tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46724980193906825232024-02-08T07:09:46.580-08:00Musings of the IP GnomeThoughts on intellectual property, research and development, technology, and scientific innovation.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-83869938954981794322009-04-08T11:49:00.000-07:002009-04-08T12:09:36.482-07:00The engineering stimulus package from AutoDesk and SolidWorksIt is a sad, sad truth that in my experience open source, Linux based 3d CAD software is not nearly good enough for prime time. As a result, i have spent quite a bit of time using <a href="http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/home?siteID=123112&id=129446">AutoDesk</a> Inventor and <a href="http://www.solidworks.com/default.htm">SolidWorks</a> 3d CAD software under a variety of Microsoft operating systems.<br /><br />Interestingly enough, both AutoDesk and SolidWorks have just set out what they call 'engineering stimulus packages' so folks who have been negatively impacted by the economic downturn can download, train, and use their software for free. Pretty cool, actually, as these are the two best 3d CAD packages i have ever used. You may have to demonstrate that you are actually unemployed or a student, unfortunately, but it is still a pretty nice option to have. And free training is even nicer.<br /><br />The AutoDesk plan can be found <a href="http://students7.autodesk.com/?nd=assistance_home&lbon=1">here</a>, and the SolidWorks plan <a href="http://www.solidworks.com/sw/engineering_stimulus_package.html">here</a>. Enjoy!Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-77125822482316179732009-03-18T11:34:00.000-07:002009-03-18T13:16:23.157-07:00Next generation affordable housingI tend to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how some of the technical advances we have been making recently can be applied to improving quality of life for folks around the world. Hydroponics, aquaponics, cheap power generation, water distillation / filtration, atmospheric water extraction, housing, medical services, different applications for recycled materials, etc.<br /><br />Recently I have been thinking alot about the various options for prefab and recycled housing and temporary shelters. There are quite a few interesting projects based on the Mongolian <a href="http://www.alternativebuildings.com/">yurt</a> (about $15-$90 USD per square foot), some interesting portable <a href="http://edar.org/">solutions</a> for the homeless (about $500 USD per unit), and some interesting projects for permanent housing using <a href="http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbayhome.htm">shipping containers</a> ($90-$150 USD per square foot) among others.<br /><br />Now, the motivation for using shipping containers is multifaceted. For one thing, they are relatively cheap - used ones start at around $1200 USD and new ones can be bought for $6000 USD. They also have been piling up in US ports, as they are cheap enough that it is not worth shipping them back empty to countries that have an export imbalance with the US. Second, they are very solidly constructed for the transport of dense and heavy loads, and can hold up under a fairly wide variety of environmental conditions. Easy to transport to housing locations, of course, as they are designed for trucking applications. Sandblasting to remove existing coatings or residues is cheap and can be done by hand, and with a two layer coating of a ceramic paint, an R value of 28 is fairly easy to achieve. Further, they age fairly gracefully, and modular designs are easy and mostly a matter of stacking and cutting. Once stacked and cut, finish construction is relatively cheap and can often be done by the homeowner - run plumbing and electrical, install wallboard, floors, windows, doors, and fixtures.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.architectureandhygiene.com/main.html">Adam Kalkin</a> is one architect who has been doing quite a bit of really interesting high end design and construction using prefab aircraft hangars and shipping containers. His <a href="http://www.quik-build.com/quikHouse/QH_main.htm">Quik House</a> project is an example of how to build cheaper high end housing, and runs approximately $184k USD for a 2000 square foot house using 6 shipping containers, coming in at around $92 USD per square foot.<br /><br />It should be possible to reduce the costs for a shipping container based design by focusing on minimal amenities, smaller size, and functionality rather than focusing on the high end. A fully featured two container design (~700 square feet) could be finished for as little as $35k USD, or around $50 per square foot. Which is a pretty good figure for fully featured housing.<br /><br />All of which implies that there ought to be an 'open source' housing project based around using used shipping containers as modular structural components. Various designs, suggestions for construction methods, coatings, fittings, and whatnot. Such an open source project could provide some housing options that are significantly more affordable than traditional construction methods and readily available to all.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-61841614067632490732009-03-12T15:55:00.000-07:002009-03-12T16:40:52.174-07:00Are commercially viable and functionally efficient electric vehicles finally almost here?The evolution of commercially viable electric and hybrid vehicles has been a long process, and from the sidelines it has been a sometimes painful process to watch.