Hiriko ~ MIT Electric CityCar Launches in EU

Excellent to see my CityCar colleagues at MIT Media Lab and their collaborations in Europe leading to Hiriko electric citycar launch!

Shooting Freetown ~ Sierra Leone Media Makers

Thanks to Boima Tucker on Africa is a Country for spotting short ethnographic docu film Shooting Freetown by Kieran Hanson...

"Inspired by Jean Rouch's ‘shared anthropology’ and ‘ethno-fiction’, Shooting Freetown follows three people forging their way in film and music in the nation's capital, facing the constant struggles with vision and resourcefulness. By incorporating collaborative video projects, their stories give a fresh image of post-war Freetown -- presented [...] through their own lens."

3 Days in Dubai ~ Lovely Vibe City & Peoples!

UniqueDaily spots 3 Days in Dubai!

Future of Food ~ New Growth for Hungry Planet

Nice Future of Food piece by John Vidal in the Guardian/Observer...

"How can we feed the 2.5 billion more people -- an extra China and India -- likely to be alive in 2050? The UN says we will have to nearly double our food production and governments say we should adopt new technologies and avoid waste, but however you cut it, there are already one billion chronically hungry people, there's little more virgin land to open up, climate change will only make farming harder to grow food in most places, the oceans are overfished, and much of the world faces growing water shortages. [...] Food, farm and water technologists will have to find new ways to grow more crops in places that until now were hard or impossible to farm. It may need a total rethink over how we use land and water. So enter a new generation of radical farmers, novel foods and bright ideas."

These include Algae, Artificial Meat, New Crops, Desert Greening, and Insects!

Enriched Expressivity ~ Buechley's Hi-Lo Tech!

Brazilian science-journalist Cristina Caldes spotlighted Media Lab colleague Professor Leah Buechley recently in her piece Grupo do MIT Media Lab coloca tecnologias em lugares inesperados Here Leah shares her High-Low Tech group's work in enriching all of our creative expressivity and encouraging an enduring love for technology!

The Mobile Web ~ Affordable Text+Voice Internet

White African spotlights very nice piece by Dunia Media on the mobile web revolution...

"...this video showcases iCow and M-Farm, both providing agricultural data to farmers, not in a browser, but as text or voice messages. One could think the title to be a tad misleading, as the “mobile web” term is largely applied to web interaction on a browser on a phone. What I like about this take though is this; the internet allows for a paradigm that doesn’t care what device you have, whether PC or phone, as long as you have a database and a channel you’re in the game. [These] challenge Western conceptions of what the internet is."

If a Tree Falls ~ Eco-Terrorism Documentary...

Thanks to NYTimes DotEarthling Andrew Revkin for spotting new documentary If a Tree Falls about the eco-terrorist Earth Liberation Front. Revkin interviews the director, Marshall Curry who mentions this important nugget asking how best to...

"...respond to non-violent civil disobedience. In the 90s the police use of tear gas and pepper-spray and nightsticks at protests radicalized a lot of activists and convinced them that the democratic system was broken. A portion of those people decided to take up arson in response. I think the film is suddenly a really important cautionary tale to activists to think carefully about tactics, and also a cautionary tale to law enforcement to think about their response to activism, because some responses bring people into the democratic argument and some responses radicalize people."

See If a Tree Falls trailer...

Urban Greenery ~ Celebrating Plants in Cities!

Several lovely recent posts over on Urban Greenery! Click for more...

Fertile Turf ~ South Boston's Innovation District...

Very nice Globe piece by Michael Farrell spotlighting how many key High-tech firms find fertile turf in South Boston...

"Two years after Mayor Thomas M. Menino branded a swath of the South Boston Waterfront as the Innovation District -- a bid to lure big Web companies and start-ups alike -- a healthy crop of technology companies is moving in. Office rents are low, at least for Boston, and the neighborhood is catching on; any company looking for space in the city is looking there, real estate brokers say. As Menino mentioned in his State of the City address last week, 100 companies and 3,000 jobs have come in, bringing a laptop-toting crowd to an area long known for its gritty working seaport and artist studios. [...] The Innovation District umbrella covers a disparate collection of smaller neighborhoods and development clusters, including Fort Point, which is a dense section of industrial buildings developed in the 1830s, parts of the Financial and Leather districts, Channel Center, Fan Pier, and Liberty Wharf. Within that urban landscape -- home to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Marine Industrial Park, and the Bank of America Pavilion, as well as numerous vast parking lots -- there are plans to add more than one million square feet of new construction."

