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More stuff about Dell they are rolling high and mighty and finally seem to take the mobile smartphone and tablet market really seriously. Do you remember the Dell Streak 5 That is a fine ass Dell 5 touch display tablet hitting shelves this November but it is not the only tablet they are working on. Theres a new kid on the block and Dell calls it the Looking Glass pretty handicap name if you ask me.The Looking Glass will have a bigger display than the Streak 5 but oddly enough the

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The Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG) at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) is accepting papers for a thesis prize for a graduating Harvard College senior.

The John T. Dunlop Thesis Prize in Business and Government will be awarded to the graduating senior who writes the best thesis on a challenging public policy issue at the interface of business and government.

“Recent events have illuminated the crucial nature of the business-government relationship. From macroeconomic policy to health care, from the regulation of financial instruments to energy policy, from technological innovation to protecting private pensions, business and government influence one another around the world,” said Roger Porter, the IBM Professor of Business and Government at HKS. “The John T. Dunlop Thesis Prize, named in honor of a giant in this field, allows us to encourage and recognize a new generation of young thinkers as they explore ways of understanding and improving this vital relationship.”

The prize will be awarded to the paper that best examines the business-government interface with respect to regulation, corporate responsibility, energy, the environment, health care, education, technology, and human rights, among others. A $500 award will be provided to the author of the winning entry.

The prize is named after John T. Dunlop, the Lamont University Professor Emeritus, a widely respected labor economist who served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1969 to 1973. An adviser to many U.S. presidents, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dunlop was secretary of labor under Gerald Ford, serving from March 1975 to January 1976.

In addition to serving as secretary of labor, Dunlop held many other government posts including director of the Cost of Living Council from 1973 to 1974, chairman of the Construction Industry Stabilization Committee from 1993 to 1995, chair of the Massachusetts Joint Labor-Management Committee for Municipal Police and Firefighters from 1977 to 2003, and chair of the Commission on Migratory Farm Labor from 1984 to 2003.

Dunlop served as the second director of the Center for Business and Government from 1987 to 1991. The center, renamed in 2005 as the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, focuses on policy issues at the intersection of business and government.

The deadline for this year’s Dunlop Prize is May 7. For more information, visit the M-RCGB Web site.

Right now, talk of a European debt crisis is centering on the potential of Greek default.  Investors are also worried about whether IMF-EU assistance will be enough to save the struggling nation, and whether the crisis will spread to the rest of the PIIGS.

But debt isn’t just a problem for European governments.  The private sector is suffering through a large amount of off-balance sheet debts due to pension problems, and it’s causing growth and market-value problems for some of Europe’s biggest industries.

(Need we mention that we have the same problem here?).

Here are the highlights of an excellent presentation on the European debt problem from Goldman Sachs.

Pension solvency is a serious issue for even the best companies in Europe

Source: Goldman Sachs

Returns have gone up, and pension contributions have declined as a result.

Source: Goldman Sachs

But firms still have a tremendous amount of liabilities (pension and other).

Source: Goldman Sachs

In bad times for the market, pensions have far higher expenses, because companies have to cover the gap created by the falling assets.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Greece is unsurprisingly in a bad place. But so are Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and others

Source: Goldman Sachs

Auto companies are in difficult shape, but real estate remains strong.

Source: Goldman Sachs

The larger a company’s pension obligations are, the lower its PE is

Source: Goldman Sachs

Low solvency is seen as the worst pension attribute, with equity allocation not far behind.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Companies with large pension obligations get hit more in a bear market because asset prices typically decline.

Source: Goldman Sachs

Pensions are still choosing to stay away from equities…which means they’ve missed a lot of the recent rally

Source: Goldman Sachs

Having more equities does not make your pension fund under perform.

Source: Goldman Sachs

But private companies in Europe are still doing better than governments. Check out the awful state of European public debt.

See the European debt crisis with your own eyes >

Join the conversation about this story »

In less than 10 months since its launch, the Pre has generated a number of books (we’ve previously reviewed Palm webOS by Paul Allen and Edward C. Baig’s Palm Pre: The Missing Manual), and as with so many other things, it has also yielded a Wiley Publishing Dummies title: Palm Pre for Dummies, by Engadget’s Mobile Editor Chris Ziegler. Although the rapid pace of webOS development may have eclipsed some of the content (it came out in late 2009), it still serves as a useful introduction to the Pre and webOS. 

