We Mean Business ...

Raise Minimum Wage Now

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 15 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

The federal minimum wage of $7.25 needs to be raised. No more talk, just do it, especially if this nation is serious about getting millions of people back to work – and with some type of living wage.

Why?

If you think about the price of a gallon of gasoline flirting with $4, or higher, then you’ve answered the question.

Even so, there’s a no-holds barred debate raging nationally between business and labor about the impact of raising the minimum.

Business Versus Labor

Business groups say that raising the minimum wage discourages job creation.

For example, the National Restaurant Association says that a federal wage hike would “cause restaurant operators to make very difficult decisions to eliminate jobs, cut staff hours or increase prices.”

But labor advocates say that if workers don’t get raises, consumer spending stagnates.

“This is a critical part of recovery — to help people have more money to spend,” says Jen Kern, minimum wage campaign coordinator for the National Employment Law Project.

Let’s look at the job creation argument. Who are the jobs for?

Inside The Numbers

Many low-paid hourly jobs advertised in the classifieds, online and print, and at job posting websites offer little. They’re typically less than $10 per hour and often lack health benefits.

Sadly, it may be possible for some folks to collect more in unemployment benefits than working for such low wages. That’s hardly an incentive to get folks back to work.

Even academic studies are inconclusive, National Public Radio reports.

Some studies show that the National Restaurant Association and others like it are correct, while others show that a higher wage will stimulate spending without costing any jobs.

The good news: Seventeen states and the District of Columbia already have minimum wages set higher than the federal law. Oregon’s minimum is now $8.50 per hour.

Striking A Balance

WMB believes a balance can be struck between the needs of employers and those seeking gainful employment.

Perhaps raising the minimum wage will provide a better overall wage structure that attracts a better type of employee – one who is highly qualified and deserving of more than the minimum.

The minimum should be considered entry-level pay, for those lacking necessary experience and needed training.

Minimum wage supporters hope to prompt at least a few states to act, but no state has voted to increase the minimum wage this year.

The federal minimum wage, first enacted in 1938, was last raised in 2009, to $7.25 an hour. In 1971, the minimum wage was $1.60.

Adjusted for inflation, a worker today would have to make $8.83 an hour to have the same buying power, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Progressive Approach

In Illinois, for example, some lawmakers have been pushing to raise the state minimum wage up to $10.65 in steps over four years. The current minimum is $8.25 an hour, $1 more than the federal wage.

Given the realities of what it costs to live today – not only the price of a gallon of gas, but everything from the food we eat to the everyday (not designer) clothes we wear – a single-digit minimum wage in leaves us stuck in the past.

If we're serious about fixing our economic mess, let's forget for a moment about the golden-parachute CEOs and start with the folks on the bottom who just want a chance to do better.

Editor's Note: This is the last post for We Mean Business. We hope you have enjoyed our travels together across the web and our take on many things, from trends to issues.

As some wise person once said: It's the journey, not the destination, that matters most. We thank all of you for making this blog part of your personal journey!!!

Ken Cocuzzo

Planet's Got Deep Blue Trouble

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 12 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Representing over 75 percent of the Earth’s surface, the ocean has long been thought to be resistant to health woes because of its ability to absorb human waste and pollution.

The ocean’s sheer volume seemed to support the notion of “dilution is the solution” to point-source contaminants. The premise: Tides and currents removed almost anything that entered the sea.

But added pressure on the marine environment – increases in human population, industry, and agriculture – has led to concerns that the ocean’s health is being harmed by human activities.

Indicators Tell Story

The ability of scientists to monitor the ocean’s health is hampered by its complexity, according to Robert J. Taylor of the University of Florida.

Although the basic chemistry of sea water has been stable for millions of years, components such as nutrients and dissolved oxygen directly affect plant and animal life.

Living populations vary naturally because of interactions between oceanic and atmospheric processes.

Evaluating the health of the planet’s oceans therefore requires that human impacts must be distinguished from a natural, changing background.

Techniques for evaluating oceanic health include estimates of commercial fishery populations and localized studies of plant and animal species.

Impacts from contaminants and adverse water quality ideally are monitored through long-term baseline studies.

In the United States, this approach has been followed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mussel Watch program.

The study focuses on organic and inorganic contaminants in mussels and oysters in U.S. coastal waters. The success of this approach has led to similar studies on an international scale.

Historical trends of contaminant input have been evaluated through “dated core” studies in which contaminants are measured in marine sediment layers and compared with estimates when they were deposited.

Larger special scales are evaluated by remote sensing to measure a variety of variables such as temperature, plankton populations, and sediment load of surface waters.

Some Major Threats

Pollution, habitat change, and overfishing are considered the major threats to oceanic health.

Pollutants include chemicals, sewage, floating debris (for example, plastic and trash), and nutrient elements (for example, nitrogen and phosphorus) released to coastal areas either directly, via rivers, or via the atmosphere.

Oceanic health is impacted almost everywhere by alteration or destruction of critical ecosystems.

These changes include the erosion and loss of all salt marshes; drainage of wetlands; siltation of estuarine areas after deforestation and erosion; alteration of fresh-water inputs; and restriction of fish migration routes by dams.

Dredging, boating, and pressure from tourism are deteriorating coral reefs around the world.

Overfishing target species, such as whales and sharks, and the accidental removal of non-target species are damaging overall ocean health.

Many fish populations have declined dramatically as a result of overfishing.

What Holds Water

Although human population and development in coastal areas continues to expand, releases of chemical contaminants and nutrients will still be regulated in developed countries.

Lessons learned in developed countries continue to help oceanic health around the world. This will enable the improvement of economies and infrastructure while preserving natural environments.

WMB believes that difficult policy innovations are required to restore and conserve ocean habitats to earlier conditions.

Growing populations dependent on fisheries as protein sources, especially in developing countries, makes this lifestyle especially important.

WMB further supports the theory that economic survival provides the impetus for maintaining and improving marine environmental conditions.

By example, fishermen need to optimize their costs per unit catch.

This could require government intervention in the form of subsidies; this is particularly important to maintain ocean-based tourism and coastal habitats for future generations.

TechMan

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ChinaWatch: Forward Frontiers

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

True Car Culture

After more than an eightfold increase in auto sales over the past decade, China has developed a true car culture.

Amid the buzz for last month's Shanghai auto show, ads for a single car papered entire subway stations in Shanghai, a city of 19 million people. Outside a luxury hotel, an employee is overcome as she takes photos of a red Ferrari. “Oh, it's beautiful!” she says.

Auto plants throughout China, with potted bamboo or fish tanks in break areas, are viewed as essential to the development of smaller cities of a million or more people.

After a decade of double-digit annual sales growth, excepting one year, light-vehicle sales in China topped 17 million last year. While that represented a 33 percent year-over-year increase, it was smaller than the 48 percent surge in 2009.

Still, China's growth is slowing.

Government actions held growth in the first quarter to about 8 percent, compared with a 20 percent increase in the recovering U.S. market, where sales haven't hit 17 million since 2001. Last year, U.S. sales were a below-average 11.6 million.

For Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group, which are still getting established in China, the slowing market means they largely missed out on a stretch of record growth, and, in some cases, profits.

Chrysler is leaning on a small business importing Jeeps, while its part owner Fiat is introducing its 500 minicar in China this year and won't have a locally built car to sell until next year. Ford's 2010 light-vehicle share was 3.4 percent.

“We could have gone faster and should have gone faster in China,” says Joe Hinrichs, CEO of Ford China.

For General Motors Co., whose sales in China last year made up 28 percent of its worldwide volume, the slowdown might mean a chance to catch its breath. After having doubled its sales in two years, GM is planning to take five years to accomplish the feat again.

Missions To Mars

U.S. President Barack Obama views China as a potential partner for an eventual human mission to Mars that would be difficult for any single nation to undertake, according to a senior White House official.

Near-term engagement with China in civil space will help lay the groundwork for any such future endeavor, says White House science adviser John Holdren.

He prefaced his remarks, before the House Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, justice and science, with the assertion that human exploration of Mars is a long-term proposition and that any discussion of cooperating with Beijing on such an effort is speculative.

“(What) the president has deemed worth discussing with the Chinese and others is that when the time comes for humans to visit Mars, it's going to be an extremely expensive proposition and the question is whether it will really make sense — at the time that we're ready to do that — to do it as one nation rather than to do it in concert,” Holdren says.

Holdren, maintaining NASA could also benefit from cooperating with China on detection and tracking of orbital debris, stresses that any U.S. collaboration with Beijing in manned spaceflight would depend on future Sino-U.S. relations.

“But many of us, including the president, including myself, including (NASA Administrator Charles) Bolden, believe that it's not too soon to have preliminary conversations about what involving China in that sort of cooperation might entail,” Holdren says.

“If China is going to be, by 2030, the biggest economy in the world … it could certainly be to our benefit to share the costs of such an expensive venture with them and with others.”

ChinaWatch

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NJ Sends The Right Message

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 08 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

New Jersey is a much-maligned state, sometimes with good reason, especially in the area of political corruption.

But sometimes The Garden State gets it right and does something ahead of everyone else in America, something so correct you can’t believe it needs to be spelled out in writing.

Case in point is New Jersey’s new law that bans job ads, in print or online, that only consider the employed for openings.

The job ad legislation, signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie, is necessary because some employers are discriminating against the unemployed. You must be “currently employed” to apply for positions.

Some employers and recruiters are operating under the misguided assumption there is something wrong with you if you’re out of work.

So, following this bonehead logic, you are not worth the time and effort.

