That plastic water bottle could be bad for your health. At least that's what startup Green Harvest Technologies says. Recent studies show that petroleum-based plastics can leach chemicals and additives into foods and beverages. Green Harvest wants to sell toxin-free plastic bottles that cost about the same as today's "bad" plastic and they're looking for investors.
We've been hearing about the possibility of Google taking aim at uber-dominant Microsoft Office fora whilenow. And here it is. Google just launched a paid version of its documents, spreadsheets, calendar and email programs. 100,000 small businesses are running a trial of this package, including General Electric and Procter & Gamble. What will it cost? $50 per account per year and with that you get 10 gigabytes of storage and phone support. Yeah, I'd say that's competing with Microsoft.
A new study finds that along with Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea, the United States does not guarantee pay to new mothers. While U.S. employers are required to give time off, we do not show mothers the money by law. Among the 173 countries studied, 168 countries that offer paid leave and 98 of them offer 14 or more weeks. Overall, the study ranks US family policies as "weaker than those in all high-income countries as well as many middle and low-income countries."
Ilya Vedrashko blogs about the Horntones FX-550 system. It's "the first mobile audio system that allows you to customize the sound of your vehicle’s horn function using virtually any standard audio file." OK so what happens to that classic Boston road rage when someone blasts you with "Go ahead, make my day" or a foghorn noise, or God help us, "this horn brought to you by...?" This will make cell phone distractions seem like a cake walk.
Jeff Jarvis blogs about how David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue, went to YouTube to bring his message to customers. Neeleman apologizes for the cancelled flights and promises to do better. "It’s quite unpolished but that’s part of the appeal. The guy has circles around his eyes; he’s stressed; he’s trying, and that’s what comes across. He’s using YouTube to speak directly to his customers and putting himself at their/our mercy."
The RoadBOX is a black box for your car. It's a windshield-mounted videocam that "can sense sudden decelerations – as when you brake hard or hit something." It then saves the previous 14 seconds of tape and 6 seconds afterwards. It's another piece in the trend toward video surveillance. Ed Gottsman muses about a cell phone version of this with which would monitor our lives. If the camera is on, would it curtail gossip, mean people, violent crimes? He decides " the strain of all this enforced kindness will be acute and probably unhealthy." Read 1984. That's what it would be like.
Alcoholics aren't the only ones who need twelve step programs. An executive coach has devised a program to help people manage their email addiction. The first step? "Admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every ten minutes." There is a growing concern that email is costing us untold millions in lost productivity. "On average, workers who receive an e-mail take four minutes to read it and recover from the interruption before they can resume working productively."
Smart Car, now available in Europe, is coming to the US in 2008. The ultra small car may sell for under $15,000 and get 50 plus miles to the gallon on unleaded - even more on diesel. Interested? Soon you can send Smart Car a $99 deposit. But here's the rub - it won't actually guarantee you a car, but it will buy you the chance to name the colors and options you would ultimately want in the car...if you could buy it. So the company is basically making you pay for their market research and brand awareness. That's one way to keep the cost down. The fee can ultimately be refunded or applied to purchase. Smart car, indeed. As for me, I can't wait until these are on the market.
Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, told the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science conference that they have big problem. Marketing. "Virtually all economic growth (in the world) was due to technological progress. I think as a society we're not really paying attention to that." Page urged scientists to be proactive. Get entrepreneurial. Run for office. Get the word out. Spend a portion of their grants on marketing and make their research available digitally. In other words, give Al Gore a hand.
We've anticipated this for a while but The New York Post is reporting that Sirius and XM are hammering out the details of a merger plan "with an eye to going public." Signs are that it would be structured as a merger of equals, "but given Sirius' higher enterprise value, shareholders in the Mel Karmazin-led firm will likely come away with a larger percentage of a combined company."
Ilya Vedrashko blogs about the 
Alcoholics aren't the only ones who need twelve step programs. An executive coach has devised a program to help people manage their email addiction. The first step? "Admit that e-mail is managing you. Let go of your need to check e-mail every ten minutes." There is a growing concern that email is costing us untold millions in lost productivity. "On average, workers who receive an e-mail take four minutes to read it and recover from the interruption before they can resume working productively."
