A new initiative in England combines sustainable power and healthy living, demonstrating how alternative energy sources can spring from unlikely places.
The Green Heart Gym in Hull, England uses energy generated by movement on its exercise machine to power the site's LED lights, and officials say the gym is working to power other parts of the community as well.
The Great Outdoor Gym Company, which builds the green exercise stations, is planning on expanding to over 100 locations in the next year, harnessing energy from a wider user base. Although users' exertions on the individual exercise machines do not generate an enormous amount of energy, it is enough to offset costs and diminish dependency on less sustainable sources, and serves as an example in changing the way we think about generating power.
The gym may take a page from innovators making progress with sustainable ways to charge personal mobile devices. Two separate projects using the power generated by footsteps to charge smartphones are in the works -- one from the U.S., and the other from Kenya -- and green entrepreneurs also invented several solar-based solutions. The Green Heart Gym, however, goes beyond charging personal mobile devices, and aims to charge larger public amenities.
Since the Green Heart Gym encourages sustainable energy use and a fit lifestyle, it captures the essence of a "win-win" situation. Though the expansion is only planned for England, it would not be surprising if Michelle Obama decided to champion this type of gym as part of her fight against childhood obesity, or other policy makers in the U.S. adopted similar innovations.
Perhaps citizens using these self-generating energy sources could reroute the energy created for public use and collect a stipend for their good work, in efforts to curb government dependency on bad energy sources.
This innovation may hearten environmentalists and public health advocates alike, as it promotes two worthy causes and may save local governments money. Savvy administrators would do well to adopt similar programs around the world as the public grows increasingly receptive to new ways to power gadgets and facilities.
Apple doesn't just invent new gadgets: the company has perfected a method of avoiding high taxes, saving it billions of of dollars over the years, but opening its business practices up to further scrutiny.
In Brief boils down complex events to give you the heart of the matter -- today and what it means for tomorrow -- clearly and simply.
What's Happening: According to a weekend report in the New York Times, Apple locates operations in parts of the U.S. and the world that have lower corporate tax rates, which allows it to keep even more of its profits. Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., but it collects and invests its profits from a small office in Reno, Nev., which conveniently does not charge corporate taxes.
What's Really Happening: If Apple were only operating one outside office, its tax plans probably would not surprise or shock many people. After all, many companies choose to run in locations where their tax dollars would be lower.
However, Apple has apparently perfected ways of finding where the lowest tax rates are -- and negotiating its way to sweetheart deals with countries that want to attract Apple's business and factories. Not only that, but Apple's methods of avoiding high taxes are attracting attention from other large tech companies, such as Google, which do most of their business in the U.S. but pay taxes elsewhere at a much-lower rate.
For example, the Apple has mastered the "Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich" method, allowing the company to funnel profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean. This allows Apple to bypass tax rates not only in the U.S., but in the U.K. and other European countries as well.
As a result, Apple allocates about 70 percent of its profits overseas, even though most of its executives, marketers, employees and retail stores are in the U.S. Without the tax dodge, Apple would have paid $2.4 billion more in federal taxes in the U.S. alone last year.
The news comes on the heels of negative reports about the work conditions at Apple's Chinese Foxconn plant, leaving Apple to explain how its business practices -- and not always its technology -- may have led to its multi-billion-dollar success.
What's Next: Apple says that while it saves tax money by diversifying its operations, it also pays plenty of taxes and "conducts all of its business with the highest of ethical standards, complying with applicable laws and accounting rules."
This means that unless governments change their taxing rules, Apple won't change its strategy.
However, by keeping its tax money out of the U.S., where most of its customers live, Apple faces a public relations nightmare of being seen as a company that doesn't pay its fair share in taxes.
This criticism would be in addition to the negative publicity it already receives for making most of its iPads in China, depriving U.S. workers of jobs to keep Chinese workers employed in what many complain are less-than-optimum conditions.
The Takeaway: Apple is taking advantage of loopholes that are available for any company with the ability to put offices in well-researched, low-tax locations, so why should it change?
In addition, countries like Ireland, which have already extended billions of dollars in tax incentives to Apple and other tech companies, probably won't withdraw their offers or suddenly raise their tax rates. After all, without such incentives, countries facing severe revenue problems of their own aren't motivated to chase away a major employer like Apple.
Countries losing tax revenue often justify the loss by countering they are still able to generate money from the employees Apple and other companies hire.
Meanwhile, news of Apple's strategy calls attention to places with lower taxes and can alert even more tech companies looking to save money to follow Apple's lead.
In addition, Apple said that while it doesn't pay a lot of tax money, the U.S., U.K. and other countries still make plenty of money from the company because it hires plenty of employees, who spend money where they live -- and higher taxes could make some of those jobs go away, a frightening proposition to job-scarce economies.
Go ahead and use your cell phone: it won't cause cancer, says the U.K.'s top health experts, diminshing worries that people endanger their lives by staying connected.
Scientists with the country's Health Protection Agency have concluded that everyone in the U.K. gets exposed to "universal and continuous" low-level radio frequencies from cell phones, Wi-Fi, televisions and radios.
Despite the constant exposure, the scientists said, they did not find any definite links between the frequencies and cancer or other problems with brain function or infertility.
There are many studies on the safety of mobile phones, according to the BBC, but the HPA's study is by far the most expansive.
It also contradicts a World Health Organization project that determined cell phones cause certain types of brain cancer. Early last year, 31 scientists from 14 countries urged the WHO to re-examine its guidelines for safe mobile phone use.
However, while the U.K. scientists said there's no conclusive evidence cell phone radiation is dangerous, the scientists recommended research continues on cell phones' long-term effects. In addition, the HPA suggested that "excessive use of mobile phones by children should be discouraged," striking a slightly cautionary note.
The debate about the dangers of cell phones has been going on almost ever since the advents of mobile devices. For example, in 2004, Swedish scientists said that people who use cell phones for 10 or more years could end up having tumors, and in 2007, scientists said 10 minutes of cell phone use can cause changes in a person's brain.
But as more people started using cell phones without ill effects, new studies debunked the earlier ones. Last year, Danish researchers found no evidence of a link between cell phone use and cancer. They concluded, after following 350,000 adults 30 years of age and older for more than a decade, there was no difference in cancer rates between people who used a cell phone and those who did not, including no risk of developing a brain tumor at the site where a cell phone is held close to the head.
Since there are so many differences of opinion -- including in the U.K. scientists' report itself -- researchers will likely be divided for years to come about whether cell phones cause brain cancer or other diseases.
In addition, as cell phone use grows as people give up their landlines and switch to mobile devices, scientific studies about phones' dangers will likely shift, and researchers may change their opinion as researchers are able to study more users.
Finally, "recall bias" limits some studies, as cancer sufferers can have a tendency to over-report behaviors such as cell-phone use as they search for the reasons behind their condition, a factor that can skew survey data.
When it comes to cell phone use and cancer, there is still no certainty about which side of the debate the evidence may ultimately land heaviest on -- and until there's a definitive answer, it may be prudent for people to remember that too much of anything usually isn't a good thing.
Angry Birds creator Rovio plans to open U.K. theme parks and forge a partnership with Wal-Mart, as the company extends beyond mobile gaming to become a pop culture force.
Finland-based Rovio says its British activity parks will feature Angry Birds slides, swings and arcade games built by playground manufacturer Lappset.
"Rovio wanted to invite people who play the game to not only sit inside on the sofa, but to go out, move themselves and have fun," said Lappset's marketing director Johan Granholm.
"You have large screens where you can play the games in the park," Granholm explained. "There's a tunnel that you have to run though at a certain speed -- if you don't get there in time you get sprayed with water."
While theme parks entertain U.K. crowds, U.S. Angry Birds fans can satisfy their cravings by purchasing soft toys, board games and even cookbooks from Wal-Mart.
The giant retailer also plans to stock T-shirts and snacks with clues to Angry Birds Space, Rovio's newest spin on its popular mobile game.
"Only Wal-Mart can deliver the reach across America for this type of program and we wish our fans luck as they seek out our hidden clues," said Rovio's marketing chief Peter Vesterbacka.
"We want to make Angry Birds a permanent part of pop culture," he continued. "We're just getting started."
Vesterbacka's comments highlight the company's continued focus on expansion, as Rovio pushes for greater adoption of its mobile games and related merchandise.
Rovio's success with "Rio" hints at animated Angry Birds films to come, likely followed by movie-themed versions of the mobile game.
Beyond expanding merchandise options and movie tie-ins, the Angry Birds franchise recently flew to Facebook and Starbucks, offering consumers a social gaming experience along with in-store promotions.
Rovio even enjoys free advertising now that an unauthorized Angry Birds theme park operates in China. The park features slingshots for launching plush birds at green pig targets and may have inspired Rovio to build its own activity park in the UK.
Angry Birds appears bent on worldwide adoption and may well meet this goal if it continues to expand beyond mobile gaming into the retail and entertainment sphere.
Angry Birds creator Rovio plans to open U.K. theme parks and forge a partnership with Wal-Mart, as the company extends beyond mobile gaming to become a pop culture force.
Finland-based Rovio says its British activity parks will feature Angry Birds slides, swings and arcade games built by playground manufacturer Lappset.
"Rovio wanted to invite people who play the game to not only sit inside on the sofa, but to go out, move themselves and have fun," said Lappset's marketing director Johan Granholm.
"You have large screens where you can play the games in the park," Granholm explained. "There's a tunnel that you have to run though at a certain speed -- if you don't get there in time you get sprayed with water."
While theme parks entertain U.K. crowds, U.S. Angry Birds fans can satisfy their cravings by purchasing soft toys, board games and even cookbooks from Wal-Mart.
The giant retailer also plans to stock T-shirts and snacks with clues to Angry Birds Space, Rovio's newest spin on its popular mobile game.
"Only Wal-Mart can deliver the reach across America for this type of program and we wish our fans luck as they seek out our hidden clues," said Rovio's marketing chief Peter Vesterbacka.
"We want to make Angry Birds a permanent part of pop culture," he continued. "We're just getting started."
Vesterbacka's comments highlight the company's continued focus on expansion, as Rovio pushes for greater adoption of its mobile games and related merchandise.
Rovio's success with "Rio" hints at animated Angry Birds films to come, likely followed by movie-themed versions of the mobile game.
Beyond expanding merchandise options and movie tie-ins, the Angry Birds franchise recently flew to Facebook and Starbucks, offering consumers a social gaming experience along with in-store promotions.
Rovio even enjoys free advertising now that an unauthorized Angry Birds theme park operates in China. The park features slingshots for launching plush birds at green pig targets and may have inspired Rovio to build its own activity park in the UK.
Angry Birds appears bent on worldwide adoption and may well meet this goal if it continues to expand beyond mobile gaming into the retail and entertainment sphere.
A U.K. court served legal papers through Facebook, pushing the network further into the official public sphere and sparking privacy concerns.
British judge Justice Teare allowed lawyers to serve papers via Facebook in a commercial case that faced difficulties locating one of the defendants, setting a precedent in the U.K. for using the social media site in an official legal capacity.
"It's a fairly natural progression," said Jenni Jenkins, lawyer at Memery Crystal, the firm representing one of the parties in the case, to The Telegraph. "A High Court judges has already ruled that an injunction can be served via Twitter, so it's a hop, skip and a jump away from that to allow claims to be served via Facebook."
Courts around the world are embracing social networking sites to facilitate the legal process. The court's decision to use Facebook follows similar practices in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. county court system.
The move builds on the role Facebook plays as it transforms from a previously closed-off social network into a public forum. What once served as a private playground for college kids is turning into a database of information, available to governments and employers.
The Commonwealth legal systems' embrace of Facebook as a valid, reliable virtual address points to the social media enclave's transformation into a quasi-official public identifier. Persons of interest hide home addresses and phone numbers from authorities, but rarely delete their Facebook pages, which link to e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and personal information.
As the network becomes increasingly open to government and legal institutions, Facebook already faces criticism about its privacy policies on several fronts, especially when the company adjusts privacy terms. For example, users criticized the recently introduced Timeline format for its ability to make old, embarrassing posts easily accessible. Even customized privacy settings come under fire for being too difficult to navigate, and younger users are flocking to Twitter in response to Facebook's perceived privacy failings.
Facebook owns the information users post, and though it vows to keep data confidential and out of the hands of advertisers or hackers, the social media site does not block police and government officials from using Facebook information to track down persons of interest.
The U.S. has yet to allow law firms to issue legal papers on Facebook, but authorities are turning to the site for more than messaging or whimsical cat videos. Search warrants to plumb suspects' accounts for detailed personal information are on the rise. In addition, debt collectors and divorce attorneys often attempt to collect incriminating private data from Facebook.
