Business & management:
• Moves in the UK towards creating social resilience have tended to focus on three of the four elements of the social resilience cycle: preparedness, response and recovery. There is a fourth: mitigation and the Association of British Insurers have launched a report aimed at developers and planners.
• Social innovation will be showcased at the next World Economic Forum in Davos, during which world leaders, business leaders and NGOs, will discuss innovative solutions to tackle the economic downturn, as well as addressing social reform and climate change
• Green moving companies are increasingly popular in the US, using rentable recycled plastic bins, cardboard box exchanges, and vehicles running on biodiesel.
• Interviews of 3,000 children and 300 parents in the UK found that brands are using loopholes to market directly to minors in digital environments, and collect data on the young consumers and their friends. The resulting book highlights concern about “breeding a generation of materialistic cyborgs” caught up in “brand lust, peer pressure and pester power”. (Note: the book title in the article differs from the title showing on order on the Libraries catalogue.)
• The 5th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey 2009 looks at 265 housing markets in Australia, Canada, Ireland, NZ, the UK and the US. Most markets in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK are rated as “severely unaffordable”, with Australia having the highest overall rating and NZ the second highest overall rating.
Education
• A new UK programme using dance is being introduced into schools for young people aged from five to 16. The programme aims to promote fitness and health, tackle obesity and nurture contact between different age groups.
• Hamilton Police working in conjunction with the Ministry of Education have launched their 'Campus Cops' campaign placing officers in four strategically placed schools. The Campus Cops concept will further enhance the Police's ability to work with partner agencies to tackle issues in the community.
Environment & sustainability:
• Germany and 115 other countries around the world have founded the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). “IRENA gives renewables an international voice and political impetus. The Agency will be the global platform for renewable energies.” (The US, UK and NZ have not yet joined the Agency.)
• UK supermarket chains are putting huge emphasis on carbon emissions and renewable energy. The latest to announce plans is Sainsbury’s, with a major zero-waste initiative designed to ensure that all the company's food waste is converted into biofuel.
• A new report looking at water resource governance in Canterbury highlights the ever–increasing difficulties in managing water resources and creating effective solutions for future generations.
• The New England Journal of Medicine study matched air pollution and life expectancy statistics from 51 cities between 1980 and 2000. Scientists found people living 2.72 years longer by 2000 - 15% of which they attributed to falls in pollution.
• A team of environmental researchers in the US has warned many effects of climate change are irreversible.
Health & wellbeing:
• The UK’s chief medical officer is releasing guidelines that warn parents not to allow children under the age of 15 to drink. But there is concern that the guidelines won’t be taken seriously, since total abstinence “may not…[engage] with teenagers”. The guidelines “could also undermine parents' own judgments with their children about responsible drinking and miss the real target of teenagers drinking deliberately to get drunk”.
• Occupational Safety and Health has released a guide that describes the risks of physical and mental harm faced by staff in healthcare, residential, social service and community settings. The guide proposes a range of mechanisms to manage those risks and protect staff from harm arising from violence.
Law & Government:
• If you don’t already subscribe to the e-news from Local Government New Zealand, check the latest news on their home page and consider adding the newsletter to your regular information updates.
• And for those of you not subscribing to the Local Government On Line e-news, LGOL has just announced the launch of a local government careers website.
• As the recession bites in the UK, "insourcing" is likely to grow among local authorities. There is evidence that in order to cut costs, they are bringing back in-house the services previously let out to private or voluntary sector contractors, and some US businesses are also “insourcing”. A report on the trend “Insourcing: A Guide for Local Authorities Bringing Services Back In-house” is due for publication on the 30th.
• Fifteen leading legal firms from around the world will participate in a United Nations-led effort to assess how well national corporate law principles and practices foster a company culture that is respectful of human rights.
• Community and Local Government UK has just released an updated edition of their multi-criteria analysis manual. The manual provides good practice guidance on how to undertake and make the best use of multi-criteria analysis (MCA) for the appraisal of options for policy and other decisions.
