The question is becoming, where don’t you want to work today? With a big shift in the structure of the working world, virtual offices, shared workspaces and the home office are quickly progressing as the way to do business. With growth in telecommuting already forcing airlines to appeal to businesses travelers, and the self employed getting tired of the coffee shop office, the trend will only continue with the increase in self employed climbing.

“A growing number of workers face these hassles every day. As of November 2009, there were nine million self-employed workers in the U.S., according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Meanwhile, the volume of workers telecommuting at least once a month for employers grew 17% between 2006 and 2008, to 33.7 million workers, according to WorldatWork, a human-resources research firm in Scottsdale, Ariz.”

A recent conference in London asked if we even needed an office these days. Richard Leyland, inventor of WorkSnug, an iPhone application for finding workplaces in a city, reported the following,

“What would happen if a large multi-national company, which I’ll call Company X, sold its real estate, dished out laptops and went completely mobile? Their new offices would be at homes and in connected ‘third places’, all around the city or town.

I’m only talking about knowledge workers here: those whose work could be done with a laptop and phone. If a worker actually makes something, it’s a fair bet Starbucks isn’t the ideal place to do it.’

You can find co-working spaces in many major cities in the world, with one social enterprise The Hub, covering many of them. And as organizations continue to cut costs, you can bet the traditional office is on its way out.

A (now, not so) recent article in the Guardian exposes the influence of the US government on reports released by the IEA on oil reserves. A whistleblower states that the US has influenced the outcome of the report “to underplay the rate of decline from existing oil fields while overplaying the chances of finding new reserves.”

This is significant in a number of ways. While assuredly the conspiracy theorists are having a field day with it, the world’s reliance on this ‘independent’ organization to produce said report, among others related to the field, undermines their credibility while simultaneously adding to the Peak Oil predictions fright.

The information is required in order to allow countries to use the knowledge to adapt (or not) to the coming changes which will be incurred by dramatic declines in oil reserves. However, inadequate, or worse tampered with, reports will only serve to increase hysteria around what will most likely be a combustible topic, particularly related to American oil dependency.

“Many inside the organisation believe that maintaining oil supplies at even 90m to 95m barrels a day would be impossible but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further. And the Americans fear the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to oil resources,” was stated by the IEA source.

With Peak Oil an obvious and looming issue, allowing all the information to be released will give people to take up initiative to prepare as best as possible given the state of the situation. We can only hope that secrets such as these are rare and are exposed sooner than later.

There’s been much turmoil over the past year and I keep reading of extraordinary events that have happened “for the first time ever”.

A quick google news search reveals some interesting results from this – perhaps little signals amid the all the uncertainty of the future direction we’re heading in?

“For the first time ever China bought more new cars in the first half of 2009 than the U.S”

http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/?p=6041

“On July 13th, for the first time ever, a private rocket company has successfully placed a satellite in orbit”

http://www.geek.com/articles/news/for-the-first-time-a-private-company-places-a-satellite-in-orbit-20090715/

“The US federal deficit topped one trillion US dollars for the first time ever”

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hrIHTN_1_szqyV1lZDfVCl6cNKpA

“For the first time ever, Microsoft, the world’s largest PC software company, experienced a drop in sales of its Windows software and carried out large-scale layoffs”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/technology/companies/15chip.html

President Obama stepped up on renewables and passed regulations to “enable, for the first time ever, the nation to tap into our ocean’s vast sustainable resources to generate clean energy”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/energy_and_environment/

“For the first time ever there are now more pensioners than children in the UK”

http://financialadvice.co.uk/news/8/pensions/11304/UK-government-considers-abolishing-retirement-age.html

Peter Andre has announced that “I honestly believe for the first time ever that I’m going to have an international album”

http://www.itv.com/lifestyle/thismorning/entertainment/peterandre001/default.html

OK, so the last one may be a red herring. 

And just because something’s happened for the very first time doesn’t make it significant in the long term.

Is this just erratic ‘noise’ amid the chaos?

I think not. Some of these big shifts of our time that may have appeared insignificant before the crunch are now accelerating with a vengeance.

RICHARD

A new article in the Wilson Quarterly covers the most recent data available for predicting future trends of the population. However, they make some points that counter what some preconceived notions.

