Microsoft revs its patent machine

Posted by Ina Fried
Microsoft, which once was only a modest customer of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, has been one of its biggest customers in recent years.

In just the past two months, more than 500 applications from the Redmond, Wash., software maker have been published. (That's actually a reflection of how active the company was in mid-2006, since patent applications aren't generally published until 18 months after their filing).

But it's one particular filing that has been grabbing headlines in recent days. That patent covers a means by which a computer that can use factors such as a person's heart rate, blood pressure, and facial expression to take action. The Times newspaper of London posted a story this week noting the "Big Brother" implications such a technology could have, such as notifying an employer if a worker appears stressed or is not being productive.

However, I'm hearing that this patent is more aimed at building a more useful and relevant help system into software than it is at offering a snooping tool for bosses. Of course, you never can tell where a technology will lead, and the patent could cover either or both applications.

Microsoft, which typically does not comment on individual applications, did offer a bit of comment, in the form of a statement from Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft's vice president of intellectual property and licensing.

"This particular patent application, in general, describes an innovation aimed at improving activity-monitoring systems and uses the monitoring of user heart rate as an example of the kind of physical state that could be monitored to detect when users need assistance with their activities, and to offer assistance by putting them in touch with other users who may be able to help," Gutierrez said. "It is important to keep in mind that with most organizations in the business of innovation, some of our patent applications reflect inventions that are currently present in our products, and other applications represent innovations being developed for potential future use."

Trolling through filings can offer a glimpse of where a company is headed, but as with Apple's closely watched patent filings, seeing something in a patent application is far from a guarantee of what will eventually ship.

Microsoft's patent push is stimulated by a number of factors. One is competition and trying to make sure that Microsoft's rivals don't get access to key innovations. However, the company also began a broad intellectual-property licensing push several years ago, under which it licenses technology to many companies big and small. The company has signed a slew of patent cross-licensing deals since then, the most recent being Tuesday's deal with Japan's JVC.

A number of Microsoft's recently published patent applications cover search and advertising, areas in which Microsoft is investing a lot as it tries to play catch-up with Google. There are so many of these, I'll save them for a separate post, but recent filings cover things such as creating a spot market for video ads, and creating marketing that uses a combination of video and banner advertisements.

Among the other patent filings are hardware designs such as a washable keyboard and a washable mouse. There are other washable designs on the market, including both keyboards and mice.

Another patent covers so-called managed copy, which takes something like a video file or DVD, and uses digital rights management (DRM) to enable people make a copy that can be used on their various digital devices but does not allow unlimited duplication.

http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9851948-56.html

Amazon And Pepsi To Offer Free Music

Amazon.com and Pepsi have teamed up for a new free music cross promotion that will see Pepsi drinkers earn free music with Pepsi purchases.

“Pepsi Stuff” is billed as a “massive collect-and-get program” where “consumers can download the most DRM-free MP3 music available anywhere.” In layman’s terms, drink lots of Pepsi, get DRM free music for free on Amazon.

Starting February 1, Pepsi users must “bank” their points on PepsiStuff.com to redeem them for music on Amazon MP3.

Cross promotions of this kind aren’t new, but it does show the seriousness of Amazon to promote its DRM free music store to a wider audience (Pepsi has previously given away iTunes downloads). It was only 12 months ago that we wrote about the inevitable death of DRM, yet one year later in 2008 the market is now focused on which DRM free music provider comes out on top, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Hopefully the increasingly cut-throat competition will result in downwards pricing pressure as well in the coming months.

Play PC Games on Your PS3...FREE

StreamMyGame Lets You Play PC Games on Your PS3, Reduces Need to Ever Leave Your Couch

We almost did not believe it, but those guys at StreamMyGame have included a video in which they are playing Crysis on their PS3, all streamed from their PC. There is no visible lag, and the resolution is user definable. In short; it looks crisp. Check out the tutorial above, but skip through to the money shot at 07:55, unless you are setting it up, in which case you will need to go through it all. The best thing about all this streaming wizardry?

It is free. That's right; by hitting up the link you are able to get your hands on all the software required. Your PS3 will need to have Linux installed (either Ubuntu or Yellow Dog), and your PC will require Windows Vista or XP. The StreamMyGame Server does the rest, converting the game's video and audio into a "Game Stream" that is then sent across your local network. The device you stream to can be a PC, laptop, PS3 or Linux device. The machine being streamed to does not need a copy of the game installed, but does need the StreamMyGame Player, which is also free.

The CEO, Richard Faria had this to say about the development:

"Playing the latest PC game on the PS3 is now a reality at HD resolution and fast frame-rates. I have a PS3 in my living room and PC in my office and my two kids both have old PCs in their bedrooms. Now we can play games anywhere around the home. StreamMyGame's technology networks the power of a main PC so it can be used to play high end games on other PCs, PS3s and Linux devices".

