From Mashable:
Apple isn’t just a technology company. It’s increasingly becoming a luxury brand in its own right.
Apple’s sponsorship of the 2016 Met Gala and exhibition—announced last week— further underscores this shifting identity. Dubbed “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology,” the exhibition will highlight the intersection between machine-made fashion and handmade haute couture.
I sat down with Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Costume Institute Curator Andrew Bolton to talk about the gala and exhibit, how technology and fashion can work together, and the future of the two worlds.
The exhibit— which will feature more than 100 examples of haute couture and avante-garde ready-to-wear pieces — will spotlight our relationship with, and the values we bestow upon, handmade and mass-produced items, Bolton told me.
“What we find interesting,” Bolton said, is that “a lot of pieces we assume are handmade are really made by machines.”
This can disrupt the historical view by fashion elite that handmade products are more refined. Wintour — who is planning the gala along with Ive, Taylor Swift and Idris Elba — said that “traditionally, those that work in fashion have always had the point of view that items made by hand have their own aura and are something special.” The goal of the exhibit is to “show there is value in the machine and the hand.” The goal of the exhibit is to “show there is value in the machine and the hand.”
The details of the exhibit are still being worked out, but the goal, Bolton said, is to use analog and digital approaches to show off the differences among technology and techniques. “This show is really about materiality and questioning the eye in terms of the hand and the machine.”
http://mashable.com/2015/10/20/jony-ive-anna-wintour-fashion-tech/#x7_BFxxsM8q.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Nobel Prize winner Tu Youyou helped by ancient Chinese remedy
From BBC News:
Tu Youyou has become the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize, for her work in helping to create an anti-malaria medicine. The 84-year-old’s route to the honour has been anything but traditional.
She won the Nobel Prize for medicine, but she doesn’t have a medical degree or a PhD
Tu Youyou attended a pharmacology school in Beijing. Shortly after, she became a researcher at the Academy of Chinese Traditional Medicine.
In China, she is being called the “three noes” winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she’s never worked overseas.
She started her malaria research after she was recruited to a top-secret government unit known as “Mission 523”
In 1967, Communist leader Mao Zedong decided there was an urgent national need to find a cure for malaria.
At the time, malaria spread by mosquitoes was decimating Chinese soldiers fighting Americans in the jungles of northern Vietnam.
A secret research unit was formed to find a cure for the illness.
Two years later, Tu Youyou was instructed to become the new head of Mission 523. She was dispatched to the southern Chinese island of Hainan to study how malaria threatened human health.
For six months, she stayed there, leaving her four-year-old daughter at a local nursery.
Ms Tu’s husband had been sent away to work at the countryside at the height of China’s Cultural Revolution, a time of extreme political upheaval.
Ancient Chinese texts inspired Tu Youyou’s search for her Nobel-prize winning medicine.
Mission 523 pored over ancient books to find historical methods of fighting malaria.
When she started her search for an anti-malarial drug, over 240,000 compounds around the world had already been tested, without any success.
Finally, the team found a brief reference to one substance, sweet wormwood, which had been used to treat malaria in China around 400 AD.
The team isolated one active compound in wormwood, artemsinin, which appeared to battle malaria-friendly parasites.
The team then tested extracts of the compound but nothing was effective in eradicating the drug until Tu Youyou returned to the original ancient text.
After another careful reading, she tweaked the drug recipe one final time, heating the extract without allowing it to reach boiling point.
She first tested her medicine on herself to ensure it was safe
After the drug showed promising results in mice and monkeys, Tu Youyou volunteered to be the first human recipient of the new drug.
“As the head of the research group, I had the responsibility,” she explained to the Chinese media. Shortly after, clinical trials began using Chinese labourers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-34451386
Tu Youyou has become the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize, for her work in helping to create an anti-malaria medicine. The 84-year-old’s route to the honour has been anything but traditional.
She won the Nobel Prize for medicine, but she doesn’t have a medical degree or a PhD
Tu Youyou attended a pharmacology school in Beijing. Shortly after, she became a researcher at the Academy of Chinese Traditional Medicine.
In China, she is being called the “three noes” winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she’s never worked overseas.
She started her malaria research after she was recruited to a top-secret government unit known as “Mission 523”
In 1967, Communist leader Mao Zedong decided there was an urgent national need to find a cure for malaria.
At the time, malaria spread by mosquitoes was decimating Chinese soldiers fighting Americans in the jungles of northern Vietnam.
