images: PCRM & MyPyramid.gov The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed suit last week against the US Department of Agriculture and the the Department of Health and Human Services in US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging the the agencies violated federal law in failing to respond to a PCRM petition advocating a plant-based food pyramid as an alternative to USDA’s ” MyPyramid ” dietary guidelines. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Photo courtesy Farmer Direct by Luke Zigovits. The idea of Fair Trad e coffee, tea, and bananas is a fairly easy sell to the eco-initiated. Who, after all, doesn’t want Costa Rican coffee growers, for example, to stay in business and make a decent living for their labors? But if you have ever wondered why there wasn’t Fair Trade for struggling farmers right in your backyard, wonder no more. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Kate Stohr, the co-founder of Architecture for Humanity , dropped me a note suggesting that I have a look at their Year in Review of their work in Haiti. I did, and couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that it was really boring. . I mean really, others like Kevin Schopfer are proposing floating cities ; Andre Duany is floating
Continue reading …Android tablets aren’t exactly in short supply at CES 2011, but the Espert Identity Tab stands out — despite hailing from a manufacturer we’d never heard of before the show. Espert’s got two slick 7-inch slates on the floor, and while the E201 mostly cribs from Samsung’s WiFi-only Galaxy Tab — right down to 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird chip — the flagship Espert E301 pumps up the pixel density with a 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen, adds an all-metal case, a mobile DTV antenna, and 3G connectivity. We poked and prodded these tablets all over and got a peek at the full spec sheets, so after you peruse our gallery below, hit the break for details! Gallery: Espert Identity Tab E301 first hands-on! Gallery: Espert Identity Tab E201 first hands-on! Continue reading Espert Identity Tab E301 and E201 hands-on preview Espert Identity Tab E301 and E201 hands-on preview originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Photo by Rennett Stowe via Flickr Creative Commons As the smart grid rolls forward, we’re seeing an upswing in wariness from consumers, utilities and other organizations who have serious questions about the security of our grid. Indeed, security has been an ominous issue that no one wants to ignore as the smart grid develops, yet few can really address the scale, let alone the solutions. Adrian Turner of Mocana , a device security solutions company, met with me to talk about some of the risks associated with having every… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Okay, we’ve seen an iPad on a dashboard . Ready for some in-car PlayBook action? Recent RIM acquisition QNX is all over it, showing off what it calls simply QNX Car. It’s a basic reference implementation of some technology that will be running the infotainment systems of cars in the coming years — though they’ll surely look very different than this by then. QNX is showing how it can pull media from multiple sources, like an iPhone , use Message Access Protocol Bluetooth to pull data from a BlackBerry , and even use Terminal Mode to replicate the UI of something like the PlayBook. Plus, the PlayBook was able to change climate control settings in the car. The company is also working on what it’s called the Simple UI Protocol. It’s basically a lowest-common-denominator smartphone integration — something like Ford’s AppLink that, in theory, will work regardless of the app or the hardware on the car. It’s very limited, allowing just two lines of text and a few icons to be sent from the phone to the car, and just two buttons (left and right) to be sent back to the phone as controls. The idea is to remove any aspect of driver distraction and to provide AppLink-like functionality in a standard, non OEM-specific way, which we like. But, it’s so limited in scope we’re not sure just how useful it would be. See for yourself after the break. Gallery: QNX Car hands-on Continue reading QNX Car concept with PlayBook integration hands-on (video) QNX Car concept with PlayBook integration hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Click here to view this media Looks like someone has had quite enough of Sarah Palin and her eliminationist rhetoric: Shooting prompts legislation to protect lawmakers, officials : Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pennsylvania, said he will introduce legislation making it a federal crime for a person to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a Member of Congress or federal official. Brady’s decision to offer the legislation comes less than 24 hours after a gunman attempted to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, in a shooting that claimed the lives of a federal judge, and a nine year-old girl, among others. “The president is a federal official,” Brady said in a telephone interview with CNN. “You can’t do it to him; you should not be able to do it to a congressman, senator or federal judge. “This is not a wake up call, this is major alarms going off,” he said. Brady is particularly incensed over a web posting by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during the 2010 election in which she targeted 20 House Democrats, including Giffords for political defeat. The posting showed a map of the United States with the 20 Democratic congressional districts identified by gun sights. “You can’t put bulls eyes or crosshairs on a United States congressman or a federal official,” Brady said. “I understand this web site that had it on there is no longer in existence. Someone is feeling a little guilty.” But a Palin aide Saturday denied the web posting from the 2010 congressional campaign was designed to incite violence. Rebecca Mansour told conservative host Tammy Bruce that it was a political tool and noted it should have been removed after the November election. Brady said he is hearing that the spouses of some of his congressional colleagues, specifically the newly elected members, are terrified and questioning whether they should remain in Congress. Upon hearing the news of the shooting Saturday, some spouses attending a freshman retreat in West Virginia, were “taking their children out of the daycare,” Brady said he was told. “The spouses are in an uproar,” he said. “They are panicking.” Brady said it is now time to put an end to the hyper-charged language. Well, we’ll see if Republicans go along with it, and what’s in the legislation, but I could see something like this being abused pretty easily, depending on the language in the bill.
Continue reading …When I first saw the images of C. F. Møller ‘s award winning “socially conscious” Danish prison design in Inhabitat, I wondered what was so different; it had a bunch of star-shaped panopticon-like buildings surrounded by a honking huge 20 foot wall that is the most intimidating thing I have seen this side of the West Bank. In fact there are other green prison approaches, and you don’t have to go to Scandinavia; In Brampton, Ontario, Klei… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …One thing we’re learning at CES is that the future of transportation is, apparently, pretty weird looking. The EN-V or YikeBike not odd enough? Check out the Uno from BPG Motors, a tricycle that transforms into a self-balancing, two-wheeled… thing. It’s gained a wheel since the last time we saw it , a front fork that folds in between the rear wheels and the whole thing starts balancing when you need to go through some tight spaces and then, when it’s time to go faster (up to around 30 or 35mph) that wheel pivots out, the whole thing lowers, and away it goes. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to pivot the thing at the show, but we have a video of the transformation after the break along with a little walk-around of the thing. Trust us: you’ll want to watch them both. Gallery: BPG Motors Uno Continue reading A look at BPG Motors amazing, transforming, self-balancing Uno (video) A look at BPG Motors amazing, transforming, self-balancing Uno (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Several inches of snow and sleet coated Atlanta and other parts of the South, freezing the morning commute in many areas and cancelling thousands of flights at the world’s busiest airport. (Jan. 10)
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