The World, Filtered*

Interesting Reading: Ideas & Images 

Interesting Reading: 11/19

Paying More for Flights Eases Guilt, Not Emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/science/earth/18offset.html?_r=3

"In 2002 Responsible Travel became one of the first travel companies to offer customers the option of buying so-called carbon offsets to counter the planet-warming emissions generated by their airline flights.

But last month Responsible Travel canceled the program, saying that while it might help travelers feel virtuous, it was not helping to reduce global emissions. In fact, company officials said, it might even encourage some people to travel or consume more.

“The carbon offset has become this magic pill, a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card,” Justin Francis, the managing director of Responsible Travel, one of the world’s largest green travel companies to embrace environmental sustainability, said in an interview. “It’s seductive to the consumer who says, ‘It’s $4 and I’m carbon-neutral, so I can fly all I want.’ ”

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Mapping Job Loss Live! In Gloomy Color!

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ben-paynter/ben-paynter/mapping-job-loss-live-gloomy-color?partner=rss

"You might remember this graphic depicting the spread of economic stress in the U.S. when the AP did it a month ago. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have done snapshot versions, too. But now it's caught on with the kids. (Can it be long before Kanye features his own map in a video?)

While this latest graphic's predecessors were much more elegant, didn't resemble a pack of Fruit Stripe gum, and knew better than to use radical color shifts to represent tiny changes in stats, the AP, the Times, and WSJ employ armies of designers. This one appears to have been done by a grad student at American University. And rough as it might be, it's kind of neat to hit the play button (on the AP's interactive, you have to move the slider yourself) and watch the ripple affect of what happens when the guy in the cubicle or on the assembly line next to you disappears.

Another minor difference: the AP graphic uses stats from October 2007 on. This one uses U.S. Bureau of Labor unemployment statistics from January 2007 (just before the collapse) to September 2009 (when there seemed no end in sight). It shows how job loss rolled inland from the coasts."

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"Father of video games" documentary
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/11/father_of_video_games_documentary.html

"Motherboard has this wonderful look inside the world (and workshop) of Ralph Baer, creator of Pong, Simon, and other electronic/video game classics."

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17 Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat
http://www.bspcn.com/2009/11/18/17-things-worth-knowing-about-your-cat/

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Three on Time Management


No Time to Read This? Read This
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704538404574541590534797908.html

"Are things you need to get done falling between the cracks? Does taking an entire day off seem impossible?

Maybe you need a time-management system.

Many readers seem to think they do, based on the email response to my recent column on the importance of taking time off. Dozens asked me to recommend a time-management method that would help them get on top of their work and home duties. In response, I asked a half-dozen executive coaches to help me pick the most widely used time-management systems—not just software tools or high-tech to-do lists, but behavioral-change techniques that help people get organized, clarify thinking and increase output. Then, I tried out for a week each of the three methods they mentioned most often—including one that involved a ticking plastic tomato."

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PomoDoro Technique
http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

"  The Pomodoro Technique™ is a way to get the most out of time management. Turn time into a valuable ally to accomplish what we want to do and chart continuous improvement in the way we do it.

Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro Technique™ in 1992. It is now practiced by professional teams and individuals around the world."

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Getting Things Done with Mind Maps
http://blog.mindjet.com/2009/11/getting-things-done-with-mind-maps#more-1503

"a webinar presentation to David Allen’s GTD Connect community.

It was great fun to both create and deliver. I mapped out everything that I had wanted to accomplish including the entire content of the presentation. Then, I built my PowerPoint presentation using my map as a guide.

For a full replay of the webinar and to view all the content, sign up for a free trial of GTD Connect or, if you’re already a member, view it here.

I’ve posted (via SlideShare) the highlights of the presentation below…

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Interesting Reading: 11/18

U.S. Charges Madoff Programmers
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703683804574533483600301134.html

“Federal prosecutors in Manhattan brought criminal charges Friday against two men for allegedly being the technological brains behind Bernard Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, and suggested charges against others could follow.

The case against two former computer programmers, Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, may help fill in key blanks in the timeline of how Mr. Madoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud earlier this year, masterminded a scheme that has cost thousands of investors more than $20 billion. The complaint hints at other unnamed "co-conspirators" at the Madoff firm who are now being targeted by prosecutors.
Friday's charges shine a light on the kind of information being provided to prosecutors by Frank DiPascali, Mr. Madoff's top lieutenant in the investment business, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges in August. Mr. DiPascali is hoping to get a lighter prison sentence in exchange for his cooperation, his lawyer has said.”

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These Hobbyists Add to Calculators, Multiplying Their Fun
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125832581224549493.html

“Benjamin Moody got hooked on calculators the moment his father bought him one to help with his math homework when he was 15. He squirreled away with it and devoured the 19-chapter owners' manual.

