technology for good Archives - GreenMonk: the blog

Technology for Good – episode eleven

April 4, 2014 by Tom Raftery

Welcome to episode eleven of the Technology for Good hangout. In this week’s show our special guest was unable to make it due to looming deadlines, so I did the show solo. Given the week that was in it with Microsoft’s Build conference taking place, there were plenty of stories stemming from Microsoft’s various announcements, but there was also a ton of other news, as always.

Here’s the stories that I discussed in the show:

Climate

IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/

Climate Change Impacts in Pictures: 8 Stark IPCC Images http://www.climatecentral.org/news/8-ipcc-images-that-illustrate-climate-central-17242

Why the carbon tax should stay http://www.watoday.com.au/comment/why-the-carbon-tax-should-stay-20140403-zqqb2.html

Cloud

Your Online World: #ClickClean or Dirty? http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/A-Green-Internet/clickingclean/

Cloud computing companies ranked by their use of renewable energy http://greenmonk.net/2014/04/02/cloud-computing-companies-ranked-by-their-use-of-renewable-energy/

Renewables

Israeli solar plant is now 100 percent self-cleaning http://www.gizmag.com/ecoppia-e4-ketura-sun/31428/

Energy Focus’ Strong Growth for Its Military Business for 2014 Accelerates http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140403-907936.html

High-Altitude Wind Energy: Huge Potential — And Hurdles http://e360.yale.edu/feature/high_altitude_wind_energy_huge_potential_and_hurdles/2576/

Makani – airborne wind turbines http://www.google.com/makani/

This Company Thinks Remote Green Energy Sources Are Looking Up — Way, Way Up http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/03/high-altitude-flying-wind-turbine-altaeros-alaska_n_5084264.html

WiFi

More Wi-Fi is better: FCC expands use of 5GHz spectrum http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/03/more-wi-fi-is-better-fcc-expands-use-of-5-ghz-spectrum/

Public Wi-Fi speeds to get a boost from Qualcomm’s new antenna technology http://www.pcworld.com/article/2139660/public-wifi-speeds-to-get-a-boost-from-qualcomms-new-antenna-technology.html

Apps

Microsoft says Office iPad apps hit 12 million downloads a week after release http://9to5mac.com/2014/04/03/microsoft-says-office-ipad-apps-hit-12-million-downloads-a-week-after-release/

Google plans significant overhaul of many of its native and web apps in ‘Google 2.0′/wearable push http://9to5google.com/2014/04/03/google-plans-significant-overhaul-of-many-of-its-native-and-web-apps-in-google-2-0wearable-push/

IFTTT now works with iOS push notifications and looks great on the iPad http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/04/03/ifttt-ios-push-notifications-looks-great-ipad/

FireChat’s anonymous, off-grid messaging app arrives on Android http://gigaom.com/2014/04/03/firechats-anonymous-off-grid-messaging-app-arrives-on-android/

MightyBell Now Tolls For All http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/mightybell-now-tolls-for-all/

Cortana (yes!) and Many, Many Other Great Features coming in Windows Phone 8.1 http://blogs.windows.com/windows_phone/b/windowsphone/archive/2014/04/02/cortana-yes-and-many-many-other-great-features-coming-in-windows-phone-8-1.aspx

Speech Recognition Pioneer Novauris Bought By Apple, Team Now Works On Siri http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/speech-recognition-pioneer-novauris-bought-by-apple-team-now-works-on-siri/

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Kicks Off June 2 at Moscone West in San Francisco http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140403005413/en/Apple-Worldwide-Developers-Conference-Kicks-June-2

Social

Turkey lifts Twitter ban after court ruling http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/03/us-turkey-twitter-idUSBREA320E120140403

U.S. secretly created ‘Cuban Twitter’ to stir unrest http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-secretly-created-cuban-twitter-to-stir-unrest/2014/04/03/8a2dc77c-bafa-11e3-80de-2ff8801f27af_story.html?hpid=z5

What if dictators get good at Social? http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/03/turkey-twitter-ban-and-future-of-networks.html

Internet of Things

NWave Explains How it Provides More Economical, Efficient M2M Technology http://www.m2mevolution.com/topics/m2mevolution/articles/373782-nwave-explains-how-it-provides-more-economical-efficient.htm

$3.4 Billion invested in wireless smart object startups http://iotpedia.com/2014/03/28/3-4-billion-invested-in-wireless-smart-object-startups/

Nest Halts Sales Of Protect Smoke Alarm Over Safety Concerns About ‘Wave To Dismiss’ Feature http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/03/nest-disable-protect-smoke-alarm-halts-sales/

Open

OKCupid seeks to block Mozilla Firefox over gay rights http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26830383

Mozilla Co-Founder Brendan Eich Resigns as CEO, Leaves Foundation Board http://recode.net/2014/04/03/mozilla-co-founder-brendan-eich-resigns-as-ceo-and-also-from-foundation-board/

