Innovation Watch Newsletter - Issue 8.

25 - December 5, 2009 ISSN: 1712-9834

In the news this week...

genes and the mind... cotton could become an engineered food...

Intel rethinks computer design... ten Web trends for 2010... Google
unsettles the UK housing market... the newspaper industry
contemplates its future... hacker arrested for theft in a virtual world...
experts consider robot law... countries to watch in Copenhagen...
David Forrest Dubai struggles with financial crisis... Australia trucks water to
advises on drought-stricken towns... Paul McCartney proposes a meat-free day
emerging to address climate change... Singapore creates high-tech classrooms
trends, and of the future... nanotech machines could build everything...
helps to develop
We also feature...
strategies for
a radically a new book by Tom Haines and Michael Malone, No Size Fits All: From
different future Mass Marketing to Mass Handselling... a link to Social Earth, a weblog
that seeks, promotes and supports social entrepreneurs... a videoclip
of Don Tapscott's presentation on the future of education at
TEDxToronto... a blog post by Humberto Moreira and Whitney
Petersmeyer on Harvard's MBA Oath...

David Forrest

Coming in the New Year - Rethinking the Future Radio - An

Innovation Watch podcast that takes an inside look at the people and
stories that are shaping the future.

Top Stories:

Mutations Link Autism, Schizophrenia: Study - [CBC] Autism

and schizophrenia may be genetic opposites, an evolutionary
biologist in British Columbia says. Bernard Crespi of Simon
Fraser University and his colleagues analyzed data on all
known genetic variants linked to both conditions.

Scientists Engineer Safe Edible Cotton that Could Feed

Millions of People - [Daily Mail] Cotton seeds are packed with
protein but regular plants produce a toxic chemical called
gossypol. Now scientists have worked out a way to reduce
the toxin.

Top Stories: 

Futuristic 48-Core Intel Chip Could Reshape How Computers

are Built - [PhysOrg] Researchers from Intel Labs
demonstrated an experimental, 48-core Intel processor, or
"single-chip cloud computer," that rethinks many of the
approaches used in today's designs for laptops, PCs and
servers.

10 Web Trends to Watch in 2010 - [CNN] While Web

innovation is unpredictable, some clear trends are becoming
apparent. Expect the following 10 themes to define the Web
next year...

Top Stories: 

Google Property Portal Threatens Online Housing Market -

[Daily Mail] Homebuyers looking to buy a property may be
able to use Google under radical plans being considered by
the world's most popular website. If the plan goes ahead,
anybody looking to buy a property will be able to use Google
to search for properties for sale in any part of the UK.

World Newspaper Congress Opens in India - [Boston Globe]

Newspaper executives and editors gathered in India from
around the world heard calls to seek more payment for their
content on the Internet as they decried their industry's
sharply falling advertising revenues.

Top Stories:

Computer Hacker Arrested (in Real Life) for Theft in Online

Medieval Fantasy Game RuneScape - [Daily Mail] A hacker
has been arrested for stealing players' identities, skills,
weapons and virtual money in an online computer game. In
the first case of its kind, the 23-year-old man was held for
hijacking hundreds of teenage boys' accounts to gain access
to their hard-won virtual abilities.

As Robots Become More Common, Stanford Experts Consider

the Legal Challenges - [PhysOrg] They already detect and
defuse bombs, control traffic patterns and do some basic
household chores. And scientists predict that pretty soon,
robots will be using artificial intelligence to play a larger role
on the battlefield, operate our vehicles and take care of us in
old age.

Top Stories:

Copenhagen Conference: The Countries to Watch -

[Guardian] America and China are the big hitters, but other
nations also punch above their weight.

Dubai's Economy: No Oasis - [Brisbane Times] Dubai's

financial woes have tamed the once-independent emirate and
forced it closer to Abu Dhabi, which holds 90 per cent of the
U.A.E.'s oil.

Top Stories: 

Water Trucked into Drought-Hit Australian Towns - [Space

Daily] Authorities were trucking water into drought-hit
Australian towns, with supply in some places trickling to as
little as eight hours, officials said.

Sir Paul McCartney Urges Meat-Free Day to Cut CO2 - [BBC]

Cutting out meat consumption on one day a week can have a
major impact on reducing CO2 emissions, Sir Paul McCartney
has said.

Top Stories:

Schools of the Future - [AsiaOne] A technology sea change is

afoot at Crescent Girls' School (CGS). Last year, the school
became one of the select few Singapore schools to embark on
FutureSchool@Singapore, an initiative by the Infocomm
Development Authority (IDA) and Ministry of Education
 (MOE) to incubate novel education ideas that harness ICT
(infocomm technology).

Building the "Everything Machine" - [GOOD] Nanotechnology

and exponential manufacturing could help us make whatever
humanity needs, atom by atom.

No Size Fits All: From Mass Marketing to Mass

Handselling
by Tom Hayes and Michael S. Malone

Read more...

Featured Link: Social Earth - SocialEarth is a socially mindful weblog

focusing on businesses that are doing good through their work. It seeks,
promotes and supports social entrepreneurs, young and old, domestic and
international, established and new, who have the audacity to create
mindful businesses where profitability is a necessary objective and solving
a 'social ill' is an imperative.

Video Clip - Don Tapscott at TEDxToronto - Don Tapscott discusses the

future of education at TEDxToronto. (20m 56s)

Blog - The MBA Oath: Toward a More Perfect World - [Business

Week] Humberto Moreira and Whitney Petersmeyer - Creators of Harvard's
MBA Oath argue it's an important first step toward a better, more ethical,
business world.

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

 
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