Tag Archives: Service

The benefit of a public private response during an emergency

A BloombergBusinessweek article (Sept 5, 2011) describes how private businesses provided faster and cheaper response compared to the government. Local restaurants provided meals at half the $ 8 price per meal of FEMA rations.  Emergencies in Louisiana now routinely involve … Continue reading

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Preventing cholera in Bangladesh by used folded saris

A New York Times article (Sept 27, 2011) describes the historic levels of cholera that persisted when sweetened drinks were strained using a sari (made of cotton fabric) because microorganisms are smaller than the pores in the fabric. A research … Continue reading

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Europe rules regarding airline emissions

A New York Times article (Sept 26, 2011) describes new European rules that restrict airline emissions to 97 % of their emissions from 2004-2006 with a free emissions 85 % of this limit. This number will drop to 95 % … Continue reading

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The New Kindle vs the iPad battle

A New York Times article (Sept 26, 2011) describes the impending release of a new tablet by Amazon.com and the ensuing battle with Apple. Amazon provides content – ebooks, music, entertainment – but adding email and games covers the bulk … Continue reading

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Internet productivity and future employment across supply chains

An article in the International Herald Tribune (Sept 24, 2011) describes a presentation by Yuri Milner, a Russian investor in Facebook and Zynga.  He describes internet based companies generating revenues of $ 100 million per employee compared to 10 to … Continue reading

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Using customer financing of prototype designs to cover manufacturing costs

A New York Times article (Sept 23, 2011) describes Kickstarter – a crowdsourcing website model to fund designs.  Designs are proposed along with a fundraising goal with an “all or nothing” model – if the minimum is not met, no … Continue reading

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Financing sustainability driven retrofits and thus manufacturing growth

An article in the New York Times (Sept 19, 2011) describes a new consortium, including Lockheed Martin and Barclays bank, that will finance retrofits of buildings to decrease energy costs, cutting energy use and utility bills by 33 %.  Building … Continue reading

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The efficiency benefit of eliminating van keys at UPS

A Wall Street Journal article (Sept 26, 2011) describes the efficiency benefit to eliminating keys for vans – they are instead using a keyless system to start vehicles with a digital remote fob on the drivers belt.  UPS claims to … Continue reading

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Mishandled Missioni line at Target.com and Impact

An article in the New York Times (Sept 14, 2011) describes the Target specific Missoni line offered at Target for a fraction of the price that it  regular line is sold at Bergdorf Goodman ($ 40 vs $ 12,000).   The … Continue reading

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Managing an air traffic control tower from afar

An article in WIRED magazine (http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/08/st_flybywire/) describes technology used in Sweden that can provide a 360 degree hid-def screen view of aircraft and detailed data around a control tower. The benefit is that a air traffic controller can be located … Continue reading

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