Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Atelier Kastelic Buffey design folding library near Toronto

What a lovely, practical idea!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

From Dezeen:

AKB Story Pod Toronto dezeen 936 11

This miniature wooden library for a Toronto suburb is designed to provide a public reading nook and book exchange, and folds into a box at night for security

http://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/17/atelier-kastelic-buffey-miniature-library-plywood-box-story-pod-toronto-canada/

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

NY Times: Kim Young-sam, South Korean President Who Opposed Military, Dies at 87

The former president Kim Young-sam is a critical figure in the Korean history.  He led Korea in transition period.  I was rewriting his policies including the globalization policy last week for my book.  I'd like to share his legacy on this blog down the road.

From NY Times:

Kim Young-sam, the former president of South Korea who replaced the last of the country’s military leaders, purged politicized generals and introduced a landmark reform aimed at transparency in financial transactions, died on Sunday in Seoul. He was 87.


Although he won with the support of the military-backed party, Mr. Kim did not forget his roots. He purged a clique of politically ambitious army officers who went by the name Hanahoe, which roughly meant “an association of one-for-all, all-for-one.” The officers were forced to retire.
Mr. Kim’s purge culminated in the arrest and conviction of Mr. Chun and Mr. Roh on mutiny and corruption charges for their roles in the 1979 coup and a bloody crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising the following year, as well as for collecting hundreds of millions of dollars each in bribes from businessmen. (Mr. Kim later pardoned them and released them from prison.)
Mr. Kim also barred South Koreans from owning bank accounts under pseudonyms. That change is considered a critical step in South Korea’s long-running campaign against corruption; bank accounts under borrowed names had been widely used by politicians and businessmen to hide slush funds.
In 1997, South Korea swallowed the humiliation of a $58 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis. Mr. Kim was criticized for failing to prevent the crisis by overhauling the country’s powerful family-run conglomerates.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/world/asia/kim-young-sam-former-president-of-south-korea-dies-at-87.html?_r=0

Sunday, November 22, 2015

"And I saw one like a Son of man, coming on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship over all peoples, nations, and languages. His dominion is everlasting and shall not be taken away. His kingship shall not be destroyed."
Daniel 7:13-14

Make: Opens First Pop-Up Store in Union Square in San Francisco

From Marketwired:

Make: Opens First Pop-Up Store in Union Square in San Francisco
Make: Holiday Store Offers Hands-On Experience With Curated Selection of Products for Gift-Giving
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwired – Nov 20, 2015) – Maker Media, leader of the Maker movement, publisher of Make: magazine, and producer of the popular Maker Faires, opens the doors of its first pop-up store location this weekend at 345 Sutter Street, in the epicenter of holiday shopping in the Bay Area — San Francisco’s iconic Union Square.
“We’re really excited to bring a selection of our most popular products to a physical location where new consumers can be exposed to the thrill of making, and our offering of DIY electronics, kits and books that facilitate finding your inner Maker,” said Maker Media CEO Gregg Brockway. “Opening the Make: Store for the holidays enables people to see, touch, and experience a range of products from 3D printers to soldering irons, Arduino and Raspberry Pi, robotics, and drones.”
Like the online Maker Shed, the physical Make: Store location offers a curated selection of drones, DIY kits, 3D printers, robotics, microcontrollers, Make: books, and tools — as well as Make: branded merchandise — perfect for Makers of every level, from kids to the skilled expert. Located in the heart of Union Square, the Make: Store features a DIY self-gift wrapping station, author talks, “ask a maker,” interactive workshops, and product and kit demonstrations.
“We organized the 2,600-square-foot space around the theme of ‘gifts that matter,’ with the hope that we are encouraging people to give presents that are fun and challenging and embrace learning versus whatever the current Furby or Tickle Me Elmo is for the holidays,” said Sonia Wong, Maker Media’s general manager of commerce.

Following on the success of its pop-up stores at Make: flagship and featured Maker Faires around the country, Brockway wants to capture the magic — and the message — of the Maker Movement in time for the holidays.
“Maker Faire is such an incredible hands-on experience, but it doesn’t happen every day,” said Brockway. “We wanted to host a physical space to highlight the best of the Maker Movement outside of the Faires, so we created the Make: Store as a way to introduce and inspire more people to get involved with Making by using their minds and creativity.”