Before long, he had written onto his Texas Instruments Inc. graphing calculator a program for his version of a Whac-A-Mole game. A few months later, he created one that mapped out star positions on its 1½-inch-by-2½-inch screen. He once made his calculator into a sort of e-book reader, although he could only read a couple lines at a time.
"Pushing the limits of what the hardware can do, that's where a lot of the fun is," said Mr. Moody, 23, a computer programmer who lives in Newton, Mass.
Calculator hackers are a small band of enthusiasts who revel in making their clunky devices perform sometimes oddball tasks. One has made his work like an Etch A Sketch. Another has programmed his calculator to play a version of the popular videogame Tetris. And another has turned it into a synthesizer.”

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10 Persistent Messaging Problems that Google Wave Solves
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/10-Persistent-Messaging-Problems-that-Google-Wave-Solves-243466/?kc=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RSS%2Feweek_messaging+%28eWEEK+Messaging+and+Collaboration%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

“Google Wave suffered something of a letdown when the company began rolling it our more broadly to the public. Pundits largely panned the real-time collaboration platform for squelching productivity. However, eWEEK believes these folks didn't spent enough time getting comfortable with the platform. Below are 10 work-related problems Wave solves, most of which come courtesy of Daniel Tenner, CTO and co-founder of Woobius, which makes a Web-based document sharing tool, bookended by some solutions from eWEEK. This is timed for the impending launch of Wave to more people, which Google CEO Eric Schmidt said is coming soon.”

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Barcode Revolution: Unique Japanese Barcode Designs

http://infosthetics.com/archives/2009/11/visually_designing_barcodes.html

“The firms Bar Code Revolution [barcoderevolution.com] and D-Barcode [d-barcode.com] use a unique process that allows for an original design element to be integrated into a traditional barcode. While retaining the functionality of the barcodes themselves, their visual appearence are augmented with beautiful iconography or outlined in larger graphic patterns.”

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Top Internet Trends of 2000-2009: Democratization of News Media

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/democratization_of_news_media.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

“It's November 2009 and we're nearing the end of a decade. It's been a tumultuous time of change for many industries, much of it driven by the Internet. The newspaper industry has been particularly affected by the Web. Over the past 10 years, news media has undergone a seachange akin to the invention of the printing press in 1440.

Just as Johannes Gutenberg's printing press brought books to the mainstream public in the 15th century, Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web brought commercial publishing to the people.

The Web has always been a medium where people could just as easily write as read (yes, the read/write Web), however it didn't reach its potential until blogging came along earlier this decade.”

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Casio unveils EX-G1 rugged compact camera
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0911/09111801casioexg1.asp

“Casio has unveiled the world's slimmest 'rugged' compact in the shape of Exliim EX-G1 - its thinnest side measures just 20mm (0.78"). The first in the company's new 'Exilim G' series of weatherproof cameras, named in reference to the company's well-known G-Shock series of watches. The G1 is designed to be dustproof, waterproof up to 3 meters for an hour, coldproof up to 14 °F and shock-resistant for drops of up to 2.13 meters. It incorporates a 38-114mm equivalent lens, 2.5" LCD, 12.1MP sensor and includes features such as Intelligent AF, Best Shot shooting mode and Interval shooting. Priced at $299, the camera will start shipping from December 2009.”

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Times Square Back in the Day

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Filed under  //   Photograph  

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Interesting Reading: 11/11


TED and Others to Unveil Charter for Compassion

http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/ted-and-others-to-unveil-charter-for-compassion.html

 “On November 12, 2009, TED and others will be unveiling the Charter for Compassion, a document about the core shared values and moral code of every world religion, the “Golden Rule.” The Charter is the result of 2008 TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong’s “wish” (if you haven’t read Armstrong’s latest book, The Case for God, I highly recommend it – even, or especially, if you consider yourself an atheist and usually side with Richard Dawkins et al).

More than 75 events are currently planned around the globe to launch the Charter for Compassion on November 12. Everyone can become a part of it by attending one of these events or hosting their own; by emailing, blogging, writing, broadcasting, or offering media space for Charter banners, widgets, and videos. TED says it hopes that in the week following the launch, “thousands of sermons on the nature of compassion will be preached all over the world ... thousands of discussions will be held around dinner tables ... thousands of ideas will be shared.” Because, at the end of the day, “compassion is the best idea humanity ever had.”
 
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Wine Search Engine Uses Animation to Portray Aromas

http://springwise.com/food_beverage/aromicon/

 “Billed as a 'virtual taste search engine', Aromicon lists thousands of wines categorised by every imaginable detail. Wines can be browsed by region, grape variety or food pairing, as well as searched by keyword. There's also the option to browse according to taste, featuring a huge range of subtleties to satisfy the requirements of the most practiced palette—everything from 'kiwi' and 'butter', to peculiarities like 'animal' and 'blood' (luckily you can opt to exclude those).