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This Chinese page purportedly features a couple of leaked screenshots of IE9’s new GUI. I don’t know if it’s the real thing, but if it is, Microsoft are doing something very bold here. The general design is reminiscent of the new Windows Phone 7, with a clean, angular look and graphics that are “cut” on the edge of the window (like that back button in the top-left corner). Even if it’s just a mock-up, it’s still quite impressive, and an interesting break from what we’ve come to know from Firefox, Chrome and Opera, not to mention previous versions of IE.

I’ll let Google Translate do the talking here: “New version of IE 9 preview version of the title bar of the platform, integrating the address bar, tool bar, search box, the status bar. Click the page title to display the address bar (and the search box, favorites management, access history viewer), the website finish loading cases, the address bar to display only part of the title page.” (Any native Chinese speakers here are welcome to submit a better translation via the comments.)

What do you think, people? April Fool’s or the real deal?

More information (Chinese page) [livesino.net]

The world is an interesting place when viewed through the mouth of a giant polar bear. But even the restricted sound and vision of an increasingly warm and furry suit couldn’t mask the buzz of political excitement that surrounded the Arnolfini in Bristol on Thursday evening. And while a sensible bear may have remained still, I felt it was far more important to growl loudly about climate change, and Ask the Climate Question.

Along with my fellow Oxfam activists from Bristol, we gathered outside the Sky News Leader’s Debate venue, in an attempt to make our voices heard amid the mêlée of activists and police officers; all of us marking the historic election event with a determined presence and a mission to get our own issue on the agenda.

As I clutched my ‘Save Humans Too’ placard and attempted to keep at least two paws on the ground I hoped that even if I was struggling to make out the figures that bustled past me, everyone could clearly see me and my Ask The Climate Question sign. After all, although a polar bear always enjoys an outing by the river, our presence was not only to remind the leaders that climate change needs to be put firmly on the election agenda, but also to urge the public to ask that question. Research shows that one in five voters in marginal seats now place climate change in their top three or four priorities. Therefore I remain hopeful that all those who left the harbourside yesterday with a small pink Ask the Climate Question sticker on their t shirts will attend their local hustings and convince their prospective MPs that climate change is an issue that must be addressed. Many hustings allow you to submit a question, or vote for questions to be asked, giving local residents the ideal opportunity to get thier voice heard. Why not submit a climate question to the Bristol West candidates for the Bristol Students Union Debate?

Ask the Climate Question is a coalition of the UK’s leading environment and development groups who recognise that climate change can and needs to be tackled. Any new government has a crucial role to play – developing clean energy, a low carbon economy fit for the future, and committing funding for climate adaptation and mitigation in poorer countries. Roger James, Oxfam South West regional campaigner, was quoted in Bristol’s Evening Post saying “We are here because we think climate is a major international issue that will affect everyone across the world. We are calling for the world leaders – and whoever gets elected here – to negotiate a new global climate deal.”

Despite our presence, when the leaders answered a climate related question during the leader’s debate, they all failed to make any major commitments to a future global deal. Perhaps then, Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg may not have spotted a large white polar bear asking the climate question as they entered the Arnolfini yesterday. But there is no way the leaders can ignore the human and economic costs of climate change in the immediate future. Now is the time for them to show their potential in leading the UK towards a safer, low carbon future.

Watch the video now!

Google Reader has added preliminary support for HTML5 media features, specifically, the <video> and <audio> tags. In theory, it means that you’ll be able to watch HTML5 clips embedded in feeds inside the reader, just like you can with directly linked media files like MP3s. Of course, playing any video or audio file depe… (read more)

Si recurrimos a la lógica, finalmente era inevitable que BMW quisiera también internarse en el ajetreado terreno de los coupes de cuatro puertas de lujo, en respuesta a los Porsche Panamera y Aston Martin Rapide. BMW ya presentó en el salón de Pekín su propio prototipo de esta clase de vehículos y hay que decir que no desentona en absoluto con la tradición de BMW y es lo esperable de la marca en estos casos.

Si os acordáis del BMW Concept CS, que fue cancelado finalmente, veréis que toma muchas ideas de aquel, con la diferencia de que el Gran Coupe tiene maletero, por lo cual no sería estrictamente un coupe al menos en el estricto sentido. En cuanto al resto de las líneas de este concepto, es un diseño muy estilizado y muy bajo, ya que la altura del techo es aún más baja que la de los Serie 7 (unos 10 centímetros).