A secret research unit was formed to find a cure for the illness.
Two years later, Tu Youyou was instructed to become the new head of Mission 523. She was dispatched to the southern Chinese island of Hainan to study how malaria threatened human health.
For six months, she stayed there, leaving her four-year-old daughter at a local nursery.
Ms Tu’s husband had been sent away to work at the countryside at the height of China’s Cultural Revolution, a time of extreme political upheaval.
Ancient Chinese texts inspired Tu Youyou’s search for her Nobel-prize winning medicine.
Mission 523 pored over ancient books to find historical methods of fighting malaria.
When she started her search for an anti-malarial drug, over 240,000 compounds around the world had already been tested, without any success.
Finally, the team found a brief reference to one substance, sweet wormwood, which had been used to treat malaria in China around 400 AD.
The team isolated one active compound in wormwood, artemsinin, which appeared to battle malaria-friendly parasites.
The team then tested extracts of the compound but nothing was effective in eradicating the drug until Tu Youyou returned to the original ancient text.
After another careful reading, she tweaked the drug recipe one final time, heating the extract without allowing it to reach boiling point.
She first tested her medicine on herself to ensure it was safe
After the drug showed promising results in mice and monkeys, Tu Youyou volunteered to be the first human recipient of the new drug.
“As the head of the research group, I had the responsibility,” she explained to the Chinese media. Shortly after, clinical trials began using Chinese labourers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-34451386
Overstock Holds 3 Months Of Food, $10 Million In Gold For Employees In Preparation For The Next Collapse
From Zero Hedge:
"What do we do as a business so that we would be prepared when the next crash happens. One thing that we do that is fairly unique: we have about $10 million in gold, mostly the small button-sized coins, that we keep outside of the banking system. We expect that when there is a financial crisis there will be a banking holiday. I don't know if it will be 2 days, or 2 weeks, or 2 months. We also happen to have three months of food supply for every employee that we can live on."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-24/overstock-holds-3-months-food-10-million-gold-employees-preparation-next-collapse
"What do we do as a business so that we would be prepared when the next crash happens. One thing that we do that is fairly unique: we have about $10 million in gold, mostly the small button-sized coins, that we keep outside of the banking system. We expect that when there is a financial crisis there will be a banking holiday. I don't know if it will be 2 days, or 2 weeks, or 2 months. We also happen to have three months of food supply for every employee that we can live on."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-24/overstock-holds-3-months-food-10-million-gold-employees-preparation-next-collapse
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Global Wealth Continues to Shift, 25% of the Western World is Broke
From Zero Hedge:
Consumer debt culture has completely and utterly taken over the West. Sure, there are still those that value working hard for something and actually earning the right to own what they desire, sadly this has been proven not to be the majority.
Eastern cultures, on the other hand, still has a strong affinity for saving. They value honest money such as precious metals, and at their root they know that if you want something, you need to work for it.
This shift in culture has not been overnight, but regardless, it is here and it is here to stay until this whole fiat system comes crashing down on our heads.
The easy credit that led to the economic crisis of 2008, has clearly returned. The signs for "no credit, no problem" have once again become a staple at many retail locations and people continue to spend more than they make.
This is no secret. Yet, Western politicians and our financial elite seem completely undisturbed by the rot that exist at our society's core.
We have known that the situation is bad for over a decade, but do we truly know how bad it really is? Credit Suisse released its Global Wealth Report last week and the numbers are shocking to say the least.
The main point of the report was to show how One Percenters now own a whopping 50% of the world's wealth! This is quite unsettling and shows how out of whack the global economy has become under a fiat-based system.
Although this is an interesting fact, in my opinion, it was not the most important point taken from the article. What is even more shocking, as Simon Black of the Sovereignman reports, is the fact that there is now MORE poor people in the United States and Europe, than there are in China.
The reason for this being, as the report indicates, is that many Westerners are living with horrible debt, making their net worth negative, something that is not prevalent in much of the Eastern world.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Stanford Using Google Glass to Help Autistic Children
From Adafruit blog:
I remember reading something a while back about algorithms for face tracking with Google Glass, and I’m pleasantly surprised to see this Autism Glass Project. A group at Stanford University is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop a learning device that can be used in the home, according to TechCrunch. The hope is to teach autistic children how to recognize face gestures and match them to the appropriate emotion. Catalin Voss, founder of the project, describes these face gestures as “action units”. Imagine viewing someone’s face through Google Glass as they walk towards you. A small window in the corner would give a text readout of the emotion being viewed. The software also allows for measuring the amount and type of eye contact, which can lead to an ideal intervention for the child. This is critical since autism spectrum disorder can vary considerably from person to person.The goal here is really education, and Nick Haber, project co-founder, brings the point home, “We didn’t want this to be a prosthesis”.