Wake-Up Call

Under New Jersey’s law, which takes effect June 1, no business can post a listing for a job opening in the state that contains:

*Any provision stating that the qualifications for a job include current employment;

* Any provision stating that the employer or employer’s agent, representative, or designee will not consider or review an application for employment submitted by any job applicant currently unemployed; or

*Any provision stating that the employer or employer’s agent, representative, or designee will only consider or review applications for employment submitted by job applicants who are currently employed.

Violators will be fined $1,000 for the first offense and $5,000 for a second offense. Christie rejected as too severe original provisions calling for fines of $5,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Zero-Tolerance Needed

Frankly, WMB believes the penalties should be higher, with strict enforcement. Repeat offenders, after the second offense, should have their names published as a public service and a warning to others who would flout the law.

There is no excuse for practicing discrimination against any group of individuals. People should be judged on legitimate qualifications, knowledge and skills, period.

True, there are laws prohibiting racial, sexual, age, ethnic and religious discrimination, and various forms of bias in between.

But some employers used the Great Recession as cover for creating two classes of workers – those currently employed but seeking new jobs and those unemployed but deemed not worthy of consideration.

Talk about flawed and skewed thinking!

Debunking The Myth

Some of those who lost their jobs since 2008, through no fault of their own, were well-qualified and veteran workers across a variety of industries – construction workers, teachers, police officers, financial advisers, journalists, just to name a few.

Many of these workers had skills, knowledge, strong work ethic and, yes, higher salaries than what entry-level positions provide.

With few exceptions, nobody willingly would want to become long-term unemployed. Unemployment benefits, even generous ones, do run out. Food needs to be on the table; bills have to be paid.

And, doubters aside, many Americans still have a solid work ethic that has been handed down through generations of immigrants. That ethic is part of the thread that makes us diverse and strong as a nation.

Employers since the recession years have held all the hiring cards, especially when the numbers reflected five to seven workers for each job opening, regardless of industry.

Businesses, large and small, should carefully screen all job candidates to find the best qualified, not toss out the unemployed based on arbitrary rules and bias.

New Jersey is on the right path; others should follow its lead.

Ken Cocuzzo

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Meet The U.S. Tax Evaders

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 05 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Some of the largest companies in the world don’t pay taxes! Not only is the United States incurring record debt exceeding $14 trillion, the government’s ability to collect tax revenue is ineffective.

“Companies are becoming much more sophisticated in the way they arbitrage the U.S. tax system,” says Howard Gleckman, a resident fellow at the Urban Institute, a think tank analyzing economic issues in the United States.

“Companies don’t have to be creative,” according to Robert Willens, a tax professor at Columbia Business School. “All they have to do is attribute or ascribe as much income as possible to foreign subsidiaries.”

Companies register their intangible assets including intellectual property, for example, and income outside America and register their liabilities and expenses in the United States to effectively reduce their taxable domestic income.

Ireland and the Caribbean Islands are common tax havens.

Geography Doesn't Count

“It doesn’t matter where your corporate headquarters is,’’ says Glickman. “If you’re Google, your income is I.P. … the patents aren’t even registered in the U.S.

“For drug companies, the income is earned to their Irish subsidiary. When you say that company is in the U.S., I don’t exactly know what that means.”

Critics say avoidance of corporate income tax damages the economy and diminishes domestic investment and job creation.

Defenders of current practices argue it’s the only way companies can stay competitive on a global scale since the U.S. tax rate of 35 percent is one of the highest in the world. (The average effective corporate tax rate is closer to 25 percent.)

Many believe corporations are just playing by the rules.

Public corporations generally have an obligation to their shareholders and their workers to maximize after-tax profits.

The 10 largest corporate offenders, as reported by The Daily Beast and Newsweek, are:

Exxon Mobil

Exxon Mobil’s profits were over $30 billion in 2010.

In 2009, profits were over $19 billion and yet, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing, received a rebate of $156 million from the Internal Revenue Service.

The company did not pay any taxes in 2009.

Google

Google last year reduced its overall tax burden by $3.1 billion with a pretax profit of $10.8 billion. By using transfer pricing, incomes are reported in foreign tax havens and liabilities are reported domestically.

Google’s patents are registered outside America, allowing it to license patents domestically and write off the expense.

General Electric

GE’s 2010 pretax profit was $14.2 billion. GE’s “innovative” accounting methods allowed it to accrue a $3.2 billion tax benefit in 2010, $833 million in 2009 and $651 million in 2008.

The company employs an entire team of former IRS and Treasury officials.

Boeing

Boeing’s 2010 pretax profit was $4.5 billion. Despite a double-digit tax rate, it has managed to escape paying federal taxes for the last three years thanks to foreign subsidiaries.

According to Citizens for Tax Justice, the company paid 0.3% of its pretax income in federal income taxes in 2010.

Pfizer

Pretax 2010 profit was $9.4 billion. Like many pharmaceutical multinationals, the company uses transfer pricing to record sales in one country to profits (on paper) in another country entirely.

Oracle

Oracle’s pretax profit was $8.2 billion and used transfer pricing (but not without implications on the Nikkei).

Phillip Morris

Its pretax profit was $5.7 billion in 2010; between 2001 and 2003 took advantage of $3.3 billion in tax breaks; effectively cutting taxes by a third.

IBM

Had a 2010 pretax profit of $19.7 billion; in 2009, the tech giant shrank its effective tax rates by nearly 10 percent by postponing the taxes it earned abroad.

Goodrich

In 2010, the company posted a profit of $804 million. In the past, the company’s effective tax rate was 11.3 percent, but it is depreciating its assets in an accelerated rate.

Time Warner

Reported a pretax profit of $3.9 billion in 2010; the merger with AOL resulted in lower taxes. Between 2001 and 2003, it cut taxes by 121 percent and paid no taxes for two years.

TechMan

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ChinaWatch: Smoking Into Space

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 03 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

Smoking Stamped Out

A smoking ban is now in effect in most public places in China, a move that health experts say will help raise awareness of the dangers of smoking in a country where tobacco use is deeply ingrained.

There is a lack of public awareness of the health risks of smoking in China.

The World Health Organization says seven out of 10 non-smoking adults in the East Asian nation are exposed to second-hand smoke each week. Smokers light up in elevators and offices, and even in hospital waiting rooms.

With the new ban, the country’s estimated 300 million smokers will no longer be allowed to puff their cigarettes in what the Chinese government is calling “enclosed public places.”

These include hotels, restaurants, theaters and public transport waiting rooms. The ban does not cover offices or factories.

Hong Kong University School of Public Health Director Tai Hing Lam says the ban will be effective in informing the public about the dangers of smoking.

“With this new legislation, this will promote awareness, and that is a major step,” Lam says.

He says non-smoking Chinese, who make up the majority of the population, should understand second-hand smoke is harmful to their health. He hopes the new ban will help encourage them to ask for more smoke free places.

“Non smokers at the moment are too passive, let us put it that way, because they’re so used to being exposed,” he says. “So, they do not realize that they have the right to demand it (smoke free places). Now, the law actually empowers them.”

Stepping Into Space

China may fly a woman astronaut into space next year as it embarks on an ambitious program for the next decade which includes a mission to land a rover on the moon and setting up a space station with a cargo spaceship to transport supplies.

China plans to fly two more spacecraft next year to improve the rendezvous and docking technologies and one of it will be a manned one, says Yang Liwei, deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, hinting it could as well be a woman.

China plans to carry out its first space docking between two unmanned vehicles this year, followed by one manned and one unmanned space missions next year as part of its efforts to set up a space station.

“Two to three astronauts will be sent to space in that manned mission next year,” he was quoted by the state-run China Daily as saying.

Fei Junlong, leader of China's astronaut team, says the two women astronauts and five men astronauts – the second batch of Chinese astronauts, who were selected last year – have to take a three-year training course before carrying out space missions.

But Yang says there are possibilities for the women to join next year's mission.

The two women astronauts, both pilots from the People's Liberation Army Air Force, are the first women astronauts in China. The 14 astronauts in the first batch, who were recruited in 1997, are all men.

ChinaWatch

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Go Beyond Claims To Stay Safe

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 01 May 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Germs and bacteria are the enemy when it comes to staying healthy, so we all wash our hands. If you work in a public office setting, hand washing is frequent and part of the daily routine.
Some offices even take it a step further by installing hand sanitizers and providing antiseptic products – and some of these may come with claims that they can prevent MRSA infections.

Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because such statements are unproven, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a bacterium that can cause severe – even life-threatening – infections that do not respond to standard treatment with the antibiotic methicillin.

“Staphylococcus aureus itself is a very aggressive organism,” says Dr. Edward Cox, director of FDA’s Office of Antimicrobial Products.

“It’s often associated with patients in hospitals who have weakened immune systems, but the bacterium can also cause significant skin infections and abscesses in a normal, healthy person,” Cox says.

“And it can get into the bloodstream and, less frequently, may involve the heart valve, which is very difficult to treat.”

But this antibiotic-resistant strain is even more difficult to treat. “With MRSA, a number of the antibiotic drugs we typically used often don’t work, so we lose treatment options we used to rely upon,” Cox says.

Crackdown On Claims

FDA is cracking down on companies that break federal law by promoting their products as preventing MRSA infections and other diseases without agency review and approval.

“Consumers are being misled if they think these products you can buy in a drug store or from other places will protect them from a potentially deadly infection,” says Deborah Autor, compliance director at FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Examples of unproven claims found on product labels are:

•Kills over 99.9% of MRSA

•Helps prevent skin infections caused by MRSA and other germs

•Effective against a broad spectrum of pathogens, including MRSA

One company claims that its hand sanitizing lotion prevents infection from the bacterium E. coli and the H1N1 flu virus. And another firm claims its “patented formulation of essential plant oils” kills the bacterium Salmonella. These claims are also unproven and, therefore, illegal.

