Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Mission Acomplished: Afghanistan Opium Harvest at Record High
December 4th, 2013Via: BBC: Afghan opium cultivation has reached a record level, with more than 200,000 hectares planted with the poppy for the first time, the United Nations says. The UNODC report said the harvest was 36% up on last year, and if fully realised would outstrip global demand. Most of the rise was in Helmand province, […]
Green Energy Versus a Grid That’s Not Ready
December 4th, 2013In other news: Germany Hits 59% Renewable Peak, Grid Does Not Explode. Via: Los Angeles Times: Energy officials worry a lot these days about the stability of the massive patchwork of wires, substations and algorithms that keeps electricity flowing. They rattle off several scenarios that could lead to a collapse of the power grid — […]
Amazon Testing Delivery by Drone Aircraft
December 1st, 2013😯 Via: USA Today: Amazon.com is testing delivering packages using drones, CEO Jeff Bezos said on the CBS TV news show 60 Minutes Sunday. The idea would be to deliver packages as quickly as possible using the small, unmanned aircraft, through a service the company is calling Prime Air, the CEO said. Bezos played a […]
Coming Soon, a Night Watchman with Wheels?
November 30th, 2013I liked being a security guard in the early 1990s. haha. I wore a polyester uniform that made me look like like ten pounds of shit in a five pound sack. I think it paid $7 per hour. I had near zero contact with any other human beings the whole night. Now, why was this […]
Billionaire Bunkers: Beyond the Panic Room, Home Security Goes Sci-Fi
November 29th, 2013Via: Forbes: Al Corbi’s residence in the Hollywood Hills has the requisite white walls covered in artwork and picture windows offering breathtaking views of downtown Los Angeles, but it has more in common with NSA headquarters than with the other contemporary homes on the block. The Corbi family doesn’t need keys (thanks to biometric recognition […]
Renault Will Remotely Lock Down Electric Cars
November 28th, 2013Via: FSFE: For a long time, cars were a symbol of freedom and independence. No longer. In its Zoe electric car, car maker Renault apparently has the ability to remotely prevent the battery from charging. And that’s more chilling than it sounds. When you buy a Renault Zoe, the battery isn’t included. Instead, you sign […]
What Happens When Big Data Meets Human Resources?
November 27th, 2013In the mid 1990s, I worked for FedEx and even back then, every minute of the work day had to be accounted for by noting activity codes and times on our timesheets. At random intervals, the bean counters would light fires under our managers’ tails and the managers would get on our cases about, “Productivity.” […]
Gold Fix Drawing Scrutiny
November 26th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: Every business day in London, five banks meet to set the price of gold in a ritual that dates back to 1919. Now, dealers and economists say knowledge gleaned on those calls could give some traders an unfair advantage when buying and selling the precious metal. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority is scrutinizing […]
Software Mines Science Papers to Make New Discoveries
November 26th, 2013In other news: Majority of Landmark Cancer Studies Cannot Be Replicated. Via: MIT Technology Review: Software that read tens of thousands of research papers and then predicted new discoveries about the workings of a protein that’s key to cancer could herald a faster approach to developing new drugs. The software, developed in collaboration between IBM […]
Britain: £150 Cosy Cob Home
November 26th, 2013If this sort of thing calls to you, see: The Hand-Sculpted House: A Practical and Philosophical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage by Ianto Evans. Via: Daily Mail: Smallholder Michael Buck spent eight months constructing the house using the ancient technique of cob – building with a mixture of sand, clay, straw, water and earth. […]
