Want to own the Batpod, Batman’s motorcycle from The Dark Knight? Well, this one-of-a-kind working 1:1 replica of it could be yours for a mere $100,000 or best offer. Warning: you will definitely kill yourself trying to ride it. More »
Dark Knight – Batman – Art – Motorcycle – Television
Cellphones may be the one item that people never leave the house without, but a wallet must come in at a close second. That’s because paying for physical goods—a subway ticket, a sandwich, or a new pair of shoes—with a cellphone hasn’t taken off, especially in North America.
There’s one good reason for that: If a user wants to charge the purchase to his or her cellphone bill, the carrier will likely take a 40 to 50 percent cut of the transaction from the retailer. Purchases are also typically capped at $25. Under these conditions, a trip to the grocery store, or the mall is completely uneconomical for the retailer. But Mobile payment service provider mopay says that’s changing and is now supporting purchasing physical goods billing in countries outside of the U.S. It said both in other countries, both the percentages that carriers are charging and the limits are slowly becoming less onerous. Retailers are also raising prices in order to make-up for how much the carriers are charging.
Mopay said it is currently supporting physical goods in 28 of the 75 countries in which mopay offers some sort of payment options. Mostly they are countries in Western and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East. It is also live in Australia and New Zealand. Users are able to purchase virtually anything from tickets to movie downloads to physical goods.
The service is not yet available in the U.S., where mobile payments have been more limited to virtual goods, such as a song or buying virtual currency in an online game. Several companies are going after this market, which has recently become frothy with several companies raising big rounds of capital. Companies include: Zong, PayPal, Boku and Paris-based Hi-media.
Kolja Reiss, Mopay’s managing director of mopay, said in a release that other countries, including the Asian market, is leading the way. “mopay actively pushes mobile payments to essentially become a replacement for cash and other intricate methods of payment, foreseeably eliminating the need for the traditional ‘wallet’ as we know it.”
Perhaps it will never make sense for people to purchase physical goods on their phone, and instead, there will be other solutions created to leave the wallet at home. MobileCrunch reported yesterday a feasible alternative. Visa is working on a new way to charge things to your credit card, and not your cellphone bill. It’s a bit complicated, but basically it has partnered with a company to create a case for your iPhone that allows you to just tap the phone to a credit card payment system to make a transaction. The complicated part is that the case has a microSD card slot, and the card is not only a memory chip but also a near-field communication chip. Trials are scheduled to start during the second quarter of 2010.
“These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong,” said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond.”
The first of these reports, Advancing the Science of Climate Change focuses on what we know of climate change while acknowledging what we don’t know, and puts forward the need for a single federal entity to be given authority and the resources to coordinate a national and multidisciplinary research effort. (more…)
“These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong,” said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond.”
The second of the reports notes that a “departure from business as usual” is going to be necessary to “meet internationally discussed targets for limiting atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and associated increases in global average temperatures.” (more…)
“These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong,” said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond.”
The third of the reports released under the America’s Climate Choices suite of studies requested by Congress looks specifically at the impacts of climate change on America and how the U.S. can begin reacting to these changes. (more…)
When it comes to watching video on Android handsets, there aren’t too many different options. However, this might all change come Summer. Why might you ask? Well, coming in June, MobiTV will debut its video streaming service on Android. According to a report at Androinica, MobiTV will launch this Summer on both the Motorola Droid and Droid Incredible (are you jealous Nexus One owners?). There is no word yet on whether or not older phones will be supported, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
MobiTV, the company that also powers Sprint TV, allows users to watch a vast array of content. Having previously had it on my iPhone, I can tell you first hand that you can watch on-demand video, live channels like ABC News or FOX News, as well as music video streaming channels. The list is very impressive.
Something of importance to note though is that if Flash is as good as we are hearing, a service like this will be rendered obsolete. Who would pay for TV on a handset when they could just watch it using Flash for free? I know I wouldn’t.
