Technology-Market revolution as it happens

bloomberg.com reports:

MidAmerican, a unit of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said on Sept. 27 it agreed to invest HK$1.8 billion ($232 million) to buy about 10 percent of BYD Co., citing the parent's focus on environmental products. The U.S. billionaire was attracted by the Shenzhen, south China-based company's ``strong position'' in the development of batteries used in electric vehicles, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Charles Guo.

 Battery technology is key to breaking the old "efficiency vs road performance" trade-off for electric cars. Buffet's bet signifies a major upheaval in the automotive industry and around it: car design, infrastructure, oil consumption, services, electricity generation, and etc. This is also a very good indicator that global warming can and will be avoided.

Watermellon cubes

 

BBC News writes about Japanese cuboid watermelons.  The unusual shape was thought up by enterprising farmers to lower the storage and transportation costs. Well, they did not succeed in that department, but square watermelons found their way to upscale grocery shops:

Each melon sells for 10,000 yen, equivalent to about $83. It is almost double, or even triple, that of a normal watermelon.

Here in California you can buy a traditional green-black-red spheroid for no more than $10.  What a bargain!

Just wanted to add another consideration to my previous message about the new Google browser.  The move into the browser space can be a defensive strategy against Microsoft Explorer 8. Here's a description of a feature that could help destroy Google's advertisement-based business model:

InPrivate Blocking

Today websites increasingly pull content in from multiple sources, providing tremendous value to consumer and sites alike. Users are often not aware that some content, images, ads and analytics are being provided from third party websites or that these websites have the ability to potentially track their behavior across multiple websites. InPrivate Blocking provides users an added level of control and choice about the information that third party websites can potentially use to track browsing activity.

To use this feature, open a new tab and select InPrivate Browsing, or select "InPrivate Browsing" from the Safety menu. To end your InPrivate Browsing session, simply close the browser window.

Why it is so important? Because in InPrivate mode Explorer 8 will be able to block all Google Ads and Analytics tools. No ads, no analytics, no money for Google. Finita la comedia.

A good example for the Technology Battle tool

The Independent writes:

Bill Stewart, the internet historian and founder of livinginternet.com, said Google's image took a nosedive last week. "There has been a tremendous amount of goodwill for Google but the announcement of the browser is a tipping point.
"It indicates that they are out to dominate and are mimicking their worst enemy: Microsoft. There has been a change in sentiment. The goodwill has evaporated and turned to concern."

Google lacks a mass market device-based distribution platform. Android OS and the browser are designed to address this strategic hole. If Google succeed, they will be capable of tying people to Google's own "cloud" services. We are running a risk of one day waking up  inside a walled garden, where all information is packaged and presented to us by an advertisement giant, which Google has become. And it'll be as free, as free television.

A note from a system evolution perspective: the ultimate goal is a control point of the 3rd type ( pace of innovation). In this particular system, browser is a Tool; cloud services - Source; Internet - Distribution; application logic - Control; data + scripts - Payload. Google has a chance to tightly couple Tool, Source, Control, and Payload. That'll give them full control over the evolution of the system.