Normally I try to avoid posting on concepts
mainly because they rarely materialize into real world products, no matter how
much we wish they would. But this following concept isn’t just a great idea, it
has great potential as well. In a nutshell, designer Chiyu Chen envisions a
fleet of publicly available hybrid bicycles that passively harvest the kinetic
energy of braking (definitely unlike that generator-light that doubles the
power needed to turn the damn pedal). When a bike is returned to a station the
stored energy is then fed into the city’s power grid and the user’s public transit
account is credited. The user can then use said credit to ride the subway and
bus system. Talk about sustainability!

The whole setup is called Hybrid2, which
relies on the proprietary ‘Hybrake’ regenerative braking system to collect
power. Ideally the plan calls for a proportionate remuneration of time spent
biking and time on public transit. Credit would be handled by RFID card readers
at the stations that would recognize personal ID cards to lock and unlock
bikes, as well as keep track of energy collected and transit credit. 

Source

MIT Tracks Trash

Do you every wonder where your garbage
goes? Well, MIT does as they are currently dedicating resources and research
into ‘Project Trash Track’ (if you ask me they should have diverted some funds
to the English department to come up with a better project name). By employing
tracking tags researchers at MIT are monitoring the incredible journey of
various kinds of waste in both New
York and Seattle. Rather than
simply analyzing costs the project will also inform residents about where their
trash is going and what it had to go through to get there. Residents of Toronto certainly
don’t need that level of sophistication as Canada’s
largest city passes into month two of their citywide garbage strike. However,
given the public outcry in over the temporary dump-sites in the city, tracking
larger patterns may help inform consumers that their trash doesn’t simply
vaporize in the back of the garbage truck.

Source

The Power Pump from Orange

When it comes to protecting Mother Earth,
we take a fair share of our energy from the sphere in the sky. While that’s all
well and good, there are certain circumstance where standing in the sun for
hours or leaving you gadgets out in direct sunlight just isn’t feasible. Enter
the Power Pump from Orange. In what essentially amounts to an inflatable mattress pump, Orange and GotWind
have teamed up to take foot-power to the next level by generating energy for
your gadgets. The main Power Pump unit acts as a converter station between an
air blasting foot powered air pump and your cell phone. The conversion ratio is
about 1 minute of pumping for 5 minutes of talk time (mind you that’s at 1 pump
per second, a pace that Jane Fonda would do well to maintain). But if you’re
anything like me, you suffer from Restless Leg Syndrome and you expend that
much energy in thirty seconds on a rocking chair anyway.

An ideal addition to your camping gear and
emergency pack, the Power Pump will actually be debuting at the Glastonbury
Festival, June 24-28.

Source

Ezio’s Eco-friendly FlexScan monitors

For the most part it’s pretty standard to
have your monitor set to standby after a period of inactivity but a lot of
times that delay is simply chewing up hydro while you’re off making a sandwich
or discussing the game at the water cooler. One innovative solution is to
monitor movement in front of the monitor and that’s precisely what Ezio’s
20-inch FlexScan EV2023W-H and the 23-inch EV2303W-T do.

The diminutive motion sensor is built-in to
the front of the monitor itself; a desktop sentry on the lookout for movement.
If no movement is detected after 40 seconds the monitor shuts itself off. Ideal
for those forgetful folks but also would make a great addition to a corporate
line up. Imagine how much energy is wasted by those sleeping at their cubicles!
Finally, we have an answer.

Source

The Bicycle Commuter Act

So, what is the Bicycle Commuter Act or
BCA? Essentially, it’s a little bit of green goodness that was snuck into the Renewable
Energy Tax legislation that was recently passed. While the nuts and bolts get a
little dicey, the BCA entitles those that commute by bike to a $20 credit every
month. The legislation was designed to provide bikers, the most green commuters
of them all next to the bipeds, with the same benefits other commuters enjoy.
To qualify you must bike at least three times a week and you also have to get
your employer on-board through their commuter benefit provider. It’s certainly
a great start in encouraging green modes of transportation and the $20 a month
(or $240 a year) can go a long way towards an even sweeter ride!

Source

At a time when torrent sites are
(successfully) providing downloaders with anonymity for a nominal fee, one has
to seriously consider the staying power of pirated music. Especially so
considering this is also the time when the world’s largest supplier of digital
music, iTunes, has resigned to remove DRM from all their tracks. That makes for
10 million unencrypted, 256kps songs. Despite that the change-over was
announced back in January at the 2009 Macworld Expo it still quite an amazing
reversal.