Although the site is in German, it's almost navigable by its icons alone—hence the name. And in a visually innovative twist, a short animation graphically displays a wine's unique blend of flavours, showing berries, chocolate, pipes, etc swirling around in a glass. The concept is a spin-off from the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, and features a vintage revenue model: the site essentially functions as a fully-featured affiliate sales portal linking to several German wine merchants. One to serve up for wine-lovers who don't speak German, or to partner with if you're in the wine business?”
 
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Esquire's Augmented Reality Issue: Going Beyond Digital Print

http://threeminds.organic.com/2009/11/esquires_augmented_reality_iss.html

 “This month, Esquire Magazine launched their anticipated Augmented Reality issue. The issue features an AR cover, where Robert Downey Jr. performs an intro and also a pitch for his upcoming Sherlock Holmes movie. In addition, there is other content, such as a fashion supplement where the weather changes based on the way the user tilts the magazine and the time of day they access the site.

An augmented reality cover isn't necessarily new. GE and Popular Science paired up back in February for the first ever interactive 3-D cover (Threeminds' "Augmented Reality is a Marketing Reality). But the level to which they have integrated it and in a fun, playful way is something for other traditional magazines to pay attention to, especially in a time where they are desperate for print readership.”
 
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What’s the Value of Visual Thinking?
http://blog.mindjet.com/2009/11/whats-the-value-of-visual-thinking

 “Here’s a great presentation from the recent BlogWorld 2009 conference in Las Vegas.
It’s a fast but worthwhile journey, exploring how to Get Visual in 4 M’s and six steps to Getting Visual…
Dave starts your journey with The 4 M’s to Get Visual…”
 
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Singularity University seasons executives for the future
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10394876-52.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

 “Earlier this year, Singularity University (SU) ran its inaugural summer session, a nine-week program based at NASA's Ames Research Center here in the heart of Silicon Valley, aimed at giving the best 40 of more than 1,200 applicants a highly concentrated education in a series of exponentially growing technologies like biotechnology and bioinformatics; nanotechnology; AI, robotics, and cognitive computing.

For those students, who were chosen based on having demonstrated top-level academic rigor, entrepreneurial and leadership skills, an interest in global issues and who were seen as already being at the top of their chosen fields, the nine weeks were a marathon of long days and nights of lectures from world-leading thinkers, workshops in the technologies that could shape the future and group projects centered on coming up with ways to positively impact a billion people. Already, four start-ups have emerged from the summer session.

But now the first of SU's nine-day executive program is in full swing, and according to co-founder, X Prize Chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis, the goal now is to distill the best parts of the nine-week SU version and present them to the new students in a way that will be of the most use to them.”
 
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Google Offers A 16 Terabyte Cloud Drive For $4,096 A Year
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/11/google-offers-a-16-terabyte-cloud-drive-for-4096-a-year/

 “Well, it’s not the mythical Google Drive, but it’s close. For a price. And assuming you only want to store pictures and emails.
Google tonight announced that it was drastically slashing prices while at the same time offering more storage pricing options for users of its services. Specifically, while Gmail users currently get about 7 gigabytes for free and Picasa users get about 1 gigabyte for free, both can now upgrade to 20 GB for just $5 a year. Previously, it cost $20 to get just 10 GB of additional service.

But what’s really pretty incredible is that Google has an option for you to buy up to 16 terabytes, yes, terabytes, of storage from them. As Google notes, that enough to store 8 million very high resolution photos. Considering that most consumers probably still have south of 500 gigabytes of storage in their home, that’s pretty massive.”
 
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Leading Innovation: 21 Things that Great Bosses Believe and Do
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/11/leading-innovation-21-things-that-great-bosses-believe-and-do.html

 “Huggy Rao and I kicked off yesterday morning by doing case discussions and a bit of lecture on the hallmarks of innovative organizations. As part of that session, I put together the list below for the executives. I've also included links for anyone who wants to dig into the subject a bit further. I will add a few more ideas and links during the course of the week.  I would love to hear some additional ways that great bosses spark innovation and comments -- and extensions -- on the ideas below.”
 
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IdeaAid: the worldwide brainstorm
http://povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/ideaaid-worldwide-brainstorm.html

 “Set to launch on Nov. 14, the first Idea Aid™ challenge seeks to find novel ways to raise $1 billion annually to help eradicate global hunger and poverty. Ideas will come from people all over the world who will brainstorm online and share their best thinking with Heifer International, a global nonprofit dedicated to ending world hunger and poverty.

“We believe the time is right for Idea Aid,” said Mensa Process Managing Director David Wynett. “It’s a revolutionary way to identify potential solutions to problems, and it’s especially relevant in today’s economic climate, when people may not be able to donate money, but still want to give back.”