In the pipelines is remote streaming across high bandwidth broadband connections, as well as Windows Mobile and Android versions. If that does not get your pants wet, we'll have to send Jason in with his dildos (NSFW.) Follow the link to get streaming, and let us know how you get on. [StreamMyGame via Akihabara News]

http://gizmodo.com/344882/streammygame-lets-you-play-pc-games-on-your-ps3-reduces-need-to-ever-leave-your-couch

Car vs. Boeing 777

A Boeing 777 jet and an A1 Grand Prix racer clashed at the Auckland International Airport in New Zealand to see which was the faster machine. The Boeing got a headstart down the runway for the first race, and defeated the A1 handily. When the starting points were equal, however, the A1 emerged as the victor, reaching a top speed of 285 km/h (versus 270 km/h for the Boeing). And is it just me, or does watching this news piece give you a strange urge to watch Flight of the Conchords? [TV New Zealand via Jalopnik]

http://gizmodo.com/344354/a1-racer-beats-boeing-777-in-runway-showdown

Google betting big on mobile market--and Apple

January 14, 2008 3:00 AM PST
Google betting big on mobile market--and Apple
Posted by Elinor Mills

Vic Gundotra, vice president of mobile and developer at Google, shows of the new user interface of Google Web apps for the iPhone being unveiled at MacWorld on Monday.

(Credit: Google)
On Christmas Day thousands of people opened up boxes with something cool and functional inside and wasted no time logging onto Google.com through their brand new iPhones.

As a result of those gifts, the number of global queries to Google's search site from iPhones surpassed the number of queries from people using market-leading Symbian-based phones for the first time. Google calls it the "Christmas cross-over."

That is huge given the fact that the number of iPhone units shipped is tiny compared to the number of Symbian-based phones out there. The cross-over only lasted a few days or so, but it shows the impact the iPhone is having on the telecom industry and provides a glimpse into its future market potential for the Web.

"It's about usage, not just units," Vic Gundotra, vice president of mobile and developer at Google, said in a recent interview with CNET News.com. "The data proves that people are using the browser on the iPhone."

The iPhone revolutionized the industry by making it easy and affordable to use the Web on a cell phone, he says. Google is offering Web apps written for the iPhone browser that bring the PC experience to the mobile device, he says.

On Monday--the first day of MacWorld, Google plans to unveil a new user interface for its iPhone Web apps that make Gmail, search, Reader, Calendar, Picasa and other services faster to use and more customizable. It also has optimized iGoogle for the iPhone.

Now, new e-mail messages automatically show up so you don't need to hit refresh, messages can arrive in 25 seconds or less and auto-complete makes composing an e-mail faster. Calendar offers a month-at-a-glance view that isn't yet offered on the desktop. Your favorite apps are in tabs at the top of the screen and they can be switched around.

"This app will work great on Android," Google's mobile software platform launched in November, says Gundotra.

What's next? Will more Google apps join YouTube and Google Maps on the iPhone's home screen that shows up when the device is first turned on?

Gundotra smiles mischievously.

"One thing that bothers me is that (mobile) apps don't work offline," he says when prodded.

Given that Google launched Google Gears, which allows people to work on their Web apps even when they are not connected to the Internet, last May it's likely they'll have something similar for mobile soon.

Netflix to loosen restrictions on internet viewing option

Netflix to loosen restrictions on internet viewing option
Posted Jan 13th 2008 10:13PM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Home Entertainment



Granted, there are some out there who've been dodging the whole "limitation" aspect of Netflix's Watch Instantly feature for a good while, but for the honest, upstanding citizens abiding by the rules, things are (seemingly) about to change for the better. According to a recent report from the AP, Netflix is gearing up to banish the time limits for online streaming on all but its el cheapo $4.99 plan, meaning that subscribers to every other plan will be able to watch online content as much as they'd like. In case you haven't connected the dots quite yet, it's being suggested that the move will be made to fend off the looming competition from Cupertino, and while this would undoubtedly increase costs, it doesn't seem as if the firm plans on hiking rates (at least initially) to compensate. Now that's a change we can live with.

HD DVD fires back, slashes hardware & software prices

HD DVD fires back, slashes hardware & software prices
Posted Jan 14th 2008 4:11AM by Richard Lawler
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

HD DVD's response to being unceremoniously jilted by Warner going into CES was ... nothing. A canceled press conference, downtrodden Toshiba press conference and rumors of further losses left great doubt that red had anything left in 2008, but now HD DVD is firing back. Leveraging its "approximately 50% market share in 2007" -- we're not sure where that number comes from either, we've contacted Toshiba for clarification -- indisputable lead in the notebook market and 100% compatibility with internet-enabled HDi features, Toshiba has announced it is not laying down yet. Effective yesterday, the HD-A3 MSRP has dropped to $149.99, the 1080p-capable HD-A30 to $199.99, and the top of the line HD-A35 to $299.99. Combined with an extended "perfect offer" of 5 free HD DVDs with every purchase, Toshiba's HD DVD Concierge service, and a sudden 50% off sale on Amazon, it seems this format will not go quietly into the dark. Fire sale to clear suddenly obsolete inventory or real chance to hang onto its remaining supporters? This could be the best -- or worst -- time to pick a side in the HD war.

Update: Amazon is also having a 50% off Blu-ray sale, so whatever your format of choice, pick up some discs and let the movie studios know who you rep.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/14/hd-dvd-fires-back-slashes-hardware-and-software-prices/

Nike to release 23rd Air Jordan; he's not saying whether it will be the last

By SARAH SKIDMORE, Associated Press Writer
January 8, 2008

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) -- It's gotta be the shoes, right?

No other basketball shoe has changed the face of business, athletics and marketing like the Air Jordan. This month, Nike releases the 23rd edition, and it is expected to be just as venerated as its predecessors.



The sleek design and link to Michael Jordan's jersey number make it a touchstone in the line. It's also Nike's first basketball shoe designed under its "Considered" ethos, which aims to reduce waste and use environmentally friendly materials wherever possible.