As the pulse of the Maker Movement, Make: highlights the best products, kits, and tools in its pop-up store. Store merchandising not only focuses on traditional tech and DIY products typically tied to the Maker Movement, but also features new products from up-and-coming Makers in categories such as craft, DIY, and toys.

The Make: Store is located at 345 Sutter Street, between Stockton and Grant, in San Francisco, CA. Store hours are Monday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day. Store email is customercare@makermedia.com. To learn more, visit
http://bit.ly/makestore.
About MAKER MEDIA
Maker Media is a global platform for connecting makers with each other, with products and services, and with our partners. Through media, events and ecommerce, Maker Media serves a growing community of makers who bring a DIY mindset to technology. Whether as hobbyists or professionals, makers are creative, resourceful and curious, developing projects that demonstrate how they can interact with the world around them. The launch of Make: magazine in 2005, followed by Maker Faire in 2006, jumpstarted a worldwide Maker Movement, which is transforming innovation, culture and education. Headquartered in San Francisco, Maker Media is the publisher of Make: magazine and the producer of Maker Faire. It also develops “getting started” kits and books that are sold in its Maker Shed store as well as in retail channels. The Make: brand caters to a universe of more than 25 million makers collectively across its Make: magazine, makezine.com, Maker Faires, and Maker Shed properties.

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/make-opens-first-pop-up-store-in-union-square-in-san-francisco-2075908.htm

Eye-Tracking Wheelchair Control Design Wins Hackaday Prize

From Makezine:

This past weekend Eyedrivomatic won the Hackaday Prize, a contest which called for Makers to build a project that would effect positive change in the world. The Eyedrivomatic is an Arduino Uno based system that augments eye tracking software to physically control a motorized wheelchair. The winning team of Patrick Joyce, Steve Evans, and David Hopkinson get to choose whether they want to go to space or take the cash equivalent of $196,883. This project is especially compelling because two of the team members — Joyce and Evans — use this device to control their own motorized wheelchairs.


HOW IT WORKS


A software package called Eyegaze enables subtle eye movements to control special computer software. Most commonly this is used for text-to-speech technology. Eyedrivomatic extends the functionality of the Eyegaze software package. It allows users to control their motorized wheelchairs in the same way they interact with Eyegaze.
The hardware build of the project is an Arduino Uno connected to a relay shield and a servo controller shield. A 3D printed enclosure aligns the servos to behave as a joystick control to the wheelchair for manual control. A sketch loaded on the Arduino coordinates the eye movements from Eyedrivomatic with movement of the two servos.
The project is open source with STL files for 3D printing and source code for the Arduino.
http://makezine.com/2015/11/19/eye-tracking-wheelchair-control-design-wins-hackaday-prize/

신흥국 기업 부채, 글로벌 경제위기 뇌관되나

We saw this coming.  Financial globalization has been going on.  Who is directing it?  And financial crisis is not just economic crisis.

연합뉴스로부터:

신흥국 기업 부채가 글로벌 경제위기의 뇌관으로 지목되고 있다.
신흥국의 부채는 2008년 글로벌 금융위기와 2010년 유럽 재정위기 이후 미국과 일본, 유럽연합(EU) 등 세계 경제대국들이 대대적으로 돈을 풀면서 급격히 불어났다. 이런 상황에서 미국이 연내 금리인상을 재개한다면 신흥국들이 어려움에 부닥칠 가능성이 크다.
특히, 신흥국 기업들은 중국의 성장둔화와 원자재 가격 급락으로 이미 경제사정이 어려운 상태인데, 금리정상화까지 시작된다면 원리금 상환압박과 신용경색, 채무불이행 등에 직면할 수 있다.
골드만삭스는 최근 '제3의 물결'이라는 제목의 보고서에서 "2008년 미국 금융위기와 2010년 유럽 재정위기에 이어 신흥국에 제3 위기의 물결이 닥치고 있다"면서 "이는 원자재 시장의 붕괴와 신흥시장의 약세, 중국의 경기둔화의 신흥시장으로의 확산 등의 형태를 띄고 있다"고 지적했다.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

China's "Minksy Moment" - $1.2 Trillion In Ponzi Financing

From Zero Hedge:

“Some Chinese firms have entered the Ponzi stage because return on investment has come down very fast. As a result, leverage will be rising and zombie companies increasing.”
As Bloomberg reports, Chinese borrowers are set to take out some CNY7.6 trillion in new loans this year just to pay interest on their existing borrowings. That's according to Beijing-based Hua Chuang Securities Co., whose data Bloomberg used to construct the following chart:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-19/chinas-minksy-moment-12-trillion-ponzi-financing

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

An insider's guide to Shenzhen manufacturing

From Makezine:

The Chinese have a saying: “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white as long as it can catch mice.” While often attributed to the late Chinese leader and architect of economic reform, Deng Xiaoping, it is older. But it is fitting that people attribute it to Xiaoping because it was his push for a more pragmatic, results-based approach to economics and politics that gave birth to the mutant urban marvel that is Shenzhen, a southern Chinese city that’s become not only a global mass market electronics manufacturing juggernaut, but also a place where tiny startups flock to incubate their products and get them to market as quickly and inexpensively as possible.
“The world’s tech incubator,” “Silicon Valley for hardware,” “the electronics capital of the world,” “mecca for Makers,” “‘easy’ China,” “a sprawling electronics ecosystem,” and “the Digi-Key catalog meets Blade Runner” — these are just some of the ways that Shenzhen has been characterized. If you’ve spent any time in Maker circles, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Shenzhen and how it’s apparently some sort of Shangri-La for hardware startups. So what actually makes it such a unique and valuable location, prone to such breathless labels?
Doing business in China, or, God forbid, moving to China to be closer to your factories and suppliers (which many of the people we talked to ended up doing) can open Makers to severe criticism. Makers inevitably get asked pointed questions about taking work out of the U.S., and about labor and environmental concerns. “I get asked why I don’t promote ‘Made in the USA’ a lot,” says Akiba. “I think that corporate America created this problem about two decades ago when ‘management gurus’ and Harvard Business Review writers started telling companies to focus on their core competencies and outsource everything else to low-wage countries like China. One thing those managers didn’t understand was that the employees in their companies, with a detailed understanding of their manufacturing process and its quirks, were some of their core competencies. It’s sad that most corporations in the U.S. — especially in the Bay Area — gave all of that up, and in the process, depleted the manufacturing ecosystem there, as suppliers, equipment Makers, and the like either disappeared or moved to where that manufacturing was still happening.”
shenzhen2014--436
Rows of pick-and-place machines in a Shenzhen factory.

Huang also emphasizes the often-overlooked importance of this support infrastructure that surrounds any world manufacturing center. “Manufacturing implies an entire ecosystem of suppliers, repair technicians, jobbers, shipping and delivery services, etc.,” he says. To illustrate what makes Shenzhen so unique, he shared a story at the 2013 Shanghai Maker Carnival: “I’m in my apartment, in Huaqiangbei, and I get a call early in the morning. My factory is short of transistors. So I get up, walk downstairs, buy 3,000 transistors on the street, walk over to the factory, thread it into the reel on the line, and two hours later, the line’s up and running again.” In another city or situation, he says, your factory would be down for maybe 24 hours. Those 24-hour delays begin to mount and seriously slow delivery of your product.
http://makezine.com/2015/06/15/making-in-shenzhen/

Apple to power Singapore operations with renewable energy

From Reuters:

Starting in January, solar energy developer Sunseap Group will provide Apple with 100 percent renewable electricity from its portfolio of solar energy systems built atop more than 800 buildings in Singapore.
The deal will make Apple the first company in Singapore to run exclusively on renewable energy and marks a significant step in its bid to power 100 percent of its facilities and operations worldwide with clean fuel….
Jackson said in an interview with Reuters that the project was a model in “urban greening” and said it would allow Singaporeans “to get access to energy while we meet our own renewable energy goals.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/15/apple-singapore-energy-idUSL1N13830420151115#oYXJFEhJDxbMmrkg.97

Art at the heart of Canada: Ottawa maker faire gets crafty

From Makezine:

Last weekend was a good weekend in Ottawa, Canada. The brand new government was promising hope in the nation’s capital, the Redblacks clinched the East Division title, the Ottawa Fury scored in overtime to send the team to the NASL final next week, and Canada’s first feature Maker Faire showed off creativity and innovation to a record number of attendees.
Art and design are central to the maker movement for this reason: they are how we express our passions, and our passion is what feeds the excitement in others and inspires the next generation of Makers. To me, going to a Maker Faire has always been a journey of discovery and adventure — and there is no better way to “show and tell” than at a maker faire.
Here are a few of the things we saw:
  • A robot that tries to feed participants, sometimes rather awkwardly. I liked how it seemed to be telling the story of our sometimes awkward relationship with technology. Does technology attempt to do too much? Are we becoming dependent at the same time we are achieving so much?
  • One art piece was simply a fork scratching a ceramic plate on a turntable. What is it about that sound that drives us crazy?http://makezine.com/2015/11/17/art-at-the-heart-of-canada-ottawa-maker-faire-gets-crafty/

Nina Eichacker: Lessons from Iceland’s Financial Crisis

From Naked Capitalism:

A look at Iceland’s financial crisis, why it happened and what can be done to mitigate the potential for similar chaos in the future.

Iceland’s 2008 financial crisis should have been foreseen. By 2006, banking and economic data described an overheating financial sector and aggregate economy, and analyses by private and public researchers had reports describing those trends and their likely consequences. However, many were still surprised by the onset of Iceland’s large financial crisis. These events point to the dominance of neoliberal theories about the necessity of financial liberalization, and an assumption that a northern European country would have the institutional sophistication to avoid financial crises like those observed in developing countries that rapidly liberalize their financial sectors. A wider adherence to Keynesian and Minskyian theories of financial crisis would have helped predict Iceland’s crisis, and future such episodes.

One factor that contributed to the Icelandic financial crisis was the lack of financial market transparency...

 http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/11/nina-eichacker-lessons-from-icelands-financial-crisis.html

국내 2천대 기업 5.9%에 '위험 경고등' 들어왔다

연합뉴스로부터:

국내 2천대 기업 가운데 약 5.9%인 117개사가 부채비율 200% 이상, 영업손실, 당기순손실 등 3대 악재에 직면해 '위험 경고등'이 들어온 것으로 나타났다.
또 IMF 외환위기 직전인 1996년보다 영업손실, 당기순손실을 낸 기업 비중이 늘어났다.
 
부채비율 200% 이상 기업 중 대기업은 76곳, 중견기업은 39곳이고 중소기업이 180곳이었다. 업종별로는 건설업이 45곳으로 최다. 전자(41곳), 무역·유통업(28곳), 기계(23곳) 등도 많은 편이었다.
2천대 기업 중 영업손실을 본 기업은 494개사(24.7%)로 나타났다. 영업이익은 올렸지만 당기순손실을 기록한 기업은 616곳(30.8%)으로 더 많았다.
 

Sunday, November 15, 2015

"Concerning the times and the season, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you know well that a reckoning may come like a thief in the night. When people are saying, 'At last we have peace and prosperity,' then suddenly disaster comes, and they will be swept away. But you are not in darkness, for that day to catch you unawares. For all of you are children of the light, not of the darkness of night. Let us then abide, and be watchful."
1 Thess 5:1-5

Samsung creates a “Transparent” Truck to curb traffic accidents!

From Adweek:



Jumping behind the wheel in Argentina can sometimes be a dangerous experience. Because the country is striped with narrow two-lane roads, cars often pull into oncoming traffic hoping to overtake slower-moving trucks. This risky maneuver contributes to a shocking statistic: In Argentina, traffic accidents kill one person every hour.
Faced with this alarming reality, Samsung and its agency Leo Burnett Argentina set out on a bold mission to curtail the number of traffic-related deaths caused on those dangerous roads. Fusing Samsung’s technology with Leo Burnett’s creative prowess, the duo landed on Samsung trucks as the perfect vehicle, so to speak, for a campaign that had the potential to save lives as it showcased cutting-edge technology.


http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/samsungs-life-saving-truck-screens-take-top-honors-adweeks-isaac-awards-167037

The French Campaign Begins: Hollande Launches "Massive Bombardment" Of ISIS Capital

From Zero Hedge:

It wasn't hard to guess whose planes were carrying out the strikes. As we noted ten days ago, in a statement by the French presidency following a meeting of its defense cabinet, the government said it would send its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle warship, to the eastern Mediterranean for operations against Isis in both Syria and Iraq. And as you might imagine, that's not the only place Paris has warplanes stationed in the region.
Just yesterday we said that with the only French aircraft carrier already en route to Syria, meant to support to mission against Assad ISIS, France is oddly prepared for an all out attack to take out the Syrian president. Most importantly, it now has the outraged, incensed public's blessing to do just that.
Sure enough, we just got confirmation that France, with the help of US intelligence, has commenced a "major" bombing campaign against Raqqa.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-15/french-campaign-begins-hollande-launches-massive-bombardment-isis-capital

