The Business of Green

Green Burgers

madalinaiacob — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:01:27 +0000

The owner of Bare Burger in Astoria, New York talks about how he build his restaurant from recycled materials.

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=NQEVLBfFXys&next=%2Fmy_videos%3Fpi%3D0%26ps%3D20%26sf%3Dadded%26sa%3D0%26dm%3D2

MD by day, iPhone developer at night

madalinaiacob — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:04:57 +0000

Please watch a video I produced, shot and edited:

MD by day, iPhone developer at night

Brian Gillett needed some extra money to put his son through private school, so he developed an iPhone app that helps users find a nearby mailbox.

http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2009/12/09/sbiz_iphone_app_developer_mail.cnnmoney/

Job search sparks Africa aid

madalinaiacob — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:50:49 +0000

Frustrated by the recession, young technologists use their skills to help African health workers diagnose diseases. Click to watch.

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/11/05/n_recession_innovation.cnnmoney/

A Realtor In A Bubble

madalinaiacob — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:09:33 +0000

Tony Mazzulli, a real-estate agent in Westchester county, NY, talks about how he made easy money two years ago at the peak of the housing bubble. 2007 was his best year after managing to sell an office compound and pocket a 50,000 dollar commission.

Lessons from Pros

madalinaiacob — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:09:54 +0000

I want to share with you a series of videos I recently watched on CNNMoney.com. The videos are excellent examples of the so-called “multimedia/all platform journalism” as they were produced, shot and edited by one person. The quality of the work is outstanding considering it was not executed by a TV crew but by talented and experienced videojournalists. I like the way the photographers use natural sound to advance the story and give the viewer a sense of the featured place. It is worth noticing the hard cuts – there are almost no video effects – just great close-ups and dynamic shots.

http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2009/10/14/smb_timeless_clocks.cnnmoney/

http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2009/10/14/smb_shoe_cobbler.cnnmoney/

http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2009/10/16/farmer_of_the_seas_edit.cnnmoney/

The profile of a multimedia journalist

madalinaiacob — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:29:51 +0000

Q: How did you start working as a journalist?

A: I started back in college I went to Province college in Rhode Island and we had the idea that we could have a night show and that transformed in to a whole TV series. Than I got an internship in a television. And when you work in TV you do very specific jobs. I realized I wanted to do everything. So I worked briefly for a local station (in New York). (Then he started working for a website) We are literary the definition of a one man band. As a producer I am able to edit my own stories, shoot video, report, go on camera we get to do so many things….and it’s really cool.

Q: You also experience the other side of the coin- when you were doing just one very specific task for a TV show. Can you tell us more about that?

A: Sure. I was working for a show and they did one feature piece everyday and it’s really a short amount of time. The story was highly produced and highly reported so everyone had to be really good at one specific thing. The reporter was very good at finding the facts and reporting everything. The producer was really good at she was responsible for and the editor was good at editing the piece. But everyone’s job was segmented.

Q: What were you doing exactly?

A: My experience was gathering all the video elements. If they were doing a story on AIG and the outrage over how much money their CEOs were making and I would be responsible to make sure we have enough video of AIG, enough video of the new CEO and all the images that we needed. [...] It was amazing to learn the editorial process but because the day was so stressful I didn’y get to do all the things that I was interested so being a multi media journalist I get to do everything.

Q: How does the fact that you re a multimedia journalist doing everything affect your reporting?

A: I was filming a morgue filled with hundred of bodies and while it was incredibly depressing in there and really hard to see I was thinking how am I gonna edit that story how am I gonna help bring that story with the reporter. And from a storyteller perspective that’s awesome.

Q: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a multimedia journalist?

A: There are deffinitevely advantages and disadvantages. What they are doing in live TV is unbelievably impressive and it’s entirely a different piece. The advantages from my perspective is being part of every process. I get to do every single part of the entire story when you sit back and watch the final product you remember how it was to edit it, how it was to ask the questions and that’s an experience only multimedia producers get to do.

