Plug-In Kit Turns Any Car Into A Hybrid For $3000 - PSFK Students from the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) have developed a plug-in hybrid retrofit kit. The eco-friendly kit is said to work with almost any car to turn it into a hybrid vehicle. The best part is, the cost of the technology would cost around $3,000 if it’s commercialized. Professor Charles Perry from MTSU recently fitted the hub technology on a 1995 Honda station wagon, and helped the vehicle increase its gas mileage by 50 to 100 percent. Perry commented that, “The whole point was to demonstrate the feasibility of adding the electrical motor to the rear wheel of the car without changing the brakes, bearings, suspension — anything mechanical.” Watch the video below to see how the Plug-In Hybrid Retrofit Kit is fitted and how it works: via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/08/diy-hybrid-car-kit.html#ixzz22Ug50Hu8

Plug-In Kit Turns Any Car Into A Hybrid For $3000 - PSFK

Students from the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) have developed a plug-in hybrid retrofit kit. The eco-friendly kit is said to work with almost any car to turn it into a hybrid vehicle. The best part is, the cost of the technology would cost around $3,000 if it’s commercialized.

Professor Charles Perry from MTSU recently fitted the hub technology on a 1995 Honda station wagon, and helped the vehicle increase its gas mileage by 50 to 100 percent. Perry commented that, “The whole point was to demonstrate the feasibility of adding the electrical motor to the rear wheel of the car without changing the brakes, bearings, suspension — anything mechanical.”

Watch the video below to see how the Plug-In Hybrid Retrofit Kit is fitted and how it works:



via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/08/diy-hybrid-car-kit.html#ixzz22Ug50Hu8

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Who invented the Internet?: The outrageous conservative claim that every tech innovation came from private enterprise. - Slate Magazine Earlier this month, President Obama argued that wealthy business people owe some of their success to the government’s investment in education and basic infrastructure. He cited roads, bridges, and schools. Then he singled out the most clear-cut example of how government investment can spark huge business opportunities: the Internet. “The Internet didn’t get invented on its own,” Obama said. “Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.” Until recently this wouldn’t have been a controversial statement. Everyone in the tech world knows that the Internet got its start in the 1960s, when a team of computing pioneers at the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency designed and deployed ARPANET, the first computer network that used “packet switching”—a communications system that splits up data and sends it across multiple paths toward its destination, which is the basic design of today’s Internet. According to most accounts, researchers working on ARPANET created many of the Internet’s defining features, including TCP/IP, the protocol on which today’s network operates. In the 1980s, they strung together various government and university networks together using TCP/IP—thus creating a single worldwide network, the Internet. Suddenly, though, the government’s role in the Internet’s creation is being cast into doubt. “It’s an urban legend that the government launched the Internet,” Gordon Crovitz, the former publisher of the Wall Street Journal,argued Monday in a widely linkedJournal op-ed. Instead, Crovitz believes that “full credit” for the Internet’s creation ought to go to Xerox, whose Silicon Valley research facility, Xerox PARC, created the Ethernet networking standard as well as the first graphical computer (famously the inspiration for Apple’s Mac). According to Crovitz, not only did the government not create the Internet, it slowed its arrival—that researchers were hassled by “bureaucrats” who stymied the network’s success. “It’s important to understand the history of the Internet because it’s too often wrongly cited to justify big government,” Crovitz says. I’ll give him one thing: It is important to understand the history of the Internet. Too bad he doesn’t seem interested in doing so. Crovitz’s entire yarn is almost hysterically false. He gets basic history wrong, he gets the Internet’s defining technologies wrong, and, most importantly, he misses the important interplay between public and private funds that has been necessary for all great modern technological advances.

Who invented the Internet?: The outrageous conservative claim that every tech innovation came from private enterprise. - Slate Magazine

Earlier this month, President Obama argued that wealthy business people owe some of their success to the government’s investment in education and basic infrastructure. He cited roads, bridges, and schools. Then he singled out the most clear-cut example of how government investment can spark huge business opportunities: the Internet.

“The Internet didn’t get invented on its own,” Obama said. “Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.”