Fantastic boomzone! Also check out my posts on Fraunhofer CSE moving in, my helping kickoff the Greentown Labs incubation space, and my visit to Ginkgo BioWorks, and our MIT classes on Living Labs and Urban Ventures.

Megaboston ~ Radical 1912 Vision for Hub City!

Welcome to Megaboston writes Chris Marstall in the Globe's Ideas section, spotlighting a century-old plan...

"Could Boston have become one of the world’s megacities? [...] that was the ambition of a Brookline lawyer named Daniel J. Kiley, who [...] submitted a bill to the Massachusetts Legislature that would have totally transformed the city, swallowing every municipality within 10 miles of the State House to create a unified “Greater Boston.” Kiley’s bill proposed bringing 32 cities and towns -- from industrial centers like Malden, Waltham, and Cambridge to leafy burgs like Wellesley, Lexington, and Nahant -- within Boston’s borders. At some 327 square miles and with a population of 1.4 million, the huge new megalopolis would have been larger in area than New York City, Chicago, or Philadelphia."

Chocolate's Child Slaves ~ CNN Farming Expose

CNN Freedom Project's David McKenzie investigates unsavory labor practices in Chocolate's Child Slaves...

"UNICEF estimates that nearly a half-million children work on farms across Ivory Coast, which produces nearly 40% of the world’s supply of cocoa. The agency says hundreds of thousands of children, many of them trafficked across borders, are engaged in the worst forms of child labor."

VFX Breakdown ~ Boardwalk Empire Before/After

Miss Cellania spots Boardwalk Empire VFX breakdown!

Hopeful Vangelis ~ Invest in Beauty & Culture...

Al Jazeera interviews Vangelis for alliance of civilizations meeting...

"What we need today more than anything else is to invest in beauty, because beauty is harmony which comes from chaos. But we invest in chaos, because chaos is much more profitable than peace .... Beauty is a kind of safety vault for people. And music as well. I don't think music is beautiful today, music is just a way to advertise other things because music is very powerful as a force and then through music we can advertise anything we want .... When music becomes a product [...] something is wrong about that. [...] To be interested in education, art, science culture, for me this is the key against the crisis today .... The banking crisis is not as important as the culture crisis. So when you deal with culture I think you can manage the rest easier. All the rest, all the misery comes because we don't have beauty, you know, the quality of life. And quality of life is not money, quality of life is something else."

Sully vs Shitty ~ Stark Contrasts in Competence...

The stupid showboating, incredible incompetence, and absence of ethics in Costa Concordia disaster master, Captain Francesco "Shitty" Schettino, contrast dramatically with the actions and character of US Airways emergency landing pilot, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger...

"On January 15, 2009, the aircraft flying this route, an Airbus A320-214, was successfully ditched in the Hudson River adjacent to midtown Manhattan six minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport after being disabled by striking a flock of Canada geese during its initial climb out. The incident became known as the Miracle On The Hudson. The bird strike, which occurred just northeast of the George Washington Bridge about three minutes into the flight, resulted in an immediate and complete loss of thrust from both engines. When the crew of the aircraft determined that they would be unable to reliably reach any airfield, they turned southbound and glided over the Hudson, finally ditching the airliner near the USS Intrepid museum about three minutes after losing power. All 155 occupants safely evacuated the airliner."

This is because the Captain and crew executed flawlessly...

"Shortly after taking off, Sullenberger reported to air traffic control that the plane had hit a large flock of birds, disabling both engines. Several passengers saw the left engine on fire. Sullenberger discussed with air traffic control the possibilities of either returning to LaGuardia airport or attempting to land at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. However, Sullenberger quickly decided that neither was feasible, and determined that ditching in the Hudson River was the only option for everyone's survival. Sullenberger told the passengers to "brace for impact", then piloted the plane to a smooth ditching in the river at about 3:31 P.M. All passengers and crew members survived. He later said, "It was very quiet as we worked, my co-pilot and I. We were a team. But to have zero thrust coming out of those engines was shocking -- the silence." Sullenberger walked the unflooded part of the passenger cabin twice to make sure everyone had evacuated before retrieving the plane's maintenance logbook and being the last to evacuate the aircraft."

