Category: News

Earlier this year, I recommended the book No Law by David L. Lange & H. Jefferson Powell. I still keep meaning to get around to writing a full review, but the book makes a very compelling argument that copyright law is a clear violation of First Amendment principles. However, rather than wiping out copyright law, the book suggests something of an alternative. In noting that the claim of “exclusive rights” has been bastardized from the original “exclusive rights to profits,” they suggest that no one be barred from using the content of others, with the requirement that profits due to those uses must then be shared with the originator. I have some issues with that conclusion, but it looks like others are investigating that concept as well.

Andrew F alerts us to the latest work by Marshall van Alstyne, who we’ve mentioned before concerning his views on journalism business models and who did a great job at The Free Summit put on by Tech Policy Central, and emceed by me. His most recent paper, co-authored with Gavin Clarkson, explores both how strict intellectual property rights lead to socially inefficient outcomes, and how “fairness” principles could be much more efficient. The paper uses a combination of real world examples, previous research and game theory to make a rather compelling case.

Basically, it explains all the reasons why intellectual property leads to hoarding of information that slows innovation:

Property rights provide incentives to create information but they also provide incentives to hoard it prior to the award of protection. All-or-nothing rights, in
particular, limit prior sharing. An unintended consequence is to slow, not has-
ten, forward progress when innovation hinges on combining disparately owned
private ideas.

As to why this happens, it’s due to the injunctive ability of intellectual property holders to not just stop the specific use of their expression or invention, but effectively everything else built on top of it:

Infringement of copyright provides injunctive relief as remedy. This permits copyright
owners the use of take-it-or-leave-it offers as strategy. The trouble that results from such
a hold-up strategy is that it allows the injunctive rights owner, when bargaining with a
non-owner, to extract nearly the full value of any transaction (with full information it is
full value.) For recombinant works, this affords the last negotiating rights holder undue
influence much as the last negotiating landowner exercises undue bargaining power relative
to other landowners in any effort to develop a multi-parcel tract of indistinguishable parcels
of land. For works of modest value, such as a single sample of a song, image, or video,
negotiation costs can vastly exceed market value. For transformative works, insignificant
inclusions of lesser material can retard or reduce the progress of more valuable material as
when the release of the movie 12 Monkeys was enjoined due to the appearance in several
scenes of a copyrighted chair.

From there, they make the case models that follow on “fairness” and “liability” work much better than a strict “property rights” setup. Along the way, they discuss the study we mentioned in the past about how people view fairness and relative compensation, as well as debunk the myth that if one person can take advantage of another they absolutely will.

The end result is a suggestion not unlike the one in No Law: that rather than setting up a system of artificial property-like rights called copyright and patents, there may be more social and economic efficiency in allowing unfettered usage of expression and inventions, with a system that then requires some sort of attribution and payment for a fair share of any of the profits. That would then actually encourage much greater sharing of ideas and inventions in an effort to get those concepts included more widely.

It’s definitely interesting to think about, and I agree that in many ways it would likely lead to great net benefit than an IP regime, but it could also generate many other problems, especially in situations of independent generation or incidental copying — as well as long, and drawn out legal fights over these situations as well as a determination of what is, in fact, fair. The paper does try to address the latter point with three responses, but I’m sure this won’t be enough for some.

Either way, this is certainly an interesting paper that contributes to this ongoing discussion.

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Contributor Beth Comstock is the Chief Marketing Officer at GE.

Innovation, R&D, and game-changing tech. When combined with the right market intelligence, investment horsepower, and willingness to break the rules, they can lead companies to not just weather a recession, but roar out of it. At GE, we’re betting big on the power of breakthrough technologies to do just that — and a living, breathing example of that thinking in action can be seen in our new healthymagination business initiative, which today issued its first annual report.

Beth Comstock

Since launching healthymagination in May 2009, we’ve reached our year-one goals with $700 million in R&D investments, $250 million in capital investments and the launch of 24 new products and technologies. But beyond charting the progress made in such a short time, the report hammers home the idea that innovation isn’t simply about generating more ideas. Rather, technologies must be marshaled toward specific business goals; attack real societal problems; and be wedded to a deep understanding of customer needs.