“FDA has not approved any products claiming to prevent infection from MRSA, E. coli, Salmonella, or H1N1 flu, which a consumer can just walk into a store and buy,” says Autor. “These products give consumers a false sense of protection.”

Advice For Consumers

•Don’t buy over-the-counter hand sanitizers or other products that claim to prevent infection from MRSA, E. coli, Salmonella, flu, or other bacteria or viruses.

•Ask your pharmacist or other health care professional for help in distinguishing between reliable and questionable information on product labels and company websites.

•In general, wash hands often, especially before handling food, to help avoid getting sick.

•Wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds. For children, this means the time it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice.

Staying Safe Strategy

WMB believes the key to keeping yourself safe and protected is getting quality information from reliable sources, especially FDA. Carefully read all product labels and check all claims.

Never take anything at face value, no matter how legitimate it looks. Don’t let fear get in the way of common sense when it comes evaluating products for your personal protection.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Ken Cocuzzo

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Food Addiction: Fact Or Fiction?

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Some may question if there is such an addiction, but how many of us can completely resist junk foods, candy and soda? Some researchers are even characterizing sugar as a potential toxin.

Bingeing on high-calorie foods may be as addictive as cocaine or nicotine. As a result, it may cause compulsive eating and produce chronic obesity, some researchers say.

Food addiction is the result of findings in studies of animals and cannot be directly related to humans. But the research may help in understanding this condition and subsequent therapies to treat it.

One such study, highlighted in a Nature Neuroscience article, used rats as subjects and found that over-consumption of high-calorie food can trigger addiction-like responses in the brain. High-calorie foods can make rats compulsive eaters.

Researchers also found decreased levels of a specific dopamine receptor, a chemical which allows a feeling of reward. The same phenomenon has been reported in humans addicted to drugs.

“Obesity may be a form of compulsive eating,” says Paul Kenny of the Scripps Research Institute in Florida. “Other treatments in development for other forms of compulsion, for example drug addiction, may be useful for the treatment of obesity.”

Obesity-related diseases cost America an estimated $150 billion each year, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. About two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are obese or overweight.

Study Group Dynamics

The rat study consisted of three groups.

One group ate a balanced healthy diet. Another group received healthy food, but had access to high-caloric foods for one hour each day. Rats in the third group were fed healthy foods but had unlimited access to high-calorie foods.

Not surprisingly, rats in the third group quickly became obese.

Further, rats in the experiment had been trained to expect a minor shock when exposed to a light.

But when the rats were exposed to high-calorie foods and shown the light, they did not respond to the potential danger. They continued to eat their junk foods, according to Kenny.

Excess Belly Fat

In another example, this one relating to humans, an ER doctor asks patients who have excess belly fat what they eat.

He blogs that most of them depend on sodas, fruit juice, candy and other sweets. He asks if they could stop, and the patients say it's very difficult and they do not feel good.

The ER physician says 40 years of research points to fructose molecules adversely affecting normal weight control systems. As the Kenny study suggests, it's the same with laboratory animals.

When you add dietary fructose you have problems. People who avoid most dietary fructose and galactose maintain a stable weight without counting calories or exercising all the time.

WMB believes this is the answer to many of our health ills. It’s simple and costs us nothing. But it would be devastating for companies with products rendered unnecessary.

Dietary Fructose Faulted

WMB agrees dietary fructose causes obesity problems. When fructose is needed to make genetic material for cell division, our cells make it just in time from glucose. Normally, fructose is not sitting around the cells.

You may ask why?

Fructose is at least seven times more reactive than glucose (glucose fuels our brains and muscles).

In this context, reactive means it is able to turn amino acids into junk called advanced glycation end-products (essentially a form of diabetes).

When fructose is sitting around the cells, some of it changes into a super reactive sugar called glyceraldhyde.

Further, this can affect protein production and move out of our cells and react with lycine causing inflammation.

As a result, high blood glucose does its damage by producing high levels of fructose in cells that normally have none.

WMB believes that to be healthy it is essential to avoid dietary fructose, galactose, and elevated blood glucose.

TechMan

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ChinaWatch: Sales, Surges, Sayings

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

What Confucius Says

The newly-appointed 199 Chinese presidents of Confucious Institutes around the world took office this month, according to China's Hanban, the Confucious Institute Headquarters.

The Chinese presidents will work with their foreign counterparts to co-chair the institutes and operate on relevant principles.

Hanban provides them with an employment period of two to four years and requires they have the ability to teach Chinese to foreigners.

The latest statistics from Hanban show there are about 330 Confucius Institutes and 400 Confucius Classrooms in nearly 100 countries worldwide, bridging an important cultural exchange gap between China and other countries.

In 2004, China began establishing Confucious Institutes, nonprofit, public institutions aimed at promoting Chinese language and culture in foreign countries.

Drill, Baby, Drill

High oil prices and a slow-moving global economic recovery are doing little to curb China's appetite for crude oil, a survey finds.

China's oil demand for March was estimated by the Platts news service at 9.2 million barrels per day, a 10.5 percent increase from same time last year.

Calvin Lee, a senior energy writer for Platts, says high energy prices weren't doing much to curb energy consumption in a surging Chinese economy.

“Oil demand in the first quarter was buoyed by diesel consumption due to rising industrial production and increased agricultural demand with the onset of the spring planting season,” he says.

The International Energy Agency notes in a July 2010 report that growth in China has redefined the global energy sector as that nation passed the United States as the world's largest energy consumer.

The IEA says China outpaced U.S. energy consumption by 4 percent in 2009. Exports of Saudi crude to China make up about 50 percent of the kingdom's total exports.

Green With Envy

While Apple's iPhone is selling well across the globe, China has emerged as its fastest growing market for the device.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook says that for the first three months of 2011, iPhone sales in “Greater China” grew by almost 250 percent from the same period last year.

This brought Apple's revenues in the first fiscal half to just under $5 billion (U.S.) for the Greater China market, an increase of almost four times from 2010.

The $5 billion generated represents about 10 percent of Apple's revenues, Cook adds. “So we're extremely happy with how we're doing in China,” he says. In the United States, iPhone sales grew by 155 percent.

It's unclear, however, where in China the device is selling the most. Cook's reference to Greater China includes the mainland, Hong Kong and the island of Taiwan, says Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu.

But analysts say that in mainland China, Apple is seeing a major shift with how consumers are viewing the iconic smartphone.

When Apple's iPhone 4 launched there in late September, it was a hit with Chinese consumers, quickly selling out and leading to shortages.

Earlier versions of the iPhone had not met with the same reception, says Mark Natkin, managing director for Beijing-based research firm Marbridge Consulting.

Apple didn't officially begin selling the iPhone in mainland China until late 2009, more than two years after it was launched in America.

Even then, the iPhone sold in the country was designed without Wi-Fi capability, in order to comply with Chinese technology regulations at the time.

“Eventually Apple was allowed to offer the iPhone with Wi-Fi functionality,’’ Natkin says. “But by the time they were allowed to do so, the global launch of the iPhone 4 was just some months away. So again many users just waited for the right time.”

ChinaWatch

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Report Bad Products To FDA

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

You break out in red rashes after using a sunscreen. Your daughter gets itchy and blotchy after applying makeup. That expensive hair relaxer your wife loves burned her scalp.

Who do you complain to … the store that sold the product to you, the manufacturer who made the item, or do you and your family suffer in silence?

If you’ve had a negative reaction to a beauty, personal hygiene, or makeup product, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to know your story.

Why? FDA action could save others from suffering the same fate.

Every day Americans depend upon personal care products. Most are safe, but some cause problems, and that’s when FDA gets involved.

“Even though these products are widely used, most don’t require FDA approval before they’re sold in stores, salons, and at makeup counters,” says Dr. Linda Katz, director of the agency’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors.

“So, consumers are one of FDA’s most important resources when it comes to identifying problems.”

Defining Cosmetics

The federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act defines “cosmetics” as products intended to be applied to the body “for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance.”

But the legal definition includes items that most Americans might not ordinarily think of as cosmetics, including:

•Face and body cleansers
•Deodorants
•Moisturizers and other skin lotions and creams
•Baby lotions and oils
•Hair care products, dyes, conditioners, straighteners, perms
•Makeup
•Hair removal creams
•Nail polishes
•Shaving products
•Perfumes and colognes
•Face paints and temporary tattoos
•Permanent tattoos and permanent makeup

What To Report

Katz says consumers should contact FDA if they experience a rash, hair loss, infection, or other problem — even if they didn’t follow product directions.

FDA also wants to know if a product has a bad smell or unusual color — which could signal contamination — or if the item’s label is incomplete or inaccurate.

If you have any concerns about a cosmetic, contact MedWatch, FDA’s problem-reporting program, on the Web or at (800) 332-1088; or contact the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.

When you contact FDA, include the following information in your report:

•Name and contact information for the person who had the reaction;
•Age, gender, and ethnicity of the product’s user;
•Name of the product and manufacturer;
•Description of the reaction—and treatment, if any;
•Healthcare provider’s name and contact information, if medical attention was provided;
•When and where the product was purchased.

FDA scientist Wendy Good advises to give the age, gender, and ethnicity of the person who had the reaction.

Good, who analyzes reports about problems with cosmetics, says that information is important because it can help scientists spot trends.

