Innovation CHEF

Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan Mentions Iceland!

In his Address to the Irish Taxation Institute, entitled Returning to Economic Growth: The next steps, the Minister talks about the Irish Economy.

Apparently all will be well.
The plan is a bit like this:

• Car Scrappage Scheme
• Tax Measures

Anyway Iceland pops up in an argument against 100% Nationalisation:

Interesting…

Try this circuit exercise to keep the blood pumping.

Healthy Body -Healthy Mind.

An innovative, no gym required solution to get you fit and healthy in these recessionary times. In order to be able to have those good ideas you need to be able to get the oxygen up to the brain. Getting fit is a sure fire way of becoming more creative!

I’ve tried it and it gets tough pretty quickly.

Week 1. Get used to the circuit training with 1-2 sets a day

Week 2.  Take it up to 15 minutes a day

Week 3. First 2 days: 3-4 sets then take the next day off. Repeat

Week 4. Now up to 4-5 sets a day adding some free weights

Thanks to the great resources at http://cafe.daum.net/slim

One million times as powerful as a standard battery here comes the Nuclear powered battery.

Researchers from the University of Missouri have demonstrated a penny-sized “nuclear battery” that produces energy from the decay of radioisotopes. Nuclear batteries have been around for a while but have always been a lot bigger. Not only is the size convenient and the charge much higher these batteries could last for hundreds of years.

The innovation lies not only in the battery’s size, but also in its semiconductor. This battery uses a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.

And yes it’s safe.

Everyone that uses a laptop and has had their battery dying while trying to send that important email or before that crucial presentation looks forward to seeing them soon.

The brillant this i believe project has a podcast from Mr. Bill Gates. One of the habits that I picked up while living in the USA was listening to National Public Radio (NPR) and their excellent website is always packed with podcasts and articles of interest to everyone.

In the essay titled “Unleashing The Power Of Creativity And Intelligence” Bill talks about his belief that Creativity and Intelligence can make the world a better place.

It is a short piece so rather than spoil it here I’d encourage you to listen here and explore the website a little. Enjoy!

Having been a business traveller on many an occasion this list brought back memories of hotels, jet lag and very dodgy claims. HowStuffworks has a nice list of the Top Ten Most Popular Infomercials. When I lived in the US I didn’t bother with TV too much – strictly a travelling thing! Infomercials are a much ignored source of innovations that actually are meeting a large market.

“But wait, there’s more!”

I think I owned a Power Juicer, a Magic Bullet and eversharp knives.

“Now how much would you pay?”

Pretty Sure I bought them in the local Goodwill store

“Call within the next 10 minutes, and we’ll double your order!”

Sadly I think they may have went back to the Goodwill

“Cleanup is a snap!”

Yes indeed

And an infomercial that didn’t the cut:

Looking for a career change? Something a little bit different? How about this for an opportunity to work in both open-source software and social media, on a project that is out of this world:

Astronomer Jill Tarter has made a far-reaching TED Prize wish — to look for signs of intelligent life on other planets.

I wish that you would empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company.

As part of making this wish come true, the SETI Institute is looking to hire a project manager with the experience, qualifications and energy to run the TED Prize wish project for at least two years. For the full job description check on the TED Blog.

Astronomer Jill Tarter is Director of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute’s Center for SETI Research, and also holder of the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI.

See Jill make her wish :