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Sunday 16 June 2013

The Weekly Roundup for 06.10.2013



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A Self-Sustaining Hut For The Modern Hermit

Switched On: The five P's of the PS4



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Leaked Windows 8.1 screenshots show off Xbox Music, Movie Moments apps



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iOS 7 gamepad leaked, features blurry Logitech G logo



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The After Math: E3 2013 and WWDC 2013



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Iterations: Man Vs. (The Government) Machine

sewing machine

Editor’s Note: Semil Shah is a contributor to TechCrunch. You can follow him on Twitter at @semil.


In 2013, we have seen a reincarnation of “man vs. machine,” except this time, the machines aren’t algorithms — the machine is government. Within a few months, various levels of government across the United States have made headlines with respect to new technologies, products, and services. Unmanned aerial drones, which have a touchy relationship with citizens worldwide already, present complicated scenarios. The Texas state government, for instance, recently banned drones for most private use; the state of North Carolina is considering a ban on direct sales of Tesla vehicles; Airbnb was deemed illegal in New York state by a judge; ride-sharing startups like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar face constant threats and hurdles as they expand outside of the Bay Area; and of course, there’s Bitcoin, where Mt. Gox suffered a recent Fed crackdown as the most active exchange for the popular crypto-currency. The ways things are going, 3-D printers will be banned because some fanatic will hack software that lets him print a 3-D gun.


The common thread weaving through this trend is the pace of technology is empowering individuals to actively participate in fundamentally new markets and economies. Even just a few years ago, it wasn’t as easy to buy a fully-electric luxury car and not send part of your income to the local gas station; it wasn’t as easy to earn over twice one’s salary by ditching grocery bagging in favor of providing livery services; it wasn’t as easy to convert cash into liquid digital currencies; it wasn’t as easy to rent out your apartment, or your spare bedroom, or your couch to earn a little extra scratch; and it wasn’t easy to physically print out items at home or send items to others via unmanned aircraft.


This shift comes at a critical time for America. In a sluggish economy slowly recovering from the largest wound since the Great Depression and adjusting to a fundamental, structural change (aka, those jobs aren’t coming back), the country is in desperate need of innovation. I say “desperate” because even with successful innovation, our economy isn’t on an enviable pace for growth. Mega-forces like widening income inequality, crushing debt burdens, and the politically-toxic mismatch between our immigration policy and inability to properly educate children for the jobs needed today combine to form a potent mix of stagnation. In lay terms, if someone is laid off from their job bagging groceries because of online grocery delivery or automated checkout machines, will government also prohibit them from using their car to give a “Lyft” to others for money, or renting out the spare room in their apartment on Airbnb to offset their fixed mortgage rate, or storing some of their savings in Bitcoin after losing most of their 401k savings in the 2008 economic collapse?


It remains to be seen how far governments will go. Laws are made to protect people from harm, but they’re also made by taking into account the interests of special interests who spend billions to lobby the halls of Congress. Innovation like the types cited here directly threaten a range of powerful, incumbent, cash-rich industries who view lobbying costs as a minor line-item expense, the cost of doing business in America. The other side of this coin is that, right now, government regulation that overreaches to the point of suppressing an individual’s ability to earn a living wage is the political equivalent of playing with fire. It’s early, but consumer demand is pointing in a direction where the democratization of access to technologies like electric vehicles, 3-D printers, alternative currencies, and peer-to-peer lending puts more power into peoples’ hands than government can realistically control.


Aggregate consumer demand is distrustful of large institutions, is willing to pay for goods crafted specifically for them, is open to turning their assets into wealth-generating vehicles, and so much more. It’s hard to see how government will try to control this. Alas, it will. There is too much to lose. Perhaps this is why many of the startups listed above (and their investors) have begun to form relationships with local and national politicians, have actively participated in panels nationwide with public officials and commissioners, have hired former politicians and policy analysts to help them anticipate these collisions and actively participate in the lawmaking itself to keep the interests of these startups in mind.