For The First Time Ever, Japan Enters A Quintuple-Dip Recession (Courtesy Of Abenomics)

From Zero Hedge:

For The First Time Ever, Japan Enters A Quintuple-Dip Recession (Courtesy Of Abenomics)

Because nothing says 'successful monetary policy' like 5 'technical' recessions in 5 years...
Japan 3Q GDP Falls Annualized 0.8% Q/q; Est. -0.2%


As if this was not bad enough, Japanese business spending dropped 1.3% QoQ - its worst drop since Q2 2014...

And finally - what is working...


Charts: Bloomberg

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-15/first-time-ever-japan-enters-quintuple-dip-recession-courtesy-abenomics

Stiglitz: TPP Is an Anti-Democratic Law For the Benefit of Corporations, Not a Trade Agreement

From Jesse's Cafe:

When you have corporations having a very short-sighted view, paying their CEOs such outrageous monies with less money spent on investment, of course you’re not going to make long-term investments that are going to result in long-term economic growth.

And at the same time, there’s going to be less money to pay for ordinary workers. And paying that low wages to ordinary workers, not giving them security, not giving them paid, you know, family leave, all that results in a less productive labor force.

So what we’ve done is we’ve actually undermined investments in people, investments in the corporation, all for the sake of increasing the income of the people at the very top. So there’s a really close link here between the growing inequality in our society and the weak economic performance.”

Joseph Stiglitz
Stiglitz tends to excuse Obama at some point and blames the Republicans, I think he is being naive at best, wrong-headedly kind perhaps to one of the worst betrayals of a public mandate for reform in American history.

Obama is, at the end of the day, a corporate brand, a clever vehicle to attract and divert reform-hungry Americans who are tired of being misused and lied to. He has betrayed his supporters at every key turn and on every major political and social issue from financial reform to healthcare.


http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2015/11/stiglitz-tpp-is-anti-democratic-bill.html

Nomi Prins: Crony Capitalism and Corruption - An Entirely Rigged Political-Financial System

From Jesse's cafe:

I think you would do well to watch this video below.
Too big to fail is a seven-year phenomenon created by the most powerful central banks to bolster the largest, most politically connected US and European banks. More than that, it’s a global concern predicated on that handful of private banks controlling too much market share and elite central banks infusing them with boatloads of cheap capital and other aid.

Synthetic bank and market subsidization disguised as ‘monetary policy’ has spawned artificial asset and debt bubbles - everywhere. The most rapacious speculative capital and associated risk flows from these power-players to the least protected, or least regulated, locales.

There is no such thing as isolated 'Big Bank' problems. Rather, complex products, risky practices, leverage and co-dependent transactions have contagion ramifications, particularly in emerging markets whose histories are already lined with disproportionate shares of debt, interest rate and currency related travails.

The notion of free markets, mechanisms where buyers and sellers can meet to exchange securities or various kinds of goods, in which each participant has access to the same information, is a fallacy. Transparency in trading across global financial markets is a fallacy. Not only are markets rigged by, and for, the biggest players, so is the entire political-financial system.

The connection between democracy and free markets is interesting though. Democracy is predicated on the idea that every vote counts equally, and in the utopian perspective, the government adopts policies that benefit or adhere to the majority of those votes. In fact, it's the minority of elite families and private individuals that exercise the most control over America's policies and actions.

The myth of a free market is that every trader or participant is equal, when in fact the biggest players with access to the most information and technology are the ones that have a disproportionate advantage over the smaller players. What we have is a plutocracy of government and markets. The privileged few don't care, or need to care, about democracy any more than they would ever want to have truly "free" markets, though what they do want are markets liberated from as many regulations as possible. In practice, that leads to huge inherent risk.

Michael Lewis' latest book on high frequency trading seems to have struck some sort of a national chord. Yet what he writes about is the mere tip of the iceberg covered in my book. He's talking about rigged markets - which have been a problem since small investors began investing with the big boys, believing they had an equal shot.

