We seem to be feeling the pinch of the gas prices but can continue this path for some time as we do not seem to hear any major policy / technology paradigm shift. We would continue to make the oil rich countries richer at the cost of the rest of the world. A question that I would like to ask to you as a consumer is: how far do you think you can live with this problem and secondly, how far are we ready to take this bull by the horns?
The gas prices and oil prices have surpassed the levels we had when oil embargo was imposed in seventies but we are not moved and don’t seem to get it. If we had learned the lesson then and changed things around we might be better off now! But I am nobody to lecture and in the hind side we, all, can be brilliant, isn’t it!
We need some thinking outside the box! May be we have been missing the big point! In my view the solution lies in our realization that the small internal combustion engine is too inefficient! Hold on, I am not done yet!! I would say look at the Diesel Locomotive Engine – it has all the answers. Diesel Locomotive Engine has an internal combustion engine but that turns electricity generation. The generator sends power to a motor for traction, at each axle, which powers the wheels.
We need some way of storing energy. May be something of the kind of battery but much more efficient. May be something electro-mechanical. We need the power generation to be left to the more efficient Thermal, Hydro, or Nuclear systems. We need to be able to transfer and store the energy in this new storage system. The automobile will then be powered by electrical motors more like the Diesel Locomotive Engine. The traction motor does not require gears to deliver the torque. The whole system of automobile could become way smaller and efficient!
This would result in getting rid of pollution, uncertainty of oil and gas, speculation and manipulation thereof. I don’t know whether the perceived benefits are good enough for someone in position of leadership to announce scholarship for developing such a product! I don’t know whether someone in position would announce a competition amongst technologists to have a break through idea about this! I don’t know whether the idea is good enough that you would take the initiative of writing about this to your leaders. If we don’t react, not to this but to similar ideas or start thinking laterally, we are, definitely, going to loose the right to complain.
Secrets of Social Bookmarking
Social bookmarking which seems to justify small group interactions have now led to more exponential growth as your friends’ friends and friends’ friends can all be reached out. As a result if you have an account in any social media site, you can, potentially, get an invitation from a total stranger.
Now step a few years back when telephone marketers would make call offering products and services and were seen as annoying. Social bookmarking, in contrast is seen as “cool” and “coolness” is measured by your list of friends or followers on twitter. Remember, a few months back, CNN was trying to compete with Christopher Ashton Kutcher aka Ashton Kutcher for number of followers on Twitter.
On Twitter if you follow anyone you will find them, out or curtsy or curiosity following you. So the task is simple – go bananas on following everyone and soon you will have a huge list of followers!! Making a “cool” list is not difficult, after all!
There is a more professional way that marketers have started using this relatively lesser known site called http://www.ur-faves.com. Typically, you create an account say, named “abc101″ on Twitter.com. Now you create profile by the same name on ur-faves.com. You go on to post bookmarks on ur-faves.com under the profile. Now use this link and it will bring a Twitter search box within ur-faves.com.
ur-faves.com using links to search
Social bookmarking
Here’s the fun part: supposing you were trying to promote, say, “cars” in your posts that you bookmarked at ur-faves.com - you can enter: car in the search box and it will show you all those who are on Twitter chatting about car. Now using the list of people who appear, you can invite them to visit you on ur-faves.com using the advanced search.
There’s a growing trend of marketers using sites like ur-faves.com for serious communication with a select and targeted audience.
Here is list of social bookmarking sites, not necessarily in any particular order. All these sites are being used by marketers but since Twitter has micro blogging and the largest of audiences amongst the micro blogging sites, what ur-faves has created seems to be more effective and spontaneous.