O'Reilly News & Commentary

10 Ways to Use the Network to Be More Sustainable - Practical Suggestions to Take Action Now

By Sarah Sorensen
October 22, 2009

We are currently in a pivotal point in our world's history - the choices we make today will impact future generations. We need to change our consumptive habits, adjust our resource dependencies and create more sustainable social, economic and political models. I often get asked, "What can I, as an individual, do right now to better leverage the network and be more sustainable?" I have these 10 suggestions.

Life With TED - Micromanaging Your Carbon Footprint - I've spent three days watching my power consumption like a hawk, here's how it's going

By James Turner
October 20, 2009

I've been interested in having a better handle on my electrical consumption for a long time. Our family regularly goes through 1100-1200 kWh a month, and it's been frustrating that I couldn't really get a grip on where or when the power was really being used. I want to get my power usage under control. Fortunately Google announced on their blog that normal mortals could now order a device called The Energy Detective (or TED, as he's known by his friends...) Using TED, I've been able to quickly find the critical items that I need to make sure get shut off when not used.

Clean Energy and Security Act - First Step for U.S.

By Sarah Sorensen
July 1, 2009

While we may have had the weekend to try to digest the House's passage (by a close vote of 219-212) of the American Clean Energy and Security Act, I find there's still no consensus on what it means for the U.S. It's not just because it is hard to extract saliency from the 1200 pages that make up the bill, but rather because it's virtually impossible to understand what form the bill will ulitimately take if (and that's a potentially sizeable if) it gets through the Senate. (You may fondly remember the catchy Schoolhouse Rock song "I'm just a bill").

Does "green" really matter?

By Sarah Sorensen
June 24, 2009

"Green" has a definite role in business, while politics and religion are probably best left outside the board room. Why does "green" matter? Setting aside issues around climate change - which is often where religious debates occur - from a practical standpoint, there are real business implications.

O'Reilly Week in Review for February 23rd, 2009

By James Turner
February 25, 2009

This week, the O'Reilly editors discuss how the new stimulus package may effect the alternative energy industry, we hear an excerpt of an interview with virologist Dr. Nathan Wolfe, and get a new patent-related podquiz question to puzzle over....

ETech Preview: Why LCD is the Cool New Technology All Over Again

By James Turner
February 11, 2009

One of the things that the One Laptop Per Child project is best known for is the amazing transflective display technology that it utilized. Combining a traditional backlit color display with a black and white display that could be used outdoors, it both met the needs of low power usage and outdoor readability that is crucial in developing countries. When Mary Lou Jepsen, who developed the display for the XO, left to form Pixel Qi, the expectation was that some of the revolutionary engineering that was used in the XO would begin to make its way onto the broader consumer market. Since she’ll be talking at O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology Conference in March, we decided to check in and see what she's up to.

ETech Preview: Living the Technomadic Life

By James Turner
February 9, 2009

One of the themes at O'Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference this March is nomadism, and no one is a better example of a technomad than Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard. Traveling around the country in a custom 17' trailer towed by a Diesel Jeep Liberty, they manage to run a consulting firm while satisfying their desire to see new places and meet new people. We took a few minutes to talk to them about what it takes technologically to make it work, and what a life on the road is life.

Cheering For Green Tech - Critically

By Julian Darley
January 28, 2009

When times are bad, especially this bad, it is tempting to increase the level of cheerleading, but it may be better think more carefully and critically about future technology, especially green tech, so that we spend our precious resources most wisely.

Pedal Powered Petaflops

By Kurt Cagle
January 15, 2009

Chances are that when you think about supercomputing, you think about big machines (or lots of machines) all running full bore while performing complex calculations to determine weather patterns or wind-tunnel simulations. Secondarily is the assumption about power - you need lots of it, as well as ways of cooling those systems down (which requires even more power).

Help! The Polar Bears Have Fallen Down the Well!

By James Turner
November 24, 2008

Over the past year, the news editors at O'Reilly have been shifting their focus a bit, adding coverage of green tech, biotech, innovations, economics and other non-computer areas to the existing news coverage. We may not be able to change human nature, but maybe we can make it irrelevant.

Shai Agassi on Electric Cars

By Ben Lorica
November 12, 2008

One of my favorite sessions at the recent Web 2.0 summit was Tim's half-hour conversation with Shai Agassi, the CEO of Better Place. Better Place aims to make electric cars widespread ("the electric car as the de facto standard") by addressing major issues that have held back electric vehicles: affordability and convenience. In a relaxed conversation with Tim, Shai described...

Top Tech Jobs for 2012

By Kurt Cagle
October 30, 2008

Trying to predict the future is always tough, but in many ways its toughest for those in college, trying to figure out where they'll find jobs when they graduate ... especially if the thrust of your interest is in technical fields. It used to be that you could look at the industry as it stood and pick the job that you wanted to graduate into, but increasingly it is likely that the job that you'll have within ten years doesn't even have a name today.

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