Techie/web predictions for the year

John Battelle has his list of predictions for 2009.

I like this one, although it's not an entirely original thought.

9. Major brands will continue to struggle with the best way to interact with "social media." They will take budget reserved for media spending (IE buying banners and building out branding campaigns) and start to become publishers in their own right. This is not a new tactic (many marketers, in particular technology companies, have published magazines, for example, and many consumer brands create or co-create television series), but given the plastic and social nature of online media, many marketers will see these efforts fail, in particular when the efforts are executed in partnership with major media companies. The reason has to do with putting the cart before the horse: in order to truly succeed in conversational media, the company must itself be fluent in that conversation. A partner with tons of traffic, but who is not fluent, will not be the "translator" major brands need.

I say it's fairly obvious that most social marketing will fail because it's plain to any user of social media when they're being marketed to. Most people don't like to be marketed to. That's why the remote control ceased to be a channel surfing device after the introduction of the DVR. Now, it's a time transporter.

If you check out Battelle's other predictions, most of them play it pretty safe. After all, with the economy floundering, who's to say what will happen. When everything is swirling around us, it's pretty hard to follow a straight line.

Feed the grid in Missouri? Not today

In 2007, a law was signed enabling Missourians who generate electricity at home to sell the excess back into the electrical grid, a practice known as net metering.

Now, those who have made the investment to do this are saying, "Show me."

As The Kansas City Star reports, "Two problems have popped up with a new Missouri law that was supposed to make it easy for homeowners to put in their own wind turbines or solar panels and send any excess power back to utilities:

•The Missouri Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, is requiring homeowners to buy insurance before they can begin feeding electricity to the grid.

•It appears no insurance companies in Missouri sell that insurance."

Some leaving comments on the article believe the Missouri Public Service Commission added the insurance provision at the behest of utilities.

In the article, the commission's chairman offers this excuse for requiring insurance for net metering, which he said, “poses a physical threat to those linemen who are out there working on it ... It poses a physical threat to your neighbors’ property, who are also connected to you on those same power lines, where the power could back up onto you and your neighbors’ house and destroy property.”

Indiana is the only other state to require liability insurance for net metering. A number of cities do this. Most states don't even consider the need for the insurance.

The Missouri situation is an unfortunate Catch-22. If the state insists on requiring the insurance, it should work with insurance providers to see that this is offered.

Turn your digital camera into a document scanner

I've tried using my digital camera to take pictures of documents, so they could be e-mailed or preserved digitally. The images typically turn out kind of fuzzy, and it's hard to get the angle right.

Makeuseof.com has an entry about a service called snapter. This article gives a user review of the service, which seems to have some good automated functionality, such as taking the curvature out of pages, adjusting for angle of the photo and cleaning up fuzzy text.

Snapter offers a 14-day free trial, then any additional images uploaded will have a watermark and tagline embedded. Buying the service costs $20-49.

This seems like a really cool service, but most people (myself included) will be scared away by the charge for the service. You wouldn't pay much more for a quality flatbed scanner. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before google comes up with something competitive - and free.

Eat healthfully, eat cheaply, be patriotic

Can we be patriotic by changing how we eat? Absolutely.

As Americans try to pay down debts and focus on quality of life, eating right is one of the best things we can do for ourselves - and society. Eat right, exercise ... and you'll feel better. And you'll have fewer trips to the doctor. Cumulatively, considering the net effects on the health insurance infrastructure, this is another way for Americans to dig ourselves out of the hole we're in.

Here is a good list of 20 healthful foods typically had for under a dollar apiece, thanks to divinecaroline.com.

Some of my favorites from the list of 20: eggs, spinach, bananas, oats, potatoes, broccoli and beets.

Yes, it's disappointing that BBQ meat doesn't make the list, but that's something I can splurge on with the money saved from otherwise eating healthfully, and eating cheap.

NY Times Op-ed: Four technologies that may save Detroit

Sebastian Thrun, a professor of computer science at Stanford, and Anthony Levandowski, a product manager at Google, submitted an op-ed column to the New York Times on four ideas that they think may save Detroit.

