Interesting Reading: 10/30
3 from the Wall Street Journal:
--------Lawyerese Goes Galactic as Contracts Try to Master the Universehttp://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."--------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.--------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."--------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."--------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"