Idea Aid is sponsored by Mensa Process, a brain trust that helps its corporate clients solve complex problems and identify new growth opportunities. Mensa Process works with some of the world’s brightest minds — members of Mensa, an international organization of 100,000+ people, open to the top 2 percent in intelligence.”

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Interesting Reading: 11/10

How Bernie Made Basket Cases of His Customers' Accounts

http://www.securitiesindustry.com/issues/19_107/-24168-1.html

“As a project manager, he always felt like an odd duck at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Services (BLMIS), an outfit which seemed to lack standards and procedures routine at former employers of his such as the International Securities Exchange and CheckFree Investment Services (now Fiserv, Inc.). Little was documented and the company seemed to be overwhelmed keeping the older systems from breaking down.
"I immediately recognized there was massive institutional chaos in the way the place was managed. No one found value in participating in project management meetings or in writing things down. There was no documentation," says McMahon, today an operational performance consultant for Standard & Poors. “

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Congo Plan Is A Dirty Cocktail of Climate Destruction Projects


http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/congo-plan-palm-tar-sands.php?dtc=th_rss

“Riddle me this. What do you get when you combine rainforest destruction, tar sands, and palm oil plantations in one project? You guessed it, an environmental nightmare. This perfect storm of climate disruption badness can all be found in oil company Eni's plans to develop tar sands and oil palm in the Congo Basin, one of the most biodiverse places on earth. This would be the first tar sands exploration in Africa and one of the largest palm oil plantations, which produce the oil used in thousands of household products from detergents to Pringles.”

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Socializers: A New Breed of Online Information Hunters

http://threeminds.organic.com/2009/11/socializers_a_new_breed_of_onl.html

 “18% of people start their search for new information online via social sites.

It's one of those statistics that takes a minute to sink in, and then a whole bevy of new questions rolls out. We don't blink twice when people mention that they start their hunt for new information via search engines, or even portal sites. But is social media really starting to become the primary vehicle for content discovery?

The Nielsen study is vague, and had many of us scratching our heads as to what the implications were and whether the stat was over-representative or even under-representative of reality. And... ultimately, WHAT are these people using social media to search for?”

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Personal Data Storage with Emergency Access

http://springwise.com/life_hacks/orggit/

 “Orggit offers a new take on web-based information storage. We've already seen this service in a several guises: from ultra-secure 'memory' storage inside a Swiss mountain, to an online locker for loved ones to open after the user's death. Orggit's unique selling point is the In Case of Emergency (ICE) card that it supplies with every subscription. Using the card, medical personnel can call a dedicated helpline and quote the member's ID code to gain access to all of their medical vitals, which could be a lifesaver. In case of a lost wallet, the good samaritan who finds it can also call the helpline and Orggit will arrange an owner-wallet reunion.”

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The Importance of Forgetting

http://www.psfk.com/2009/11/the-importance-of-forgetting.html

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have suggested a system of value assignment and selective forgetting is one way to cope with information overload.

The aspects of human memory considered for their research include time-based decay (memories disappearing over time), and interference (multiple memories vying for the same information whether they’re correct or incorrect). To test out their theory, they created algorithms for robots to use different methods of gathering and retaining information.

The best performing  software, ActSimple, assigns value to gathered data based on how frequently it’s used and its relation to other data pieces. As a robot roamed through a virtual environment seeking Wi-Fi signals, it assigned values from 1-100 considering strength of signal and different levels of noise. Then it would try to create from memory a map of the signals. Other algorithms used to create these maps either considered all the data gathered (including errors) or disregarded the oldest data points. On average, ActSimple created the most accurate maps.

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Banking on the future of mobile financial transactions
http://www.emergingfutureslab.com/perspective_20/2009/11/banking-on-the-future-of-mobile-financial-transactions-.html

 “Bo Harald of Tieto Corporation shared a vision of the future that his company has been working on along with many other stakehholders. They are already in the process of implementating eInvoicing, part of something they call the Real Time Economy of financial transactions around the world. And they're making the basic part of this executable by a basic mobile phone. That means that even Ramu the teawallah, if he has to collect his accounts receivable from the MNC employees every month, they could eventually conceivably simply transfer it to his account. From what I could gather there is a finnish bank involved with the prototype and the Finns have been asked to set the standards for the EU wide system.”

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Nov. 10, 1983: Computer ‘Virus’ Is Born

http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/11/1110fred-cohen-first-computer-virus

“1983: Fred Cohen, a University of Southern California graduate student, gives a prescient peek at the digital future when he demonstrates a computer virus during a security seminar at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. A quarter-century later, computer viruses have become a pandemic for which there’s no inoculation.