Stanford isn’t the only one developing this idea. MIT also gets a mention along with Harvard for a similar Google Glass project called Empowered Brain by Brain Power. In the meantime, Google is tweaking it’s next version of Glass. I clearly remember my friends playing with the first version, and most of their kicks came from recording life events in video and checking email. So, it’s exciting to see this technology get a better workout for a cause that has many people mystified. There’s definitely room for more collaborators because it will take a village to understand this disorder. For those of you who already own a Glass, did you know you can use your own prescription glasses? Just visit our learning guide on 3D Printed Google Glass Adapter. It’s cheaper than a pair of Google glasses and you’ll feel good for being all DIY.
https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/10/21/stanford-using-google-glass-to-help-autistic-children-wearablewednesday/
I remember reading something a while back about algorithms for face tracking with Google Glass, and I’m pleasantly surprised to see this Autism Glass Project. A group at Stanford University is using machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop a learning device that can be used in the home, according to TechCrunch. The hope is to teach autistic children how to recognize face gestures and match them to the appropriate emotion. Catalin Voss, founder of the project, describes these face gestures as “action units”. Imagine viewing someone’s face through Google Glass as they walk towards you. A small window in the corner would give a text readout of the emotion being viewed. The software also allows for measuring the amount and type of eye contact, which can lead to an ideal intervention for the child. This is critical since autism spectrum disorder can vary considerably from person to person.The goal here is really education, and Nick Haber, project co-founder, brings the point home, “We didn’t want this to be a prosthesis”.
Stanford isn’t the only one developing this idea. MIT also gets a mention along with Harvard for a similar Google Glass project called Empowered Brain by Brain Power. In the meantime, Google is tweaking it’s next version of Glass. I clearly remember my friends playing with the first version, and most of their kicks came from recording life events in video and checking email. So, it’s exciting to see this technology get a better workout for a cause that has many people mystified. There’s definitely room for more collaborators because it will take a village to understand this disorder. For those of you who already own a Glass, did you know you can use your own prescription glasses? Just visit our learning guide on 3D Printed Google Glass Adapter. It’s cheaper than a pair of Google glasses and you’ll feel good for being all DIY.
https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/10/21/stanford-using-google-glass-to-help-autistic-children-wearablewednesday/
If Caterpillar's Data Is Right, This Is A Global Industrial Depression
From Zero Hedge:
Most cats bounce at least once when they die, but not this one: after CAT posted its first annual drop in retail sales in December of 2012, it has failed to see a rise in retail sales even once.
In fact, since then Caterpillar has seen 34 consecutive months of declining global sales, and 11 consecutive months of double digit declines!
Why is this important? Because a month ago we asked: "What On Earth Is Going On With Caterpillar Sales?"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-21/caterpillars-endless-pain-screams-global-depression
Most cats bounce at least once when they die, but not this one: after CAT posted its first annual drop in retail sales in December of 2012, it has failed to see a rise in retail sales even once.
In fact, since then Caterpillar has seen 34 consecutive months of declining global sales, and 11 consecutive months of double digit declines!
Why is this important? Because a month ago we asked: "What On Earth Is Going On With Caterpillar Sales?"
We have been covering the ongoing collapse in global manufacturing as tracked by Caterpillar retail sales for so long that there is nothing much to add.
Below we show the latest monthly data from CAT which is once again in negative territory across the board, but more importantly, the global headline retail drop (down another 11% in August) has been contracting for 33 consecutive months! This is not a recession; in fact the nearly 3 year constant contraction - the longest negative stretch in company history - is beyond what most economists would deem a depression.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-21/caterpillars-endless-pain-screams-global-depression
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
South Korea should not shake alliance with U.S. by favoring China too much
From The Yomiuri Shimbun:
It is vital that the United States and South Korea maintain their solid alliance, for the deterrence of North Korea’s military provocations and the regional stability of Asia. South Korea should not weaken these ties by getting too close to China.
U.S. President Barack Obama held talks with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye in Washington and they adopted a joint statement focusing on their cooperation to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.
