The actor Kevin Costner provided to the BP oil centrifuges with technology developed by him and a group of scientists to separate the oil from the water to try to clean the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, informed the press John Houghtaling, Costner’s partner.
Costner is a passionate environmentalist and fisherman in his spare time, he traveled to New Orleans to present the invention in society and propose its use to save the fragile ecosystem and, above all, to avoid another disaster of the magnitude of the spill of 37,000 tonnes of hydrocarbon in March 1989 caused the tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska.
It was this ecological tragedy that prompted the actor, 55, to invest in technology that can mitigate the effects of other similar discharge without knowing that this time would come this year, 21 years later.
For 15 years the actor has overseen the construction of machines that separate oil from water, he invested $ 24 million of his own money on private sector development.
Costner, who traveled to New Orleans with Houghtaling said he was “saddened” by the spill caused by the collapse of the rig Deepwater Horizon, operated by British Petroleum (BP), exactly one month ago, but also hopeful because, he said, “That’s why we have developed” machines.
Doug Suttles said that BP has authorized the use of six of the 32 machines that have Ocean Therapy Solutions for testing. These devices are able to purify 97 percent of contaminated water and John Houghtaling told reporters that the company is working to develop technology to also separate the remaining 3 percent.
The machines, Costner said, “are ready to be used and solve problems and not talk about them” only. The technology was ready for use ten years ago, but nobody was interested in those machines, said Houghtaling.
Google had previously represented that it did not collect or store what it calls “payload data” and what EFF and the law call communications “content” — the actual information that was being transmitted by users over the unprotected networks. But on Friday the company admitted that its audit of the software deployed in the Street View cars revealed that the devices actually had been inadvertently collecting content transmitted over non-password protected Wi-Fi networks. To its credit, Google publicly admitted the error.
There’s no reason to doubt Google’s claim of mistake, but at this point in their growth and sophistication, Google should not be making these kinds of privacy errors. Google programmers wrote the Street View Wi-Fi access mapping code and Google employees used that code to collect about 600 gigabytes of extra data. Someone at the company should also have ensured that the code, both as written and in practice was (1) collecting only the data necessary for the project, (2) collecting only the data that Google represented that it was collecting, and (3) otherwise in compliance with the law.
Google is too mature to be making these kinds of rookie privacy mistakes. When you are in the business of collecting and monetizing other people’s personal data — as Google and so many other internet businesses are — clear standards and comprehensive auditing are essential to protect against improper collection, use or leakage of private information. Google’s failure to make enforceable promises to implement such safeguards is one of the reasons for EFF’s opposition to the Google Books settlement.
Following this unfortunate privacy breach, Google will likely have to face European and U.S. regulators as well as the inevitable lawsuits. Notably, Google’s potential liability under U.S. law is not clear. Penalties for wiretapping electronic communications in the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) only apply to intentional acts of interception, yet Google claims it collected the content by accident. Further, the scope of legal protections for unencrypted wireless communications are uncertain. There is an exception to ECPA’s general prohibition on content interception when the intercepted communications are “readily accessible to the general public.” This exception was not written with Wi-Fi in mind and the courts have not yet directly grappled with the issue, but Google may assert that unencrypted Wi-Fi signals fit that exception.
Open Wi-Fi is a great public service, but users must take the initiative if they care about the confidentiality of information traveling over their open wireless networks. With legal protections unclear, the only privacy safeguards are technological. If you want any security, you need to encrypt your packets.
As for the Street View debacle, the first priority should be to secure the private information that was already improperly collected. Google has set forth a solid plan to accomplish this: it commissioned an independent third party to review the software at issue, confirm that Google segregated the data and made it inaccessible, and to figure out how to prevent these problems in the future.
Google must eventually destroy the data, though it will have to wait for approval from relevant regulators investigating the incident and from courts in which lawsuits are pending. If access to the communications is necessary for civil or criminal investigations or for discovery in a lawsuit, then care must be taken to protect user privacy in the meantime. In particular, calls from some quarters for Google to simply turn over the data to the U.S. or other governments are wrong-headed. To allow a government to investigate a privacy breach by further violating privacy is senseless.
