Free Republic

As far as summer fashion goes, clothes with built-in electric fans leave a little something to be desired. But Hiroshi Ichigaya has managed to turn his breezy invention into the must-have item of the summer, thanks to sweltering temperatures and a power shortage stemming from the triple disasters that hit Japan in March. The founder of Kuchofuku, or "air-conditioned clothing" in Japanese, says sales for his clothes have increased 10-fold. Phones at his office haven't stopped ringing. "People ask me, why would I want to wear a jacket when it's so hot," Ichigaya, a former Sony engineer, said. "I tell...

The White House on Thursday is expected to unveil its proposal to enhance the nation's cybersecurity, laying out plans to require industry to better protect systems that run critical infrastructure like the electrical grid, financial systems and nuclear power plants. The Obama administration also is insisting that companies tell consumers when their personal information has been compromised. According to cybersecurity experts familiar with the plan, the administration's proposed legislation also would instruct federal agencies to more closely monitor their computer networks. Several House and Senate committees have been working on cybersecurity legislation for the past two years, while waiting for...

The Khan Academy has its roots in a series of educational YouTube videos that founder Sal Khan began making several years ago to tutor his cousin. The videos struck a chord among those who came across them, Sinha said. As the videos became increasingly popular, the organization got a big break last fall, when it received a total of about $3.5 million in grants from Google and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The nonprofit Advertisement now has a Mountain View office and a half-dozen staff members. It's still attracting attention -- NBC Nightly News recently featured the program and...

The California Healthcare Institute (CHI) and The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have released a report highlighting the critical role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in today’s biomedical research and innovation ecosystem, and the need for a strong, science-based agency and an efficient, consistent and transparent regulatory process. The report, , titled “Competitiveness and Regulation: The FDA and the Future of America’s Biomedical Industry”, has underlined that an increasingly unpredictable approval process at the FDA has negatively impacted public health, the economy, job creation, American competitiveness and innovation. This report represents the first study to quantify approval timelines...

PhRMA’s quiescence on Obamacare badly hurt the industry — and all those who depend on medical innovation. With the release of the president’s budget, it is now beyond dispute — Beltway spin notwithstanding — that the decision by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) to support the health-care bill was one of the worst self-inflicted wounds in the history of lobbying. For biotech and pharmaceutical companies, the president’s budget repudiates one of the most important benefits of their “deal” with the White House: the ability to market biotech drugs without generic competition for twelve years. The president would...

While it is common knowledge that the health care industry is not happy with the rules and regulations of the health care law, the National Review brings up this question: Will the implementation of ObamaCare stifle the creation of new drugs and treatments? To answer this question, the National Review observes that Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) made a deal with the Obama Administration that they would be able to market their drugs without generic competition for 12 years. The administration reneged on that deal and reduced the 12 years to 7 years. And there are many more...

— Africa can feed itself. And it can make the transition from hungry importer to self-sufficiency in a single generation.The startling assertions, in stark contrast with entrenched, gloomy perceptions of the continent, highlight a collection of studies published December 2 that present a clear prescription for transforming Sub-Saharan Africa's agriculture and, by doing so, its economy. The strategy calls on governments to make African agricultural expansion central to decision making about everything from transportation and communication infrastructure to post-secondary education and innovation investment.

So said Joe Biden today on the second-floor bar at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel at a fundraiser for incumbent Democratic NY-1 Rep. Tim Bishop. “Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive,” he said. “In the middle of the Civil War you had a guy named Lincoln paying people $16,000 for every 40 miles of track they laid across the continental United States. … No private enterprise would have done that for another 35 years.” For innovation and business, people don't look towards...

There are reasonable people who question whether our health care system is, in fact, "broken," as opined by President Obama. (This is one of the few conclusions he makes with which I agree. Of course, ObamaCare is very clearly not the solution.) Objective, evidence-based analysis of the U.S. health care system leads to the well-worn doctor joke: "I have good news and bad news." Every assertion below has "hard" scientific proof. What follows is fact, not unsubstantiated opinion. First, the good news Americans have better health care outcomes than most others: better survival rates for common cancers than Europeans, better...

Anyone driving the twists of Highway 1 between San Francisco and Los Angeles recently may have glimpsed a Toyota Prius with a curious funnel-like cylinder on the roof. Harder to notice was that the person at the wheel was not actually driving. The car is a project of Google, which has been working in secret but in plain view on vehicles that can drive themselves, using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimic the decisions made by a human driver. With someone behind the wheel to take control if something goes awry and a technician in...