“While it starts with the typical information about the fluctuations in population for 2050, what the average number of children a woman bears, etc., it moves on to more contrarian views. Because of this bastardization of knowledge, three deeply misleading assumptions about demographic trends have become lodged in the public mind. The first is that mass migration into Europe, legal and illegal, combined with an eroding native population base, is transforming the ethnic, cultural, and religious identity of the continent. The second assumption, which is related to the first, is that Europe’s native population is in steady and serious decline from a falling birthrate, and that the aging population will place intolerable demands on governments to maintain public pension and health systems. The third is that population growth in the developing world will continue at a high rate. Allowing for the uncertainty of all population projections, the most recent data indicate that all of these assumptions are highly questionable and that they are not a reliable basis for serious policy ­decisions”

This is just a taste, as it moves into quite interesting areas such as the future of sub-saharan Africa, the world’s most popular name, and dramatic demographic shifts in the middle east. That is not the least of it though. All major regions are covered in this report and it seems change is afoot (as always).

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=519403

For those who have been following the HP/Forum for the Future Climate Change Challenge, the Cardboard Oven has won. This simple, yet brilliant, innovation costs next to nothing, and will give people in developing countries dependant on gas or wood-burning stoves a viable alternative.

“The oven is targeted at the three billion people who use firewood to cook in developing countries.

Mr Bøhmer said: ‘We’re saving lives and saving trees. I doubt if there is any other technology that can make so much impact for so little money.’”

This innovation will help engage the developing world without forcing them to make drastic changes in their lives. Since climate chage is a global issue (though caused primarily by developed nations) it will require a global response.

So congratulations to Mr. Bøhmer for his great invention and a well deserved reward. To see all the finalists, please go here.

A new report called Predicting the Present with Google Trends outlines how Google trends, linked with google search, can predict consumer behavior month by month. By combining the information collected with the Google Search function, one could potentially predict what people are going to do. For example, if a certain model of car is searched for, it could be predicted that the purchases of that model will increase in the near future. This type of modeling has huge implications for all industries, and just about anyone wishing to sell something.

Google searches as well as Twitter are just a couple ways all this new information can help researchers understand what people are thinking. the New York Times reported on how businesses and people are using Twitter to know what people are thinking. While the individual ‘tweets’ are seemingly mindless chatter, taken as a whole provides insight into the “global collective brain.”

“By tapping into the world’s collective brain, researchers of all kinds have found that if they make the effort to dig through the mundane comments, the live conversations offer an early glimpse into public sentiment — and even help them shape it. Companies like Starbucks, Whole Foods and Dell can see what their customers are thinking as they use a product, and the companies can adapt their marketing accordingly. Last week in Moldova, protesters used Twitter as a rallying tool while outsiders peered at their tweets to help them understand what was happening in that little-known country.”

You might think transformers, but you’ll be disappointed.

I read about research in the area of cyborg insects a while back, and was recently reminded of it by an article about an actual beetle that has been turned into a cyborg, which you can watch here.

This is an amazing feat of technology, but it also raises all sorts of ethical questions regarding animal rights. Where will this technology stop? Will these insects be used for eco-terrorists as well?

This new form of animal subordination will most suredly receive serious backlash from activists, but they may soon be questioning the integrity of the very animals they are fighting for.

With the vast increases in instant communication, particularly related to pictures, activists are taking full advantage of this technology to stay organized and, well, active. In Greece earlier this year, anarchist groups reacted instantly through the transmission of pictures as a means to rally world support. Technology has been playing an integral role in protests lately.

“This became obvious during the French riots of 2005, when teenagers posted blogs that urged people to “burn the cops”—and made massive use of text messages to co-ordinate the protests. The youths that trashed Budapest in 2006 relied on blogs to enlist supporters, and distribute an audio recording of the prime minister admitting government corruption.”

The plethora of cameras at demonstrations will now up the accountability of people’s actions, as the police in London found out after the G20 riots at the beginning of April.

It comes as no surprise that this is the where we are headed. Personal computers will constantly become smaller and people will constantly want more technology to be more transportable and more accessible. As phones move deeper into the personal computer realm, the whole indutry will have to shift, as software will now be designed specifically for these devices and won’t even be usable on laptops, let alone desktops. The movement obviously has its benefits, from costs as well as more accessibility for all, as there is vast potential for connecting the developing nations in this way.

It’s seems to me, quite often one hears about the big tobacco lobby or big oil lobby, and now, climate change lobbying abounds. This article discusses the vast growth of the climate change lobbyists over the last five years.

“Their sheer numbers are noteworthy, topping about 2,340 — a 300 percent increase over the past five years. There are now four climate change lobbyists for every member of Congress.”

Of course, these lobbyists come from all sides promoting all different views and interests. It seems that bringing so much attention to the issue may have the negative effect of clogging the system and preventing any really change (without direct action that is).

http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2009/02/27/seeking-influence-number-climate-change-lobbyists-tripled-five-years