When a consumer report is received, FDA enters the information into a database of negative reactions. Experts then look for reports related to the same product or similar ones.

FDA scientists will use the information to determine if the product has a history of problems and represents a public health concern that needs to be addressed.

If you file a consumer report, your identity will remain confidential, according to the FDA.

“Cosmetics are usually safe, but when they aren't, consumer reporting is essential so FDA can take action when appropriate,” Katz says.

Those actions could, depending upon the product and the problem, range from issuing a consumer safety advisory to taking legal action.

Safety Comes First

While WMB generally believes in smaller government and limited controls, we see consumers benefiting from interaction with the FDA.

Privacy concerns should take a back seat when the public’s safety is put at risk.

The FDA serves the public interest in a watchdog role. However, it needs good information to do its job and protect consumers.

As always, WMB advocates consumer activism. Nothing will be achieved by our silence.

Ken Cocuzzo

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Going Batty Makes Sense

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

If you care about our planet’s environment and your wallet, the sharp decrease in the worldwide bat population should be sounding warning bells.

Bats are mammals and their anatomy is closely related to human anatomy.

New instruments now enable scientists to study bats in the wild, as well as in captivity. They are able to keep track of their movements, feeding habits, reproductive patterns, and life spans.

Researchers have found more ways to locate these nocturnal creatures. As a result, we have learned much about bats and their vital contributions to the balance of nature and, yes, our economy.

In recent years, a devastating disease known as white-nose syndrome has claimed more than a million bats in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Even so, mankind remains the biggest threat to these shy creatures which, unfortunately, have been maligned by popular fictional accounts involving vampire bats.

Bat Types Galore

There are more than 925 different kinds of bats, and they are found all over the world except at the North and South poles.

Bats can survive in cold climates, damp climates, and dry climates, although the largest bat populations are found in temperate regions.

They live on every continent except the Antarctica, and on oceanic islands.

Since bats are mainly tropical animals, species are more prevalent around the equator. They are more diverse in South and Central America.

In those regions there are about twice as many species compared with Africa, Asia, and Australia, since they share similar climates.

About 25 percent of bats live in the tropics and make up about 50 percent of the mammalian species. In fact, on some islands they are the only mammalian species.

Worldwide, bats have the second highest number of species, after rodents. The order of animals includes mice, rats, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits.

Dropping Numbers

Bat populations have declined dramatically since the 1950s. Many species of bats are endangered or threatened. More than a dozen species may already be extinct.

Around 40 to 50 percent of bats in the United States are considered endangered, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Six of the 45 species in the continental United States are on the federal list of endangered species. Three more species in the state of Hawaii and the continental United States also are endangered. Twenty other species are considered at risk.

Indiana bats (left habitat locator map) are one example of endangered species. Actually these bats live in several states. They were among the first bats to be placed on the Fish and Wildlife list of endangered species.

At one time, there were millions of these bats in North America. It is estimated that the population dropped to 800,000 in 1973. By 1998, the estimated population dropped to some 350,000.

The Biggest Threat

It’s probably no surprise that the main threat to bats is the growing human population. This increases environmental pollution as well as deforestation.

Man is using more trees than ever for building materials, industrial, and urban development.

Other human activities, such as pest control, cave exploration, and mining activities result in bat deaths every year.

Even wind turbines have proven fatal to many bats, though the reason for the attraction is uncertain.

Some people regard bats as carriers of disease, and they deliberately kill off large groups of bats. They can even be killed by predators when their habitats are destroyed.

Saving These Creatures

Most North American bat species feed on night-flying insect pests that impact forests, agriculture, and human health.

Globally, bats provide countless millions of dollars of ecosystem services, including insect/pest management, pollination, seed dispersal, and growing ecotourism appeal

Fearing agriculture and forestry impacts, governments, organizations, and individuals are working hard to save more bats from extinction.

Conservationists are finding ways to protect bats and their habitats.

The media also is actively engaged describing bats in more positive ways. Articles, books, and TV programs are appearing regularly.

Photographers also are trying to capture images in a more gentle and flattering fashion.

Through protective laws, public education, and rescue programs, environmentalists are making a difference. But many bat species are critically endangered.

As people try to save bats, it serves as a stark reminder of how fragile life is on this planet we all share.

There is an increased need to strike a balance between man and bat. Efforts toward our mutual survival begin with tolerance and appreciation of other forms of life.

TechMan

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ChinaWatch: Time Travel Banned

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

Past Perfect Protected

Broadcasters and program makers will have to tread carefully after the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft) issued a warning about the way shows were treating the past.

An effective ban is to be placed on showing time travel on TV and at the cinema in China, so the iconic Michael J. Fox flick “Back To The Future” isn’t likely to be seen again anytime soon.

“Many stories are totally made up and are made to strain for an effect of novelty. The producers and writers are treating serious history in a frivolous way, which should by no means be encouraged any longer,” Li Jingsheng, head of television drama at Sarft, says.

It has been stressed that the censorship is not an outright ban but rather a clamping down, which means program makers will have to adhere to stricter rules.

Professor Nie Wei, of the School of Movie and Television Drama Studies at Shanghai University, says scripts for popular drama “The Palace,” which is about a 21st century girl who is sent back to the Qing dynasty, are being rewritten in time for the next series.

He added that although some of the time travel shows are “irresponsible in not respecting history,” it is more complicated than Sarft is making it sound.

However, when it comes to misrepresenting history, China's state TV station knows a thing or two.

The broadcaster was previously accused of airing dogfight scenes from the Tom Cruise flick “Top Gun” and billing them as a training exercise undertaken by the country's air force.

Driver’s Licenses Faked

Customs officials at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport have seized more than 1,700 high-quality counterfeit U.S. driver's licenses this year that were sent from China, federal authorities say.

Most of the counterfeit licenses were addressed to college students, and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have been investigating some of the intended recipients, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say.

The fakes are high quality forgeries of licenses from seven states: Illinois, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

“Our greatest concern is the ease at which these high quality fakes can be ordered over the Internet,” says David Murphy, CBP Director of Field Operations in Chicago.

Agents at the airport's International Mail Facility have found licenses hidden in electronic or gift items, as well as in envelopes. Shipments contained between two and 48 licenses, according to officials.

Shale Drilling Eyed

China, the world’s biggest polluter, may start producing shale gas within five years to meet rising demand for cleaner-burning fuels.

Production of gas in shale rock may begin before the end of 2015, Che Changbo, deputy director of the Ministry of Land and Resources’s oil and gas strategy center, says.

The country has drilled more than 10 wells and signed several cooperation agreements with foreign companies to develop the resource, according to Che.

China wants to triple the use of natural gas to about 10 percent of its energy consumption by 2020 as it cuts reliance on more polluting coal.

China has brought in foreign partners including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) to assess its shale potential and acquired overseas shale-gas assets to gain expertise in producing the hard-to-extract resource.

“We need to accelerate the verification of reserves, improve technology and enhance the ability of manufacturing equipment” needed to extract shale gas, Che says. “We should expand cooperation with foreign companies to achieve all that.”

China’s state-owned energy companies have spent more than $6 billion on North American shale-gas assets in the last three months, six times as much as the whole of 2010.

China National Petroleum Corp., China Petrochemical Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp. are currently leading the country’s shale-gas projects, according to Che.

ChinaWatch

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Paper Trails Can Be Useful

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Going paperless is a laudable effort because it saves trees, cuts waste and generally provides faster access to key information. But sometimes you have to wonder about the wisdom of doing away with certain paper records.

Take those yearly earning statements that Social Security mails out — what you'd get if you retired at 62, at 66, at 70. In an effort save money and steer more folks to the Social Security website, those statements will soon stop arriving in workers' mailboxes.

Good idea? Not so fast.

In the financial arena, you already may be flooded with e-mails from other sources – everything from your advisor about IRA funds and your bank with monthly statements, to credit card accounts and debt refinancing.

Your e-mail inbox can be just as cluttered with electronic messages as your U.S. mailbox with paper ones and, WMB suspects, a whole lot less secure.

Security At Risk

The government plans to provide the statements online by year’s end, if it can resolve security issues, Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue says. If that fails, the agency will resume the paper statements, which cost $70 million a year to mail, he says.

“We're just right now trying to figure out the most cost-effective and convenient way to provide that (online access) to the American public,” Astrue tells The Associated Press. The statements, mailed to 150 million people each year, project future benefit payments, helping workers plan for retirement.

Advocates for older Americans say they’re sympathetic about the agency's budget problems, but several say an online option is insufficient, especially for people who may not have computer skills or access to computers.

“As far as the information being available online, that's not going to help a lot of people we work with,” says Max Richtman, executive vice president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

“This (statement) was a concrete piece of paper, a document that workers would receive that would give them confidence in the program (solvency),” Richtman notes. “Otherwise, they hear a lot of the debate in Washington. It's going to be there; it's not going to be there.”

What We See

WMB believes Richtman is absolutely correct when he talks about the statements representing something tangible and useful, especially in terms of seeing your time horizon in relation to earnings and retirement income.

Few people would argue the same about Internet websites, which come and go and are subject to hackers’ whims at any time, regardless of how great the site’s security features claim to be.

Since the 1980s, Social Security statements have been mailed each year to workers older than 25. They include a history of taxable earnings for each year — so people can check for mistakes — as well as the total amount of Social Security and Medicare taxes paid over the lifetime of the worker.

The statements provide estimates of monthly benefits, based on current earnings and when a worker plans to retire. The statements are mailed throughout the year; so many people have already received them this year. Tens of millions have not.

