Links from the Gregg Zone

1) Having been a cab driver in the past I can relate to the concept of test marketing a green, or any other concept that involves moving people around. Utilizing a controlled fleet of vehicles in an urban setting that operates 24-7 makes sense. This is an article about such a project underway in Tokyo, using electric taxis with easy swap batteries. Sounds like a winner to me, hope they do well. http://www.physorg.com
2) Last week I posted about the air forces new space plane, this week I found this article about how the Pentagon lost their Mach 20 Glider somewhere at sea. The phrase Mach 20 Glider caused me to do a mental double take… glider 20 times the speed of sound, did I read that correctly. Well that was what it meant, yes it is a glider, and the test was take off in California, land at an atoll 4,100 miles out in the Pacific Ocean with a 30 min travel time. But, they lost it after nine min. http://www.wired.com
3) Another example of how we are no longer leading the world when it comes to advancing space technologies anymore. Japan has just announced they will launch a space yacht this month, to sail the galaxy powered by solar particles from the sun. Makes you wonder if we will ever do anything like that, no military application why spend the money. http://www.news.com
4) Not at all sure what to make of this virtual currency idea, after all money these days is basically a virtual currency since we went off the gold standard. And, for that matter gold only has value because we agree in aggregate to the concept, same as diamonds. So maybe this is just a first step in creating a new monetary system, look at how some third world countries use phone min to pay for groceries. http://industry.bnet.com
5) This is an interesting article about social media as an addictive problem facing the upcoming generations. I see this all around me these days, I see it as just another arena of the new technologies that do not fit my lifestyle. Personally I don’t have any concern one way or the other problem or no problem all the same, it is an interesting trend to watch though. http://edmonton.ctv.ca