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Friday, August 31, 2007
Perfume is perfect for particular people
According to Health Canada, an estimated 2 to 5 per cent of adults may experience mild reactions to the chemicals in cosmetics. For those who suffer from allergies related to chemicals found in fragrances, California-based Rich Hippie offers a synthetic-free alternative perfume.
"We don't use any synthetic ingredients. We just use the real thing," says Rich Hippie owner Nannette Pallrand.
www.perfumeplus.zlio.com says perfume presents personality Ads by perfume strore
"... It is more time consuming, more expensive to produce...but it is worth it because it is safer for your health, safer for the environment and a much more beautiful scent."
The two-year-old company has 22 perfumes with rich titles like, "Bohemian Wedding," "Summer of Love" and "Hoochie Coochie" as well as unisex scents like "Nirvana." For the potent fragrance, Pallrand uses old-world French perfume manufacturing methods.
"The perfume industry was traditionally in France where there was a huge wine industry," says Pallrand of the wine alcohol she uses in Rich Hippie. "In France, famous perfume houses would pop up near these vineyards. After World War II, chemical companies needed a new market and went into different areas, like cosmetics."
The result is perhaps one of the most intoxicatingly fresh and light scents on the market that didn't make my throat sore or make my eyes itch.
According to Pallrand, all of the ingredients in Rich Hippie perfume are organic, including the alcohol that is made from organic California grapes as opposed to alcohol derived from petroleum. However, Rich Hippie is not certified organic.
"Perfume recipes are something that one doesn't give out. They are a closely guarded secret," she says, "To certify, one would have to give up the recipe and sources to the certification agency."
Pallrand will disclose that she gets ingredients from around the world: rose and camomile from Morocco, orange blossom from Tunisia, vanilla and ylang ylang from Madagascar, to name a few.
And although the luxurious ingredients are both exotic and expensive, the actual perfume is packaged in simple pharmaceutical bottles.
"I didn't want to do what large conventional companies do where most of the money is spent on the packaging and not the product."
However, the actual perfume box is an impressive shock of yellow and hot pink calligraphy reminiscent of Sofia Coppola's punkesque queen, Marie Antoinette. No retailers in Toronto carry Rich Hippie - yet - so it can only be purchased online. Which raises the question: How does one find a fragrance without smelling it beforehand?
"We sell sample kits of the perfume in small vials," says Pallrand.
Sample kits run between $55 to $325 while full bottles are $225 for a 1/2-oz. vial and $675 for 2 oz. Available at rich-hippie. com
Fragrances
To many people, the word "fragrance" means something that smells nice, such as perfume. We don't often stop to think that scents are chemicals. Fragrance chemicals are organic compounds that volatilize, or vaporize into the air - that's why we can smell them. They are added to products to give them a scent or to mask the odor of other ingredients. The volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) emitted by fragrance products can contribute to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) and are associated with a variety of adverse health effects.
Exposure to fragrance chemicals can cause headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; nausea; forgetfulness; loss of coordination, and other respiratory and/or neurotoxic symptoms. Many fragrance ingredients are respiratory irritants and sensitizers, which can trigger asthma attacks and aggravate sinus conditions.
Fragrance chemicals are the number one cause of allergic reactions to cosmetics -- not only to the primary users, but also to those who breathe in the chemicals as secondhand users. Phthalates in fragrances are known to disrupt hormones and are linked in animal studies to malformations of the penis, as well as adverse effects on the developing testes.
In health care facilities, fragrance can come from a number of sources:
scented cleaning products;
fragrance-emitting devices and sprays;
workers, patients, and visitors who are wearing perfume, cologne or aftershave; scented cosmetics, skin lotions or hair products;
or clothes that have been laundered with scented detergents, fabric softeners or dryer sheets.
Indoor air quality can be greatly improved in health care facilities by adopting a hospital-wide fragrance-free policy that includes a fragrance-free policy for employees, maintenance products and non-employee hospital occupants.
Solar Gets Warm Reception
Favorable energy policies involving budget allocations and air quality have bolstered solar energy. The latest news is coming from the Mojave Solar Park in California and expressly from Pacific Gas and Electric that has said it will buy some of its green power.
California and other states with ample renewable energy resources are requiring their utilities to offer more green options. Their efforts are winning de-facto national support, with Congress and the Bush administration allocating more research and development into all forms of energy, including solar - precisely $2.2 billion through 2009. And with all stakeholders concerned about the threats from climate change, the green movement in particular is finding lots of support.
A key challenge is winning new capital from venture capitalists and major manufacturers of generation technologies. Such enterprises are stepping forward. The endeavor is no doubt helped by state mandates that are giving investors more confidence that they can earn handsome returns. California, for example, requires utilities to provide 20 percent of their fuel options in the form of green energy by 2010. That has motivated solar manufacturers from around the globe to start bidding on projects.
"The solar thermal project...is another major milestone in realizing our goal to supply 20 percent of our customers' energy needs with clean renewable energy," says Fong Wan, vice president of energy procurement, PG&E. "We can harness the sun's climate-friendly power to provide our customers with reliable and cost-effective energy on an unprecedented scale."
Specifically, the Mojave Solar Park project will deliver 553 megawatts. It is expected to be fully operational in 2011 and will cover up to 6,000 acres or nine square miles of the Mojave Desert. Israel-based Solel Solar Systems is providing the technology.
Solar energy now provides less than 1 percent of all energy needs in this country. Currently, 742 megawatts of solar cells are produced annually worldwide. Germany has 500 megawatts of solar energy already installed. That market, along with Japan's and the United States', accounts for 75 percent of the world's solar photovoltaic market. Globally, the market value tied to solar power is pegged at $4 billion.
Bigger Role
According to Professor Erin Baker at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the goal is to bring down the cost of photovoltaic technology to the same level as that of competing fossil fuels, around 3-5 cents per kilowatt hour and all by 2050. But such price advantages - and the corresponding environmental breakthroughs -- can only happen if solar power can be harnessed and released when needed.
"The development of complimentary technologies, in particular low-cost storage of electricity, is critical," says Baker. She says that private-public partnerships are essential if solar power is to gain increased footing while more federal support ought to come in the forms of subsidies and other tax breaks.
Solar costs about 25 cents a kilowatt hour. That's compared to about 9 cents a kilowatt hour for natural gas and 5 cents a kilowatt hour for modern coal-burning plants, as well as 6 cents a kilowatt hour for wind energy if tax considerations are included. The good news is that the cost of solar power is falling all the time. It once stood at $1 a kilowatt hour and advocates say that it could soon cost 12-16 cents a kilowatt hour.
Nevertheless, the goal is to make solar competitive with prevailing technologies. And, initiatives such as the one in California are providing motivation to suppliers. Major manufacturers are already showing an interest in this pursuit. General Electric and Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA are in solar markets and in the case of GE, it says that it is planning to invest $3 billion in all green technologies. Both companies are focusing in the American Southwest where the possibilities for solar energy are highest.
