.  IMHO, while good old TV remains the ultimate, passive cure for boredom at home, Facebook is now where we kill time at work, on our mobile devices or while at home with the TV  on.

Everything that the net was 5 or more years ago, Facebook is today.

The interesting thing is that Facebook knows it.  Slowly but surely they are extending their tentacles into traditional websites, mobile apps (android/iphone/Ipad) and soon your HDTV .

It started with Facebook Connect.  It extended with search from inside the Facebook Platform.  Now they are accelerating their extensions through Virtual Currency (a future goldmine as it extends to business), allowing websites to add a Like button with user pictures through a simple widget and much much more. In other words, your favorite website doesnt know it yet, but Facebook is in the process of annexing  it.

Brilliant in its simplicity. Facebook is putting out trojan horse after trojan horse and no one seems to care.  The only thing FB has not done is create a  mobile operating system ala Android/Iphone as a platform for applications.

Why would Facebook create a mobile operating system ? For the same reason Google did. For the same reason that Apple banned Flash and other meta platforms from the Iphone.  The mobile  operating system is the ultimate trojan horse for billions of devices.  If you can create a mobile operating system that phone manufacturers adopt and that becomes a  popular platform for application development, you have hope of controlling your own destiny.  If you are just an application on someone else’s operating system and perceived as a threat you can be “Flashed”.  Does Facebook have a choice but to create a mobile operating system ?

It wont be long, if it hasnt already happened that Google and Apple will see Facebook as a unique threat to their future.  Apple has some level of connection to its customer/users, Google has minimal if any connection to their users. Facebook knows more than all of us like to admit about its users. They have our personal information, our pictures, our friends, our family members, our employers and business associates all in a database and they are extending that information base to what we like on sites outside the Facebook platform.  Plus they are creating their own currency.Just as important is the fact that we are progressively spending more time on Facebook than we are sites and applications that Apple and Google can control .  That is a threat to Apple and Google.

It wasnt all that long ago that the concept of Apple excluding Flash from its mobile platform would have been laughable. Its not any longer. Both Apple and Google have to see Facebook as the greatest threat to their futures. The question is what do they do about it and how does Facebook respond ?

Unlike Google and Apple, Facebook doesnt have 10s of billions of dollars in cash to subsidize development and distribution. They can’t outlast a direct assault from Apple or Google.

Enter Microsoft. Already a shareholder.  Already with a mobile and desktop operating system /development platform. Most importantly, already with billions in cash and the capacity to pay 15 or 20 Billion dollars or more to acquire Facebook.

There is no doubt that this is NOT the direction that Facebook wants to go. They want to remain independent. But just as Apple and Google quickly turned from friend to foes, Facebook will soon be the object that both of those companies see in the rearview mirror.  I dont see either Apple or Google as being suitors to buy Facebook. That isnt their style. On the other hand, its straight out of the Microsoft playbook. If you cant beat them or outlast them, buy them.

Time will tell, but there is no question that Facebook is quickly becoming the biggest threat to the futures of Apple and Google

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Facebook wants to own the web. Specifically, Facebook wants to own your web. In fact, Facebook wants to become the web, it wants to be in every page on every site. It wants to be your news source, it wants to recommend movies or music or even people you might like, it wants to be your shopping platform, it wants to be your gaming platform, it wants to serve yo… (read more)

Moody’s downgrades Greece from A3 to A2. It’s almost over.

We’ll just bring you this updated euro chart since it’s the only real story.

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The Producer Price Index for finished goods increased by 0.7% in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s a pretty major change from February’s 0.6% decline. It’s also higher than the consensus forecast of a 0.3% rise. Does this indicate that inflation is ramping up? Probably not.

First, PPI is a rather volatile statistic. The following chart from BLS demonstrates this point:

As you can see, there’s no trend that appears to be forming. Most of these big swings are driven by energy and food price, which tend to move around more than other prices. In March, they were up 2.4% and 0.7%, respectively.

It’s more useful to look at the more stable core PPI, which strips out those factors. In March, core PPI was nearly flat with a 0.1% increase. That matched the increase for February and the consensus forecast. The following chart shows how less erratic core PPI has been, using the same vertical bounds as the chart above:

Core PPI has only risen by more than 0.3% for one month in the past year. That shows pretty stable prices. This continues to support the argument based on the consumer price index that inflation is not much of a worry at this time.

Note: All statistics above are seasonally adjusted.

They may not be sure if monsters did in fact steal the princess, but developer Mediatonic knows for sure that Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess will be on today’s PlayStation Store update as a downloadable minis title.
 
 
 

For the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, organizations around the world are sponsoring events, new publications, and programs. In the U.S., the Earth Day Network is sponsoring two full days of events on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 24th and 25th. See updated coverage of Earth Day at Google.

Perhaps one particular focus on Earth Day should creating a plan for addressing the massive garbage patches in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. According to an article in The Huffington Post, “Our Plastic Ocean Turns Forty,” there are now “continent-sized bowls of plastic soup” floating in the oceans. The Pacific Garbage patch, just one of eleven major gyres, says Ocean Trust Film, “covers an area approximating ten million square miles, […] roughly the size of Texas.  It contains approximately 3.5 million tons of trash, including shoes, toys, bags, pacifiers, wrappers, toothbrushes, and bottles too numerous to count.  First discovered in 1988, the size of the patch has roughly doubled in the last five years.”