Because innovators and companies are often stuck in their current successes or current business models, there’s a critical need to generate new thinking. In the military, they call it “rearview mirroring” — which is when plans to fight the next war are made by looking back at the last war. Just as that kind of trap can prove disastrous for a country, it can also cripple a business long-term.

Vital signs: The Annual Report also spotlights the investments GE is making in areas including our own employees’ health; partnerships with companies such as Intel, Mayo Clinic, Eli Lilly and Intermountain Health Care; healthcare IT solutions; new products that meet local needs at affordable price points; and investments to bring better health solutions to remote and underserved communities.

To tackle this challenge head-on in our healthymagination initiative, GE started by looking at our innovation strategy in three ways. First, we wanted to innovate by mining our existing product lines for technologies that meet our healthymagination goals of reducing healthcare costs while simultaneously increasing access for more people and increasing quality. At the same time, we wanted to do what we call “moving into adjacent healthcare spaces” — which is all about freeing ourselves of old thinking and taking the great technology we have today and finding new, related markets or applications. For example, one area we are pursuing is to take our healthcare imaging technologies into digital pathology.

Concurrently, we also stepped on the gas to develop game-changing technologies that will be in demand in the near future. One example can be seen on our launch of Vscan, an ultra-smart, ultra-small, ultrasound. Another example can be seen in what we call “Reverse Innovation,” which is our approach to developing technologies in emerging markets, for emerging markets — and then finding new outlets for these less expensive, often-miniaturized technologies in developed economies. For example, our lightweight, inexpensive Mac 800 electrocardiogram was born from the mobile unit created in India and China for those countries’ rural needs.

We made the decision to develop and fast-track these new products, and the others that are now part of healthymagination, by focusing on the right kind of market intelligence and insights — and by keeping our global research and technology developments tied to our marketing and sales teams. It’s why healthymagination is about bringing better healthcare to more people and at the same time, a core business strategy at GE designed to generate revenue and position us for long-term growth.

Healthymagination is a $6 billion commitment over six years. The commitment is to invest $3 billion in R&D, $2 billion in financing and $1 billion in technology and content, launching at least 100 innovations that lower cost, increase access and improve quality by 15 percent.

* Read the full Healthymagination Annual Report
* Read today’s announcement
* Learn more about Vscan
* Read more healthymagination stories on GE Reports
* Read “Reverse Innovation hits Harvard’s most influential list” on GE Reports
* Read “Reverse innovation: Building GE’s local growth model” on GE Reports

A while back I started to wonder what if anything will come of the Round One unfunded ARRA applications. So I contacted everyone who had an unfunded project in Minnesota. My survey was hardly scientific or stringent but I thought it might be interesting to report in.

I found 93 unfunded projects. Of those, 27 were projects that centered only or primarily in Minnesota, a few covered a couple of states and the rest were primarily national projects. I heard back from almost a third of the folks I contacted. I asked just four question encouraging people to say as much or as little as they wanted:

1. Was your application for an existing plan or project or did the ARRA funding spur you to create a plan?
2. Did you apply for Round Two Funding?
3. Do you currently have a plan for moving forward regardless of ARRA funding?

Here’s what I heard or found out:

Was your application for an existing plan or project or did the ARRA funding spur you to create a plan?

About a third of the folks who got back to me indicated that their projects would have been used to significantly expand or extend an existing project. For many people that expansion meant going into new areas. For a few folks it meant a chance to expedite long term plans – I think that was especially true for existing service providers.

Very few folks seems to developed a project out of the blue – but with the quick application turnaround and just the ominous nature of any federal application I think that makes sense.

Did you apply for Round Two Funding?

Almost 70 of the 93 applicants did not reapply. (I was able to check that with the online database of applications so there might be some false negatives if folks applied under a different name. I had checked into this a couple of weeks ago too to find out that there were fewer applicants and more money on the offer in Round Two. ) Some applicants felt that they no longer qualified – such as Hiawatha Broadband; they felt that some of the requirements conflicted with previously written contracts; others felt that their geographic location no longer qualified.