Meantime, the Sandia National Laboratories is joining forces with Phoenix-based Sterling Energy Systems. The two are trying to ramp up production on a massive scale. But they got the break they needed when Sterling signed 20-year agreements with San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison to provide about 850 megawatts of solar energy to each. With those commitments, Sterling expects the incremental cost of production to fall and therefore the subsequent price per kilowatt hour.
"This will be the largest array of solar dish-Sterling systems in the world," says Chuck Andraka, the Sandia project leader. "Ultimately, Sterling Energy envisions 20,000 systems to be placed in one or more solar dish farms and providing electricity to southwest U.S. utility companies." Realistically, the Bush administration says that solar power could provide as much as 2 percent of the nation's generation mix by 2025.
Understandably, utilities and others are concerned about entering into long term agreements that involve technologies that do not have enduring track records. But, the more certainties that developers receive, the less those risks become. And their cause is no doubt helped by the fact that major American businesses are stepping up. Wal-Mart, for example, has said that it will generate as much as 20 megawatt hours per year of solar at store locations in California and Hawaii.
That commitment, if successful, would be a boon for all aspects of the solar enterprise. It would also indicate to businesses both large and small that their efforts to produce a healthier ecology can make a difference. Solar and other sustainable energy forms are not going to replace fossil fuel usage. But renewable technologies will get better and cheaper and energy policies will likely keep pace. When coupled with a growing global energy appetite, the fundamentals that underscore the green energy space will only get stronger.
More information is available from Energy Central:
California Goes Solar - Industry Rattled by Massive Plan, EnergyBiz, March/April 2006
Business Models Driving Solar, EnergyBiz, May/June 2007
For more on this topic, visit the Energy Central Generation Technologies Topic Center.
Knowledge2007 Conference Announces Keynote Speakers ,Major Industry Support
Keynote speakers and major industry support for the upcoming Knowledge2007 Conference, with the CIO Summit and 2nd Annual CIO of the Year Awards have been announced by Energy Central and Sierra Energy Group, the research and analysis division of Energy Central.
The Knowledge2007 Conference is also fortunate to have the support of its sponsors, representing the industry's major technology solution providers. Heading up the industry support is Sprint, the Knowledge2007 Presenting Sponsor. Other sponsors include Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, Accenture, Alliance Data, Enspiria, and OSIsoft.
Warren Causey, a Vice President with Sierra Energy Group and Conference Program Chair commented on the importance of these keynote speakers: "We are excited about our keynote addresses at Knowledge2007. Bill Maguire has built Virgin America's IT infrastructure from the ground up while aligning this complex infrastructure with the company's innovative and customer-centric vision. And Sprint's commitment to utility industry requirements with leading telecommunications innovations will provide additional insights for our CIO and senior IT management audience. We are all very excited about the conference with these two 'headliners'."
Mike Smith, Senior Vice President with Sierra Energy Group added: "This combination of keynoters who are at the forefront of the innovative use of IT to provide business solutions, coupled with the support of virtually every leading technology solution provider in North America makes Knowledge2007 a very compelling event for senior utility IT executives. We look forward to seeing everybody in Austin in November!"
Additional information about the Knowledge2007 Conference can be found at www.knowledge2007.com.
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perfume your personality www.perfumeplus.zlio.com
About Energy Central
In business since 1995, Energy Central is an energy information services and media company that has developed a membership base of 140,000+ power industry professionals. These members have access to a variety of news and information products, including daily and weekly e-newsletters, five web sites (including www.energycentral.com and www.energycentraljobs.com) and publications such as EnergyBiz magazine.
About Sierra Energy Group
Formed in 2005 as the Research & Analysis Division of Energy Central, Sierra Energy Group provides analysis and intelligence in utility and energy business and technology markets. Services from Sierra Energy Group include the renowned Causey Reports, Market Intelligence and research programs, and proprietary research offerings. The Group is composed of utility and energy industry veterans with backgrounds in utility IT and business operations, solution provider management, and market research
'Wiki City Rome' to draw a map like no other
Residents of Italy's capital will glimpse the future of urban mapmaking next month with the launch of "Wiki City Rome," a project developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that uses data from cellphones and other wireless technology to illustrate the city's pulse in real time.
The project will debut Sept. 8 during Rome's "Notte Bianca" or white night, an all-night festival of events across the capital city. During that night, anyone with an Internet connection will be able to see a unique map of the Italian capital that shows the movements of crowds, event locations, the whereabouts of well-known Roman personalities, and the real-time position of city buses and trains.
The map will also be broadcast on a big-screen display in one of Rome's main squares in the city center, giving Romans real-time feedback on the human dynamics in their immediate surroundings.
Wiki City Rome stems from MIT's SENSEable City Laboratory, an initiative directed by Carlo Ratti that studies the impact of new technologies on cities. The project builds on the work of "Real Time Rome," presented during the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale, the prestigious biannual exhibition of contemporary art.
Organizers say Wiki City Rome raises the intriguing prospect of a map drawn on the basis of dynamic elements of which the map itself is an active part. According to researcher Francesco Calabrese of SENSEable City Lab, a person could consult the map to find the most crowded place in Rome to drink an aperitivo - and then identify the least congested route by which to reach it.
"Rome's Notte Bianca is all about the city, the people and the events, and Wiki City Rome will give Romans a new awareness of how they move within their city in response to this exceptional pulse of activities," said researcher Kristian Kloeckl, a SENSEable City Lab member who is also working on the project.
"How do people react towards this new perspective on their own city while they are determining the city's very own dynamic? How does having access to real-time data in the context of possible action alter the process of decision-making in how to go about different activities?" Kloeckl asked. "These are among the questions we may be able to answer."
By looking at a city using a "real-time control system" as a working analogy, the Wiki City project studies tools that enable people to become prime actors themselves in improving the efficiency of urban systems. In coming years, the Wiki City project will develop as an open platform where anybody can download and upload data that are location and time sensitive.
"By deploying developments of the 'Web 2.0' and the 'Semantic Web,' Wiki City can be a significant leap forward towards a pervasive 'internet of things' to support human action and interaction," said Carlo Ratti.
Ratti's team obtains its data anonymously from cell phones, GPS devices on buses and taxis, and other wireless mobile devices. Data are made anonymous and aggregated from the beginning, so there are no implications for individual privacy.
Partnering with the SENSEable City Lab on Wiki City Rome are SEAT Pagine Gialle, Telecom Italia, Telespazio, the Rome public transportation authority ATAC, La Repubblica, and Trenitalia.
In addition to Kloeckl, Calabrese and Ratti, members of the Wiki City Rome team include Assaf Biderman, Bernd Resch, and Fabien Girardin
YouTube agrees to royalty deal for UK performers
Today, the MCPS-PRS Alliance and YouTube announced an agreement to license more than ten million pieces of music to YouTube, which will recognize the contribution of the creators of that music to the service. The MCPS-PRS Alliance collects royalties for more than fifty thousand composers, songwriters, and publishers in the UK. The deal will allow each of the fifty thousand artists to be paid when their works are played on YouTube.