Is anyone excited about this? Let us know!
Source: Androinica
Take a glass case. Fill it with a boatload of Android phones, tablets and MIDs. Stick it in the middle of a conference full of Android faithful. What do you get? A neon-green siren that beckoned even the most seasoned smartphone veteran. What all is in the case? Check out the video after the break.
TRENDS: Micro farming can look towards trends that will effect other small businesses to guide their way.
This quote is from the Trends Research Institute, which accurately predicted many events, including the current growth in micro farming:
“Craftspeople and small manufacturers that can establish a reputation for quality products will be able to build thriving micro-brands, while marketers who can amalgamate micro-cooperatives into true local commerce organizations will carve a solid niche for themselves……”
It’s too bad we didn’t hear about these before Bag Week. Feuer Bags is a German company that makes bags out of decommissioned fire hose. You better believe they’re tough. Plus, they have a beautiful worn-in look right out of the box. I know “pre-worn” is a bit of a cliché now, but there’s something beautiful about objects that are genuinely hard-used and have stood up to the punishment. That’s these bags to a thread.
They’re mostly red, black, and white, as you can see — those likely being the colors used by the fire department in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
Material:
– firefighting hose
– truck tarpaulin
– safety seat belt
See, these things are made to last. Truck tarp is what waterproofs messenger backpacks, and of course nylon seat belts are practically indestructible. And what can I say about fire hose? It’s fire hose.
There are a number of styles available, from the laptop bags pictured above to messenger bags, handbags, and even some sweet-looking belts. Want.
[via Gear Diary]
Filed under: SUV, Chrysler, Jeep, Luxury, Off-Road
Well, look what the interwebs have dragged in. Chrysler has released a flood of new photos of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee doing manly things like fording rivers and blazing trails across the untamed desert. We approve. The company also turned out a tasty press release, complete with a few details on the newest version of Jeep’s luxury utility. We no longer need to wonder about what the Grand Cherokee was doing bombing around the Nürburgring. Chances are Chrysler was attempting to see just how big of a difference the truck’s reworked fully independent suspension and stiffer chassis would handle a serious flogging.
There’s no surprise in hearing that the base Grand Cherokee will feature the new Chrysler Pentastar V6. The new powerplant should up fuel economy should return 11 percent better fuel economy than what’s currently available, upping the highway figure to 23 mpg. Throw in the standard tow rating of 7,200 pounds and suddenly you’ve got an SUV worth looking into.
Expect two-wheel drive models to carry an MSRP of $30,995, with the four-wheel drive variant setting you back another $2,000. Hit the jump for the full press release and video.
Gallery: 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee
[Source: Chrysler]
Continue reading Jeep releases pics of 2011 Grand Cherokee getting dirty [w/video]
Jeep releases pics of 2011 Grand Cherokee getting dirty [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 May 2010 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Maybe castor beans are good for something besides castor oil – California based BioSolar has come up with a high-performance protective backsheet for solar panels made partly from a castor bean resin. The bio-based product is cheaper than conventional backsheets, helping to lower the cost of photovoltaic installations.
High tech gains in solar cell efficiency may grab the banner headlines, but behind-the-scenes companies like BioSolar are also scoring points for helping to make solar energy more cost-competitive with fossil fuels by tweaking other components of a solar energy installation.
