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Thursday, February 7, 2013

Crumpled Links

1.  Examining spider silk elasticity
>>Material360

2.  Recalculating Baumgartner's skydive data
>>BBC

3.  Boeing's Dreamliner battery problems
>>WSJ

4. Symantec's official response to the New York Times hacking incident.
Turning on only the signature-based anti-virus components of endpoint solutions alone are not enough in a world that is changing daily from attacks and threats
>>Symantec

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

American Experience: Silicon Valley

Program summary:
Led by physicist Robert Noyce, Fairchild Semiconductor began as a start-up company whose radical innovations would help make the United States a leader in both space exploration and the personal computer revolution, changing the way the world works, plays, and communicates. Noyce's invention of the microchip ultimately re-shaped the future, launching the world into the Information Age.
>>PBS Video
[Runtime: 1:22:10]

Dell Goes Private


Through financing (with the assistance of Microsoft) and investment of his own capital, Michael Dell moves to complete the management buyout of his original company.
Yet the buyout — which was announced on Tuesday and would be the biggest by far since the days of the recession — is a huge gamble. It will saddle Dell with $15 billion of new debt, and it does nothing to divert the forces reshaping the technology industry and undercutting the company’s business.
>>NYTimes 

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Crumpled Links

1.  3-D Printing + Stem Cell Ink = 3-D Tissue
>>PopSci 

2. Can the UK keep up with the graphene patent rush?
"I think that's not something that we only feel here in Manchester, I think that's a sort of national pride," says Vijayaraghavan. "There's always been this sense of achievement amongst people that, yes, this is a British discovery, a British invention - and therefore it is something that we need to try to benefit from, rather than letting somebody else take it away from us."
>>DW

3. Dyson launch: Airblade Tap hand dryer
>>BBC

4.  Remains of King Richard III found under parking lot
>>NYTimes

Monday, February 4, 2013

American Experience: Henry Ford



From the PBS webpage:
Through his own fierce determination, Ford created the Model T, the most successful car in history, and introduced the groundbreaking $5-a-day wage, ushering in the modern world as we know it. But despite his success, Ford remained restless and driven, always seeking to control what lay just beyond his grasp. While creating a more urban, industrial age, Ford simultaneously longed for the simpler era he had helped destroy. One of the nation's richest men, he despised the wealthy and blamed Jews for what he deemed society's degeneration. A hero to many ordinary Americans, he battled his workers and bullied those who looked up to him -- including, and most tragically, his only son.
 Full video here:
[Runtime: 1:52:10]

Charlie Rose Interview: Bill Gates




>>Charlie Rose

[Runtime: 52:25]

An optimistic Gates talks about everything under the sun.

Talking points: innovation, education, philanthropy, defining good metrics, the United Nations, agriculture, climate change, energy, fixing government, China, Microsoft, technology.


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Dr. Chu Returning to California


Energy secretary Dr. Stephen Chu formally announces his decision to resign from the Obama cabinet.

Excerpt from his letter to the department:

I’ve always been inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, who articulated his Dream of an America where people are judged not by skin color but “by the content of their character.” In the scientific world, people are judged by the content of their ideas. Advances are made with new insights, but the final arbitrator of any point of view are experiments that seek the unbiased truth, not information cherry picked to support a particular point of view. The power of our work is derived from this foundation.

Complete letter at:
>>energy.gov