KBTV: February 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008

Skiing in Vail!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Gas-pumping Robot

Some of you may remember the good old days when there were still full-service gas stations, where a neatly dressed, smiling attendant would pump your gas for you with a smile. There are still a few places where this is still the case, like if you stop in a remote section of New Jersey, but for the most part self-service gas stations are the norm. Well, if you’re taking a trip to the Netherlands any time soon and stop to fill up your tank, you may encounter quite a different type of person filling up your tank – one made of metal with computer chips and lots of wires…yes, a robot.

A group of Dutch inventors recently unveiled a $111,100 car-fuelling robot. They claim it’s the first of its kind.

This high tech robot works by registering the car as it pulls up to the pump and matching it to a database of fuel cap designs and fuel types. A robotic arm fitted with multiple sensors then extends from a regular gas pump. It carefully opens the car’s flap, unscrews the fuel cap, grabs the fuel nozzle and sticks it inside the tank. It basically works much like a human arm would, and the inventors claim, it’s just as efficient.

The robot’s developer and owner of the gas station putting it to work, Nico van Staveren, says the got the idea for this invention when he was on a farm and saw a robotic arm milking a cow. He thought, “If a robot can do that then why can’t it fill a car tank.” He figured that drivers, and gas pumping attendants, shouldn’t have to get their hands dirty or smell the gas on their bodies.

Staveren hopes to introduce his robot, called the “Tankpitstop” to several Dutch stations by the end of the year.

The only limitation is that the robot can’t fill the tank of a car whose contours and dimensions aren’t recorded in its database. It if tries, it could scratch the car. The robot also doesn’t work on tanks that have locks on them.

Okay, so say these Dutch stations install this gas-pumping robot. Will anyone actually want to use it? One Dutchman filling his black Alfa Romeo near Staveren’s station said, “Why not? I guess I could keep my hands free and clean, but I’d hope they have good insurance.” He makes a good point!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Beatles in Space!

This week NASA sent a transmission of The Beatles 1968 song "Across the Universe" shooting into space towards residents of the Polaris star system. But those residents – if there are any – won't be getting the message for 431 years. So why'd they do it? To commemorate the 40 anniversary of the song's recording and NASA's 50th birthday.

NASA, with help from friends at Spain's space agency, beamed an MP3 of the four-minute song from a giant space antenna near Madrid where it began its long road to Polaris – also known as the North Star – which is about 2.5 quadrillion miles away. But before NASA could send The Beatles’ song into space they had to get permission.

Martin Lewis, a Low Angeles-based Beatles Historian, got the OK from former Beatle Paul McCartney, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and the two companies that own the rights to The Beatles' music. According to an Associate Press report, one of the companies, Apple Records, said that it was happy to approve the song for this transmission because it is "always looking for new markets."

The date of the “Beatles in space launch” had a few more significant dates attached to it. It also marked the 50th anniversary of Explorer 1, the first US satellite and the founding 45 years ago of the Deep Space Network, a system of antennas across the globe that transmits and receives signals from distant stars.

The event may, however, turn out to be simply an exercise in posterity, since there is a good chance The Beatles' music will never reach alien ears – assuming they even have any!

To pick up the signal NASA sent the citizens of Polaris would have to have an antenna and receiver. These alien listeners would also need the technology to decrypt the mp3 format. And all this, of course, hinges on there actually being anyone on Polaris.

Despite the obstacles, those involved are optimistic. The diligent Beatles' historian Mr. Lewis told The Guardian "We don't know if there's life out there, but I'd like to think the US government wouldn't be spending taxpayers' money of this if there was no hope.

Even if all those things I mentioned before do work out and there actually are extra terrestrial beings listening, we can’t expect a reply for a long, long, long time. Well exactly when you ask. In the words of NASA scientists.. not for a "long, long, long” time.

Polaris, aka the North Star, is situated at the end of the handle of the little dipper. As I said before about 2.5 quadrillion miles away. Traveling at light speed, the signal will take 431 years to reach the star and at least that long for a response to get back to us. So we're looking at about 862 years!!!

So what does former Beatle Paul McCartney, the last living member of the band, think about this whole project. He dashed off a short, handwritten letter to NASA before the launch saying: "Amazing! Well done, NASA! Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."

Friday, February 8, 2008

Physicians for Peace

People always ask me, how do you get your story ideas? I realize I cover a wide range of topics so it’s an appropriate question. The short answer is I am endlessly curious and I try to engage in life as much as I can. I’ll give you an example, an old friend of mine, a hugely talented entrepreneur named Court Coursey, invited me up to a dinner party in Palm Beach. Before dinner, a group of us walked down the street to a cocktail party where I had no idea what to expect. Low and behold a man stands up and begins to make a presentation. His name is Ron Sconyers and he’s the Chief Executive Officer of an organization called Physicians for Peace. I perched on the side of a chair in the living room and listened intently while various members of Physicians for Peace delivered short presentations. I thought what a terrific organization! And so here I am.

