Pringles Can Designer Dies, Buried In a Pringles Can
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Last month I suggested that Blockbuster buy Redbox to help usher brick-and-mortar DVD renters into their digital future through automated kiosks. While they didn’t buy Redbox, this week Blockbuster announced plans to roll out…kiosks! But the big boxes will only be used to download content to digital media players. Shoot! So close!
With Redbox eyeing an IPO, Blockbuster buying them was probably out of the question. And while I stand by my original kiosk idea, I don’t think Blockbuster’s version is going to work.
Blockbuster’s idea is to have you bring your portable media device to the store and fill it up with content (let’s set aside the fact that the kiosks won’t work with the ubiquitous iPods for right now). Rather than forcing people to bring a portable media player back and forth, the kiosks should have had an option to just beam the movie back home to a set-top box.
The kiosks were never meant to be the endgame, but the method was meant to provide people attached to shiny discs a comfortable way to move into digital downloads in an environment with which they were already familiar.
Now I just need to write a post predicting that I’ll get a million dollars…
Potentially throwing a wrench into future ocean fertilization trials, which are intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by storing carbon deep underwater, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity called for a moratorium yesterday on the practice of adding nutrients to the oceans.
While it may not carry any legal weight, the “de facto moratorium” could prove problematic for Climos, the San Francisco, Calif.-based startup that is exploring the use of ocean iron fertilization (OIF) — the dumping iron into surface waters to stimulate phytoplankton blooms. The idea is to get these tiny plant-like organisms to use the extra iron to absorb more atmospheric carbon dioxide so that, when they die, the carbon sinks with them and gets sequestered to the bottom of the oceans.
The problem for Climos is that investors could get cold feet. If more countries decide to adopt stringent regulations banning the practice of ocean fertilization — or even if the U.N. and other international bodies simply frown upon it — VCs may decide to shift their money to safer, less controversial ventures.
The longer Climos’ planned demonstration gets delayed, the less likely its backers are to quickly recoup their investment and turn a profit. Without the funding, it’s extremely unlikely that Climos could even manage a smaller-scale demonstration — not that it would do much good, since those haven’t worked in the past.
The fact that the U.S. rejected the moratorium makes little difference. Since Climos’ demonstration will be a large offshore trial, it will fall under the auspices of the nearest country, which may have approved the measure. Ocean Nourishment Corporation, an Australian company also trying to sequester carbon dioxide, but with urea, could face a similar predicament.
The moratorium, which was adopted by 191 countries, will be referred to the London Convention (LC), which is part of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), for guidance. The LC, which regulates the disposal of wastes at sea, established a working group in November 2007 to review the scientific basis for OIF. It held a meeting last week at which Climos made the case for OIF, arguing that past research results and the need for further independent scientific demonstrations warranted its continued exploration.
Opponents of the practice are concerned that it could make the oceans more acidic, placing marine life at risk, while its supporters argue that it could help reduce global emission levels — though they recognize the need for more research. Evidence from past OIF studies remains inconclusive.
Because most have been either too small in scale or too short (or both), the initial drawdown of carbon dioxide they fostered quickly petered out — resulting in atmospheric concentrations returning to their original levels. Many scientists believe that longer, better-designed studies would provide some clarity.
Dan Whaley, Climos’ CEO, told me his company would wait for the London Convention’s scientific working group to release its report before making any decision. Acknowledging the level of support for the CBD’s moratorium, he reiterated his company’s position that commercial OIF activities should be subject to regulation and that they should not proceed without the evidence to back them up. He was quick to point out that the moratorium did make an exception for limited scientific research and said his company would abide by the London Convention’s policy recommendations, to be revealed at its next meeting in October.
Despite the setback, Whaley said Climos’ investors remained fully on-board with his venture, and that he would resume seeking funds to pay for his firm’s planned demonstration once the regulatory outlook cleared up — which, given the UN’s and IMO’s past track record, could take a long time.
Climos may eventually decide to hedge its bets and move forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale demonstration if its investors’ support is there. Faced with a potential regulatory backlash, however, it may prefer to stay on the sidelines for now. When I talked to him, Whaley was adamant in stressing his company’s commitment to follow any future regulations.
According to Earth2Tech, the company announced a few weeks ago that it was looking to raise between $8 and $10 million for a second round of funding, which it hoped to close during the first quarter of 2009. A the time, Whaley predicted that Climos’ third round could get as high as $12 - 14 million.