The statement warns that additional sanctions will be imposed on Pyongyang should the country push through with launching a ballistic missile or conducting a nuclear test in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002502005
It is vital that the United States and South Korea maintain their solid alliance, for the deterrence of North Korea’s military provocations and the regional stability of Asia. South Korea should not weaken these ties by getting too close to China.
U.S. President Barack Obama held talks with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye in Washington and they adopted a joint statement focusing on their cooperation to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.
The statement warns that additional sanctions will be imposed on Pyongyang should the country push through with launching a ballistic missile or conducting a nuclear test in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002502005
How to Get Your Kid Jazzed About Math and Science
From Time:
Even if Smith didn’t spend 11 years Google (which she did) or wasn’t an early alumni of MIT’s Media Lab (which she is), she’d have a serious stake in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education policy because she’s the mother of 10 and 13-year-old boys.
Smith is capable of talking about this stuff on a level that would fry your neurons, but she also has surprisingly practical advice for how parents can get their own kids excited about learning the skills they’ll need to find jobs with our future robot overlords.
There’s a growing drumbeat around STEM education at the elementary level. Given your background, do you see this as a great, big, “Yes!”, or do you view it with more nuance than that?
One thing that’s really important is that the universe doesn’t separate subjects. Parents need to know that they face extraordinary anti-tech and anti-STEM bias around them and they need to overcome that on behalf of their kids. I’ve never met someone who said, “When I was in high school, I didn’t really get reading and writing.” But lots of people have no problem saying, “Yeah, math and science wasn’t really my thing.”
To me, that is a failing on our part in how we’re supporting teachers. Most teachers have to teach in a really retro way. No one in this country would expect children to come to a PE class and have the teacher say, “Ok, everyone sit down and open your books.” Science and math, they’re really interactive and the better way of teaching is project and active learning-based. So, how do you help kids develop muscle memory and grit and curiosity? Science is really discovery — you don’t know the answer. We’re so busy teaching children the facts that have been discovered, we don’t teach them the scientific method.
So, as a parent, what you can do early is just do projects with your kids. It doesn’t have to be a lot of set up — grow plants in your backyard. When you add a garden to an elementary school, it increases the science test scores by a significant amount.
We Need the Right to Repair Our Gadgets
From the Wall Street Journal:
We don’t have to keep buying new gadgets. In fact, we should insist on the right to keep old ones running.
Who hasn’t experienced a situation like this? Halfway through a classic Jack Lemmon DVD, my colleague Shira’s 40-inch TV conked out. Nothing showed up on the screen when she pressed the power button. The TV just hiccupped, going, “Clip-clop. Clip-clop.”
This was a great excuse to dump her old Samsung and buy a shiny new TV, right? But before heading to Best Buy, Shira gave me a call hoping for a less expensive option, not to mention one that’s better for the environment.
We ended up with a project that changed my view on our shop-till-you-drop gadget culture. We can fix more technology than we realize, but the electronics industry doesn’t want us to know that. In many ways, it’s obstructing us.
There’s a fight brewing between giant tech companies and tinkerers that could impact how we repair gadgets or choose the shop where we get it done by a pro. At issue: Who owns the knowledge required to take apart and repair TVs, phones and other electronics?
Manufacturers stop us by controlling repair plans and limiting access to parts. Some even employ digital software locks to keep us from making changes or repairs. This may not always be planned obsolescence, but it’s certainly intentional obfuscation.
Thankfully, the Internet is making it harder for them to get away with it. My first stop with Shira’s TV, a 2008 model, was Samsung itself. On its website, I registered the TV and described what was broken.
With a little googling of the TV model, I found our problem wasn’t unique: Samsung was taken to court about this exact issue, caused by a busted component called a capacitor. Samsung settled in 2012 by agreeing to extend warranties for 18 months on certain TVs, including this one. It also kept repairing the problem at no cost for a while after.
But when a Samsung support rep called back, she said they’d no longer fix the problem free. She passed me to an authorized Samsung repair shop in my area. They said they’d charge $90 for an estimate, and at least $125 plus parts for a repair. Buying a similar-size Samsung TV today costs $380. Why wouldn’t Shira just buy a new TV? She felt guilty. Even recycled e-waste can end up in toxic dumps in the developing world.
Enter Plan B: I found a ton of people talking online about this TV’s broken capacitors. There were even a few folks selling DIY repair kits. The parts cost…wait for it…$12.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/we-need-the-right-to-repair-our-gadgets-1441737868
We don’t have to keep buying new gadgets. In fact, we should insist on the right to keep old ones running.
