The big payoff for competitive intelligence is that it will point out weaknesses that you have internally because you find the strengths of your competitors. Companies that don’t do this will fail.
Gary Costley (Prescott, 2001, pg. 140)
“The pervasive impact of technological advances and the global economy sows the seeds of change that continually frame modern competitive scenarios.”
(Blenkhorn, 2005, p. 33)
Abstract: Leadership is examined in its essence, defined and then applied to the necessary business function of Competitive Intelligence.
Leadership is the innate ability to guide others to produce effectively for a chosen cause while sharing and believing in the goals of a chosen leader.
(Evans, 2010, p. 1)
The leadership in my view is an art of influencing and guiding the group activities towards achieving group goals.
(Malhotra, 2010, p. 1)
Executives and leaders are really in the decision business. Leadership requires judgement most of all. Nearly every other form of knowledge can be managed more easily. Every leader eventually asks for wisdom. (Gillette, 2000, p. 8)
Continue reading "On Leadership... An Analysis of the Phenomenon and Its Application" »
In December 2009, the Australian Government announced plans to introduce sweeping Internet filtering legislation aimed at “improving the safety of the Internet for Australian Families.”(1) All content classed as Refused Content (RC) or X18+ is currently restricted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and is removed by requests from ACMA to ISPs. The proposed legislation would create a blacklist of 10,000 sites for permanent blocking including "real depictions of actual sexual activity, child pornography, depictions of bestiality, material containing excessive violence or sexual violence, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use, and/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act."
Google filed a response to the legislation(2) noting several fears, including that Australia’s plan could “confer legitimacy upon filtering by other governments. … Australia is rightly regarded as a liberal democracy that balances individual liberty with social responsibility. The Governments of many other countries may justify, by reference to Australia, their use of filtering, their lack of disclosure about what is being filtered and their political direction of agencies administering filtering.”
Online repository for whistleblowers Wikileaks obtained and plans to publish the blacklist created by ACMA.(3) The list contains 2395 sites, swelling from the 1370 sites ACMA claimed to be on the list last November.
Reporters Sans Frontìeres wrote an open letter to Australia’s Prime Minister(4) opposing the proposed legislation. The letter noted “according to Wikileaks, the blacklist included the Abortion TV website, some of the pages of Wikileaks itself, online poker sites, gay networks, sites dealing with euthanasia, Christian sites, a tour operator’s site and even a Queensland dentist’s site.” Concluding: “Finally, you must be aware that this initiative is a source of a concern for your compatriots. In a recent Fairfax Media poll of 20,000 people, 96 per cent were strongly opposed to such a mandatory Internet filtering system, while around 120,000 Australians have signed a petition against Internet censorship launched by the online activist group GetUp."
1 - http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/media/media_releases/2009/1152
2 – http://www.dbcde.gov.au/submissions/20100316_11.34.55/256-Google%20ISP%20filtering%20submission%20Feb%202010.pdf3
3 - http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/03/19/1237054961100.html?page=fullpage4
4 - http://www.rsf.org/spip.php?page=article&id_article=35379http://www.dbcde.gov.au/submissions/20100316_11.34.55/256-Google%20ISP%20filtering%20submission%20Feb%202010.pdf
In response to the Australian Government’s interests in creating a nationwide blacklist implemented by the nation’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), Telestra began testing of a DNS plus Proxy Hybrid Blocking solution.(1)
The solution utilized a “Poisoned DNS Server” that posses the Blacklist. If the domain name of a requested URL is on the Blacklist, the request is sent to a proxy server. The proxy server contains the complete Blacklist (specific URLs rather than domains). If the proxy server finds the URL to be blacklisted, the request is discarded, however the user is not given an indication that the requested URL is blacklisted.(2)
Telestra’s study noted “no measurable difference between browsing via the Blacklist blocking solution and browsing using normal DNS infrastructure.” (11) Telestra claims the system is 100% effective (in that it neither overblocks, nor underblocks), but Reporters San Frontìeres (RSF) disagrees. RSF notes: “Experts all over the world agree that no filtering system is effective at combating this kind of content. On the one hand, such a system filters sites that should not be affected. And on the other, it fails to filter targeted sites because their URLs contain key-words that are completely unrelated to their content, or because their content (photo and text) is registered under completely neutral terms. Furthermore, people who are determined to visit such sites will know how to avoid the filtering by, for example, using proxy servers or censorship circumvention software or both.”