Probablemente BMW nos está mostrando lo que será la futura Serie 8, o lisa y llanamente un Serie 7 de más lujo. Teniendo en cuenta los antecedentes de la marca, este modelo quizás sí tenga probabilidades altas de ir a producción ya que casi siempre, BMW lleva a sus conceptos a producción. Además, no parece que estemos viendo un prototipo, sino un modelo listo para vender.

Vía | Left Lane News

Heard of Blippy? It’s a “fun and easy way to see and discuss what everyone is buying.” It’s also a service that’s putting scads of credit card numbers online. Whoops! Also: very bad. UPDATED: More »

About a month ago, a bunch of BMW trademark filings hit the web and something called “Gran Coupe” was one of them – well, here it is. Think of this as a closer to production version of the 2007 Concept CS ready to take on the Mercedes-Benz CLS and A7.

BMW calls this a BMW Concept Gran Coupe, ”a 4-door vehicle which combines the exclusivity of a Gran Turismo with the fascination of a high-performance sports car.”

“The body design of the BMW Concept Gran Coupe expresses sporty flair in its ultimate form,” BMW said. “The 4-door vehicle clearly signals the very highest level of dynamic performance with its extremely elegant, flat and coupe-like proportions. Stretching the entire length of the vehicle and therefore measuring almost 5 metres, flowing lines dominate the design, giving rise to outstanding aerodynamic levels, just as the low centre of gravity reflects an agile driving response.”

No word on what powers the Concept Gran Coupe, but we expect EfficientDynamics to play huge role if it ever makes it into production.

Check out the press release and high-res image gallery after the jump.

BMW Concept Gran Coupe:

Press Release:

Elegance and dynamic performance at the first BMW Design Night in Beijing

Munich. With an exclusive Design Night on the evening of the first press day at Auto China in Beijing (April 23rd to May 2nd 2010), BMW provides an in-depth insight into its design philosophy and development strategy. The program of the BMW Design Night is modular in structure and presents extensive background information on the premium automobile manufacturer’s innovative design culture. In addition to highlighting the long versions of the BMW 5 Series developed specially for the Chinese market, the main focus is on an elegant 4-door vehicle with striking dynamic proportions: the BMW Concept Gran Coupé.

The concept study on display symbolises the outstanding design expertise of BMW. The BMW Concept Gran Coupé concentrates the fundamental values of the brand. Its body design authentically captures a sense of superior dynamic performance and high-quality elegance. The shaping style, which follows a coherent pattern down to the last detail, convincingly visualises BMW’s philosophy as an automobile manufacturer. As with the Concept CS 2007, BMW once again sets new benchmarks in the design of 4-door coupes with a distinctive sporty character.

Based on a powerful tradition in this segment, the BMW Concept Gran Coupé carries the essence of brand values and the genes of BMW design into the future. The concept shows the classic features of all BMW coupes: the long wheelbase, the vaulted bonnet with forward-pointing lines, the set-back greenhouse, the flat silhouette, the coupe-style roof line and the short front overhang reflect the dynamic potential of the vehicle. The surface structures and the fact that the design quality is geared towards perfection illustrate the aspiration of the brand BMW to build 4-door high-performance coupes with the sportiest proportions and the most elegant design.

In the BMW Concept Gran Coupé, BMW presents the vision of a 4-door vehicle which combines the exclusivity of a Gran Turismo with the fascination of a high-performance sports car. The design of the concept study underscores the expertise of the brand BMW in the development of vehicles with a distinctive sporty character which offer space for more than two occupants. This reflects the particular quality of the BMW Group design philosophy, which consists in precisely and authentically translating the specific values of product substance into an aesthetically convincing shaping style. The design process is set through with a passion for aesthetic appeal and dynamic performance, precision and perfection. This is how the uncompromising premium aspiration of a BMW Group product, the unmistakable style of the brand BMW and the precisely defined character of each model are given concrete form.