Contrast this with Costa's Shitty incompetence, lack leadership, and immorality. Then see here visualization of the US Airways emergency situation plus real-life air traffic control signals... And post-analysis with Captain Sully himself on 60 Minutes...

City Slickers ~ Urbanization in China & World...

Economist spotlights urbanization in China & rest of world...

State Capitalism ~ BRIC Visible Hand MNC's...

Very compelling Economist piece on The rise of state capitalism: Emerging-market multinationals and Visible Hand special report...

"The spread of a new sort of business in the emerging world will cause increasing problems [...] The era of free-market triumphalism has come to a juddering halt, and the crisis that destroyed Lehman Brothers in 2008 is now engulfing much of the rich world. [...] The crisis of liberal capitalism has been rendered more serious by the rise of a potent alternative: state capitalism, which tries to meld the powers of the state with the powers of capitalism. It depends on government to pick winners and promote economic growth. But it also uses capitalist tools such as listing state-owned companies on the stockmarket and embracing globalisation. [...] State capitalism can claim the world’s most successful big economy for its camp. [...] State capitalism can also claim some of the world’s most powerful companies. [...] State capitalism is on the march, overflowing with cash and emboldened by the crisis in the West. [...] This special report will focus on the new state capitalism of the emerging world rather than the old state capitalism in Europe, because it reflects the future rather than the past. The report will look mainly at China, Russia and Brazil."

This is essential -- and quite troublesome -- reading.

ABB Robotics ~ Lovely Automation Examples!

Daily dose of automation available via ABB Robotics channel! Including Arla's Packing Cheese solution!-)

Global Warmth ~ NASA Visualizes Climate Data...

Thanks to io9 for spotting NASA Goddard global temperature data...

Goshawk Acrobatics ~ Near Avian Speed Limits!

MIT's Jennifer Chu writes about the Speed limit for birds in a piece about MIT & Harvard research on critical speed limits for bird-crash avoidance;-) Check out BBC Goshawk flight imagery too!

Eye of God ~ VISTA Telescopes Helix Nebula!

CNN notes how Helix nebula comes into better focus...

American Biomass ~ US Forest Coverage Map...

Robert Gonzalez at io9 spots Incredibly detailed map reveals forest biomass in the United States...

"By working with colleagues at the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey, researchers Josef Kellndorf and Wayne Walker spent six years assembling the national forest map [...] using space-based radar, satellite sensors, computer models, and enormous quantities of ground-based data. The end result, according to NASA, is the most detailed view of forest structure and carbon storage assembled for any country in history."

Netherlands from Above ~ Godviews of Us++

Thanks to Greetings From Holland for spotting the Nederland van Boven godviews! This Netherlands from Above show visualizes patterns of us from abstract heights through the magic of timelapse, sensors, tracking, and other sociotechnological tricks! Lovely views!

Financial Crises ~ Booms & Busts 1810-2010...

ChartPorn spotlights Financial Crises from 1810-2010!

"Top half of the chart maps financial crises in terms of GDP affected, while the bottom indicates number of sovereign defaults..."

Mobility Borders ~ Brockmann et al Follow US$

Fascinating visualization of Community Structure in Multi-Scale Transportation Networks leading to Mobility Borders. Click...

A Dangerous Delay ~ Oxfam & StC Disaster Rept

The BBC writes Slow response to East Africa famine 'cost lives' according to Oxfam and Save the Children...

"...it took more than six months for aid agencies to act on warnings of imminent famine. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people died in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The agencies say governments, donors, the United Nations and NGOs need to learn from the mistakes. In a report titled A Dangerous Delay, the agencies say a culture of risk aversion stalled a large-scale aid effort. They say part of the problem was that the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia were unwilling to admit the scale of the disaster, but also that aid agency staff felt they had seen the problem many times before. "Many donors wanted proof of a humanitarian catastrophe before acting to prevent one," the report says. "Sophisticated early warning systems first forecast a likely emergency as early as August 2010, but the full-scale response was not launched until July 2011." By that time it says, "malnutrition rates in parts of East Africa had gone far beyond the emergency threshold and there was high profile media coverage of the crisis."