Their ideas center around making cars - and driving habits - more efficient. The authors note that these are projects they are working on, so take them with a grain of salt.

1. Use dedicated short-range communication, or Wifi, to enable cars to communicate with traffic lights and other roadway infrastructure. This would allow for more efficient acceleration, braking and improved traffic flow.

2. Solar-electric hybrids. The only problem I see with this is that most cars spend a lot of time parked in the shade or in a garage.

3. Robotic cars that drive in tight formation. This would help decrease drag and would free up drivers for tasks like e-mail. And maybe safely talking on your cell phone while driving? Or shaving.

4. Cars that go online. Sensors at parking meters would tell you where the open spots are. Make dinner reservations. Order takeout. I don't know, there's so much you can do with a smart phone these days. Why bother putting technology in cars that will be obsolete in a matter of a few years?

EcoGeek's top 7 trends from 2008 that will make a difference in 2009

EcoGeek's Hank Green presents his roundup of 2008 ideas/trends that will make a difference in 2009.

Light antennas/Nano antennas
Tiny antennas that can capture and emit light, and both passively heat and cool a space. The prospect of mass production is not far off. "The first large array of these nano-antennas was produced this year, and the possibilities for them are endless," Green writes. Personally, I'm in love with the idea of individuals taking control over their own power production/consumption. Individually, we can't really get utilities to change, but we can do a lot in our own backyards, rooftops, windows ... whereever.

President Barack Obama
Promises, promises. Let's see how he's able to balance his promises with the economic and political mayhem that he's inheriting.

EEStor emerges as competition to lithium ion batteries
Power storage company EEstor has patented a technology to store electrical energy in ceramic powder encased in plastic and has a contract with Lockheed Martin to put this to use in military and homeland security appliations. Compared to lithiom ion batteries, this technology would be significantly lighter, hold ten times more power, and be half the cost. As Green writes, "We're still not 100% sure (EEStor) isn't full of crap." Maybe so, but a lot of people thought Edison would never get light from electricity. See the original article here.

Cheap gas
Gas is so cheap we can party like it's 1999. This will surely have a short-term effect on new product innovation, but as Green notes, "Better hybrid systems, more efficient engines, massive investments in biofuels, the re-emergence of diesel in America were all direct implications of skyrocketing gas prices." I don't think anyone expects fuel to remain this cheap for long.

Solar reaches parity with coal-electric grid?

There may be some fuzzy math involved here, but Green wrote Dec. 22 that Nevada solar power producer First Solar, at least according to one analyst's view, is able to produce electricity from solar at a cost of 7.5 cents per kilowatt/hour versus 9 cents for coal. Green notes that this math does not include the cost of developing the plant, just the cost of delivering the electricity. The jury is still out on the costs involved, but the ecological impact of solar compared to coal is not in question.

Project Better Place
Better Place has signed deals with California, Hawaii, Australia and Denmark to put in place electric car networks. Utilizing one type of battery for various automotive platforms, Better Place - based in Israel - is putting in battery swapping stations and customers will pay for the service much as they do for cell phones. Consumers will lease the batteries for their vehicles. Some other company could come along and make this solution obsolete, but no one else is actually putting in place projects this aggressively.

Pickens counterbalances Gore
Green writes, "We've tired of Al Gore. The love affair was great while it lasted, but he's been attacked from too many angles to really latch onto his message anymore. But what about an ultra-conservative, Texas oil man?" Well, with the price of oil in the dumper, T. Boone Pickens' big ideas for alternative energy are now on the impractically expensive side. I'm all for Pickens' plan (see the youtube video), but I don't see this 80-year-old tycoon actually making a go of it. Prove me wrong, Pickens.

U.S. Geothermal makes WSJ columnist's list of 10 stocks to watch in 2009

While many pundits are bagging on green-oriented businesses because of low oil prices, at least one columnist is pegging US Geothermal as a stock to watch in 2009.