Many of the folks who reapplied pared down the scope of their projects. Either they included fewer states or fewer technologies. Recognizing that for many applicants the ARRA represented an opportunity for growth I think this paring down probably brought some folks closer to their pre-ARRA plans. For some folks that may have been a good call, for others it may be a lost (or slowed down) opportunity.

A few folks seemed to be less than pleased with the funding process. Someone alluded to spending 1500 hours on the applications; others just said straight out that they had experienced frustration. For other folks I think the ARRA funds were an opportunity to think big. I suspect that those who had worked with federal applications in the past may have had a different attitude going in.

Do you currently have a plan for moving forward regardless of ARRA funding?

The response rate on this question is even more nebulous than the previous questions. About 25 applicants reapplied for funding. About a dozen said they were definitely moving forward regardless, we’ve posted news on at least two in the last month: TTM and Keyon and seen other stories posted elsewhere.

Why did markets fall so hard last week?

Most folks assumed that it had something to do with fears of a Eurolehman, but it also seems possible that the market is reacting to what it normally reacts to: expectations of a slowing economy.

This was the essence of Richard Russell’s big “sell everything” call, that the market was telling him that a bad economy was around the corner.

Credit expert David Goldman at Asia Times is thinking along the same lines, that the weakening US economy is the next shoe to drop.

And the bad news is already coming:

1) Unemployment claims rose to 471,000 vs expectations of 439,000 in the week ended May 15;

2) One in seven American mortgages is behind in payments;

3) Foreclosures reached a record as the banks work through their backlog;

4) Mortgage applications last week fell to the lowest level since the survey was conducted;

5) Commercial real estate prices continue to fall.

Along these lines, this week we get Case-Shiller and the first revision to Q1 GDP, so, this idea might have more to go on very soon.

Don’t miss: The 13 housing markets that will never recover >

Join the conversation about this story »

American professional tennis player Venus Ebony Starr Williams had her 6-3 consecutive victories this Sunday on the 2010 French Open, beating Patty Schnyder. The performance should have been the center of attention for her audience, but something else cultivated their eyes: Williams’ outfit.

The record holder for the fastest serve struck by a woman claimed another title for her lacy black and red outfit “the illusion of being see-through“, as said by the AP. This made the most talked-about story since Williams wore a ’skimpy green uniform’ at the Australian Open last January whre she was majorly voted as Australian Open hottie.

Williams received her degree in fashion Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale with Cum Laude honors on December 13, 2007. She is the chief executive officer of “V Starr Interiors“, an interior design firm which she owns, located in Jupiter, Florida.

By June 2009, Williams was acclaimed as one of the most powerful women in America and one of the most successful women in drawing attention of the crowds.

Related posts:

1. Venus Williams French Open – Best Outfit
2. Venus Williams’ Disturbing Outfit at the French Open
3. Henin, Nadal Back To Regain Lost Glory

Victoria Day is a federal holiday in Canada that marks both the birthday of Queen Victoria and the official birthday of the current Canadian sovereign’s birthday.

Victoria Day, also known as May Two-Four, May Long and May Long Weekend, is a holiday celebrated on the Monday preceding May 24. It also marks the end of the winter season and the unofficial start to the summer season.

The Royal Union Flag must be flown from sunrise to sunset at all federal buildings, including airports, military bases, and other Crown owned property across the country during Victoria Day. There are evening fireworks display and parades in some cities. Many people gather in parks to enjoy this wonderful celebration.

Victoria Day is regarded as a public holiday at a national level. Schools are closed and people have a day off. Some stores are also closed during that day. Malls, theme parks and museums are open for visitors.

There will be a fireworks display in Toronto. For those interested in seeing fireworks, residents can head to the Beach at 9:30 p.m.