The front section is defined by the BMW kidney grille characteristic of the brand – an icon of body design which is not just central but also a dominating element of front design. The kidney grille of the BMW Concept Gran Coupé has a flat appearance, with an asymmetrical side view which emphasises the close attention to detail. The central section with the kidney grille is formally separated from other BMW icons such as the headlights and air inlets. The clarity of the LED front lights highlights the vehicle’s precision and premium aspirations. The air inlet runs back an extremely long way into the side section, making the front section appear particularly wide. All elements of the front section appear to merge to form a single, elegantly curved movement.

The sporty, flat silhouette provides an impressive body height of just under 1.40 metres. This makes the BMW Concept Gran Coupé up to 100 millimetres flatter than the BMW 5 Series or the BMW 7 Series Sedan. The roof line tapers off gently into the rear, thereby elongating the vehicle’s proportions. The forward-tilted shark nose visually extends the bonnet and creates characteristic BMW proportions with its forward-pointing dynamism. This stretched character is also highlighted by the side lines, where there is a deliberate avoidance of the typical sill line. The flat proportions make the window graphics appear extremely narrow and dynamic at the same time. Another BMW design icon, the Hofmeister kink, is especially strikingly formed – additionally emphasising the exclusive character of the vehicle. The frameless doors give the BMW Concept Gran Coupé a modern character since the glass surfaces appear to merge seamlessly without being interrupted by columns.

At the rear, only design elements such as the lights and tailpipe trim appear to be visible at first sight. The entire rear section appears slimmer and lighter at the centre, though still exuding power and dynamic performance since the volume is reinforced towards the sides. The L-shaped light banks feature a slight, almost subtle curve and the entire design of the lines and surfaces highlights the vehicle’s elegant overall appearance. The third brake light, positioned in the rear window, is also fitted with LED technology. It takes up the kink in the roof and illuminates the entire width of the rear window. The powerfully flared wheel arches above the rear axle highlight the particularly sporty character of the BMW Concept Gran Coupé.

Another highly sporty and also elegant feature is the rim concept in which the individual spokes extend deep into the centre of the rim towards the hub, giving the rim a striking three-dimensional quality. The spokes themselves are not solid but relief-milled, giving them a visual lightness.

The sculptural shaping style characteristic of the entire body design of the BMW Concept Gran Coupé permits a unique interaction between concave and convex surfaces. It also enables the light to be selectively reflected and channelled. Thus the exterior mirrors integrated in the window shaft appear very light, blending harmoniously into the side view since their shape assimilates the entire line styling. The BMW Concept Gran Coupé is a further development of the classic design of a notchback sedan in which the individual body sections merge harmoniously into a flat, elongated and at the same time dynamic overall image. The effect of this 4-door vehicle derives not just from specific highlights but from its overall appearance, which authentically reflects its character. The car’s dynamic potential is embodied in its proportions and lines, signalling power but also elegance and forward thrust.

– By: Omar Rana

As the entire nation seems to be discussing who will be the next Supreme Court Justice, the Supreme Court itself is simply continuing on with its day-to-day business, hearing oral arguments and issuing decisions. On Monday, the Court re-convened for its April sitting. The two most exciting events of the week were the oral arguments in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez and the issuance of an opinion in United States v. Stevens.

Christian Legal Society v. Martinez questions whether a public university has the right to deny formal recognition (and therefore funding and access to space) to a student-run organization that discriminates on the basis of religious beliefs and sexual orientation. (The Union for Reform Judaism signed onto an amicus brief in support of the school in this case.)

During arguments on Monday, the Court appeared predictably divided–with the liberal Justices generally in favor of nondiscrimination and the conservative Justices concerned that the nondiscrimination policy essentially amounts to discrimination against religious groups.

The predominant sentiment throughout oral arguments, however, was confusion. Justice Kennedy expressed exasperation at the outset about not knowing all of the facts of the case and Justice Breyer echoed his concerns. Because the Justices seemed uncertain about the exact question that they were attempting to answer, it’s possible that the case will be dismissed on procedural grounds. If not, we can expect a decision sometime this summer.

On Tuesday, the decision in United States v. Stevens declared unconstitutional a 1999 law banning portrayals of animal cruelty. The law applied to any visual or auditory depictions of living animals being “intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed,” if that conduct violated the law where “the creation, sale, or possession takes place.” In theory, this law was crafted to curtail the internet sale of so-called “crush videos,” which display small animals being crushed, often by women’s high heels. In practice, the law extended much further. For example, because hunting is illegal in the District of Columbia, no one in the District was permitted to possess or sell videos that depicted hunting–even if the hunting was conducted legally.