As the saying goes you take the good with the
bad and so it is with the removal of DRM that iTunes’ customers face a new
pricing structure. Tracks will be sold at three price points: 69¢, 99¢, and $1.29.
The determining factor between the three is popularity. So essentially, the
more popular the song or the band, the more you’ll pay (Ironically, the more
popular a song or a band on torrentz, the more likely you are to find it and
have it downloaded within seconds for…much less). Conversely, fans of the
underground music scene should reap the rewards for their taste in the
relatively obscure. However, a cursory look yields few, if any, tracks listed
at the ultra-low-low price of 69¢ a track. In fact what we are seeing is simply
a 30¢ mark-up on Britney Spears and Black Eyed Peas. So, should the underground
enthusiast be thankful he escaped unscathed or has Apple been brought to heel
under the mighty record companies?

Over at Ars Technica they are citing that
since the new price structure has come into effect iTunes is now “the most
expensive place to buy most music online” and who can argue with them? Head on
over to Amazon to see a much friendlier price tag attached to those popular
albums. And this is despite rumblings that this new pricing structure is going
to roll out across all online music retailers.

Now, in theory such a pricing model is
actually just smart business for it provides unknown bands with an easier
access point to audiences by charging less for their albums. If they become
successful then charge according. Simple supply and demand here. However, in
practice iTunes has used the theory as a diversion for a whopping 30% mark-up!
The elusiveness of the 69¢ track is a testament to this tactic.

Source

During times of economic uncertainty people
dramatically rework their lives. They do less driving, less dinning, less traveling.
In fact, simply said, people tend to leave the house less. In turn, other activities go up, such as videogames which some have heralded as recession proof though recent
layoffs at major developers suggest otherwise. Another upswing is in the amount of
television and movies consumed. It’s far cheaper to sit at home and watch the
boobtube then it is to go out for dinner and a movie. But what do you do if
you’re a cinema junkie? Let’s face it, pay-per-view ain’t all it’s cracked up
to be and firing up the car in the middle of winter to rent the latest Saw
movie sounds a little excessive. So it’s interesting to note the upswing in
Netflix subscriptions, a service that provides not only by-mail movie delivery
but a surprisingly robust ‘Watch Now’ service that offers 12,000 movie to watch
at the touch of a button. All for $9 a month. Now if that doesn’t appeal to the
penny-pinching movie-maniac I don’t know what will. So, how do you get this
magical service?

There are three, soon to be four, ways of
getting Netflix to stream to your television. The first is simply through your
TiVo where Netflix is listed under Video on Demand. Assuming you’re already a
Netflix subscriber it’s all just a matter of select from the thousands of films
and pressing play. And the movie starts.

The second method is a little more
exclusive and expensive. If you own an Xbox 360 and updated your system with November’s
NXE upgrade then you already have the functionality for Netflix. Trick is, in
addition to paying the $9/month Netflix fee, Microsoft wants you to have a Gold
Membership with them, bumping things up an additional $50 per year. That being
said, many avid gamers are already ‘gold members’ and the Netflix integration
offers a sleek visual interface accessible under the Video Marketplace tab.

A third method is even more exclusive, but
could be a strong indication of things to come. The LGBD300 Blu-ray DVD player
has Netflix capabilities built right into the standard interface. If you’re
Netflix subscriber and you’re in the market for Blu-ray player this unit might
fill the niche at $330.

The fourth method is forthcoming this
spring as LG and Vizio are set to launch TV sets with the technology built-in. This certainly bodes well for Netflix and its longevity. There is also the option to stream the ‘Watch Now’ service to your PC, which is where you will be queuing movies anyhow from Netflix.com. 

There’s no doubt the multiple implementations of
Netflix have contributed to the subscription base growing by a healthy 26% over
2008, a growth that may actually have resulted from a slumping economy.

Some of the Pros and Cons:

• Pro: Across all platforms, movies remember
  where you left off

• Pro: Cost-effective: for $9/month, that’s
  little over 2 Blockbuster rentals

• Pro: ‘Watch Now’ is gratis with
  mail-delivery rentals, meaning you can watch unlimited streaming movies while
  enjoying new-releases delivered to your door at no extra cost

• Con: That said, ‘Watch Now’ isn’t exactly
  on the forefront of newly released rentals. While there are 12,000 flicks and many of
  them recent, you won’t be finding new releases here

• Con: The ‘Watch Now’ service is conducted
  over the ‘net so if you want to enjoy high-quality films, you’ll need a fast
  internet connection to your home theater setup (Netflix automatically adjusts
  quality to your connection speed)

• Con: The streaming service does not provide
  surround sound or subtitles or any extras commonly found on DVDs.

All in all, if you’re an avid movie renter
Netflix makes a very compelling pitch for your $9.

Source

You’d think by the year 2009 auto companies would be on board with at least
the principle tenements of the green movement and yet, in spite of consumer
demand, ‘The Big Three’ have essentially crippled an already destabilized
economy by continuing to produce gas-guzzlers and energy wasters. But while all
the furor and scrutiny is being laid square on the North American
manufacturers, another major player is slipping under the radar. But first, a
little context.

