Cycling those carbon emissions away

For a small charge, still to be determined, people can pick up one of the bikes and use it - but they must leave it back at a drop-off point so that someone else can, if you like, "recycle" it.

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | 'Cycling those carbon emissions away'.

Another good innovative idea. There are in fact so much that can be done, if all municipal bodies can spend a couple of minutes for brainstorming, dozens of feasible plans can be figured out.

Vista upgrades trigger surge of e-waste

The long-awaited launch of Microsoft Vista late last year is expected to result in a surge of obsolete PCs market as companies go ahead with deferred desktop systems upgrades.

Vista upgrades trigger surge of e-waste - Computing.

The wave of upgrading is ultimately inevitable. I am just praying if people can take the environment into their considerations when they throw away old equipments (being an IT guy like me is doing so as well).

Recycling computers can become a lucrative business, there should be more businesses of this kind. Collecting old computer equipments, refurnishing them then sell them to the niche market at a lower price. There is such a market as the thrown-away equipments are becoming more and more usable, some may include Windows XP OS license as well.

Advocating recycling of resources can actually help both environment and rich-poor-disparity problem.

Internal Link

 This is the first post I make using Windows Live Writer. I am making some comparison between it and BlogJet I am currently using.

Testing bold text

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Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. And at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. -- Stockdale Paradox from Jim Collins's "Good to Great"

Source: Compass -- Direction and Drive for Excellence

Google's Page urges scientists to market themselves

And that was his main advice to the scientists in the room: take their scientific studies, market them better and make them readily accessible to the world. That way, the world might have a better chance at solving problems like energy consumption, poverty and global climate change.

Google's Page urges scientists to market themselves | CNET News.com.

Lets modify this statement a little bit.

Maybe some businesses can set up fundings for helping scientists do their marketing. We know technical people too well, little among them are thinking intensively from the business perspective. There should be a better collaboration between great scientific ideas with real world applications.

As much as Page, I believe that the force of public can change the world as well.

Big Oil sees big risks as it places big bets - Oil & Energy

Big Oil sees big risks as it places big bets - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com.

The big question: Can our practices of economy save this world?

We all appreciate the way our economy works. The basic supply and demand theory applies everywhere. When there is a need for biofuels, even big oil companies can’t resist the trend and start investing in alternative energy resources. Some, of course, are less adaptable to sudden changes. Regardless of the real interests of this planet itself, the sole motive of making money is seemingly powerful enough to drive people’s mind towards the right direction.

But then the question comes, can we react fast enough to stop the destruction of our very habitat? As much as we believe in our systems of politics and economy, are they sufficiently capable of rectifying some situations as serious as what we are currently in?

I have gone through the SARS crisis in Hong Kong. As far as I can tell, our economy didn’t save us, it collapsed, our bureaucracy of normal govenment operations didn’t save us, it slowed us down. We solved it by unwavering drive and UNITY. A new reporting regime was formulated quickly within the government and the figures were made transparent to the public every day. Everybody were taking initiatives to improve personal hygiene, encouraging one anothers…

We gone through it, at last, with a number of lifetime-injuries and deaths. We did, react too slow. To a relatively small crisis within a local territory, we reacted too slow.

Imagine, how soon should we react towards a global crisis like global warming? Can we still count on our normal political and economic restructuring, or should we do something explicitly in the first place?

PayPal introduces security token

The $5 (�?.57) token generates a random, six-digit code every 30 seconds which is then used as part of the login process for the website.

BBC NEWS | Technology | PayPal introduces security token.

Two-way authentication is by far the most secure authentication method, it is particularly useful for websites like Paypal which handles millions of transactions every day. Just wondering how can Paypal sends these tokens to all its members? If this is working, maybe Google Checkout is the next to introduce such tokens. With so many people holding Google accounts around the globe, is it possible to send everyone a token?

Searching for Love 2.0

First, it's clear that we don't just search for "love," we Google "love." Over 70% of all U.S. searches on the term occur on Google, compared to 62% overall for regular search terms. What's even more striking than Google's dominance is the degree to which the search giant influences what we click on. Eight of the top 10 sites visited after searching "love" matched the top natural listings on Google.com.

Searching for Love 2.0 -- Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2007 -- Page 1 -- TIME.

Wish everyone a happy Valentine’s Day. Though I am a huge fan of technology, and appreciate the effectiveness of Internet over love matching, yet I am wondering if people are too much depending of computer networks and tend to neglect the importance of face to face interactions.