<br /><br />For hybrid vehicles it has been clear that diesel hybrids make more sense than gasoline hybrids from an engineering standpoint, especially considering the efficiency of next generation diesel motors and generators. Unfortunately the traditional antipathy in the american marketplace towards diesel has led to a great deal of international work on standard gasoline hybrids and much less work on diesel hybrids except for industrial and commercial applications where the bias against diesel fuel is minimal or nonexistent. This is only just beginning to change.<br /><br />Another key component for both electric and hybrid vehicles has been the disadvantages associated with battery based energy storage. Primarily the low energy density, slow recharge time, limited lifespans, and high costs. These issues are, however, being addressed as fundamental improvements to battery technologies like Li-ion and others are <a href="http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/Lithium-Ion-Battery-Innovations-May-Quicken-Mobile-Lifestyles-788362/">improving recharge time</a>, energy density, lifespan, and addressing overall cost and recyclability issues. In addition, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercapacitor">ultra capacitors</a> address the problems associated with electrical energy storage from a different direction, and as both Li-ion batteries and ultracaps improve, storage systems using both elements are becoming more common in electrical and hybrid vehicle applications.<br /><br />For electrical vehicles, it has also been clear that 'in wheel' motors provide a more efficient approach than a centralized drive train, but the technology required has just not been mature enough. This is also changing. One example of this technology is the <a href="http://www.pmlflightlink.com/motors/wheelmotors.html">wheel motors from PML</a> which allow for the construction of a wide variety of very efficient <a href="http://www.hipadrive.com/">electric vehicles</a>.<br /><br />Further, it has always been clear that the most efficient electric vehicles would be the lightest possible designs constructed using the best strength to weight ratio materials. In this sense, electric motorcycles and scooters seem an obvious first step toward a full range of efficient and effective electric vehicles. And, as it happens, the first electric motorcycles are just beginning to appear in the marketplace. An excellent example of a well thought out design and product support strategy is provided by <a href="http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/">Zero Motorcycles</a> and the <a href="http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-x-features.php">Zero X</a> - their initial all terrain motorcycle currently available to customers. A street legal version motorcycle, the <a href="http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-s.php">Zero S</a>, should be available soon.<br /><br />So, are commercially viable electric vehicles almost upon us after fifteen years of agonizing fits and starts? My money says yes, even though the specific players and technologies have yet to shake out.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-77138811330565830532009-03-11T12:36:00.000-07:002009-03-11T13:02:39.659-07:00Are patent and copyright laws killing innovation?There is a lot of debate as to whether the current set of domestic and international regulations regarding intellectual property encourage or discourage innovation. Two economists from Washington University, Boldrin and Levine, recently wrote a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Against-Intellectual-Monopoly-Michele-Boldrin/dp/0521879280/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236800640&sr=1-1">book</a> and contribute to an impressive and thought provoking <a href="http://www.againstmonopoly.org/">blog</a> outlining their position that intellectual property and patent legislation as currently implemented constitutes a de facto monopoly in the classic economic sense. An article about their book can be found <a href="http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/549822/?sc=dwhn">here</a>.<br /><br />Now, I certainly agree that there is a great deal wrong with the current intellectual property laws, but coming from an entrepreneurial and research background i do not agree with Boldrin and Levine that limiting patents to those that have social value (among other constraints) is the most appropriate fix. In my experience, limiting the term of patents and copyright, as well as requiring a functional prototype would accomplish much the same end results without returning the community to the stifling world of 'trade secrets' that ruled much of our pre intellectual property economic history. The prime motivation in establishing an intellectual property system, after all, is to insure that the rewards folks receive for making information about their inventions public outweigh the benefits to be had from keeping their innovations secret. To forget this is to forget why the intellectual property system was established in the first place.