The agency does offer a benefits estimator on its website that Astrue says can be even more helpful than the annual Social Security statements.

Workers can enter their Social Security numbers on the website and get estimates of future benefits, depending on when they plan to retire.

“You can go online and you can get a very accurate estimate of your likely retirement benefits,” Astrue says. “You can run scenarios.”

The website, however, does not provide the detailed earnings and payroll tax history that workers had been receiving in the mail each year.

Mary Johnson, a policy analyst at The Senior Citizens League, says the detailed paper statements help workers ensure they are getting credit for their proper earnings each year.

“When we get these we realize just how modest our benefit will be, and the need for savings, and to work as long as we are able to,” Johnson says.

No-Brainer Needed

Johnson is correct, and Social Security should shelve the idea of going paperless. Saving money is an admirable goal, but it should not come at the expense of serving the public interest, WMB believes.

The idea of giving personal e-mail addresses to the U.S. government and having to come up with yet another set of passwords and user ID to access Social Security information is not very appealing.

Let’s face it; we’re buried in web security issues. This paperless effort by the government just adds more for the average person to fret over and provides another target for hackers and spammers.

Ken Cocuzzo

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Bioplastics Poised to Grow

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Bioplastics derived from plant oils will grab a bigger share of the plastics market because of concerns about the environment and dependence on foreign oil. Analysts project about 50 billion pounds of demand in about two to five years.

Bioplastics already are found in products including plastic gift cards, food containers, cell phones, and computer casings. The basic ingredient of corn-based products is polylactide, referred to as PLA.

Most PLA has to go a commercial composting operation to be composted, according to Betty McLaughlin, executive director of the nonprofit Container Recycling Institute.

Other bioplastics come from plant sources such as hemp and soy bean oil. They became popular about 15 years ago as a solution to solid waste problems.

Amid growing concern about global warming and higher oil prices, bioplastics offer alternatives because they produce much lower amounts of carbon dioxide when they decompose compared to oil-based polymers.

Benefits Abound

Brand new versions of plastics are hybrids of oil- and plant-based feedstocks to preserve the property benefits of existing polymers like nylon. In some cases, there are improvements in some of the specifications, like surface gloss and impact resistance.

Some bioplastics are made directly from starch and are used for applications such as drug capsules. Another, polylactic acid, comes from polymerized lactic acid produced by fermenting starch contained in sweet corn and other plants.

PLA is already used in packaging and medical implants. A third bioplastic called poly 3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) has properties comparable to polypropylene. A booming demand is triggering expanded capacity of both feedstocks and polymer.

For instance, sugar producers in South America, primary suppliers of ethanol, announced large capacity increases.

WMB agrees with analysts who forecast PHB could drop below 60 cents per pound, opening up new opportunities for bioplastics.

Greening of Japan

One of the most exciting developments is in Japan, where three new laws are fueling development. These include the Law on Promoting Green Purchasing, the Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources, and the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register Law.

One of the leading players is Fujitsu which uses a PLA hybrid developed by Toray Industries to make the housing for its notebook PC series. The Toray material is called Ecodear and is aimed at fibers, textiles, molded parts, and films.
Toray recently invested in a $9 million plant in South Korea, with a packaging converter Saehan, a 10 percent investor. Their goal is to increase recycling and to avoid landfills.

Fujitsu also is working with a French chemical producer, Arkema, to produce a bioplastic based on castor oil with increased flexibility compared with corn-based plastic.

Arkema’s new Rislan PA 11 is now approved in fuel lines that carry biofuels in Europe and Brazil. This material cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 42 percent, according to Thomas Grimaud, Arkema’s business manager.

NEC Corp. is using PLA-based plastic reinforced with kenaf fibers to mold the entire case of a mobile phone for DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile phone company. The kenaf fiber provides significant strength to the bioplastic material. Sony also is involved in bioplastics.

Hiroyuki Mori, a senior eco-material engineer, says Sony is using several small components based on PLA. Sony’s research indicates PLA-based polymers can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent and nonrenewable resource by 55 percent.

Closer To Home

DuPont is currently taking the lead in developing biopolymers in the United States. Target markets are automobiles, appliances, and connectors.

In another development, Proctor & Gamble and Kaneka are working on a joint-venture to commercialize a polymer called Nodax H.

Metabolix of Cambridge, MA, is partnering with Archer Daniels Midland to build a plant in Clinton, Iowa, to produce 110 million pounds of plastic based on PHA. The Metabolix plastics are produced from genetically engineered microbes. Most of the technology is owned by MIT.

Novomer of Ithaca, N.Y., is working with Kodak to develop commercial plastics based on technology from Cornell. Target markets are medical implants, and construction of flexible screens for electronic applications.

As bioplastics evolve and applications increase, it should be interesting to see what breakthroughs take shape. Global research and development is the key for this industry, which offers unlimited potential.

TechMan

Editor's Note: Because of a software glitch, an early unedited version of this post may have appeared briefly over last weekend. We apologize for the inconvenience.

ChinaWatch: The 'Happy Pad'

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

Biggest Healthcare Overhaul

As a young Chinese doctor earning 4,000 yuan ($600) a month, Zhang Fei was faced with having to cough up 2,000 yuan for a bill that a patient left unpaid after Zhang removed a tumor from her womb.

Zhang managed to track down the patient after alerting her neighbors and only avoided having to settle the bill when the patient returned to the hospital to sign a promise to pay.

“I'm only a doctor, why do I have to pay for it? I was very, very depressed. I spent many, many days ringing her, trying to track her down and I had to get other villagers to knock on her door,” Zhang told Reuters.

China is overhauling the biggest healthcare system in human history and has made significant changes since 2003: implementing a basic universal medical insurance system and heavily subsidizing a growing list of essential drugs.

In March, it pledged more money to bring more people under the insurance scheme, raise reimbursements and improve services to meet the needs of its 1.34 billion people who are increasingly troubled by costly, chronic, non-communicable illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.

The government also slashed the maximum retail price for more than 1,200 types of antibiotics and circulatory system drugs to cap profits of foreign and domestic drug makers and ward off grumbling over high healthcare costs.

But missing are plans to deal with other entrenched problems in the healthcare system, such as the absence of good hospital management which can often result in health workers being pitted against patients, like the situation Zhang faced.

Zhang and her colleagues often need to confront patients to get payment, or risk forking out for unpaid bills out of their pockets.
“There should be a department that deals with this and post-operation services that have nothing to do with therapy. But in China, doctors do a lot of work that has nothing to do with doctoring,” Zhang says.

The Happy Pad

Lenovo, Motorola and Dell are preparing to launch tablets in China. But can the Happy Pad outsell Apple's iPad?

Chinese PC maker Lenovo, which makes the “LePad,” hopes so. The name translates to “Happy Pad” from Chinese to English, and it is just one of several tablets taking aim at Apple as China's tablet market gets more crowded.

U.S.-based companies Motorola and Dell are also planning to launch tablets in China within the coming months. Motorola says it will release its Xoom tablet before the end of June, while Dell says it will launch its 5-inch Streak tablet in China later this month.

Lenovo launched the LePad tablet at the end of last month. The Android-based tablet is available for purchase online and is gradually appearing in retail outlets.

Apple dominates the tablet market in China, although it has not announced when its second-generation iPad will be available in the country.

The company has a 78 percent share over the market, according to Sun Peilin, an analyst with Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. The remaining 22 percent belongs to Samsung and other tablet producers.

“Apple's advantage is that they have the brand recognition,” Sun says. “When people think about buying a tablet, they automatically think about the iPad.”

In China, tablet sales reached about 600,000 units last year, according to estimates from Analysys. But that number is expected to rise to 4.5 million units this year.

Apple also dominates the tablet market worldwide, with a 73 percent market share, according to research firm IDC.

Analysts say Lenovo's advantage over the competition includes its well-known brand name in China along with its far-reaching distribution network.

Lenovo is currently the top PC seller in China and plans on making its LePad available in 5,000 stores in 400 cities across China this month.

In contrast, Apple has less reach, according to analysts. The company has a total of four Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai, but also has a Chinese website from which orders can be made as well as from authorized resellers.

ChinaWatch

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Digging Books The Digital Way

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Google’s efforts to run the world’s largest digital library have hit a roadblock, but the ultimate outcome of this legal battle has serious implications for future access to book content.

A New York federal district court rejected a deal between Google, the word’s largest search engine, and lawyers for authors and publishers that would have settled a class-action suit brought against Google Books by the Authors Guild, a publishing industry trade group.

“While the digitalization of books and the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many, the (settlement) would simply go too far,’’ a court document explains.

“It would permit this class action – which was brought against defendant Google Inc. to challenge its scanning of books and display of 'snippets' for online searching – to implement a forward-looking business arrangement that would grant Google significant rights to exploit entire books, without permission of the copyright owners.”

The court added the $125 million settlement “would give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission, while releasing claims well beyond those presented in the case.”

WMB appreciates monopoly concerns and authorship rights. But let’s face facts: This legal battle is more about money than access to out-of-print works. If somebody wants to compete with Google in its digitalizing of books, the marketplace should handle it, not the courts.

Secret Price Deals?

Google, under the settlement, would have received the right to display excerpts of out-of-print books, even if they are not in the public domain or authorized by publishers to appear in Google Books, which has digitalized over 12 million books.

When the settlement was initially announced in mid-2009, opposition flooded in from lawyers on behalf of Microsoft, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a coalition called the Open Book Alliance which decried it as anticompetitive.