Physicians for Peace bills itself as an international humanitarian non-profit medical education organization.

So … what does that mean? When the CEO stood up he provided a parable "if you give a man a fish you can feed him for a day. If you teach a man how to fish? You can feed him for a lifetime." Basically they’re not just coming in and helping people. They are teaching them how to help themselves. This idea is what separates them from other similar non-profits like Doctors Without Boarders.

The MISSION STATEMENT at Physicians for Peace is to further the cause of world peace and international goodwill by providing quality medical education and care to those in need. To date, they’ve completed programs in 50 different countries. How it works is they’ll send in a team of medical volunteers who specialize in the areas of care the country needs most. These teams will stay from one to six weeks.

During that time they train local medical professionals and begin all sorts of medical programs, which the host countries sustain and replicate. They also, however, offer their expertise by treating the people, reshaping eye sockets, correcting urinary and genital defects, fitting prosthetic limbs, repairing burn scars and clef palates. They’ve even done open-heart surgery and performed a range of cancer therapies.

Physicians for Peace was legally founded in 1989 by internationally recognized humanitarian Dr. Charles E. Horton, Sr., on the principle that those who desire to heal owe allegiance to no one country, ethnicity or creed. And that’s where the “peace” mentioned in their name fits into the equation.

They have medical volunteers from diverse cultures and opposing sides of ethnic and international conflicts working side by side, fostering this idea of a community that transcends race or culture. A few examples: Physicians for Peace have united teams of doctors from Iran and Iraq, Turkey and Greece, the Philippines and Japan…and, yes, even Palestine and Israel.

What’s got these volunteers from places facing bitter divides and even violence working so well together? A dyer need. The developing world carries 90 percent of the global disease burden yet has only 10 percent of the medical resources, this according to the United Nations Foundation. And most of these diseases are curable…we’ve had the treatment since the 1950s.

I was hit by the reality of this need that night in Palm Beach when a doctor whose specialty is OBGYN. She stood up and told us that 1 in every 12 women die in child birth in Liberia. About 1 in every 6,000 women dies in childbirth here in the US. WOW, I thought. She went on to share her story of traveling to Liberia and teaching everything from midwifery to actual birthing procedures. But what struck me was the ending line of her presentation: “If you heal someone, you help one person. If you teach someone to heal, you help many." It was incredibly moving.

To learn more about Physicians for Peace check out their web site….www.physiciansforpeace.org/

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Born Rich Baby!

This is a bit of a segue, but today I wanted to talk about a website titled BornRich.org. I stumbled upon BornRich.org while perusing PC Magazine’s Top 100 Websites. They bill themselves as “BornRich is an Instablogs Network site. Its sole aim is to help you spend all your hard-earned money on the snootiest thingmagig around. Our people are working around the clock to find ways to empty your wallet and make you bankrupt.”

With the subprime fiasco? We need more forces to make people bankrupt? Well we’re not just talking about people, apparently we’re talking about BORNRICH … people

Here are some of the highlights that I found!

My favorite? The Sigzilla telephoto zoom lens, it’s one sexy beast! This uber-telescope/huge telephoto zoom lens, which involves a necessary Li-ion battery to provide power for focusing and zooming, is a MUST HAVE! Price tag? 25 grand!

NEXT UP!

The Indoor Shooting system … let’s you get trigger happy at home!

To make all your unfulfilled gun-wielding fantasies come true, check out the N Range Indoor Shooting System. Stick a picture of your boss/wife/mother-in-law’s head over the aim, and you’re good to go! The Standard version retails for $1,300 and the Executive version goes for $3,500. Makes a better mental health investment than a nosey shrink – any day!

Perhaps you don’t want to shoot your boss? The alternative to NOT going to jail, the Gorgeous Walk-In Humidor for true cigar connoisseurs.

Developed by the legendary Swiss humidor maestros Michel Perrenoud, S.A., the home humidor is perfect for a living room or smoking cellar installation. Though primarily conceptualized for hotels and cigar bars which feature separate smoking rooms, the home humidor gives you and your family the peace and quiet their separate lifestyles require. Needless to say you? You’ll have to dish out precisely $82,383 plus installation and international shipping. Cigar Rehab anyone?

Perhaps you’re interested in something more soothing and serene? The Silverfish Aquarium might just be the final frontier for watching your fish swim about… and the warmth and comfort that implicitly provides!

Have you given up on filling what your shrink calls the “hole in your soul” … well perhaps the $94,000 diamond-studded cell phone courtesy of Softbank and Tiffany is the answer to your loneliness and fear!