<br /><br />So to my way of thinking, hard limits on the length of time for which patents and copyright grant legal protection as well as a stringent requirement for functional prototypes would do more to fix the system currently in place than the changes suggested by Boldrin and Levine.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-12631044341623001492009-01-21T14:04:00.000-08:002009-01-21T14:27:47.588-08:00Is modern industry heading back toward a distributed model?There is a trend I have noticed over the past ten years or so that appears to be gaining momentum. Started with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_In_Time_(business)">JIT (just in time)</a> manufacturing and sales optimization, continued with the enhanced efficiency of shipping and material transport methods, accelerated with the Internet and the newly distributed nature of information resources, and aided by the rise of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_prototyping">rapid manufacturing and prototyping</a> technologies, this evolution is continuing. It really seems to me that in some ways the industrial revolution is beginning to come full circle - we appear to be moving away from centralized generation (goods, energy, etc) epitomized by large factories and power plants back to a more distributed model.<br /><br />One important reason this change appears to be happening is that the technological basis for these activities is continuing to evolve. Solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and other alternative energy generation methods combined with the decreased price, size, and increased functionality of various industrial equipment (mostly due to the evolution of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAD">CAD</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cnc">CNC</a> machining and advances in materials) allow very small scale manufacturing and power generation to work sufficiently well and cheaply enough on small unit manufacturing to compete with the economies of scale enjoyed by more traditional methods. A significant advantage is that general purpose tooling can be modified from unit to unit without the retooling costs associated with traditional manufacturing line methods.<br /><br />So everytime i see prices decrease for rapid prototyping and CNC machines and the capabilities improve, or see cheaper and <a href="http://www.xconomy.com/boston/2009/01/18/dont-truck-your-waste-to-a-landfill-truck-a-gasification-plant-to-your-waste/">more efficient small scale power generation</a> methods reach the marketplace, it really brings home the way the industrial landscape is changing. Decentralized manufacturing and power generation is starting to look like the next stage of the industrial revolution ...Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-19027754869071994332009-01-16T12:58:00.000-08:002009-01-16T13:04:47.541-08:00The patent race in 2008Looks like IBM is back on top in the patent wars. An <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE50D3G020090114?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews">article</a> from Reuters says IBM was granted 4,168 patents in 2008, the most ever received by a single entity in a year. Samsung was second with 2,515.<br /><br />Perhaps more interesting is the source that Reuters used to acquire this data - a company called <a href="http://www.ificlaims.com/">IFI Claims Patent Services</a> is trying to do something pretty interesting. They have a database of all patents, and are trying to automate the process of sorting and evaluating patents into groups related by subject area and other criteria. Not sure how good the system is, as I have yet to use it, but anything helps. Figuring out what the patent landscape looks like in a specific area can take quite a bit of time unless you have quite a bit of prior experience in the specific field *and* in the IP aspects of the specific field.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-73413140031904998052009-01-09T21:02:00.000-08:002009-01-09T21:17:05.722-08:00On the value of ideas and sweat equityI want to address a fairly common meme that shows up quite often when you deal with inventors and entrepreneurs, especially young ones. The meme is basically "We need to play this one very close to the vest, encrypt all our discussions, get folks to sign NDA's or contracts before we talk to them in any detail, and be very careful who we talk to at all. Because if we are not careful, someone will steal our unique and highly profitable idea."<br /><br />After the first few patents you file or companies you start you realize a couple of things:<br /><br />1) The idea itself is at most 10-20% of the insight and sweat equity required to get something off the ground. More commonly 1-5%.<br />2) Once you start implementing or building something new, usually there are follow on insights developed as a result that are far more important than the original idea.<br />3) If the idea is easy enough to do that almost anyone could steal and implement it, you should probably try another idea.<br />4) The kinds of people who are going to put the sweat equity into developing an invention or company most likely will do so on one of *their* ideas, not get all excited about one of yours.<br />5) Most NDA's dont work. I usually get them signed, but more as part of the process than with the real expectation they will be useful. And only after the negotiations get serious - usually i have disclosed the core of the idea already.