I’m finding the PC vs. Mac battle very entertaining. Microsoft’s newest ads are trying to make Apple’s PC vs. Mac ads irrelevant (see below). Apple needs to hit back a little harder!

Imagine an Apple ad that goes like this:

The PC guy with a pocket protector and glasses riding a skateboard “down hill.”

Then the voice over:  “PC’s may pretend to be a cool… But they’re not.”

And then the PC guy crashes through big glass windows into a commercial office building. And, business people working in cubicles run around in a panic.

Then: “PC’s crash, and Windows break. Buy a Mac!”

This is idea was inspired by a former classmate of mine, Adam Kimmel, who produced a cool skateboarding video to promote his clothing line (link here.). Great job, Adam!

I often credit Bill Clinton for his pragmatic and moderate presidency, and his support and championing of traditionally Republican issues like free trade, welfare reform, and fiscal conservatism (Under Clinton, we had balanced budget and surplus for the first time since 1969). However, I falsely use this example as a rationale for supporting Barack, who I view as being Clintonian in many ways.

If you remember the facts of the Clinton administration, it paints a different picture. The republicans gained complete control of Congress in 1995, and remained in power until the end of the Clinton presidency.  Remember the Contract with America? It included The Fiscal Responsibility Act, which tried to give the President line item veto powers and a constitutional amendment that would require a balanced budget.

So, it’s pretty clear that Clinton had to compromise with congress, and he wisely takes credit for what the republicans made him do.

And, now, Barack is known as the candidate, who is stronger than McCain on economic issues? He can thank the Clinton legacy for this distinction. Before Clinton, the democrats had to answer to the disastrous and failed economic policies of Jimmy Carter. The republicans have lost credibility on economic affairs, because Bush and congressional republicans have squandered the opportunity to maintain the principles and ideals of the republican party.

Producing cotton for clothing has an incredibly negative environmental impact.  It can take more than 5,280 gallons of water to produce a single T-shirt and pair of jeans, and fresh water availability is steadily decreasing worldwide, as demand exceeds supply.  Agricultural water use is a significant culprit in the depletion of major aquifers. And, cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (55 million pounds sprayed on 12.8 million acres), and 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers.

Seems like this is a pretty big business opportunity for companies like Gap (or an upstart), to make and market organic and sustainably created synthetic clothing, which is currently hard to find outside of the small clothing section of a Whole Foods store.  The marketing campaign can include public education, so the brand becomes known for something even more important than style. It becomes synonymous with an important environmental (and potentially also social) cause.

The Department of Homeland Security announced its Future Attribute Screening Technologies program, which is designing a mechanism to detect “hostile thoughts” at border posts, airports and other public spaces achieved 78% accuracy on malintent detection and 80% on deception.

Check out this game preview from Flash Bang Studios.

Festo has a white paper about designing an aircraft that mimics the jelly fish and flies through the air with peristaltic motion.

Link here.

For my view on the future of flight, click here.

check out this sidewalk ad for Vin Diesel’s upcoming movie

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Video link here.

MAD Beijing, the Beijing-based architectural design firm has released a vision for a self-contained city structure.