Governments and related institutions are eager to reach citizens' Facebook information. As lawyers, debt collectors and other parties seek to gain access to people via the site, the company risks alienating its user base and investors if its privacy missteps gain media attention, which is especially risky in light of Facebook's looming IPO. Showing little fear of a user exodus, however, the social media network lets agencies use the site for official purposes, signaling no turning back for a massive social network as it becomes an increasingly public part of society.
Agencies investigating the recent London riots are using facial recognition software with mixed results, showing law enforcement is grappling with how to best use technology to identify suspects.
Scotland Yard turned to an official facial recognition program it was developing for use during the 2012 London Olympics, but is not divulging information on what it entailed or how successful it was.
Most analysts speculate the agency used software to compare photos against information in public records to detain suspects. While the specifics aren't readily available, with more than 1,500 arrests, it appears their efforts paid off to some extent.
According to Forbes, Scotland Yar discontinued another unofficial endeavor involving a face-based app and perhaps allowing Facebook users to flag possible rioters. Apparently, the positive matches scored low on the confidence scale, and the system was plagued with incorrect identity responses.
In a nod to more old-fashioned use of modern technology, various U.K. police agencies also uploaded photos of rioters to Flickr accounts and asked citizens for information to identify them. This initiative is ongoing.
The security agencies' efforts illustrate the difficulties in using technology to regulate social order.
In this specific case, software advances in the form of facial recognition may help quell the riots by identifying and detaining the responsible parties that used mobile communications and social media to spur destruction.
Many of those responsible for the riots reportedly used Research In Motion's BlackBerry Messenger, as well as other mobile services to organize the mayhem and allude police capture.
In response, RIM announced it would assist British security forces in their investigation, though the company didn't elaborate on the extent of its planned cooperation.
But this news prompted a hacker group named Teampoison to hack into RIM's Inside BlackBerry log and post a warning to the company, stating, "If you do assist the police by giving them chat logs, gps locations, customer information & access to peoples BlackBerryMessengers, you will regret it."
Hackers and others may not be pleased with the addition of facial recognition software to the investigation, but the controversial technology is finding a place with other law enforcement agencies as well.
Recently, about 40 law police departments across the U.S. announced they may soon start using handheld facial recognition devices, news that received praise as well as raised privacy concerns.
Plymouth, Mass.-based BI2 Technologies developed a portable system, called "MORIS" for Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System attaches to an iPhone, allowing a police officer to take pictures of a face from up to five feet away, or scan a person's eyes from up to six inches away. MORIS then completes an immediate search to see if the suspect is a match in the criminal database.
The next wrinkle may well be how the public, privacy groups, and security forces respond to law enforcement's continued use of facial recognition software, and how successful that technology may prove.
A London artist became the latest author to use modern messaging to write a book.
Tracey Moberly, who saved 60,000-plus text messages since 1999, weaved the best ones into a narrative about her life in the new book "TEXT-ME-UP!"
While most people's texts are in the realm of the quotidian, Moberly's life may be more colorful than most. She has traveled to Siberia, Haiti and Colombia, protested against corporations such as Coca-Cola, released a thousand pink balloons over Manchester to seek out random new text friends and counts graffiti artist Banksy and other British art stars as correspondents.
Moberly said she decided to write the book with text messages, previously the subject of one of her art exhibitions, because she finds their content powerful.
"People put things in texts they would never ever say, some of them disgusting," she said. "I know so many people whose relationships have broken down from someone finding a text message."
Although texts certainly aren't common in books, Moberly's book idea isn't exactly novel. Japanese adolescents first perfected the art of writing fiction books on their cell phones eight years ago and the practice has spread to Europe and Africa.
Twitter and Facebook helped keep the demonstrations of the recent Arab Spring moving, and the tweets from that time have been compiled into a new book, "Tweets from Tahrir."
On a less serious note, the author of fake, comical Twitter impersonation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel have reportedly earned author Dan Sinker a book deal for his tweets.
Whether they're being used for comedy purposes, posterity or to form a more complete record of a person's life, the prevalence of tweets, texts and other messages are a huge part of modern life. It was only a matter of time before they crept into storytelling.
It's also only a matter of time before modern messaging services appear more prevalently in the novels and nonfiction lining bookstore shelves -- or those shelves grow bare as more people replace print with book-writing online or on devices.
The message writers range from her father to troubled rocker Pete Doherty. The 336-page book costs $35.