• Local bodies in the UK have to re-assess how they handle their public services in the face of the statistics showing the sharp rise in numbers of people over the age of 65 over the next 10 to 15 years.
• The UK's Intellectual Property minister David Lammy has said the UK government will not force internet service providers to pursue file sharers.
People, culture & diversity:
• A new form of protest has been started in France – the “supermarket picnic”. Protesters in and around Paris set up a flash protest in a supermarket using food from the aisles, until they are either thrown out by security guards or the police arrive.
• A revolt may occur if changes at Wikipedia go ahead. Under proposals put forward by the website's co-founder Jimmy Wales, many future changes to the site would need to be approved by a group of editors before going live.
• A UK man who murdered his estranged wife after becoming "enraged" when she changed her marital status on Facebook to "single", has been found guilty of murder..
Science, technology & transport:
• Research is advancing on the prediction of when a volcano will erupt. Analysing the measurement of background stress changes around volcanoes may help scientists to develop volcano prediction tools in the future.
• It is 25 years since the first Apple computer named Macintosh appeared on the market on 22nd January 1984.
• US researchers are warning that wireless access points could be used by hi-tech criminals to spread viruses and worms.
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Thursday, 22 January 2009
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 22/01):
Business & management:
• To improve the performance of local economies, the UK Improvement and Development Agency is providing local authorities with an economic diagnostic tool “to assist [them] in fulfilling their enhanced role in place-shaping and promoting economic prosperity”.
• A recent UK poll showed “a great number of people reported being discriminated against [because of] mental illness – people being demoted, refused promotion or having job offers withdrawn after having disclosed a mental health problem.”
• The sustainable design director of a US-based international architecture, design and planning firm was interviewed recently about “adaptive reuse”, the practice of taking existing old buildings and making smarter use of them, rather than demolishing and building again.
• Migration of highly skilled workers around the world is on the increase. The “brain drain” may become a “brain gain” for some countries, but the movement of highly skilled workers could be seen in terms of “brain circulation”.
• In spite of equal rights, the gender gap for women in pay, benefits, etc still exists to varying degrees around the world. A recent US research paper shows that women workers in unions earned, on average, 11.2% more than their non-union peers. In addition, women in unions were much more likely to have health insurance benefits and a pension plan.
Education
• For the first time, a study in the UK has tried to establish whether there are links between a neighbourhood's physical decline and pupil behaviour, truancy, teacher morale and a school's ability to deliver exam results.
• A report commissioned by the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning in the UK, says that older people must be given more chances to learn if they are to contribute to society rather than be a financial burden. The historic concentration of policy attention and resources on young people can’t meet the new needs.
Environment & sustainability:
• Future roads, buildings and infrastructure in NZ’s largest city are likely to be based on volcanic risk models developed from ancient eruptions that occurred on a South Korean island.
• A US website provides a database called “An atlas of bark and wood boring beetles of the world”. (There are NZ entries, but no data on our most widely known native lemon tree borer).
• A US company has designed a generator that uses waste vegetable oil to produce up to 25% of the electrical power a restaurant requires for lights and hot water.
• Studies have shown that buildings with white roofs stay cooler during the summer. The change reduces the way heat accumulates in built-up areas and allows people who live and work inside to switch off power-hungry air conditioning units.
• The UN warns that water supplies for over a billion people around the world are under threat from increasing populations, expanding cities, industrialization, climate change and the rising demand for food.
Health & wellbeing:
• Australian researchers have discovered that binge drinking in the early months of pregnancy can lead to women giving birth prematurely, even if they stop once they realise they are expecting a baby.
• A recent Lancet article describes how emerging infections around the world have been a regular phenomenon in human history. A number of factors occurring together can result in the emergence of a new disease.
