Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Atlas, The Next Generation
February 24th, 2016Via: Boston Dynamics (aka Google, aka Alphabet Inc): A new version of Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess […]
Ground Delivery Drones Ready to Roll in England
February 23rd, 2016Via: USA Today: “Ground drone” delivery robots that could easily be mistaken for toilet bowls on wheels are about to start rolling through London. Starship Technologies CEO Ahti Heinla says the company’s fleet of “small, safe, practical, free from CO2 emissions, and best of all, earthbound” robots can deliver packages and groceries at a fraction […]
India: Ten Million Without Water in Delhi
February 22nd, 2016Via: BBC: More than 10 million people in India’s capital are without water despite the army regaining control of its key water source after protests, officials say. Keshav Chandra, head of Delhi’s water board, told the BBC it would take “three to four days” before normal supplies resumed to affected areas. Jat community protesters demanding […]
Chinese Companies Buying Foreign Businesses
February 22nd, 2016Via: Business Insider: Chinese companies have been buying up foreign businesses — including American ones — at a record rate, and it’s freaking out lawmakers. There is General Electric’s sale of its appliance business to Qingdao-based Haier, Zoomlion’s bid for the heavy-lifting-equipment maker Terex Corporation, and ChemChina’s record-breaking deal for the Swiss seeds and pesticides […]
Houston Man Arrested by Seven U.S. Marshals For Unpaid $1,500 Student Loan from 1987
February 19th, 2016Via: NY Daily News: Seven U.S. Marshals armed with automatic weapons arrested a Texas man for not paying a $1,500 student loan from three decades ago, he claims. … Aker said he was put in the back of a truck and placed in a cell at the federal building in downtown Houston. Later, he was […]
Hawaii Getting 52-Megawatt-Hour Tesla Powerpack System (Hint: That’s a Very BIG Battery)
February 17th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Wow! As far as I can tell, Japan’s Hokkaido Battery Storage Project is the largest battery bank in the world. This new one in Hawaii will be #2. Via: Pacific Business News: Tesla Energy, a division of California serial entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors, will […]
Petrofascism: The Koch Brothers’ Dirty War on Solar Power
February 16th, 2016Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand. — Via: Rolling Stone: After decades of false starts, solar power in America is finally poised for its breakthrough moment. The price of solar panels has dropped by more than 80 percent since President Obama took office, and the industry is beginning to compete with coal […]
Scientist Runs Piracy Hub for Science Journal Articles—Almost All Science Journal Articles
February 13th, 2016Via: BigThink: On the evening of November 9th, 1989, the Cold War came to a dramatic end with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Four years ago another wall began to crumble, a wall that arguably has as much impact on the world as the wall that divided East and West Germany. The wall in […]
Austrians Need Constitutional Right to Pay in Cash, Says Deputy Economy Minister
February 12th, 2016Via: Bloomberg: Austrians should have the constitutional right to use cash to protect their privacy, Deputy Economy Minister Harald Mahrer said, as the European Union considers curbing the use of banknotes and coins. “We don’t want someone to be able to track digitally what we buy, eat and drink, what books we read and what […]
GOLD UP NEARLY 5%
February 11th, 2016Gold Apr 16 (GCJ16.CMX) -COMEX 1,253.90 Up 59.30(4.96%) 11:31AM EST Ye ha! Via: Bloomberg: Gold climbed to the highest in a year as investors sought a haven from tumbling stock markets after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested the central bank may delay raising interest rates.