Who hasn’t experienced a situation like this? Halfway through a classic Jack Lemmon DVD, my colleague Shira’s 40-inch TV conked out. Nothing showed up on the screen when she pressed the power button. The TV just hiccupped, going, “Clip-clop. Clip-clop.”
This was a great excuse to dump her old Samsung and buy a shiny new TV, right? But before heading to Best Buy, Shira gave me a call hoping for a less expensive option, not to mention one that’s better for the environment.
We ended up with a project that changed my view on our shop-till-you-drop gadget culture. We can fix more technology than we realize, but the electronics industry doesn’t want us to know that. In many ways, it’s obstructing us.
There’s a fight brewing between giant tech companies and tinkerers that could impact how we repair gadgets or choose the shop where we get it done by a pro. At issue: Who owns the knowledge required to take apart and repair TVs, phones and other electronics?
Manufacturers stop us by controlling repair plans and limiting access to parts. Some even employ digital software locks to keep us from making changes or repairs. This may not always be planned obsolescence, but it’s certainly intentional obfuscation.
Thankfully, the Internet is making it harder for them to get away with it. My first stop with Shira’s TV, a 2008 model, was Samsung itself. On its website, I registered the TV and described what was broken.
With a little googling of the TV model, I found our problem wasn’t unique: Samsung was taken to court about this exact issue, caused by a busted component called a capacitor. Samsung settled in 2012 by agreeing to extend warranties for 18 months on certain TVs, including this one. It also kept repairing the problem at no cost for a while after.
But when a Samsung support rep called back, she said they’d no longer fix the problem free. She passed me to an authorized Samsung repair shop in my area. They said they’d charge $90 for an estimate, and at least $125 plus parts for a repair. Buying a similar-size Samsung TV today costs $380. Why wouldn’t Shira just buy a new TV? She felt guilty. Even recycled e-waste can end up in toxic dumps in the developing world.
Enter Plan B: I found a ton of people talking online about this TV’s broken capacitors. There were even a few folks selling DIY repair kits. The parts cost…wait for it…$12.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/we-need-the-right-to-repair-our-gadgets-1441737868
Monday, October 19, 2015
Martin Luther King: The Drum Major Instinct
From Jesse's cafe:
The 'drum major instinct' according to Martin Luther King is the impulse to lead, to be praised, to be the center of attention, and to have more than others.
It can become the basis of pride and selfishness, and corrosive to society, our relationships, and our personal well being.
The 'drum major instinct' according to Martin Luther King is the impulse to lead, to be praised, to be the center of attention, and to have more than others.
It can become the basis of pride and selfishness, and corrosive to society, our relationships, and our personal well being.
Global Debt And GDP: Spot The Odd One Out
From Zero Hedge:
Actually, sorry, that was a trick headline: there is no odd one out, because when it comes to debt and GDP, it's the same around the entire world.
Source: Citi
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-18/global-debt-and-gdp-spot-odd-one-out
Actually, sorry, that was a trick headline: there is no odd one out, because when it comes to debt and GDP, it's the same around the entire world.
Source: Citi
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-18/global-debt-and-gdp-spot-odd-one-out
Undersize Me? McDonald's Franchise Owners Admit Fast Food Giant "Facing Its Final Days"
From Zero Hedge:
“We are in the throes of a deep depression, and nothing is changing,” a franchise owner wrote in response to a financial survey by Nomura Group that warned "probably 30% of operators are insolvent." One owner went as far as to speculate that McDonald’s is literally “facing its final days.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-18/undersize-me-mcdonalds-franchise-owners-admit-fast-food-giant-facing-its-final-days
“We are in the throes of a deep depression, and nothing is changing,” a franchise owner wrote in response to a financial survey by Nomura Group that warned "probably 30% of operators are insolvent." One owner went as far as to speculate that McDonald’s is literally “facing its final days.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-18/undersize-me-mcdonalds-franchise-owners-admit-fast-food-giant-facing-its-final-days
Sunday, October 18, 2015
$30 Gets You the Sensor-Packed, Curie-Powered Arduino 101
From Makezine:
Today at the Rome Maker Faire, Intel and Arduino are announcing a new board, the Arduino 101, powered by the Intel Curie module. It is scheduled to be available in the first quarter of 2016, at about $30.
(Outside of the U.S., Arduino is known as Genuino.)