The Ground Lab

madalinaiacob — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:33:05 +0000

They create sustainable technology: rugged devices that are cheap, green and clean….and improve people’s lives. The company established this June has four employees, all of them graduates form the Department of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. Their workplace is practically a lab littered with wires, welding and woodwork tools, an electronics and circuit building, pc stations for programming and visualization to conduct experiments and create new devices. One of the gadgets is a patient entry device for health clinics in Africa, that has the potential to help health workers to better diagnose their patients.The prototype is developed in partnership with UNICEF.

“The device allows the user to input child’s vital information such as name, weight, height, middle-upper arm circumference and child’s health complications in order to receive a prompt preliminary diagnosis of the child’s general heath and malnutrition level. The device uses auditory prompts as well as written prompts to guide the health care worker through the diagnosis questionnaire and guides him/her through both the registration process for a new patient and the check up on a previously registered patient.”

The team will meet next week with a UNICEF representative to showcase their first prototype.

GRND Lab is a complete consulting, design and fabrication resource. Located in Brooklyn, New York, GRND Lab consists of a collaborative studio/shop specializing in prototyping, hardware and software development, interaction design and specialty fabrication. Known for networking embedded devices with real time online visualization, GRND Lab is focused on creating innovative sustainable solutions for environmental, social and humanitarian challenges.

GRND Lab maintains a small but highly skilled workforce in order to be flexible to the demands of a variety of design challenges. This enables GRND Lab to address diverse problems sets and take concepts from start to finish, no matter how big or small the job or what the field of work. This flexibility creates a strong working relationship and constant dialogue with the clients, tailoring GRND Lab’s developmental process to research groups/organizations, non profits, creative start-ups and cross discipline endeavors.

The four principals are all graduates of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU and have strong backgrounds in both technology and the arts. The team also has a combined fabrication experience of over 20 years from metal working/ machining to mold-making and mechanical design. In the 1500 sq ft of space GRND Lab offers a fully equipped wood-working, welding, plastics & fabrication shop, an electronics and circuit building lab, mac and pc stations for programming and visualization, large format printers and scanners, a hammock and a plant. Please see the services page for more detail.

As part of GRND Lab’s pledge to sustainability, all business cards are printed on tree-free paper, made from sterilized and naturally processed elephant poop, which helps protect elephants in Sri Lanka. Most of the lab’s electronic equipment runs on solar power thanks to a system of photovoltaic panels on the roof and all servers and email services are entirely wind powered.

You can see what we at GRND Lab are working on at the moment, by visiting our blog and by visiting our work page for a list of past and current projects. If you have any questions or would like to request a quote please feel free to contact us!GRND Lab is a complete consulting, design and fabrication resource. Located in Brooklyn, New York, GRND Lab consists of a collaborative studio/shop specializing in prototyping, hardware and software development, interaction design and specialty fabrication. Known for networking embedded devices with real time online visualization, GRND Lab is focused on creating innovative sustainable solutions for environmental, social and humanitarian challenges.

Eurasia Energy Center

madalinaiacob — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:30:26 +0000

Frederick Kempe, President of the Washington based Atlantic Council talks about the launch of Eurasia Energy Center the Atlantic Council’s focal point for work related to Black Sea, Caspian, and Central Asian energy issues, such as pipeline politics, the East-West energy corridor, and east and southeast European energy policies.

Recent security concerns in the Caucasus, January’s gas crisis, and the continued debate over proposed pipelines into Europe make the Center’s efforts increasingly urgent. The Center will work closely with the Atlantic Council’s Energy and Environment Program to provide innovative analysis on regional and international energy geopolitics.

Mr. Alexandros Petersen, the Southeast Europe Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and Dr. Boyko Nitzov a former Senior Expert for Investment at the Energy Charter Secretariat in Brussels are the two main reserchers at the newly created center.

“The geopolitical influence of Eurasian energy is increasingly becoming an intersection for global security and energy supplies. It affects all areas of our national interests including the environment and trade. The Council’s new Center will elevate the role of this critically important 21st Century dialogue,” Atlantic Council chairman and former U.S. senator Chuck Hagel said.