The Air Jordan XX3 will be released in three hyped-up rounds from January to February, starting with a limited edition to be sent to only 23 retailers to be sold for $230 and concluding with the national launch at $185.

There had been talk at Nike about retiring the shoe at No. 23, because of his iconic jersey number. But company officials won't say whether this will be the last of the line. Neither will Jordan.

"You'll just have to wait and see," Jordan said in an e-mail to The Associated Press, responding to questions about the upcoming release.

Before launching the first shoe in 1985, Nike had just signed Jordan for $2.5 million over five years. Nike won't say what Jordan's current contract with the company is worth.

Jordan's deal with Nike opened the door for sneaker manufacturers to chase after athletes, signing them up -- sometimes just out of high school-- for multimillion-dollar contracts in hopes of being able to cash in on the next superstar. It sent sneaker prices to new heights, which has since generated a backlash against selling pricey shoes to basketball-loving kids.

"The Air Jordan franchise created the most coveted basketball footwear in the world and changed the basketball landscape forever," said Nike Brand President Charlie Denson.

Unlike most basketball shoes to date, which were often white and utilitarian, the Air Jordan was a shock of black and red. It was initially banned by the NBA for not conforming with other players' shoes.

Jordan continued to wear them and was fined $5,000 a game, which Nike paid.

"Nobody expected the mass hysteria created by its release," Jordan, who has been a part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats since 2006, said in his e-mail to The AP.

A new edition was launched each year, and release dates had to be moved to the weekends to keep kids from skipping school to get a pair.

The frenzy got dangerous. People were mugged and even killed for the shoes.

The Air Jordans helped spawn a subculture of collectors, who line up at stores to buy the shoe's latest edition.

Jordan said he never expected that the shoe would become an icon.

"Like every kid growing up, I dreamed of making winning shots at the buzzer and I was fortunate to live out that dream, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever entertain the idea of the success of the Air Jordan franchise," he said.

The Air Jordans moved basketball shoes from true high-tops or low-tops to a middle range and used unheard of styles, such as patent leather toes and elephant print.

As Jordan's success grew on the courts, so did Nike's in the shoe industry.

People from the streets to the suburbs were wearing $100-plus basketball shoes, which was unheard of at the time.

That price is the norm today, but it has launched a backlash, such as the partnership between New York Knicks player Stephon Marbury and the Steve & Barry's store chain to sell basketball shoes for $14.98 -- a direct stab at pricey sneakers like Air Jordans.

At that time, the Air Jordan captured a mix of design, marketing, athleticism and player charisma that hadn't been seen before in the industry -- everyone wanted to "Be Like Mike."

"Athletes had been endorsing products for years prior to this," said Tinker Hatfield, Nike's Vice President of Innovation Design and Special Projects.

"But they were just signing their name to the shoe. I think there was a very understandable difference...Michael's personality and even the changes in the game and inspiration from other walks of life were all sort of being designed into this product and that made it more interesting."

Jordan and Hatfield work together on the design and function on many of the Air Jordan shoes. Jordan has final say on design matters.

Air Jordan was the lightning in the bottle that every company hopes for.

Advertising images of Jordan soaring across the sky were ubiquitous. Spike Lee could be heard hollering "It's gotta be the shoes" on television. And Jordan's outstretched arms with the swoosh nearby adorned walls across the country.

Nike quickly moved from a running company and newcomer to the basketball category to the market leader. Some industry estimates put Nike's current share of the basketball shoe market at about 85 percent. Far behind are Adidas and Reebok.

The idea of adding such unusual style to a product or so closely aligning with a personality was novel at the time, but it paid off.

Other companies tried to follow suit but it was like trying to come up with the next Harry Potter or iPhone for basketball.

The relationship completely changed the idea of sports marketing. Companies now make athlete sponsorships the centerpiece of their business, spending millions signing them and designing product lines and marketing platforms around them.

Jordan's original deal seems like a pittance compared to multimillion-dollar contracts inked these days, such as Nike's $90 million agreement with LeBron James.

"The beginning of the Jordan era marked a new and more sophisticated approach to leveraging an athlete," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.

Like any bet, athletic companies take their risks -- some pay off, like Tiger Woods or LeBron James. But some don't, a la Michael Vick. Nike terminated its contract with Vick last August after his plea agreement on dogfighting charges.

Jordan was spun off into its own division in 1997, a move that some high up in Nike questioned when Jordan retired.

But the business is a key component, with new players signing on under the brand. Nike has spun that Jordan swagger into performance and luxury apparel for men and woman.

The Air Jordan remains the pinnacle piece for shoe collectors. The original Air Jordan 1 can sell for thousands of dollars, depending on various factors.

Jordan said: "It blows my mind that even after five years removed from the game the shoe would be stronger than ever and I would still be greeted by fans as if I had just won a championship all over again."

Here Comes Yahoo Live, I Mean Yahoo Life

Yahoo didn’t just announce their new open mobile platform today at CES. They also got the heavyweights - Jerry Yang, David Filo and Brad Garlinghouse - up on stage to give more details on the project they’re calling Yahoo Life! (previously dubbed “Inbox 2.0“).

Everyone wants to be more like Facebook these days, and Yahoo is no exception. Google’s strategy is Open Social, a set of open APIs that allow third parties to embed stuff on other third parties. The cornerstone of Open Social for Google is Gmail, where all the action happens for a user (and to a lesser extent Orkut and iGoogle). Yahoo’s going in much the same direction, it seems, by making Yahoo Mail the center of their new social networking strategy.