Wall Street Journal columnist Brett Arends likes U.S. Geothermal, pegging it at No. 7 on his top 10 list. Here's what he had to say in his Dec. 31 column:

"A high-risk, speculative stock. HTM (U.S. Geothermal) is a leveraged alternative-energy play. It's an interesting situation. It's building and operating geothermal power plants out west, and has plenty of cash. The shares have collapsed from $4 to just 70 cents, valuing the company at about $47 million."

Seventy cents is pretty low, but then so is my 401K. Still, if geothermal is a sector that pans out under the Obama administration's stated dedication to the green movement, this stock may turn out to be a bargain. A 1,000-share investment would have cost $700 Dec. 31. The stock is up to 96 cents as of Jan. 2. If it ever gets up to $10 a share, that would be a pretty good turn-around at either price.

Of course, picking stocks these days is mostly a fool's errand. One person left a comment on Arend's column about HTM:

"Did not Barron's recommend HTM as a buy back when it was $3 only to dive to 30 cents. I love it when someone puts on the wizard hat and tells me what the future will look like.. enjoy the 2009 ride everybody :)"

Where does one get a smiley face these days?

Solar-powered wifi

A company called Meraki is selling a variety of solar-powered Wifi options that may make sense for public entities, businesses or even some consumers.

It's pricey to install ($1,300+), but over the long haul this sort of device may pay off. Not only would there be financial benefits, but there would be good public relations to be had. Imagine an airport being able to say "Our free wifi is brought to you by the power of the sun."

For businesses, it would be an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint, which is a marketable concept. If you're an owner of an appartment complex, imagine being able to say that you'll throw in free, solar-powered Wifi as part of the rent.

It would have good applications at parks, fairgrounds and more. See Meraki's Web site for more details.

Fuel from artificial photosynthesis - Steven Chu discusses

Steven Chu, President-elect Obama's nomination as energy secretary, gave this speech in September 2007 about using the natural chemical process of photosynthesis to create fuel.

It's an interesting concept, although one that would require using plants for fuel, not food. Today, that may or may not be a good use of arable land. In the future, that is likely to be less and less viable. Still, it's good to know Obama wants to tap such an innovative thinker as Chu, a 1997 Nobel prize winner for his research into laser cooling.

Here's a video excerpt from his speech.



You can see the full video at FORA.tv.

Saving the news - the most troublesome bailout idea yet

The Bristol Press, a newspaper in Connecticut, may fold very soon.

That possibility has some lawmakers so worried they are considering offering incentives to potential buyers of that newspaper and others, according to this article. This is a very bad idea. How can a news organization be an effective watchdog of the government when it owes its financial existence to said government? That's a sure way to get the press to rubber-stamp any and every stupid idea from the governor or state house.

Connecticut's economic development agency has already been trying to find a buyer for The Bristol Press and 10 other newspapers in the state, according to this Bristol Press article. That simple act alone could compromise the integrity of any or all of these news organizations.

On a side note, this bailout trend has taken on a troubling life of its own. Any business that is falling on hard times seems to be a candidate. This has to stop, or we'll all be working for the government before long.

Solar chimneys - hot air that cools

Reader Mike Pulskamp left a comment on a recent blog about the concept of passive housing. He noted that the sealed envelope method of this housing can pose some problems for air quality.

He said that solar chimneys are a great option for green home builders. I've read about solar chimneys but never seen one in action. The basic concept is that a solar chimney absorbs heat, pulling cool air through a structure and up into the chimney (see image). That simple act of ventilation helps cool a home. These have been in use around the world for centuries. In hot windless areas, solar chimneys are sometimes the only source of ventilation.

I'm no home builder, but one day I'd love to build a house that is off the grid - or at least nearly so. It's so great to continue to learn how old concepts can be put to use in modern forms.

Here's another variation on the concept that's actually in use at Zion National Park's visitor center. This variation is a passive, evaporative downdraft cool tower.