PC+Mobiles ~ Total Market Share Longterm Data

The DailyMail's Damien Gayle spotlights PC industry longterm stats...

MIT Nuts & Bolts of New Ventures ~ IAP 2012

Earlier today Tuesday, 17 January 2012, Joe Hadzima kicked off the latest incarnation of our MIT Nuts & Bolts of New Ventures (a.k.a. Nuts & Bolts of Business Plans) course over the MIT Independent Activities Period (IAP 2012). Joe gave an overview of the essence of business planning as a process and special guest speaker Stephen Pearse spoke on how to present venture essentials. Stay tuned the rest of this week in MIT 34-101 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm on Tue, Wed, Thurs and again next week Tue, Wed, and Thursday.

Eagle Nebula ~ Herschel Space Telescopy of M16

BBC's Jonathan Amos spots Eagle Nebula via Herschel 'scope! New 'scope Herschel differs from Hubble...

"Hubble is sensitive to optical light, the kind of light we detect with our eyes. This is easily blocked or scattered by the dust, and shows us merely the shape of the billowing clouds of material. Herschel, on the other hand, is sensitive to much longer wavelength radiation, in far-infrared. This enables it to detect the emission coming directly from the cold gas and dust that cloaks so much of the region. [Below are the] Iconic Pillars: Hubble (right) sees the light that is scattered off the columns; Herschel (left) detects the pillars glowing in their own light."

Nightvision Evac ~ Costa Via Coastie Chopper

Check out Italian Coast Guard nightvision video footage of Costa Concordia evacuation. Frightening as hell from a distance, it must have been terrifying to be caught in it... And here's more damning evidence from the Italian Coast Guard, a recording of CG Commander Gregorio Maria De Falco incredulous and outraged that Captain Francesco Schettino has not only abandoned ship while there are still pax on board but equivocating and effectively refusing to reboard to advise in the rescue. Grotesque. And in case you're curious, here's what this Captain's criminally idiotic showboating has destroyed... Here's GPS-map visualization of the path to destruction... And here's the latest Italian fashion, quoting De Falco telling the Chicken of the Sea to get the fuck back on board...

I Have A Dream ~ Let Freedom Ring Everywhere!

Worth viewing on this day -- MLK's August 28, 1963 speech in DC...

Mediated Matter ~ Oxman's Fab Bioinspirations!

Check out Media Lab LabCast on Neri Oxman's Mediated Matter group and their bio-inspired fabrications including morphables, topographical shapebots, foamcretes and more!

True Africa ~ MIT DV's Grunitzky's Lomé Reports

Our MIT Development Ventures 2011 True Africa team is reporting from Lomé, Togo as they explore the market potential for their base-of-pyramid professionals directory service. Claude Grunitzky writes...

"...we’re already doing a better job of explaining our True Africa service proposal to the workers we’ve been meeting in corner shops and back alleys. (My nephew/assistant Ayité is great at starting conversations, and he has great people skills. It must run in the family...) I’ve been practicing the pitch in French and local language Mina, and now the words just flow out of my mouth like H20 out of a faucet. True Africa is a free -- I repeat FREE -- mobile directory for local service providers who will get to post their name, occupation, location and cellphone number, in addition to client ratings, through their cellphone, in order to drum up new business by getting unexpected calls from prospective new clients. A bit of a mouthful, I know, but some in our target market seem drawn to the idea nonetheless. Still, many are also questioning the usage of the word “free” because by now everyone knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch."

Smart Window ~ Samsung's CES Award Winner

This Samsung transparent Smart Window gives a taste for what smart surfaces everywhere will be like at home, in vehicles, at office, plus... See Gizmodo and Geekosystem comments.

NFC Cluster ~ RF ID & Payments Boston Hub...

Very interesting to see what friend and colleague Damien Balsan has been up to with his NFC Cluster initiative...

