The Empire State Pride Agenda is trying to anticipate some of the objections it will face from the religious community now that Governor Patterson has introduced a same-sex marriage bill into the New York state legislature. The resulting video is pretty great:
"Think of a larger, two-passenger, sit-down version of the Segway PT, with two gyroscopically balanced wheels. The prototype has minimal bodywork, but podlike enclosures (which look like computer mice on wheels) are imagined for production," writes Jim Motavalli in The New York Times' Wheels blog.
The electric vehicle is powered by lithium-ion batteries and can reach a top speed of 35 m.p.h., and it is so small that six P.U.M.A.s could fit within a standard parking space.
The companies don't plan to sell the vehicle at this time, but are showing it off as "a bit of blue-sky thinking about better ways to move around crowded urban areas." Indeed, with a presumed cost higher than $5K (Gothamist notes that a standard Segway PT costs bout $5K), it's price point may be too close to value automobiles that offer more space, cargo, and horsepower.
Perhaps PSFK's Dan Gould offers the best commentary on this new vehicle, noting that while this thing is "kind of cool, no [doubt,] wouldn’t a bike be a better, less complicated solution for urban transport?" Not to mention cheaper, smaller, and completely energy-neutral.
What's really exciting about planned future innovation for these vehicles, however, is in their communicative abilities, both with each other, and with a central power grid. Larry Burns, G.M.’s vice president for research and development and strategic planning, told the Times that
Project P.U.M.A. vehicles would be designed to tap into the two-way communications made possible by G.M.’s OnStar technology, which has six million North American subscribers. The vision is expansive: using 'vehicle to vehicle,' or V2V, communications, these '100 percent digital' devices would communicate with one another over a quarter-mile range to prevent collisions, eventually allowing what G.M. calls 'autonomous driving and parking.' . . .
There’s more: the pods would also be equipped to communicate with the smart grid of the future (as is the Aptera EV, another podlike electric vehicle that is due to be introduced in the fall), returning electricity to utilities during times of peak demand. That’s not V2V, it’s V2G — vehicle to grid.That is an innovation that would change transportation.
Despite his majorities, Johnson took nothing for granted. He predicted 'a hard fight every inch of the way.' He told one adviser: 'I’ve watched the Congress from either the inside or the outside. . . for more than 40 years, and I’ve never seen a Congress that didn’t eventually take the measure of the president it was dealing with.'Johnson wooed the leaders of the opposing party most aggressively, most notably Senate minority leader Everett Dirksen. It seems as though Obama has already learned some of these lessons, courting Congress with trips to the Hill and invitations to the White House (including for the Super Bowl), and his acceptance of earmarks in the recent omnibus bill suggests Obama's willingness to compromise in order to achieve some of his goals.
To fend off the day when the Congress would resist his requests, Johnson launched a campaign of carrots and sticks that won majorities for his reforms. He directed aides to treat every member of Congress as if he or she was the center of the political universe. They were instructed to return a representative’s or senator’s call in '10 minutes or else.' Johnson himself devoted countless hours talking to them on the telephone.
I love illustrator Dan Meth's Pop-Cultural Charts. He takes simplistic data about popular films and sitcoms and displays it via charts, maps, and info-graphics, creating a humorous but analytical snapshot of a segment of pop culture. Check out the first three below.
The way that Gmail allows users to archive their emails (thanks to ever-expanding memory limits) rather than deleting and the notion of threaded conversations originated with the application. Coleman explains that such innovations manifest because Google attempts to serve its most highly-demanding users--those who "really pushed (and today, still push) it to its limits." Gmail Labs* has become the testing ground for some of these new features demanded by the savviest users, and now include everything from the ability to customize the colors of labels (Gmail's answer to the conundrum of needing to file emails in multiple locations) to fun additions like a feature that requires the user to complete math problems when they attempt to email late at night to avoid embarrassing repercussions of alcohol (Mail Goggles).
The piece also tempts the Google groupie with many allusions to untold developments:
Lifehacker: After five years, the most obvious question to ask off the bat: Can we ever expect Gmail to leave beta?Happy Fifth Birthday, Gmail (even though we've only known each other since May '05).
Keith Coleman, Gmail Product Manager: Yes—there are people working on it right now. (And I promise, they're not just editing the logo .png). . .
Lifehacker: In the past five years, what are the coolest ideas you've considered but not implemented? Why not?
Coleman: We are working on some of the coolest ones right now. I am pretty sure we're not going to finish Autopilot anytime soon, though. . .
Lifehacker: I know that in the past Googlers have been the initial guinea pigs for new Gmail features. Are there currently any major differences between the Gmail you use inside Google and the Gmail we use every day?
Coleman: Yes, and we are very excited about them. They involve some non-trivial changes and need more work before they're Labs-ready.
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