Until recently this wouldn’t have been a controversial statement. Everyone in the tech world knows that the Internet got its start in the 1960s, when a team of computing pioneers at the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency designed and deployed ARPANET, the first computer network that used “packet switching”—a communications system that splits up data and sends it across multiple paths toward its destination, which is the basic design of today’s Internet. According to most accounts, researchers working on ARPANET created many of the Internet’s defining features, including TCP/IP, the protocol on which today’s network operates. In the 1980s, they strung together various government and university networks together using TCP/IP—thus creating a single worldwide network, the Internet.

Suddenly, though, the government’s role in the Internet’s creation is being cast into doubt. “It’s an urban legend that the government launched the Internet,” Gordon Crovitz, the former publisher of the Wall Street Journal,argued Monday in a widely linkedJournal op-ed. Instead, Crovitz believes that “full credit” for the Internet’s creation ought to go to Xerox, whose Silicon Valley research facility, Xerox PARC, created the Ethernet networking standard as well as the first graphical computer (famously the inspiration for Apple’s Mac). According to Crovitz, not only did the government not create the Internet, it slowed its arrival—that researchers were hassled by “bureaucrats” who stymied the network’s success.

“It’s important to understand the history of the Internet because it’s too often wrongly cited to justify big government,” Crovitz says. I’ll give him one thing: It is important to understand the history of the Internet. Too bad he doesn’t seem interested in doing so.

Crovitz’s entire yarn is almost hysterically false. He gets basic history wrong, he gets the Internet’s defining technologies wrong, and, most importantly, he misses the important interplay between public and private funds that has been necessary for all great modern technological advances.

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The Art of Non-Conformity » How to Do Big Things If you want to change the world, follow a dream, or otherwise find your own identity, you need to be able to do big things. In addition to being a prerequisite for growth, doing big things is also a lot of fun. But how do you do them? What steps do you take? Thankfully, much of the work required to do big things relates to the mindset of deciding to do them. With that in mind, consider these suggestions for your own pursuit of meaning and adventure. Do not model your definition of big things on what other people have done. This is why your big things are YOUR big things. If something matters to you, that’s all that matters. Decide for yourself: a) what the big things are, and b) how you’ll determine the success or act of accomplishing the big things. You decide. You be the judge. 

The Art of Non-Conformity » How to Do Big Things

If you want to change the world, follow a dream, or otherwise find your own identity, you need to be able to do big things. In addition to being a prerequisite for growth, doing big things is also a lot of fun. But how do you do them? What steps do you take? Thankfully, much of the work required to do big things relates to the mindset of deciding to do them. With that in mind, consider these suggestions for your own pursuit of meaning and adventure. Do not model your definition of big things on what other people have done. This is why your big things are YOUR big things. If something matters to you, that’s all that matters. Decide for yourself: a) what the big things are, and b) how you’ll determine the success or act of accomplishing the big things. You decide. You be the judge. 

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Smarter materials: Self-powered, homeostatic nanomaterial actively self-regulates in response to environmental change

Living organisms have developed sophisticated ways to maintain stability in a changing environment, withstanding fluctuations in temperature, pH, pressure, and the presence or absence of crucial molecules. The integration of similar features in artificial materials, however, has remained a challenge — until now.

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This Buffalo Startup Built the Amazon of Health Care Buying | Fast Company One-size-fits-all health insurance sucks. Liazon is trying to change that through a web portal that lets employees pick their own insurance packages. And Buffalo is just about the best place the 5-year-old startup could be doing it. What Liazon is trying to change is how companies offer and negotiate health insurance for new hires (the “onboarding process”) and existing employees (“annual enrollment”). Instead of an employer negotiating one or two health plans yearly and unceremoniously requesting sign-ups, Liazon’s Bright Choices plan-choosing portal lets employees pick out packages of health insurance, flex accounts, and life and disability insurance. 

This Buffalo Startup Built the Amazon of Health Care Buying | Fast Company

One-size-fits-all health insurance sucks. Liazon is trying to change that through a web portal that lets employees pick their own insurance packages. And Buffalo is just about the best place the 5-year-old startup could be doing it.

What Liazon is trying to change is how companies offer and negotiate health insurance for new hires (the “onboarding process”) and existing employees (“annual enrollment”). Instead of an employer negotiating one or two health plans yearly and unceremoniously requesting sign-ups, Liazon’s Bright Choices plan-choosing portal lets employees pick out packages of health insurance, flex accounts, and life and disability insurance. 

