Business & management:
• Commercial-scale plastic electronics factories are now a reality. Plastic Logic is using its plant to produce an e-reader with a plastic electronic display, while its competitor Polymer Vision is also producing an e-reader, with a display that folds over to make the reader pocket-sized when shut.
• A new series of occasional papers has been released by the Ministry of Economic Development, among them: “Labour productivity in Auckland firms”.
Education
• Well over 50% of parents in a survey by the UK government’s education technology agency, have said that they want schools to use texting and emails to keep them more informed on how their children are performing.
• A list of free e-learning resources (such as diagramming software, mind mapping, digital publishing, etc) is available on a website put together by a UK learning technologist.
Environment & sustainability:
• There is greater interest in households making use of grey water, but safe and hygienic use is not as straightforward as people think.
• A study was submitted to the Swedish Environment Advisory Council last year: “A study on gender equality as a prerequisite for sustainable development: what we know about the extent to which women globally live in a more sustainable way than men, leave a smaller ecological footprint and cause less climate change.” While gender issues in sustainability may have the greatest impact in developing nations, equity in sustainability is an issue for everyone.
• E-Day will be happening again this year on the 4th of October at over 30 sites around NZ, as an environmentally friendly way of disposing of mobile phones and computers no longer wanted.
• A pilot project in the UK to collect household food waste separately and divert it for composting, has been hailed as a success, with 19 English local authorities experimenting with ways of collecting the food waste.
Health & wellbeing:
• The UK Dept of Health has identified 9 personality types of heavy drinkers who are at risk of liver damage and other alcohol-related illnesses.
Law & Government:
• England and Wales are the only places in Europe where there are no legally binding minimum space standards for housing, and to fight the “rabbit hutch” phenomenon, the Lord Mayor of London will be reintroducing minimum space standards on all publicly-funded housing in the capital. (During the 2007 consultation on the NZ Building Code Review, minimum space standards were discussed.)
• The number of people over the age of 100 in Japan has risen past 36 000, (up 4 000 in a year), increasing cause for concern about funding the country’s pension system.
• An official sharia law court already operates in Leicestershire, as do Jewish Beth Din courts elsewhere in the UK, but there has been much discussion this week about the news that the UK government has sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.
• A university professor of community cohesion provides a brief comparison of the difference between the UK & the US approach to housing supply and policies.
• A secret Welsh eco-village only discovered in 1998 during an aerial survey of a national park, will be allowed to remain, after a 10 year planning dispute.
People, culture & diversity:
• British researchers analysing a survey of cynicism in the UK, believe that the increasing level of cynicism about politics and society in general, could have an impact on democracy and the cohesiveness of society.
• The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a study about the role community groups can take in tackling poverty in their neighbourhood.
• The Pew Survey of Global Attitudes has released the report: “Unfavorable views of Jews and Muslims on the increase in Europe”. This particular survey covers 24 countries around the world (Australia, Indonesia & Japan, USA, Mexico & Argentina were the only Pacific nations surveyed), and includes Muslim attitudes on extremism, other countries and gender issues. The survey document provides detailed data on the questions asked.
• Another Pew study has found that virtually all American teenagers play electronic games of some sort, and that game playing is social, with most teens playing games with others at least some of the time and can incorporate many aspects of civic and political life.
• The Children and Young People: Indicators of Wellbeing in New Zealand 2008 report has been released by the Ministry of Social Development.
Science, technology & transport:
• Following on from testing on French roads, Toyota and a French energy company have launched a year of testing a plug-in Prius hybrid in the UK.
• Oxford’s Said Business School has released the results of the world Broadband Quality Score study that shows that Japan is the only country with the broadband quality to cope with next-generation internet applications.
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee has expressed concern about the way the Internet is being used to spread disinformation. He is co-creator of the World Wide Web Foundation, which aims to make the web truly worldwide, and will look at ways to help people decide if websites are trustworthy and reliable sources of information.
• From the Google Blog: “The future of search” – what is going to happen to Internet searching in the next 10 years? A number of experts were asked and their responses will be added to the Google Blog during September.,
• The National Freight Demands Study has been released by the Ministry of Transport, and covers volumes, distribution, trends and flows.
• NZ will be one of the first countries to see the new Mitsubishi electric vehicle next year, with Mitsubishi working with Meridian Energy.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
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