I'm talking about an entirely rigged political-financial system.
 http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2015/11/nomi-prins-wall-street-imperial.html

Friday, November 13, 2015

Innovation and Tradition Blend at the First Beijing Mini Maker Faire

From Makezine:

For me, the most interesting highlight came from the blend of Western innovation and Chinese tradition.

The Faire had four sections: exhibits, forums, stage performances, and workshops. Each section featured a mixture of new and old, like a small robot from Intel and some Chinese traditional handicrafts, such as candy blowing using brown sugar dough to create candy figurines. Arduino and 3D printing exhibits were featured along with Chinese silk embroidery. Exhibits for virtual reality glasses stood side by side with face painting from the Beijing (Peking) Opera.
Western innovation was very popular because some of the Chinese exhibitors were able to apply some of the Western designs and material choices into traditional Chinese styles in jewelry. These exhibits had the largest crowds, so there’s a clear connection for the Chinese consumer to these new ideas, and I am really interested in seeing how this develops in the future.

http://makezine.com/2015/11/13/innovation-and-tradition-blend-at-the-first-beijing-mini-maker-faire/

6 Ways Parents Can Introduce Their Kids to Coding

From  Mental Floss:

You don’t need an expensive computer to start coding. Our 11-year-old son has a Raspberry Pi, a $35 computer that’s about the size of a credit card. He hooked it up to an old keyboard, an old mouse, and our family television set. We installed a Raspberry Pi–specific operating system called Raspbian, which includes the programming language Python. Now he’s teaching himself Python on his Raspberry Pi by watching YouTube tutorials.

Here are six strategies I’ve used with my own kids.

1. EXPLAIN CODING IN SIMPLE TERMS.
2. USE GAMES.
3. GET ARTISTIC.
4. UNLEASH THE ROBOTS.
5. START SMALL.
6. DON'T FREAK OUT.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/69006/6-ways-parents-can-introduce-their-kids-coding

How Ireland became an offshore financial center

From Naked Capitalism:

Offshore financial centres are a political and economic phenomenon that goes far beyond secrecy, and Ireland makes a remarkable case study.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/11/how-ireland-became-an-offshore-financial-center.html

"복제약 시대는 갔다" 겁 없는 신약 도전

서울신문으로부터:

복제약 생산과 판매에만 머물던 국내 제약업체들이 최소 10년 이상, 많게는 수조원 대 투자가 진행돼야 하는 신약 개발에 뛰어들고 있다. 불과 1년도 되지 않아 7조 6000억원의 ‘수주 잿팟’을 떠뜨린 한미약품의 성공신화에 자극받았기 때문이다. 한미약품의 성공을 계기로 각 업체들이 위험성을 감수하고서라도 신약 개발에 눈을 돌리고 있는 실정이다. 제약업계의 이런 변화는 그동안 자동차, 철강, 전자 등 ‘중후장대’ 산업에 몰두하던 모습에서 21세기에 걸맞은 새로운 먹거리를 찾았다는 신호탄이기도 한 셈이다.


 

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Sensors and data dominate the Cleveland medical hackathon

From Makezine:

Nothing defies people’s expectations about Cleveland as a rustbelt city more than the fact that it is one of the nation’s top centers for healthcare and medical research. The world-famous Cleveland Clinic certainly contributes to this reputation, but University Hospitals and MetroHealth systems also consistently earn high ratings for patient care and innovation — joining other hospitals, medical schools, and bioscience incubators (e.g., BioEnterpriseHealth Tech Corridor). Cleveland’s healthcare sector has grown over 20% in the past 15 years, making it the area’s largest growth sector employing over 177,000 people in a region of just over 3 million.

As part of the community health and wellness track, competitors were encouraged to use local community health data made available at Health Data Matters to create solutions focused on ways that social, economic, environmental, and behavioral factors affect health. Could records from a half million phone calls that have come in to the United Way 2-1-1 Call for Help line and from more than 30,000 deaths examined by the Office of the Medical Examiner enable us to better meet residents’ needs or to predict changing health trends? Sheon helped garner participation from public health departments, experts, and community health advocates in addition to the techies, docs, and nurses attending.
I wish I could tell the story of every one of the 21 projects that came out of the event (see a full list here), but the first place winner (IQ Sensor Solutions) demonstrates how the worlds of engineering and medicine can come together to create something unexpected and exciting.
IQ Sensors is a wearable blood pressure monitor that utilizes a flexible 3D printed nano-tube sensor to measure stretch, force, and/or temperature. It has been in research & development for the last four years at the University of Akron.
IMG_2970
The IQ Sensors hackathon team set out to measure blood pressure through a wearable device that a patient could put on their arm. The flexible sensor would mimic a traditional sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) and then send real-time blood pressure readings to an app. The sensor and electronic components are mounted on the bicep, eliminating the need of an airbag.
http://makezine.com/2015/11/12/sensors-and-data-dominate-the-cleveland-medical-hackathon/

