Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Great New Product, Green Friendly, New Inventions

The ultimate in Car-Sharing: tiny, electric ‘box’ mobiles

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A new mobility option.

Car-sharing is getting plenty of green-minded folks excited these days. The rise of ZipCar, carpooling apps, and so forth have been heralded as signs that people are beginning to see the merits of spending less time driving solo and more time sharing, cutting costs and pollution in the process. Well, the folks at the “progressive industrial design studio” Brooks & Bone have taken the concept of urban car-sharing to its logical conclusion: Tiny, boxy vehicles built specifically to be shared a la personal rapid transit…

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Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Crazy Stuff, Globalism, Health & Fitness

Better facial recognition algorithms through Caricatures

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How does a computer recognize a face?

Since 9/11, there’s been a renewed interest in facial recognition algorithm to catch terrorists trying to slip into the country but ten years later, the system ain’t anywhere close to perfect (yes, even including Facebook’s creepy facial recognition system)

Perhaps they’re going about it the wrong way, according to Ben Austen of Wired. Rather than taking biometric measurements of the size of a person’s nose or eyes, computers would do well to learn from caricaturists instead…

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Breakthrough Thinking, Entertainment, Internet, Latest News

Telex: an infrastructure-level response to state Internet censorship

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J. Alex Halderman and his colleagues have unveiled Telex, a “state-level response to state-level censorship.” It’s a network of censorship-busting major ISPs that provide infrastructure-level, hard-to-detect proxying that allows people in repressive regimes to get access to sites blocked by their national firewalls. The descriptive materials on the site are very easy to grasp and very exciting…

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Analysis, Business, Science & Technology News

Buzzwords that make you spend your money

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“Having the word ‘free’ somewhere in your ad attracts attention and creates a positive feeling.”

When businesses takes out an advertisement, they don’t have much space to convince you to buy their products. If it’s a television or radio spot, they might have 30 seconds to a minute.  If it’s a print ad it maybe half a page unless they can afford a full-pager. That means they have to choose every word carefully to make the most impact.

 

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Analysis, Health & Fitness, Science & Technology News

Kids are safer when grandparents drive: study

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 The study found that children involved in car crashes with grandparent drivers had half the risk of being injured as kids riding with their parents.

Hand over your keys if you’re an overprotective parent.  Kids may be safer when their grandparents drive than when mom and dad are behind the wheel according to a new study.

 

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Analysis, Business, Internet, Latest Trend

Are daily deals worth it for the businesses?

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Many companies are skeptical about the long-term payoff of daily deals.

Daily deals become increasingly popular with consumers.  But, there is conflicting information about whether such offers are worth it for businesses. For some, the payoff does not justify the payout even though others enjoy profits and new customers from the venture.

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend

‘Fourth bureau’ – little known companies track data used in credit scores

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The “fourth bureaus” track your everyday transactions including your magazine subscriptions.

Mike Mondelli, an Atlanta entrepreneur, has access to more than a billion records detailing consumers’ personal finances — and there is little they can do about it.

 

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Analysis, Animals, Food, Health & Fitness, New Discoveries

Is it Vegan? Gelatin made from humans

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Gelatin comes from where!!?

It’s one of those truths that you’d rather not know. That bright red, orange, and green gelatin you slurped down as a child is actually made from animals. Vegans avoid it like the plague because it’s derived from the collagen in an animal’s skin and bones. But what if it was made from humans? How do you categorize it then?

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Big Problems, Health & Fitness, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

‘Bath Salts’ – alarming new stimulant legal in many states

Bath-Salts

Bath salts are labeled “not for human consumption,” which helps them skirt a law that would make them illegal.

This spring in the emergency room at Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville, Pa, .Dr. Jeffrey J. Narmi could not believe what he was seeing.  There were people arriving at the emergency room so agitated, violent and psychotic that a small army of medical workers was needed to hold them down.

 

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