Collision 2023 Day 1
I’m at Collision conference today in Toronto looking for some cool new good things to share. I’ll update this post as I find stuff. A record-breaking 30 percent of startups…
technology
Generative AI—threat or opportunity?
“No contract! No content!” and “Here’s a pitch: Pay us, Bitch!” Thus the Hollywood members of the Writers Guild of America colourfully voice their views during their strike against the…
Machine Learning Improves Enzyme Eating Plastic
A bacteria that eats plastic may sound too good to be true since we have so much plastic waste littering the planet. The rouble with plastic eating bacterias is that…
The FBI Wants You To Block Ads
The FBI finally agrees with culture jammers. Online advertising has gotten so bad that the FBI now suggests everyone should make use of tracking blocking software, also known as ad…
Futuristic Fusion Finally Fires Up
Fusion power has been just a decade away for decades, or at least that was the joke. Yesterday it became outdated because it was revealed that nuclear fusion was ignited,…
NASA Starts Spotting Super Methane Emitters
Natural gas, AKA methane, is really bad for the planet, and since it occurs some places “naturally” we need to find these new sources to stop them emitting. A classic…
Use This App to Avoid Shady Companies
Too many companies say they care about an important issue, sponsor events, and then turn around and fund organizations (or politicians) that actively fight the important issue. This behaviour by…
Farewell to a great environmentalist
I was saddened to read this week of the death of British environmental scientist James Lovelock. He had a good run, dying at the great age of 103. In a…
Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – David Adams examines the evidence that COVID-19 remains infectious far longer than assumed by politicized public health messaging. And Ted Raymond reports that…
Find Products That Last a Lifetime (and those that don’t)
Having to buy things is always a nuisance, but sometimes things are needed, so when that happens be sure to get things that last. That’s the premise of Exit Reviews,…
Let’s Green the Gaming Industry
Games are fun and we should play more of them! That being said, we should also be conscious of the impact our technological-driven gaming has on the environment. Ben Abraham…
How Drones Logistics Redefined Blood Delivery in Rwanda
Delivering good is always a challenge, and it’s a particularly hard challenge in a mountainous country like Rwanda. An ambitious company known as Zipline noticed that drones could solve this…
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Michela Antonelli et al. study the disease profile of post-vaccination COVID, concluding that full vaccination helps to reduce both the number and…
Carbon Capture Solutions from Students get Funding
The best thing to do to prevent climate change is to stop burning fossil fuels, until that happens we need to find ways to extract carbon from the air to…
Opinion: The machine is always right in Alberta’s municipal elections — and that’s wrong
Originally published in the Calgary Herald Opinion section on November 30, 2021. The day after Calgary’s municipal elections, the results said I lost Ward 4 by 52 votes. With it…
Not Using Fossil Fuels is Better Than Technopostivism
The COP26 news coverage has focussed on pledges from counties to cut their emissions (which is good) and on funding for new technologies to suck carbon out of the air…
Digital Violence Exposes NSO’s Tools Targetting Activists
NSO made the news again due to their tools being used to spy on Bahraini and Hungarian activists, which obviously isn’t good. NSO is a cyber security organization that focuses…
A Real Smart City Lacks Smart Technology
A few years ago Silicon Valley mega corps thought all cities should be made “smart” by tracking all citizen data. There was a concentrated effort by Google to violate privacy…
A Startup Wants to Help Predict Floods
For years engineers tried to prevent flooding, then they realized they can’t stop nature. Now instead of trying to stop it, we try to mitigate flooding by creating spaces that…
Darkness and its delights
Essay: 3:30 min read “Wait, wait, what are you doing?” “I’m, you know, acting,” I said to my acting professor, Fred Euringer. “No, no, you… The post Darkness and its…