The new product is only a proof of concept at this point, Yang said. The goal is to unite services like mail, search, etc. under a social framework, with Yahoo Mail serving as the central hub. Your email and Im contacts serve as your contacts and fill out the social graph. Their closeness to you is based on how frequently you communicate with them.

An example, via Dan Farber:

He gave an example of planning a dinner for CES. You can drag the thread into a map and it will bring up the profiles of those on the mail, note preferences (for food in this case) and suggest restaurants in the area. You can also take an email message, pop up the profiles of those on the message, takes an address from email and show it a map.

And third party applications aren’t being left out. The image above clearly shows integration with MySpace, for example. This is where Yahoo’s ambitions around Zimbra, which it acquired late in 2007 for $350 million, become more clear. The new platform for developers is based in part on Zimbra’s technology.

The first pieces of this strategy were being put in place as far back as late 2006, when Yahoo began rolling out integration of Yahoo Mail and instant messaging. Messages can now seamlessly transfer back and forth between IM and email, something no other web mail application does. It’s clear that even then Yahoo was thinking long term about the future of the mail interface.

It’s unfortunate that Yahoo, which has had a muddled past at best with regard to social networking, is referring to the product as “Life.” It’s too close to Microsoft’s Live strategy of bucketing online services under a new brand. It’s gone nowhere but sideways over the last couple of years, and shows that repackaging and marketing do little to drive user adoption in today’s Internet.

But the name aside, and despite my previous criticism, Yahoo Life looks like an intelligent social architecture for Yahoo. Assuming all this social networking stuff isn’t just a fad (it isn’t), then it makes sense for Yahoo to focus their resources in this fight. Of course, developers will now have yet another platform to build to, beyond the Facebook and Google ones that exist today.


http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/08/here-comes-yahoo-live-i-mean-yahoo-life/

Google Enabled Televisions Coming Soon

Japanese manufacturer Matsushita (Panasonic) has signed a deal with Google that will see the company launch flat panel television sets that allow users to access YouTube and other Google services such as Picasa Web Albums.

The deal is said to be non-exclusive with the first units set to be launched in the United States in Spring.

The deal isn’t the first internet enabled television to be manufactured, but it is the first time Google has signed a deal in this space. Internet in the lounge room has long been a hyped technology that despite various platforms (including Windows MCE) has failed to capture the publics imagination, particularly given the need for a computer or internet specific device to connect. TV with internet access built in, if it’s delivered without any major premium over existing television sets has the potential of finally delivering mass market convergence. Having YouTube access built into sets as a default would also be a positive for Google as it continues to work towards strengthen YouTube’s long term dominance in light of increased competition.

Deepening democracy and space policy 2.0

Deepening democracy and space policy 2.0
by Kathleen M. Connell
Monday, December 31, 2007
NASA, for all of its visibility and iconic meaning to society, does not possess a large structural constituency base in the American population. It is unlike other well-known and well-funded government and quasi-government programs and agencies, such as HUD, VA, SBA, Medicare, the Department of Education, the US Postal Service, or the Defense Department. Each and every year—sometimes each month—these and other federal entities provide direct checks, subsidies, loans, or services to individual Americans, their families, and communities. These Americans are, in turn, political constituents of the elected Administration and Congress, which decide the funding level of these agencies and NASA. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that agencies that deliver direct “bread and butter” support and benefits to watchful constituents and enterprises will usually be a larger budget priority for elected officials, unless a local constituency has a significant, sustained stake in NASA.

Thus, for better or worse, NASA is generally also not a priority for the massive membership lobbies which are engaged in the business of preserving benefits via legislation for their members. These associations, along with the many clients of K Street lobbyists, hold the leverage of well-funded constituent mobilization, votes, and campaign contributions that elected officials require.

A case in point is the AARP, with a membership enrollment of 38,000,000 members, and corresponding legislative power in Washington, DC. For purposes of comparison, the well-respected AIAA, the largest aerospace professional society in the US, claims 31,000 enrolled members, or less than 1% of the AARP membership.

From this perspective, it is easy to understand why structural issues in our representative democracy continue to constrain the extremely small budget wedge of NASA, and are likely to do so in the future. NASA’s tiny fraction of the US GDP is also managed by a small group of powerful space policy actors. Many of these officials have significant space centers or institutes in their states.

Civil space is now on the cusp of a tipping point where at many structural shifts are occurring simultaneously.
Further, if perception is often reality in politics, not since the technological and knowledge-based competition at the core of the Cold War have individual Americans perceived or held a direct economic stake in the fortunes of NASA. This was not always so, for at mid-century NASA commanded a significant percentage of GDP, and a large percentage of new jobs being created in the technological battle known as the Cold War. Since the end of the Cold War, most Americans have been either structurally excluded from impacting space policy choices, or have no overriding incentive to attempt to do so.

How then, will the public space sector investment grow to meet its needs in competition with other domestic and foreign priorities, and emerging international competitors? A related question is how can NASA accomplish the development of a new crewed spacecraft capable of lunar exploration, explore Mars, provide seed grants to new space firms through the COTS program, and also maintain a portfolio of space science within the current budget wedge of less than 1%? The past seven years have demonstrated that no internal need of NASA, including the need for a new space access system, can drive the budget up to break the 1% level. NASA cannot accomplish all of these things on a sustainable basis, and there is no relief in sight, under the current status quo.

To resolve these questions means to grow the NASA slice of the budget pie, but how?