By federal mandate, automakers have been required to produce fuel-efficient
vehicles, in accordance with the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) fuel
efficiency standards. Failing to comply results in a rather substantial fine.
2007′s champion of inadequacy was DailmerChrysler AG, who set the bar quite
high in earning a $30,357,635.50 fine. The follwing year, Mercedes-Benz, now
owned simply by Daimler AG, attempted to best itself recording a $28.9 million
fine. To give you an idea of what that means in relation to the rest of the
auto industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
handed out $37 million dollars in fines for the entire industry that year.
So, of the 6 major auto manufacturers levied fines, Mercedes-Benz was by
far the most inefficient manufacturer and only $2 million shy of their all time
record.

So while you can lamblast ‘The Big Three’ for flying in private jets to
discuss how best to bail themselves out of self-imposed financial turmoil, it’s
not as though their wealthier competitors are besting them in the hard numbers
department. When one company accrues three-quarters of the ‘not good enough’
fines two years running, totalling nearly $60 million dollars, in a time of
financial crisis and environmental activism, it’s time to take a hard look in
the mirror.

Source

A next Metal Gear is iPhone bound?

Earlier in the week Konami launched a teaser site that read “A Next Metal Gear is…” below the above image. Speculation was abound with the green font and the power-logo that for some seemed to scream Xbox 360. Others suggested that the exclamation mark indicated a new Metal Gear Ac!d was in the works, which is the portable brand of the popular series. While, it turns out the later were close, but for the wrong reason. Metal Gear is once again going portable, but in somewhat of a hybrid form.

Under the inconspicuous title Metal Gear Solid Touch (as confirmed by the now-debunked Konami teaser page) which will be set in the PS3-exclusive MGS4 realm.

Source and Source

Touching SimCity

The uber-popular title that positively dominated 90s gaming is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The Electronic Arts published title went live yesterday on the App Store. Embracing the touch-screen technology, the ‘touch’ version of the urban sprawl-er registers at a flat $10.

Gaming blog Kotaku recently had some hands-on time with SimCity iPhone and confirmed that this is the full-feldged, real-deal:

“Whatever you do, though, don’t go thinking this is SimCity Lite. This mobile version is fully featured, with pre-built cities, accountant recommendations, water pipes, natural disasters, etc. The works.”

Source

Television on a touch screen

If you’ve been poking about the App Store lately, you may have noticed a little program called Television. “Que’est-ce que c’est?” you may have said to yourself (assuming you’re French…) and here’s the skinny; the app grabs web-tv links from the likes of CNN and BBC for your portable viewing pleasure. So far it only functions over wi-fi but it does bring you the latest highlights from Top Gear…

USA

CNN – Now in the News, In Case You Missed

CBS – Eye to Eye, Face the Nation

NBC – Nightly News, Meet the Press

CNBC – Fast Money

Comedy Central – Standup Highlights

VH1 – Celebrity Rehab, The Pickup Artists

Onion Networkk – All videos

College Humor TV – All videos

Digg.TV – Diggnation

CNET – First Look, Buzz Report

Discovery Channel – Highlights

National Geographic – Highlights

MTV – MTV News, music videos

NBA – News and match highlights

UNITED KINGDOM

BBC – Highlights from Top Gear, Torchwood, Goodness Gracious, QI

SKY – Sky News

ITN – News and Showbizz

Megawhat.Tv – Tech News

FRANCE

TF1 – Le Journal, Météo

M6 – Six Minutes

BFM – Première Edition

iTele – iTele News

GERMANY

RTL – News, Aktuell, Wetter, Exclusiv

ARD – Tagesschau, Das Wetter

NDR – Ratgeber Technik

WDR – Die Sendung mit der Maus, Käptn Blaubär

ZDF – Heute, Wetten Dass Backstage, Aktuelle Sportstud

Source

There are few things incumbent upon the
media to report. Large disasters. Paris Hilton. The Large Hadron Collider (though that one may fall under
the first category). And ‘Net Neutrality’. So when the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission makes an open call for
suggestions on how or if the internet should be policed, it’s important we give
a listen and voice the opinions of those that would shape the medium. So when
Quebecor Media (an ISP, among other things) said there are no reasonable grounds “to support
regulation of the Internet, to lift the current exemption orders or impose a
tax on the revenues of Internet Service Providers to finance content
production” than heads should be turning.

The CRTC was accepting briefs on the topic of
regulation up until last Friday. Quebecor was among the contributors, as well as
internet behemoth Google, which said that keeping new media content unregulated
in Canada was paramount to preserving what makes the internet “awesome”: “Without
regulation the Canadian broadcasting policy objectives have been, and will
continue to be, implemented on the Internet. The New Media Exemption is the
best regulatory approach to keeping the Internet awesome.”