The Court ruled that because this law was too broad, it violated the First Amendment right to free speech. Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the 8-member majority, noted that while some categories of speech have been excluded from this constitutional protection, “including obscenity, defamation, fraud, incitement, and speech integral to criminal conduct,” depictions of animal cruelty should not be excluded wholesale.

The opinion specifically notes that a different law, written more narrowly, banning crush videos and other depictions of extreme forms of animal cruelty, might pass constitutional muster.

Copper demand continues to surge, driven by not only China but the U.S. and Japan as well. Citi’s Alan Heap believes market sentiment is strengthening further despite rather high levels of copper stocks. What stocks does copper matter for? Freeport McMoran (FCX) is one.

Citi:

‘On the LME, copper open interest is sharply higher, while prices are strong, suggesting new longs are being established.’

He shows how U.S. copper shipments are rebounding. In March they were up 9.5% year over year.

There’s been a huge shipment spike for copper products from Japan as shown below.

Yet the worrying side to the equation is copper stocks. Copper inventories are looking extremely high right now. Thus perhaps the metal could lose steam even if global growth continues as consensus expects, since the rise below (shown in grey, blue, and black) will at some point need to be worked down.

Still, Citi remains rather bullish on copper’s outlook for the next year, with a rising forecast for Copper through June 2011 to the $3.70/pound level. Copper is trading at $3.48 right now according to Kitco. Citi’s forecast thus seems to imply that we could be in for some dips, but we’ll move higher.

Note: The author does not own shares of FCX, but investors he speaks to may.

Join the conversation about this story »

The Nasdaq Composite Index is almost twice as high as it was a year ago. Apple shares have also doubled in value in the past year, and its market cap is edging towards $250 billion, making it the third most-valuable company in the world. Meanwhile, Facebook is being valued at anywhere from $20 billion to $50 billion, game maker Zynga is reportedly worth $5 billion, Groupon just closed a financing that values it at $1 billion, and corporate buyers are said to be circling startups like Foursquare with offers of $100 million takeouts. Are things getting a little too bubbly in the tech sector?

Seth Goldstein thinks they might be — the angel investor and founder of SocialMedia.com and Stickybits says that his “spider sense is tingling” and that he feels “something big is about to pop, something on the AOL-buys-Time-Warner richter scale.” He writes:

I remember that Monday morning, January 10, 2000. The day that AOL announced it was buying Time Warner…I was working at Flatiron Partners, and Fred, Jerry, Bob and I had a standing Monday morning breakfast at the Mayrose Diner. We all looked at each other that Monday morning with our mouths agape, shaking our heads in amazement that this was really happening. In retrospect, that deal was a watershed for the Internet. It announced that new media was going to be bigger than old media. It also marked the final inflation of a bubble that popped painfully only a few months down the road.

So are we brewing another bubble of AOL-Time-Warner-like proportions? It’s probably a little early to be ringing the alarm bells, as even Goldstein admits. Facebook and Zynga and Foursquare haven’t even gone public yet, so whatever excessive valuations are occurring (if they are) are happening out of the public markets and in the rarefied air of private venture capital. It’s true that the impetus of those valuations frequently spills over into the public markets and can wind up taking retail investors along for a nasty ride, as it did in the late 1990s, but we are not even close to being there yet. And while the Nasdaq may be up 100 percent from last year, that was a recessionary low — the index is still barely half what it was before the blowout of 2000.

That said, it is worth being reminded of how these bubbles are inflated: a breath of venture capital air here, another over there, and soon the process has taken on a life of its own. Goldstein’s former Flatiron Partners colleague and prominent tech VC, Fred Wilson, says in a comment on the post: “I remember that morning at the Mayrose, Seth. It is gone now, as you know, but Internet mania is not.” We should keep that in mind as we count our virtual Facebook, Zynga and Foursquare winnings.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d): Did We Really Learn Anything From the Dot-Com Crash?

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user zachstern

I’ve got to admit that I find this funny, sad, and admirable at the same time. Fusion Garage sent this email to their only 64 JooJoo buyers—out of 90 pre-orders—exposing all their addresses: More »

Despite numerous reports earlier this week claiming that Google planed to bring its free turn-by-turn navigation to the iPhone, it turns out that the search giant currently does not have any plans of the sort.

