Spinvox

A new startup company in the UK has launched an interesting new voice-recognition technology using 30 million pounds venture capital. BBC video report http://tinyurl.com/2nrglh

Company page: http://www.spinvox.com/

Robots explore the Nazaré Canyon

Robot submarines have been exploring the ocean off the coast of Portugal.
The BBC have a short video about the work here.

Value Engineering - a good thing?

What do the following phenomena have in common?

• extremely quick service at a pizza resturant
• thin doors on kitchen cupboards that you buy at IKEA
• no little bottles of shampoo in some hotel room bathrooms

Answer:

They are all minor but planned examples of Value Engineering.

For more info read the blog of the BBC economics editor.

The odd couple: Greenpeace and McDonalds

An unlikely team of Greenpeace activists and McDonald's executives took a boat up the Amazon to see the destruction of rainforest partly driven by McDonald's demand for soybeans (Washington Post)

Surprising really, considering Greenpeace have regularly campaigned against the fastfood company

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/were-trashin-it

And Mcdonalds attempted to stop Greenpeace campaigners using the courts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLibel_case

http://www.mcspotlight.org/

Global warming and responsible tourism

Interesting combination of entrepreneurism and environmental ethics:

They say:

Founded in 2001 with backing from Anita Roddick (Body Shop) and based in Brighton (UK) we were the first business in the world to use the term responsible travel ( more ). We are one of the fastest growing travel agents in the UK and have booked over 20,000 travellers from all over the world.

____________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile there are reports that Germans this year are planning to stay at home and enjoy the (recently) warmer German climate on German beaches and not flood off to Mallorca or the Algarve.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/3c5klr

Security breach at UK e-commerce firm

Hackers have stolen information from at least 45.7 million payment cards used by customers of US retailer TJX, which owns TJ Maxx, and UK outlet TKMaxx. This was a major breach but it is claimed that the majority of the credit card info. stolen will be already out of date.
Even so, not very reassuring for their online customers!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6508983.stm

World's smallest computer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2018550,00.html

Could this be the computer of the future?



http://sysbio.harvard.edu/csb/benenson/nature_science_update.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-18-2004-51808.asp