Law & Government:
• Carry a plastic bag in Delhi and you could be imprisoned for five years. Officials in India's capital have decided that the only way to stem the rising tide of polythene is to outlaw the plastic shopping bag.
• So many people in the UK want to scatter the ashes of family and friends in beauty spots that the government has been forced to step in with anti-pollution rules.
• “Transition Towns” is about transitioning communities into a post-carbon future. It is about rallying local networks to explore how their town, village, or city will tackle the twin threats of climate change and peak oil.
• Utah is closed for business on Fridays. The state is in the middle of an ambitious one-year trial of a 4-day / 10-hour alternative schedule that cities and states across the US are starting to adopt.
• Who has the right to censor is a question being asked increasingly about the Internet and service providers or large Internet companies like Google. Even though the Web seems to offer free speech, Google controls 2/3 of the world’s Internet searches and has huge influence over who has an audience on the Web.
• An IT adviser at KPMG in the US says of state and local government there, “governments can either play an active role in transforming themselves” with wikis and other new web tools, or “wait and let change hit them”.
• The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management is calling for comment on their draft “Building safety evaluation guidelines”. (Lower right side of web page.)
People, culture & diversity:
• An annual UK trend survey by Childwise shows that UK children are spending increasing amounts of their lives in front of televisions, computers and games consoles, cramming in nearly six hours of screen time a day.
• Action for Children, UK, is launching a campaign to promote awareness about the problems that pre-teen children face. A survey by the group shows that the lives of some of Britain's children are being blighted by problems of loneliness and low self-esteem during the vulnerable years between 6 and 13.
• A British report shows that mixed-race relationships are now so common in the UK that some ethnic groups - starting with African-Caribbean - will virtually disappear.
• An article from Futurist talks about global trends in culture, infrastructure and values. US culture has had less influence than previously thought and factors like the spread of new ideas, electrification, mobility, ethical consumption, women's rights, social freedom, and transparency will be important. (Note: Futurist is available in full text via the Libraries Digital Library through a number of databases.)
Science, technology & transport:
• A recent letter to Scientific American, asked the question: Is it better to drive an older, well-maintained car that gets about 25 miles per gallon or to buy a new car that gets about 35 miles per gallon?
• A graph that extracts some figures from International Road Federation statistics on Economist.com shows NZ as the 3rd in car ownership per 1000 of population. Australia is 8th, and the US is 16th.
• Google Transit allows users to see public transport routes in some cities internationally (or the national network for Japan or Austria). The type of information varies depending on the city –some cities show the entire network, others show only stops. Perth and Adelaide are available for Australia.
• An international team of researchers has found another form of light pollution that could have an adverse effect on wildlife. Polarised light pollution triggers potentially dangerous changes in many species' behaviour.
• 61% of people interviewed about the complexity of mobile phones in the UK and US, said setting up a new handset is as challenging as moving bank accounts.
• Do-it-yourself broadband schemes are springing up around the UK as communities refuse to wait for big firms to roll out faster networks. Many of the schemes are being planned in partnership with either the local council or the relevant Regional Development Agency.
• Increasing mass transit systems in cities is necessary when moving large numbers of people within cities. There is also a need to look at transportation issues within the outlying areas of the suburban sprawl. Telecommuting helps but providing walkable mixed-use communities and “retrofitting” these suburbs and the houses within them can be more effective.
• To improve the performance of local economies, the UK Improvement and Development Agency is providing local authorities with an economic diagnostic tool “to assist [them] in fulfilling their enhanced role in place-shaping and promoting economic prosperity”.
• A recent UK poll showed “a great number of people reported being discriminated against [because of] mental illness – people being demoted, refused promotion or having job offers withdrawn after having disclosed a mental health problem.”
• The sustainable design director of a US-based international architecture, design and planning firm was interviewed recently about “adaptive reuse”, the practice of taking existing old buildings and making smarter use of them, rather than demolishing and building again.