MCPS and PRS are the not-for-profit UK collecting societies that ensure composers, songwriters, and publishers are paid royalties when their music is used; from live performance to TV and radio, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. Royalties create a future for music by supporting creators while they continue to write. MCPS and PRS are committed to delivering maximum royalties and world-class service.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, is the world's largest online video community. YouTube has faced no end to mounting attacks and lawsuits over their user published content. Most of the claims against YouTube are over royalties and IP violations. Viacom, who is the largest of their opposition, is already prepping witnesses, and their case for the $1.5 billion suit they filed against Google over the content displayed on YouTube.
"We're pleased to be working in cooperation with the MCPS-PRS Alliance to provide the YouTube community in the UK with the best possible user experience. This agreement is another great example of how we are working with the music industry to explore new and creative ways to compensate music creators," Chad Hurley, CEO and Co-Founder of YouTube said.
Adding to that Steve Porter, of the MCPS-PRS said, "We are delighted to have concluded this deal with YouTube and to be the first collecting society outside the US to do so. Whether it is music videos, user uploads or other audio visual content, our agreement will allow our fifty-thousand songwriter, composer, and music publisher members to be paid when their creative talents are being enjoyed on YouTube's service across the UK."
The deal marks the first fully settled agreement of this kind. Although some U.S. royalty collecting societies have reached interim arrangements with YouTube, none of them are at the stage where final compensation values are ready to be set. Under the terms of this agreement, YouTube will pay a blanket fee to the MCPS-PRS for their content.
On the Internet, A Tangled Web Of Classified Ads
A few years ago, a classified ad for Andrew Davis's 2001 Mitsubishi Montero SUV might have been limited to two lines of descriptive shorthand: A/C, pwr pkg, 6cyl AT, 2wd, $9k firm.
Today, in ads on the Internet, Davis is posting pictures of his car in an off-road setting and sharing such details as the replacement of the timing belt and water pump 5,000 miles ago. He has even included a link to a feature article about his car's model in Popular Mechanics.
  Andrew Davis prepares his 2001 Mitsubishi Montero for sale after placing ads on multiple Web sites, which he found "a confusing jumble" both for seller and buyer.(By Bill O'leary / Post)  |
Davis, a Clemson University graduate who moved to the Washington area only a few weeks ago, posted free classified ads on Craigslist and the Marketplace area on Facebook, the social-networking site. He also paid for an ad in The Washington Post, a bundled deal that also put his listing on Cars.com and other Web sites.
His approach of putting his vehicle in front of as many potential buyers as possible illustrates how dynamic the process of classified advertising has become. For sellers, the options have moved beyond newspaper ads and fliers on coffee-shop bulletin boards. And for buyers looking for a car, an apartment, a job or a new puppy, it means better chances of seeing relevant ads on a variety of sites.
This push into online classifieds -- a business dominated by newspapers for more than a century -- is still very much in flux, said Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence in Oakland, Calif. While classified revenue has been shrinking at newspapers across the country, a growing number of Web companies, both established and new, are moving into the business, although not necessarily dominating the market.
Newspapers have lost their grip on classifieds in recent years. Once a steady source of revenue, classified advertising at some of the larger chains has dropped 14 to 20 percent over the past year, notably in once-lucrative segments such as automotive, real estate and employment ads, according to Fitch Ratings. Fitch, a credit ratings agency in New York, said this week that newspaper performance has been weaker than it originally forecast for the year.
Online traffic to classified sites, meanwhile, has grown 23 percent, to more than 46 million unique visitors in July, up from about 37 million a year earlier, according to the market research firm ComScore in Reston. Traffic has declined on some sites, among them Yahoo Classifieds, where it fell by 13 percent. But it has grown on some newer sites such as MySpace, where classified listings have jumped 33 percent since their August 2006 debut.
The classified market has become increasingly fragmented as a growing number of companies search for the best way to convert offline newspaper ads into a Web format.
"It becomes a confusing jumble of sites," Sterling said. "If you're a seller, that's a problem, and if you're a buyer, that's a problem."
What is emerging are two primary online approaches. One is simply to shift the traditional classifieds model to the Web, aggregating ads to a single site. The other involves distributing those aggregated ads to as many Web sites as possible.
EBay has backed some of the biggest and best-known classified sites. It partially owns Craigslist, the popular no-frills site that collects local listings, and allows buyers and sellers to post listings free. EBay recently introduced its U.S. users to two similar sites, Kijiji and Gumtree, both of which started overseas.
Geebo, based in McLean, is another online listing site trying to compete against Craigslist by creating a brand name that will draw buyers and sellers to its site.
"When I think about classified sites, outside of Geebo, I can only think of one, and that's Craigslist," said Geebo chief executive Greg Collier. "It's not like I can think of 10 or 12 of these right off the top of my head. There may be a lot out there, but nobody knows they're there."
In contrast, such companies as Edgeio and Oodle are less concerned with creating a site that buyers will view as a destination. Instead, they are pushing their way into the marketplace by acting as a go-between, cutting deals with newspapers, as well as Web sites, to increase the number of places where their listings appear.
Edgeio collects classified listings through individual sellers, as well as listings on sites like Geebo, or from traditional publications. Using software, it then distributes those ads to Web sites with specialized audiences.
For example, a niche Web site for fans of cocker spaniels might partner with Edgeio to display ads from a local breeder selling puppies. The ads might come from an individual or an ad posted in the community newspaper, but are then distributed to the cocker spaniel site through Edgeio.
"Our goal is to get more traffic to the [Web site] publishers," said Edgeio co-founder Keith Teare. "As money flows through the system, we take our share."
Like Edgeio, Oodle acts as a middleman, but is positioning itself to be more like a buyer's agent, offering such tools as e-mail alerts. Oodle's service searches classifieds and finds products a prospective buyer is looking for. In addition, it analyzes its listings for trends and other market data for buyers to use in their research. For example, someone shopping for a 2002 Honda Accord will also get information about that car, such as the average price for that year and model, in Oodle's listings.
Oodle chief executive Craig Donato said his model is a new approach to classified advertising. The challenge now is to get those ads in front of a local audience in a creative way so that buyer and seller can find each other and complete the sale.
"What's happening essentially is that companies are trying to do things online that lead to offline transactions," he said. "The transaction always occurs between two humans offline. . . . You would never rent an apartment without seeing it first or take a job without interviewing. That defines classified ads."
For that reason, local papers say they will be key players, even as classifieds find more venues online.
Forging partnerships with sites like Oodle have allowed newspapers to test some different approaches without having to build their own technologies, said Mort Goldstrom, vice president of advertising for the Newspaper Association of America in Arlington.