From a structural perspective a “perfect storm” of new trends must converge into a tipping point in order to increase the civil space wedge. One view is that civil space is now on the cusp of a tipping point where at many structural shifts are occurring simultaneously. This essay will touch on three of these emerging trends and how they might intersect to help create a consensus for more funds for innovative civil space initiatives.




Structural shift #1: From localized space constituent to global space consumers“The free market is the only mechanism that has ever been discovered for achieving participatory democracy.”
– Milton Friedman, economist NASA policies are proposed by each Administration, and disposed of by Congressional legislation. Beneath this constitutional architecture for decision-making is a traditional set of intermediaries with direct interest in the policy and budget outcomes at NASA. These intermediaries are generally understood to align in the categories of civil service unions, contractors, industry, academia, trade unions, technical and industry associations, NGOs, and the military. Last but not least are the powerful traditional space states. The states are the only intermediary group with elected officials in the decision-making loop of civil space. The local space worker/constituents, and their power in the traditional space states of Texas, Florida, Alabama, Maryland, and California, have an extraordinary interest in, and impact on, the NASA budget. Joining this circle are a second ring states like West Virginia and Colorado who also have a strong interest in space public affairs. A third ring of states has entered the circle of the interested, via spaceports, and includes states like New Mexico and Oklahoma.

These space influentials will soon have to move over to make room for those who do not live next door to a NASA center or space port, for space commerce is about to produce a new vested sector, in a newly empowered space consumer.

The much-anticipated arrival of profitable private space in low Earth orbit is not yet a fact, but space entrepreneurs’ desire to create markets and make profits will have a byproduct in the creation of space consumers and the projected consumption of critical goods and services from space assets. The requirements of investment dictate that this must be so, for investment requires customers in order to generate a return. Individual customer/consumers and consumer blocks are now poised to spring into being, and they will change the face of civil and private space forever.

The rise of the consumer and consumer movements in America is well established in every market segment, but only recently can the notion of space consumer be thought about in relation to the space sector. With consumption comes choice. Space consumers may soon be “voting” with their discretionary income. Choices will abound on space services and goods. Consumers are known to register stockholder initiatives (and protests). With consumer political clout they will be poised to apply pressure on firms via government regulation. And occasionally consumers use the power of the boycott to impact the marketplace.

Individual customer/consumers and consumer blocks are now poised to spring into being, and they will change the face of civil and private space forever.
Space consumer choice is a public benefit of private markets, however, it should not be confused with uncritical and wholesale privatization of all government functions. Government has a role to play in the creation of markets, and a role in consumer protection to play after the markets are created. The “withering away of the state” in space, as some wish for, is an extreme aspiration, when what is required is a public interest commitment to more effectively reform and revitalize NASA, not eliminate it. The state will also be needed as a watchdog for space consumers, and in turn watchers to keep and eye on the watchdog.

Savvy space consumers can have a broad agenda of their choosing which can include matters at NASA as well. As interested but independent players, they can also introduce a change loop back into NASA choices, in addition to impacting the space marketplace. Space consumers and the companies that serve them will likely see a long-term benefit in receiving support from government, and the NASA budget in particular, in the form of contracts, grants, loans, prizes, and research that support commercial space and consumer interests. Space consumers can legally press the Administration and Congress for these and other programs, just as the AARP impacts budgets for health and Medicare funds. It is conceivable that “silver collar” space consumers may choose to seek to increase the NASA budget—or not. NASA’s behavior will likely determine whether space consumers come to view the agency as friend or foe, or something that is a shade of grey between these two poles.

Structural shift #2: The rise of proactive citizen space hives
A digital plank has been thrown across the distance that once separated the wiki community from the rocket community.
Kevin Kelly, one of the founders of Wired magazine, captured this phenomenon in the notion of “hives”, where independent agents spontaneously form to meet group objectives. Kelly viewed this trend as a neo-biological social and economic development. Both led and leaderless hives of concerned parties are now mobilizing fast to make major impacts on space budgets and provide highly competent input into the space policy process.

Web 2.0 is also dramatically influencing 21st century space policy in a direct manner. IT tools now enable viral marketing, web fundraising, blogging, video posting, advocacy, conferencing, user-created content, instant information, texting, meet-ups, friend sites, community building and much more.

These web-empowered, HTML-fluent agents have been dubbed an “Army of Davids” by leading blogger Glenn Reynolds. That virtual crowds could help make space choices for the nation is still a bit inconceivable to those accustomed to the institutional Goliath language of space discourse, where senior experts were the only voices heard just a few years ago. What is equally interesting is not only the quantity of space opinion and direct policy action on the web, but the quality of the information publicly available. “Billions and billions” (to borrow a well known quote from Carl Sagan), no longer refers just to the firmament of stars, but to the number of global citizens now space-hip, and online 24/7.

Savvy activists and organizers are using tech tools, and more sophisticated advocacy IT platforms, to create communities that mobilize new publics, interest groups, space “prosumers” , beleaguered space scientists with dwindling budgets, and others space constituents. Several thousand of these interest organizations have been cataloged in informal databases. The list of active space networks represent official organizations, industry lobbies, professional societies, informal societies, bloggers, affinitive networks, state-based organizations, consultants, researchers, and media. What it does not fully capture is a profusion of sub-niche players with enormous reach, or those with a “long tail” of impact.

Added to this is the evolution of gaming and simulation, as Second Life and other virtual environments allow for a simulated high-definition space experience for anyone with an adequate computer system. These tools are both evolvable and, most importantly, free or very low cost. In economic terms, some simulated space expertise is looking less like an elite preoccupation, and more like an information commodity.

