Monthly Archives: September 2007

No escape

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Puddingmedia has developed software that listens to your online phonecalls and displays ads on your computer screen.

For instance, a caller talking about going for dinner might see ads to local restaurants and restaurant review sites, while someone pondering whether to buy a new computer might see ads for computer stores. Relevant unsponsored links also appear.

I am not pleased about this. I don’t care if

The advertising model is similar to that of Google Inc’s Gmail, which shows ads based on scans of the user’s e-mail correspondence. That idea initially raised privacy concerns, but those have abated as users have become comfortable with the system.

Abated my backside. There’s a good reason I sweep my computers with AdAware and Spybot at least twice a week.

The company keeps no record of the phonecalls, but already has plans to expand into the mobile phone market. This would mean ads pop up on your handset once the call is finished.

I’m amazed the AP reporter didn’t look deeper into the privacy issue. He seems to have been happy enought trying out the software and accepting the company’s line on things. I suppose if you rock the boat too much you don’t get invited to these things any more.

The system has begun testing here.

Balancing growth and green

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Jeffrey Ball has a point in wondering if developing nations will risk growth for the sake of the environment.

the debate over how to prod emission cuts by industrialized countries is fast being eclipsed by a more-practical question: how to create incentives for the cuts in the developing world.

With China challenging the US in the biggest greenhouse gas emitter stakes, it is no longer sufficient for established economies to cut back. Rising powers such as India will have to make an effort as well. However, these nations aren’t just going to give in:

Developing economies have made clear they aren’t about to subject themselves to emission caps. The West enjoyed its fossil-fueled century of economic growth, they point out. Now it is their turn.

They are certainly entitled to growth, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be through fossil fuels — though these are still the cheapest and easiest way to power an economy.

The carbon credits market hasn’t had the desired effect. It’s worth billions but hasn’t slowed emissions to the level they need to be.

The Kyoto treaty tries to encourage tree-planting in the developing world by letting companies that do it peddle carbon credits — an additional revenue stream. Some forest-rich developing nations want to be able to sell such credits not just for planting new trees, but for preserving existing ones that otherwise might be logged.

While this proposal was rejected as being too open to abuse, it’s something that should be resurrected. Trees are an elemental tool in tackling CO2, as they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. However, in many nations logging clears land for farming as well as being worth a lot of money in its own right.

Lest you think I’m insane, I don’t believe that just planting trees will save the planet. However, it’s just one of many ideas that can make a difference, and it is time all economies took it seriously.

Evolutionary biology and office politics

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I knew it! The art that is workplace politics goes way back to our days as hairy apes.

On promotions, Stanford neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky references baboons:

Big sharp teeth and lots of muscle have tons to do with which males become high-ranking; social intelligence and impulse control have everything to do with which males remain high-ranking.

He also says the best way to minimise workplace tension is by having lots of small groups, meaning people can move from one to another if there’s some small conflict:

Among lots of hunter-gatherers, you don’t settle the fight with someone by punching it out. You go and hang with your cousins in the next valley for some time instead.