1 - About Telstra - Media Centre - Announcement - Telstra welcomes Australian Government's online safety measures. (2009, December 15). Welcome to Telstra.com. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/media/announcements_article.cfm?ObjectID=462222 Hall, B. (2009). Blacklist Blocking Trial. Telestra Corporation, 1(10), 1-14.
2 - Hall, B. (2009). Blacklist Blocking Trial. Telestra Corporation, 1(10), 1-14.
The big payoff for competitive intelligence is that it will point out weaknesses that you have internally because you find the strengths of your competitors. Companies that don’t do this will fail.
Gary Costley, (Prescott, 2001, pg. 140)
Many companies have deluded themselves into thinking they have some intelligence activity, they have an intelligence program; they don’t. Part-time intelligence is a recipe for failure, so be careful about that.
Jan Herring (Prescott, 2001, pg. 147)
Reminiscent of the Apple v. Nokia showdown late last year, Apple has filed suit against HTC, the primary manufacturer of Android based handsets. Apple’s suit claims HTC products infringe on twenty Apple products(1). The suit cites twelve specific Android and Windows Mobile devices, including the Nexus One, the Droid Eris and the Tilt II.(2) Apple is seeking “treble damages and pre-judgement and post-judgement interest at the maximum rate allowed by law” ... “adequate to compensate it for Defendants infringement of the patents” as “determined by a jury.”(3)
The patents involved range from “Unlocking a Device by Performing Gestures on an Unlock Image” (7,362,331) to GMSK Signal Processors for Improved Communications Capacity and Quality.” (5,848,105)(4)
Apple CEO Steve Jobs commented: "We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. … We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."(5)
1 - Patel, N. (2010, March 2). Apple sues HTC for infringing 20 iPhone patents -- Engadget.Engadget. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/02/apple-sues-htc-for-infringing-20-iphone-patents/
2 - ibid
3 - Apple v. HTC, 1:99-mc-09999, District Court of Delaware
4 - FISHER, L. M. (2010, March 2). The Complaint: Apple’s Patent Lawsuit Against HTC Is All About Android . TechCrunch . Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/02/the-complaint-apples-patent-lawsuit-against-htc-is-all-about-android/
5 - STONE, B. (2010, March 2). Apple Sues HTC, the Maker of Google’s Nexus One Phone - NYTimes.com. The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/technology/03patent.html?scp=2&sq=apple%20htc&st=cse
Copyright law has always been a matter of great import to the entertainment industry, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, I viewed a panel session entitled: “The Future of Creative Works: Business and Policy Challenges.” The panel focused almost entirely on changes the Recording Industry will be required to make in the future to maintain its customer base.
A week prior to the panel, U2’s Bono published an editorial(1) with the New York Times demanding legislators require ISPs to use “deep packet inspection” to monitor individual packets going to end users. Gigi Sohn, Co-Founder and President of Public Knowledge, quickly lambasted Bono’s approach in a post of her own(2). The essence of her argument is that DPI protocols “will always be both underinclusive and overinclusive.” The protocols will invariably allow illegal material to pass, but will also block legal content from reaching its destination. Further, the very nature of DPI is inline with illegal government wiretapping in terms of constitutionality.
This entire discussion reminded me of an (3) on a prominent uploader of copyrighted material monikered: aXXo. In the article, Becky Hogge (4), former executive director of the Open Rights Group, a civil liberties group devoted to the digital universe, is quoted as saying: "The entertainment industry would make more for artists if it embraced these technologies and found ways of doing business online. When you have six million people breaking the law, it's the law that needs changing, not the people.”
1 – Bono (2010, January 3). Ten for the Next Ten. The New York Times, p. 10.
2 - http://www.publicknowledge.org/node/2832
3 – http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/scene-stealer-the-axxo-files-1214699.html
4 - http://www.machine-envy.com/
Summary
The Alien Registration or Smith Act of 1940 (18 USC § 2385) makes it a criminal offense for anyone to advocate the overthrow of the United States Government.1 The leadership of the Community Party of the United States was indicted in Federal court for spreading Communist ideals, thereby advocating the end to the United States Government. In a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the lower courts’ convictions, adapting the “clear and present danger” test. Both dissenting opinions questioned the validity of declaring the profession of an ideal different from teaching it in an academic setting.
Facts
Amid increasing pressure from the Republican Party to combat domestic Communism in addition to the Administration’s foreign policy toward the USSR, the Justice Department indicted the leadership of the Communist Part of the United States of America with violating provisions within the Smith Act.
