Students from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany have created a flexible housing solution that makes the most of its minimal interior space in a very unusual way. Dubbed "Roll it", this cylinder-shaped home changes its purpose depending on its orientation - roll the the work space 180 degrees and it becomes a bed, the kitchen becomes a bathroom and you even get some exercise in the mouse wheel-like center section when you decide to "move house"... Continue Reading 'Roll it' turns compact housing on its head

Section: Good idea

Tags: Architecture, Housing, University of Karlsruhe

Related articles:

• Space houses on Earth
• Architecture students think outside the box to choose low-cost, less waste, housing design
• Ergo ergo provides a new variant of the old gym ball
• Relocatable Sphere House
• Roll-out vegie patch for the time-poor (and non-gardeners)
• New design for T-Rex three-wheeled street racer proposed

A report has lambasted government for its tradition of procurement of IT from a handful of giant suppliers - change but won 't be easy

Reports of parliamentary committees are subject as a principle "crushing" section, but this really is. After an exhaustive series of hearings earlier this year, the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee has the popular perception that the government is an incompetent buyers and users of information confirmed.

The central allegation is that governments have \ with the purchase of equipment on a large scale "wasted an obscene amount of public money" of too few suppliers. A headline figure: the Cabinet Office spent ? 3,664 per desktop computer for each employee.

But what 's really scathing about the report is where it shows the finger - at great IT. The deputies refer to "extremely serious allegations" a "oligopoly" of giant suppliers, the vast majority of the central government 's IT control. The allegations of anticompetitive conduct and agreements were apparently due to smaller businesses (SMEs) take place in a closed session of the Commission of Inquiry under the Chatham House Rule. The Committee urges the Government to commission 'an independent, external investigation, "in the alleged cartel.

The British government 's fondness for the procurement of IT has made a handful of giant suppliers has long been a matter of record. Five years ago, struck a landmark academic study by Patrick Dunleavy and Helen Margetts (a witness to the committee) this was a unique British phenomenon, and one that correlates with a poor performance. Under Labour, officials said they had little choice but to deal with than the big boys - the size of the governmental organizations called for systems that worked on a "an industrial scale". The NHS in England is developing its national IT procurements for the express purpose of obtaining large companies instead of mocks "work at home" of homegrown retailer.

However, the committee warns ominously: "There is a strong suspicion that the government will be diverted from its stated policy." One problem is the coalition's drive for efficiency through consolidation and bulk purchasing, which may encourage yet bigger deals.

These desktop home theater PC isn 'ta multimedia powerhouse, but it looks sexy and plays videos well.

This is certainly an issue that we 've probably done hundreds of times on this site over the years and emphasized that injury is different than "stealing" in some very important points. And yet, industry, people, politicians and law enforcement authorities continue to claim that one \ to make "other" from the others. We had already called the U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, who 's at the top of the pursuit of Aaron Swartz for the manufacture of fake "nothing more than theft" statement about Swartz' s actions:

"Stealing is stealing, whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and if you take documents, data or dollars," U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said in a statement. "It is just as harmful to the victim, if you know what you have stolen away or sell."

Jjmsan reader points us to Matthew Yglesias 'two wonderful paragraph debunking this absurd statement, and the fact that U.S. law enforcement authorities, such apparently make false claims on equivalence:

This is absurd. I once wrote a book titled Head in the sand . I own both physical copies of the book and the copyright on the contents of the book. It is obviously not equally harmful for me if you break into my house and steal my physical copy of the book, as if you somehow go to the library and a photo copy of the book. The difference is not subtle at all, is that if you know anything about me (it was my book, my iPad, my shoes, my money, my immersion blender, or whatever) to steal, I did not. If you have something that you must not copy without my permission to copy, that's a whole other question. Perhaps you will take me about income, I would if you had not, or maybe you did not anything from me. As I said before, I sometimes have to beg for someone to me a copy of a scientific article that I did not get free access to online. It is never the case that my fallback option is to purchase in this situation, an extremely expensive scientific journal subscriptions. No one is hurt when this kind of copying occurs, and even in those cases where there is a disadvantage to the nature of the damage are quite different than the damage incurred in actual cases of theft.

I'm not really sure why the man accused in the enforcement of copyright disguise this fact, obsessed. Laws against theft are not the only laws on the books. It is a perfectly sound public policy justification for requiring cars have license plates, but no one would say, "theft is theft, whether you drive one car or just your own car without license plates." The provisions against copying to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." That's a good reason to have a set of rules , but there is a reason that has nothing to do with "stealing." The question is whether the rules we currently have really good ways to achieve this goal.

It 's that paragraph, that' s really the crux of the problem here. We 've all too often argued over the issue in the first paragraph. But there 's easy no good reason even for the officials to use such language when it comes to copying, because copyright laws are totally independent and a very different purpose, than laws against theft.