The second priority should be for Google, and everyone else in the data collection business, to closely examine their data collection practices to ensure that they are actually doing what they have promised. In addition, companies should re-evaluate their data retention policies. While not directly related to the Wi-Fi gaffe, Google’s long-term retention of search data creates an unnecessary risk to users that the data will be disclosed, as Jules Polonetsky of the Future of Privacy Forum recently pointed out:
Yahoo has been able to implement a three-month retention period for its search and ad-serving log data without any impact on the quality of search results or ad-serving capabilities. Why can’t other companies follow Yahoo’s lead? The Article 29 Working Group of European regulators have advised that six months is the maximum time period for search data retention in their jurisdiction, and Microsoft has already started deleting full IP addresses from their search logs after six months.
In contrast to Yahoo and Microsoft, Google only partially anonymizes the IP addresses linked to your search queries at nine months, rather than at three or six months, and never completely deletes them. Yet, as the clear market leader when it comes to search, Google should have the best privacy practices in the business. With great success comes great responsibility. Google isn’t a little start-up anymore. Even when it doesn’t make mistakes, it regularly handles personal, intimate information from billions of people around the world. It’s time for Google to lead the way in responsible data collection and retention practices.
When people in America like politicians, we’re generally sane about it. We vote for them, and put signs up in our yards. The more devoted of us will maybe purchase a t-shirt or a button. In general, we’re a rather restrained bunch.
But if there’s one thing that the Internet and Youtube have shown us, it’s that there are exceptions to every rule. Both in this country and around the world, there are people who, for whatever reason, react to politicians they love with less restraint than a fifteen-year-old at a Jonas Brothers concert. And we’ve got the links to prove it.
For a start, there’s…
1. Unwise Political Tattoos
Look, if there’s a politician out there that gives you tingly feelings, then there’s nothing particularly wrong with getting a tattoo of them. Considering the things people get tattooed on themselves these days (foreign phrases they barely know the meaning of, misspelled bible verses, penises, etc) political figures are probably on the more sensible side of the body-art bell curve.
But as a general rule, it’s probably advisable to actually wait until a politician’s term is up, or at least well established, until you permanently etch his face into your flesh. Otherwise, you run the risk being like a Star Wars fan who believed the hype and got an Episode One tattoo before the movie came out. Judging by the ‘polls closed’ label, this guy got the tattoo in November 2008, before Obama had actually served a day in office. He would have really been screwed if Obama had changed course and decided to govern on a platform devoted entirely to the promotion of child pornography and puppy kicking.
Then there’s the ‘DEAR LORD I REALLY HATE THIS PERSON’ tattoos.
Look, tattooed people, we understand that you don’t approve of Bush or Palin. Maybe you find them execrable human beings. But you know, I don’t like the post office at all, and you don’t see me walking around with a clever version of the USPS logo tattooed on my calf for all the world to see. Is permanently marking them on your body really the best way to demonstrate your hatred towards someone? When your wife leaves you, do you get her name tattooed on your arm to remind you how much she pisses you off? In forty years time, when the Bush presidency is no more than a blip in American history, this poor dude will still be explaining to his grandchildren who that weird vampire man is, and how it’s related to why mommy sometimes cries at night.
2. Kim Jong-Il, Storm God
At first glance, devotions to Kim Jong-Il probably don’t belong on this list. After all, North Koreans in general have no choice but to accept weird-ass devotions to their psychotic leader. The country even has a whole Department of Propaganda dedicated to providing this stuff.
But really, even the risk of being arrested and imprisoned without trial in a labor camp doesn’t excuse output like this.
If for whatever reason you can’t watch it, the lyrics go like this:
When General Kim Jong Il was born the clouds opened up and he came down from heaven, and then there was huge snowstorm.
When General Kim Jong Il shouts out loud storms always happen, HUGE STORMS ALWAYS HAPPEN!
Let’s just leave aside the image of a pudgy midget-dude with weird glasses descending from the clouds amid glorious sunbeams. Outside of some very excitable meteorologists and tornado cellar salesmen, we’re pretty sure no one in the world actually thinks that huge storms are a good thing. They hurt people, destroy crops and animals, and wreck the fuck out of people’s hairdos. In other words, our boy Kim significantly impairs the local economy whenever he yells really loud.