Clean fuel subsidized by taxpayers

madalinaiacob — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:57:01 +0000

In the heart of Columbiana county on the Ohio River, where steel blast furnaces came to a halt a few decades ago a unique project is reshaping the region. Washington based Baard Energy is building the only facility in the USA that will convert coal and biomass into liquid jet fuel and diesel. Estimated at $6 billion, the power plant is one of the top ten most expensive infrastructure projects in the world, Tracy Drake, project manager at Columbiana Port Authority, said.

After intense lobbying at the state and federal level, the company is seeking to have taxpayers guarantee billions of dollars in construction loans for the coal-to-liquid plant. Baard Energy also plans to lock in a 25 year contract to supply liquid fuel to the Air Force, which consumes roughly 2.4 billion gallons of jet fuel annually, according to a project summary prepared by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps.

“This is a fairly small company that plans to build a $6bn dollars plant with massive subsides from the taxpayers,” Fisk Shannon, an attorney with the National Resource Defense Council said.

Local officials, including the Ohio governor and Congressmen Charlie Wilson and Tim welcomed John Baardson, CEO of Baard Energy, with opened arms hoping the project will revive the economically dead area. “It’s critical, this project will have a tremendous impact on us locally and will lift a lot of people from poverty,” Drake said.

The company started talks with the Columbiana Port Authority in 2006 to acquire the plot of land for the construction of the plant. One year before it hired the public relations firm Locke Liddell Strategies to lobby the Congress and Department of Energy on coal to liquid fuel. Since 2005, Baard paid Locke Liddell more than $820,000 over a 3 years span. “It was a very difficult process, but we managed to get all the permits needed,“ David Distefano one of the lobbyists said. With his partner Roy Coffe, a former legislative aide to Gov. George W. Bush, Distefano also lobbied the Executive office of the President on “energy legislation pertaining to coal to liquids.”

Baard was also hoping to secure a $2bn loan guarantee from the Department of Energy under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, that authorizes the DOE to provide 80% Federal Loan Guarantees to coal gasification and clean fuels production. However, several outstanding lawsuits have forced the company to pull out at the end of March of the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program, arguing that the agency is considering the lawsuits as part of its risk assessment of the project.

It is still unclear how viable the project is without money from the federal government. A study published by M.I.T. in 2007 estimates that the construction of a synthetic fuel plant costs four times more than a petroleum refinery. It would cost $70bn to build enough plants to replace 10% of US gasoline consumption, the study shows.

China tapping Afghan resources

madalinaiacob — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:48:11 +0000

Investors are tapping their money in Afghanistan’s rich mineral industry. Known for its vast unexploited mineral deposits and precious stones, Afghanistan has attracted investments in its coal, copper and iron industry. China Metallurgical Construction is investing $3.39 billion in a project to develop the Aynak copper mine, 30 km from Kabul. “Geologically, Afghanistan is a paradise,” Abdel Rahman Ashraf, a German-trained geologist and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s chief mining and energy adviser, said.
The telecommunication sector has been also thriving in the country after the government passed a liberal telecommunication law and attracted over $1 billion of investments in the mobile phone industry. A few years ago, Afghans had to travel to neighboring Pakistan to make international phone calls. Now more than 5 million Afghans have cell phones and the number of users is expected to double within the next two years. “Companies have made tremendous profits and services have expanded to millions of people. In a country which didn’t have a landline system they have developed a really vibrant and effective cell phone industry,” says Engle.

“Afghanistan is close to big markets like India and China and it could be a transit country for the transportation of good and energy from west to east. We hope one day we will also belong to the modern world,” Ashraf said.

It’s not all paradise, clearly. The rising power of the Taliban, political corruption and illegal opium trafficking all retard economic growth. Although poppy cultivation is down by 19% in 2008, according to a UN report, the Afghan economy is still dependent on the plant and heroin production.