That virtual crowds could help make space choices for the nation is still a bit inconceivable to those accustomed to the institutional Goliath language of space discourse, where senior experts were the only voices heard just a few years ago.
In political terms, interested persons can now “opt-in” to the space policy debate, click-and-send opinions and requests to elected officials and the media, and host meet-ups in Congressional offices with their representatives. Many more are choosing to do so in increasing, influential numbers and ad hoc crowds. As theorists and practioners in space policy and political campaigns know, the impact on official legislation and Administration policy from closed to more open, is already happening.

As a result, independent and hive space actors no longer are willing to accept marginal status in decision-making around space exploration and utilization of space assets. Where the space hives want the nation’s taxpayer-funded space investment to go, and whether it should grow, will become increasingly clear in the next few years. What is clear now is that space hives are in the space game to stay.

Structural shift #3: The crisis factor: from civil space as a luxury, to space assets as a necessity in global warming mitigationBy now you would have heard that NASA intends to go to the Moon again in 2018 but why should that interest you? You already have enough concerns here in your life on earth with things like terrorism, hurricanes, wars and your own employment prospects keeping you up at night... The list is practically endless. I'm not going to sweep all these things aside and tell you that space is more important when you say, “Why is space so important to me?” or “What has space got to do with my life here and now?”
– Fred Stratford, blogger
Some in space circles have advanced a theory that the NASA budget is small because space is a luxury item compared to other budget priorities. As we have suggested, space budgeting choice is better understood as a case of structural inequality in the political and policy context. Whatever truth there is to the luxury argument, global warming has moved civil space to a position of necessity in global warming observation, and possibly, mitigation.

Global warming has become the most compelling new societal issue of the era. Space assets can now be plotted directly on the critical path of halting global warming and the potential mass extinctions and economic chaos it can bring. Both NASA and NOAA budgets contain a significant percentage of the world’s budgets dealing with climate change research and assets. Both agencies advance the state of knowledge regarding global warming, and provide crucial satellite data streams that assist during larger and longer weather crisis, such as hurricane strikes.

On the political front, almost overnight, a passionate advocate, Al Gore, and the world’s top scientists persuaded many Americans and others across the globe of the existence of global warming. As of this writing, the momentum of voter towards climate as an issue is gaining adherents, and will be felt in the 2008 Presidential election cycle.

Green opinion has already found its way to Washington, in many forms and appropriation initiatives. In space, it is also arriving in the form of NASA budget proposals by some Presidential candidates. The net effect will be to heighten the climate-related focus on the already very visible NASA. This time the issue, and the resulting demands on the civil space sector, are almost science fiction made science fact. Will NASA be expected to play a leading role in the drama of saving the planet, and us, from extinction? It is hard for this writer to imagine that NASA will not be called upon, and this surely has budget implications.

The structural walls of the old citadel that contain space policy decisions are still in place, but cracks are appearing thanks to new waves of participatory players and societal challenges.
Space is also plotted on the other points on the critical path for preservation of the planet and humanity. One opportunity is in global warming mitigation via energy delivery from solar power satellites. Another one is in the now real question of spacecraft-as-lifeboat. Will climate degradation force us to explore space? These and other topics now require more space community engagement and focus in order to fully comprehend both the issues and opportunities in space affairs. It will also be critical that space exploration advocates not be seen as ones who are willing to forsake the home planet. This will discredit space advocates in the eyes of the terrestrially attached, which is most folks. Indeed, the redirection of a significant share of the NASA portfolio towards the home planet is highly likely.

Meanwhile, the structural walls of the old citadel that contain space policy decisions are still in place, but cracks are appearing thanks to new waves of participatory players and societal challenges. These trends are pushing towards both openings and transparency in democratic institutions and entities, including in the entity called NASA. Those would-be space leaders who understand the dynamic intersection of empowered public will, interactive technology, space consumption, and global warming will best be able to guide NASA into the second decade of the 21st century. Should they also embrace these facets of the future, a future that has already arrived, they will find themselves with the credibility to also make the case for increasing budgets and increasingly robust space exploration initiatives as well.


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Kathleen M. Connell is a Principal of The Connell Whittaker Group LLC, and a former Policy Director of the Aerospace States Association. She is an advocate for space solutions of benefit to humanity. She lives in San Diego, California.

GM envisions driverless cars on horizon

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer
2 hours, 33 minutes ago



DETROIT - Cars that drive themselves — even parking at their destination — could be ready for sale within a decade, General Motors Corp. executives say.




GM, parts suppliers, university engineers and other automakers all are working on vehicles that could revolutionize short- and long-distance travel. And Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner will devote part of his speech to the driverless vehicles.

"This is not science fiction," Larry Burns, GM's vice president for research and development, said in a recent interview.

The most significant obstacles facing the vehicles could be human rather than technical: government regulation, liability laws, privacy concerns and people's passion for the automobile and the control it gives them.

Much of the technology already exists for vehicles to take the wheel: radar-based cruise control, motion sensors, lane-change warning devices, electronic stability control and satellite-based digital mapping. And automated vehicles could dramatically improve life on the road, reducing crashes and congestion.

If people are interested.

"Now the question is what does society want to do with it?" Burns said. "You're looking at these issues of congestion, safety, energy and emissions. Technically there should be no reason why we can't transfer to a totally different world."