But Fitch Ratings analyst Mike Simonton said newspapers have a long way to go in making up for eroding classified revenue.
"We don't think that online classifieds have replaced or are successfully replacing the print classifieds," he said. "There's just a lot more competition in that market."
Intel Releases Quad-Core Processors Early
sponsered by; www.4me.zlio.comOriginally slated for January 2007, Intel today announced the availability of two dual-core processor families with the release of the Intel Xeon 5300 and Intel Core 2 Extreme.
The Core 2 Extreme processors are primarily for desktop clients and users that have multimedia editing or high-end gaming requirements, while the Xeons target server implementations. And judging from the early reviews, these two-socket chips represent the fastest silicon you can currently buy.
The release of these processors comes ahead of AMD who doesn't expect to release their four-way quad-core ("4x4") offering until mid-2007. Being first to market gives back some of the edge AMD won when they released dual-core processors ahead of Intel. AMD's dual-core Opteron has been credited in helping the company make significant market gains in the last year.
Intel's quad-core market advantage may have come at the expense of engineering time. One criticism of the Intel quad-core design, dubbed "Clovertown," is that it is just two dual-core chips from the same die "sandwiched" together.
That engineering decision may be a moot point until AMD releases their own quad-core processor when you consider that Inte's Core 2 chips under 2.66 GHz are pulling only 80 watts of power compared to the 120 watts of AMD's latest dual-core Opteron. The balance of performance versus power is what has given the Opteron a leg up over Intel's Itanium for some time and it looks as if the pendulum just swung the other way. And for multimedia processing, you are unlikely to find a faster chip out there than the Core 2 right now. Obviously not every application is going to be so well optimized but if you're encoding video, Core 2 Extreme is a good bet.
Systems vendors have quickly lined up, betting that IT buyers are ready to make jump. IBM, HP, SGI, Apple and Dell have all announced the availability of servers and clients based on Intel's new chips.
The one surprise here is Dell, who beat nearly everyone to the punch announcing they would offer Intel-based quad-core machines last week. Dell isn't one to jump on trends early -- it was only this year that the company began offering AMD-based clients and servers -- and this timely buy-in could be considered either a technology endorsement, a way for Dell to shake things up after a couple of bad quarters, or both.
Users looking to capitalized on the super-fast chips shouldn't expect any early discounts. The 2.66GHz Xeon X5355 will set you back $1172 while the 2.66GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is priced at $999.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Lightest Full HD Camcorder by Sanyo
Sanyo Electric Co. <6764> said Thursday it will introduce the world's smallest and lightest digital camcorder compatible with full high-definition recording, accelerating downsizing efforts by Japanese electronics makers.
The new digital camcorder, which will be released under the Xacti brand in mid-September, weighs 268 grams, some 22 grams lighter than a similar product Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. <6752> introduced on Aug. 1 that is currently the world's lightest, Sanyo said.
It is also 18 pct smaller than Matsushita's camcorder.
Sanyo reduced the weight of the new camcorder by cutting down the number of integrated circuit chips used, the company said.
The new product enables full high-definition recording of about 85 minutes with an 8-gigabyte Secure Digital Memory Card. It will retail for around 120,000 yen.
The company expects to sell 100,000 units worldwide in the first year of the launch.
News Inside news:
I. summary - Presently, as for viewing environment of the movie where the customer was photographed, furthermore Kousei small conversion large picture conversion is advanced by the enlargement of the hi-vision television which accompanies the spread of terrestrial digital broadcast. According to JEITA "AV principal item world demand estimate", for 2006 country composition ratio of the terrestrial digital television in the television approximately has become 68%, 2007: Approximately 81%, 2008: Approximately, it is the possibility that 92%, it directs to the analog stopping wave 2011 and it spreads expands. In addition, ratio of the hi-vision model in the domestic video camera 2006: Approximately 26%, 2008: Approximately 64%, 2010: It is thought as the thing which approximately is expanded to 85%. (This corporation estimate)
At this corporation, we sold the digital movie camera Xacti "DMX-HD1" to which in 2006 February hi-vision (720p) it can record to the SD memory card the system MPEG-4 movie for the first time in the world. It received the appraisal where the merit that development concept is "anytime easily you can take the hi-vision movie and the Kousei small photograph and anywhere", is high in the market. After that "DMX-HD1A" (2006 September) "DMX-HD2" (2007 March) consecutively it sold, the silicon movie * started endeavoring to the enlargement of 3 markets.
This time, be able to record the full hi-vision movie of the 1920×1080 pixel easily, the digital movie camera which can make also the retention and playback of the image which photographed simple, we sell Xacti "DMX-HD1000".
II. Details explanation
1. Worldwide smallest most light weight
* 1 full HD (1920×1080 record) digital movie As for DMX-HD1000 worldwide smallest most of cubic measure 272cc and mass 268g light weight
* 11920 (horizontal resolution) the ×1080 (vertical resolution) full HD record is possible at compact size. In movie recording type full HD of approximately 43 parts (the 1920×1080) record is possible in the SDHC memory card of 4GB with the adoption of image compressed technology MPEG-4 of advancement AVC/H.264. In order high speed to process the bulk data of full HD, "platinum ## (sigma) the engine" new development. "Platinum ## (sigma) the engine" those of 2 tip/chip constitution 1 chipped until recently with the development of the individual full HD corresponding H.264 codec, made the miniaturization of set possible. In addition, serial radiography of approximately 2 hours was actualized with the battery of attachment with such as high bulk compressibility and approximately 4.2w where it is due to the optimization of image processing algorithm architecture electric power consumption low.
2. "New ergonomics design" adoption of natural photographing style It is Xacti series common concept, while following the individual design whose muscle burden when photographing is little with natural photographing style, even at the time of tripodal use the lens becomes horizontal, "new ergonomics design" is adopted.
This time, whether the difference of the photographing style again with the angle of the lens and grip, some kind of effect is produced on the muscle, it researched with associate Professor and our company research and development headquarters digital system laboratory Yosihiro Professor Tetuo university graduate school engineering postgraduate course design scientific major human life engineering laboratory Katsuura Chiba Simomura jointly.
Angle of the lens and grip draws up the experimental model of 7 types from those of the 0° to the 135°, the measurement of muscle electric potential of the right arm 6 place and analyzes the muscle burden at the time of movie photographing the subjective appraisal by the questionnaire on the basis of. It was proven as a result, when angle of the lens and grip is the 105°, muscle burden is easy to use small that.
This time DMX-HD1000 of announcement adopts this angle, also from grip form by the fact that it makes the design which fits to the palm, from to have has pursued cheapness.