• Migration of highly skilled workers around the world is on the increase. The “brain drain” may become a “brain gain” for some countries, but the movement of highly skilled workers could be seen in terms of “brain circulation”.
• In spite of equal rights, the gender gap for women in pay, benefits, etc still exists to varying degrees around the world. A recent US research paper shows that women workers in unions earned, on average, 11.2% more than their non-union peers. In addition, women in unions were much more likely to have health insurance benefits and a pension plan.
Education
• For the first time, a study in the UK has tried to establish whether there are links between a neighbourhood's physical decline and pupil behaviour, truancy, teacher morale and a school's ability to deliver exam results.
• A report commissioned by the Independent Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning in the UK, says that older people must be given more chances to learn if they are to contribute to society rather than be a financial burden. The historic concentration of policy attention and resources on young people can’t meet the new needs.
Environment & sustainability:
• Future roads, buildings and infrastructure in NZ’s largest city are likely to be based on volcanic risk models developed from ancient eruptions that occurred on a South Korean island.
• A US website provides a database called “An atlas of bark and wood boring beetles of the world”. (There are NZ entries, but no data on our most widely known native lemon tree borer).
• A US company has designed a generator that uses waste vegetable oil to produce up to 25% of the electrical power a restaurant requires for lights and hot water.
• Studies have shown that buildings with white roofs stay cooler during the summer. The change reduces the way heat accumulates in built-up areas and allows people who live and work inside to switch off power-hungry air conditioning units.
• The UN warns that water supplies for over a billion people around the world are under threat from increasing populations, expanding cities, industrialization, climate change and the rising demand for food.
Health & wellbeing:
• Australian researchers have discovered that binge drinking in the early months of pregnancy can lead to women giving birth prematurely, even if they stop once they realise they are expecting a baby.
• A recent Lancet article describes how emerging infections around the world have been a regular phenomenon in human history. A number of factors occurring together can result in the emergence of a new disease.
Law & Government:
• Carry a plastic bag in Delhi and you could be imprisoned for five years. Officials in India's capital have decided that the only way to stem the rising tide of polythene is to outlaw the plastic shopping bag.
• So many people in the UK want to scatter the ashes of family and friends in beauty spots that the government has been forced to step in with anti-pollution rules.
• “Transition Towns” is about transitioning communities into a post-carbon future. It is about rallying local networks to explore how their town, village, or city will tackle the twin threats of climate change and peak oil.
• Utah is closed for business on Fridays. The state is in the middle of an ambitious one-year trial of a 4-day / 10-hour alternative schedule that cities and states across the US are starting to adopt.
• Who has the right to censor is a question being asked increasingly about the Internet and service providers or large Internet companies like Google. Even though the Web seems to offer free speech, Google controls 2/3 of the world’s Internet searches and has huge influence over who has an audience on the Web.
• An IT adviser at KPMG in the US says of state and local government there, “governments can either play an active role in transforming themselves” with wikis and other new web tools, or “wait and let change hit them”.
• The Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management is calling for comment on their draft “Building safety evaluation guidelines”. (Lower right side of web page.)
People, culture & diversity:
• An annual UK trend survey by Childwise shows that UK children are spending increasing amounts of their lives in front of televisions, computers and games consoles, cramming in nearly six hours of screen time a day.
• Action for Children, UK, is launching a campaign to promote awareness about the problems that pre-teen children face. A survey by the group shows that the lives of some of Britain's children are being blighted by problems of loneliness and low self-esteem during the vulnerable years between 6 and 13.
• A British report shows that mixed-race relationships are now so common in the UK that some ethnic groups - starting with African-Caribbean - will virtually disappear.
• An article from Futurist talks about global trends in culture, infrastructure and values. US culture has had less influence than previously thought and factors like the spread of new ideas, electrification, mobility, ethical consumption, women's rights, social freedom, and transparency will be important. (Note: Futurist is available in full text via the Libraries Digital Library through a number of databases.)