Afterall, world changes, as long as people accept it, it justifies itself.

Oil Companies Discuss Energy Challenges

When some of the industry's top executives gather in Houston next week to discuss global energy challenges, finding new and more effective ways to produce oil and gas, as well as alternatives to fossil fuels, will dominate the discussion.

Oil Companies Discuss Energy Challenges, Oil Companies Discuss New and Better Ways to Fuel Cars, Power Factories, Heat and Cool Homes - CBS News.

Finally, there is something constructive going on out there. Thinking about the sustainability of an energy business makes a lot of sense from a commercial perspective. “What if we can start exploring a new income source? Maybe we can demonstrate a sense of social responsibilty as well, which is good for our corporate image…”

Embrace changes, it may not be as hard as many of us think. Think ahead, it is never too late to save our businesses as well as the planet itself.

Network giants battle to dominate mobile web

Analysts believe the GSMA will announce that around 500m new mobile users signed up last year, meaning there are 2.2bn people using phones with its GSM and 3G standards.

Network giants battle to dominate mobile web | Business | Money | Telegraph.

The game is on for yet another battle over the mobile market. Inevitable trend that everythings will go mobile. There will be more dependence on your mobile phone remoting your television, instead of a standalone desktop computer.

All the web applications are going mobile as well. Apart from mere functionalities, compatibility with mobile web is another vital element of future online utilities and applications.

Web 2.0 Convergence

Alright, the following is a list of Web 2.0 applications and communication tools that I am using. How to merge them systematically for a better yield?

Communication:

     

Social Networking:

     

Blog:

   

Others:

 

A climate-change cost analysis - USATODAY.com

The human and economic cost of global warming will move to center stage when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases the second and third installments of its report this spring, experts say.

A climate-change cost analysis - USATODAY.com.

These reports are truly healthy to the world. Merely talking about environmental protection is no way near moving the hearts of big corporations. Hurricanes are detroying the oil platforms, and it brings huge damages and losses to insurance industries. When it gets warm, the demand of oil will decrease which affects the oil price (as what is happening right now), aren’t they detrimental economically?

The environment is as fragile as our economies. Without a nice habitat, our so-called economies can be nothing but pure luxuries.

Al Gore's Foot Soldiers

After Lindzen's remarks, the students broke into smaller groups. Mankoff told his group of 11th and 12th graders that Lindzen was wrong and Gore was right. "Gore has the entire scientific community behind him," Mankoff said. "In the scientific community, I believe that Lindzen stands alone."

Al Gore's Foot Soldiers -- Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 -- Page 1 -- TIME.

Here comes the point that the team with more men wins. It is about how many scientists are doing soul searching. The fact is there, spread it out and lets do something about it.

Scientists: Humans 'very likely' cause global warming

Scientists: Humans 'very likely' cause global warming - CNN.com.

The report found it was "likely" -- "more likely than not" in some cases -- that manmade greenhouse gases have contributed to hotter days and nights, and more of them, more killer heat waves than before, heavier rainfall more often, major droughts in more regions, stronger and more frequent cyclones and "increased incidence" of extremely high sea levels.

Lets keep things simple! People are simple playing word games over the issue without truly forming a solution. The problem of global warming is becoming obvious to not only scientists but normal people as well. Yet people deny it, resorting to a confirmation of so called “scientific consensus”which takes years. Where there is a report coming out stating the very fact that people are “very likely”to cause global warming, people question about the meaning of “very likely”, take more time to explain. The process goes on.

Instead of indulging into conflicts and arguments, lets come back to page one.

• The problem of global warming is absolute, regardless of all the scientific reports, we can all see it. And it is going worse.
• Who cause the problem? Is it relevant? now we need a solution rather than finger pointing about who is accountable.
• Those who deeply believe environmental protection is mutually exclusive with economic growth, please think again. Why should we jump to that conclusion so soon without thinking about alternative solutions that can seemingly benefit both sides?
• Isn’t there anything more important that profit or revenue or money? Oh yes, our survival, and our sons’ and daughters’ survival  isn’t it?
• Donation is no way near a solution to a problem like this. Do something in your business process or the way you live. It’s about doing, not paying.

It is nerve-racking to see how stubborn people are when responding to an urgent issue as this. Seems as if nobody are caring about social responsibility any more. It is a gift for we have a good development in our politics, economies and technologies. Shouldn’t we make use of these to play a part in the solution? But all that it takes is the participating of everyone of earth. It is time to act now.