The Ethical Man is a blog by a BBC journalist, and also the title of a TV program, which followed one year of his life dedicated to decreasing the carbon footprint of his family.You can see the videos here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/ethical_man/default.stm Besides being entertaining and educational, it puts into perspective the efficiency of a "green lifestyle" today. There is this average middle class family - with three kids, no car, no long distance holidays, no meat, new energy saving techniques - and they only manage to decrease their carbon footprint by 20% while giving up on many of the "basics" of the Western middle class lifestyle. This suggests two things to me: (1) individual voluntary behavioral change will not lead to fundamental community-level changes (not to mention that the upcoming Asian middle-classes seem more inclined towards status symbols than green fantasies), (2) hence there is a need for higher (government/IO) level intervention in some way to encourage/induce CO2 emission reduction (I think both ways mentioned in class - R&D funding and incentives - are relevant tools).
Stanford Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo suggests that kids don't like single-function devices which is why they don't wear a wrist watch.
Image © RSA Animate.
Our discussion on E-books touched on many small, user concerns that were limiting uptake: backlighting that doesn't tire the eyes, that "book feel", highlighting/ note-taking capability etc. The latest advancement is page numbers (H/T Lifehacker). Users love improvements to a product they already own (particularly with the ease of downloading a softward update), but could the piecemeal nature of these advancements actually preclude momentum? Compare Kindle's software updates to the Steve Job's approach of dramatically unveiling a new product that solves all the problems with the previous model and caters to those needs-you-didn't-even-know-you-had. Jobs certainly gets more press coverage...
- sezflom
A very interesting interview on the Internet and related issues. Download the pdf version of the book for $0.
An interesting article on e-books and kids in the US.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/books/05ebooks.html?_r=1&hpSometimes its a combination of new technologies that make a new product successful. Maybe wireless electricity will make electric cars more popular?
Gulliver, The Economist's business travel blog, presents The Kindle Conundrum: another downside to e-books...
"It is the Kindle conundrum that really drives me dilly. My Kindle poses no greater danger to the flight while switched on than does the phone that I may have forgotten to switch off. Nor does reading it put me at any greater risk of failing to heed a "brace" command than would the reading of a gripping book. Yet the book is allowed while the Kindle is banned because it is an electronic device. And little will likely be done to solve the Kindle conundrum because the people affected are disempowered when it comes to making the rules, while the rulemakers have little incentive to make them less annoying. For no good reason, it seems as though the ban will persist for years."
- sezflom
A quick clip showing how fuel cells might one day power your house.