Science, technology & transport:
• A recent letter to Scientific American, asked the question: Is it better to drive an older, well-maintained car that gets about 25 miles per gallon or to buy a new car that gets about 35 miles per gallon?
• A graph that extracts some figures from International Road Federation statistics on Economist.com shows NZ as the 3rd in car ownership per 1000 of population. Australia is 8th, and the US is 16th.
• Google Transit allows users to see public transport routes in some cities internationally (or the national network for Japan or Austria). The type of information varies depending on the city –some cities show the entire network, others show only stops. Perth and Adelaide are available for Australia.
• An international team of researchers has found another form of light pollution that could have an adverse effect on wildlife. Polarised light pollution triggers potentially dangerous changes in many species' behaviour.
• 61% of people interviewed about the complexity of mobile phones in the UK and US, said setting up a new handset is as challenging as moving bank accounts.
• Do-it-yourself broadband schemes are springing up around the UK as communities refuse to wait for big firms to roll out faster networks. Many of the schemes are being planned in partnership with either the local council or the relevant Regional Development Agency.
• Increasing mass transit systems in cities is necessary when moving large numbers of people within cities. There is also a need to look at transportation issues within the outlying areas of the suburban sprawl. Telecommuting helps but providing walkable mixed-use communities and “retrofitting” these suburbs and the houses within them can be more effective.
Thursday, 15 January 2009
From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 15/09):
Business & management:
• A crash in commodity prices has seen the global market for recycled paper, cardboard, plastic, metals and glass all but disappear.
• There are ways to maintain levels of training within companies, in spite of the need to look for ways to cut costs during a recession.
• Hundreds of the largest private and state-owned companies and institutional investors in Denmark must include corporate social responsibility information in their annual financial reports beginning in 2010.
• The North American Green Purchasing Initiative provides a fact sheet intended to help institutions easily adopt a greener purchasing program for printers, copiers and fax machines that accounts for social and environmental concerns.
• A research firm specialising in the worldwide carbon market says the value of the worldwide carbon market soared 84 percent in 2008 to reach $118 billion, and could reach $150 billion this year.
Education
• It is hoped that the UK government’s funding for an anti-bullying campaign in schools will change attitudes to all forms of bullying, including sexual bullying. A documentary shown in the UK last week and recent surveys about sexual bullying show that it exists even in primary schools, that women teachers are also victims, and that teenage boys think it is acceptable to pressure girls into sex and to use alcohol to get them into bed.
• MIT University is changing the way it teaches 1st year physics. Moving away from lecturing 300 students at once in a vast lecture room, the university now teaches the introductory course with smaller classes that emphasize hands-on, interactive, collaborative learning. Attendance and pass rates improve dramatically using this approach.
Environment & sustainability:
• The International Energy Agency is being accused of consistently underestimating the potential of wind, solar and sea power while promoting oil, coal and nuclear as 'irreplaceable' technologies.
• A recent study by an American research firm suggested that IT now causes two percent of global emissions, and Google is disputing the level of CO2 produced by a typical Google search.
• The 2nd World Future Energy Conference this month in Abu Dhabi, will be the world’s largest conference and exhibition on renewable and future energy solutions, innovations, investments, policy and vision. (Abu Dhabi is the site of the Masdar Initiative zero carbon, zero waste, car-free city, due to have its first residents this year.)
• A new model projecting future sea level rises, suggests that the rise by 2100 could be 3 times higher than that predicted by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• Scientists warn that half of the world's population could face severe food shortages by the end of the century as rising temperatures take their toll on farmers' crops.
• The campaign against litter in Britain is made a lot harder due to litter from the customers of the fast food industry. In England, McDonald's, Greggs, KFC and Subway are named as the most littered brands.
• A UK study (7Mb) that looked into microgeneration in both urban and rural areas, warns against customers being “poorly advised” about setting up wind turbines in urban areas that don’t get adequate wind, but those set up in the right places are a good investment.
