8:22 PM
Air-quality monitoring devices measure pollution on a scale that is supposed to top out at 500, with 500 the top of the scale defined by the EPA...which is why the *755* reading Saturday night in Beijing set off all kinds of alarms! The level of toxicity in the air was "Beyond Index"--levels between 301 and 500 are "Hazardous", which means that people aren't supposed to go outdoors at all. The World Health Organization says that a score above 500 is more than 20x the level of particulate matter in the air deemed safe. Chinese government monitoring stations reported levels reaching 500...but their system doesn't report anything above 500. On Thursday (when the level was just 300) the *inside* of the airport terminal in Beijing's airport was filled by a thick haze. Inside! On Friday, workers in Beijing couldn't see the skyscrapers just a few blocks away! That was before the levels climbed to 500!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/science/earth/beijing-air-pollution-off-the-charts.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0
Over a billion people have no nearby source of water and only 42% of the other 6 billion people have running water in their homes or a tap in the yard. An MIT experiment found that people are willing to take out loans and pay double for water each month in order to have it piped to their homes...and despite paying double they report significant improvements in well-being and happiness. Water quality was the same, but the average person in urban Morocco spends 7 hours per week getting money from public taps. 69% of households paid for the connection to the water supply when offered credit and assistance (only 10% paid the money when not offered any help with the control group) and 44% of people that got the water to the homes said that their quality of life had improved while just 23% in the control group said that:
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/01/high-value-water
Commentary about how Instagram (Facebook bought them for $1 bil 9 months ago) made a HUGE error when imposing new terms and conditions on their users that allowed them to claim ownership of photos on their site and sell them to advertisers. Instagram went from 16.35 mil daily users on December 17 to 8.42 million daily users last week. They told their users that if they didn't like the new policy they could delete their accounts...and their customer DID. Now Instagram reverted back to their old policy and said that it was all a "misunderstanding"
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=49859&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Apple reportedly cut its orders for components for the iPhone 5 due to weaker-than-expected demand. Apple apparently cut its orders for iPhone 5 screens by *half* what they had planned for the first quarter of this year, and Apple has reduced its orders for other components also:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-apple-cuts-iphone-5-component-orders-weaker-demand/2013-01-14
On a related note, Samsung has sold more than 100 million Galaxy S smartphones:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsungtomorrow/8379134928/in/photostream
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/science/earth/beijing-air-pollution-off-the-charts.html?src=me&ref=general&_r=0
Over a billion people have no nearby source of water and only 42% of the other 6 billion people have running water in their homes or a tap in the yard. An MIT experiment found that people are willing to take out loans and pay double for water each month in order to have it piped to their homes...and despite paying double they report significant improvements in well-being and happiness. Water quality was the same, but the average person in urban Morocco spends 7 hours per week getting money from public taps. 69% of households paid for the connection to the water supply when offered credit and assistance (only 10% paid the money when not offered any help with the control group) and 44% of people that got the water to the homes said that their quality of life had improved while just 23% in the control group said that:
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2013/01/high-value-water
Commentary about how Instagram (Facebook bought them for $1 bil 9 months ago) made a HUGE error when imposing new terms and conditions on their users that allowed them to claim ownership of photos on their site and sell them to advertisers. Instagram went from 16.35 mil daily users on December 17 to 8.42 million daily users last week. They told their users that if they didn't like the new policy they could delete their accounts...and their customer DID. Now Instagram reverted back to their old policy and said that it was all a "misunderstanding"
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=49859&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Apple reportedly cut its orders for components for the iPhone 5 due to weaker-than-expected demand. Apple apparently cut its orders for iPhone 5 screens by *half* what they had planned for the first quarter of this year, and Apple has reduced its orders for other components also:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-apple-cuts-iphone-5-component-orders-weaker-demand/2013-01-14
On a related note, Samsung has sold more than 100 million Galaxy S smartphones:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsungtomorrow/8379134928/in/photostream