Science Archive

Way More Useful than a Segway

Yahoo is such a crazy huge platform that I didn't blog about my Dean Kamen interview that made the site's front page on Friday. But a few friends didn't see it or hear anything about this amazing project, so I decided to embed it below. Below that is a much, much longer clip about Kamen's work with a non-profit called First. I'd wager both are more impactful than Kamen's last invention, the far more hyped Segway. (Although he addresses that too in the clip.) The interviews were a last minute get at D, and arguably the best stuff we did while we were there. It was too bad so many people left before the last day of the conference and missed Kamen's presentation on stage. (Fun fact: list to how insanely stopped up I am in my voice over! I was so sick in these clips!)

Is Saving the Earth Good Business for Tech?

Here's the second part of my Tech Ticker interview with Sophie Vandebroek of Xerox. We talk about why Xerox is investing so much in clean tech and save-the-planet-type stuff. Aren't they just a copier company? Is there a fiduciary duty to focus on that?

Maybe not. Copiers take up a lot of energy, and if companies ever really try to go paperless, shouldn't Xerox be one of the ones leading the way to sustain its revenues? That's something I would have liked to see from car makers and oil companies, before it was trendy. I don't own any stocks, since I'm a business reporter, and aside from mutual funds I never will. But if I did, I might consider buying Xerox for this reason alone.

Also, a bonus video with Russ Mitchell where we talk about whether Google's alternative energy efforts are also savvy business moves given its computing power needs. There's such a problem in today's public markets of thinking near-term, near-term, near-term. At first I thought projects like these were maybe self-indulgent, but increasingly I admire companies that think that broadly about environmental implications on their business and think that far down the road in general. Because if nothing is done, it will affect technology as an industry greatly.

Videos on the jump!
Enjoy!