“Google and the plaintiff publishers secretly negotiated for 29 months to produce a horizontal price fixing combination, effected and reinforced by a digital book distribution monopoly,’’ a lawyer for the Open Book Alliance said at the time.

“Their guile has cleared much of the field in digital book distribution, shielding Google from meaningful competition.”

The rejected settlement was revised, primarily to deal with objections coming from the European Union, but concerns remained that it would give Google too much power over out-of-print book titles.

The Authors Guild, which filed the class action suit in 2005, says it chose to settle rather than head for a court battle because it didn't want to repeat the well-publicized mistakes the music industry made while policing digital piracy.

The guild claimed Google was scanning books still under copyright protection.

“We believe this agreement has the potential to open up access to millions of books that are currently hard to find in the U.S. today,” says Google managing counsel Hilary Ware. “Regardless of the outcome, we'll continue to work to make more of the world's books discoverable online through Google Books and Google eBooks.”

The Bigger Issue

WMB agrees with Ware that the bigger issue in this battle is public access, with due compensation to the authors and their descendants.

If some book remains out of print and not digitalized online, the content stays unavailable. Nobody gains.

Google’s book efforts allow researchers, genealogists, and the public at large to rediscover printed works that otherwise would be lost to the ages. Some publishers of rare books or out-of-print books do so today only on demand and at a price that may be unaffordable.

Instead of condemning Google, perhaps its competitors should develop their own business model for digitalizing books. Google does not hold all the cards when it comes to ideas and free enterprise.

WMB suspects some of the competition (Microsoft, for example) is just sorry it didn’t beat Google to the punch in book digitalization. Of course, Microsoft has no monopoly!

Ken Cocuzzo

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New 3D Game Tech Arrives

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Nintendo, the largest independent gaming company in the world, is leading the way with a new portable system featuring a three-dimensional display. Enjoy video games without 3D glasses!

The Nintendo 3DS lists for $249.99 and is the first game system with 3D-screen tech available to consumers.

Some, however, see this product as a significant risk for Nintendo because of market perception and development costs.

3D also brings back some bad memories for Nintendo of its massive 1995 flop – Virtual Boy, a product which used stereoscopic 3D technology in a harsh red and black display. It gave gamers headaches after only a few minutes.

But WMB views the new 3DS as a well-executed handheld gaming system which boasts an effective and compelling display. Judging by sales records, consumers seem to agree.

New And Different

The 3DS is a smooth, plastic, clamshell rectangle with dual screens, a direction pad, and various control buttons. But it’s the small details that matter. When you start counting them on the 3DS, it quickly becomes a new and different animal.

The most notable physical differences compared with its predecessors are the analog control pad, the larger, upper 3D screen, and the two-lens 3D camera. From a playing perspective, the analog pad is the best addition to the 3DS, according to industry reviews.

It’s a concave rubber circle which can slide around in a circular area, similar to Sony’s Playstation Portable. But it’s much more comfortable than the PSP since it sits naturally under your thumb and offers just the right control.

The top screen display is what gives the 3DS its name. It’s a wide-angle, 3.5-inch, glasses-free 3D LCD using a special visual filter to send two different angles of view into your eyes.

The unit is 0.7 x 5.3 x 2.9 inches (HWD), 8.3 ounces and is offered in “aqua blue” or “cameo black.”

Under The Hood

Beyond the external designs, the 3DS has additional power and is capable of supporting higher-resolution graphics.

But the 3D screen requires more power and, consequently, the 3DS only has a battery life of about five hours. To charge, the 3DS can be placed in a cradle; however, it’s not an inductive charger.

Nintendo also includes a set of augmented reality cards for use with its preinstalled AR Games app on the 3DS. A set of six cards featuring Nintendo characters work with the AR Games app to produce an augmented reality effect.

The user places a card on the table, points the camera to it, and AR Games makes 3D statues of Mario, Samus, or Link, jump right out of the table. Another game called Face Raiders, comes preinstalled; you can take (pictures) of your face and turn them into evil robots.

Think of the implications: A simple game is now capable of rendering 3D images of the user – astounding!

Nintendo has announced several new wireless and online features and services for the 3DS. This includes the SpotPass function for quickly connecting at Wi-Fi hotspots. This function also can share data with nearby users, including a Virtual Console with classic NES games with 3D effects.

Further, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Gear, and Turbo-Graffix-116 titles are available for download.

The Bottom Line

Glasses-free 3D has been the dream of millions who have been frustrated and irritated by wearing cheap, uncomfortable plastic glasses at a theater, or heavy, expensive active-shutter 3D glasses at home to view 3D content of compatible HDTVs.

Companies have tinkered with glasses-free 3D products in the past but many, including WMB, think Nintendo is on to something. It actually works!

The effect is still far from perfect, but the 3DS screen stands as the best glasses-free 3D display you’ll find on the consumer market today.

TechMan

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ChinaWatch: Gripes Over Google

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

Tax Violations Denied

Chinese authorities found three companies linked to Google Inc. broke tax rules and are investigating possible tax avoidance, a Chinese state-run newspaper reports, raising the risk of fresh pressure on the Internet search giant.

Google, the world's largest Internet search company, says two of the companies named were its units, and a third was a separate firm that works closely with Google, Reuters reports.

But Google denies the tax violations alleged in the Chinese-language Economic Daily.

“We believe we are, and always have been, in full compliance with Chinese tax law,” Google says.

Even if the report is unfounded or embellished, it could bring fresh headaches in China for Google, which has gone through difficult times there since early last year when it quarreled with the one-party government over Internet censorship and hacking attacks.

China generates a small percentage of Google's revenues, but is the world's largest Internet market with more than 450 million users.

The country's search market, dominated by homegrown Baidu Inc., was worth 11 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in 2010 and is likely to grow by about 50 percent each year for the next four years, according to iResearch.

The Economic Daily reports the three companies investigated and punished were “Google enterprises in China.”

“The taxation authorities have already investigated and punished the three companies according to the law,” the ED reports.

The companies were accused of presenting false and unjustified claims to the total value of 40 million yuan ($6 million), according to the report.

Solar Over Nukes

China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, will cut its 2020 target for nuclear power capacity and build more solar farms following Japan’s atomic crisis, according to an official at the National Development and Reform Commission.

The country will reduce its nuclear capacity goal of 80 gigawatts, says Ren Dongming, director of the renewable energy development center under the economic planner’s energy research institute.

But while he did not give a new nuclear target, the goal for solar-power capacity will increase from the current target of 20 gigawatts, Bloomberg reports.

“We can see delays in some projects, but in the longer term, I don’t see how they can change the program they have in place without facing drastic power shortages,” says David Lennox, an analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney. “It’s difficult to see what their alternatives to nuclear are.”

Radiation leaks from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station following Japan’s record March 11 earthquake have prompted other countries to review their nuclear development.

NDRC Vice Chairman Xie Zhenhua says China won’t alter its atomic energy plans, even as the Cabinet had stopped approving new nuclear plants, pending safety checks.

The crisis in Japan will encourage “healthy development” of the Chinese nuclear industry in the long term as the Fukushima accident will prompt China to take additional safety measures, says Cao Peixi, chairman of Huaneng Power International Inc.

China’s biggest electricity producer won’t alter its nuclear plans because of Japan, according to Cao.

The Chinese government approved on March 1 a proposal by parent China Huaneng Group to develop a 4,000-megawatt atomic plant in Shandong province, says Cao, who’s also president of the group.

The country, building more reactors than any other, currently has at least 14 atomic units in operation, according to data from the World Nuclear Association.

The world’s fastest- growing major economy is constructing at least 27 reactors and has 50 more planned, according to the association. The country started operating its first commercial nuclear plant in 1994.

ChinaWatch

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Many Of Us Are Burned Out

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Feeling stressed about work even when you’re at home with family and friends? You’ve got lots of company these days in recession-scarred America, where working more but having less seems to be the new way of life.

More than a third of U.S. employees (36%) say they're experiencing chronic work stress, according to this year's American Psychological Association survey.

And 32% of the survey's 1,546 respondents say they plan to seek employment elsewhere within the next year.

That’s right, a third of American workers are burned out, reports mediabistro.com.

Those who responded to the survey cited salary concerns, lack of opportunities for advancement, heavy workloads and long hours as sources of their job stress, according to David W. Ballard, who is head of the APA's Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program.

The program seeks ways to create healthy organizational cultures that support employee well-being and organizational performance.

Weighing Stress Types

Some stress is positive, according to the APA, releasing adrenaline that can enhance a person's performance and problem-solving ability.

But chronic stress, defined as constant and persisting over an extended period of time, can cause anxiety, insomnia, muscle pain, high blood pressure and a weakened immune system.

Such stress puts people at risk for developing illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and depression.
“It's easy to get isolated, trudging to work every day,” says Ballard, who recommends building new skills and maintaining connections with friends and colleagues who can be sources of brighter career opportunities.

Try Coping Strategies

If too much work is the problem, cut down on your workload, for one thing, career expert Roberta Chinsky Matuson tells CNNMoney. Conversely, if you want a promotion, ask for extra work.

Actually, the key here is asking; don’t suffer in silence. Ask for a patient ear from a friend, for help from a co-worker, or for advice from your boss.

“It’s one thing to do the work of two people while a position is being re-staffed. It’s another to continue to take on two jobs for the rest of your working life,” Chinsky Matuson says.

“Let your boss know that you are drowning and ask for a life preserver to keep you afloat.”

Most Stressful Jobs

According to CNBC, they are real estate agent, advertising executive, public relations officer, highway patrol officer, commercial pilot, police officer, surgeon, taxi driver, corporate executive and firefighter.

