by JAK | Feb 22, 2013 | big ideas, TED, TEDx, video
Next week is the TED2013 conference in Long Beach. Subtitled the – The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered; this series of talks looks to be a milestone in what has become the flagship of an ideas movement. What is different about this time is that auditions for...
by JAK | Feb 20, 2013 | big data, big ideas, industry futures
This is a kickstarter campaign by Australian economist Professor Steve Keen. Visual data modelling for economists is what the Minsky tool represents. Essentially this tool makes modelling much easier to understand and so I am all in favour of it and have backed it....
by JAK | Feb 14, 2013 | big ideas, culture, video
One of the things I love doing is working with students on learning and life development. Wait, let me re-phrase that – there is always another way to do something and if we are open to it the chance of learning moments can change us and those around us for the...
by JAK | Feb 2, 2013 | culture, TED
Every so often you come across a great list of things that can help you live smarter. Lately I have been talking with friends about how a bit of age is not a bad thing if it comes with perspective as well. In earlier days I use to try and write up my 10 ten things I...
by JAK | Jan 16, 2013 | big ideas, industry futures, video
One of the questions that comes up when researching solar power is that as all of the generation comes during daylight hours it is off-peak and less useful. In Australia daytime energy use is actually peak because of air conditioning and I suspect the changing work...
by JAK | Jan 15, 2013 | big ideas, industry futures, TEDx
One of the aspects of solar power generation that I have been interested in is whether there are any real economies of scale. For example having hundreds of thousands of 4kwh household units has advantages to those householders but what if solar was used to build an...
by JAK | Jan 13, 2013 | big ideas, culture
Nate Silver as many of you will know is a math pundit who founded the fivethirtyeight blog now over at the NY Times. That blog was all about the presidential election and over there he used a series of polls to predict (very successfully) the results of both the 2008...
by JAK | Jan 11, 2013 | culture, TED, TEDx
Today 70+ speakers were announced for TED 2013 to be held at the end of Feb in Long Beach. “This line-up features the largest number of speakers in TED’s history — more than 70. That’s because many of the talks this year are shorter. Often 12 minutes...
by JAK | Jan 10, 2013 | big ideas, development, industry futures
New Zealand has an overall objective of achieving “90 percent of our electricity generation coming from renewable energy sources by 2025, providing this does not affect security of supply.” So how have we been doing? Currently we are at 79% and making good...
by JAK | Jan 9, 2013 | big ideas, development, industry futures
This week I have been updating my notes on solar power generation. What seems clear in global terms is that in the US, Germany and Australia there has been much more proactive legislation to support and encourage the growth of renewables. New Zealand is fortunate in...