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Five Big Ideas from Base London - Vote for the Winning Idea

smartercities:

IBM UK are at Base Cities London and have been collecting Big Ideas for sustainable cities from delegates and our Twitter and Tumblr followers. We’ve passed your Big Ideas to Scriberia to animate and here are five of the best, along with Sriberia’s pictures.

We want your help choosing a winner, so take a look at the ideas below and cast your vote!

One Switch - how about one switch near your front door that turned off all non-critical electrical equipment when you left the house? How much energy could we save?

Solar and wind power on every roof - should urban rooftops be used to power cities?

Smart water meters - Can we encourage sustainable behavior through providing more information on the resource we consume?

Building blocks from mixed plastic waste - Recycling plastic can be complex - what if we could turn mixed plastic into lightweight and affordable building materials?

Smart controls for decentralized infrastructure - can we optimize waste streams by monitoring decentralized  infrastructure?

Cast your vote here.

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ibmsocialbiz: . An accurate map of global power, influence, and connectedness would include a wide range of countries (orange), cities (blue), companies (yellow), and communities or other types of organizations (green), all of whom can form ties directly with each other. Via Fast Company Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation 

ibmsocialbiz:

. An accurate map of global power, influence, and connectedness would include a wide range of countries (orange), cities (blue), companies (yellow), and communities or other types of organizations (green), all of whom can form ties directly with each other. Via Fast Company Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation 

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Adam Savage, “How Simple Ideas Lead to Scientific Discoveries”

Great little talk by famous myth-buster Adam Savage. He focuses on three examples: feynman’s childhood inspiration from observing a ball in a wagon, the discovery of the circumference of the earth, and Fizeau’s ingenious device for measuring the speed of light.

The talk has some great graphics and I really enjoyed his discussion about Fizeau’s experiment.

check it out!

(via realcleverscience)

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Innovation Excellence | The Rise of Social Innovation Many different flavors of social collaboration explained in this paper provide an overview of the possible, the probable and the actual from a somewhat theoretical perspective. One interesting take-away: Social Innovation includes two directions, partnerships and revised value chains as well as “user integration” into product design.

Innovation Excellence | The Rise of Social Innovation

Many different flavors of social collaboration explained in this paper provide an overview of the possible, the probable and the actual from a somewhat theoretical perspective. One interesting take-away: Social Innovation includes two directions, partnerships and revised value chains as well as “user integration” into product design.

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Watch the replay of the interactive vPanel — Embracing the Connected Economy — and learn more about the forces reshaping the business landscape via the 2012 IBM Global CEO Study. Technology is now driving more organizational change than any other force — even the economy. New connections are bringing great expectations. The view that technology is primarily a driver of efficiency is outdated, and CEOs now see technology as an enabler of collaboration and relationships — those essential connections that fuel creativity and innovation.   vPanelists:   Kristen Pederson,  VP North America Business Transformation Leader, IBM Global Business Services Dorie Clark, Strategy Consultant, Author, Branding/Marketing Expert Bryan Kramer, CEO + President of PureMatter, Brand Marketing & Digital Interactive Agency in Sillicon Valley  Melissa Schilling, professor of strategic management and technology innovation at New York University Stern School of Business. 

Watch the replay of the interactive vPanel — Embracing the Connected Economy — and learn more about the forces reshaping the business landscape via the 2012 IBM Global CEO Study.

Technology is now driving more organizational change than any other force — even the economy. New connections are bringing great expectations. The view that technology is primarily a driver of efficiency is outdated, and CEOs now see technology as an enabler of collaboration and relationships — those essential connections that fuel creativity and innovation.  

vPanelists:  

Kristen Pederson,  VP North America Business Transformation Leader, IBM Global Business Services

Dorie Clark, Strategy Consultant, Author, Branding/Marketing Expert

Bryan Kramer, CEO + President of PureMatter, Brand Marketing & Digital Interactive Agency in Sillicon Valley 

Melissa Schilling, professor of strategic management and technology innovation at New York University Stern School of Business. 

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“Innovating together with your partners is a win-win for both. At Shell, we not only deal with energy, we also need to focus on challenges such as water and food as they’re all interlinked. That’s why driving innovation together, also across industries, is extremely important.”

Quote by Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell.  Quote found in IBM press release titled  “CEO Study: Command & Control Meets Collaboration

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