Cohen inserted his proof-of-concept code into a Unix command, and within five minutes of launching it onto a mainframe computer, had gained control of the system. In four other demonstrations, the code managed to seize control within half an hour on average, bypassing all of the security mechanisms current at the time. It was Cohen’s academic adviser, Len Adleman (the A in RSA Security), who likened the self-replicating program to a virus, thus coining the term.”

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Lessons for the Design of Mobile Money Services

http://www.janchipchase.com/blog/archives/2009/11/essay-designing-mobile-money-services.html

“Who benefits more from the introduction of mobile money services - a white-collar worker in New York City or a migrant manual labourer living out of a dormitory in Xi'an? For many access to mobile money services is a game-changer.

The slides from last week's Dubai presentation on Designing Services for Financial Inclusion can be viewed above:”

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Ricoh GXR interchangeable unit camera, previewed
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0911/09111001ricohgxr.asp

 “After several weeks of rumors Ricoh has unveiled its first digital system camera, the GRX. The system takes a novel approach by offering interchangeable slide mount 'lens units' - sealed modules containing both optics and sensor, meaning it can switch from a large (APS-C) 12 MP CMOS with a fast prime lens to a tiny 10 MP CCD (with a 24-70mm lens). We've had a pre-production GXR system in the office for a week and have produced an in-depth hands-on preview which you'll find after the link. We've also taken lots of pictures with both lens modules so look out a little later today for an extensive gallery of samples.”

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Interesting Reading: 11/10

How Bernie Made Basket Cases of His Customers' Accounts
http://www.securitiesindustry.com/issues/19_107/-24168-1.html

“As a project manager, he always felt like an odd duck at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Services (BLMIS), an outfit which seemed to lack standards and procedures routine at former employers of his such as the International Securities Exchange and CheckFree Investment Services (now Fiserv, Inc.). Little was documented and the company seemed to be overwhelmed keeping the older systems from breaking down.
"I immediately recognized there was massive institutional chaos in the way the place was managed. No one found value in participating in project management meetings or in writing things down. There was no documentation," says McMahon, today an operational performance consultant for Standard & Poors. “

------

Congo Plan Is A Dirty Cocktail of Climate Destruction Projects

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/congo-plan-palm-tar-sands.php?dtc=th_rss

“Riddle me this. What do you get when you combine rainforest destruction, tar sands, and palm oil plantations in one project? You guessed it, an environmental nightmare. This perfect storm of climate disruption badness can all be found in oil company Eni's plans to develop tar sands and oil palm in the Congo Basin, one of the most biodiverse places on earth. This would be the first tar sands exploration in Africa and one of the largest palm oil plantations, which produce the oil used in thousands of household products from detergents to Pringles.”

--------

Socializers: A New Breed of Online Information Hunters
http://threeminds.organic.com/2009/11/socializers_a_new_breed_of_onl.html

 “18% of people start their search for new information online via social sites.

It's one of those statistics that takes a minute to sink in, and then a whole bevy of new questions rolls out. We don't blink twice when people mention that they start their hunt for new information via search engines, or even portal sites. But is social media really starting to become the primary vehicle for content discovery?

The Nielsen study is vague, and had many of us scratching our heads as to what the implications were and whether the stat was over-representative or even under-representative of reality. And... ultimately, WHAT are these people using social media to search for?”

--------
 
Personal Data Storage with Emergency Access
http://springwise.com/life_hacks/orggit/

 “Orggit offers a new take on web-based information storage. We've already seen this service in a several guises: from ultra-secure 'memory' storage inside a Swiss mountain, to an online locker for loved ones to open after the user's death. Orggit's unique selling point is the In Case of Emergency (ICE) card that it supplies with every subscription. Using the card, medical personnel can call a dedicated helpline and quote the member's ID code to gain access to all of their medical vitals, which could be a lifesaver. In case of a lost wallet, the good samaritan who finds it can also call the helpline and Orggit will arrange an owner-wallet reunion.”

--------

The Importance of Forgetting
http://www.psfk.com/2009/11/the-importance-of-forgetting.html

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have suggested a system of value assignment and selective forgetting is one way to cope with information overload.

The aspects of human memory considered for their research include time-based decay (memories disappearing over time), and interference (multiple memories vying for the same information whether they’re correct or incorrect). To test out their theory, they created algorithms for robots to use different methods of gathering and retaining information.

The best performing  software, ActSimple, assigns value to gathered data based on how frequently it’s used and its relation to other data pieces. As a robot roamed through a virtual environment seeking Wi-Fi signals, it assigned values from 1-100 considering strength of signal and different levels of noise. Then it would try to create from memory a map of the signals. Other algorithms used to create these maps either considered all the data gathered (including errors) or disregarded the oldest data points. On average, ActSimple created the most accurate maps.