Judge Harold Medina presided over the Federal District Court. The nine month long trial was characterized by questionable rulings on the admission and exclusion of evidence as well as dubious tactics used by both the defense and the prosecution. The trial concluded with the conviction of all eleven defendants.
The defense appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on the grounds of the questionable impartiality of both the judge and the jury, the informant witnesses used by the prosecution, on Medina’s conduct of the trial and the constitutionality of the Smith Act.
Issue
The Supreme Court granted certiorari only to the final appeal: the constitutionality of the Smith Act, specifically whether sections two or three violated the First Amendment and whether the same sections violated the First and Fifth Amendments due to indefiniteness.
"SEC. 2.(a) It shall be unlawful for any person -
"(1) to knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government;
"(2) with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any government in the United States, to print, publish, edit, issue, circulate, sell, distribute, or publicly display any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence;
"(3) to organize or help to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any government in the United States by force or violence; or to be or become a member of, or affiliate with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof.
b) For the purposes of this section, the term `government in the United States' means the Government of the United States, the government of any State, Territory, or possession of the United States, the government of the District of Columbia, or the government of any political subdivision of any of them.
"SEC. 3. It shall be unlawful for any person to attempt to commit, or to conspire to commit, any of the acts prohibited by the provisions of this title."
Holding
In a majority opinion written by Chief Justice Vinson, the Court affirmed the lower courts’ rulings in a 6-2 decision3 through a development of the “grave and probable danger test”, an adaptation of the “clear and present danger test” created by Justice Holmes in Schenk v. United States. Chief Judge Learned Hand interpreted the phrase as follows: "In each case [courts] must ask whether the gravity of the `evil,' discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger." (341 US 494, 1951) Reed, Burton and Minton joined Vinson on the Court’s opinion. Frankfurter and Jackson wrote concurrences. Black and Douglas each wrote dissents.
Rationale
Vinson states in his opinion “Certainly those who recruit and combine for the purpose of advocating overthrow intend to bring about that overthrow.” (Section I) The Smith Act serves to protect the existing government “not from change by peaceable, lawful and constitutional means, but from change by violence, revolution and terrorism.” Further, Vinson states the argument for rebellion against dictatorial governments is “without force” due to the “existing structure … for peaceful and orderly change.”
Vinson cites Justice Holmes’ opinion for Schenk v. United States: “Writing for a unanimous Court, Justice Holmes stated that the “question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.” “Obviously, [“clear and present danger”] cannot mean that before the Government may act, it must wait until the putsch is about to be executed, the plans have been laid and the signal is awaited. If Government is aware that a group aiming at its overthrow is attempting to indoctrinate its members and to commit them to a course whereby they will strike when the leaders feel the circumstances permit, action by the Government is required. ... In the instant case the trial judge charged the jury that they could not convict unless they found that petitioners intended to overthrow the Government "as speedily as circumstances would permit." This does not mean, and could not properly mean, that they would not strike until there was certainty of success. What was meant was that the revolutionists would strike when they thought the time was ripe.” (Section III)
Black’s dissent noted the nature of the indictment of Dennis and the Party leaders. “The indictment is that they conspired to organize the Communist Party and to use speech or newspapers and other publications in the future to teach and advocate the forcible overthrow of the Government. No matter how it is worded, this is a virulent form of prior censorship of speech and press, which I believe the First Amendment forbids. I would hold 3 of the Smith Act authorizing this prior restraint unconstitutional on its face and as applied.”
Douglas’s dissent noted the disconnect between the opinion of the Court and the circumstances of the case itself. “The opinion of the Court does not outlaw these texts nor condemn them to the fire, as the Communists do literature offensive to their creed. But if the books themselves are not outlawed, if they can lawfully remain on library shelves, by what reasoning does their use in a classroom become a crime? It would not be a crime under the Act to introduce these books to a class, though that would be teaching what the creed of violent overthrow of the Government is. The Act, as construed, requires the element of intent - that those who teach the creed believe in it. The crime then depends not on what is taught but on who the teacher is. That is to make freedom of speech turn not on what is said, but on the intent with which it is said. Once we start down that road we enter territory dangerous to the liberties of every citizen. … That ruling is in my view not responsive to the issue in the case. We might as well say that the speech of petitioners is outlawed because Soviet Russia and her Red Army are a threat to world peace.”
1 US CODE: Title 18,2385. Advocating overthrow of Government. (2009, November 8). LII | Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School. Retrieved February 16, 2010, from http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2385.html
Abstract: Leaders and Managers functions are described in an organization’s setting. Each serves its own function within an organization and the two positions serve to facilitate each other rather than acting the same.
“Leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action... Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile business environment.”
John Kotter, On What Leaders Really Do
“It struck me recently that we celebrate people we call "leaders" and often denigrate people who wear the title of manager. As a person who cares about productivity and innovation, I know we need both equally.”
Jeffrey Phillips, “Leaders and Managers – Why We Need Both.”, http://tr.im/PvZ2
Abstract: Various theories of leadership are investigated through a literature review. Conclusions are presented synthesizing the examined theories suggesting an adaptive style of leadership is the most effective.
“A leader knows the way, shows the way and goes the way.”
- John C. Maxwell (http://johnmaxwell.com/)
Leadership is “a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”
(Chemers, 1997)
Starting in October of 2009, Finnish mobile handset provider and US iPhone developer have been slinging patent infringement claims and lawsuits at each other. Nokia’s original filing claims Apple is unfairly profiting from Nokia’s €40 Billion in developing wireless communications technologies pertaining to 2G and 3G connections as well as WiFi integration into mobile phones, across ten separate patents.
Apple quickly filed a countersuit claiming Nokia’s patents are not essential to GSM and UMTS technology. Apple further asserted “Nokia has demonstrated its willingness to copy Apple's iPhone ideas as well as Apple's basic computing technologies, all while demanding Apple pay for access to Nokia's purported standards essential patent.” The filing further claims Nokia is violating 13 patents owned by Apple.
Nokia then filed a follow up claim with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) demanding the commission ban the import and selling of the offending Apple products. Additionally, the claim added seven more patent infringement claims including “a programmable voltage controlled oscillator”, a combination of speaker and antenna assemblies, contextual linking data from an “electronic message” that causes another app to open in order to handle the data. Further, Nokia claims the click-wheel on most iPods violates a patent on combining multiple inputs in one interface and every Apple device that contains a built in camera violates a patent on combining camera functions in a single chip.
In a previous post I described the main process by which I developed my long time password, how hackers use brute force attacks to find password and login combinations and eventually can steal your personal information.
The best way to avoid this situation is to create a strong password for each of your websites. Yes, that means each website needs its own password.
A few things to remember when making your password:
Some of the most used, and therefore most commonly checked passwords by hackers, are:
Bear in mind, a lot of this information can easily be found through a quick google search, or through facebook, for free. Or, a hacker could utilize an Intelius search and run a complete background search to find all the necessary information for a flat monthly fee.
It looks long and complicated, but it is actually a combination two assigned passwords from middle and high school. “ux31wg” was my middle school computer password; “rmw527” was assigned in high school for the same purpose.
When I came to college and was assigned a third password, I decided it was time to take my internet security into my own hands. I put the first two passwords together because I had them memorized from seven years of using them on a daily basis. Then, I added an exclamation point because any hacker, cracker or wannabe internet thief will tell you the first step to protecting your personal information is to include symbols in your passwords.
Due to the length (13 characters), complexity (combining letters, numbers and symbols) and the lack of consecutive letters or numbers I am extremely confident in my password security, I began using my password for every site that I used. From my email to my banking to my Audible account. Eventually, this password was used for everything. How could I be hacked, cracked or swindled into if I had such a strong password?
The easiest way for an unsavory character to breach my password is to use a brute force attack on one of the many sites that I use that does not have a strong security system, assuming that I use the same password and login combination for the less secure sites as I do for the more secure sites (such as banking or my email). This type of attack varies based on the combination of letters, numbers and symbols. Hence my full utilization of the alphanumeric possibilities and an exclamation point. See the table below for how long your password would take to crack. Note how drastically the simple addition of a symbol to a password will increase the amount of time required to crack an eight character password (from 2 days to 2 centuries.)
| Password Length | All Characters | Only Lowercase |
|---|---|---|
|
3 characters 4 characters 5 characters 6 characters 7 characters 8 characters 9 characters 10 characters 11 characters 12 characters 13 characters 14 characters |
0.86 seconds 1.36 minutes 2.15 hours 8.51 days 2.21 years 2.10 centuries 20 millennia 1,899 millennia 180,365 millennia 17,184,705 millennia 1,627,797,068 millennia 154,640,721,434 millennia |
0.02 seconds .046 seconds 11.9 seconds 5.15 minutes 2.23 hours 2.42 days 2.07 months 4.48 years 1.16 centuries 3.03 millennia 78.7 millennia 2,046 millennia |
| Assumes average hacker's computer | Assumes password is not in dictionary | Source |
So, my password was looking pretty good. Even if I was the subject of a brute force attack, any hacker would be required to spend 1.6 billion millennia to find combinations of passwords and logins that might work. Of course, the use of a botnet to reduce the amount of actual time spent.