So there’s only two possible reasons for this being included: 1. North Korea, with its lack of electricity and functioning civilization, is so dull that people look forward to storms, because flying leaves and branches are kind of their version of reality television. 2. The people at the Department of Propaganda, at the risk of imprisonment and death, are putting subversive messages into their films implying that Kim Jong-Il is in fact a destructive force. If this is the case, we applaud their strength, courage and bafflingly rebellious lyrics.
3. Campaign-Fuelled Baby Naming
In October 2008, after he attended a campaign rally, a Tennessee father decided to name his newborn baby daughter ‘Sarah McCain Palin’. He did so without telling his wife, who had picked out another name and was presumably high on drugs while he did so. We’re sure she got a nice surprise when she woke up.
We’re also sure that this kid is going to grow up totally happy and well-adjusted, seeing that she was attached by name to a failed campaign before she was a year old. And there’s also the fact that if she ever runs into the guy with the anti-Sarah Palin tattoo on his calf, he’s going to beat the crap out of her.
Still, at least it’s slightly more reversible than an unwise tattoo. At least the parents can change their daughter’s name. Or they can make up a convincing story to tell her when she gets older about a deceased great aunt called “Sarah McCain” and their devotion to British comedian Michael Palin.
And while we’re on the subject of the vice presidential candidate herself…
4. Country Music Stalk Fest
In late 2008, country artist Pat Geller released ‘Moose Shootin’ Mama’, dedicated to Sarah Palin. The video combines pictures of Palin, moose, and Palin with dead moose, leading us to assume that the songwriter and video maker either really love Palin or really, really hate moose.
She’s a Moose Shootin’ Mama
Sarah is the girl for me
Yes, Sarah is the girl for me
After it was released Pat Garrett’s song was featured on TV and several country stations. Interestingly, Garret claims that the idea was conceived by an Obama-supporting friend of his after he saw this picture, supposedly of Palin:
…and came up with the title on the spot. Mr. Garrett told the media that after his friend gave him the idea, he wrote the song in ten minutes, presumably after spending some time in the bathroom, alone. Surprisingly, the McCain/Palin campaign decided to use the song rather than issue Garrett a restraining order.
The irony here is that the image that inspired the song is in fact a fake. But still, it’s heartening that even in this day and age, the two sides of the political spectrum together can still be brought together by scantily-clad women and some Photoshopping.
5. Putin Devotional Music
Unlike the Palin song, which is basically conceived by a couple of fans, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin can attract professionally-produced videos that find widespread success across Eastern Europe.
The first, “And Vova Rules” by Ukrainian group Dress Code, is about Putin (nicknamed ‘Vova’) being a superhero. The second, by Russian band Singing Together, is about two women wishing that their deadbeat boyfriends were more like Putin.
In the original Russian version, the women long for:
Someone like Putin, full of strength, Someone like Putin, who doesn’t drink, Someone like Putin, who doesn’t hurt me, Someone like Putin, who won’t run away.
This Putin-lust might sound a bit strange, but it makes more sense when you realize that the average Russian male consumes around 50 bottles of vodka a year. Sure, Putin might have cracked down on civil liberties during his term as President, but at least he isn’t too drunk to fight off the bears that attack his household daily. Get it? Because they’re in Russia.
Now, say what you want about Putin, but while Kim Jong-Il’s regime is using bribes and death threats to produce mediocre videos about snow and horseriding, Putin is actually prompting people of their own free will to not only produce music about him, but to voluntarily spend money buying it. He may be a corrupt quasi-dictator, but god damn he does the corrupt quasi-dictator thing well.
6. The Dick Cheney Fan Club: Now With Cake
‘Dick Cheney’ and ‘Fan Club’ are not really words you expect to hear used together. Even among Republicans, Cheney tends to be treated him more with grudging respect than any sort of real admiration. (Plus, that respect is mostly based on the fact that they don’t want the former Vice President to shoot them in the face.) But once again, the Internet proves that this is not always the case. The online Dick Cheney Fan Club, dedicated to ‘the beautiful human being that is Dick Cheney’, features columnists, fun facts, famous Cheney quotes and even a store. There’s also a photo gallery, which includes mind-boggling images such as a Dick Cheney Cake and, uh, this:
But even if this seems disturbing, at least you can rest assured that the site contains no…
7. Political Fanfiction
In the deepest, darkest corridors of the Internet, there exists a genre known as political fanfiction. Behind the safety of privacy-locked posts and anonymity, young women (and some men) write stories about their very favorite politicians, uh, boning each other.