+
Banking on the future of mobile financial transactions
http://www.emergingfutureslab.com/perspective_20/2009/11/banking-on-the-future-of-mobile-financial-transactions-.html

 “Bo Harald of Tieto Corporation shared a vision of the future that his company has been working on along with many other stakehholders. They are already in the process of implementating eInvoicing, part of something they call the Real Time Economy of financial transactions around the world. And they're making the basic part of this executable by a basic mobile phone. That means that even Ramu the teawallah, if he has to collect his accounts receivable from the MNC employees every month, they could eventually conceivably simply transfer it to his account. From what I could gather there is a finnish bank involved with the prototype and the Finns have been asked to set the standards for the EU wide system.”

--------

Nov. 10, 1983: Computer ‘Virus’ Is Born
http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2009/11/1110fred-cohen-first-computer-virus

“1983: Fred Cohen, a University of Southern California graduate student, gives a prescient peek at the digital future when he demonstrates a computer virus during a security seminar at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. A quarter-century later, computer viruses have become a pandemic for which there’s no inoculation.

Cohen inserted his proof-of-concept code into a Unix command, and within five minutes of launching it onto a mainframe computer, had gained control of the system. In four other demonstrations, the code managed to seize control within half an hour on average, bypassing all of the security mechanisms current at the time. It was Cohen’s academic adviser, Len Adleman (the A in RSA Security), who likened the self-replicating program to a virus, thus coining the term.”

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Lessons for the Design of Mobile Money Services
http://www.janchipchase.com/blog/archives/2009/11/essay-designing-mobile-money-services.html

“Who benefits more from the introduction of mobile money services - a white-collar worker in New York City or a migrant manual labourer living out of a dormitory in Xi'an? For many access to mobile money services is a game-changer.

The slides from last week's Dubai presentation on Designing Services for Financial Inclusion can be viewed above:”

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Ricoh GXR interchangeable unit camera, previewed
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0911/09111001ricohgxr.asp

 “After several weeks of rumors Ricoh has unveiled its first digital system camera, the GRX. The system takes a novel approach by offering interchangeable slide mount 'lens units' - sealed modules containing both optics and sensor, meaning it can switch from a large (APS-C) 12 MP CMOS with a fast prime lens to a tiny 10 MP CCD (with a 24-70mm lens). We've had a pre-production GXR system in the office for a week and have produced an in-depth hands-on preview which you'll find after the link. We've also taken lots of pictures with both lens modules so look out a little later today for an extensive gallery of samples.”

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Interesting Reading: 11/6

The World's First Crowdsourced Creative Agency
http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/the-world039s-first-crowdsourced-creative-agency.html

“It’s always good to be the first, and while crowdsourcing, the trend, may have jumped the shark, a fully crowdsourced creative agency is a bold creative experiment and still news. Two Crispin Porter + Bogusky alums, John Winsor and Evan Fry, together with Claudia Batten, the founder of Microsoft-acquired video game advertising shop Massive, have launched Victors & Spoils (V&S), “the world's first creative agency built on crowdsourcing principle.”

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Google's Dashboard Is a Window Onto Your Google Soul
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/googles-dashboard-window-your-google-soul?partner=rss

“"Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account?" Google asks, and privacy advocates and techy-minded people will quickly answer "YES!" Now Google's Dashboard lets you see, but not delete, what's stored about you in Google's vault of mysteries.”

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Agile User Experience Projects

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-user-experience.html

“Last year, we conducted a study of best practices in integrating usability methods with Agile development projects.
Usually, it's not worth studying the same problem again just a year later since user behavior doesn't change much. But this particular project didn't concern user behaviors, but rather the best way to run Agile projects to ensure usability.
Because this is still a new field, we decided to supplement last year's research with a new round of more detailed studies focused on additional organizations that have had more time to discover better ways to manage Agile user experience (UX).”

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New project: The Carbon Economy

http://www.xplane.com/xblog/2009/11/05/new-project-the-carbon-economy/
“For the second time in recent months XPLANE has partnered with The Economist to create a compelling video on a topic of global importance. After working together on “Did You Know? 4.0”, The Economist enlisted XPLANE’s visual communication expertise to develop “The Carbon Economy” about the growing importance of climate change and green technologies and solutions.”

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Digital World Explorer
http://www.good.is/post/digital-world-explorer/

“The digital ethnographer Michael Wesch on the dark side of social media, what we learned from Iran, and why the future of the web depends on human interests—not market interests.”

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Skills of a Successful Project Manager

http://pmtips.net/skills-successful-project-manager/

“In his book, “The Little Black Book of Project Management,” Michael Thomsett identifies his version of the skillset of a successful project manager. I’m providing it here to give you yet another take on some of the key characteristics and capabilities that go into being able to effectively manage an engagement and a team of highly skilled resources.

Mr. Thomsett’s version comes mainly from the viewpoint of a department manager being thrown into the project management role, so understand that this is assuming an experienced manager is handling the engagement, but not one well-versed in project management.”

