Monday, February 21, 2011

ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD | OFFICIAL RELEASE | 2011

Friday, January 22, 2010

Hillary Clinton criticized the cyber policies of China and Iran

China warns U.S. over Clinton’s criticism

Beijing denies restricting Internet freedom, alleges ‘unjustified accusations’

Clinton: Virtual walls replacing physical walls
Jan. 21: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that the U.S. believes users around the world should be assured freedom of expression and open communication across the Internet.

Hillary Clinton criticized the cyber policies of China and Iran on Thursday and demanded Beijing investigate complaints by Google Inc about hacking and censorship.

View related photos

updated 4:49 a.m. MT, Fri., Jan. 22, 2010

BEIJING - China rejected Friday a call by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the lifting of restrictions on the Internet in the communist country, denouncing her criticism as false and damaging to bilateral ties.

A state-run newspaper labeled the appeal from Washington as "information imperialism."

Clinton's speech Thursday elevated the issue of Internet freedom in the U.S. human rights agenda as never before. She urged China to investigate cyber intrusions that recently prompted search engine Google to threaten to pull out of the country.

"Regarding comments that contradict facts and harm China-U.S. relations, we are firmly opposed," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted Friday on the ministry's Web site.

"We urge the U.S. side to respect facts and stop using the so-called freedom of the Internet to make unjustified accusations against China," the statement said.

In her speech in Washington, Clinton cited China as among a number of countries where there has been "a spike in threats to the free flow of information" over the past year. She also named Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

'Cultural conditions'
Ma defended China's policies promoting the Web, saying the nation boasted more than 380 million users, 3.6 million Web sites, and 180 million blogs.

"The Chinese Internet is open and China is the country witnessing the most active development of the Internet," Ma said, adding that China regulated the Web according to law and in keeping with its "national conditions and cultural traditions."

Internet control is considered a crucial matter of state security in China, and Beijing is not expected to offer any concessions to the U.S. Beijing promotes Internet use for commerce, but heavily censors content it deems pornographic, anti-social or politically subversive.

Chinese cyber police troll the Web for sensitive content, and many foreign news and social media sites, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, are permanently blocked. Following ethnic rioting in Xinjiang last summer, authorities cut off public Web access entirely to the western region, portions of which they have only recently begun restoring.

Clinton's speech came on the heels of a Jan. 12 threat from Google to pull out of China unless the government relented on rules requiring the censorship of content the Communist Party considers subversive. The ultimatum came after Google said it had uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the e-mail accounts of human rights activists protesting Chinese policies.

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said Thursday that the company hoped to find a way to maintain a presence in China but intended to stop censoring search results within "a reasonably short time."

U.S. State Department officials have said they intend to lodge a formal complaint with Chinese officials soon over the Google matter. Clinton not only urged China to investigate the cyber intrusions but openly publish its findings.

China has sought to downplay the Google dispute and Ma repeated China's standard line that its laws ban hacking and that it was a leading target for cyber crime.

On Thursday, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying the Google case "should not be linked with relations between the two governments and countries; otherwise, it's an over-interpretation."

Clinton's speech was also denounced by an official newspaper Friday as part of a U.S. campaign to impose its values and denigrate other cultures, labeling it "information imperialism."

China must defend itself from information from the West that comes "loaded with aggressive rhetoric against those countries that do not follow their lead," said the English-language Global Times, published by the Communist Party's official People's Daily as part of a government-sponsored campaign to develop international media and influence opinion about China overseas.

"Unlike advanced Western countries, Chinese society is still vulnerable to the effect of multifarious information flowing in, especially when it is for creating disorder," the newspaper said. It offered no examples.

As part of Washington's promotion of Internet freedoms, U.S. diplomats in China have reached out to bloggers as a method of skirting Beijing's Internet controls, sometimes called the "Great Firewall of China."

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou were hosting Internet-streamed discussions with members of the blogging community to "share insights and answer questions about Clinton's speech," the embassy said.

Friday, December 18, 2009

The 2008 Peugeot Design Contest

The 2008 Peugeot Design Contest is the 5th edition of this competition and this year the theme is to “imagine a Peugeot in the worldwide megalopolis of tomorrow.” This year will be a tough competition as there are 29 finalists with great concepts.

Here are some of the best concepts (in our vision) and which contain the aspects that Peugeot is looking for. There are four main aspects that the participants had to include in their concepts: environmental awareness, social harmony, interactive mobility and economic efficiency. The first car that caught our attention is the Peugeot Stylight designed by Ognyan Bozhilov from Bulgaria.

The Stylight is a three-seater car powered by a hybrid engine placed above the rear wheels. Mid-engine cars have a better weight distribution which means that heavy mechanics can be forgotten and the car will be more aerodynamic.

Ognyan Bozhilov said that he got his inspiration from the nature and that he made the car safer thanks to the tail-lights which will light up more when you press the brakes harder therefore the driver behind will be aware of the danger and that he has to break harder too.

Rugir was designed by Onur Güvenc from Germany and it was inspired by Peugeot’s symbol, the lion. The structure of the Rugir resembles the strength and the stature of a lion, and the sound of the engine mimics a lion’s roar.

Rugir will be powered by an electrical motor and will feature two front wheels and you might be wondering what’s at the rear. Well, in the back you will find an independent spherical system which increases the mobility of the car. The Rugir concept is destined to be a city car for two people.