Related posts:

1. Federal Holiday: President’s Day
2. Shore up! Today is Arbor Day!
3. 2010 Ash Wednesday Tomorrow; Mardi Gras Today

Americans practically fell over themselves to take advantage of the home buyer credit before its expiration in April. Existing home sales rose to the annualized level of 5.77 million. That’s 7.6% higher than in March, and the largest increase since November — the last consumers were rushing to take advantage of the credit before it was set to expire. Yet, sales didn’t rise enough to decrease the housing inventory. On the contrary, inventory rose by 11.5%. Despite the increase in sales for April, the housing market remains fragile.

So first, the good news. Here’s a chart showing the change in home sales:

April 2010’s existing sales were 22.8% higher than a year earlier. You can see the steep rise created by the home buyer credit this spring. Indeed, the increase in sales due to the mortgage credit was quite predictable. Check out how the rate of existing home sales changed compared to one and two months prior to April compared to November:

You can see how close those rates are in both cases. However, the big difference is that last fall the starting point was higher than it was in early 2010. As a result, fewer existing home sales were recorded this time around.

Home prices also increased in April. The median price was up by 2.1% to $173,100 from $169,600 in March. April’s median was the highest price we’ve seen since September, and 4.0% higher than in April 2009.

So that all sounds great — home sales and prices are rising. If increasing sales were sustainable, then that would be good for the housing market. But the data for new mortgage applications for purchases in May indicates quite the opposite: they fell by a drastic 34% in May.

To make matters worse, housing inventory actually rose in April, despite the additional sales. And it increased a lot:

As you can see, it’s risen steeply since January — up 23.4%. This might look bad, but if sales plummet in May and the months that follow, as predicted by mortgage applications, then inventory will rise even further. At this point, it’s at 4.04 million homes, the highest we’ve seen since July 2009. But a month or two of significant gain could easily put it above record the 4.58 million level hit in July 2008. As foreclosures continue to occur at an elevated rate, a new high for inventory this summer wouldn’t be surprising.

Additional home inventory, along with lackluster buyer demand with the credit gone, should make it hard for prices to continue to rise in the short-term. We can expect some sobering news over the next few months about the housing market recovery.

Note: All data above is seasonally adjusted.

Mortgage – U.S. Housing Market – Business – Foreclosure – Real estate

Despite fears last year that the Air Force wouldn’t be able to afford many more GPS satellites, a massive $8bn upgrade is being planned for overhauling the satellites, replacing each of the 24 satellites over the next decade. More »










Global Positioning System – Air Force – United States – Geomatics – Earth Sciences

General Motors Chairman and CEO – Ed Whitacre

Early May auto sales figures show that Toyota’s sales are down 15 percent from the same period in April despite heavy incentive spending. On the other hand, General Motors and Nissan are enjoying an increase in sales from a month earlier.

“Toyota’s incentive program is falling on deaf ears. Most people who were open to getting deals from Toyota already made their purchases,” said Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Jessica Caldwell. “Toyota has not yet recovered from recent image problems.”

GM’s sales are up 9 percent during the beginning of May when compared to April and up 24 percent from May 2009. Nissan is seeing a month-to-month increase of 10 percent.

FoMoCo is also expecting May to be another good month and says that F-Series pickup sales will be up 30 percent from May 2009 due to the launch of the new 2011 Super Duty.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoObserver

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Monday granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in five cases. In Williamson v. Mazda Motor of America [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the court granted a limited petition to decide whether a federal minimum safety standard [text], which authorizes automobile manufacturers to install a lap-only seat belt at the inboard seating positions of a vehicle, preempts a state tort action alleging that the manufacturer should have installed a lap and shoulder belt in one of those seating positions. A California state appeals court [official website] held [opinion, PDF] that a state action was preempted by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 [text], which requires lap and shoulder seat belt assemblies only for outboard seating. Petitioners claim that Mazda [corporate website] had a duty to warn of safety risks associated with lap only seat belts under Wyeth v. Levine [opinion, PDF; JURIST report], in which the Supreme Court ruled that federal approval of labels giving warnings about effects of drugs does not bar lawsuits under state law claiming inadequate warnings of a health risk.