This is confusing, because as any avid watcher of C-SPAN knows, getting elected to office isn’t exactly a beauty contest (Hence the saying “Politics is showbusiness for ugly people”). But hey, power is an aphrodisiac, and this is the Internet after all. We should just be grateful that there’s no one there dressed up in a bunny suit.
These days, a popular coupling in this genre is Barack Obama and his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel. Nobody knows why, but it might have something to do with the fact that both men resemble desiccated corpses slightly less than the average politician. Some of these collections can be found here and here (the second requires membership).
I was going to copy and paste some quotes from the fanfiction, but if I did this the Department of Homeland Security would probably end up investigating me and then sending to Gitmo. And they would probably be doing the right thing. So click at your own risk, and remember that what has been seen can never, ever be unseen.
Where is E. 48th Street in Dunwoody? You know — east side. Right above 47th Street.
I have to admit that I heard about the E. 48th Street Market from colleagues soon after moving to Atlanta, and for the first few years I lived here I, um, assumed the streets were numbered in Dunwoody. I may even have, um, once gone looking for it and stopped and asked in a gas station where 48th Street was.
It has only taken me 13 years to make it to this delightful, straight-from-the-Northeast Italian deli and market on Jett Ferry Road, and I’m so glad I did.
Named for the address of a New York store run by owner Charlie Augello’s uncle, E. 48th St. Market is the kind of cramped, friendly, mildly chaotic food emporium that will remind you of the way markets used to be. A huge assortment of fresh baked breads and pastries, deli meats, prepared foods, dry goods, frozen ingredients and wine manage to pack into a space where you will, happily, bump into other …
Yesterday, Google announced that, later this year, it will release the Chrome Web Store. The idea isn’t complex and philosophically compliments the app store for Google Docs and even Android Marketplace: Provide a marketplace for third-party apps. The strategy is sensible for Google, given its heavy orientation around the browser and cloud services.
Early last month I explained how Apple and Google are battling for the future of the mobile Web. Both companies are looking to capitalize on the shift from the PC client-server applications stack to the mobile device and cloud service stack. Apple’s approach makes the mobile app primary, pushing up to the cloud, while Google pushes services down from cloud to device, mainly the browser. Already, Apple has built a huge application and developer ecosystem around App Store. Google needs to counter, but leveraging its cloud services strengths.
By the way, about six years ago, I first directly told Microsoft executives that the company should develop an applications store for Windows. The idea: Utilize Windows product activation and update architectures to provide a means for developers to directly sell applications through the operating system. The mechanism would pay developers and combat rampant piracy, particularly for smaller developers. That’s pretty much what Apple did with App Store nearly two years ago. I’m convinced that Microsoft’s position with developers would be stronger had executives followed the advice.
Now for those five reasons:
1. Google is launching a new operating system. Google says the app store will support both Chrome browser and OS. There is a chicken-and-egg scenario that applies to new operating systems, and many have failed because of it: Which comes first? The OS or the applications? Generally, people won’t adopt an operating system unless there are applications, but developers tend not to support an OS unless there are users. By launching a dual-platform app store, Google can woo developers, providing base applications (along with its own many services) to jumpstart adoption.
2. Applications can drive up Chrome browser adoption faster. The dual-platform strategy can work because Google’s browser is rapidly gaining usage share, while Firefox usage has leveled off and Internet Explorer declines. Good applications could give more people more reasons to adopt Chrome. It only takes one killer application to drive massive adoption. By the way, this is exactly the kind of scenario Microsoft tired to prevent during the late-`90s browser wars with Netscape: The Web browser becoming a pseudo operating system around which developers build applications and services.
3. Developers can get paid for their Web work. Right now, the app stores where developers get paid are tied to mobile operating system supporting services, like Android Marketplace or Apple App Store, among others. None of the major computer OS developers offers integrated app stores, nor does any major service provider offer one for browsers (emphasis on major provider). Google is in position to provide developers a place to sell rich Internet applications and supporting services for browsers, which reach would be broader than just mobile phones. Google Checkout, or perhaps a new payment system, would get developers paid for their work. LOL, how strange if Flash developers could get paid by Google. What a stick up Apple’s no-Flash policy that would be.
