Soda Popinski

8/18/08

Well I only have one more week left here at Brilliont, and the summer has just flown by.  I live in an interesting part of Brooklyn, where quasi-hipsters have inhabited the previously dangerous areas of Williamsburg (an area of Brooklyn).  On Saturday there was an organized event known as Pandamonium, where people dressed up in panda outfits and partied in the streets from Union Square in Manhattan to Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.  I only witnessed the events at Bedford Avenue, and that was Pandamonium and the NYPD started to clash, and you can see videos on the website.  The apparent goal of the organizers was to “take back” Williamsburg, in a show of disapproval for the new high rise condos and other wealth in the area.  From what I could tell, the people in the demonstration were rioting against what they had created, and it was all very confusing.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the title of an article on Bloomberg entitled “Bernanke Tries To Define What Institutions Fed Could Let Fail”.  Is our financial future so delicate and the Fed so powerful that they can decide the path that our economy is headed?   One passage in particular caught my eye:

Under Bernanke’s predecessor Alan Greenspan, the Fed drew a clear line against using its portfolio to influence specific markets. An internal study published in 2002 warned that “the favoring of specific entities” might “invite pressure from special-interest groups.”

I could not agree more.  With the credit markets tightening up big time in the past year, shouldn’t distressed institutions who did not accurately prepare (or have a diversified enough portfolio) be allowed to suffer?  Why is it that Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae are allowed to continue on or be saved?

Finally, according to Popular Science, over 1/3 of the amphibian population is dying out.  This sounds similar to the story of the honeybee population starting to dwindle.  I am not going to make any unfounded claims here about the reasons, but I’m sure the overwhelming claim is that global warming and destruction of habitats has something do with these phenomenons.

- Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

7/11/08

I am now always on the lookout for interesting “green” companies or devices, and I found one which struck my eye for reasons other than its energy efficiency.  Popular Science has an article about an energy efficient universal power adapter that was invented by an engineer that lost his cell phone charger.  His creation will communicate with the wall socket it is plugged in to deliver the right voltage to any number of electronic devices.  Additionally, a solar panel can be used to power the unit.

The energy savings from a power adapter that gives specifically the right amount of power to each device that is plugged into it is great, and this could force companies to stop making their own chargers so unique.  What really drew me to this article was that such a high-tech device has some pretty old electronics hooked up to it.  I don’t even think the cell phone has a color screen.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com

7/03/08

Well I’m back to trying to find innovative products and companies, and I think I found a pretty interesting one.  In this month’s Popular Science, the “PopSci” Pick of the Month is the Brooks Sports Trance 8 sneaker.  However, I was not able to find the shoe after a quick search of the website (www.brooksrunning.com/).  To quote from Popular Science:

“A used Trance sneaker takes up less space in a landfill.  Its sturdy foam midsole biodegrades 50 times as fast as others, because its molecules are shaped to let the bacteria in dumps decompose them more easily.  From Brook’s shoes alone, this could eliminate nearly 30 million pounds of waste by 2028.  Brooks is also sharing the recipe for use in other products.”

The biggest problem with such a product is that with only one option, and there is a good chance its performance may not be as good as other high performance sneakers.  If there is a choice between a “green” shoe and a high performance shoe, I am certain most people would choose the latter.  I think this is a great product and a great innovation, but if I used these shoes, I would really hope that I didn’t pick up whatever bacteria is in landfills on them.

-Amit

akooner@brilliont.com