The court also granted a limited petition in Sossamon v. Texas [docket; cert. petition, PDF] to decide whether an individual may sue a state or state official in his official capacity for damages for violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act [42 USC s. 2000cc text], which grants prisoners permission to obtain injunctive and declaratory relief against the government when it imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a inmate. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed [opinion, PDF] a grant of summary judgment in favor of Texas and ordered further proceedings to determine if Texas had been exceeded its bounds under the act by prohibiting Sossamon to use the prison chapel for Christian worship, even though it was available for other uses.

The court granted certiorari to another federal preemption case on Monday in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion [docket; cert. petition, PDF]. The court will decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) [text], which provides for judicial facilitation of private dispute resolution through arbitration when the transaction involves interstate commerce, preempts states from enforcing alternate solutions when arbitration clauses are considered unconscionable. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that the FAA does not preempt a California unconscionability law, which allowed a class action against AT&T mobile despite a contractual clause prohibiting such proceedings.

In Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn [docket; cert. petition, PDF] and Garriott v. Winn [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the court granted a consolidated petition, allowing one hour for oral argument. The court will determine the constitutionality of an Arizona tax credit for donations to organizations that provide scholarships at private schools, which allows scholarships funded by religious organizations to be granted only to students attending parochial schools. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held [opinion, PDF] that the taxpayers had standing to challenge the constitutionality of the law and allowed the claim to proceed. The outcome will determine if tax credit program unconstitutionally endorses or advances religion simply because taxpayers choose to direct more contributions to religious organization than nonreligious ones.

In Skinner v. Switzer [docket; cert. petition, PDF], the court will decide whether a convicted prisoner seeking access to biological evidence for DNA testing may assert a civil rights claim under Section 1983 [text] or if such a claim is cognizable only under a writ of habeas corpus. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed [opinion, PDF] a district court decision to dismiss Skinner’s s. 1983 claim seeking access to DNA evidence that may prove his innocence in the murders for which he is now sentenced to death, stating that relief could only be sought through habeas corpus. The Supreme Court court also granted a stay of execution until the case is decided.

The court dismissed [opinion, PDF] a writ of certiorari as improvidently granted in Robertson v. US ex rel. Watson [docket; JURIST report], which challenged the constitutionality of a District of Columbia law under which a private party can bring an action for criminal contempt. The decision included a lengthy dissent from Chief Justice Roberts joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Sonia Sotomayor, maintaining that a criminal action can only be brought against a defendant by society as a whole, and therefore the lower court erred in its judgment upholding the law.

Also Monday, the Supreme Court delivered a per curiam opinion for a summary reversal in the capital case of Jefferson v. Upton [docket]. The court reversed and remanded the judgment of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which held that ineffective council defenses under habeas claims are subject to a higher standard than the normative “strong presumption of correctness” standard. The court’s opinion is its twelfth summary reversal this session.

Balaton Group colleagues Jørgen Nørgård, John Peet & Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir have a nice history of The Limits to Growth in Solutions.

Nokia and Yahoo have announced today in New York, a strategical alliance to jointly offer e-mail services, instant messaging, mapping and navigation. The Internet search engine Yahoo and the largest mobile phone maker in the world Nokia have reached a partnership through which Yahoo will offer Web services for Nokia terminals.

Under the agreement, submitted by the two CEOs of both companies, Carol Bartz by Yahoo and Kallasvuo Olli-Peka contributing to Nokia, the Finnish company exclusively offer maps and navigation services for Yahoo. Thus, the search will be integrated into the Nokia Maps service, Ovi Maps.

At the same time, mail services and services that incorporate into your Nokia smartphones are offered by Yahoo. The companies expect that during the second half of this year the results of this alliance in online services will already be available, although its global launch will not take place until 2011.