by Julian Ku
Prof. Chimene Keitner at UC-Hastings has posted a short essay in the online version of the Yale Journal of International Law criticizing the novel and influential interpretation of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act proposed by Profs. Curtis Bradley and Jack Goldsmith. In a series of articles, Bradley and Goldsmith have argued that the FSIA’s immunity for “foreign state[s]” should be interpreted to include foreign government officials. This argument may very well be adopted by the Supreme Court this term in Samantar v. Yousuf (for background, see here and for my take on oral argument, see here). Here is a summary of her critique:
Stated briefly, the observation that “a state acts through individuals” does not support Bradley and Goldsmith’s proposal as a matter of logic, because both U.S. and international law attribute personal responsibility to individuals for certain types of illegal conduct precisely because they engage in such conduct under color of law. When a certain criterion defines conduct as illegal, it does not make sense for that same criterion to place individuals who have engaged in that conduct categorically beyond the reach of U.S. courts. Nor do policy considerations support Bradley and Goldsmith’s proposal. There are at least three reasons for this: the FSIA was not designed to include individuals, reading it to do so would conflict with the Torture Victim Protection Act, and various specialized immunities and other non-statutory doctrines already afford substantial protections to foreign officials and to the interests of foreign states in U.S. courts. Finally, neither international treaties nor customary international law require treating all “official capacity suits” as suits against the state itself, without regard to the conduct at issue. It would be anomalous to find that international law categorically prevents states from holding individuals accountable for universally condemned violations of international law.
I still don’t know what I think about this issue. Hopefully, I’ll figure something out before the Supreme Court comes down with a decision, but perhaps not. In any event, it is always worth considering Chimene’s take on these things.
The Russian art collective Electroboutique erected this curving iPhone tower to provoke dialogue on the relationship between art and industrial design. I totally got that, right after I thought how much it looked like a giant iPhone slap bracelet. More »
IPhone – Handhelds – Smartphones – iPhone 3G – Wallpapers and Themes
We have all heard a lot about website development and the importance of it given the significance of difference that the internet has made in our lives. This is even true for those who are staying in either the developed countries or the developing countries. Developing country like India has seen the rise in web development India.
Joomla Development is one of the proof as one of the website development in India. The Joomla Developer helps to provide for patron’s expediency and flexibility to manage website on their own. The flexibility comes from add – on modules. All of these modules provided can easily be installed as and when required. Joomla development services also come with a user friendly administrative system that allows a patron to alter the content and the layout as and when required. You could also use the PSD to Joomla Conversion Service if you need the PSD to Xhtml services. With the Joomla Web Developer service, you could manage website requires you to only need an acquaintance with a browser and any office application like Microsoft Office or Open Source Star Office. If you need to hire web developer, Joomla is just the right option.
The Joomla Development India caters the following services such as corporate portals, Ecommerce Websites and web store, Organization Intranet and Extranet services, Community and social networking Portals, News Portal, CMS Development, Joomla Template Development as well as custom Coding for any type of Joomla Portal.
If you are not a computer expert, Joomla is suitable for you as well since it is very easy to install and does not entail major help. Once the Joomla based website or web application is live and running, it is convenient for the end user to manage it on their own regardless of the limitation of their skill in the computer industry. They can update content on their web portals built using Joomla with basic IT skills like Microsoft office services and Internet browser based services like Internet explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Joomla is available under the GPL license. Joomla Framework provides an advantage of not making the application restricted particular closed application or organization.
With the Joomla Template Designer and Joomla Web Designer, you could find that managing the templates for your website become something that is easy and simple. This helps you to save your time and frustration. Once you are able to design and create your own websites, you could take advantage of this to either promote your skill, your company and even your products.
Other than Joomla, Magento Development is also another company that provides web development services. However, Magento Development focus on PHP and Open Source services. It is also an offshore web development company located in India. There are other companies who are also focusing on the PHP web development. The popular ones would be the Samiflabs as well as the PHP programmer. It is important to hire PHP programmer as it provides many benefits such as you could be having dedicated PHP programmer working just for you and also the options to choose from the experts. There are no start up or maintenance costs as well as taxes. There are also 24 hours support and many other benefits made for your convenience.
As for those of you who are used to using WordPress, you could also look for WordPress Designer to help you in managing your website. Well, there are many other options such as the Ecommerce web development, PHP web development and many others. All of these tell us the importance of learning web development and design as it becomes a part of our culture in this modern era.