3. Simply it can retain & can play back the image which photographed "Xacti library" function Until recently, as for retention and playback of the image which photographed with full hi-vision, there was also a point that it handles the data of bulk, there were times when it needs private hard. It is the function which can make the retention playback of the movie and the photograph data where the "Xacti library" the docking station of attachment and external hard disk drive of marketing * USB connection * 5 just does 4, photographed simple. The substance is set to the docking station, it is the sufficient simple operation retention or playback mode being selected from the menu on the picture of television. When playing back, sum nail of the file which would like to become viewing with the remote control which is attachment just is chosen can enjoy immediately from the picture. In addition, because album function is built in to the "Xacti library", gathering the various scenes freely, you said that it draws up the original album, screens with sliding show also method of using which is pleasant is possible. If the "Xacti library" is used, it is possible it not being private hard and the personal computer, to leave simply, to look at the numbers of the scene of memory.
* It is not something which guarantees the operation in 4 all HDD.
* Using 5 attachment private cables. The HDMI cable becomes selling separately.
4. Photograph function of completenessIt corresponds to the high sensitivity photographic set-up of ISO 3200.
To force to shutter chance, high-speed connected copying function of second 7 scene. * 6
During movie photographing simultaneous photographing record of the photograph is possible. * 7
8,000,000 pixel suitable photographic recording is possible.
* As for 6 record picture primes approximately 4,000,000 pixel.
* As for 7 record picture primes approximately 2,000,000 pixel.
New development "multiple being off-center canceler" loading
In still picture hand being off-center revision this corporation individual "multiple being off-center canceler" anew development. With this system, it corresponds to also revolution being off-center revision and subject being off-center revision. In addition, this corporation individual electronic type hand being off-center system in the base, it was off-center in the movie and increased the picture area of the detection territory, from actualized the improvement of revision precision.
New development photograph face detection function
When photographing the face detection maximum of 12 is possible. Photographing which corresponds to AF and the like which puts emphasis on optimum AE and the central person who respond to the detection area designates the face as the center is possible. In the image restoration which photographed in face detection, one face focusing on expression of subject understands clearly by the fact that zoom it does.
5. Other meritsFeeling at rest even with the beginner, operational "simple mode" loading.
Being one-touch, you can reset various mode sets the "full automatic button".
Can play back the data of full HD "Nero corporation Nero 7 Essentials", compilation is possible on the personal computer, "Ulead DVD MovieWriter 5 SE" attachment.
Power source on/off of substance possible private remote control. (At the time of docking station connection)
The new development 2.7 type 230,000 pixel wide liquid crystal monitor adoption which corresponds to the HD picture.
The 1900mAh bulk lithium ion battery which corresponds to new development and long haul life.
The external Strobo, the video light/write and the microphone etc you install, possible accessory shoe loading.
The telecon version lens (1.6 times)/the wide conversion lens (0.7 times)/the semi fish eye (0.4 times) preparing the lens/the digital wireless microphone etc as the option item.
Specification-
Product name Digital Movie Camera
Model Number DMX-HD1000
Color Silver , Black
MSRP Open Price
Sales Date Mid-September 2007
Initial Global Monthly
Production 15,000 units
Please note the contents of this press release, is specific to the model sold in Japan.
SANYO will launch this product in various regions around the world, though the name, model number, specifications, etc. may differ.
Sony shutting down Connect Music Store
steven (24hoursnews) - Sony Corp. will begin shuttering its Connect Music Store in March, the company confirmed Thursday.
Rumors of the shutdown began in June after the company laid off 20 people and allocated remaining staff and resources to the PlayStation group.
Behind the move is Sony's decision to support Windows Media Audio DRM in its new line of Walkman digital music players, also announced Thursday. The Connect service, and previous Sony portable devices, used a proprietary technology called ATRAC which never caught on. The new devices will now work with any other Windows Media-enabled digital music store, such as Wal-Mart and others.
The Connect deactivation will take place on a phased basis in North America and Europe. Specific timing for each region was not disclosed, but is not expected to begin until March. Connect's e-book service will remain operational.
Customers who bought ATRAC-encoded files can continue to manage their library with past Sony devices, but the company is advising them to back up their library to audio CDs, as future Walkman devices may not support the format.
Sony's new Walkman devices for the first time include video. The Sony Pictures Entertainment division is providing video content for the new devices via http://www.sonystyle.com, rather than Connect.
why?
Sony has announced that it is shutting Connect, its online music store, admitting defeat at the hands of Apple's iTunes.
The service - which sold songs in a proprietary format that prevented them from being played on non-Sony devices - will close in Europe some time after March next year, depending on demand, the company said in a statement.
Officially, the explanation given by Sony was that it had "listened to its customers," but sources at the company said that selling songs in the 'ATRAC' format - which was used only by Sony - went against the tide of making devices more compatible with a range of download services.
The next generation of Sony Walkman digital media players - details of which were released simultaneously with the Connect announcement - will use the Windows Media Player platform. The switch means that the new Sony devices will be able to download songs from third-party music sites, such as HMV and Napster, the company said. They will not work with Apple's iTunes store, however, which commands as much as 80 per cent of the market
"Customers don't want to be constrained in their music choice, and to fear that if they change computers or their device, they won't be able to use certain types of services," a source close to Sony said. "ATRAC was a a great codec [a type of audio format] and it served its purpose for a time, but the world has moved on."
The two new series of Walkman - the NWZ-A810 and the NWZ-S510, which will be available from October - will be able to download movie trailers, songs, and music videos from "a range of websites" that are Windows-compatible, Sony said in a statement. They will also be able to connect wirelessly with other Sony devices, such as the PlayStation 3.
Sony launched Connect in the UK in July 2004 as part of an attempt to provide an integrated music service that incorporated both the online platform and the device in a proprietary format, much in the manner of Apple's iPod-iTunes system.
The company has always been tight-lipped about how many customers the service had, but in 2005, Sony's vice-president for network services in Europe said that Connect had "done a lot of sales."
Ultimately, however, the service struggled to gain a foothold against Apple's iTunes store, which is by far the dominant player in the digital download market.
Today shares in Sony were down 1c, at $46.10.
'Go Green' In Data Centers, Says Study
.Green era opens doors for firm
GeoInsight takes proactive stance
John A. Gilbert, CEO of GeoInsight, an environmental and engineering consulting firm, in his Manchester, N.H., office. (JOANNE RATHE/GLOBE STAFF)
In his 14 years as founder and chief executive of GeoInsight Inc., an environmental and engineering consulting firm, John A. Gilbert has seen a big change in the way business is conducted.
"For years, [federal and state] regulatory revisions had driven this industry," Gilbert, 50, recalled last week during an interview in the firm's Manchester, N.H., corporate offices. "But now, companies and organizations are focusing more on environmental management, looking at ways of heading off problems and reducing costs."
Although this is clearly a green era, there are still many companies that don't want to discuss publicly how they are addressing environmental problems, Gilbert acknowledged. But things are moving in the right "environmentally friendly direction," he said.
His small firm's goal, which he said it is achieving, is to work with clients as partners on environmental quality concerns.
And as the firm has become better known for its work in New England, annual revenues are on the rise, hitting the $10 million mark last year, Gilbert said, adding that revenues are now increasing between 15 and 20 percent a year.