Related posts:

1. Nokia sues Apple again
2. Hotmail Upgraded – Microsoft
3. Nokia: Acquires MetaCarta, Specialist in LBS (Location By Satellite)

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, GM

Susan Docherty is continuing her tour of General Motors’ vice president offices. The 47-year-old executive has spent time both as the company’s vice president of U.S. marketing and the VP of U.S. sales during her career with the Detroit-based automaker, but as of June 1, 2010, Docherty will get the new title of Vice President of International Operational Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, and she’ll report to Tim Lee, President of International Operations.

We knew Docherty was headed elsewhere in the company after she was replaced as the vice president of U.S. marketing by Joel Ewanick earlier this month. Shortly after her replacement was announced in early May, several observers claimed that Docherty had been given the shaft after a wave of contentious ads centering on GM repaying its federal loans hit the airwaves. Analysts felt that Docherty was unfairly receiving the brunt of the blame for the negative reception of the ads, and that was the real reason for her loss of the marketing position.

We won’t hold our breath waiting for GM to respond to those charges. Either way, moving from VP of marketing to VP of international operational sales isn’t exactly a fall from grace. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading GM names Susan Docherty GM VP of International Operations, Sales and Marketing

GM names Susan Docherty GM VP of International Operations, Sales and Marketing originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 May 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When building out the hydrogen highway system in California, New York, Washington DC, Florida or other places the conventional wisdom has to been either build an entire station from the ground up or add a hydrogen fueling pump to an existing gas station.

In April 2008, I quoted Larry Burns of General Motors stating, “A network of 12,000 hydrogen stations in the United States would put 70 percent of the U.S. population within two miles of a fueling station. If the stations cost $2 million each (estimates for the cost of a station range from $1 million to $4 million) the network would cost about $24 billion.”

Of course this cost estimate was based on the premise of building hydrogen stations from the ground up and not adding hydrogen fueling pumps to existing stations or to other alternative locations.

I’ve gotten some alternative suggestions over the years from my readers as to where to place hydrogen pumps in order to build out the hydrogen highway system that doesn’t involve traditional gas station. Some of these suggestions involve large warehouse stores, large retailers and other locations such as convenience stores and rest stops.

One reader said that since there are over 20,000 new car dealerships in the U. S. at least some of them could put up a hydrogen pump to support the hydrogen cars they are supposed to be selling in 2015.

But, what really got me to thinking was the East Coast Hydrogen Highway plan by a company called Lumber Liquidators which owns 180 stores nationwide and will use their parking lots to erect about a dozen hydrogen fuelling pumps over the next two years from Maine to Florida as part of its corporate responsibility program.

Now other large companies have come out also with their clean energy corporate responsibility programs. A few names like Google, Walmart, Yahoo and Kohl’s come to mind.

In fact Kohl’s in California is putting more solar panels on their rooftops that both Google and Walmart. So, this got me to thinking about all of the other retailers and malls in the U. S. that have plenty of rooftop space for solar panels that could use some of this clean energy to create hydrogen and host a fueling station or two in their parking lots.

Here’s a list of retailers in the U. S. that have a large number of stores that could build at least one hydrogen fueling pump in many strategic locations in their parking lots.

1. Costco Stores in the U. S. – 460
2. Sam’s Clubs in the U. S. – 602 (Oregon and Vermont are the only states without Sam’s Clubs)
3. BJ’s Wholesale Club – 160
4. Walmart stores in the U. S. – 3,700 – already testing hydrogen forklifts
5. Seven-Eleven stores in U. S. 5,900
6. Home Depot – 1,000 stores in the U. S.
7. CVS Caremark – 6,300 drugstores
8. Target – 1,500 us stores
9. Sears – 3,800 us stores
10. Safeway food stores – 1,175
11. SuperValu – 2,500 stores
12. K-Mart 1,400 stores
13. J. C. Penney 1,000
14. Delhaize American supermarket chain 1,500 stores
15. Staples – 1,800
16. TJX Companies fashion and apparel – 2,300
17. The Gap 3,000
18. Office Depot – 1,200
19. Kohl’s 800 stores – already building rooftop solar panels
20. H-E-B Grocery – 500 stores – already using hydrogen forklifts
21. OfficeMax – 1,000 stores
22. Dollar General Stores – 8,000
23. Family Dollar Stores, Inc – 6,000
24. Borders Books and Walden Books 1,100
25. Lumber Liquidator stores – 180 – already committed to building East Coast Hydrogen Highway at 11 of their stores

Now, perhaps this isn’t a totally fair comparison since some of these retail chain stores are located inside of malls and don’t have a say over what happens to the parking lots outside. In the U. S. there are a total of over 2,800,000 retail stores most of which rent space and don’t have a say about what happens outside the confines of their buildings.