Thanks to technology in the Curie, the Arduino 101 will have a 6-axis accelerometer with a gyroscope, and the hardware for Bluetooth wireless communication, in addition to the familiar input and output capabilities of the classic Arduino UNO.
Together, Intel and Arduino plan to use the cobranded board to promote their initiative, Arduino 101 in the Classroom, a computer science and design curriculum aimed at educating 11–14 year old students in emerging technologies.
http://makezine.com/2015/10/16/30-gets-you-the-sensor-packed-curie-powered-arduino-101/
Stephen Kinzer: The Brothers - Rise of Exceptionalism and Aspirations of Empire
“Exceptionalism”—the view that the United States has a right to impose its will because it knows more, sees farther, and lives on a higher moral plane than other nations—was to them not a platitude, but the organizing principle of daily life and global politics...
With a glance, a nod, and a few words, without consulting anyone other than the President, the brothers could mobilize the full power of the United States anywhere in the world."Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
China Officially Sold A Quarter Trillion Treasurys In The Past Year (Unofficially Much More) And What This Means
From Zero Hedge:
While to many Quantitative Tightening is a novel concept, the reality is that China (+ Euroclear) have been dumping Treasurys and liquidating reserves since January when total holdings peaked at $1.6 trillion last summer, and have since declined to $1.38 trillion. It means that China has sold a quarter trillion dollars worth of Treasurys in the past year, in the process offsetting what would have been about 25% of the Fed's QE3.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-17/china-officially-sold-quarter-trillion-treasurys-past-year-unofficially-much-more-an
While to many Quantitative Tightening is a novel concept, the reality is that China (+ Euroclear) have been dumping Treasurys and liquidating reserves since January when total holdings peaked at $1.6 trillion last summer, and have since declined to $1.38 trillion. It means that China has sold a quarter trillion dollars worth of Treasurys in the past year, in the process offsetting what would have been about 25% of the Fed's QE3.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-17/china-officially-sold-quarter-trillion-treasurys-past-year-unofficially-much-more-an
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Smart Running Shoe Detects Changes in Strike
From Adafruit blog:
Chrissy Glover likes running, but she doesn’t like all the injuries that come with the exercise. This summer she attended a “Sneaker Design + Wearable Technology” class offered by Rhode Island School of Design with SLEM – an international innovation and education institute for footwear located in the Netherlands. She had the opportunity to design Strike—footwear that monitors the issues encountered with gait. Here’s her description:
To create her prototype, Chrissy designed a 3D insole to contain the hardware and battery. She created a Velostat sensor in the heel pad and attached it to an Arduino GEMMA microcontroller and a piezo buzzer. This controller is small enough to fit in the cavity of the insole and also works nicely with NeoPixels, which she included on the outside of the shoe. If the runner strikes with the heel, the buzzer goes off along with red lights, warning the runner to use the forefoot to prevent injury. I like that Chrissy matched her NeoPixels in normal running mode to the color of the fabric of the sneakers. The monotone combo makes it easier to spot the red lights during a bad foot strike, and it just looks classy. She also used a sneaker with lacing on the side to prevent injury to the tendons on the top part of the foot.
https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/10/14/smart-running-shoe-detects-changes-in-strike-wearablewednesday/
Chrissy Glover likes running, but she doesn’t like all the injuries that come with the exercise. This summer she attended a “Sneaker Design + Wearable Technology” class offered by Rhode Island School of Design with SLEM – an international innovation and education institute for footwear located in the Netherlands. She had the opportunity to design Strike—footwear that monitors the issues encountered with gait. Here’s her description:
I decided to create a “smart” running shoe that would help with injury prevention and detection in three ways: by recognizing when the runner’s gait differs from their norm, a sign that they may be compensating for an injury and should take time off; suggesting a forefoot foot strike; and detecting the precise location of an injury when one strikes.
To create her prototype, Chrissy designed a 3D insole to contain the hardware and battery. She created a Velostat sensor in the heel pad and attached it to an Arduino GEMMA microcontroller and a piezo buzzer. This controller is small enough to fit in the cavity of the insole and also works nicely with NeoPixels, which she included on the outside of the shoe. If the runner strikes with the heel, the buzzer goes off along with red lights, warning the runner to use the forefoot to prevent injury. I like that Chrissy matched her NeoPixels in normal running mode to the color of the fabric of the sneakers. The monotone combo makes it easier to spot the red lights during a bad foot strike, and it just looks classy. She also used a sneaker with lacing on the side to prevent injury to the tendons on the top part of the foot.
