The Nightly Quill

PhDs have been searching for a solution to the plastic waste problem, and this 16 year old finds the answer.

That was Daniel’s question which he put to the test by a very simple and clever process of immersing ground plastic in a yeast solution that encourages microbial growth, and then isolating the most productive organisms.

In this engrossing EG talk, architect Liz Diller shares her firm DS+R’s more unusual work, including the Blur Building, whose walls are made of fog, and the revamped Alice Tully Hall, which is wrapped in glowing wooden skin.

Europe and the rest of the world are developing new technologies that will give them the economic edge in technology and products, as America unthinkingly erodes into a third world nation as our politicians who are beholden to fossil fuel companies, legislate for them to make billions of dollars. A car that runs on compressed air is a French invention that orchestrates old technologies into a new chassis. Behold this newsworthy clip (that is not ready for U.S. corporate controlled prime time news or even political debate) edited from HD Theater. Just another example of how corporations who control our legislative and executive branches of government are misallocating our resources, treasury and wealth, to insure their short term wealth and global domination, as we deteriorate economically and do nothing to preserve our economic leadership.

Critics concerned technology would compromise privacy

Here’s a vision of the not-so-distant future:

– Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items – and, by extension, consumers – wherever they go, from a distance.

– A seamless, global network of electronic “sniffers” will scan radio tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes instantly so that customized ads, “live spam,” may be beamed at them.

– In smart homes, sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets – all the while, silently reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the occupants’ private lives.

Science fiction?

In truth, much of the radio frequency identification technology that enables objects and people to be tagged and tracked wirelessly already exists – and new and potentially intrusive uses of it are being patented, perfected and deployed.

Some of the world’s largest corporations are vested in the success of RFID technology, which couples highly miniaturized computers with radio antennas to broadcast information about sales and buyers to company databases.

Already, microchips are turning up in some computer printers, car keys and tires, on shampoo bottles and department store clothing tags. They’re also in library books and contactless payment cards (such as American Express’ Blue and ExxonMobil’s Speedpass.)

Companies say the RFID tags improve supply-chain efficiency, cut theft and guarantee that brand-name products are authentic, not counterfeit. At a store, RFID doorways could scan your purchases automatically as you leave, eliminating tedious checkouts.

At home, convenience is a selling point: RFID-enabled refrigerators could warn about expired milk, generate weekly shopping lists, even send signals to your interactive TV, so that you see commercials for foods you have a history of buying. Sniffers in your microwave might read a chip-equipped TV dinner and cook it automatically.

“We’ve seen so many different uses of the technology,” said Dan Mullen, president of AIM Global, a national association of data-collection businesses, including RFID, “and we’re probably still just scratching the surface in terms of places RFID can be used.”

The problem, critics say, is that microchipped products might very well do a whole lot more.

With tags in so many objects, relaying information to databases that can be linked to credit and bank cards, almost no aspect of life may soon be safe from the prying eyes of corporations and governments, says Mark Rasch, former head of the computer-crime unit of the Justice Department.

By placing sniffers in strategic areas, companies can invisibly “rifle through people’s pockets, purses, suitcases, briefcases, luggage – and possibly their kitchen and bedrooms – anytime of the day or night,” said Rasch, now managing director of technology at FTI Consulting Inc., a Baltimore company.

In an RFID world, “You’ve got the possibility of unauthorized people learning stuff about who you are, what you’ve bought, how and where you’ve bought it. … It’s like saying, ‘Well, who wants to look through my medicine cabinet?’ ”

And what of personal information that is housed, collated and cross-referenced in vast, corporate databases?

Commercial data brokers can sell it, trade it or deliver it quietly to law enforcement and intelligence agencies – which they often do, Rasch says.

“Think of it as a high-tech form of Dumpster diving.”

Presently, the radio tag most commercialized in America is the passive emitter, meaning it has no internal power supply. Only when a reader powers these tags with a squirt of electrons do they broadcast their signal, indiscriminately, within a range of a few inches to 20 feet.

Not as common, but increasing in use, are active tags, which have internal batteries and can transmit signals, continuously, as far as low-orbiting satellites. Active tags pay tolls as motorists to zip through toll gates; they also track wildlife, such as sea lions.

Retailers and manufacturers want to replace bar codes with passive tags to track inventory. These radio tags transmit Electronic Product Codes, number strings that allow trillions of objects to be uniquely identified. Some transmit specifics about the item, such as price, though not the name of the buyer.

However, “once a tagged item is associated with a particular individual, personally identifiable information can be obtained and then aggregated to develop a profile,” the Government Accountability Office concluded in a 2005 report on RFID.