But it hasn't always been easy street.
"At one time, we found that we weren't being taken seriously because we were perceived to be too small," Gilbert said. "But that's changed."
Similarly sized environmental consulting firms are the competition today rather than giants like Cambridge-based CDM, which, he said, have largely become federal government contractors.
GeoInsight has 35 employees in Manchester, 14 employees in Westford, Mass., and 13 employees in Cheshire, Conn.
One of the environmental consulting industry's biggest challenges in recent years has been finding quality people with experience, Gilbert said. In some cases, he added, "we find strong entry-level people and bring them along as fast as we can."
Approximately 50 percent of GeoInsight's projects are in Massachusetts, according to Gilbert and Michael C. Penney, 45, a senior associate-senior engineer and manager of the Manchester operation. The rest are in Connecticut (25 percent), New Hampshire (20), and Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, and New York.
Each year, the firm handles between 300 and 400 projects, Gilbert said. Since its founding in 1993 in Londonderry, N.H., GeoInsight has worked on more than 3,000 projects, he said. Most of the clients have been in the private sector, but there also have been some public sector customers such as municipalities.
"For a small firm, we now cover a lot of ground and are perhaps best known for our assessments of contaminated sites," in terms of air and water quality and other issues, said Gilbert, who grew up in Concord, Mass., and now lives in Concord, N.H.
A number of those sites have been Superfund properties, or those cited by the US Environmental Protection Agency as being the most severely polluted.
Gilbert said GeoInsight's first project involved the Savage Well Superfund site in Milford, N.H. Among the firm's clients currently for Superfund site work are the town of Wilmington, Mass., for the Olin Chemical property, and the Citizens Research and Environmental Watch group, or CREW, of Concord, Mass., for the
"We are very satisfied with the technical advice we've been getting from GeoInsight for the last five years," said James West, technical assistance coordinator for CREW, which receives federal grants for its Starmet-site monitoring work. "Unlike some other firms, they are very experienced in Superfund site work, particularly in the area of hydrology," West said.
One of the most complicated projects handled by GeoInsight, Gilbert pointed out, dealt with drilling a water main under the Thames River in Connecticut to increase the water supply for the Mohegan Sun Casino, the town of Montville, where the casino is, and surrounding communities. The project was completed early last year, he said.
While overseeing complicated as well as more straightforward projects, Gilbert said he is also committed to what he calls GeoInsight's "inner ownership.
"I started the firm because I wanted to run my own business after being a field engineer. But I also wanted to create an organization that would be very different in this field, a stewardship model that would emphasize collegiality."
GeoInsight now has an employee stock ownership plan worth about $300,000, and Gilbert said he will sell his total interest in the firm to employees, perhaps by year's end.
"My ownership stake will then go down to zero, but I'll remain chief executive," he said. "There are exciting times ahead for this still-evolving industry.
Large companies seek to stem costs associated with data center energy use, which is predicted to soar to $7.4 billion in 2011, from $4.5 billion in 2006More than half of large companies are moving beyond talking and into actual planning stages for making their data centers "greener," according to a study that will be released next month by data center operator Digital Realty Trust.
New robotic arm powered by rockets
PB : Md Moshiur Rahman sponsored by www.careerbd.net
The new rocket-powered robotic arm, shown in this diagram, is stronger and faster than the ones on the market. Here's how it works: The propellant cartridge contains pressurized liquid hydrogen peroxide, which is routed through two flexible lines (not shown) across the elbow joint and into two catalyst packs. The catalyst burns the hydrogen peroxide, generating steam that pushes pistons up and down - allowing the arm to move.
Rockets can help power robotic arms, which could help lead to "better, stronger, faster" bionic limbs, research now reveals.
A new prototype rocket-powered mechanical arm can lift about 20 to 25 pounds - three to four times more than current commercial prosthetic arms - and can do so three to four times faster.
"Our design does not have superhuman strength or capability, but it is closer in terms of function and power to a human arm than any previous prosthetic device that is self-powered and weighs about the same as a natural arm," said researcher Michael Goldfarb, a roboticist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
It has about 10 times as much power as other [robotic] arms," Goldfarb said.
The rocket-powered arm also has greater dexterity and freedom of movement than any other prosthetic to date. Conventional prosthetic arms have only two joints, at the elbow and the "claw." This prototype functions more naturally than previous models, with a wrist that can twist and bend, and fingers that open and close independently.
Rockets replace batteries
Conventional bionic arms are driven by batteries and electric motors.
"Battery power has been adequate for the current generation of prosthetic arms because their functionality is so limited that people don't use them much," Goldfarb said. "The more functional the prosthesis, the more the person will use it and the more energy it will consume."
The weight of the batteries needed to power a bionic arm for a reasonable amount of time is a problem. This led Goldfarb and his colleagues to look for alternatives - in this case, rockets.
The radical design is similar to rocket systems that help the space shuttle and satellites maneuver in orbit. It employs a miniature rocket about the size of a pencil. It burns pressurized liquid hydrogen peroxide using iridium-coated alumina granules as catalysts, generating pure steam that forces pistons up and down, generating motion.
You might expect such a setup to be noisy.
"It's much quieter than I would have ever thought," Goldfarb told LiveScience. "You can be in a room where people are talking at very low levels and never hear it. You have to be very quiet to hear this thing operate."
Steam gets vented out through a porous skin-like cover, where it evaporates like normal sweat. "The amount of water involved is about the same as a person would normally sweat from their arm on a warm day," Goldfarb said.
Complex setup
A key concern was protecting the arm's owner and those in close proximity from heat the arm generated - the steam can get up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit (232 degrees Celsius). The hottest parts are covered with special insulating plastic, making them safe to touch. A small sealed canister of hydrogen peroxide that fits easily in the upper arm can provide enough energy to power the device for 18 hours of normal activity.
The researchers got their latest prototype working properly at the end of June. Future research can make the 4-pound arm even lighter and more robust.
So far the work has been funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which aims to develop better prosthetic limbs. Improvements in body armor and battlefield medicine have reduced the number of casualties from conflicts, but the side effect is a significantly increasing number of amputees, as has become evident among veterans of the ongoing war with Iraq.
DARPA's goal is to have an advanced, commercially available prosthetic arm in two years. Unfortunately, Goldfarb is concerned DARPA funding might dry up for his team's research because of the arm's novel power source, which will probably take a long time to get regulatory approval due to safety issues.
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Still, if DARPA support is withdrawn, Goldfarb is confident his team can still get alternative funding for their arm. "We have made so much progress and gotten such positive feedback from the research community that I'm certain we'll be able to keep going," he said.
Goldfarb also has a parallel project on an artificial leg of similar design, funded by the National Institutes of Health. When asked why he is so interested in designing artificial limbs, Goldfarb said, "I think that it has something to do with the fact that building an artificial limb is like trying to imitate the ultimate machine.