"...a cluster of Boston-area groups and individuals that support the development, adoption and commercial success of Near Field Communication (NFC). The NFC Cluster Boston hosts educational programs, workshops, competitions, and exhibits. Our goal is to stimulate Innovation through the rapid development of NFC Technology in most smartphones and other electronic devices. We welcome the participation of anyone looking to apply NFC to their industry, business, application or research."

Non-Event 2012 ~ Kickstarter Their Concerts!

Thanks to Media Lab colleague Joe Paradiso for spotlighting Non-Event -- orchestrators of avant-garde performances throughout Boston area -- and their Kickstarter campaign for the 2012 season...

"We're asking for your support to help us continue to produce top-notch experimental music in and around Boston. 2011 marked our 10th year and we mounted our most ambitious season to date. We organized 30 concerts over the course of the year, featuring some of the finest sound artists, improvisers, and experimental musicians from Boston and around the world. [...] Our plans are just as ambitious for our upcoming season, but we need your help as we go to eleven in 2012. Your contribution to this Kickstarter campaign will help us take care of all the things, both big and small, that allow us to make great concerts happen."

Blueseed ~ Visa-Free Floating Startup Hubship!

Fascinating to read about Blueseed, the visa-free floating startup and tech incubator ship planned off Silicon Valley, CA...

"Because of the United States' current immigration and regulatory regime, bold and creative entrepreneurs from around the world aren’t given the chance to come to Silicon Valley and develop the technologies that could be creating jobs and propelling the economy forward. Blueseed aims to solve this problem so that Silicon Valley remains the world’s center for innovation. Our team, backed by Paypal founder Peter Thiel, is creating a high-tech visa-free entrepreneurship and technology incubator on an ocean vessel in international waters. Our facilities will be a short ferry ride away from Silicon Valley so that great ideas and talent from around the world can live, work, and play while having convenient access to the San Francisco Bay Area. We will provide a customized environment centered around smart, proven, cost-effective legal best practices, and modern living and work accommodations."

So far multiple vessel concepts have been floated... Be sure to also read Tafline Laylin's interview of the Blueseed founders on Inhabitat.

Gardens of Eden ~ DailyMail Spots Greenroofs...

Emma Reynolds in the DailyMail spotlights Gardens of Eden: The heavenly horticulture blossoming on roofs high above the city...

"High above the dreary grey streets of the world's cities, gorgeous gardens blossom in a wilderness of rooftops. These unexpectedly colourful spots provide an oasis of calm away from the bustle of urban streets across the U.S., Europe and as far away as Japan. The elevated scenery ranges from a wildflower meadow on top of a house in London to a neat lawn tended on top of a New York office block. Married couple Diane Cook and Len Jenshel travelled the world capturing their photographs of these stunning sights. It is their latest project after 25 years spent producing images that show how human's influence their environment. The eye-catching plants and flowers not only transform the top of dull office buildings but create habitats for birds and insects and are good for the environment. They reduce noise pollution and release oxygen into the atmosphere.[...] 'It was great to do a story on green roofs, where human impact is actually having a positive influence on the planet. 'The first green roof we visited was the Cook and Fox Architects building in Manhattan. We were blown away. 'It was this beautiful green planted area in the middle of Manhattan in a sea of grey rooftops. We both gasped, we couldn't believe this beautiful garden was on the roof in the middle of the city. 'We were so impressed in Switzerland and Germany, where it is now mandatory for any new building with a flat roof to install a green roof."

Life of Flowers ~ Vorobyov's Blossoms Timelapse!

Miss Cellania spots Life of Flowers!

Korean Superlink ~ Megastructure on NatGeo!

Fascinating to read about Dutch constuction company Strukton's role in building the Busan-Geoje Fixed Link, a South Korean immersion tunnel featured on National Geographic Megastructures...

"The underwater highway of the Busan-Geoje Fixed Link is one of the deepest and longest immersion tunnels in the world, with a depth of 48 metres and a total length of 3.2 kilometres. [...] The extreme weather conditions made the construction a huge challenge for the engineers. The Busan-Geoje Fixed Link opened for traffic in December 2010, reducing the travel time from Busan to Geoje from more than 2.5 hours to just 40 minutes."