Four US Firms With $4.8 Billion In Debt Warned This Week They May Default Any Minute

From Zero Hedge:

The last 3 days have seen the biggest surge in US energy credit risk since December 2014, blasting back above 1000bps. This should not be a total surprise since underlying oil prices continue to languish in "not cash-flow positive" territory for many shale producers, but, as Bloomberg reports, the industry is bracing for a wave of failures as investors that were stung by bets on an improving market earlier this year try to stay away from the sector. "It’s been eerily silent," in energy credit markets, warns one bond manager, "no one is putting up new capital here."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-11/energy-credit-risk-spikes-back-above-1000bps-no-one-putting-new-capital-here

Monday, November 9, 2015

The New Apple TV Invigorates the Set-Top Box

From the New York Times:

NewImage

I NEVER imagined I would get hooked on reading comic books on a TV screen. That changed last week after I picked up a new Apple TV.
The new device, which is similar to a set-top box and brings video and music from the Internet to a television, now has an app store. So I downloaded Madefire, one of the first apps available for the new device. Madefire adds a twist to digital comics with sound effects, music and motion, bringing the panels to life on the big screen. Within minutes, I was bingeing on a series about Superman turning into a corrupt dictator.
Playing with apps is just one new feature of the revamped Apple TV, which will ship this week. It’s that plethora of innovations and apps that leads me to conclude that the upgraded $149 box is now the best TV streaming device you can get for your money.
You can trust me because after testing hundreds of new devices for nearly a decade in this line of work, I’m usually blasé about products. My editor was concerned that body snatchers had taken me when I said I was positive about Apple TV. But I reserve excitement for products that I think will make a difference, this being one of them.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/technology/personaltech/the-new-apple-tv-invigorates-the-set-top-box.html?emc=edit_ct_20151029&nl=personaltech&nlid=65800381&_r=2&referer=

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Diagnose cancer with a smartphone

From Mobileodt:



MobileODT is driven by a mission: to deliver affordable, practical healthcare innovation and make a difference in the world. Now. We do it through the creation of breakthrough optical diagnostic devices and software services focused on early cancer detection and, soon, a range of other medical purposes. We deliver it at a cost that enables rapid uptake and wide utilization everywhere, but particularly in low-resource settings, where the need is most acute and the impact can be immediate.

https://www.mobileodt.com/about.html

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

OpenBCI Launches New, Hackable Brain Computer Interface

From Makezine:

They also announced the Ultracortex Mark IV​, a 3D printable headset designed to hold electrodes for electrical measurements by the Ganglion. Unlike existing devices that accomplish similar data acquisition, the Ganglion and Ultracortex Mark IV are open source (hardware and software), supported by an active user community, and lower in cost by thousands of dollars.
This means whether you want to record brainwaves for research purposes or create a brain-computer interface between five friends and a flying shark, it is possible and even affordable. 

http://makezine.com/2015/11/03/openbci-launches-new-hackable-brain-computer-interface/

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

No more books: Artificially intelligent software replacing the textbook

From Slate:

151023 Sketch computerclass 590 gif CROP original original

Whelan, the instructor, does not lecture. What would be the point, when no two students are studying the same thing? Instead, she serves as a sort of roving tutor, moving from one student to the next as they call on her for help. A teaching assistant is also on call to help those who get stuck or to verify that they’re ready to take their next test. As the students work, the software logs everything from which questions they get right and wrong to the amount of time they spend on each one. When Whelan’s online dashboard tells her that several are struggling with the same concept, she’ll assemble those students and work through some problems as a small group. It’s teaching as triage.
The result is a classroom experience starkly different from the model that has dominated American education for the past 100 years. In a conventional classroom, an instructor stands behind a lectern or in front of a whiteboard and says the same thing at the same time to a roomful of very different individuals. Some have no idea what she’s talking about. Others, knowing the material cold, are bored. In the middle are a handful who are at just the right point in their progress for the lecture to strike them as both comprehensible and interesting. When the bell rings, the teacher sends them all home to read the same chapter of the same textbook.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2015/10/adaptive_learning_software_is_replacing_textbooks_and_upending_american.html

한은 "가계 빚 GDP의 73%..월평균 6조3천억 증가"

We saw this coming.