• Energy companies in the US already rent the space on commercial roof tops for solar panels, but they are now moving into renting space on residential rooftops. Consumers for the utility companies may not be happy, as everyone is charged extra to raise the investment capital to put the panels on only some roofs.
A recent US study suggests that global yields of most biofuels crops, e.g. corn, rapeseed and wheat, have been overestimated by 100% to 150% or more, suggesting many countries need to have more realistic expectations of agricultural biofuels.
Health & wellbeing:
• A 40-year UK study of 3,500 adults whose behaviour had been rated by their teachers when they were aged 13 and 15, has shown that “tearaway” teenagers identified by teachers as misbehaving at school are more likely to go on to experience difficulties in their adult lives, including depression and divorce.
Law & Government:
• Internet NZ (Internet New Zealand Inc) is calling on the government to urgently resolve problems with Section 92A of the Copyright Act, since it seems that the act now allows an individual’s or business’s connection to the Internet to ultimately be disconnected “on the basis of allegations of copyright infringement, potentially by-passing court involvement.” (There has been discussion amongst librarians as to whether this could also result in problems for libraries, if customers breach copyright while using computers within a library.)
• American teenagers are increasingly facing prosecution as sex offenders as a result of the rapidly spreading practice of sending explicit photos of themselves by mobile phone — a trend known as "sexting".
• New, more stringent pesticide regulations have been voted in by the EU, raising concerns in the UK about future harvests of winter vegetables.
• New rules expected to be agreed across the EU this year, will phase out energy-guzzling flat-screen televisions, and introduce a compulsory labelling system to identify the best and worst devices.
• Nearly a quarter of local authorities in England have frozen recruitment and more than one in eight have axed jobs in response to a decline in income caused by the credit crunch.
People, culture & diversity:
• An Australian commentator talks about what an apartment building would need to be like, if urban developers and planners are to hope to persuade people to leave behind the Great Australian Dream (the big house with a big back yard) and move to a high-rise apartment block within walking distance of a new mass transit scheme.
Science, technology & transport:
• Netbook sales jumped in 2008, as frustration with access to the Internet via a smart phone’s small screen, persuades people to move to something bigger than a phone, but still smaller than a laptop.
• Electric bicycles such as the latest model from a well-known US bicycle company are unlikely to be imported into Australasia, as the Australian distributer is loathe to import a bicycle that would be classified as a motorcycle under Australian law.
• The US National Security Agency has helped put together a list of the world's most dangerous coding mistakes. The 25 entry list contains computer programming errors that can lead to security holes or vulnerable areas that can be targeted by cyber criminals.
• A crash in commodity prices has seen the global market for recycled paper, cardboard, plastic, metals and glass all but disappear.
• There are ways to maintain levels of training within companies, in spite of the need to look for ways to cut costs during a recession.
• Hundreds of the largest private and state-owned companies and institutional investors in Denmark must include corporate social responsibility information in their annual financial reports beginning in 2010.
• The North American Green Purchasing Initiative provides a fact sheet intended to help institutions easily adopt a greener purchasing program for printers, copiers and fax machines that accounts for social and environmental concerns.
• A research firm specialising in the worldwide carbon market says the value of the worldwide carbon market soared 84 percent in 2008 to reach $118 billion, and could reach $150 billion this year.
Education
• It is hoped that the UK government’s funding for an anti-bullying campaign in schools will change attitudes to all forms of bullying, including sexual bullying. A documentary shown in the UK last week and recent surveys about sexual bullying show that it exists even in primary schools, that women teachers are also victims, and that teenage boys think it is acceptable to pressure girls into sex and to use alcohol to get them into bed.
• MIT University is changing the way it teaches 1st year physics. Moving away from lecturing 300 students at once in a vast lecture room, the university now teaches the introductory course with smaller classes that emphasize hands-on, interactive, collaborative learning. Attendance and pass rates improve dramatically using this approach.