Of course, it's also worth pointing out a key point that Yglesias seems to skip over which makes Ortiz's statements here even more ridiculous. For all the "stealing" talk regarding Swartz's attempts to copy JSTOR documents, he wasn't even charged with copyright infringement. The "stealing" claim rings even more hollow than usual because he's not charged with either "Stealing" or "Copy." It 's with breaking into a system, calculated against their terms of service. Well, I guess someone could try to claim that that 's a kind of "anti-theft service," but also claim that doesn' t up too much control, because who had access to the MIT network - allowing guest access, as Swartz was with - had free access to JSTOR.

Permalink | Comments | E-mail this story

The U.S. EPA estimated that servers and data centers were responsible for up to 1.5 percent of the total U.S. electricity consumption, or roughly 0.5 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, in 2007. With companies such as Apple and Google strongly pushing the move to cloud computing, that figure is likely to increase significantly in the coming decade. Since a lot of energy is consumed keeping the computer systems cool, colder climates are seen as more favorable sites for data centers. But a new paper from Microsoft Research proposes a different approach that would see servers, dubbed Data ovens , Distributed on office buildings and apartments, where they would act as a primary heat source ... Continue Reading Microsoft Research paper suggests that 'ovens Data' to heat the house

Section: Good idea

Tags:

HP 's TouchPad can not have quite lived up to our high expectations, but that' s not stopping the world 'webOS first tablet from going global. Carphone Warehouse, PC World, Argos, Amazon, and of course HP.com: UK has availability for HP 's 9.7-incher on the next 15th July with all the usual suspects participation has been unveiled. Pricing is set at ? 399 ($ ??660) for the 16GB WiFi-only model or carry 479 pounds ($ 790) for the 32GB version. HP has also managed to get some content partners on board for this start, in that "exciting, exclusive" material coming from The Guardian , LastFM, Warner Bros, and Sky News. Full PR after the break.

Read more HP TouchPad on sale in the United Kingdom on 15 July from ? ? 399

HP TouchPad on sale in the United Kingdom on 15 July from ? ? 399 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 June 2011 07:32:00 EDT. Please read our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | HP (16GB) (32GB)

We \ re not "big fans of the word moist , nor the objects it usually describes. But if you call it muddy , Slap some memory options in it and develop it into a North Carolina State University lab - well, then we have smiles 're all. That is exactly what researchers at the school performed with their ", much like the human brain" memory (mmmm. .. brain). Known as memristors these biocompatible electronics are ideal for harsh, humid environments, where others dare not enter tech wussies. Maturity with the wobbly "properties of Jell-O," the muddy water-gel houses gallium and iridium alloys that fluctuate between on / off electrically conductive and resistive states - that 's 0 or 1 Capacity for invention, the gelatinous isn 't yet optimized for substantial real-world, but you can bet this thing' ll be in their way Krang 's exo-suit anyday now. Bill Cosby approved PR after the break.

Read more NC State University researchers to create soft memory machine, Just Add Water

NC State University researchers to create soft memory machine, just add water originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, July 14, 2011 17:38:00 EDT. Please read our terms for use of feeds.

It 's been only a few weeks as we full specs on LG \ got' s Optimus 3D (also known as AT & T 4G Thrill known), and here it is, as promised, diving across the pond. Yup, everyone 's Favorite misnomered online retailer, Carphone Warehouse, Phone glassesless Froyo go for a cool ? 500 SIM-free. You can also click on your dual-core 3D LG for ? 35 per month from O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone. For those of you who are U.S. patriots to get your hands on what to get in time for the Fourth of July, but you 'll have another way to find the weenie roast record in all three dimensions - there' s still no word on when the 3D Optimus will land stateside.

LG 3D Optimus now SIM-free for ? ? 500 at Carphone Warehouse originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 4th July 2011 22:03:00 EDT. Please read our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink T3 | Carphone Warehouse

French designer Pierre Stephane Dumas has created a line of portable cabins transparent and provides a quiet space to retreat. The idea behind the bubble collection was a temporary leisure accommodation, the lowest impact on the environment, while also the impression was of being surrounded by nature to create. The range includes the BubbleTree, cristal bubble, bubble bubble, and lodge room, all of which are likely to spend a night without the natural environment ... Continue Reading nature experience of your own bubble

Section:Outdoors

Tags: Bubble, Portable, Sphere, tree house

Related articles:

• Bubble-bike: U.S. $ 750 electric tricycle
• The Ultimate Bubble League
• Air cushioned sleeve promises more protection for your laptop
• Canon i865 Bubble Jet prints directly onto CDs
• Dolphins inspire a better kind of sonar
• iPod-infused jacket in 15 new designs