Word regarding the alleged move first broke when a Mac User report claimed that a UK-based Google executive had revealed details about introducing the navigation tool to the iPhone, in addition to other mobile devices. The comments were apparently ushered during a London press conference in which Google launched its popular Maps Navigation tool for UK Android devices.

However, in order to kill the rumor before it became any more widespread, Google has now confirmed to PCWorld that this is not the case. PCWorld’s report includes comments from a Google spokesperson who said the following:

“We did not say we would bring it to iPhone, we said to date we’ve had it on Android and that in the future it may come to other platforms but did not confirm this will be coming to iPhone at all.”

For those that don’t know, Google’s Maps Navigation is a free GPS 3D mapping service which offers turn-by-turn navigation, automatic rerouting and voice guidance for Android users. Sadly, no doubt at the joy of GPS makers such as Tom Tom and Garmin, Google’s service will not be on the iPhone any time soon.

If Google decides to offer its free navigation tool to iPhone users is currently unknown.

Still lethal, if today’s coordinated bombings in Baghdad are any indication. But in the wake of last week’s surprise killings of AQI leaders Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, I asked Maj. Gen. Stephen Lanza, spokesman for the U.S. military command in Iraq, for a sense of what the extremist network in Iraq looks like after losing its leadership for the first time since 2006.

In the face of pressure from Iraqi and U.S. forces, AQI has “fractured,” Lanza said, into three component groups: opportunists looking for cash in the absence of better choices; nationalists who want to drive the U.S. out and overthrow the Iraqi government; and ideologues like the leadership who buy into al-Qaeda’s larger conspiratorial worldview. It’s now almost entirely an Iraqi phenomenon, as opposed to the pre-surge AQI that was augmented by foreign fighters traveling to Iraq to attack U.S. and Iraqi forces and civilians and receiving cash from al-Qaeda’s leadership in the Pakistani tribal areas. “We see not as many, and very few, foreign fighters compared to what we have seen a few years ago,” Lanza said on a blogger conference call. By contrast, in 2008, an aide to Gen. David Petraeus, then the commander in Iraq, described the typical adherent, or “Mr. AQI,” as a foreign fighter who came to Iraq after being radicalized through images of U.S. forces torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay.

The Iraqis that do join AQI rely on extortion to finance their attacks. “It’s through extortion, it’s through kidnapping, it’s through extortion of oil at the Baiji Oil Refinery and other facilities to get their money,” Lanza said. That’s a far cry from the days when Abu Musab al-Zarqawi wrote to Ayman al-Zawahiri for cash. It appears, Lanza said, that al-Qaeda Senior Leadership is moving resources to other franchises. (As we’ve seen with the rise of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.) That trend may accelerate now that al-Masri is dead. “They’re still looking for a way to expand they’re network, but he was their link outside of Iraq,” Lanza said.

AQI is still a capable force and has had recent high-profile successes in pulling off suicide car bombs in crowded areas. But its strategic objectives — plunging the country back into sectarian war — aren’t being achieved, and Iraq is down to levels of civilian violence comparable to January 2004. When I asked how many Iraqis support AQI, both as active fighters and as people who passively tolerate the extremists’ presence, Lanza said he couldn’t disaggregate that figure, but a rough estimate was between 1,500 and 2,000 Iraqis total. And that’s not so different from what the State Department’s intelligence branch pegged it at in 2007.

by Keith Caswell

Well, so much for Earth Day. Since yesterday morning, the blogosphere and Twitter have been in a tizzy over the disposal of hundreds of bikes by the NYPD due to President Barack Obama’s visit to New York City yesterday. The story, accompanied by a photo, was initially sent in to the blog This Is Fyf:

Citing security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs, NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along Houston Street this morning in preparation for President Obama’s speech at Cooper Union.  The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck.  There was no prior notification of the bikes needing to be cleared along the route by NYPD and onlookers were not given information as to what would become of the bikes.

Though apparently absent from major media, the story was picked up by Gothamist and eventually Streetsblog.org. The seizure of the bikes, not only inconvenient for the unfortunate riders and doubly inauspicious for our poor planet on Earth Day of all days, is also poor PR for Bike Month NYC next month.

Related Links:

Hipster habits that annoy the Earth [SLIDESHOW]

Saving Civilization is Not a Spectator Sport

What the green movement needs from the next Supreme Court justice