4. Chrome Web Store can drive search usage and advertising dollars. Surely some developers will offer free apps, around which Google could bundle advertising — something like what it already does and extended to something like Apple plans for its iAd advertising platform for iPhone OS 4. Based on Google’s current behavior, its platform would offer developers more freedom than would Apple’s. Google executives insinuate that applications could work with any browser, and that could arguably be the case for other Webkit-based browsers or applications supporting HTML 5. If so, Chrome Web Store would provide developers even more places to monetize their apps and for Google to drive its advertising and search businesses.
5. Browser users already are accustomed to installing browser plug-ins. End users shouldn’t have to learn new behavior. Based on what little information Google has disclosed, the app store would be about as easy to use as installing a browser plug-in. Assuming Google uses Checkout, people with accounts would need no onerous extra steps to purchase applications.
Do you have reasons to add? Please offer them up in comments.
It’s Thursday and the crowds have cleared out from yesterday’s testimony about the new social studies curriculum that Texas School Board members are considering. Members worked into the night hearing about 120 members of the public, either “for” or “against” the new standards. With the testimony over, board members are getting down to brass tacks. This is where the real work gets done. The board is taking up member amendments one by one, grade level by grade level. They’re starting out with Kindergarten, on up to grade 12.
The discussion moves forward in inches. Two of the main topics so far have been: deleting historical figures John Smith from Kindergarten; and deleting Nathan Hale from grade 1. What’s wrong with John Smith and Nathan Hale, you ask? Nothing, say the backers of the amendments. But they say they’ve received feedback from teachers who want the names out. For example in Kindergarten, the original working group who developed the standards wanted only two historical studied. The board members added another three. Member Pat Hardy heard from teachers that the number was unwieldy, so she wanted to trim where she could. The motion passed and John Smith is out of Kindergarten.
Hardy was also the author of the amendment to strike Hale from the list of historical figures studied in the First grade. Apparently Hardy received feedback from teachers that their students couldn’t get past the Hale’s hanging. They would draw hangman pictures. Since Hale is studied in the Fifth grade, Hardy argued he was covered. That amendment also passed, but the vote was close.
These are just two small battles, but they’re good examples of how this process is creeping along.
Tweetdeck, a London-based startup that builds software to consume rapidly updating information streams, has raised $3 million in funding in what is an internal round, according to John Borthwick, co-founder of Betaworks, a NY-based startup and investment group. Betaworks is a lead investor in the company started by Iain Dodsworth; other angel investors include Ron Conway of SV Angel, Howard Lindzon and Danny Rimer of Index Ventures.
With this Series B round of funding, the company has raised a total of $3.5 million, including $800,000 via a convertible note last year. TechCrunch reported that the company had raised a total of $5.3 million, but that figure is not correct, Borthwick told us. Like its rival Seesmic, Tweetdeck is desperately trying to move away from its reliance on Twitter, which has decided to compete with client-makers.
Tweetdeck (and Seesmic), which have embraced rapidly updating personal data streams such as Facebook, Google Buzz and Foursquare, are also looking to diversify beyond their desktop applications into mobile apps. Liz, who’s covering the Google I/O in San Francisco, spoke to one of the folks at the Tweetdeck booth there and learned that the company is working on synchronizing data and updates across many different services. It also announced an experimental HTML5 version, though it won’t be coming to a device near you anytime soon.
Terrence Howard secretly married his girlfriend, Michelle Ghent, a 33-year-old commercial production worker.
The actor/musician spilled the beans to CNN’s Anderson Cooper during an interview promoting his upcoming film, Winnie,at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
“To come here and be with my wife, it’s the best feeling in the world,” said the the 41-year-old Oscar nominee, who will play civil rights icon Nelson Mandela opposite Jennifer Hudson in the controversial biopic. According to reports, Howard and Ghent tied the knot in a small ceremony in January.
This is the second marriage for Howard, who split from first wife Lori McComma in 2005. The former couple have three children together.
Chairman Rockefeller’s bill will help put an end to the deceptive online sales tactics uncovered by the Commerce Committee’s landmark E-commerce investigation. The bill is sponsored by Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and George LeMieux (R-Fla.). Chairman Rockefeller’s bill will protect online shoppers by:
Prohibiting companies like Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty from using misleading post-transaction advertisements by requiring them to clearly disclose the terms of the offers to consumers, and to obtain consumers’ billing information, including full credit or debit card numbers, directly from the consumers.