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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
While we of course rock oh-so-very-hard on Rock Band's drums, the pedal just never felt right under our weakling calves. The problem is naturally exacerbated for folks in wheelchairs, since there's no way to avoid the kick drum or re-route it to another button -- at least out of the box. Some folks at Kinetic Communications modded up a doorbell to work as the kick drum button and screwed it to a drum stick. Not the prettiest mod in the world, but it got their wheelchair-bound buddy drumming for about $20, and it shouldn't be hard to replicate their instructions.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Hey Twitter I Have A Few Questions Too — Lately Twitter has been cleaning house, raising money, doing interviews and actually talking to users. In a blog post last week they did a Q&A session, directly answering questions about Twitter's architecture. — So I have a couple of questions …
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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Chalk another one up for Sharp. The company has landed yet another partner willing to utilize its solar panels in order to make news, wow onlookers and give Mother Earth a modicum of a break. Napa Valley winery Far Niente has flipped on its self-coined Floatovoltaic installation, which was developed by Thompson Technology Industries and installed by SPG Solar. Nearly 2,300 Sharp solar panels were secured for the job, and we're told that the array generates 400 kWs at peak output, which "significantly offsets the winery's annual power usage and provides a net-zero energy bill." Don't expect that coveted bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to be any cheaper as a result, though.Here comes a potential hiccup for companies in the business of ocean seeding like startup Climos, which just last week we reported was looking to raise more funding. Delegates at a U.N. biodiversity convention on Friday decided to call for a temporary ban on the practice of seeding the world’s oceans with iron, which can potentially boost carbon-sucking phytoplankton blooms. After 12 days of discussions at the convention, representatives from 200 countries agreed to “a moratorium” on the practice according to reports, until scientists have better studied its impact on the environment.
Climos’ CEO Dan Whaley sent us over a response to the groups decision (also printed on Climos’ website) that basically says the company agrees to a very cautious approach of fully researching the practice of ocean seeding before starting any projects:
“. . . the CBD statement calls for additional scientific research, a precautionary approach and appropriate regulatory controls for OIF [Ocean Iron Fertilization] activities — objectives that have been shared by Climos since its inception. . . . Climos agrees that OIF activities should proceed only where there is an adequate scientific basis to justify them, including assessing associated risks, and should be subject to an appropriate regulatory framework including any permits required pursuant to the IMO LC process.”
According to reports from the convention delegates were concerned that carbon dioxide and nutrients could make the oceans more acidic, which could harm animal and plant life. While Climos has said all along that it will only go forward with its plans if there is science to back up the projects, the UN group’s suggestion does add more controversy to the practice. We’re not sure if that will hurt the company’s ability to raise that $8 million to $10 million Series B round — but it certainly can’t help much.
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Filed under: Wearables
This day and age, there's really no excuse to have too little room in your average pair of cargo shorts for all the gadgets needed in a day. Convergence and shrinking PCBs have left us with do-it-all handhelds that can fit in the rear pockets of size 2 jeans on a size 4 gal, so really, you have exactly zero reasons to actually buy that abomination pictured above. If you must know, the FreeHand is a wearable neoprene pocket that keeps your keys, flash drives, RSA token and chump change within easy reach, and if you're lucky, you may be able to convince the boss it's being worn to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Folks who haven't listened to a word we just said can ignite a Jackson right now -- or spend $19.95 on this, same difference.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Bell Canada may have to pay for violating net neutrality. A March 29 class action filing says Bell should reimburse its Sympatico DSL subscribers 80 percent of monthly subscriptions and $2,100 per susbscriber for traffic shaping, false advertising and privacy violations.
Bell had over two million DSL subscribers, and $3.6 billion data service revenues, in Quebec and Ontario in 2007, so the proposed lawsuit could reach hundreds of millions. The filing affects only Quebec residents. It’s an idea that may spread: Neutrality has been a hot topic since Bell Canada shaped a national TV show being distributed via BitTorrent, one of the P2P technologies being blocked by many incumbent carriers.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Frighteningly enough, this isn't the first (or second) time that we've seen scientists pat themselves on the back for creating a mind-reading machine, but a dedicated team from Carnegie Mellon has just announced a computer that "has been trained to read people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words." In a completely unsurprising move, gurus familiar with the development are suggesting that the breakthrough could be used to better understand how the brain organizes knowledge, and eventually, treat language disorders and learning disabilities more effectively. That's all gravy from here, but when this stuff starts passing as evidence in court, you'll know it's time to seriously investigate a relocation to Mars.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments