Harnessing the Power of Ocean Currents For Electricity

An Australian inventor has created an underwater generator called the Aquanator which uses the ocean currents to generate electricity via rotating aquafoils. According to the article in the Sydney Morning Herald they are in the process of setting one up in the mouth of the Clarence River just a few hours south of where I live. What a brilliant idea - what makes it most impressive is that they are actually implementing it already - it's not just a concept. The developers home page is here

Firefox passes 1 million - spread the word

Reading the Sydney Morning Herald website for my daily intake of news when I came across an article reporting that "Firefox downloads top 1m in just over four days". It's fantastic to see that awareness of this fine browser is getting mainstream attention. I have been using this browser in the form of Mozilla since it was first available and there's no way I could ever switch back to microsoft's Internet Explorer. One sign of a quality product is when a grass roots campaign starts up trying to spread it's usage. To see what I mean check out Spread Firefox. If you haven't tried this new browser then be sure to check it out here.

Going to India

We will be travelling to India late next year to attend my Sister-in-law's wedding in Delhi and we've decided to also spend a week or so travelling around. I can't wait as it's been a long time since I've been out of Australia. I'm the sort of traveller who likes to research a destination quite heavily first so I've been checking out the Lonely Planet India page - heaps of good info there. While I'm there I wouldn't mind buying some Indian contemporary art so I'll be googling around for some galleries to visit over the next year or so. If you know of any good ones email them through. Found one good page :- India Tourism's Delhi Museums and Galleries page.

That Wicked Worn Look

Cameron Moll has updated his site with a list of websites who sport that wicked worn look. There's some really top shelf designs in amongst them.
Sting The Bee is definitely one worth checking out. It's not often that I see a website that looks truly unique. It's got kind of a paint-splatters-on-a-garage-floor feel to it which I love. He also makes some good points in the Regime Change Starts at Home post that could equally apply to the Australian election context.

Proof of the impact of design on business value

The Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) have just published this write up on a study published by the Design Council in the UK about the impact of design on business value. This study is the most useful study I have seen from the perspective of the owner of a design business. I think I will be sending all of my clients a copy of this one. The study found that "a group of 63 companies identified to be effective users of design outperformed the FTSE 100 index over the full period by 200%". Wow - if that's not a reason to hire a high quality graphic design company to help your business grow then I don't know what is. It's worth reading the full article to find out about their methodology.

PM talking nonsense on rates: ex-Reserve chief

Article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the ex Reserve Bank Governor shooting down John Howards scare campaign about interest rates. I can't believe that the Australian media are not exploring the PM's claims about interest rates more vigorously. When interest rates were high during the last Labor government's reign they were high all around the world. The low interest rates at present are more a function of global economics rather than sound government. In fact according to this article in the Melbourne Age "Australia has the highest interest rates of all the major developed economies".

Could this be true? Could the Howard government be misleading the public? I don't believe it :)