More detail
A rocket-powered bionic arm has been successfully developed and tested by a team of mechanical engineers at Vanderbilt University as part of a $30 million military program to develop advanced prosthetic devices for next generation of super-soldiers.
The mechanical arm mechanical arm with a miniature rocket motor can lift (curl) about 20 to 25 pounds, three to four times more than current commercial arms, and can do so three to four times faster.
"That means it has about 10 times as much power as other arms despite the fact that the design hasn't been optimized yet for strength or power," Michael Goldfarb, the professor of mechanical engineering who is leading the effort, said.
Tests show that the mechanical arm also functions more naturally than previous models.
Conventional prosthetic arms have only two joints, the elbow and claw, but the prototype's wrist twists and bends and its fingers and thumb open and close independently.
The Vanderbilt arm is the most unconventional of three prosthetic arms under development by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) program.
The other two units, powered by batteries and electric motors, are being designed by researchers at the Advanced Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who head the program.
The military is funding neuroscientists at the University of Utah, California Institute of Technology and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago who are developing advanced methods for controlling the arms by connecting them to nerves in the users' bodies or brains.
"Battery power has been adequate for the current generation of prosthetic arms because their functionality is so limited that people don't use them much," Goldfarb says. "The more functional the prosthesis, the more the person will use it and the more energy it will consume."
At a certain point, the weight of the batteries required to provide the energy to operate the arm for a reasonable period becomes a problem, and it was this poor power-to-weight ratio of the batteries that drove Goldfarb to look for alternatives while working on an exoskeleton project for DARPA.
Goldfarb's power source is about the size of a pencil and contains a special catalyst that causes hydrogen peroxide to burn produce pure steam which is used to open and close a series of valves.
The valves are connected to the spring-loaded joints by belts made of a special monofilament used in appliance handles and aircraft parts and a small sealed canister of hydrogen peroxide that easily fits in the upper arm can provide enough energy to power the device for 18 hours of normal activity.
By covering the hottest parts with special insulating plastic, they were able to reduce surface temperatures enough so they are safe to touch and the steam exhaust is vented through a porous cover, where it evaporates like natural perspiration.
"The amount of water involved is about the same as a person would normally sweat from their arm in a warm day," Goldfarb says.
Goldfarb denies he is creating a superman for the military.
"Our design does not have superhuman strength or capability, but it is closer in terms of function and power to a human arm than any previous prosthetic device that is self-powered and weighs about the same as a natural arm," he said.
£7.5m cost of out-of-hours health care
NEARLY £7.5million was spent last year by Glasgow health bosses in providing out-of-hours care.
The cost of running the GP service shot up by more than a quarter, from £5.84m in 2004.
However, official figures show it is good value, with the lowest cost per patient anywhere in Scotland.
It works out at just £7.61 for patients in the Greater Glasgow area compared to £43.63 for those in Argyll and Bute.
The difference in cost is explained by the large and densely populated area covered by Greater Glasgow compared to Argyll's dispersed population.
Doctors in the Glasgow area who provide the service earn £45 an hour for a call-out on a weekday evening rising to £60 if the call is overnight.
The total cost for Scotland for the service was almost £68m last year.
The Audit Scotland report found that since responsibility for out-of-hours care services was shifted in 2004 from GPs to NHS boards, 95% of Scotland's GP practices have opted out of providing 24-hour care to their patients.
It says most patients are satisfied with NHS out-of-hours care.
But it warns that with fewer GPs covering the out-of-hours period, there is a "significant risk" the service is unsustainable in its current form.
Under the present system of out-of-hours care, GP practices can opt out of providing out-of-hours care though GPs can then choose to deliver some out-of-hours work to NHS boards for a fee.
However, the number of doctors doing this work is steadily dropping.
The report says NHS boards and the Scottish Executive need to invest in extending the roles of nurses and paramedics.
Deputy Auditor General for Scotland Caroline Gardner said: "Since the changes to out-of-hours services, NHS boards have worked hard to maintain the care patients have traditionally experienced.
"The Scottish Executive should look to healthcare professionals other than GPs and consider how to extend their skills.
"Meanwhile, NHS boards should continue to develop how they work with partners, such as NHS 24 and the ambulance service."
US requests WTO mediation in copyright enforcement case against China
The United States has asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) [official website] to establish a "dispute settlement panel" [press release] in its case against China for alleged lax enforcement of copyright and trademark violations [JURIST report; WTO backgrounder], the Office of the US Trade Representative [official website] announced Monday. The request came after the US and China failed to resolve their differences through bilateral consultations [WTO backgrounder] and will be considered by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body [WTO backgrounder] during its next session on August 31.
The case, filed in April, was denounced by Chinese officials [JURIST report] who warned that it would "seriously undermine the cooperative relations the two nations had established in the field." The US also has another case against China [WTO backgrounder] pending, which accuses the Chinese government of adopting "measures that restrict trading rights with respect to important films for theatrical release," audiovisual home entertainment products, and publications. In February, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab [official profile] announced a case [WTO backgrounder] against China for its practice of subsidizing enterprises that "purchase domestic over imported goods or [meet] certain export performance criteria."
AFP/File Photo: Counterfeit CDs and DVDs are displayed in Beijing before being destroyed in an effort to...
Some More
The United States on Monday asked the World Trade Organization to mediate a copyright trade dispute with China, saying bilateral talks have failed to close loopholes that allow counterfeiters to flourish.
It marked the third time in less than a year that the United States has sought a WTO dispute settlement panel to help resolve trade frictions with the leading emerging superpower, whose ballooning trade surplus has become a political flashpoint.
Washington filed a complaint with the WTO against China in April, alleging China's legal regime for protecting and enforcing copyright and trademark protections was unfairly deficient.
Chinese-made counterfeit goods -- from software and DVDs to luxury leather goods and watches -- are widely available in the US market.
Bilateral talks held in early June within the framework of the WTO dispute process proved fruitless, the office of the US Trade Representative said.
"The United States and China have tried, through formal consultations over the last three months, to resolve differences arising from US concerns about inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in China," USTR spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement.
"That dialogue has not generated solutions to the issues we have raised, so we are asking the WTO to form a panel to settle this dispute."
The US request will be considered by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body at its next meeting, scheduled on August 31, the USTR said.
"In pursuing this action, the United States is seeking to eliminate significant structural deficiencies that give pirates and counterfeiters in China a safe harbor to avoid criminal liability," the trade office said.
Spicer said that China had taken "tangible steps" in recent years to protect intellectual property, but "we still see important gaps that need to be addressed."
There was no immediate official reaction from the Chinese government.
The United States, joined by Canada and the European Union, requested a WTO panel in September 2006 to help settle a dispute over automobile parts. The complainants accuse China of imposing charges that unfairly discriminate against imported auto parts.
In July, the United States, joined by Mexico, asked for a panel to mediate a dispute over allegedly illicit Chinese subsidies.