Unfortunately for me, I was the subject of a phishing scam on Facebook and was forced to change my password on everything.
I just wanted to say how much I’ve come to dislike this “Web 2.0” faux-meme. It’s not only vacuous marketing hype, it can’t possibly be right. In terms of qualitative changes of everyone’s experience of the Web, the first happened when Google hit its stride and suddenly search was useful for … everyone…. The second—syndication and blogging turning the Web from a library into an event stream—is in the middle of happening. So a lot of us are already on 3.0.Tim Bray “Not 2.0”
Tim Bray’s, Director of Web Technologies at Sun Microsystems, main contention in his blog post on “Not 2.0” is that Tim O’Reilly’s broad brush of Web 2.0 as the present and long-term future of the Internet is an inaccurate representation of the ever-changing, ever-adapting atmosphere of the Internet culture. However, O’Reilly quickly rebutted Bray’s post with a blog post of his own, “Not 2.0?”, stating “We are quite arguably on 3.0 or even 8.0 if we’re thinking about the Internet compared to other software versioning.” Citing Kevin Kelly’s article in Wired Magazine, O’Reilly continues: “the key to success in this next stage of the web’s evolution is leveraging collective intelligence.”
Richard Miller sums up both arguments most completely, “Web 2.0 has become a catch-all buzzword used to describe a wide range of online activities and applications … [but] generally refers to using the Internet as an interactive social media.” (19) Web 2.0 can be defined in terms of an adaptation of the Push-Pull Information Model. (Hermans) Currently, the Internet is transitioning from a solitary Pull society to a bidirectional Push-Pull Society. With Web 2.0 elements implemented on a page, users are able to add input, rather than merely receive information. This “social media” element allows the users have a more rich experience online.
The four primary areas of Web 2.0 to focus on as cost-effective investments all fall within the social media aspect of Web 2.0. Distributive Collaborative Communities (DCCs) offer an opportunity for writers to express their opinions in a controlled form while allowing users to contribute to the conversation constructively. Implementing a product rating for a company allows the company to gather market research quickly and effectively at no expense. Media sharing presents a new market for sales apart from the traditional storefronts. Finally, social networking allows companies to connect with customers on a more personal level and gain comments on services and products rendered.
Distributive Collaborative Communities
With the advent of Blogger, LiveJournal and WordPress, any individual can create a blog to discuss what’s on their mind. Many do, some find a following, few monetize the operation. However, a true DCC involves multiple authors expressing their opinions or expertise on a given area and contributing those articles, or blog posts, to a single website, rather than personal blogs. These articles are then aggregated into a feed for users to browse. This model has been utilized for nearly a decade by Ars Technica, Forrester, Gizmodo or Techcrunch.
This model is superior to multiple personal blogs because it allows the company to maintain site traffic. This is important when attempting to sell advertising. If the users are leaving the companies main page for personal blogs, the overall site traffic number will be significantly lower, thus indicating a lower readership and requiring a lower investment from the advertiser.
Product Ratings
If a company is involved in selling their product directly from their website, the implementation of product ratings is a necessity. Not only will the company benefit from voluntary market research, but other customers will be able to see the reviews of each product and will make informed decisions before their purchase. Each informed decision decreases the likelihood of a negative reaction upon receipt of the product, thereby reducing the company’s overhead spent on placating upset customers. Further, this will allow the company to improve upon product deficiencies that they were completely unaware of had they not conducted the market research. This model is used by most market resellers, such as Amazon or NewEgg, but surprisingly few firsthand sellers.
Media Sharing
If a company is involved in graphic design, photography or artwork distribution, Web 2.0 media sharing services would open a new avenue for the company to distribute to customers. Rather than only targeting local or regional buyers, a small company or individual could become a global competitor with a camera and a website. This model has become extremely effective due to the services offered by Flickr and deviantART. Both sites allow users to post high resolution digital copies of artwork that cannot be copied without the artist’s permission. Each site also has mechanisms to sell the artwork to interested buyers.
Social Networking
Currently, companies are using social networking sites to connect with their customers in an effort to establish an atmosphere of “total customer responsiveness.” (Peters, 1988) Sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow the company to connect with their customers on a regular basis and receive daily feedback about services rendered. Further, Facebook in particular offers targeted advertising to users across the entire Facebook network of 300 million active user.