https://blog.adafruit.com/2015/10/14/smart-running-shoe-detects-changes-in-strike-wearablewednesday/
Be Very Afraid: "The 3 EM Debacles" Loom, HSBC Warns
From Zero Hedge:
"In many ways, EM is showing similar symptoms to its DM counterparts of weak economic performance and over- reliance on credit. The outcome is what we call the three EM debacles: de-leveraging, depreciation (or devaluation even de-pegging) and downgrades of credit ratings."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-15/be-very-afraid-3-em-debacles-loom-hsbc-warns
"In many ways, EM is showing similar symptoms to its DM counterparts of weak economic performance and over- reliance on credit. The outcome is what we call the three EM debacles: de-leveraging, depreciation (or devaluation even de-pegging) and downgrades of credit ratings."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-15/be-very-afraid-3-em-debacles-loom-hsbc-warns
Monday, October 12, 2015
New Prosthetic Arms Are Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars Themed
From Makezine:
In the world of prosthetic limbs, you’ll find that there is a lot of variety. There are some that are stripped down to be as cheap as possible, others that are attempting to be nearly identical to a normal limb, and everything in between. While some people have added personal flair and decoration, these things are usually more on the subtle side.
Open Bionics, a group that focuses on making cheap and functional bionic prosthesis for as many people as possible, has just announced that they are going to be producing new prosthetic arms that are themed from popular movies. These arms stand out, draw attention, and get people excited.
The goal is to make people, especially kids, proud to wear their prosthetics. So often kids are insecure about their prosthetics. These movie themed ones are intended to bolster their confidence and make them happy to wear the devices.
"It's Over For Me" Matt Drudge Warns Public "You're A Pawn In The 'Ghetto-isation'" Of The Web
From Zero Hedge:
The very foundation of the free Internet is under severe threat from copyright laws that could ban independent media outlets, according to Matt Drudge. "I had a Supreme Court Justice tell me it’s over for me,” said Drudge, warning web users that they were being pushed "pawn-like" into the cyber "ghettos" of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-09/its-over-me-matt-drudge-warns-public-youre-pawn-ghetto-isation-web
The very foundation of the free Internet is under severe threat from copyright laws that could ban independent media outlets, according to Matt Drudge. "I had a Supreme Court Justice tell me it’s over for me,” said Drudge, warning web users that they were being pushed "pawn-like" into the cyber "ghettos" of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-09/its-over-me-matt-drudge-warns-public-youre-pawn-ghetto-isation-web
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Permanently Locking In The Obama Agenda For 40% Of The Global Economy
From Zero Hedge:
We have just witnessed one of the most significant steps toward a one world economic system that we have ever seen. Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership have been completed, and if approved it will create the largest trading bloc on the planet. In this treaty, Barack Obama has thrown in all sorts of things that he never would have been able to get through Congress otherwise. And once this treaty is approved, it will be exceedingly difficult to ever make changes to it. So essentially what is happening is that the Obama agenda is being permanently locked in for 40 percent of the global economy.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-06/trans-pacific-partnership-permanently-locking-obama-agenda-40-global-economy
We have just witnessed one of the most significant steps toward a one world economic system that we have ever seen. Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership have been completed, and if approved it will create the largest trading bloc on the planet. In this treaty, Barack Obama has thrown in all sorts of things that he never would have been able to get through Congress otherwise. And once this treaty is approved, it will be exceedingly difficult to ever make changes to it. So essentially what is happening is that the Obama agenda is being permanently locked in for 40 percent of the global economy.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-06/trans-pacific-partnership-permanently-locking-obama-agenda-40-global-economy
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
What Intel Learned from its New Reality Show for Makers
From Makezine:
Over the past couple of years, Intel has been making itself known in the Maker community, releasing products like the Edison single-board computer, and contests aimed at the DIY electronics market. During his keynote at the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced a new TV show, America’s Greatest Makers, produced by Mark Burnett (Shark Tank, Survivor, The Apprentice). The show will air in the spring of 2016, but first, 20 Makers will be selected to compete for fame and a $1 million prize.
Over the past couple of years, Intel has been making itself known in the Maker community, releasing products like the Edison single-board computer, and contests aimed at the DIY electronics market. During his keynote at the Intel Developers Forum in San Francisco, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced a new TV show, America’s Greatest Makers, produced by Mark Burnett (Shark Tank, Survivor, The Apprentice). The show will air in the spring of 2016, but first, 20 Makers will be selected to compete for fame and a $1 million prize.