In the documents lodged with the WTO, the two countries target tax breaks they claim China offers to companies if they buy Chinese supplies instead of imported goods or that appear to be based on a firm's export performance.
Both cases are still under way.
When bilateral consultations fail, the WTO in principle has six months to resolve the dispute. Usually the trade body sides in favor of the party bringing the complaint, but the loser has the right to appeal and the dispute can drag on for years.
The gaping and growing US trade deficit with China -- which hit 232.5 billion dollars last year, according to official US figures -- has triggered a backlash in the United States.
US lawmakers are pushing for legislation to allow for sanctions against Beijing over what is seen as its manipulation of the yuan exchange rate to gain an unfair trade advantage.
Critics of China in the United States say the yuan currency is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, making Chinese exports cheaper.
China revalued its currency in July 2005 and Beijing has since repeatedly said it will allow the yuan to strengthen as part of overall reforms to a financial system it says would risk full collapse with a full flotation.
Vivien Johnston- will talk ethics to world trade bosses
A JEWELLERY designer from the West End is going to Mongolia to tell some of the world's most important business leaders about ethics.
Vivien Johnston will travel to the Asian country next week to discuss the importance of ethics in the precious metal mining and jewellery trade with some of the biggest mining organisations on the globe.
The 30-year-old, a Glasgow School of Art graduate, has been an advocate of ethical jewellery since setting up her business, Fifi Bijoux, last year.
She uses only materials from traceable sources and mining communities where there has been no arms, drugs or human trafficking.
Her produce has attracted the attention of big name stores such as Harvey Nichols.
Vivien said: "My presentation is about the importance of transparency and on-the-ground ethical practice in mining precious metals in today's conscientious consumer-buying climate.
"Also, the presentation is to show it works as a business model and there are jewellers who have an established market for known ethical provenance materials and how we need certification schemes to prevent the unscrupulous abusing the system and simply paying lip-service to it."
The equivalent of the anti-fur campaign for the bling generation, ethical jewellery is jewellery has become a big issue in the USA with stars like Kanye West drawing attention to the issue.
However a major problem has been the high cost of traceability.
for Tech nology News www.24hoursnews.blogspot.com
While it is easier for luxury producers to keep full account of where their materials come from, it is tougher for designers like Vivien who produce for a less exclusive sector and have the final high street cost to think about.
Nonetheless, in the past Vivien has donated a percentage of profits to charities involved in aiding the victims of atrocities in gold and gem mining areas.
Glasgow has become a hotbed of ethical fashion and syle in the past 12 months.
Earlier this year Carolyn Manson opened Bolshie, the first boutique in Scotland to sell exclusively ethical clothes and accessories.
Vivien Johnston
They say you have to suffer for beauty, but Vivien Johnston would disagree! She has set up Fifi Bijoux, an ethical jewellery company, with the express purpose of ensuring that all the precious metals and stones she uses in her pieces are sourced from countries where human rights are respected and the environmental impact of mining is minimised.
Vivien Johnston
Vivien spent several years working in the jewellery industry before she decided to branch out. Experience taught her that despite political efforts to curb the trade in so called 'blood diamonds', the raw materials for the industry were still being imported from countries where conflict existed. When Vivien was commissioned to make an ethical wedding ring it seemed like a natural step to think about creating a business plan for a whole range of ethical jewellery. The initial commission came from a man who was himself an entrepreneur and political figure, so he was able to help and advise her on how to develop her strategy.
Working as head of design for a large jeweller taught Vivien to be innovative and to encourage innovation amongst her staff, but the actual mechanic of setting up in business was a new experience for her. Raising the funding to create her first collection meant tapping into every possible resource, and for help and advice she approached her local Business Gateway Service. With the company still in its infancy Vivien is very realistic about how much hard work she has ahead of her: "I can't afford myself the conceit that I have overcome the skills I lack. I just work round them. I learn constantly".
In 2006 Fifi Bijoux launched its first collection which was showcased at London Fashion Week in 2007. Although Vivien refuses to class herself as a success as yet, the range has generated a great deal of media interest and she is on the road to achieving her long term aim of making Fifi Bijoux the ethical equivalent of Louis Vuitton
address: 6 Mercer Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9QA.Contact: Lynsey Smith. CEC Manager Tel: +44 (0) 141 225 8424 ...
Trade: U.S. is "World's Biggest Loser"
Manufacturing News today (sorry, not linkable) says that the U.S. is the "world's biggest loser - by far" in terms of the WTO dispute resolution system.
The World Trade Organization has ruled against the United States in 40 of 47 cases... That number is "astounding," according to Robert Lighthizer, a partner in charge the international trade group at the law firm of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. The United States "has suffered disproportionately from the problems with the WTO dispute settlement system, having been named as a defendant in far more cases than any other WTO members."
(Note that Public Citizen's dispute database shows that the United States has lost 43 of 50 cases. Since Manufacturing News doesn't elaborate further on its statistics, we're not sure where the discrepancy arises.) Lighthizer goes on to say,
"As a result of this judicial activism, our trading partners have been able to achieve through litigation what they could never achieve through negotiation... The consequent loss of sovereignty for the United States in its ability to enact and enforce laws for the benefit of the American people has been staggering. The WTO has increasingly seen fit to sit in judgment of sovereign acts running the gamut from U.S. tax policy to environmental measures to public morals."
All this is true, but it's not just the United States that loses at the WTO. Pretty much all defendants lose WTO disputes. According to Public Citizen's WTO disputes database, while the United States has lost 86 percent of its cases as a defendant under the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU), out of all DSU cases, the defendant loses 88.7 percent of the time. So the United States is roughly in line with the rest of the world in terms of having its domestic laws overridden by the WTO.
So claiming the United States loses at the WTO is accurate, but also misses the bigger picture a bit. As Dani Rodrik says as quoted in my earlier post, what's really needed is to rethink the whole system.
Has the WTO threatened us? - World Trade Organization ruling against US - Column
Well, it happened: the World Trade Organization ruled against an existing law, and people are up in arms. Candidates Dole and Buchanan have suggested that this is on the order of the British navy moving in to restore the crown as sovereign in U.S. affairs.
Here is the quarrel. Brazil and Venezuela, in recent months, attempted to bring into the United States what we might as well call "dirty oil," meaning that it is oil that contains a higher density of pollutants than is permitted by the Clean Air Act. So, we denied that oil access to the American market.
A suit was filed with the WTO by Brazil and Venezuela, which asserted, correctly, that the same quality of oil turned down at our frontier was in fact being pumped, sold, and burned within the United States. This is, plain and simple, discriminatory, and of course the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade exists in order to protest discriminatory practices.
Now the United States has several defenses, none of them conclusive -- they are an attenuation of the violation rather than an excuse for it. It happens that the load of oil being permitted to market notwithstanding its high pollution content was something on the order of an exception. The franchise was given with a view to saving a considerable deposit of oil, on the understanding that the international standard would be invoked beginning in 1998.
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