British officials arrested and charged a teenager with cybercrimes, in yet another skirmish in the war between world governments and hackers.
Authorities accuse 19-year-old Ryan Cleary of building a botnet to attack the U.K.'s Serious Organized Crime Agency, or SOCA, site. Police are scanning through Cleary's computers for information about LulzSec, a hacking organization, as he supposedly hosted one of the group's chat rooms on his server.
LulzSec, however, denies any connection to Cleary.
"Ryan Cleary is not part of LulzSec," the group tweeted. "We house one of our many legitimate chat rooms on his IRC server, but that's it."
Besides LulzSec, Anonymous hacktivists distanced themselves from "fellow helper" Cleary several months ago, after the teenager supposedly perpetrated distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks against the collective's online forums.
"He decided that he didn't like the leaderless command structure that AnonOps Network Admins use," the collective said on a blog post about the incident. "So he organized a coup d'etat."
Though Cleary's involvement with either group remains unsubstantiated, U.K. police may have enough information from the teen's computers to trace LulzSec if he is indeed associated with them. Given Cleary's apparent history of gumming up Anonymous' works, it's not impossible he wouldn't give information on LulzSec.
The significance of Cleary's arrest remains unclear. But his arrest is a small step forward for authorities as they continue to battle stealthy hackers against unfavorable odds.
In the last month, hacks against Sony, Lockheed Martin, Citigroup, Google, the International Monetary Fund and countless other corporations and government organizations have frustrated law enforcement officials around the world. FBI officials still don't know who first hit Sony with the most massive recorded data breach, which exposed over 100 million users' passwords.
LulzSec's much-flaunted attacks on FBI, CIA and Senate websites were also especially embarrassing for the U.S.
To combat such hacks, the Pentagon is readying a new cyber-security initiative to beef up U.S. companies' and government agencies' online safety. But implementing a policy is harder than creating a botnet to attack it -- in fact, hackers try to brave Pentagon firewalls around 250,000 times per hour on average.
The U.S. military also recently introduced a policy of retaliation, should foreign governments attack important online infrastructure. As one official put it, "If you shut down our power grids, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks."
The timing on this policy is especially uncanny, as Google hints it suspects the Chinese government of spearheading a phishing attack, and the IMF says its hack may also be related to a foreign government.
Though worldwide officials are swimming upstream in these treacherous waters, Turkish officials did manage to haul in 32 Anonymous hackers last week, alongside Spain's catch of three.
The Anons in Turkey had sent DDoS attacks to government sites after the country announced it will clamp down on Internet freedoms starting this August. Their Spanish counterparts were supposedly preparing to post "sensitive information" about police and politicians.
Most hackers, however, remain at large and will likely continue to stay that way despite infrequent arrests.
A British professor has turned a traditional red British phone booth into a 21st century video conference stall, as new-school technology gets an old school feel.
Professor Michael Shaughnessy of Language Resource Center at the Washington & Jefferson College removed the telephone from his retro phone booth, replacing it with a trendy iPad 2 tablet. The iPad comes equipped with Skype, allowing booth visitors to make video conference calls inside the red wooden stall.
Shaughnessy latched the iPad against the wall of the booth and installed Skype and a "World Unlimited Account" on the tablet so his students could call their friends and families in their home countries.
"I had a blast converting it," Shaughnessy said. "It serves a good function as our students use our international unlimited account a lot to call home, and now they have a bit more privacy."
People enjoy the nostalgia they get from seeing old products, but may not be able to live without today's luxuries. Luckily, there a several products on the market to allow users to get the old-school feel out of their new-school products.
In April, South Korea-based Kee Utility released an iPhone desk dock that transforms an iPhone into a traditional wired desk phone. The accessory has built-in stereo speakers, a microphone, a volume control, instant mute and works off USB or AC power. The company has described the dock as a blend of "Mad Men" and "2001: A Space Odyssey."
People use their smartphones to capture pictures more than ever, and there's also an app allowing users to get a retro 80s feel out of their digital images. Hipstamatic processes iPhone photos so that they look like they were taken with an old toy camera from decades past. The company even offers the "HipstaCase" to give the iPhone the look and feel of an old toy camera from the 80s.
The further away society moves from the "old days," it appears the more it wants them back. Luckily, there are people and companies who are blending the old-and-new schools together as one.
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