Environment & sustainability:
• The International Energy Agency is being accused of consistently underestimating the potential of wind, solar and sea power while promoting oil, coal and nuclear as 'irreplaceable' technologies.
• A recent study by an American research firm suggested that IT now causes two percent of global emissions, and Google is disputing the level of CO2 produced by a typical Google search.
• The 2nd World Future Energy Conference this month in Abu Dhabi, will be the world’s largest conference and exhibition on renewable and future energy solutions, innovations, investments, policy and vision. (Abu Dhabi is the site of the Masdar Initiative zero carbon, zero waste, car-free city, due to have its first residents this year.)
• A new model projecting future sea level rises, suggests that the rise by 2100 could be 3 times higher than that predicted by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• Scientists warn that half of the world's population could face severe food shortages by the end of the century as rising temperatures take their toll on farmers' crops.
• The campaign against litter in Britain is made a lot harder due to litter from the customers of the fast food industry. In England, McDonald's, Greggs, KFC and Subway are named as the most littered brands.
• A UK study (7Mb) that looked into microgeneration in both urban and rural areas, warns against customers being “poorly advised” about setting up wind turbines in urban areas that don’t get adequate wind, but those set up in the right places are a good investment.
• Energy companies in the US already rent the space on commercial roof tops for solar panels, but they are now moving into renting space on residential rooftops. Consumers for the utility companies may not be happy, as everyone is charged extra to raise the investment capital to put the panels on only some roofs.
A recent US study suggests that global yields of most biofuels crops, e.g. corn, rapeseed and wheat, have been overestimated by 100% to 150% or more, suggesting many countries need to have more realistic expectations of agricultural biofuels.
Health & wellbeing:
• A 40-year UK study of 3,500 adults whose behaviour had been rated by their teachers when they were aged 13 and 15, has shown that “tearaway” teenagers identified by teachers as misbehaving at school are more likely to go on to experience difficulties in their adult lives, including depression and divorce.
Law & Government:
• Internet NZ (Internet New Zealand Inc) is calling on the government to urgently resolve problems with Section 92A of the Copyright Act, since it seems that the act now allows an individual’s or business’s connection to the Internet to ultimately be disconnected “on the basis of allegations of copyright infringement, potentially by-passing court involvement.” (There has been discussion amongst librarians as to whether this could also result in problems for libraries, if customers breach copyright while using computers within a library.)
• American teenagers are increasingly facing prosecution as sex offenders as a result of the rapidly spreading practice of sending explicit photos of themselves by mobile phone — a trend known as "sexting".
• New, more stringent pesticide regulations have been voted in by the EU, raising concerns in the UK about future harvests of winter vegetables.
• New rules expected to be agreed across the EU this year, will phase out energy-guzzling flat-screen televisions, and introduce a compulsory labelling system to identify the best and worst devices.
• Nearly a quarter of local authorities in England have frozen recruitment and more than one in eight have axed jobs in response to a decline in income caused by the credit crunch.
People, culture & diversity:
• An Australian commentator talks about what an apartment building would need to be like, if urban developers and planners are to hope to persuade people to leave behind the Great Australian Dream (the big house with a big back yard) and move to a high-rise apartment block within walking distance of a new mass transit scheme.
Science, technology & transport:
• Netbook sales jumped in 2008, as frustration with access to the Internet via a smart phone’s small screen, persuades people to move to something bigger than a phone, but still smaller than a laptop.
• Electric bicycles such as the latest model from a well-known US bicycle company are unlikely to be imported into Australasia, as the Australian distributer is loathe to import a bicycle that would be classified as a motorcycle under Australian law.
• The US National Security Agency has helped put together a list of the world's most dangerous coding mistakes. The 25 entry list contains computer programming errors that can lead to security holes or vulnerable areas that can be targeted by cyber criminals.
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