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App of the Week: Visual Relationship Mapping 2.0
http://blogs.salesforce.com/the_appexchange_blog/2009/11/app-of-the-week-visual-relationship-mapping-20.html

“This week's app of the week is Visual Relationship Mapping 2.0 from Business Endurance Solutions.
Visual Relationship Mapping allows you to easily create a visual representation of how your contacts and accounts are related to each other within Salesforce CRM: “

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Two Obituaries from the New York Times

Claude Lévi-Strauss, 100, Dies; Altered Western Views of the ‘Primitive’
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/world/europe/04levistrauss.html?_r=1

Roy DeCarava, Pioneering Photographer, Dies at 89
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/roy-decarava-pioneering-photographer-dies-at-89/?scp=1&sq=Roy%20DeCarva&st=cse

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Boo

Sent from my iPhone

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Filed under  //   Photograph  

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Interesting Reading: 10/30

3 from the Wall Street Journal:

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Lawyerese Goes Galactic as Contracts Try to Master the Universe
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125658217507308619.html

"Lawyers for years have added language to some contracts that stretches beyond the Earth's atmosphere. But more and more people are encountering such everywhere-and-forever language as entertainment companies tap into amateur talent and try to anticipate every possible future stream of revenue.

Experts in contract drafting say lawyers are trying to ensure that with the proliferation of new outlets -- including mobile-phone screens, Twitter, online video sites and the like -- they cover all possible venues from which their clients can derive income, even those in outer space. FremantleMedia, one of the producers of NBC's "America's Got Talent," declined to comment on its contracts.

The terms of use listed on Starwars.com, where people can post to message boards among other things, tell users that they give up the rights to any content submissions "throughout the universe and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed."

Lucasfilm Ltd., Star Wars creator George Lucas's entertainment company that runs the site, said the language is standard in Hollywood.

"But, to be honest with you, we have had very few cases of people trying to exploit rights on other planets," says Lynne Hale, a Lucasfilm spokeswoman."

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Dude, Where's My Car?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704222704574499251811024862.html

"...Encouraging more people to live in neighborhoods close to their workplaces is an element of President Barack Obama's broader effort to cut U.S. consumption of fossil fuels. The average American emits 19.8 tons of carbon dioxide per year—the most ubiquitous of several gases linked to climate change. The average German, by contrast, is responsible for 10.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. There are lots of reasons for this disparity, but the tendency of Americans to live miles from their workplaces is a big one."

Note: At the "A Better World by Design" conference the idea of single use zoning was discussed heavily as one of the drivers that has caused this segmentation of our lives.

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On Mumbai's Streets, Cabbies Fight To Keep Passengers Uncomfortable
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125668745618111751.html

"MUMBAI -- Mumbai's taxi drivers are battling to block the newest trend in hired transport here: electronic meters, home pickups and air conditioning.

Customers are demanding modern taxis to better represent this booming city, as well as provide a modicum of comfort in a steamy, tropical climate. Mumbai's authorities, keen to make the city the new "Shanghai" of Asia by 2020, have decided to phase out the city's rusty old jalopies and are requiring that every taxi more than 25 years old be scrapped.

But many of Mumbai's 200,000 or so taxi drivers are having none of it. And they are resisting those who would offer a nicer ride in shinier new cars -- with strikes, court cases and violence."

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New Bikestation Secure Module Seeing First Installation
http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/new_bikestation_secure_module_seeing_first_installation_15056.asp

"Hardcore cyclists will ride their bikes no matter what. But for us borderliners--people who have some interest in the green benefits of bicycle travel but are not fully vested--it's tough for us to drop hundreds or thousands on a bike when we know, through countless anecdotes from fellow city-dwellers, that all or part of it will be stolen within months.

The Bikestation Secure Bike Module, produced by "alternative multimodal transit system" company Mobis, is intended to win us borderliners over. "The new bike modules overcome a top concern people have that keep them from using their bikes--theft," says Andrea White-Kjoss, Mobis president and CEO.

Covina, California will be the first U.S. municipality to install the new Secure Bike Modules, starting later this year with a 10 x 25 structure that will offer 36 secure parking spaces for bikes, accessible by electronic key fobs. The modules are, as the name implies, modular, and will presumably be expanded as interest grows."

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Xerox develops silver ink to usher in new era of low cost printable electronics
http://www.gizmag.com/xerox-silver-ink-printable-electronics/13211/

"Silicon is the main substrate used for the integrated circuits found in almost all electronic equipment available today. However, silicon could soon be replaced by plastic, film or even fabrics, with Xerox scientists developing a low-temperature silver ink that they say paves the way for the commercialization and low-cost manufacture of printable electronics. This process will offer manufacturers an inexpensive way to add “intelligence” or computing power to a wide range of surfaces to produce things like electronic clothing and cheap games.

