Innovation Watch Newsletter - Issue 8.

23 - November 7, 2009 ISSN: 1712-9834

In the news this week...

science shows brains work differently... students build new biological

parts... Esquire combines print and augmented reality... augmented
reality comes to smart phones... Google gears up for acquisitions...
Wal-Mart faces growing global competition... Whole Earth thinking
still relevant today... schools switch from textbooks to electronic
David Forrest teaching tools... China scours the world for energy acquisitions...
advises Brazil power outages traced to cyber attacks... blue energy a
businesses, promising new source of power... key participants divided going to
governments, Copenhagen... expert warns food prices will soar due to global
and other warming... space hotel planned for 2012...
organizations
We also feature...
on emerging
trends, and a new book by Warren Berger, Glimmer: How Design Can Transform
helps to develop Your Life, Your Business, and Maybe Even the World... a link to the
strategies for Slow Money Alliance, a new nonprofit organizing an international
a radically movement to bring money back down to earth... a video on growing
different future pressures on water supply in California... a blog post on innovation in
collaborative networks...

David Forrest

Top Stories:

What Does a Smart Brain Look Like?: Inner Views Show How
We Think - [Scientific American] A new neuroscience of
intelligence is revealing that not all brains work in the same
way.

A Genetically Engineered Rainbow of Bacteria - [Technology

Review] By combining snippets of DNA, dubbed biological
"parts," students build microbes designed to perform useful
functions, such as producing medicines or detecting toxins.
Each year "parts" built for the competition are entered into a
biological library, so that next year's teams can use them to
build even more sophisticated machines.

Top Stories: 

Esquire Looks to Energize Print with 3-D Animation - [Boston

Globe] Hold Esquire's December issue in front of a webcam,
and an on-screen image of the magazine pops to life, letters
flying off the cover. Shift and tilt the magazine, and the
animation on the screen moves accordingly.

Augmented Reality to Alter How We See the World - [San

Francisco Chronicle] Imagine for a moment seeing the world
through the eyes of a Terminator cyborg. Information on
objects, locations and people automatically pop up in real
time as you encounter them.

Top Stories: 

Targets for Google's Merger Machine - [Business Week]

Google's dealmakers are moving fast. Flush with $22 billion in
cash and emboldened by signs of recovery in the core Web-
search market, Google plans to snap up companies at a pace
of about one a month.

Auchan: Wal-Mart's Tough New Global Rival - [Business

Week] Privately held French big-box chain Auchan is growing
fast in China, Russia, and elsewhere as it challenges Wal-
Mart, Carrefour, and Tesco.

Top Stories:

Thinking Differently in the Recession: Today's Whole Earth

Catalog - [Harvard Business] Overall, the Whole Earth
message encouraged green awareness, self-sufficiency,
healthy behaviors, and communal living. Back then, millions
of young people liked this message and went back to the
land. But the changes did not stick. In 2009, however, those
four Whole Earth-type ideas are among the biggest
opportunities to think differently.
Publisher Enters New Chapter in Textbooks - [Boston Globe]
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, one of the oldest publishers in the
United States, plans to unveil today the biggest deal in its
history: a $40 million, multiyear contract with Detroit public
schools. But this is not the typical agreement to sell a
textbook to every student. Instead, Houghton will be
providing a computer-based teaching system it developed
with Microsoft Corp. that will connect teachers, students, and
administrators.

Top Stories:

China's Rising Foreign Energy Acquisitions - [UPI] China's role

in the global energy market is on the rise, with its purchase
of oil and gas supplies worldwide totaling an estimated $15
billion so far this year, double the amount of 2008, National
Public Radio reported.

Brazil Blackouts Result of Cyber Hacking: Report - [PhysOrg]

Massive power outages in Brazil in 2005 and 2007 that
impacted millions were caused by cyber hackers attacking
control systems, the US television network CBS said.

Top Stories: 

'Blue Energy' Seems feasible and offers Considerable Benefits

- [PhysOrg] Generating energy on a large scale by mixing
salt and fresh water is both technically possible and practical.
The worldwide potential for this clean form of energy - 'blue
energy' or 'blue electricity' - is enormous.

Where Countries Stand on Copenhagen - [BBC] There are

just over four weeks to go before the Copenhagen conference
intended to agree a new international framework for
controlling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The final round
of preparatory talks in Barcelona has revealed deep divisions
between some of the key participants.

Top Stories:

'Climate Change will Send Food Prices Soaring' - [Farmers

Weekly Interactive] Food prices will more than quadruple in
real terms within 20 years unless urgent action is taken to
combat climate change, an expert has warned. The cost of
 bread will spiral as wheat yields fall, said Ray Hammond, a
leading expert in forecasting social and economic trends and
visiting lecturer at Oxford University's Institute for the Future
of Humanity.

First Space Hotel Will Launch in 2012, Claim Architects -

[Daily Mail] The first ever space hotel will be launched in
2012, say architects - and will cost £2.7million for a three-
night stay.

Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life,

Your Business, and Maybe Even the World
by Warren Berger

Read more...

Featured Link: Slow Money Alliance - A grassroots, non-profit seed

fund enhancing food security, food safety and food access; improving
nutrition and health; promoting cultural, ecological and economic diversity;
and accelerating the transition from an economy based on extraction and
consumption to an economy based on preservation and restoration.

Video Clip - State of Thirst: California's Water Future - [KQED Quest]

Are we in danger of running out of water? California’s population is
growing by 600,000 people a year, but much of the state receives as much
annual rainfall as Morocco. With fish populations crashing, global warming,
and the demands of the country’s largest agricultural industry, the
pressures on the water supply are increasing. (26m 55s)

Blog - Collaborative Networks Produce Better Ideas - [Spigit Blog] A

key aspect of what one might term 'Innovation 2.0' is the ability to share
ideas among a community, and have that community help identify and
refine top ideas. It turns out that a University of Chicago professor studied
this dynamic in 2003, and found it to be true.

ActiveEarth 3.0 is a world time clock and global weather tool with up-to-
date time zone information for every country, and current conditions and
forecasts for the entire United States and more than 40,000 international
locations. Find out more - Try it FREE - Receive a Special Discount
when purchased through Innovation Watch

 
your feedback is appreciated... email me at mail@innovationwatch.com