Good Thinking

Wednesday October 1, 2003: US handgun maker Smith & Wesson has released a "911 First Response Knife" designed to replace three-separate tools - a knife, window punch and seatbelt cutter - for removing people from vehicles in emergency situations.  Read More

Wednesday September 17, 2003: Professionals these days are busy people. Discretionary time is limited and easily fragmented, especially during the week, putting pressure on the time available to spend with family, friends or simply relaxing and looking after your own health. What better way is there to remain focussed on the things that are most important in your work/life balance than to have someone else take care of the more time consuming and menial tasks...  Read More

Saturday September 13, 2003: A digital newspaper printing service that allows Australians to read newsprint versions of international publications at the same time they roll off the presses overseas was launched yesterday by the Premier of NSW, Mr Bob Carr.  Read More

Sunday August 10, 2003: Australian-developed online audience measurement and tracking service Hitwise recently launched in the US market, and looks set to make a big splash due to the real-time competitive intelligence abilities of the service.  Read More

March 6. 2007 In an article entitled The Noble Sport of Scambaiting last June, we paid homage to the sublime skills of Shiver Metimbers, the administrator of scambaiting information resource 419Eater. Scambaiting is the sport of scamming the would-be scammer and although vigilantism has its downsides, it’s hard to see scambaiting as anything but a noble pastime and some of the better efforts truly are priceless. As we concluded at the time, should Scambaiting ever become an Olympic sport, Shiver Metimbers would be a Gold Medal contender. His latest effort is truly outstanding having tricked scambaiters into performing Monty Python’s Dead parrot comedy sketch for the camera. Mister Metimbers, we salute you! Via The Spam Diaries  Read More

The most expensive parking is the parking we don’t have. Not that long ago, when cars were less plentiful and inner city space was moreso, the major expenses of driving were depreciation and running costs. Now as space becomes more valuable and competition for that space is also at a high, parking space is fast becoming a major expense with mid-town Manhattan, London and Tokyo all commanding up to US$500 a month for a parking space and a permanent parking space was recently sold in London for UKP300,000. The solution to the world’s Parking Crisis is obvious: state-of-the-art automated parking robotic technologies will deliver the most space-efficient and hence cost-efficient parking. The current generation of parking garages has space-consuming access ramps and lots of access lanes that never get parked on, and also needs enough height for a very tall human being to comfortably walk upright – rather than the space-efficient compact box into which your car is slipped in an automated system. The ramps aren’t needed when you have a car lift and a computerized racking system. Whatsmore, a custom-built automated car parking facility of the same size as a conventional carpark can hold at least twice as many cars, offering double or more the income after a safe refurbishing investment. It’s more efficient for the customer (less than 2.5 minutes to get your car), costs less to run (no human attendants are required), there are no accidents, dents or scratches (because computers move the cars, not humans), and as the cars cannot be reached by other car park users, there’s no chance of theft or vandalism. Though this article is primarily about Automotion, there are now many manufacturers of automated carpark solutions, such as Stolzer Parkhaus, Robopark, Westfalia, Klausparking, LTW, Trevipark, Urban Parking Concepts, Eltodo, Space Saver Parking and the massive Chinese Tianchen Group – if you have a space that could use a carpark, this solution will make your money work at least twice as hard.  Read More

The widespread use of lie-detection technology is approaching and the chances are the first you’ll encounter it will be at an airport. While the fabled polygraph remains in use today, it is nowhere near as accurate as modern voice analysis techniques which are so accurate they are now being used in anti-terrorism and law enforcement, reporting on the veracity of verbal statements with an accuracy of better than 95%. The Israeli-developed technology is also being used for insurance and workers compensation claim assessment and is available as a downloadable PC program which can analyse live and recorded telephone conversations. Now the Domodedovo International Airport is introducing Multilevel Voice Analysis Technology to process passengers – the test asks passengers four questions, analyses psychological and emotional voice characteristics and makes a decision to channel them through the green or red corridors. It processes a person a minute and has already identified a number of “persons of operational interest”. The GK-1system will be used on security queues at the airport, at the customs control and border control to detect and prevent terrorist attacks, the smuggling of weapons, ammunition, explosives and poison gas. There’s even a portable unit which uses a portable computer and a heads-up display. Last but not least, there’s a version for analysing telephone conversations and specialty analysis tools for working out whether your prospect is in fact in love, and whether your spouse, is in fact telling the truth. Reader reports on the usefulness of this tools are invited.  Read More

More than one billion people – one sixth of the world’s population - are without access to safe water supply. At any given moment, about half of the world's poor are suffering from waterborne diseases, of which over 6,000 – mainly children – die each day as a direct result of consuming unsafe drinking water. The world’s most prolific killer is diarrhoeal disease from bacteria like typhoid, cholera, e. coli, salmonella and many others. Safe water interventions have vast potential to transform the lives of millions, especially in areas such as poverty eradication, environmental upgradation, quality of life, child development and gender equality. LifeStraw was developed as a practical response to the billions of people who are still without access to these basic human rights and we believe it is an invention that could become one of the greatest life-savers in history. It is a 25 cm long, 29 mm diameter, plastic pipe filter and purchased singly, costs around US2.00. Until now, there was not much we could do about water born disease because systems to clean water are costly and require electricity and spare parts and … the LifeStraw now offers a viable means of saving tens of millions of lives every year. LifeStraw is a personal, low-cost water purification tool with a life time of 700 litres – approximately one year of water consumption for one person, two years for a child. Positive test results have been achieved on tap, turbid and saline water against common waterborne bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, Enterococcus and Staphylococcu. If we (as in the big WE) can find a way of funding and distributing one of these to each human at risk, every year, we could eradicate countless deaths. Each LifeStraw lasts for one person’s annual needs of clean water – a simple straw costing a few dollars will ensure that one at-risk person will not die for a year - now that's a donation we can all make with a serious kicker! Please tell as many people as you can about this.  Read More

June15, 2005 The New York Public Library has launched a digital audio book collection allowing cardholders to download audiobooks from the Internet, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, further progressing the public’s embrace of portable audio and the convergence of media. The 700 title collection includes fiction, narrative nonfiction, business, biography, self-help, and language instruction which library members can play on portable devices, CD players, or via their PCs and laptops. Check-out is much faster than with real books and does not need a visit to the library after sign-up. NYPL cardholders simply enter in their existing card number and a 4-digit PIN. Up to ten digital audio books, or a combined total of ten e-books and digital audio books, may be on loan at one time. After 21 days, the materials are automatically checked in and made available for other users. And if the requested title isn't immediately available, users can place a hold on it and will receive email notification when it becomes available.  Read More