<br />6) Its really not that common to have a 'truly unique' idea. Most likely someone, somewhere has thought about it or something like it, even if it hasn't shown up in the prior art yet.<br />7) If you are the kind of person who comes up with original ideas, you will have more than you know what to do with. In my experience, folks either come up with 0 or hundreds of good ideas. Not too many come up with between 1 and 10 good ideas.<br />8) Learning to judge the 'profitability index' and 'effort index' of new ideas is the key to repeated success. If my experience is any guide, you will leave at least 10 good, original, and commercially viable ideas on the shelf for every one you actually pursue. Maybe more like 50 to one.<br /><br />This blurb was stimulated by a <a href="http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/06/1622232">discussion</a> on <a href="http://slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a> where I posted something fairly similar. Might be worth a full length article at some point, considering how often I hear some variant of this meme.<br /><br />Contact me if you have any questions about this sort of thing. I am always willing to chat about new ideas and business plans. I even have a very nice bilateral non disclosure agreement that has stood the test of time and can be easily adapted to specific needs.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-50080892730969227892008-12-20T14:33:00.000-08:002008-12-20T14:41:18.662-08:00The exponential rate of technological growthSometimes its easy to miss the degree to which our cultural and technological environment is changing when we are participating in it on a day to day basis. I recently ran across a video from NOAA that brings the degree of some of these changes home.<br /><br /><a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o4g930pm8Ms">This</a> is a video of all air traffic around the world in a 24 hour period. Really makes an impression.<br /><br />A friend of mine had an interesting comment about it: "There is an odd thought I sometimes have that some of our problems are due to our evolutionary and cultural heritage in small groups and villages, and a simple inability to comprehend the scale and simultaneity of the modern world. we can intellectually manipulate information on large scale issues, but we don't really comprend things at a gut level. little videos like this seem to make the scale more real, at least for me."<br /><br />All i can say is that it makes the scale of human endeavor a little more real for me as well.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-83458481642869971732008-12-18T04:21:00.000-08:002008-12-18T12:44:16.861-08:00The curious foci of modern news mediaI find it quite interesting to track the kinds of news stories that get national media coverage in the United States against those that get only limited coverage. As far as i can tell, most news coverage consists of truly trivial stories that have little or no bearing on the big picture. How we live, what we understand about the earth and the universe around us, why things are happening in the way that they are. None of these questions seem to be addressed, almost ever.<br /><br />So a story about how there are <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE4BF79220081216">two large holes in the Earths magnetic field</a> shows up well below the fold, while stories about assorted minutia accrue top billing. And folks wonder why the world works the way it does ....<br /><br />Why can't the media exercise some discretion in regard to the stories they promote? Isn't there some measure of abstract importance that could be applied?<br /><br />Ah well, I suppose the game changes but the story remains the same. C'est la vie.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-47517432455035721632008-12-04T15:18:00.000-08:002008-12-04T15:26:02.543-08:00Ongoing Revolutions in High Density HydroponicsTraditional hydroponic gardening techniques have always been a bit ahead of their time, and generally only competitive with traditional farming for 'high value' crops. The vertical hydroponics movement is beginning to change that relationship by making it easier to grow traditional food crops at high densities in urban areas close to where the crops are sold and consumed. 'Vertical' refers to a class of hydroponic technologies that can be stacked - yielding much higher crop density than traditional greenhousing or hydroponic methods. I have recently been looking at hydroponic technologies suitable for vertical applications, and have found that cylindrical rotating methods appear to have some fairly significant advantages over traditional hydroponics.<br /><br />Basically, rotational hydroponic methods consist of a cylinder containing rows of a suitable growth medium, a central lighting fixture, a water reservoir, and a chain drive system that rotates the cylinder at very low speed so each row of plants is dipped into the water reservoir a couple of times per day.<br /><br />The advantages are simple - these rotational units can be stacked vertically, all plants are essentially equidistant from the light source, and rotational growing generates much larger and healthier plants than non-rotational methods. Combined with LED based lighting operating at only those frequencies at which plants absorb light energy, operating costs can be significantly reduced when compared with traditional hydroponic techniques.