Indeed, unlike credit bureaus, data brokers aren’t subject to provisions of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, which gives consumers the right to correct errors and block access to their personal records. Some have called for greater regulation of data brokers, companies that pull together information on millions of individuals from public records, credit applications and many other sources, then offer summaries for sale.

That, and the ever-increasing volume of data collected on consumers, is worrisome, says Mike Hrabik, chief technology officer at Solutionary, a computer-security firm in Bethesda, Md. “Are companies using that information incorrectly, and are they giving it out inappropriately? I’m sure that’s happening. Should we be concerned? Yes.”

Even some industry proponents recognize risks. Elliott Maxwell, a research fellow at Pennsylvania State University who serves as a policy adviser to EPCglobal, the industry’s standard-setting group, says data broadcast by microchips can easily be intercepted, and misused, by high-tech thieves.

As RFID goes mainstream and the range of readers increases, it will be “difficult to know who is gathering what data, who has access to it, what is being done with it, and who should be held responsible for it,” Maxwell wrote in RFID Journal, an industry publication. Read the rest of this entry »

No doubt, swimwear follows the fashion trends coming down the runway but would you ever think to spend 30 million U.S. dollars on a piece of bikini? Take a sip of water before you gaze at this glittering $30 million bikini created by Susan Rosen with Steinmetz Diamonds, then tell me, apart from beaches where else can you wear it.
This world’s most expensive bikini uses all diamonds and no fabric. Model Molly Sims wore this diamond-studded bikini for the centerfold of the 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

The bikini features over 150 carats of D Flawless diamonds, including a 51 carat D Flawless Pear Shape, a 30 carat D Flawless Emerald Cut, a pair of 15 carat D Flawless Rounds and a pair of 8 carat D Flawless Pear Shapes all set in platinum.

So, will you dare to buy it?

Aerogel, aka “Blue Smoke” is incredible. Devloped by NASA for catching comet dust – people are in awe of it’s semi-transparent, eery look.

The world’s smallest twin-engine airplane has a wingspan of 16 feet, weighs 158 pounds (without pilot), runs on two 15 horsepower engines, cruises at 120 mph, has a range of 310 miles and can do aerobatics. This amazing aircraft is called Cri-cri (French for “cricket”) 

Known to be the smallest twin-engine airplane in the world (4.90m wingspan, 72kg empty weight, 2×15HP), it still has a 190km/h cruise speed and is capable of executing all the basic positive aerobatic maneuvers. Formation flight and air-to-air shots with an Avid Hauler homebuilt.

The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a welcome addition to any piggy bank on Thursday — a monster gold coin with a face value of C$1 million (455,000 pounds) that it says is the world’s biggest, purest and highest denomination coin.

Weighing in at 100 kilograms (220.5 pounds), the limited edition coin easily dwarfs its closest rival, the 31 kg (68 pound) “Big Phil”, which was made to honour the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and has a face value of a mere 100,000 euros (C$150,000).

The Canadian mint introduced the mega-coin, which is the size of an extra-large pizza, alongside the one-ounce gold bullion coins it is mass producing at its Ottawa plant.

Originally designed to promote the new one-ounce coins, the colossal 100 kg coins will be produced in a very limited quantity. A U.S. precious metals distributor has ordered three and there is interest in Asia and Europe, the mint said.

At 53 centimetres (21 inches) in diameter and over 3 cm (1.2 inches) thick, the massive coins need a high level of hand crafting.

While it has a C$1 million face value, the coin is worth more than twice that amount given the current gold price of $683.30 an ounce.

The new coins are both adorned with a maple leaf and boast 99.999 percent purity, a notch above previous purity peaks of 99.99 percent.

“Since the Royal Canadian Mint upped the ante on the rest of the world in 1982, by raising the purity of gold bullion to four nines pure (99.99 percent) other nations have come on the scene … Austria, the United States, and Australia being the case in point,” said mint spokesman Alex Reeves.

“We compete for market share with all of these countries and we decided that the time was right to do something to stand out from the crowd once again.”

Bullion and refinery services generated almost C$281 million in revenue in 2006, more than half the mint’s total sales of almost C$494 million.

Jeff Han is a research scientist for New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Here, he demonstrates—for the first time publicly—his intuitive, “interface-free,” touch-driven computer screen, which can be manipulated intuitively with the fingertips, and responds to varying levels of pressure.

More examples:

Video demo of Touch Me Tender early prototype interface that allow to draw by your finger on the screen. Made by KsanLab (www.ksanlab.com).