GM plans to use an inexpensive computer chip and an antenna to link vehicles equipped with driverless technologies. The first use likely would be on highways; people would have the option to choose a driverless mode while they still would control the vehicle on local streets, Burns said.

He said the company plans to test driverless car technology by 2015 and have cars on the road around 2018.

Sebastian Thrun, co-leader of the Stanford University team that finished second among six teams completing a 60-mile Pentagon-sponsored race of driverless cars in November, said GM's goal is technically attainable. But he said he wasn't confident cars would appear in showrooms within a decade.

"There's some very fundamental, basic regulations in the way of that vision in many countries," said Thrun, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering.

The Defense Department contest, which initially involved 35 teams, showed the technology isn't ready for prime time. One team was eliminated after its vehicle nearly charged into a building, while another vehicle mysteriously pulled into a house's carport and parked itself.

Thrun said a key benefit of the technology eventually will be safer roads and reducing the roughly 42,000 U.S. traffic deaths that occur annually — 95 percent of which he said are caused by human mistakes.

"We might be able to cut those numbers down by a factor of 50 percent," Thrun said. "Just imagine all the funerals that won't take place."

Other challenges include updating vehicle codes and figuring out who would be liable in a crash and how to cope with blown tires or obstacles in the road. But the systems could be developed to tell motorists about road conditions, warn of crashes or stopped vehicles ahead and prevent collisions in intersections.

Later versions of driverless technology could reduce jams by directing vehicles to space themselves close together, almost as if they were cars in a train, and maximize the use of space on a freeway, he said.

"It will really change society, very much like the transition from a horse to a car," Thrun said.

The U.S. government has pushed technology to help drivers avoid crashes, most notably electronic stability controls that help prevent rollovers. The systems are required on new passenger vehicles starting with the 2012 model year.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication and technology allowing cars to talk with highway systems could come next.

Still in debate are how to address drivers' privacy, whether current vehicles can be retrofitted and how many vehicles would be need the systems to develop an effective network.

"Where it shakes out remains to be seen but there is no question we see a lot of potential there," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

___

Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.

Airline passenger rights movement taking off

George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, January 4, 2008


If you're still fuming from being confined in an airplane sitting on the tarmac last year, as many thousands of passengers were, some relief may be at hand. Maybe even some revenge.

There are developments on three fronts on behalf of consumers who feel antagonized for what they consider intolerable periods of time stuck for hours in airplanes.

It's possible that Congress, when it takes up a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, perhaps in February, will include in it protections for passengers who are inconvenienced by being stranded on airplanes for three hours or more.

New York decided it couldn't wait for Congress to act. On New Year's Day, the first-in-the-nation airline passengers' bill of rights became law, requiring airlines to provide stranded passengers at New York airports with critical supplies to make delays more tolerable.

The law was in response to numerous incidences of passengers being stranded, but primarily because thousands of passengers were kept in grounded aircraft at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York during a snow and ice storm last Valentine's Day, some for up to 10 hours.

The law requires that once airplanes leave gates in New York and have been on the tarmac for more than three hours, there must be drinking water, snacks and other refreshments, electric-generation service for fresh air and lights and removal of waste from holding tanks for on-board restrooms. It carries a penalty of $1,000 per passenger per violation.

"It became very evident that the government needed to step in and see that passengers are treated humanely on these flights," said New York Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, a co-sponsor of the bill that Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed into law. "This is home to the most delayed airports in the country," said Gianaris, whose Queens district includes LaGuardia Airport.

Lawmakers in New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut are in various stages of preparing similar legislation, said Gianaris. If such a proposal is under consideration in California it hasn't surfaced yet.

The Air Transport Association of America, the trade association representing the major U.S. air carriers, is battling such legislation, on the theory that decisions need to rest in the hands of cockpit crews. The trade association challenged Gianaris' bill in U.S. District Court in Albany, arguing that commercial aviation is best regulated by one source, the federal government, not individual states.

Judge Lawrence Kahn, in dismissing the association's challenge, ruled last month that the New York law covers legitimate health and safety issues and is not pre-empted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 as it does not affect an airline's fares, routes or service.

The trade association said it believes Kahn misinterpreted the law and it is considering an appeal.

And finally, Kate Hanni, the Napa real estate agent who gave up her day job to become a consumer advocate and form the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights to lobby for the federal legislation, took the matter of "tarmac confinement" to court last week.

She filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging false imprisonment during the nine hours she sat in a plane that had been diverted from Dallas to Austin, Texas, in the midst of a 1,000-mile-long thunderstorm on Dec. 29, 2006. The suit, filed Friday in Napa County Superior Court - just under the deadline of a one-year statute of limitations - also accuses the world's largest airline of intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and breach of contract.

American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, says it does not comment on pending litigation, other than to say that it has implemented practices to better deal with inclement weather and that it was forced to divert 121 planes that day for safety reasons.

The airline, however, does specifically dispute one of Hanni's claims about her experience on Flight 1348, from San Francisco to Dallas. In the suit she alleges, "The toilets became full and would not flush and the stench of human excrement and body odor filled the plane." American said, "None of the three restroom toilets ever overflowed. In fact, the toilets were serviced at the earliest opportunity by ground crews."

A Department of Transportation Inspector General's report said the airline provided "tolerable restroom facilities on the aircraft delayed in Austin; however, some passengers felt American's efforts were inadequate in that regard."

Another passenger stranded that day in Austin, Catherine Ray of Fayetteville, Ark., has filed a suit similar to Hanni's against American Airlines in state court in Arkansas. The two were in separate airplanes, but Ray said the toilet in her airplane "could not be flushed anymore" and there was no water to wash one's hands.