<br /><br />One such system is sold by <a href="http://www.omegagarden.com/index.php?content_id=1500">Omega Garden</a> - although construction of something similar from readily available materials should not be a great challenge for anyone mechanically inclined. An international patent is pending on this technology.<br /><br />The question is, why arent there more of these systems out there, what problems are associated with setting up small urban production facilities to generate various food crops or high value spice and oil crops, and what can be done to improve this technology even further?<br /><br />After all, local food crops make a great deal of sense - especially when considering the continuing increases in transportation costs. Grow food near where it will be consumed, and I predict that developing technologies to make this feasible in urban areas will be an ongoing area of research over the next 20 years.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-33392843181008762052008-08-11T14:34:00.000-07:002008-08-11T15:13:21.173-07:00Patent Gridlock - The Tragedy of the AnticommonsI ran into an interesting post on <a href="http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/10/1458231">Slashdot</a> referencing an <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/08/11/080811ta_talk_surowiecki?printable=true">article</a> from the New Yorker that fairly succinctly describes some of the issues I have been having with the current systems and methods we have for handling intellectual property here in the United States. For these kind of sentiments to show up in the popular media, especially outside of the community of folks actively involved in intellectual property issues, really demonstrates the severity of the problem.<br /><br />To quickly summarize the article, the author suggests that the current patent system is causing an innovation 'gridlock' by encumbering new products and innovations with multiple claims of partial infringement by different holders of existing patents. Now in some sense, this is actually how the system in supposed to operate - if I develop a product that relies on some technology you have developed I am supposed to compensate you in some way for using your work. Unfortunately, because the USPTO has made a practice in the last twenty years of granting patents with increasingly broad claim coverage and granting rights to technologies that <span style="font-weight:bold;">do not exist</span> and <span style="font-weight:bold;">cannot be built</span> at the current time, the claims of partial interest are so complicated and numerous that the new innovation is doomed before it can even be brought to market. Thus the tragedy of the anticommons.<br /><br />This problem is further exacerbated by the 'patent trolls' who file for patents on technologies they never intend to bring to market in the hope of extorting a toll on any company unlucky enough to actually bring a potentially infringing product to the marketplace.<br /><br />I have a couple of suggestions to address this problem, none of which is likely to ever see the light of day. My skepticism regarding implementation does not prevent me from sharing them, however:<br /><br />* require a functional prototype before granting a patent<br />* disallow business method patents<br />* restrict the scope of allowable claims to those demonstrated by the prototype<br />* require companies to enforce their claims in a timely fashion - if there is no claim as to infringement within 6 months of a potential violation that specific infringer <span style="font-weight:bold;">and that infringer alone</span> cannot be penalized<br />* restrict copyright to a 7 year term which can be renewed for another 7 years at a significant cost<br /><br />These changes would go some way towards patching the current system, but it should be clear that some serious thought needs to be done regarding how we can fairly handle intellectual property issues in an environment that is, after all, very different from the one the current system was built to address in 1790.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-48958323711199359102008-07-28T13:24:00.000-07:002008-07-28T13:34:44.853-07:00Are Software Patents On Shaky Ground?For those of us who work with the US intellectual property system on a regular basis, it is pretty clear that there are some fairly serious systemic problems. Interestingly enough, it seems that the USPTO may be rethinking its position on software patents, specifically as a way to discourage the 'patent trolls'. A patent troll, I might add, is the ancient and hereditary enemy of the intellectual property gnomes. <br /><br />It looks to me and <a href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080728-patent-office-becoming-a-voice-for-software-patent-sanity.html">some others</a> that there may be fewer, higher quality software patents in the USPTO's future, and from my perspective this is a 'good thing' indeed. The system cannot work when choked by an undigestible mass of low quality software patents, so anything to stem the tide should be applauded. It remains to be seen, however, whether these relatively minor adjustments will be enough to save the system. Patents on gene sequences, software patents, 'futurist patents' (patents on inventions no one actually knows how to build now but may be possible later), and more all raise serious questions about how and if a rational, fair, and efficient intellectual property system can be built.