Prohibiting Internet retailers and other commercial websites (“initial merchants”) from transferring a consumer’s billing information, including credit and debit card numbers, to post-transaction third party sellers, like Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty.
Requiring companies that use “negative options” on the Internet to meet certain minimum disclosure and enrollment requirements, so consumers will not end up paying recurring fees for goods and services they did not intend to purchase.
Clearly it’s a nice step forward and it would seem to following that greater confidence in online shopping would boost interest and adoption of online shopping.
On a not-super-related note but tangentially related to Senator Klobuchar and greater use of the web … Senator Klobuchar joined another group of colleagues authoring a bill (Veterans One Source Act of 2010, S. 3355) to develop a modern, one-stop, user-friendly Web site for veterans.
In light of the videogame-linked crimes committed in Germany, Bundestag ministers proposed a national banhammer (psp/news/national-banhammer-german-ministers-propose-total-ban-for-violent-games.html) back in June to rid the nation of the purchase and development of violent video games. Thanks largely to a
These headphones play music, sure, but they can also bleach your teeth. Just stretch your mouth open with the included cheek retractor, turn the light on and get ready to scare the shit out of everyone. [BeamingWhite via ChipChick] More »
Jim Lentz, President and Chief Operating Officer of Toyota in North America has taken some time to update Congress on the company’s progress as the company sallies forth through a mountain of recalls. Lentz says that around 3.5 million fixes have been executed so far, including 1.67 million sticky accelerator pedals, 1.62 million floor mats and 118,000 anti-lock brake system program updates. Those figures mark 70 percent of all of the vehicles under the sticking-accelerator recall and Toyota says that it has been performing somewhere in the neighborhood of 120,000 fixes per week on average.
Lentz also says that his company has complied with mandates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration by bringing a total of 150 Event Data Recorder readout machines to the States. Those are the handy little gizmos that allow researchers to pull and analyze the information gathered pre- and post-crash by Toyota vehicles. The greater number of EDR machines should allow Toyota to respond to any future issues more quickly than in the past.
According to a published statement, Toyota has reiterated that it all of its new cars and trucks are to be equipped with brake override systems – something that is expected to be mandatory for all automakers within a few short years. Hop the jump to read the transcript of Lentz’s statement before Congress.
Other markets in the Americas are also taking a beating today:
Canada’s TSX down 1.82%
Brazil’s BOVESPA down 2.51%
Argentina’s MERVAL down 3.5%
Update 2:12 PM ET:
Markets have pulled back off of their 2:05 PM dive lower, with all key exchanges cutting losses.
Update 2:05 PM ET:
Dow down 2.6%, or 270 points
S&P 500 down 3.2%, or 36 points
NASDAQ down 3.57%, or 81 points
Update 2:03 PM ET:
Dow down 2.6%, or 270 points
S&P 500 down 3.0%, or 33 points
NASDAQ down 3.4%, or 79 points
Update 1:40 PM ET:
Dow down 2.4%, or 250
S&P 500 down 2.6%, or 30 points
NASDAQ down 3%, or 69 points
Update 1:13 PM ET: The market has come back a bit. The NASDAQ is now only down 3.6%
Update 1:00 PM ET: Everything’s getting worse now. Dow off over 340. Oil in freefall.
Original post: Let’s do a quick mid-dray roundup of where things stand.
The big loser is the NASDAQ, down 3.5%. The S&P 500 is hot on its tail down 3.1%. The Dow is off 2.8%. All of these are pretty close to the lows of the day.
Things are ugly in the commodities space, too with oil below $65! Remember, just a few days ago we were looking at oil around $90.
A day after refusing to take cash from a customer who wanted to purchase an iPad, Apple has reversed course and is now willing to accept Federal Reserve Notes backed by the U.S. government. “We want to make sure it’s as fair as possible for people to get iPads,” said Apple Sr. Vice President Ron Johnson.
Johnson told KGO-TV in Palo Alto that its coverage brought about a change in company policy:
“About a month ago, we said we’d like you to use a credit card when you buy your iPad, and that was the best way we could think of to make sure that people only bought two per individual,” said Johnson. “And then it came to our attention that Diane [Campbell], through your story, was very interested in buying an iPad with cash, and we made a decision today to change that.”
