gleans + 1xaddenda at 11:15 AM MT, 11/28
A literary crawl of New York Joshua Stein ditches the guidebook and turns to New York's rich literary heritage to get under the city's skin
'Discovery of an organic sugar molecule in a star-forming region of space is very exciting '
--Wired
Killers 'well-trained and remorseless' Head of commando unit describes the fighting and carnage inside the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels
Japanese told: go home and procreate Government expected to pass bill allowing married people to work less, so they will have sex more
addenda
China Losing Luster with U.S. Manufacturers A new survey finds rising worries about product quality and intellectual-property theft. More U.S. companies are looking elsewhere
IN: Inside Innovation In this issue of BusinessWeek's Inside Innovation, we take a look at innovation efforts worldwide, from big money contests such as the X-Prize to Indian design startups looking to win offshore and domestic customers. Plus, green cars and Broadway branding
Network Security Breaches Plague NASA Repeated attacks from abroad on NASA computers and Web sites are causing consternation among officials and stirring national security concerns
Lost In Transmission - Sales of videoconferencing systems were up 24% in 2008’s first half, reports industry analyst Wainhouse Research. But a new study suggests a meeting’s message can get lost in the medium. Researchers at Boston University and Penn State’s Great Valley campus surveyed 282 doctors who attended grand rounds (presentations on complex cases) in person or by video. The video attendees were twice as likely to base their evaluation of the meetings on the speaker rather than the content. They were also more likely to say the speaker was hard to follow. Why? Co-author Stephanie Watts of Boston University says our brains gather data about people before turning to what they say. In person, we do this quickly. But speakers are harder to “read” on screen, so we focus more on them. New “telepresence” video systems, which create the illusion of sitting in the same room—even allowing eye contact between participants—may help solve the problem. The catch: Some cost up to $300,000.
Making Computers Based on the Human Brain
Gladwell's Outliers: Timing is Almost Everything
TOOL: Move Aside, Kindle - An electronic-text reader by Plastic Logic of Mountain View, Calif., due out in 2009, will be aimed at business travelers. The 8½ x 11-in. device, which downloads online content from newspapers and magazines as well as word-processing and other work files, uses technology that recreates print, not Web, versions of publications. The plastic-encased screen is thinner, lighter—and larger—than Amazon.com’s Kindle. Plastic Logic also is working on a reader flexible enough to bend like paper.
FHA-Backed Loans: The New Subprime The same people whose reckless practices triggered the global financial crisis are onto a similar scheme that could cost taxpayers tons more
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