Journalist was not among the top ones but, as anyone who worked in a newsroom would tell you, daily newspaper deadlines often were heart-stoppers, putting aside for a moment ugly office politics and occasional crazy readers.

So what to do about your situation? An advancement or exit strategy can counter chronic stress.

“Employees can boost their own morale because they realize that they are not helpless victims tied to a bad economy,” says Cheryl E. Palmer, president of Call to Career in Silver Spring, Md. “They are preparing themselves to embrace future opportunities when they become available.”

If a heavy workload seems to preclude efforts for accumulating skills and connections, perhaps it's time to be a little less of a perfectionist.

“Most times, if something is 80% done, it's ready to go. The extra 20% really won't make much of a difference,” says Chinsky Matuson, author of Suddenly In Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around.

“This philosophy will help you leave the office before 8 p.m. each evening,” she says, and it will free up time to prepare a move up – or out.

Still, you don't need an expert to tell you, the worst kind of stress is self-imposed, when you set the bar unreasonably high. As the old McDonald's commercial urged hungry viewers: You deserve a break today!

Ken Cocuzzo

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We Need To Get Aboard

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

China, the second largest economy after ours, has invested $360 billion in high-speed trains which carry passengers between large cities at 200 mph.

Spain, despite its economic challenges, has invested $170 billion in high-speed rail systems. A similar rail expansion is taking place in Europe; this runs from the boot of Italy to the Baltic Sea.

Worldwide, however, most nations are not associated with such rail infrastructure, but India, Brazil, Argentina, Morocco and others are planning high-speed rail networks.

WMB believes these countries understand that modern rail systems are critical pieces in developing competitive 21st-century economies. They see the problems caused by dwindling oil supplies, congested highways and airports, and soaring carbon emissions.

Unfortunately, the United States has been sidetracked by controversy involving high-speed rail.

Deficit Versus Jobs

Officials in some states think a rail system will only add to the already high and unprecedented government budget deficits. But advocates argue it will make our infrastructure more efficient and create badly needed employment.

The Obama administration and various states will ensure the foundation of a national high-speed rail network will be laid in the next several years, according to the U.S. High Speed Rail Association.

This financial foundation includes $8 billion in federal stimulus funds slated to extend the network 17,000 miles by 2030, between all major cities in America, and at a cool 220 mph.

California will get $2.34 billion, the largest award,to help set up a high-speed line between San Diego and Sacramento by 2026.

States receiving more than $150 million in federal funds include Florida, North Carolina, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, and New York. But the governors of Florida, Wisconsin and Ohio, calling the rail project a boondoggle, have rejected funding.

Eventually, private funding would be included in the projected $600 billion project.

The Rail Alternative

The reasons so many interest groups support creation of a national high-speed rail system are straight-forward.

The United States has become far too dependent on foreign oil. Americans use six times more oil per capita than Europeans.

Currently, we spend up to $700 billion a year to import foreign oil, with 70 percent of this consumed by cars, trucks, and airplanes.

With oil prices hovering at $100 per barrel, the American economy is in jeopardy.

And most experts believe that we have hit the point of peak oil. This means that as demand soars and supplies decrease, the price per barrel could reach $300 within this decade.

Andy Kunz, president and CEO of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, says enhancing America’s energy security is one of the best reasons we need a state-of-the-art high-speed rail system.

WMB agrees, and we think a national high-speed rail system will create millions of jobs, help revive the manufacturing sector by incorporating our steel and related components, and alleviate pressure on a crumbling infrastructure.

A side benefit would be removal of many vehicles daily from our clogged highways. Traffic delays cost the U.S. economy an estimated $156 billion annually.

Green And Viable

Then there’s the environment.

A national rail system also would dramatically reduce our collective carbon footprint. Advocates note the cost of building will decline each year and, eventually, exceed the estimated $600 billion budget.

Although much of the funding will be public, many believe the private sector can best run such an infrastructure.

WMB believes the United States must build a high-speed rail network to stay competitive in a world economy.

Why not put the money we spend on imported oil into a new rail infrastructure? The stakes are high, and we can’t afford to do otherwise.

America needs to embrace change, or we won’t control our destiny in the near-term.

Improvements on high-speed rail could one day reach over 300 mph and help maintain our global position and competitiveness.

We shouldn't be left behind at the station!

TechMan

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ChinaWatch: Dell Digs Market

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

Ban On Butts

China, the world's largest tobacco producer and home to 300 million smokers, will impose a national ban on lighting up in hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and other indoor public spaces, according to the Health Ministry.

The new rules, which take effect May 1 and spell out provisions for educating people about the dangers of tobacco, include restrictions on vending machines and on outdoor smoking that affects pedestrians.

But the regulations have considerable loopholes.

They do not cover factories, offices or government workplaces and they lack specific guidelines for penalizing those who violate them. That has prompted shrugs among devoted smokers, many of whom have learned to ignore no-smoking signs in hospital waiting areas, gymnasium locker rooms and lifts.

“Chinese people, including most government officials, are just too in love with their cigarettes to pay attention to such a law,” says Liu Bailing, a 28-year-old bank employee who dined beneath a cloud of smoke at a restaurant.

His complaint was not without reason. In the nearly three years since Beijing required restaurants and bars to provide non-smoking sections, most smokers have continued to puff away just about everywhere.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a survey of households last year showed that less than a quarter of adults believed smoking caused strokes, heart attacks and lung cancer, and only a quarter believed exposure to smoke caused those illnesses in children.

While acknowledging the challenges of enforcing the new ban, anti-smoking advocates in China hailed it as a first step to weaning the nation off tobacco, which health officials say kills more than 1.2 million Chinese a year.

China has among the world's highest smoking rates, with nearly a third of all adults, 300 million people, lighting up. It is the biggest producer and consumer of tobacco products.

Dell Courts China

Texas-based computer maker Dell Inc. is building another manufacturing center in China.

The new plant in Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan, is Dell’s second in China after opening its Xiamen base in the eastern province of Fujian, Chinese officials say.

The manufacturing plant, which was announced by Round Rock-based Dell in September 2010, is expected to produce its first products during the fourth quarter.

The groundbreaking in China comes amid announcements by CEO Michael Dell that the company plans to invest more in its operations in India and it opened a research and development center in Israel.

Dell, the No. 2 computer maker in the world, employs about 14,000 workers in Central Texas.

In September 2010, Dell officials announced plans to expand its plant in China with 500 additional workers and open a second manufacturing plant in Western China.

They say the decision was prompted by the surging business in China, which after the United States is the company’s second-largest market.

Dell’s second Chinese manufacturing plant is expected to employ 3,000 workers. The company also plans to invest more than $100 billion in China during the next 10 years, officials say.

Last year’s announcement about China came one week after Dell disclosed it was completing closure of a manufacturing plant in North Carolina which once employed nearly 1,000 workers.

The company subsequently confirmed the jobs were being outsourced to Mexico and other countries.

ChinaWatch

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Forgotten Millions Still Matter

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Divided families, dwindling finances, foreclosed homes, totally jobless – that’s what life has meant for millions of Americans from 2007 to today. Yet for the employed, especially politicians in Washington, not much has changed.

Turn on the TV news today and you see little about the jobless and underemployed – 13.7 million and 8.3 million Americans, respectively. It might be argued our leaders care more about the Mideast and the federal budget deficit.

The April edition of Reader’s Digest offers the ugly truth about the greatest economic collapse in United States since the Great Depression of the 1930s:

“More than half of all U.S. workers either lost their jobs or were forced to take cuts in hours or pay during the recession,’’ RD says. “The unluckiest suffered prolonged unemployment, bankruptcies, or foreclosures, which are now at 65-year highs.”

The icing on the cake, by way of New York Times Op-ed columnist Paul Krugman, is simply this:

“More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed.

Difficult To Escape

“It might not be so bad if the jobless could expect to find new employment fairly soon, but unemployment has become a trap, one that’s very difficult to escape,’’ Krugman says.

“There are almost five times as many unemployed workers as there are job openings; the average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks, a post-World War II record.

Krugman, professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, asserts our nation is well under way to creating “a permanent underclass of the jobless.”

How can that be?

Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner in economics, says part of the answer may be that the jobless tend to stay that way, and those who still have jobs are feeling more secure than they did a few years ago.

Layoffs and buyouts spiked during the crisis of 2008-09 but have fallen since then, perhaps reducing the sense of urgency, Krugman says.

The U.S. economy now suffers from low hiring, not high firing, so things don’t look so bad — as long as you’re willing to write off the unemployed and underemployed, according to Krugman.

Closer To Home

Take, for example, a former employer of mine, Gannett Co. Inc., the largest publicly owned newspaper publisher in America.

Under CEO Craig Dubow, GCI has eliminated 20,000 jobs since 2005 -- nearly four of every 10 employees, according to the Gannett Blog, an independent daily journal about the company.

It’s not a stretch to believe a good number of those former Gannett journalists remain unemployed or underemployed. And keep in mind this is just one of many industries slammed by the recession.

The Great Recession was a cold slap in the face for many of us who enjoyed the 1990s boom, when technology advances and soaring stock prices offered unlimited potential – even a hint of early retirement, or at least a secure one.

The Bitter Pill

Today’s reality is quite another matter. Even so, millions of unemployed and underemployed should not simply be written off because it’s politically convenient to have them fade from the spotlight.

For those among us who survived the recession relatively unscathed, good for you and your family!

But while you continue to enjoy the fruits of your labors, please take a moment to remember the less fortunate, your former co-workers.