Johnson said our story triggered a company-wide policy change. As of today, anyone can pay for an iPad with cash as long as they set up their Apple account at the store. Apple accounts are needed for the iPad anyway, so that is not putting anyone out.
“We heard about this, you know… we all would love people like Diane [Campbell] to get an iPad, so I called her up and she was very excited and we’re actually on our way to deliver an iPad to her house,” said Johnson.
While other customers will now be able to pay in cash, Apple still won’t accept Campbell’s greenbacks: they’re giving her the iPad for free.
Johnson told KGO that the earlier policy about not accepting cash “was instituted to make sure the tablets were fairly distributed during a time of high demand.”
CAP’s Daniel J. Weiss, who first proposed the commission idea on May 4, offers his answer to the question of what areas the investigation should pursue.
A dead Portuguese Man-O-War floats on a blob of oil in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, Louisiana. Source: AP/Eric Gay
President Obama is likely to sign an executive order sometime during the next several days that would create an independent commission to investigate the causes behind the tragic BP oil disaster. A thorough independent investigation is essential to understand what caused the explosion that cost 11 workers their lives, and what led to the failure of the blowout preventer that was supposed to prevent an oil gusher.
Unlike many congressionally chartered commissions, the TMI and Challenger commissions were not required to have a particular bipartisan balance. The TMI panel did not establish specific criteria for its membership. President Carter appointed prominent people from various fields. The chair was Dartmouth College President John Kemeny, who had worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb. The panel included five professors, a union president, a CEO, a governor, an environmental leader, and a resident near TMI.
The executive order to create the Challenger panel required members “from among distinguished leaders of the government, and the scientific, technical, and management communities.” Its chair was former Attorney General and Secretary of State William Rogers. The panel included two former astronauts, a former test pilot, and physicists and engineers from both academia and the aerospace industry.
The BP disaster panel should follow the Challenger model. The executive order should require that the panel includes members who are senior or retired government officials, distinguished marine biologists, oceanographers, chemists, geologists, and petroleum engineers, as well as management experts. It should also include at least one member of a nongovernmental environmental organization, a union leader, and a local official or citizen of an affected community.
The executive order establishing the TMI commission provided much more guidance for its investigation than the Challenger commission. The TMI charter included “a technical assessment of the events and their causes,” as well as an assessment of the utility’s management, emergency preparedness and response by federal agencies, and “an evaluation of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing, inspection, operation and enforcement procedures as applied to this facility.”
The BP disaster commission should follow the TMI model. The executive order should require the study and investigation to include:
A technical assessment of the explosion, blow out, oil flow, and their causes
An estimate of the quantity of oil released into the Gulf of Mexico
An analysis of the roles of BP, Transocean, and Halliburton in this event
An assessment of the emergency preparedness of these three companies, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Interior, and the Department of Homeland Security
An appraisal of what agency should coordinate future emergency responses
A review of occupational safety measures on the rig
An evaluation of the Minerals Management Service’s leasing, permitting, oversight, and enforcement procedures applied to this and similar deep sea wells
A preliminary analysis of the public health, economic, and ecologic impacts of the blowout
An assessment of the public’s right to know about the accident and its aftermath, and BP’s, Transocean’s, and Halliburton’s responsibility to provide accurate, comprehensible, and timely information
A review of the technologies and safeguards employed by other nations to prevent similar disasters at their wells
Appropriate recommendations based on the commission’s findings
Neither the TMI nor Challenger executive orders explicitly required public hearings, but both panels conducted them. The BP panel should conduct public hearings, including at least one in the most heavily affected area to receive testimony on the disaster’s effects on the public health, economy, and ecology of affected communities.
The TMI and Challenger commissions had six and four months, respectively, to conduct their investigations and issue their reports and recommendations. Since the BP oil disaster is much larger than either of these events, the commission should have up to a year to complete its work. This event will continue to wreak havoc for years to come, but the commission should have a relatively short time for its investigation and report. This would enable oil companies and federal agencies to promptly implement the recommendations and significantly reduce the likelihood of a recurrence.
The federal government should also take a time out on issuing new offshore oil or gas leases and commencing development on idle deepwater leases until the BP oil disaster commission issues its final report and recommendations. We cannot risk the further expansion of deepwater oil and gas drilling until we understand what went wrong and how to fix it.