Microsoft open sources more of its .Net technologies http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-open-sources-more-of-its-net-technologies-7000028031/

Misc

Flypaper for elephants: a new adhesive is based on geckos’ feet http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/geckskin-material-adhesive-gecko-feet

Teen to government: Change your typeface, save millions http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/27/living/student-money-saving-typeface-garamond-schools/index.html

Save $400M printing cost from font change? Not so fast… http://www.thomasphinney.com/2014/03/saving-400m-font/

Lithium sulphur graphene – a battery breakthrough? http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/breakthrough-batteries-lithium-sulphur-graphene

Energy-producing Honda Smart Home gives more than it takes http://www.gizmag.com/honda-smart-home-energy-producing/31380/

Yahoo now encrypting traffic from its data centers, and plans to encrypt Messenger too http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/2/5575932/yahoo-now-encrypting-traffic-from-its-data-centers-and-plans-to-encrypt-messenger-too

European Parliament passes strong net neutrality law, along with major roaming reforms http://gigaom.com/2014/04/03/european-parliament-passes-strong-net-neutrality-law-along-with-major-roaming-reforms/

Follow @TomRaftery

Technology for Good – Episode five

February 21, 2014 by Tom Raftery

This is episode five of our weekly GreenMonk TV Technology for Good Hangout – a show where we discuss news of technology solutions that work to benefit people’s lives. This week we discussed stories to do with Climate, energy/utilities, transportation, health, the internet of Things, and Data Centre’s amongst others.

Here’s a list of links to the stories we discussed today:

Climate news

Satellite data reveal the rapid darkening of the Arctic https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/satellite-data-reveal-rapid-darkening-arctic

Winter wettest on record – Met Office http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26280219

Energy/Utilities

Smart Grid Interoperability Panel http://www.sgip.org/

5 utility industry trends to watch this year http://gigaom.com/2014/02/15/5-utility-industry-trends-to-watch-this-year/

U.S. solar industry employs more than coal, gas combined http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/01/31/us-solar-industry-employs-more-coal-gas-industries-combined

Hyundai Heavy installs Korea’s largest offshore wind turbine http://www.windpowerengineering.com/construction/installation/hyundai-heavy-installs-koreas-largest-offshore-wind-turbine/

Morocco to invest $11 billion in clean energy http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/business/2014/02/morocco-investments-solar-wind-energy.html#

Google backs study on economic benefits of solar lamps http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/analysis/2329034/google-backs-study-on-economic-benefits-of-solar-lamps

Scientists Say Their Giant Laser Has Produced Nuclear Fusion http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/12/275896094/scientists-say-their-giant-laser-has-produced-nuclear-fusion?sc=tw&cc=share

Transportation/Electric Vehicles

Brilliant teen publishes paper on saving the climate with ammonia-fueled cars http://grist.org/living/brilliant-teen-publishes-paper-on-saving-the-climate-with-ammonia-fueled-cars/

Tesla confirms huge battery factory plan, will ship 35K Model S cars this year http://gigaom.com/2014/02/19/tesla-confirms-huge-battery-factory-plan-will-ship-35k-model-s-cars-this-year/

Toyota Testing Wireless Charging Technology for Electric Cars http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/02/toyota-testing-wireless-charging-technology-electric-cars/

Dell joins alliance to bring wireless charging to laptops http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/20/5430310/a4wp-wireless-ultrabook-charging-dell-joins

Health

This Woman Invented a Way to Run 30 Lab Tests on Only One Drop of Blood http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/02/elizabeth-holmes-theranos/

IBM Predictive Analytics to Detect Patients at Risk for Heart Failure http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/43231.wss

This little green laser could save bicyclists’ lives http://grist.org/list/this-little-green-laser-could-save-bicyclists-lives/

Apple patents sensor-packed health monitoring headphones with ‘head gesture’ control http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/02/18/apple-patents-sensor-packed-health-monitoring-headphones-with-head-gesture-control

How to Keep an Eye on Your Aging Parents Without Annoying the Crap Out of Them https://www.yahoo.com/tech/how-to-keep-an-eye-on-your-aging-parents-without-77040481291.html

Internet of Things

Google Explains How Not To Be A Glasshole http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/18/google-explains-how-not-to-be-a-glasshole/

The ‘Internet Of Things’ Will Be Bigger Than The Smartphone, Tablet, And PC Markets Combined http://www.businessinsider.com/growth-in-the-internet-of-things-market-2-2014-2

Hive review: A tentative foray into the internet of things by British Gas is convincing http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/hive-review-a-tentative-foray-into-the-internet-of-things-by-british-gas-is-convincing-9143953.html

The home automation paradox http://radar.oreilly.com/2014/02/the-home-automation-paradox.html

In praise of the humble smart plug: Are outlets the gateway for the internet of things? http://gigaom.com/2014/02/18/in-praise-of-the-humble-smart-plug-are-outlets-the-gateway-for-the-internet-of-things/