Conclusion
This is an exciting time to integrate any company’s market strategy into new era of the Internet, however there is a fine line that can easily be tripped over. O’Reilly relays a conversation he overheard at a conference: “[Company X] is so Web 1.0 and [Company Y] is so Web 2.0.” Not only did each member of the conversation know exactly what was meant, but most members of the Web 2.0 community would also completely understand as well. These services offer the most profitable and most likely to succeed areas in the changing Internet community.
"Web 2.0 is the era when people are recognizing that leadership in the computer industry has passed from traditional software companies to a new kind of internet service company. The net has replaced the PC as the platform that matters, just as the PC replaced the mainframe and minicomputer."Tim O’Reilly “Not 2.0?”
References
Bray, T. (2006, September 7). Author. tbray.org. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/misc/Tim
Bray, T. (2005, August 4). Not 2.0. Ongoing. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2005/08/04/Web-2.0
Hermans, B. (2000, July 8). Section 3.1.2 - Information Push and Information Pull. Desperately Seeking: Helping Hands and Human Touch. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from http://www.hermans.org/agents2/ch3_1_2.htm
Miller, R. K. (2009). Consumer Use of the Internet & Mobile Web 2008. New York: rkma.com.
O'Reilly, T. (2005, August 4). Not 2.0?. O'Reilly Radar - Insight, Analysis, and Research About Emerging Technologies. Retrieved November 19, 2009, from http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/08/not-20.html
Peters, T. J. (1988). Thriving on chaos: Handbook for a management revolution. NY: Bernard Geis Associates: Distributed By Random House.
ReVolt Technologies a subsidiary of SINTEF, "the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia", has announced they have developed rechargeable zinc-air batteries.
(Metal)-air batteries are not new to the market. However, they are currently used for low power solutions, such as hearing aids, because an effective solution for recharging them has not been found.
According to ReVolt Technologies,
However, researchers at SINTEF have developed a process that effectively recharges the zinc-air battery.
Unlike conventional batteries, which contain all the reactants needed to generate electricity, zinc-air batteries rely on oxygen from the atmosphere to generate current.making them rechargeable has been a challenge. Inside the battery, a porous "air" electrode draws in oxygen and, with the help of catalysts at the interface between the air and a water-based electrolyte, reduces it to form hydroxyl ions. These travel through an electrolyte to the zinc electrode, where the zinc is oxidized--a reaction that releases electrons to generate a current. For recharging, the process is reversed: zinc oxide is converted back to zinc and oxygen is released at the air electrode. But after repeated charge and discharge cycles, the air electrode can become deactivated, slowing or stopping the oxygen reactions. This can be due, for example, to the liquid electrolyte being gradually pulled too far into the pores, Henriksen says. The battery can also fail if it dries out or if zinc builds up unevenly, forming branch-like structures that create a short circuit between the electrodes.(via Technology Review)
I'm sure more of you have seen the commercials for Powermat. If not, enjoy the low bräu humor.
We mentioned this briefly in a lecture for 620 with Dr. Kovac a few weeks ago, and his response to the matter was largely dismissive.
I believe Dr. Kovac used the word "embryonic" when referring to the Wireless Electricity movement. However, I would strongly disagree with that statement. Commercially, that statement may be true, however several product demonstrations have been shown to exhibit a much greater degree of true wireless electricity than the Powermat does.
Ed Giller demonstrated his WiTricity technology at the TED Global Conference 2009. In the ten minute video, (well worth your time, I promise) Mr. Giller, CEO, explains the history of his company, WiTricity and delves into the fundamentals of the technology.
If WiTricity is able to continue to develop and eventually reach the market, I believe we could replace many of the battery dependence in consumer electronics and eliminate the need for tangled wires in home installations.
Eventually, WiTricity could be developed to blanket metropolitan areas and essentially make batteries the true back-up, used only in emergency situations.
In a press release
Each computer is equipped with Windows 7, Adobe CS4 and Microsoft Office. Further, a spokesman for the Department of Education and Training also confirmed several other software applications will be included with the laptops, including GeoGebra, Dia, Audacity, Freemind and MuseScore. The netbooks have a 1.6 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, 160 GB HD and a 10.2” LCD WS VGA LCD screen.
Each netbook is protected with BIOS level tracking software that enables the administrators to remotely disable any machine if it is lost, stolen or sold. Even if the hard drive or operating system is changed, the machine would be totally useless to an unauthorized user. Additionally, each computer contains a passive RFID to track the computers in case they are lost or stolen.