Plastics in sea water attract bacteria and absorb polychlorinated biphenyls. Continual wave energy breaks plastics into tiny plastic components eaten by fish, which are then eaten by people. In other cases, the garbage that hasn’t been broken down also causes major problems for sea life. On this year’s Earth day, a whale found dead off the coast of Seattle was found to have more than “50 gallons in volume, from hand towels, surgical gloves, duct tape to sweat pants,” in its stomach. The local news station’s Web site says the whale was feeding off the coast. 

The Huffington Post argues that Earth Day launched a real movement. In the U.S. alone in 1970, more than 20 million people participated in Earth Day events. However, since then, plastic production has only exploded. “Use of single-use disposable plastic and plastic pollution grew exponentially. The plastics industry stepped on the gas, hired lobbyists and marketers and did their thing. Profits from plastics soared. Life became more ‘convenient’.” In return for convenience, The Huffington Post says, we’ve gotten massive garbage patches.

Some scientists are working on alternatives to plastics.  While recycling can lead to reuse of many plastics, they can only be down-cycled, and fossil-fuel-based break apart after continual recycling. There aren’t currently any “cradle to grave” fossil-fuel based plastics. Wikipedia lists a range of bioplastics or organic plastics derived from renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable oil, corn, or various starches. However, many of these new technologies haven’t scaled up so the costs remain high.

Regulatory or legislative action on plastic waste products may be part of the solution. In the world of technology, the EU’s WEEE-ROHS system has helped ensure hazardous elements in electronic products are captured and reused since 2003. The European Union describes the system: “The legislation provides for the creation of collection schemes where consumers return their used e-waste free of charge. The objective of these schemes is to increase the recycling and/or re-use of such products. It also requires heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives.” The EU is also exploring expanding WEEE-ROHS so it can tackle the ”fast increasing waste stream of such products.” Perhaps a similar system is needed so that fossil-fuel-based plastic components are designed to be fully recycled, and any waste biproducts are addressed early in the design and manufacturing process. 

There has also been a towards turning waste into energy through incineration. If plastic and other wastes can’t be recycled, perhaps they can produce new energy. While incineration has taken off across the European Union, landfills remain popular in the U.S.

The New York Times describes Denmark’s cutting-edge incinerator technology and its benefits: “Far cleaner than conventional incinerators, this new type of plant converts local trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago. In that time, such plants have become both the mainstay of garbage disposal and a crucial fuel source across Denmark, from wealthy exurbs like Horsholm to Copenhagen’s downtown area. Their use has not only reduced the country’s energy costs and reliance on oil and gas, but also benefited the environment, diminishing the use of landfills and cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The plants run so cleanly that many times more dioxin is now released from home fireplaces and backyard barbecues than from incineration.”

Across Europe, there are now 400 of these plants turning garbage into energy. Most of these are located in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. In comparison, the U.S., a country of 300 million people, has less than 90 plants, even though the E.P.A. now classifies burned waste as a renewable energy eligible for subsidies.

On the other side, there are legislative and regulatory efforts to attack demand for plastic bags and other common applications of plastic. In Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and other U.S. cities, there are now taxes on plastic bags (see earlier post). Some countries, like China, Russia, Uganda, Ireland and South Africa, have announced total bans on plastic bags. However, this needs to occur worldwide to get plastic materials out of oceans. According to The Times of India, around 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. India’s plastic waste alone is around 4.5 million tonnes a year. This is the result of every day use by every Indian citizen: 10 to 12 plastic bags are used each day in every Indian household.

Lastly, however infeasible, some designers are trying to turn those massive ocean garbage patches into usable resources. Rotterdam’s WHIM Architecture came up with an impractical but interesting idea — “Recycled Island,” a plan to turn those continent-sized floating garbage patches into habitable islands. Good magazine writes: “the island would be built out of the muck already out there polluting the Pacific, which would clean the ocean of the debris and also put that waste to use. Ridiculous, yes. Impossible, probably.” But can this floating ocean garbage be turned into a renewable resource?

Add your thoughts. How would you address plastic supply and demand?

Also, check out Ocean Trust Film.org, a group working with the producers of Super Size Me, to create a documentary on the Pacific Garbage Patch.

Image credit: Ocean Trust Film

According to General Motors President Mark Reuss, the Detroit automaker is close to hiring lower-paid hourly workers and accelerate the production of popular vehicles that are in short supply due to strong demand. Reuss said that any hiring depends on further recovery in vehicle sales.

Reuss statement came just hours after GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre Jr. touted a $257 million investment in plants in Kansas and Michigan to produce the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Chevrolet Malibu.

Reuss did not specify a hiring timeline or identify which plants may be getting additional workers. However, before GM hires low-paid employees, it will have to call back a nationwide pool of 4,000 to 5,000 workers.

Under an agreement reached in 2007 with the United Auto Workers, GM is allowed to hire new lower-paid workers for $14 an hour and less-generous benefits than veteran workers.

Since coming out of bankruptcy in July 2009,GM has invested $1.5 billion in 20 U.S. and Canadian facilities and has created or restored 7,500 jobs, including 900 at its Fairfax plant in Kansas.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Detroit News

In the past few weeks, thirteen people have left Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward, and according to Actvision community rep Dan Amrich, we may not have seen the last of it.

While stuffed bears are usually nice and huggable, cross Naughty Bear off that list. He’s mean, he’s tough, and duh, he’s naughty. Not like sorority-girl-naughty, he’s more of a push-you-into-the-bonfire naughty.