What did you learn from last year’s competition?
We learned a lot on the product side. It was a bit more difficult than we wanted for people to build with Edison. We are targeting Curie [Intel’s new button-sized compute module with the Quark System-on-Chip, Bluetooth radio, and a six-axis sensor] for this competition, and we’re really making sure all the software is ready. This platform will be much more robust.
We’ve improved Edison quite a bit between when it first came out and now. We’ve tried to take all that learning and carry it forward into Curie.
http://makezine.com/2015/10/05/intel-new-reality-show-makers/
Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Struck As "Corporate Secrecy" Wins Again
From Zero Hedge:
Once again the corporatocracy wins as the so-called "Trojan horse" Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement has been finalized. As WSJ reports, the U.S., Japan and 10 countries around the Pacific reached a historic accord Monday to lower trade barriers to goods and services and set commercial rules of the road for two-fifths of the global economy, officials said.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-05/trans-pacific-partnership-deal-struck-corporate-secrecy-wins-again
Once again the corporatocracy wins as the so-called "Trojan horse" Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement has been finalized. As WSJ reports, the U.S., Japan and 10 countries around the Pacific reached a historic accord Monday to lower trade barriers to goods and services and set commercial rules of the road for two-fifths of the global economy, officials said.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-05/trans-pacific-partnership-deal-struck-corporate-secrecy-wins-again
Sunday, October 4, 2015
RoboCab: Driverless Taxi Experiment to Start in Japan
From WSJ:
From the country where hotels are operated by robots and androids serve as clerks at department stores comes the latest unmanned project: the robot cab.
Japan’s cabinet office, Kanagawa prefecture and Robot Taxi Inc. on Thursday said they will start experimenting with unmanned taxi service beginning in 2016. The service will be offered for approximately 50 people in Kanagawa prefecture, just south of Tokyo, with the auto-driving car carrying them from their homes to local grocery stores.
According to the project organizers, the cabs will drive a distance of about three kilometers (two miles), and part of the course will be on major avenues in the city. Crew members will be aboard the car during the experiment in case there is a need to avoid accidents.
Robot Taxi Inc., a joint venture between mobile Internet company DeNA Co. and vehicle technology developer ZMP Inc., is aiming to commercialize its driverless transportation service by 2020. The company says it will seek to offer unmanned cabs to users including travelers from overseas and locals in areas where buses and trains are not available.
The project is a part of the government’s effort to promote innovation and startup businesses.
Among companies trying to turn driverless cars into business is Google Inc., which started testing its system in Texas in July.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/10/01/robocab-driverless-taxi-experiment-to-start-in-japan/?mod=e2tw
From the country where hotels are operated by robots and androids serve as clerks at department stores comes the latest unmanned project: the robot cab.
Japan’s cabinet office, Kanagawa prefecture and Robot Taxi Inc. on Thursday said they will start experimenting with unmanned taxi service beginning in 2016. The service will be offered for approximately 50 people in Kanagawa prefecture, just south of Tokyo, with the auto-driving car carrying them from their homes to local grocery stores.
According to the project organizers, the cabs will drive a distance of about three kilometers (two miles), and part of the course will be on major avenues in the city. Crew members will be aboard the car during the experiment in case there is a need to avoid accidents.
Robot Taxi Inc., a joint venture between mobile Internet company DeNA Co. and vehicle technology developer ZMP Inc., is aiming to commercialize its driverless transportation service by 2020. The company says it will seek to offer unmanned cabs to users including travelers from overseas and locals in areas where buses and trains are not available.
The project is a part of the government’s effort to promote innovation and startup businesses.
Among companies trying to turn driverless cars into business is Google Inc., which started testing its system in Texas in July.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/10/01/robocab-driverless-taxi-experiment-to-start-in-japan/?mod=e2tw
Thursday, October 1, 2015
This Is The Endgame, According To Deutsche Bank
From Zero Hedge:
"The system failed in 2008/09 and rather than allow a proper creative destruction cleansing, policy makers have been aggressively propping it up ever since. We think the end game is that when the next global recession hits, then QE/zero rate world will be re-appraised."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-01/endgame-according-deutsche-bank
"The system failed in 2008/09 and rather than allow a proper creative destruction cleansing, policy makers have been aggressively propping it up ever since. We think the end game is that when the next global recession hits, then QE/zero rate world will be re-appraised."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-01/endgame-according-deutsche-bank
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