Both the TMI near-nuclear meltdown and the Challenger accident were shocking, unprecedented events. The postincident independent investigations produced sober assessments of what went wrong, and recommendations to avoid future occurrences. The breadth and size of the BP oil disaster will dwarf either of these unfortunate events. President Obama must design the commission so that its investigation into this catastrophe is independent, comprehensive, and transparent. This is an essential element to prevent another oil blowout like the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
Guest blogger Daniel J. Weiss is a Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy at the Center for American Progress. This was reposted the Center for American Progress website.
It’s been a big two days for LightLab Imaging. Good Morning America featured the Westford, MA, firm’s coronary imaging technology on national television today. And St. Jude Medical, the cardiac devices powerhouse, revealed late yesterday that it has bought the small firm for about $90 million in cash.
St. Paul, MN-based St. Jude (NYSE:STJ) is buying LightLab from Goodman Co., the Japanese medical devices firm that has owned LightLab since 2002. With much of its core technology from MIT, LightLab has developed a so-called optical coherence tomography (OCT) catheter—which uses infrared light to capture detailed images of tissues—to diagnose cardiovascular disease.
The FDA gave the LightLab permission to begin selling the system in the U.S. this month, and St. Jude expects its new acquisition to add $20 million to its revenue stream in second half of this year. Before garnering FDA clearance, LightLab had received permission to sell the system in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and other parts of the world.
In December, Massachusetts officials highlighted LightLab as a source of jobs growth in the state, granting $188,951 in tax incentives to the firm as part of Gov. Deval Patrick’s $1 billion initiative to grow the life sciences sector in the commonwealth. The good news for the state is that St. Jude plans to continue LightLab’s operation in Westford and has no “big layoff plans,” said Amy Nesbit, a spokeswoman for LightLab.
LightLab CEO David Kolstad, in an interview Tuesday unrelated to the buyout, said that the company has committed to adding 29 new workers under the terms of its tax incentives from the state. The company currently employs about 70 people, he said. Nesbit said today that the company plans to apply for another round of state tax incentives this year to support its hiring plans. Kolstad is expected to transition from his chief executive role to a vice president position at St. Jude, she said.
LightLab launched in 1998 to apply some of the OCT discoveries from the labs of MIT professor James Fujimoto and those of his colleagues, including Eric Swanson, to coronary imaging. Fujimoto and Swanson are now technical advisors for the firm, Kolstad says.
St. Jude says it expects to wrap up its buyout of LightLab by the end of June.
Después de una pausa de 16 años, Opel parece que se ha decidido a darle vida nuevamente al Opel Calibra, aunque con una pequeña sorpresa guardada bajo la manga: la de ser una especie de continuador del Opel Insignia, pero con un estilo de coupé bien definido como se pueden ver en las imágenes que la revista Car publicó el día de hoy y como podéis contrastar si accedemos a las diferentes oportunidades en que hemos tenido ocasión de probar varias variantes del Insignia.
Lo más que se sabe del nuevo Calibra es que será estrictamente una versión coupé para el 2013, sobre la base del Insignia. Para ello, se han realizado unos renders que nos muestran un coupé de tamaño importante y aparentemente realizado sobre el concepto original del Opel Insignia, que se sacó a la luz en 2003. Lo único que cambiaría un poco, sería el remate del frente y hacerlo no tan frontal como se ve en la imagen del lateral. No sé si os ocurra lo mismo, pero hace acordar al tamaño de cierta coupé de Peugeot (406).
When I visited England a few years ago, it was a strange juxtaposition of contemporary American culture with a classic British twist. As a car guy though, I naturally paid the most attention to all the interesting and foreign (literally) vehicles around me. While the black cabs nearly clipped me and I saw a runaway Renault crash into a streetlamp, the legendary vehicles that captivated me the most were the red, double decker buses.
Of course, these old, mobile landmarks are pretty much the picture of a bygone gas guzzling era. In an effort to improve the green cred of London, Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled the official new hybrid double decker bus, which will hit the streets sometime in 2012.
The actor Kevin Costner provided to the BP oil centrifuges with technology developed by him and a group of scientists to separate the oil from the water to try to clean the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, informed the press John Houghtaling, Costner’s partner.