Both Hanni and Ray are asking judges to certify their cases as class actions, on behalf of some 12,000 American passengers who were confined for hours in airplanes "in poor to deplorable conditions" on Dec. 29, 2006.

"It fundamentally changed my life," Hanni said of her experience, which prompted a career change - to walk away from 17 years as a real estate agent as well as the loss of relatively high income to become an unpaid consumer advocate.

"Anyone can sell real estate," said Hanni. "I don't know anyone else who would stick his or her neck out to create a coalition to take on the airlines, every day, and do it for nothing. But I have to, because passengers have no lobby. There's a callous disregard for passengers."

Hanni, who formed the Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights ( www.flyersrights.com) to develop passenger-friendly legislation, added, "I miss the money" from real estate. "But I'm so excited to be involved with something forward reaching where I can leave my mark."

Hanni is lobbying in part to try to preserve a provision in the House version of the passengers' bill of rights requiring airlines to have a strategy for taking passengers off airplanes. The bill also requires airlines to provide for passengers' basic needs.

Storms can cause passengers to be held in airplanes on the tarmac, but, said Paul Hudson, a New York lawyer representing Hanni, most tarmac confinements are the result of congestion, mechanical problems with the aircraft, lack of ready flight crews, air traffic control malfunctions, diversions from other airports, airport curfews, or lack of customs and immigration or security personnel to process incoming international flights.

Hudson, who is also executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, a nonprofit group monitoring safety and security issues, negotiated a settlement on behalf of 4,000 Northwest Airlines passengers who were confined in airplanes from four to 11 hours during a snowstorm at Detroit Metro Airport in January 1999. They shared in a settlement of $7.1 million.

Hudson believes, as Hanni alleges in her lawsuit against American Airlines, that confinements are intended to avoid "expenses and lawful obligations to passengers associated with strandings, diversions and canceled flights."

Of the airlines, he added, "Their primary defense is, 'This is an act of God.' I guess we're supposed to sue God."



Know your rights
Coalition for an Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights: www.flyersrights.com


Aviation Consumer Action Project: www.acap1971.org


Department of Transportation Aviation Consumer Protection Division: airconsumer.ost.dot.gov


E-mail George Raine at graine@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Knight Rider Evolution

Knight Rider




Knight Rider 2000



Knight Rider 2010



Team Knight Rider


Knight Rider 2008 <---would have been nice


Knight Rider 2008

This should have been the new KITT....

Koenigsegg CCX



Third Generation Firebird
Production 1982–1992

Knight Rider 2.0

If you were a child of the 1980s, or are just a fan of very-late-night cable television, then you've most likely seen Michael Knight (played by a pre-Baywatch David Hasselhoff) and his chatty supercar sidekick, KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand), do battle with bad guys on the small-screen action-adventure show Knight Rider.

At first glance, KITT appeared to be a sporty 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, fresh off the assembly line. But thanks to a little Hollywood razzle-dazzle, the car transformed into a virtually indestructible machine—possessed with advanced artificial intelligence that allowed it to accept voice control commands, interact with "The Hoff" and make decisions on its own. In fact, the car's AI was so advanced that KITT formed a kind of personality, which is what has endeared the "car" to millions of auto geeks in a way the Batmobile never could be. But when the show was shelved in 1986, so was KITT.

Last week, NBC unveiled an all-new, controversial KITT, which is set to star in the made-for-TV Knight Rider movie in February. Based on the still-to-be-released Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR (click here for engine-revving video), this virtual Stang comes tricked out with a supercomputer that can hack almost any system; a very capable weapons system; and a body—thanks to nanotechnology—that's able to shape-shift and change color at will. Like its predecessor, the 21st century KITT gets AI from digital effects wizards that makes it an ideal crime-fighting partner: logical, precise and infinitely smart.



Designer Harald Belker, who has created the Batmobile for Batman and Robin and a next-gen space shuttle for Armageddon, came onboard to give the new KITT. a unique look. "The goal was to make it look more aggressive without being hokey or garish," Belker says. "Maintaining as much of the original beauty of the Shelby as possible was important—and not just because of the Ford connection. It had to be simple yet believable as a superhero." Once his vision was set, Belker turned to Ted Moser from Picture Car Warehouse to make his drawings come to life. But there was one big hurdle: The GT500KR doesn't technically exist quite yet. "So we had to finish their design first," Moser says. "Then we brought in a prop maker to create side skirts and spoilers out of wood, smooth them out, and sent them to a fiberglass shop to make molds. Once the parts are formed from those molds, we finish them and attach them to the car."

One of the cooler features of the Mustang KITT is air-ride suspension, which allows its driver to lower the car's ride height when the vehicle morphs from Hero to Attack mode. "When it goes on the offensive, it gets slammed to the ground," Moser chuckles. Very aggressive, indeed. There will be three models used in filming: Hero (essentially a stock GT500KR); Attack (the tricked-out model); and Remote Control (operated via RC, obviously). "All of the ‘transforming' will be done through CGI animation like in the Transformers movie," Moser admits. (Click here for behind-the-scenes digital wizardry from this summer's blockbuster flick.)

For all you Trans Am holdouts, Mustang droolers and Hasselhoff haters, here's the very first look at all of the new KITT's gee-whiz specs and functionality, matched up to the original to determine which is better equipped for Hollywood crime-fighting.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237588.html