Series of Surges ~ Max More on Transhumanity!

Adam Ford interviews brilliantly clear-thinking strategic philosopher and futurist Max More about Singularity and Transhumanism on H+...

Moving Type ~ The Secret Joyrides of Books!-)

UniqueDaily spots The Joy of Books!

Russky Progress ~ Vladivostok Bridge Timelapse!

Very nice timelapse update video from bridge-builders connecting Russky Island to Vladivostok, one of the emergent innovation epicenters of Eurasia...

Global Maps ~ NASA Earth Observatory Data!

Check out lovely NASA Earth Observatory Global Maps!

Artisan's Asylum ~ Community DIY Craft Studio...

I just went to the first session of Nadeem Mazen and Dan Paluska's IAP class on Tech, Art, and Entrepreneurship: How To Make Money And Do What You Love, All The Time, Without Winning The Lottery. Many tasty topics to come over next couple weeks including visit to Artisan's Asylum, a Somerville, MA-based 25K ft2 DIY hackerspace full of fab tools and equipment...

Grand Galaxy ~ NASA Scopes Spiral Starscape!

NASA APOD serves up stellar Grand Spiral Galaxy...

Press Freedom Map ~ Newseum on Liberties...

Chart Porn spotlights interactive Press Freedom Map...

Balloon Mapping Kits ~ DIY Carto on Kickstarter!

Excellent to see MIT Media Lab project Grassroots Mapping dial things up on Kickstarter! Previous ML-related Kickstarter projects CineSkates and Twine have gone huge! Now you can get Balloon Mapping Kits to send...

"...a camera up on a balloon, snapping photos, and stitching them into a map. Over the past 18 months, we’ve build a global community of mappers who use balloons and kites to take aerial photos, and our browser application MapKnitter to stitch them together. We've put our experience into a comprehensive balloon mapping kit that only costs $85 (shipping included) and comes with illustrated instructions."

Follow the action at Grassroots Mapping plus map archive and support them via Kickstarter!

African Journeys ~ Full-On BBC Documentaries...

FYI, several BBC documentaries about West, Central, and Southern Africa and the Chinese presence...

Congo Harborage ~ Potential African Hong Kong!

I'm hugely keen on both current and emerging African hotspots and hubports. Places such as Namibia's Walvis Bay, Nigeria's Lagos, Ghana's portcities, Liberia's Monrovia, Sierra Leone's Freetown, Morocco's Ceuta & Melilla, Eritrea's inland Asmara, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mo'bique, and most recently Cabinda. Looking more closely at Cabinda enhanced my interest in the greater-Congo region and most especially the high-potential harborage at the Congo River mouth embracing the Bas-Congo province seaports of Matadi, Boma, Banana, and Angola's Soyo... Beyond this cross-Congo River bridge at Matadi... ... there's not much heavy infrastructure currently built. From this flight you can get a sense for the landscape and situation... Perhaps the most compelling case for the Congolese seaports is made by none other than supercarrier Maersk and their dredging partnership with CVM (Congolaise des Voies Maritimes) to deepen the Congo River for larger vessels to access Boma and Matadi... Just upstream from these seaports are these amazing rapids......and the prospective Grand Inga Dam, a 40 Gigawatt goliath! If you combine the various factors -- gas & oil discoveries, natural resource export, hydropower aplenty, and more -- this underappreciated Congo harborage zone could be a rivermouth freeport conurbation to rival Hong Kong or Shanghai!

African Seaports ~ Infra'ture Investment Needed...

Tremendous infrastructure investments in ports & ways are urgently needed to enable Africans to properly participate in the global economy. Indeed, I've written before about vital translogistics, accelerating infrastructure, and transport corridor plans as well as the need for creative thinking about infrastructure financing together with the challenges of special Chinese "deals". So it's very interesting to read the AfDB's key message Too many ports handle Africa’s maritime trade traffic -- few of them large enough to attract major shipping lines...

"A greater degree of regional port planning would make it possible to select hubs large enough to offer efficient transshipment services. A hub system would help to lower transport costs."

Check out their map of African ports showing their scale...