Nintendo's Newest

Nintendo DSi versus DS (1up.com)

Nintendo released the new DSi in Japan on October 2. The newer version of the current DS console is just more than a pocket sized game tool.

Compared to the current DS in the market, the DSi will provide larger screens, internet web browser, a SD card slot in replacement of the gameboy cartidge slot, which will allow players to download pictures, music and game files that allows easy access. Wi-fi will also be available.

Japan is shelving the DSi for consumers in the beginning of next month. Oversea gamers will have to wait until 2009. The console will be sold at retail for $180 compared to the current DS price of $130 due to the improvements.

Nintendo says they are not trying to replace DSi with home consoles such as Sony's Playstation 3 or the Microsoft's XBox 360. The current top competitor of the DSi is Apple's IPhone 3G as similar functions of gaming and media storage for those that are always on-the-go.

Nintendo sold over 77 million DS consoles in the past four years. They hope to exceed that number when the DSi is released to the public.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/oct2008/gb2008102_147631.htm

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170309

- Ching

Facing an "Innovation Crisis?"

"Judy Estrin, a serial entrepreneur and former chief technology officer of Cisco Systems (CSCO), believes America faces an innovation crisis. Closing the Innovation Gap, which was released early last month, is Estrin's treatise on why America's position in the world has eroded in comparison with emerging powers such as China and India—and what government and business can do to redress the deficit.

Her text, which was penned well before the American financial system began to unravel, is all the more timely because of the panic in the markets. One core argument is that many executives have a penchant for short-sighted investments, and that cowed corporate boards are unwilling to ask hard questions. The collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers only strengthens this critique.

Like many other commentators, Estrin also takes government to task for scaling back on nondefense science spending, leading some of America's innovation muscles to atrophy. This predicament may soon grow much more serious, as scientists around the world have warned, (Watch this video to hear Estrin's updated commentary on how Wall Street's turmoil affects America's position in the world.)"

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2008/id2008108_987380.htm

-Nina Pak

Mac is always coming up with something new...

NYTimes.com reports that today Steve Jobbs announced a new line of Apple laptop computers. They are specifically for the MacBook Pro and the MacBook are carved from 2.5 pound blocks of aluminum that will make them more rigid and reliable.

I don't know about you, but I am so annoyed with Apple! Every time you buy the latest, best thing that they released, you can expect in a couple months that the BETTER, NEWER version will be out putting your OLD one to shame. I just got a new MacBook and now look?! They are coming out with one that is more reliable and lighter! Great! Oh yeah, I just bought the new iPod touch...oh wait, they just came out with a newer one!!! I have been through 3 iPods because every time you buy one they come out with a better one, smaller one, etc.

I'm frustrated.

Lauren D.

Hate turbulence? Solution is on its way!

Some travelers, like myself, enjoy turbulence - it almost makes the flight seem like a fun roller coaster.  Others, however, are easily frightened and bad turbulence could turn a vacation into a nightmare.  

According to newscientist.com, "The existing method of warning pilots of clear air turbulence (CAT), called Graphical Turbulence Guidance, relies on pilot reports and observations of the atmosphere, including lightning data, but is not particularly accurate."

Paul Williams at the University of Reading, UK, and his colleagues created a model that focuses on the cause of turbulence.  The model uses wind speed measurements to predict where turbulence lies and how to avoid it.  In a 144-day test, it correctly predicted 83 percent of reported incidents.  

Looks like this may be the end of the road for bumpy skies.  

-Michael Strachan

Nationwide Free Wireless Web

According to an October 13, 2008, Wall Street Journal article, the Federal Communications Commission can now "move forward with a plan to auction off airwaves to a bidder who agrees to offer free, national wireless Internet service."

A report by FCC engineers has concluded that private telecommunication companies' concerns, that such nationwide free service would disrupt their own spectrum-adjacent commercial networks, are unfounded.

The article reports that some wireless companies and lawmakers are concerned about the proposed auction because it "appears to favor M2Z Networks, Inc.... a start-up that originally floated the free-Internet plan two years ago." The company has said it would fund the build-out of the free network through advertising and subscription plans for customers who want faster Internet service.

The proposal stipulates that the free network must reach 50% of the U.S. population in four years and 95% within ten years.

The public's access to a free Internet network is laudable, and will hopefully narrow the digital divide in the country. That daily, convenient, and affordable connection to the Internet has, up to now, been open only to some and not others is not only unfair but slows productivity and access to critical information and communications on an individual and national basis.

But what bandwidth speed will the free service offer? Would the draw of users away from paid, commercial vendors cause monopolistic corporations like T-Mobile, Verizon/AT&T, and local ISP's to think of new ways to retain existing customers and attract new ones? Healthy competition is good because it drives innovation forward, and drives down prices for consumers. But, by the same token, how might M2Z Networks or some other company, overly dominate the proposed free national network? How might the build-out for the network be more fairly divided among several companies? And has M2Z engaged in any inappropriate activity to gain apparent favor with the FCC, which is headed by Bush appointee and corporate-monopoly-friendly chairman Kevin Martin? What are the implications here? Is there something else going on behind the scenes that we should be aware of?

Moreover, how might such a network impact local and more diverse media, especially news media? Will it allow for the dynamic creation of more independent regional and local commercial and community media, thus fostering a more democratic flourishing of ideas and information? Wouldn't that be a boost to the free-market economy as well? And would such a free, wireless platform ironically circumvent or call greater attention to the need for appropriate FCC anti-trust regulation of private commercial entities?

- Misako M.

U.S. Economist Wins Nobel for Integrative Models

U.S. economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has been awarded the prestigious $1.4 million Nobel Prize. The Nobel committee said it recognized Krugman for his formulation of a non-traditional theory that integrates "previously disparate research fields of international trade and economic geography."

Quoting the committee in a N.Y. Times article, Krugman's work was awarded for “'having shown the effects of economies of scale on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity.'” The Princeton University professor has "developed models that explain observed patterns of trade between countries, as well as what goods are produced where and why. Traditional trade theory assumes that countries are different and will exchange different kinds of goods with each other; Mr. Krugman’s theories have explained why worldwide trade is dominated by a few countries that are similar to each other, and why some countries might import the same kinds of goods that it exports," according to the N.Y. Times article.

Per said article, Princeton courses taught by Krugman include a graduate-level course on international monetary theory and policy -- a timely subject that focuses on international liquidity crises. Other classes he teaches involve the study of the welfare state and international trade, and freshman seminars on various economic topics. The Nobel recipient is also known to be a strong critic of the Bush administration.

Given that innovation journalism seeks to integrate the relevant quadrants of technology, innovation, business, and society, I wonder how and where technology intersects with Krugman's work -- both as a subject and as a research tool. Obviously, the prize winner sees critical connections in areas of global import that were not strongly recognized before. His integrative research methods would seem to hold insights that innovation journalists would do well to become familiar with, especially in the fallout of the current global financial quagmire and how intimately technology and trade influence economies worldwide, as well as impact the digital divide across global cultures.

- Misako M.

How much worse could it get for newspapers?

NYtimes.com reports that the growth in online advertising has begun to look grim.

Newspapers websites have added more technological features including podcasts and videos at the hopes that it would attract more advertisers but now the revenue is declining.

"As newspapers keep adding pages, they are forced to sell ads at cut-rate prices," the article reported.

They have to go to networks to keep their companies moving like eBay who is looking for direct responses.

Lauren D.