Integrated circuits are made up of three components - a semiconductor, a conductor and a dielectric element - and currently are manufactured in costly silicon chip fabricating factories. Printable electronics promises to make the mass production of thin, cheap and flexible electronic circuits a reality, but researchers have been faced with the difficult challenge of developing conductive electronic inks that work in an ordinary, everyday environment. By creating a silver ink to print the conductor, Xerox has developed all three of the materials necessary for printing plastic circuits.

Using Xerox's new technology, circuits can be printed just like a continuous feed document without the extensive clean room facilities required in current chip manufacturing. In addition, scientists have improved their previously developed semiconductor ink, increasing its reliability by formulating the ink so that the molecules precisely align themselves in the best configuration to conduct electricity"

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Interesting Reading: 10/29

Filtering Reality
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/augmented-reality

“HERE’S A STARTLING vision for the next decade: two familiar online phenomena converge in an emerging technological arena to strike a fatal blow to American civil society.


The emerging technology, called “Augmented Reality,” enables users to see location-specific data superimposed over their surroundings. Long a staple of science fiction, it’s trickling into the real world through the iPhone and similar ultrasmart mobile phones. With AR applications such as Layar, the smart phone displays what its camera sees, with information about nearby buildings and shops, travel directions, even notes and “tags” left by other users in that location. Although AR now relies on handheld devices, electronics makers like Sony are working on systems that you wear like sunglasses, making augmented vision more immersive.


Here’s where the first familiar online phenomenon shows up: spam. Nearly every communication method we invent eventually conveys unwanted commercial messages. AR systems will be used for spam too, whether via graffiti-like tags, ads that pop up when you look too long at a shop, or even abstract symbols stuck to a wall or worn on a shirt that, when viewed through an AR system, turn into 3-D animations.”

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With Video, a Traveler Fights Back
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/business/29air.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

“United Airlines learned its lesson the hard way that David Carroll was not just another customer.

After baggage handlers at United broke his guitar last summer and the airline refused to pay for the $1,200 repair, Mr. Carroll, a Canadian singer, created a music video titled “United Breaks Guitars” that has been viewed more than 5.8 million times. United executives met with him and promised to do better.

So how was Mr. Carroll’s most recent flight on United?
This Everyman symbol of the aggrieved traveler was treated, well, like just another customer. United lost his bag.”

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Video Games (No Controller Needed)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/arts/television/27video.html?_r=1&ref=technology

“...That is not faint praise. The term “multimedia presentation” is dry, but it is perhaps the only way to fully describe the spectacle of several dozen classical musicians, the Temple University Concert Choir, two guitarists and a female flutist dressed as an elf, all playing music from the Japanese video games Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger while three large video screens suspended above the stage displayed scenes from the games in sync with the music...

...“Video Games Live” highlights the music in games that are primarily about other things, like saving the galaxy from aliens, defeating the undead or rescuing princesses from bad guys. But there are now also popular games that allow an approximation of playing music (Guitar Hero, Rock Band), that are built around singing (SingStar, Lips) and that are about the culture of music (Brütal Legend).”

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Emerging City Innovation
http://www.good.is/post/emerging-city-innovation/

“Most of the world’s population now lives in cities. How can we make sure these urban centers are good homes for humanity? Cities from Bogotá and Rio de Janeiro to Seoul are leading the way, using fresh ideas to reduce pollution and waste; provide efficient, clean transportation; and support biodiversity.”

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Google's Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years

http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2009/10/27/27readwriteweb-googles-eric-schmidt-on-what-the-web-will-l-68067.html

“Google CEO Eric Schmidt envisions a radically changed internet five years from now: dominated by Chinese-language and social media content, delivered over super-fast bandwidth in real time. Figuring out how to rank real-time social content is "the great challenge of the age," Schmidt said in an interview in front of thousands of CIOs and IT Directors at last week's Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Orlando 2009.”

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/32815

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Computer tasks for workers in the developing world

http://springwise.com/non-profit_social_cause/samasource/

“Earlier this year we covered txteagle, a service that aims to fight unemployment in the developing world by enabling mobile phone subscribers there to complete quick jobs via SMS. Operating on much the same principle, Samasource is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that connects workers in the developing world with computer-based tasks.

Samasource has partnered with 18 locally owned small businesses, nonprofit training centers and rural data centers in Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Ghana and Pakistan. Such service partners are first carefully screened, both for social and economic impact and for their ability to deliver good work. Next, Samasource provides those organizations with free business training, using live sample projects, web-based tools and site visits. Then, Samasource markets the services of its partners to paying clients around the world for tasks such as data entry and digitization, web development, image and site moderation, application testing, video and audio services, project management, research assistance, virtual assistance and tasks via Amazon's Mechanical Turk.”

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