Urge your elected officials to do the right thing by enacting a “real” jobs bill that puts people back to work permanently, not in some temporary make-work (pork) project.

Stealing some lyrics from the Police song, “Invisible Sun,” nobody should be relegated “to play the part of a statistic on a government chart” and why should they?

Let's all keep that in mind as we move forward and out of this mess, together.

Ken Cocuzzo

Driving Home The Future

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

New battery technology for automobiles offers hope for consumers worldwide, especially with energy concerns arising from the revolution in Libya and the earthquake-tsunami in Japan.

Though better batteries are emerging as alternatives to fossil fuels, the weight and size of the batteries remain issues. Car manufacturers and scientists are developing new polymeric composites to reduce weight and free space.

The composites carry structural loads and store electrochemical energy. New electrode and electrolyte materials are being synthesized to optimize these properties.

To date, research continues on the development of solvent-free structural polymer electrolytes based on vinyl ester resins, along with carbon nanotubes. These materials exhibit a combination of strength and ion conductivity.

Using new resin electrolytes, the components are being integrated using moldable, scalable, and cost-effective processing techniques.

Cheaper Carbon Composites?

Carbon composites, extremely strong and light, are used in products ranging from tennis racquets to aircraft wings. Even some exotic cars are built with this material, but it is generally too expensive for mass-produced vehicles.

With the ability to store energy, carbon composites could become a lot more attractive for the automotive industry, according to Emile Greenhalgh of Imperial College, London.

Greenhalgh is leading the research as part of a broader European Union project studying the incorporation of different battery materials into the bodywork of cars.

The study encompasses academic and industrial partners, including the British Ministry of Defense, and Volvo (owned by Ford). The military is interested in extending the range of robotic drones and other light-weight applications.

How It Works

Greenhalgh’s material consists of woven sheets of carbon fibers which are made rigid using a resin.

To enable the material to store electrical energy, two layers of woven fibers are made into a sandwich, separated by a thin layer of a glass-based insulating material.

The resin with the carbon layers is laced with lithium ions to collect in one layer when a voltage is applied. The current flows when the sandwich is placed in a circuit. All of this is encapsulated with further layers to ensure it’s electrically isolated.

The composite behaves more like a capacitor or supercapacitor than like a battery, according to Greenhalgh.

Batteries are good at storing large amounts of charge but slow at delivering it. For capacitors, the reverse is true.

Supercapacitors have a large internal surface area which allows a large amount of energy to be delivered rapidly.

These may be used in some electric cars to provide a short burst of power for rapid acceleration. In hybrids, supercapacitors are used to recover power during braking.

To get similar characteristics from composites, the carbon fibers are first chemically treated with an alkali to create tiny pits on their surface.

This dramatically increases their surface area and the amount of charge they can hold without impairing the physical strength of the material.

Conflicting Resin Needs

Another challenge lies in resolving the two conflicting requirements of the resin.

“You want it very rigid and stiff, but from an electrical point of view you also want it to allow ions to flow through the material,” Greenhalgh says, noting with traditional resins you typically get one or the other.

Greenhalgh’s solution uses a polymer gel-based resin which combines two networks of cross-linking structure. One holds the material together and the other provides a conduit for the charged particles.

If the electrical storage composites can be boosted close to that of lithium-ion batteries, then only the roof, the bonnet and the boot lid are needed to power an electric vehicle for 130 km, according to inventor Per-Ivar Sellegren.

Sellegren, a Volvo senior engineer, is credited with the company's cutting-edge body panel battery technology.

Extended Power Factors

The composites also can be used to reduce the amount of wiring in vehicles, Greenhalgh says. The rear lights could then be powered by this material.

Compared with most rechargeable batteries, super-capacitors tend to have longer working life.

That’s an obvious benefit since most drivers of electric cars have not had their vehicles long enough to incur thousands of dollars to replace worn-out batteries.

From WMB’s vantage point, if you drive an electric car, you shouldn’t have to pay higher maintenance costs to reduce your carbon footprint.

TechMan

ChinaWatch: Sources of Power

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to ChinaWatch, WMB’s digest of news from the country with the world’s second largest economy and our chief rival to global dominance. Our aim is to keep you informed.

IPhones At Risk?

The key to hundreds of modern technologies, from iPhones to smart-bombs, lies in little-known rare earth metals, 95 percent of which are mined by China (picture below shows mining camp).

The nation's decision to slash exports has left the West scrabbling for alternative supplies.

Some 17 rare earth metals are the magic ingredient in almost everything that makes modern life possible.

They may have exotic-sounding names such as terbium, europium, dysprosium and lutetium, but they also have decidedly everyday applications; from BlackBerrys and iPhones to catalytic converters and low-energy light bulbs.

Known in China as "industrial vitamins," rare earths are an essential component in green technologies such as electric cars, solar panels and wind-turbines.

Rare earths are not only essential for civilian life; the world's hi-tech armies also need rare earths for a host of applications from toughening tank armor to guiding smart-bombs and powering night-vision goggles.

Given their global application, it may come as a surprise to know that 95 percent of world rare earths production is controlled by a single country – China.

Last year, China's ministry of commerce announced drastic cuts in the amount of rare earths it would make available for export.

Quotas were cut by more than 70 percent for the second half of 2010 to only 8,000 tons, compared with 29,000 tons for the same period the previous year, at a time when global demand for rare earth elements was picking up fast.

Analysts say quotas are expected to shrink again, this year by 11 percent. Rare earths demand has tripled in the past decade to an estimated 136,000 tons this year. By 2014, some analysts are now predicting a 20,000-ton shortfall in key metals.

More Than Air

Despite surpassing U.S. installed wind capacity in 2010, one third of China’s installed wind capacity is not connected to the grid.

China’s National Energy Administration claims it will prioritize connectivity over renewables growth in its upcoming five-year plan.

The NEA has made public its focus on strategic wind energy growth through more hands-on energy policy and management on the national level.

The key areas of connectivity, project approval, and balancing present vs. new investors will take center stage over the next five years of Chinese wind development, according to the NEA.

Although this is a China-specific renewables issue, the world at large will be severely affected by the decision and policy that takes place over the next five years regarding China’s cleantech industry.

In 2009, the World Resources Institute found that 70% of all of China’s energy came from coal, which is a huge contributor to climate change.

When the Kyoto Protocol was signed and ratified in China in 2002, the country was classified as "developing" and it did not have to adhere to the greenhouse gas reduction criteria.

Since China has overtaken America in emissions in recent years and is projected to grow enormously over the next five years, its energy mix of greenhouse gas contributors and renewables is crucial to the world’s development.

China has promised a 40-45 percent reduction in energy intensity by 2020, based on 2005 levels.

Yet there is strong criticism over whether this is attainable given China’s growth rates and continued dependence on coal.

ChinaWatch

Your World On A Pen Tip

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Cocuzzo) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

It’s one of the truisms of our Tech Age that computing capacities are rising while processor sizes are falling. That hasn’t been lost on University of Michigan researchers who have developed a computer which fits on the tip of a pen.

This is a special-purpose computer designed for one specific task, notes Dick Eastman, who blogs on genealogy, computers and technology.

“It does not contain a keyboard or a video screen,” he writes. “All output is performed by a wireless radio with an antenna that can transmit data to an external reader.”

The millimeter-scale computing system can hold up to a week's worth of data when implanted in something as small as a human eye.

The computer, called the Phoenix chip, is just over one cubic millimeter in size and was designed to monitor eye pressure in glaucoma patients.

“This is the first true millimeter-scale complete computing system,” says Dennis Sylvester, a professor at the school and one of the researchers on the project.

Within the computer is an ultra low-power microprocessor, a pressure sensor, memory, a thin-film battery, a solar cell and a wireless radio, according to Eastman.

The micro computers and their wireless networks also could one day be used to track pollution, monitor structural integrity, perform surveillance, or make virtually any object smart and trackable, researchers say.

Not Any Chip

The Phoenix chip sips power. It has a power-gating architecture with an extreme sleep mode that wakes the computer up briefly every 15 minutes to take readings, and it uses an average of just 5.3 nanowatts each time it turns on, writes Lucas Mearian for computerworld.com.

The Phoenix chip has a photovoltaic charging system which requires 10 hours of indoor light or 1.5 hours of sunlight to fully charge the battery.

The chip's micro radio automatically tunes into whatever wireless frequency is available in order to download data to a reader. The data can then be used as part of an electronic medical record for treatment.

“Our work is unique in the sense that we're thinking about complete systems in which all the components are low-power and fit on the chip,” Sylvester says. “We can collect data, store it and transmit it. The applications for systems of this size are endless.”

What Lies Beyond

Researchers in this field point to Bell's Law, which states that there's a new class of smaller, cheaper computers about every decade. With each new class, the volume shrinks by two orders of magnitude and the number of systems per person increases.

The law, named for computer engineer and manager Gordon Bell (above right) has held true from the mainframes of the 1960s through the personal computers of the 1980s, the notebooks of the 1990s and the today's smartphones, they say.

“When you get smaller-than-handheld devices, you turn to these monitoring devices, says David Blaauw, another professor and Phoenix chip researcher at the University of Michigan.

“The next big challenge is to achieve millimeter-scale systems, which have a host of new applications for monitoring our bodies, our environment and our buildings,” Blaauw says.

One Eastman blog reader asks: “How small can a computer be and still be useful? How about cell phones with quad-core processors? They'll be here by Christmas.”

With smartphones becoming like electronic wallets, the blog reader is probably right. It's a small world after all ... and getting smaller all the time!

Ken Cocuzzo