For many people past the age of 40, focusing on close objects restaurant menus, — for instance — just gets harder and harder. Most people with this condition, called presbyopia, eventually give in and get reading glasses, bifocals or glasses with progressive lenses. But what if there were another alternative that didn't require people to carry an extra set of glasses or have only part of their field of vision in focus at any one time? Zoom Focus Eyewear LLC, of Van Nuys, Calif., has just such an option, and with it won this year's Silver Innovation Award. The solution:...

As the world economy entered its worst decline since the Great Depression, corporations were less interested in innovating. Now, as the economy begins to recovers U.S. corporations are in danger of being eclipsed by their Chinese rivals. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the total number of patent applications filed across the world grew by 2.6% in 2007. This is the lowest growth rate since the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000 . To make matters worse, the data, the latest available, showed zero growth in the U.S. China, however, showed a gain of 18.2%. Preliminary 2009...

Intel's Paul Otellini predicts that the "next big thing" won't happen in the States unless government policies change. ZoomMonday night Intel CEO Paul Otellini warned government officials that the U.S. will face a huge tech decline if government policies are not altered. In fact, the "next big thing" won't be invented here in the States, and jobs will be created outside our borders. The warning was part of his observations about the Obama administration and the nation's economy during dinner at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum. He took aim at the U.S. legal environment, claiming that its become so...

So here's a fascinating public transport idea that we've never seen mooted before – giant super-buses that roll on stilts on small tracks between lanes of traffic. So they roll over the top of stopped traffic, and when they stop to let passengers on and off, they don't interrupt the flow of traffic below. Far quicker and cheaper to build than a subway or monorail system, the Straddling Bus system simply requires modification to existing roads, and the creation of a network of elevated bus stops. (snip) This is not a pipe dream – the pilot program goes into construction...

Lost amid the heated debate over U.S. policy is a key point: Immigrant entrepreneurs and skilled workers are a boon to the economy. Arizona may be ground zero for the conflict over U.S. immigration policy, but it takes only a few minutes of watching cable television news and scanning local op-ed pages to see how raw and divisive the matter has become in the nation's political sphere. Yet with all the heated rhetoric about illegals, border security, amnesty, racial profiling, and other incendiary topics, one aspect of immigration isn't emphasized enough: the job-creating potential of immigrant entrepreneurs. They're the vanguard...

Congress is considering legislation that would give government the power to mandate the features and design of every phone, computer, global positioning system (GPS), or any other device with a screen that connects to the Internet. The bill is the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009, or H.R. 3101, and it is gaining votes in the U.S. House. The legislation will soon face a key vote at the Energy & Commerce Committee and then by the full House of Representatives before the end of July! While the bill’s intentions are certainly noble, the technology industry has already...

"SCHWARZENEGGER FLEXES MUSCLE FOR MOSCOW, WHILE OBAMA IGNORES WARNINGS FROM RUSSIAN DISSIDENTS" International News Analysis Today June 29, 2010 By Toby Westerman SNIPPET: "California governor, and former film superhero, Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to lead a trade mission to Russia and assist "in any way possible" Russia's drive to develop its own high tech "Silicon Valley." U.S. president Barack Obama has also promised his backing in facilitating the flow of U.S. technology to Russia. The eager participation of Schwarzenegger and Obama in exporting U.S. technological capabilities came during Russian president Dmitry Medvedev's three day visit (June 22-24) to the United...

Schumpeter 2.0 By Richard Swedberg and Thorbjørn Knudsen Wednesday, June 23, 2010 Filed under: Big Ideas, Economic Policy A great thinker’s contribution not only appears in his or her finished works and arguments, but also within the rich intuitions or core ideas that underlie the arguments. During the last decade or so, the theories of Joseph Schumpeter have gone through a revival, and much attention has been devoted to his work. By now many economists and commentators value his work highly, especially what he says about entrepreneurship and creative destruction. While this work on Schumpeter is very valuable, one might...

Cyberspace has become an indispensible component of everyday life for all Americans.  We have all witnessed how the application and use of this technology has increased exponentially over the years. Cyberspace includes the networks in our homes, businesses, schools, and our Nation’s critical infrastructure.  It is where we exchange information, buy and sell products and services, and enable many other types of transactions across a wide range of sectors. But not all components of this technology have kept up with the pace of growth.  Privacy and security require greater emphasis moving forward; and because of this, the technology that has brought many...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-national-broadband-plan Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 16, 2010 Statement from the President on the National Broadband Plan America today is on the verge of a broadband-driven Internet era that will unleash innovation, create new jobs and industries, provide consumers with new powerful sources of information, enhance American safety and security, and connect communities in ways that strengthen our democracy. Just as past generations of Americans met the great infrastructure challenges of the day, such as building the Transcontinental...