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A major new report analyzing mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and financing deals across the clean tech sector in 2009 has come to the conclusion that despite the economic downturn, investment rose in 2009.
Some areas, like venture capital investment fell, but overall there was a 32% increase with clean tech investment hitting $381 billion last year.
That’s a nice looking bike. A bit of suspension on the front… nice commuter frame… I’d pay $500. What’s that, it costs more than twice that? I assume there are gold nuggets inside the frame. No? Indeed. Then I’ll bid you good day, sir.
This design from TATO is a good idea — nobody wants to bungee their stuff onto one of those racks — but the price really is quite a lot for what seems otherwise to be a decent mid-range commuter bike. The gear arrangement is Shimano, though. I guess when you consider high-mid-range parts and a bit of a designer premium, $1300 (1500 Swiss Francs) is understandable, if not entirely justified.
[via The Awesomer]
It’s been five years since Alex Roy and Team Polizei took on the infamous 2005 Gumball Rally in their equally sinister BMW M5. Through the blessed passage of time, the statute of limitations on most of the infractions the team accumulated during the race have lifted, meaning that the rest of the world can now safely enjoy/be enraged by Roy’s battle with a blue Porsche 997 X50 as they race toward Rome. The video after the jump is the first part of a multi-part series that covers the 100 mile race at speeds of better than 120 mph.
Now, here’s the thing. We’ve been known to push on a vehicle a time or two and we have plenty of faith in Roy’s driving skills, but the clip after the jump should serve as a blatant reminder of just how stupid races like the Gumball are. As easy as it is to get your car on a proper race track, there’s zero excuse for engaging in this kind of lead-follow on public streets. We know Roy’s a folk hero among those who prefer putting the skinny pedal down and that we aren’t going to be gaining any friends by denouncing his former activities, but those that participate in racing on public streets are playing the worst kind of numbers game. Avoidable tragedies like what happened in the 2007 Gumball Rally are why Roy himself abandoned the sport in favor of sanctioned events.
Hit the jump to see the video. Thanks for the tip, Jason Bordeaux!
[Source: YouTube]
Continue reading Video: Alex Roy and Team Polizei in “The Battle of Rome”
Video: Alex Roy and Team Polizei in “The Battle of Rome” originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 May 2010 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
It may be aging and unrefined, but a week with the 300C SRT8 reveals that if you’re in the market for a Challenger but want four doors, this behemoth fits the bill.
While Nissan is going head-long into the EV world, its crosstown rivals at Honda are far more skeptical about the long-term viability of electric vehicles.
Pebble Beach will once again play host to new product from Infiniti, and this year’s auto extravaganza includes two new production models set to go on sale this fall.
Browse our archive of Daily U-Turn posts or subscribe to the RSS feed
Daily U-Turn: What you missed on 5.19.10 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 May 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Seesmic has been busy lately it seems. Not only did they reveal a preview of their new desktop client but they also have a new beta build of their popular Android Twitter client for Google I/O attendees. Since we have a man on the floor at Google I/O, we get a sneak preview of it too. As you can see from the screen shot, support for Google Buzz is in the works. No word on when it’s expected to be released, but you can bet as soon as we know, we’re going to share the good news.
A new study published in the journal Science states that rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere aren’t just affecting climate, but could affect the nutrition contained in the world’s food crops too. Scientists at the University of California, Davis found that increased CO2 could reduce the protein content of crop plants by as much as 20 percent.
This slash in nutritional value happens because higher concentrations of CO2 interfere with a plant’s ability to convert nitrates into proteins, which leads to a less protein-rich food.
The scientists tested two common forms of soil nitrogen (nitrate and ammonium) with wheat plants that were exposed to elevated CO2 and the plants had reduced abilities to produce proteins. This suggests new fertilizers will have to be developed to counteract this response, and soon, as the researchers see this 20 percent decline happening in the coming decades.
via Yale e360