But, then I decided to check out the number of shopping centers in the U. S. that could support at least one hydrogen fueling pump and that number is 47,000.

As one can see, this number far exceeds the 12,000 hydrogen fueling stations that GM’s Larry Burns had talked about 2 years ago. In an age of corporate green responsibility there is no reason that a company like Lumber Liquidators should be building the East Coast Hydrogen Highway system by itself.

Where are the larger corporate partners in this venture? Where are the large nationwide retailers, wholesale clubs, car dealerships and mall operators that could step up to bat and take it upon themselves to build out part of the national hydrogen highway system with their own resources?

Perhaps this is too outside-the-box thinking for most retailers. Or perhaps not? In Southern California at least several Costco wholesale clubs not only sell gasoline but have electric charging stations that are holdovers from a few years ago before the large automakers crushed their electric cars. These charging stations sit near the fronts of the stores similar to handicap parking spots and let consumers recharge their vehicles while shopping. Something similar could be done for hydrogen cars only fill-ups would be done much more quickly.

Many of the 5,900 seven-eleven stores in the U. S. also sell fuel and like some of the Shell gasoline stations could easily add a hydrogen pump as well. So, this is not as radical of thinking as some would assume because similar projects have already been demonstrated.

This is a call to action aimed at the U. S. retailers to take ownership of corporate environmental responsibility and start building hydrogen fueling pumps in strategic locations. Tax breaks and government subsidies aside, it’s the right thing to do.

Many of today’s health problems are associated with high blood pressure. Keeping close track of your blood pressure can help you to identify certain health risks before they become a serious problem. The HoMedics BPW-200 TheraP™ Automatic Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor is designed to give you the monitoring tools that you need to check your blood pressure–from the comfort of your home, whenever you want. The BPW-200 Blood Pressure Monitor is equipped with a Smart Inflate wrist cuff that determines both systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements. View larger. HoMedics Smart Sense Technology By using an advanced air control system to delicately control the deflation rate of the monitor, Smart Sense technology efficiently analyzes and detects pulse signals while adjusting the cuff pressure accordingly. This advanced system offers highly accurate and comfortable blood pressure and pulse readings. Smart Inflate technology determines both the systolic and diastolic pressure during the inflation time, which results in a dramatically shorter measurement time. Best of all, the HoMedics BPW-200 gives you all of these measurements with one-touch operation: You simply strap the cuff onto your wrist, push a button

View HoMedics BPW-200 TheraP Automatic Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor Details

This weekend I got the media server that I recently talked about online. The timing was pretty good. Due to the Celtics and Red Sox putting a hurt on the Magic and Yankess respectively last Tuesday, I had missed the beginning of Glee. I had grudgely mentioned that I watch the show in the past. My wife is a huge fan and though I thought I’d hate it, it’s really not that bad. This wasn’t an ordinary episode of Glee though. This one was directed by Joss Whedon, who I’ve talked about numerous times (as one of the world’s largest Buffy and Firefly fans).

A few may recall that the Buffy musical episode by Whedon was the critically acclaimed… TV Guide called it the 14th episode of television ever (oddly the The Body didn’t make the list). So here was a chance for Whedon to up the anty with a cast that can actually sing. For good measure he brought along Neil Patrick Harris whose Barney character on How I Met Your Mother may be one of the top 5 best characters on television today.