The interests of startups like these are the new “special interests” — in fact, they’re “our special interests” — and they protect much more than the companies doing the legwork — they can protect the future income, livelihood, and social security of the former grocery bagger, and in a country founded on principles of humility and hard work, it would be a shame — perhaps even evil, given the criminally economic circumstances of the last two decades — to not empower consumers and leave consumers unprotected. I’m optimistic startups will be part of the conversation that stitches these new laws and regulations together, and I fundamentally believe it is startups like these and all of us consumers, individually and collectively, that will spark the next waves of innovation, with government enabling it, not restricting it. Let’s hope so.


Photo Credit: Frederic Bisson / Flickr Creative Commons








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Spot Global Phone review: a satellite phone for the masses



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Valentina Tereshkova, la primera mujer en el espacio

Valentina Tereshkova


El 16 de junio de 1963 a las 9:29:52 UTC Valentina Tehreshkova despegaba de la plataforma de lanzamiento LC1 de Baikonur a bordo de la Vostok 6, convirtiéndose así en la primera mujer en viajar al espacio.


Fue también el primer civil en realizar un vuelo espacial y hasta el día de hoy, en el que se cumple en 50 aniversario de su lanzamiento, es la única mujer que ha volado sola al espacio.


Cuatro mujeres en el espacio

En 2010 coincidieron cuatro mujeres en el espacio, cifra nunca superada ni igualada desde entonces. Desde abajo a la derecha, en el sentido de las agujas del reloj: Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger y Stephanie Wilson, ambas miembros de la tripulación de la misión STS-131, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, ingeniero de vuelo de la Expedición 23 a la EII, y Naoko Yamazaki de la JAXA, también de la STS-131 - vía The Space Sorority: Fifty Years of Women in Orbit


He contado su historia y de la de otras mujeres que ha tenido la oportunidad de viajar al espacio para RTVE.es en 50 aniversario de la salida de la primera mujer al espacio .


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Awesome Audi S6 Is the Car of the Future, Now



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Inhabitat's Week in Green: underwater Discus Hotel, mold-detecting bowl and a terrarium for edible insects



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Home Lohas brings hydroponic gardening into your room, rabbit guard not included



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NVIDIA demos GRID streaming on OUYA, proves little boxes play big games (video)



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Edit Entry - Microsiervos | Movable Type Pro

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Alleged metallic Nokia EOS body teased again, this time with a dozen of them



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T-Mobile says MetroPCS' network transition is ahead of schedule



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Wearable Tech Bracelet Brings You Smartphone Notifications



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MACH system from MIT can coach those with social anxiety



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For Some Reason, Square's Hiring Page Listed Chirply And SeatMe As ‘Potential Acquisitions'

square logo

So, this is weird. Earlier today, if you visited the Square’s hiring page on Jobvite, there were two unusual job listings, one for “Chirply — Potential Acquisition” and another for “SeatMe — Potential Acquisition.”


If those were accurate statements, well, that’s a pretty strange way to announce a pair of pending deals. But before you start sending out those congratulatory tweets and emails, I should note that a source with knowledge of the matter told me that Square is not pursuing an acquisition of those companies at this time. (A company spokesperson declined to comment.)


So how did their names end up as “potential acquisitions” on a Jobvite page? Well, probably the same way they would have shown up if there really were talks — someone, somewhere in the company, screwed up. Regardless of the reason, that screwup has been corrected — after I reached out to Square, the listings disappeared. (You can see them in the screenshot below.)



As for what those startups do, Chirply is a crowdsourced card design site (at least, that’s what it did when I wrote about it two years agothe current website is one of those cryptic beta pages.) And SeatMe is a reservation startup trying to take on OpenTable. (I emailed both companies for comment and will update if I hear back.)


So it doesn’t seem totally out there to believe Square might be vaguely interested in these companies, particularly as talent acquisitions. But that’s a long way from having serious talks.


Thanks to Amin Issa for the tip.








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Ask Engadget: help me tame my home network!



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Lego Will Make a Mars Curiosity Rover Set

Mobile Miscellany: week of June 10th, 2013



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ASUS K009 tablet reaches Bluetooth SIG with Snapdragon 600 mention, tiny photo



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