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-87509802987146060312008-07-14T16:21:00.000-07:002008-07-14T16:30:26.917-07:00New Tools for DNA ManipulationThis is a fairly interesting development - it seems that a Japanese company has developed some very small <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEMS">MEMS</a> (micro electro-mechanical systems) designed to improve our ability to accurately manipulate strands of DNA without breaking them. Like many current systems they use optical tweezers to move the DNA strands around, but the novelty here are the micro 'bobbins' and 'hooks' that allow users to hold a strand in place and edit it. Kind of like a <a href="http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2008/DNASewingMachines.asp">DNA sewing machine</a>.<br /><br />Infrastructure tools for the bio-design revolution - they arent really here yet, but when they are it may have systemic effects as profound as the development of the general purpose computer.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-76391198177637912822008-07-01T12:50:00.001-07:002008-07-14T17:45:47.096-07:00First Solar Thermal Component Plant to go Online in NevadaUtility scale (>10 Megawatt) solar thermal systems are now poised to go mainstream as Austra plans to open a plant in Nevada to mass produce some of the essential components. Previously, most solar thermal installations (especially for utilities) were one-off 'proof of concept' affairs which had a generally negative impact on the resulting price per watt figures, so a source for standardized components is a fairly significant step.<br /><br />As far as I am concerned, any efforts to improve the state of the art in thermal or panel based solar systems should be supported vigorously.<br /><br />The Ausra news release can be found <a href="http://www.ausra.com/news/releases/080630.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-16007638379558242912008-03-12T16:28:00.000-07:002008-07-23T16:42:53.161-07:00GM Agriculture and Terminator Technologies - Another Blow Against the Third World?So called 'terminator technologies', at least in the agribusiness world, are essentially those GM or genetic modification technologies that allow seed companies to 'improve' and patent seeds for specific crops. This insures that everytime a farmer wants to plant a new crop, they have to go back to the seed or GM company to get a new supply of seeds. This is partially because most of these GM crops are designed to be sterile in the field, and partially because intellectual property laws preclude unlicenced (non paid) use of any seed products containing one or more of the gene sequences patented by the GM company *even those grown by the farmer themselves*.<br /><br />Now in the first world agricultural producers have for the most part abandoned the practice of keeping personal stocks of 'seed grain', or grain saved from a previous crop in order to plant a new crop, in favor of purchasing these stocks from commercial suppliers some time ago. So for these customers, the difference between buying GM seeds for the next crop versus buying non-GM seeds is a matter of degree rather than kind.<br /><br />For farmers in the third world, however, its <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200803101077.html">a different and more disturbing story</a>. Most agricultural producers in the developing world rely on maintaining personal stocks of seed grain in order to minimize the costs associated with planting and harvesting each crop. It turns out that once they buy into the hype associated with genetically modified crops, it is very difficult to reestablish themselves as traditional 'seed grain' producers, and very difficult to make enough of a profit to pay for next years GM seeds. A disturbing prospect, and one reason governments in the third world are pushing modernized versions of traditional methods rather than buying into the capital intensive methods pushed by agribusinesses in the first world.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-40074318448306915592008-02-27T10:28:00.000-08:002008-07-18T10:52:23.293-07:00The Water of Life - Bacteria, Nanofilters and FiltrationThe importance of clean water to quality of life cannot be overestimated, and as in almost every other area of human endeavor the technology used to filter water is undergoing a continuous process of improvement. Current state of the art continuous water purification is accomplished via reverse osmosis, activated carbon filtration, ultraviolet light, and ceramic and membrane filters. The new generations of nanopore filters which can filter particles as small as one nanometer are an essential part of 'ultrafiltration'. The problem with these filters (and membrane filters in general) is that they become clogged fairly quickly during use and must be replaced or cleaned with some frequency. <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080222095403.htm">One way</a> researchers are currently addressing this problem is by inoculating the nanofilters with a variety of bacterial colonies which digest the various types of filtered contaminants, thereby cleaning the filters. It is especially interesting that this process is a closed cycle, meaning that the bacterial colonies are self sustaining and cannot escape through the nanoscale pores on the filters, and that the filters no longer have to be replaced or cleaned.