Password leak in WeMo devices makes home appliances susceptible to hijacks http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/02/password-leak-in-wemo-devices-makes-home-appliances-susceptible-to-hijacks/

Internet of Things connected Philips Hue bulbs review http://greenmonk.net/2014/02/20/internet-things-connected-philips-hue-bulbs-review/

Data Centre’s

Rackspace and Digital Realty begin building highly efficient UK data centre http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2329954/rackspace-and-digital-realty-begin-building-highly-efficient-uk-data-centre

Miscellaneous

Explained: Samsung’s implementation of the fingerprint sensor on the upcoming Galaxy S5 http://www.sammobile.com/2014/02/17/explained-samsungs-implementation-of-the-fingerprint-sensor-on-the-upcoming-galaxy-s5/

IBM sets new speed record for Big Data http://www.kurzweilai.net/ibm-sets-new-speed-record-for-big-data#!prettyPhoto

IBM starts rolling out Watson supercomputer in Africa http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/06/us-ibm-africa-idUSBREA1507H20140206

PBI Honors Brad Smith and the Department of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft for Outstanding Pro Bono Service http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/36738-PBI-Honors-Brad-Smith-and-the-Department-of-Legal-and-Corporate-Affairs-at-Microsoft-for-Outstanding-Pro-Bono-Service

Technology for Good – Episode four

February 18, 2014 by Tom Raftery

In last week’s Technology for Good show we had lots of stories to talk about. In the show we referenced some very exciting stories in the Energy, Internet of Things, Electric Vehicles, and robotics spaces, amongst others. The links to the stories are below.

As always, if you know of any stories you think we should cover, or someone we should be talking to, feel free to get in touch (@tomraftery on Twitter, or tom at redmonk.com on good old-fashioned email!).

And, as promised, here are the stories which made the cut for last week’s show:

Broadband

Google working on 10 gigabit Internet speeds http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/02/12/google-10-gigabit-internet-speeds/5421709/

Energy

Intel aims to cut graphics power draw with research chip http://www.pcworld.com/article/2096200/intel-aims-to-cut-graphics-power-draw-in-chip.html

Tiny Green Charge Networks “Peaker Plant” Saves Big Pile Of Cash http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/05/new-green-charge-networks-energy-storage-system-cuts-high-demand-rates/

LED lights story http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/garden/basking-in-a-new-glow.html

The World’s Largest Solar Plant Started Creating Electricity Today http://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-largest-solar-plant-started-creating-electr-1521998493

Donald Trump trumped over offshore wind farm challenge http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2328145/breaking-donald-trump-trumped-over-offshore-wind-farm-challenge

Electric Vehicles

London’s first electric taxi fleet hits the streets http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2328112/londons-first-electric-taxi-fleet-hits-the-streets

NASA EV project brings big savings http://climate.nasa.gov/energy_innovations/1036

Internet of Things

6 bn devices to connect to the Internet in 2014 http://gigaom.com/2014/02/13/step-aside-6-billion-new-devices-will-connect-to-the-internet-in-2014/

Flyfit:Unique Ankle Tracker For Fitness, Cycling & Swimming https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/522669502/flyfit-unique-ankle-tracker-for-fitness-cycling-an

Microsoft staffs up its evolving Internet of Things team http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-staffs-up-its-evolving-internet-of-things-team-7000026199/

Microsoft denies reports of scrubbing Chinese-language Bing searches http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/02/12/bing_accused_of_scrubbing_chineselanguage_searches/

Onedrive to offer bonus free storage for friends’ referral http://www.liveside.net/2014/02/10/exclusive-onedrive-to-offer-bonus-free-storage-for-friends-referral-and-cameral-roll-backup/

Robots

Termites inspire robot builders http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26025566

Tiny motors controlled in human cell http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26136979

To avoid obsolescence, buy Apple’s hardware, use Google’s services, and buy Amazon’s media http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/technology/personaltech/how-to-survive-the-next-wave-of-technology-extinction.html?pagewanted=all

Planet

Ocean Health X-Prize http://oceanhealth.xprize.org/

Watching whales from space http://www.theguardian.com/science/animal-magic/2014/feb/13/whale-watching-space

Microsoft’s impact on biodiversity through offset investments http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft-green/archive/2014/02/12/a-look-inside-microsoft-s-impact-on-biodiversity-through-offset-investments.aspx

Apple in conflict mineral ‘name and shame’ crackdown http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26144981

Miscellaneous

Upworthy Traffic Gets Crushed http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-changed-how-the-news-feed-works–and-huge-website-upworthy-suddenly-shrank-in-half-2014-2?op=1

US Army tests smart rifle scope http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26158016

Facebook’s Zuckerberg tops list of America’s 50 biggest donors http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/10/pf/biggest-donors/

Follow @TomRaftery