I fired up the media center and set the browser to Hulu. It was a very good episode. It wasn’t nearly as a good as the Buffy musical, but for a one-episode stand-in, I couldn’t expect more. Of course as soon as that was over, we had to flip on the Netflix instant queue and watch Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog also starring Neil Patrick Harris in a Whedon-directed musical. My wife hadn’t seen it, so it was new to her. After that, my wife showed me some of a recent Glee concert that she found on YouTube earlier. The media center got quite the accidental workout.

I’m sure you didn’t come here for my commentary on television, so allow me to give you some personal finance links from this last week:

Money Writers:

• Brip Blap talks about how to build a love of learning. Those stats are pretty sad, yes?
• Digerati Life poses a efficient market hypothesis: so are markets efficient?
• Frugal Dad asks what should I do with an extra paycheck?
• Generation X Finance presents 9 financial tips for new graduates.
• Million Dollar Journey blogs the cost of maintaining the perfect lawn.
• Money Smart Life shares a little on how to prepare for being laid off.
• My Dollar Plan wonders is squatting in a foreclosure acceptable?
• The Sun’s Financial Diary says a new child means lots of new expenses.

Top PF Posts:

• Free Money Finance posts Seth Godin hates consumer debt.
• Smarter Wallet asks borrowing from your 401k? Hardship withdrawal considerations
• PT Money compares the difference between the US federal debt and deficit.
• Clever Dude gives 6 reasons you don’t need a new computer (especially an iPad).
• Saving Advice asks should I buy an American car?
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• Darwin’s Finance reveals the common thread between the housing collapse, the Euro crisis and millions of Americans – debt.
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• Almost Frugal about turning a passion into a business.
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I’m in the mood for easy dinners this week. We’re working on decluttering the house and the last thing I want to do is mess up the kitchen! So, I’m going for quick and easy in this meal plan.

Monday: Sloppy Joes, corn, watermelon

Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan Alfredo, garlic bread, peas

Wednesday: Campbell’s Slow Cooker Pot Roast, dinner rolls

Thursday: Easy Chicken Enchiladas,  Chi-Chi’s Sweet Corn Cake*, chips and salsa

Friday: Pizza Night

Saturday: Clean out the Fridge night

*Chi-Chi Sweet Corn Cake Mix is available on Amazon.com in packs of 12 or is at grocery stores.

Get links to more weekly menu plans at I’m an Organizing Junkie, home of Menu Plan Monday!

There is no surprise here. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the safest drivers on the road are in the age group between 64 and 69 years old. A study conducted by the two government agencies shows that teenage drivers are the most dangerous drivers on the road – especially male drivers.

“In every motorized country around the world, teenage drivers are disproportionately involved in crashes,” said Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Institute. “The seriousness of this problem has been recognized for decades. Only in the last few years have public policies such as graduated driving licenses been enacted to address the situation. And those laws seem to be working, but fatalities are still high.”

In 2008, 2,739 teenage-drivers between the ages of 15 to 20 were killed and an additional 228,000 were injured. However, the good news is that the number is down 27 percent since 1998 and driver fatalities for the age group also decreased by 20 percent in the same time period.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: DriveOn

Venus Williams’ outfit gets more attention. She won in the first day of the French Open against Patty Schnyder with consecutive 6 – 3 triumphs. Her win was not the topic for discussion, rather her outfit. She wore a lacy black and red outfit with a corset-like top and a tutu skirt which gave the outfit an illusion of being see-through. USA Today had a poll asking America on what they think of the outfit. The number 1 response that gained 42 percent of the votes said “They should have made her change”. This style that Venus Williams wore for tennis at the French Open was not the first of its kind. She wore the same outfit with a different color last week for the Madrid Open. During the last Australian Open which was held last January, she wore a green skimpy uniform and a similar underwear that she wore in the French Open 2010. At the Sony Ericsson Open, she wore a red spaghetti-strapped dress trimmed with a décor of ruffles. She could make a strange line of outfit with her outfits. Is her secret with her wins lie with the comfort from the clothes she wear? And lastly, what will be her next outfit?

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1. Venus Williams’ Disturbing Outfit at the French Open
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