Another interesting concept car is the RD which is based on a special articulation that provides direction and that keeps the rudder permanently anchored to pan although the vehicle remains low at high speed and compacted during times of high traffic and low speeds. RD was designed by Carlos Arturo Torres Tovar from Colombia and it’s a car to enjoy.

The following concept was designed to continue the legacy of Peugeot’s sporty coupés like the 406 or 407 and it’s called Peugeot Rayo. Although the designer, Ivan Kraljevi? from Croatia, said that he “tried to avoid too futuristic appearance” I think that this is a really futuristic car thanks to its hi-tech features.

The Rayo will feature all kinds of gadgets like cameras, touch-screen controls and self cleaning glass. This concept is among the favorites to win the first prize because it has a design that could be easily introduced on the streets. Rayo will be a two-seater car powered by a hybrid engine and it will be made of carbon fiber, aluminum and polyurethane.

The last concept car that we are going to present you is probably the most futuristic of all as it will be based on magnetic energy. It’s called the Peugeot Magnet and it was inspired by the MagLev (yeah, those magnetic trains).

The designer, Tolga Metin from the United States, envisioned the wheels as two eccentric cylindrical parts where the inner parts of the outer cylinder consists of magnetic tubes that are the same pole as the magnetic tubes of the inner hub. This means that the inner hubs will elevate thanks to the same polarity magnetic field and the Magnet will float a few inches above the ground.

The car will be maneuvered through a steering wheel which will also control the magnetic field in the wheels and “when the driver wants to turn to right, the rotational manner of electromagnetic force in the right wheel decreases,” which makes the Magnet to turn right. Thanks to this function the car can the turned around with 360 degrees and the braking system will be also based on electromagnetic force.
Well, we can only wish the best to all of the designers and we can’t wait to see who is going to win the 5th edition of the Peugeot Design Contest. Check the photos below of the other participants and maybe if you like these more than you can vote for them (name of the cars and designers are listed below the photos).

SVP by Mickael Soubabère, France

Module by Cristian Fabio Di Filippo, Argentina

Peugeot 888 by Oskar Johansen, Norway

Streamlife by Liang Tian, China

Opus by Soheil Ghotbi Ravandi, Islamic Republic of Iran

OPENA by Jaroslaw Koziel, Poland

Peugeot Pure by Pierlot Damien, Belgium

MoVille by Woo-Ram Lee, France

ego by Emre Yazici, Turkey

GLOBE by Varun Gopinath, India

Seed by Yann Terrer, France

OXO by Lou Ke, China

P.R.O by Ke Guo, China

Peugeot Alegro by Alexandre Raad, Brazil

xtreet by Esteban Peisci, Argentina

Peugeot 50x by Gustavo Hernandez, Colombia

Peugeot Blade by Ying Hui Choo, Singapore

facile by Thierry Dumaine, France

[E cube] by Seung Hoon Yoo, Republic of Korea

Echo by Sun Rujun, China

GALapagos by Igor Yastrebov, Russian Federation

Peugeot Verde by Michael Witus Schierup, Denmark

Peugeot 1009 Concept by Edwin van der Mark, Netherlands

Vision by Shinji Nukumi, Japan

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Say Hello in Different Languages - wikiHow

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Jazz artist Brian O'Neal among Detroits Homeless this Thanksgiving

The DO Foundation Distributes Food Cards, and Other Necessities to Detroit Homeless

11.26.2009 – Detroit, MI - To help those homeless persons who don’t make it to shelters, churches, or community centers for the traditional Thanksgiving meal, Brian O’Neal and the DO Foundation are taking food cards, personal care items, blankets, hats, carrying bags, flashlights, and other necessities and putting them directly in the hands of those who need them – Detroit’s homeless.

O’Neal, a Jazz pianist, composer, and producer spent two weeks on the streets of Detroit to experience homelessness first-hand. At the conclusion of this social experiment, the artist knew that he had to do something. He founded the DO Foundation to increase awareness of the homeless epidemic. The DO Foundation works with shelters and other organizations but primarily focuses on taking relief directly to the streets that are home to thousands of people in this country.

About the Do Foundation

The DO Foundation was founded by Brian O’Neal and named after the artist’s late grandmother Daisy O’Neal. The foundation focuses on providing immediate relief to the homeless by going to the streets and distributing food cards, personal care items, clothing, and other necessities. The foundation’s tagline, Do Something, calls people to action and encourages them to address homelessness in their communities. O’Neal dedicated his latest single and music video, Dreams In Color, to spreading the word about homelessness. BCO Media, O’Neal’s independent label, wrote and produced the song’s music video that encourages people to “Do Something”.

About Brian O’Neal

Brian O’Neal is an independent artist who has flourished in the comfort of Jazz, Top 40s, R&B, and Pop music. He exudes versatility of a uniquely upbeat smooth style complimenting today’s New Jazz, and making it challenging to classify his music. O’Neal attracts an eager following and commands the respect of his listeners nationally and globally. His recent accolades are: 4 songs in rotation on The Weather Channel during the past year; consistently holding down the #1 spot on MySpace Music Charts in 3 genres for 2 years; winner of Best Song on OurStage for “Mesmerized”; and nominated for Most Outstanding Musical Composition at the Detroit Music Awards.

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For more information on Brian O’Neal and The Do Foundation, visit www.brianoneal.com and www.dofoundation.net. To schedule an interview, please contact Manager, Kelly Adolph at 248-325-8395 or kelly@bcomedia.com