<br /><br />Hybrid technologies that take advantage of cutting edge nanotechnologies and biotech to accomplish tasks currently beyond the reach of either alone. Rest assured that you will be seeing more of these hybrid technologies in the future.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-89611337800717800962008-01-16T15:07:00.000-08:002008-07-16T15:15:01.837-07:00Aging and TechnologyIn just over a decade, a quarter of Europe's population will be over 65 - and populations throughout the first world are also aging. This <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080112084050.htm">article</a> takes a quick look at how technology is being developed to ease the burdens and risks associated with age. There is a wide range of technologies that could make living longer easier, from robotic assistants (quite actively pursued in Japan) to better interactive communication devices that track location and condition issues and can autonomously notify caregivers of error conditions like falls or low blood sugar.<br /><br />This is an interesting second order problem - as world populations live longer, healthier lives as a result of developments in geriatric medicine and aging research, technologies will be needed to support active and healthy lifestyles for this older demographic.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-23691407671572212372007-12-27T14:57:00.000-08:002008-07-15T15:15:28.169-07:00Is Intellectual Capital More Important than Natural Resources?It is interesting to contemplate - has intellectual capital become more important to GNP around the globe than the exploitation of natural resources? The <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200712270808.html">claim</a> is really a twofold one. First, that the intellectual capital required to efficiently exploit natural resources tends to be held predominantly by first world countries, and therefore represents a hidden 'tax' on third world countries who require this expertise to take advantage of their own natural resources. Second, that *all* methods of wealth generation will increasingly rely on intellectual property and capital moving forward.<br /><br />It seems to me that both claims are pretty clear - the first is readily demonstrable now, especially as China has joined the rest of the first world countries who have been doing this since colonial times and begun to make huge strides in using its intellectual capital to exploit the resources of less advantaged countries, specifically in Africa.<br /><br />The second is less clear - it is fairly apparent that at some point in the future intellectual property, capital, and expertise will take the lead in wealth generation against the commodity markets. I would guess that this has not happened yet, although a study comparing the different contributers to GDP around the world by type would be instructive and might assist in predicting when this crossover point will be reached.<br /><br />The moral is clear: build and protect intellectual capital and provide a secure environment for this process to take place. This is true on an individual, corporate, and national scale.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-76255430060093794862007-11-26T12:13:00.000-08:002008-07-15T12:24:33.977-07:00MagLev Wind TurbinesThe concept of the <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/11/26/super-powered-magnetic-wind-turbine-maglev/">magnetic levitation based wind turbine</a> is a simple one. Vertical vanes rotate in a plane parallel to the ground surface and use electromagnetic repulsion to isolate the vanes from the hub instead of ball bearings, as well as utilizing electromagnetic coupling to generate electricity when the vanes spun by the wind. Benefits include 500 year operational lifespan, reduced surface area requirements, they can make use of much lower *and* much higher average wind speeds for power generation, and significantly reduced maintenance costs and operating overhead.<br /><br />Of course, I am always skeptical of technologies like this until one is actually constructed. But even if only one or two of the claims of competitive advantage are borne out, this concept could still contribute much to the hunt for worthy renewable energy sources.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-20679303894928606702007-10-12T11:39:00.000-07:002008-07-15T12:03:53.784-07:00Death and TechnologyI ran across <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12759-instant-expert-death.html">this article</a> recently, which discusses how changes in medical technology have had a historical and continuing effect on our definition of death. First we died when we stopped breathing, then we died when our hearts stopped beating, then it was the cessation of brain activity that determined time of death, etc.<br /><br />While i found the historical perspective interesting, the more compelling aspects of the continuing relationship between death and technology lie in projecting this relationship forward into the future. How far are we going to be able to push the boundaries between life and death as our technological tools continue to improve faster and faster?Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-20049720757786919582007-09-13T17:50:00.000-07:002008-07-14T17:58:47.566-07:00Nanoprinting Gets Better. Again.Nanoprinting refers to the process of laying down very small (nanoscale) particles on a substrate with precision. This type of technology is an essential precursor to building a wide range of MEMs, micro machines and other nanotechnologies at anything approaching an industrial scale. IBM has been at the forefront of this effort after the first time researchers used a scanning tunneling electron microscope to draw the IBM logo with individual gold atoms.<br /><br />This <a href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=nanoscale-printing-has-bi">particular technology</a> has a DPI (dots per inch) resolution of around 100,000 - or can print individual dots around 60 nanometers in size. This is quite good for a printing technology even if manual techniques currently allow the manipulation of single atoms in some environments.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-46947687540881169432007-08-08T17:22:00.000-07:002008-07-14T17:46:21.773-07:00New Ultraclean Combustion Technology, the Low Swirl InjectorLarge electrical generation plants are historically known for non-minimal emission of combustion byproducts. The <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070802133443.htm">Low-Swirl Injector (LSI) technology has been shown to significantly reduce nitrogen oxide and carbon oxide emissions</a> during combustion of hydrogen, natural gas, and other feedstocks. Further research is ongoing.<br /><br />Any efficiency enhancements to traditional power generation methods should be embraced even as we continue to explore alternative generation strategies via renewable resources. The great thing about technologies like this is that they are equally applicable to very conservative and very progressive power technologies.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-8334574610680939602007-07-31T16:34:00.000-07:002008-07-14T16:48:14.408-07:00Technology and the Legal System, a Recipe for PainTechnology has had a significant historical effect on how we live our lives as well as the social and cultural matrix in which we operate. It should be no surprise that a legal system initially drafted in a time of horse drawn carriages, hand carried mail, manual printing presses, and clipper ships may not integrate well with some of the technologies we take for granted in our every day lives. In this spirit then, I applaud PC World for pointing out some of the more glaring issues.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,135131/printable.html">The Worst Technology Laws</a>Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-75266459703468790772007-06-08T15:34:00.000-07:002008-07-14T15:47:39.086-07:00Digital Rights Management in the Networked AgeThe issue of copyrights in the age of digital copies and networking technologies has been a thorny one. Copyright holders have developed literally hundreds of different mechanisms by which to prevent unauthorized copying and use of their property, and consumers and users have continued to find ways around these mechanisms both to protect their fair use rights and, in some cases, to abuse these rights. Accordingly, the technology associated with Digital Rights Management (DRM) is in a state of almost constant flux. Even more, because so many different attempts have been made to address this issue, very few <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/07/news/07.oxan.php">DRM technologies can interoperate</a>. An interesting problem, and one that must be addressed if copyright holders can ever hope to effectively protect their rights using DRM.<br /><br />In the long run, it is not at all clear to me that there is *any* feasible way to use DRM to fully protect the rights of copyright holders in all cases. It may be that fundamental changes in trademark and copyright law are required to take into account the changes in technological infrastructure that have occurred.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672498019390682523.post-61577574560910628092007-05-09T15:12:00.000-07:002008-07-14T15:27:02.739-07:00DeVenCI, DoD and the Venture Capital CommunityThe <a href="http://devenci.dtic.mil/">Defense Venture Capital Initiative</a> is a collaboration between the Department of Defense and the venture capital community. This venture draws upon the expertise of VCs associated with Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, RockPort Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, among others.<br /><br />The goal of this <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/07/technology/venture.php">effort</a> is for the DoD to gain knowledge of and access to small companies conducting innovative work relevant to ongoing DoD projects who are currently outside the DoD supply pipeline. This sort of approach is not a new idea, as it has been pioneered by the folks associated with <a href="http://www.iqt.org/">In-Q-Tel</a>, a non-profit venture capital firm organized by the CIA.<br /><br />If your company is working on topics potentially applicable to areas the DoD might be interested in and are not currently involved in any DoD processes, DeVenCI might be a good way to start.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07873291454625462680noreply@blogger.com0