I was very keen to have James on the show, especially since he recently announced that he is standing for election to the UK parliament next year. James is running on the principles in the OpenPolitics Manifesto, an open source plan for the UK that anyone can contribute to. This is obviously a an extremely innovative approach to electioneering, as well as being uniquely democratic. Believing as I do in the Geek Manifesto, I think it is vital we elect scientifically literate people to the world’s parliaments, so I definitely wanted James to come onto the show. And if he’s willing, I’ll ask him on again sooner to election time.
We covered a lot of topics in the show, including the US public being in favour of a carbon tax, the new Airbus electric plane, and Google’s new moonshot project, the human body.
Here is the full list of stories that we covered in this week’s show:
Climate
- Global Ocean Temperatures Haven’t Been This Hot Since Before 1880
- Beef environment cost 10 times that of other livestock
- US poll finds 60% back carbon tax – if used for renewables
Energy
Internet of Things
- Unilever searches for internet of things partners
- LittleBits’ new cloudBit device adds your dumb gadgets and household appliances to the Internet of Things
- Sense is a glowing sphere that watches over you while you sleep
Drones
Health
Mobile
- In China, more people now access the internet from a mobile device than a PC
- Facebook’s new stats: 1.32 billion users, 30 percent only use it on their phone
- Apple reportedly discussing mobile wallet plans with credit card companies, may launch with iPhone 6
Security
- EFF’s snoop-stopping, ad-smashing Privacy Badger plugin hits beta
- Mozilla Proposes prefer HTTP Header To Bring Parental Control To Web
Diversity