KBS로부터:


저금리 추세로 가계 빚이 빠르게 늘면서 국내총생산 대비 가계부채 비중이 73%에 육박하는 것으로 나타났습니다.
한국은행이 국회에 제출한 통화신용정책보고서를 보면 명목 GDP 대비 가계신용 비율은 지난해 2분기 70.2%에서 올해 2분기 72.9%로 1년 새 2.7%포인트 올랐습니다.
특히 최근 1년간 은행의 가계대출 증가액은 월평균 6조 3천억 원으로 2012년 1월부터 2014년 8월까지의 월평균 1조 8천억 원을 크게 웃돌았습니다.
한은이 지난해 8월 이후 0.25%포인트씩 네 차례에 걸쳐 기준금리를 사상 최저 수준인 연 1.5%로 내리면서 주택담보대출을 중심으로 가계대출이 크게 늘어났기 때문으로 분석됩니다.
한은은 가계나 기업에서 일정한 정도의 부실이 있더라도 금융기관의 충격 흡수력이 어느 정도 있다고 본다면서도 가계 부채 상황을 면밀히 점검하겠다고 밝혔습니다.

Monday, November 2, 2015

First They Jailed The Bankers, Now Every Icelander To Get Paid Back In Bank Sale

From Zero Hedge:

First, Iceland jailed its crooked bankers for their direct involvement in the financial crisis of 2008. Now, every Icelander will receive a payout for the sale of one of its three largest banks, Íslandsbanki.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-30/first-they-jailed-bankers-now-every-icelander-get-paid-back-bank-sale

다 꺼낸 내수카드.. 2016년 1분기 소비절벽 우려

동아일보로부터:


수출 부진이 계속되면서 정부는 3분기(7∼9월)에 이어 4분기(10∼12월)에도 내수 살리기에 다걸기(올인)하고 있다. 하지만 수출이 살아날 기미가 없고 내수만으로 성장률을 끌어올리는 데 한계를 보이자 내년 경제를 걱정하는 목소리가 커지고 있다. 내년 초부터 소비가 급격히 감소하는 ‘소비절벽’이 나타날 수 있다는 우려다.
 

 
정부가 내수 진작에만 집중해 급감하고 있는 수출에 대해 마땅한 대책을 내놓지 못하고 있는 점도 문제다. 실제 내수 진작책은 매월 쏟아지고 있지만 수출 대책은 7월에 나온 ‘수출경쟁력 강화 대책’이 마지막이다. 신세돈 숙명여대 교수(경제학)는 “수출 대책을 지금 세워도 그 효과는 1, 2년의 시차를 두고 나타난다”며 “정부가 최근의 수출 부진을 너무 안이하게 보고 있다”고 말했다.
소비절벽과 수출 부진이 맞물릴 경우 정부가 전망한 내년도 경제성장률 3.3%도 달성하기 어려울 가능성이 크다. 조동근 교수는 “성장률을 맞추기 위해 내수에만 집중한다면 나중에 큰 부작용이 나타날 수 있다”며 “당장은 고통스럽더라도 구조개혁을 통해 경제 체질을 개선하는 데 정부 역량을 집중해야 한다”고 말했다.
 

Offshoring The Economy: Why The US Is On The Road To The Third World

From Zero Hedge:

On January 6, 2004, Senator Charles Schumer and I challenged the erroneous idea that jobs offshoring was free trade in a New York Times op-ed. Our article so astounded economists that within a few days Schumer and I were summoned to a Brookings Institution conference in Washington, DC, to explain our heresy. In the nationally televised conference, I declared that the consequence of jobs offshoring would be that the US would be a Third World country in 20 years. That was 11 years ago, and the US is on course to descend to Third World status before the remaining 9 years of my prediction have expired. The evidence is everywhere.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-30/offshoring-economy-why-us-road-third-world