The above statement comes via the Financial
Post, in an article addressing the concerns raised in the briefs submitted to
the CRTC. The article goes on to say that “A potential tax suggested in preliminary
discussions with the federal regulator of between 2.5% to 5% of gross revenues
to be levied on Internet service providers that would go to broadcasters was
met with widespread opposition by industry players.”

Quebecor had a little more rhetoric to add
to the notion of an ISP tax: “Quebecor Media opposes any plan to require
Internet Service Providers to divert any part of their revenues to financing of
content that they do not need and whose production and distribution are not
part of their mission…Such an initiative would be unproductive and, in any
case, illegal. To be avoided is any model along the lines of the Canadian Television
Fund, whose limits in today’s world are demonstrated by governance rules and

criteria that frustrate evolution toward a viable system for the medium and
long term that could ensure sustained development in the sector.”

So long as net neutrality is predicated on
ISPs paying as little as possible, the internet may very well remain open and
relatively free.

However, the CRTC recently decided that it
was not within their mandate to protect consumers from ISP traffic shaping, the
likes of which Bell Communications infamously implemented earlier this year. The CRTC
did say that they would launch a further investigation into the matter to
determine the best course of action in the future.

Source and Source

Google to save the world

Clean Energy 2030. Doesn’t exactly roll off
the tongue, but it gets the point across for it’s the name of Google’s globe
saving plan that would see the climate crisis averted with dedicated
reformation and preemptive solutions culminating in the year 2030. The targets
are based on reductions from the Energy Information Administration’s current
baseline and would see everything from vehicle emissions to CO2 emissions in
the electricity sector. The plan calls for, among other things, a marked rise
in the use of plug-in and hybrid cars (with the goal of 90% of all new cars
being sold in the year 2030 being of those varieties), as well as the
replacement of all coal and oil power plants and a fifty percent decrease in
the reliance upon natural gas for energy.

And all this at the bargain price of $4.4
trillion dollars. But seriously, what the hell is green paper worth when your
entire country is under miles of fresh glacial waters?

Source

• Unlimited Music for only 130…pounds that is

Ah, not a day goes by that we don’t hear
something from the music biz. Today we’re fortunate enough to have two nice
tidbits. The first is that for a mere £129.99 (approx. $220 USD) you can
download an unlimited amount of tunes from Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI and
Warner Music—for a year. The ‘deal’ comes in the form of a pay-as-you-go phone.
It’s all part of Nokia’s Comes With Music campaign that in this case sees the
phone manufacturer signing over cheques to the record companies for each
handset it sells. Tracks can be downloaded to the device itself and one other
computer.

So how about it; $220 a year for unlimited
music? Probably the same amount it costs per hour to retain a lawyer that’s
capable of defending you against music piracy charges.

Source

• iTunes wont have to shut down after all

Whether you heard the news or not, Apple
actually threatened to shut down iTunes. Apple. As in the owner of the
hyper-profitable and ubiquitous online music retailer, threatened to shut it
down. Why? Because there was mounting fear that the Copyright Royalty Board,
which dictates music royalties, would raise the 9.1 cent rate on each track to
as much as 15 cents. In that event Apple vowed to shutter the windows on iTunes
and close up shop. However, the CRB actually ruled to keep rates where they are
and all is right in the world of digital music and Steve Jobs pocketbook.

Source

Yesterday, Intel and Yahoo announced that they have joined forces in a bid to meld PC like features with the accessibility of your television. The news was unveiled at Intel’s conference for developers in San Francisco, where it was stated that they will be manufacturing a “system on a chip” for use in a set-top box. Yahoo will be providing a platform that will run widgets, those small little applications that relay the weather, news, stocks, even eBay auctions. As for how long before we’ll see this joint effort in stores, the timetable is set for a 2009 launch.

In the meantime, here’s some footage of the system in action:

And apparently the fun doesn’t stop with just two, as it was revealed that a whole host of companies, running the gambit of Blockbuster, CBS, eBay, Joost, Twitter, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba, are all joining forces in order to bring a more interactive television experience.

So, will this mark a major victory for the TV into a PC campaign? Not likely, as the Intel/Yahoo initiative offers next to nothing new to an already crowded market. It’s odd seeing such a niche market swell with so many offerings. However, in some sense, it may resemble the digital music player market, pre-iPod. In those dark days everybody and their brother was making an mp3 player, all copying one another, mediocrity copy mediocrity. Perhaps, one day, we’ll see a truly innovative meld between televisions and PCs but for now, I’m sticking with my TV-In/TV-Out card.

Source