Following what THEY call contemporary trends, the Softbank Mobile, Japan, has announced a diamond-studded phone, finished jointly with renowned American jeweler Tiffany. The sparkling handset is jeweled with more than 400 diamonds totaling over 20 carats, which will be based on third-generation (3G) model and up for grabs for around $94,000. The hot luxury phone is a part of 15 new handsets lineup that will hit the market from February onwards. Oooohhh! Just in time for Valentine’s Day!

* * * * *

Next up … is your laptop … just not BLING enough? Check out the … Zeus enclose PCs in platinum, gold, diamond cases
Zeus Computers, Tokyo is out there with a line of luxury PCs enclosed in ornamented cases encrusted with precious metals and diamonds. It is not just an asset for celebs and well-off people, the hot luxury line of computers, including $760,000 pure platinum ‘Jupiter’ model and $570,000 solid gold ‘Mars’ model

I will close with a most outlandish choice … and I include it for a man who is near and dear to my heart! I present a giant triceratops skeleton … which will be auctioned off at Christie’s in Paris this spring.

It’s a giant triceratops skeleton and it is expected to sell for $736,000. This dinosaur has been immortalized in Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. A giant shark teeth and a sabre-toothed tiger skull will be also up for auction. The auction is scheduled for April 14. It’s the very first time in Christie’s history that such a dinosaur specimen goes up for public sale since a T-Rex called ‘Sue’ was sold in New York in October 1997.

The four-legged triceratops dates back between 65 and 67 million years, measures 7.5 meters (nearly 25-foot-long) in length and has a large bony frill and three horns. There are 150 items in total up for bids, including fossils, skeletons and minerals. A sabre-toothed tiger cranium is anticipated to fetch 45,000 Euros while a fossilized giant shark teeth from 23 to 5.3 million years ago is valued at 4,000 Euros. Other than that, a tyrannosaurus egg is expected to sell for between 20,000 and 25,000 Euros while an apatosaurus dinosaur tibia from the Jurassic Period has been valued at 30,000 Euros. What are you going to buy to impress your guests?

Go to www.bornrich.org to check it all out!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Rat out Your Neighbors Dot Com

Today on our Entrepreneur of the Month segment we will be looking at an enterprising man who’s banked on an age-old practice: gossiping about your neighbors. His new web site Rottenneighbor.com has become an instant success across the nation with 1 million hits each day.

Basically, as creator Brant Walker put it – his is a site that allows potential homebuyers and renters to see just what kind of neighbors they’d be getting if they moved in. All you have to do is type an address into the search bar on the home page. The location is then patched through in a Google Earth map and voila!! You can read stuff that’s been posted about the people in your neighborhood. Anyone can post anonymous comments, video and pictures about their neighbors. These show up on the map as either a green house – for good comments – or a bright red house – for bad neighbors.

Walker, a 27-year-old businessman from San Diego, got the idea for Rottenneighbor.com after a bad neighbor experience of his own. He and his girlfriend moved into a new apartment, and they soon noticed a rotten smelling coming from their neighbor’s place. Had they known what their neighbors were like, the couple wouldn’t have moved in. That’s when he thought…hmmm, “there should be some sort of service to let you know about your neighbors.”

Funded by investors and supported by Google advertising, Rottennighbor.com is developing additional features such as a social network where people can create a profile for free, add friends and send messages…a la Myspace.

But the real draw is the comments, which are often brutally honest and just plain funny. Here are a few of my favorites… “These are the dirtiest and most ignorant people I have ever met. Their house looks like a landfill," reads a post about a home in Kissimmee, Florida.

Another anonymous poster from New York has this to say about his neighbor in a home just off Parke Avenue: “Super rich Billionaire on the block has two or more Escalades parked illegally at all times making it impossible to park.” And finally a poster in Los Angeles who complains, "These people are snoopers. They snoop into other peoples yards as they walk there dog.”

Despite some biting posts, Walker says the Web site is providing an important service by helping people choose a place to live. Some, however, aren’t convinced. Critics say the posts could affect home values and invade people’s privacy. But Walker points out that he is legally protected by the Communications Decency Act of 1996. He’s also set up a system for removing “offensive” posts or comments that violate the terms and conditions of the site.

Despite the skeptics, Walker’s Rottennighbor.com has 1 million hits a day with people from New York, Los Angeles and Chicago among its most active users. He says there is even a reality television show in the works, based on the problems posted on the site.

Walker says the web site’s popularity is no coincidence. Even with the obvious pitfalls, he is confident that it’s helping potential buyers and renters and creating better neighbors since they can be held accountable for their actions.

After researching this piece…I was curious about what people were saying in my neighborhood. Were my neighbors saying anything about me? I decided to plug in my address and find out.

So far there are no posts in my neighborhood yet. Maybe I’ll be the first to comment. Go to rottenneighbor.com to see what people are saying about your neighbors!

KBTV