“Gadget overload hits consumers - News-Leader.com” plus 2 more

Gadget overload hits consumers - News-Leader.com
Defying China, Obama to meet Dalai Lama - YAHOO!
Portland Bike Plan goes before City Council, but can the city afford ... - Oregonian

Gadget overload hits consumers - News-Leader.com

Posted: 02 Feb 2010 01:20 AM PST

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New York -- Kira Marchenese works in online communications, and so she arrived on a business trip to New York earlier this week equipped with all the gadgets you might expect: personal smart phone, work smart phone, laptop, iPod touch.

Problem is, her hotel room didn't have enough outlets to keep the darned devices charged. "I unplugged the lamp and still couldn't do it," she noted ruefully. "At least half the things I'm carrying right now are just dead hunks of metal."

And so, though communications is her world, Marchenese has no plans to rush out and buy the iPad, Apple's new tablet device unveiled with much fanfare. She just doesn't see the need for yet another gadget.

Nor does Ray Bowman, a self-described "techno-junkie" who lives on a farm in Kentucky, raising sheep some 60 miles from the two nearest Apple stores.

Bowman spent Wednesday eagerly following the news of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' presentation, via Twitter, Facebook and wherever else he could find it. "I can't wait to see what this puppy is capable of."

And yet by Thursday, he'd decided not to jump in, even though he still plans to swing by the Louisville store when the iPad is in, just to examine it in his own hands.

"I've seen the hype and the afterhype," said Bowman, 58, executive director of an agriculture-oriented nonprofit organization. "I'll stick with my netbook. Right now, I can't see making the switch."

Marchenese and Bowman use at least seven devices between them. Are they indicative of a cultural tipping point, a sense of general gadget overload? Steve Jones, a historian of communication technology, has seen signs of it, and believes it's at least partially connected to the state of the economy.

"I think we're at the point where we're getting a little more mileage out of our old gadgets, being a little more budget-conscious," says Jones, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"There's a significantly growing culture of people tweaking their old technology to keep it useful," Jones says. "For some, it's actually a point of status now to get more mileage out of their gadgets."

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Defying China, Obama to meet Dalai Lama - YAHOO!

Posted: 02 Feb 2010 08:11 PM PST

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WASHINGTON (AFP) – The White House is standing tough on President Barack Obama's plans to meet with the Dalai Lama, firmly rejecting Chinese pressure to snub him as rows escalate between the Pacific powers.

Days after defying Beijing with a 6.4-billion-dollar weapons package for Taiwan, the White House also insisted on Tuesday that China address human rights concerns in Tibet.

"The president told China leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama, and he intends to do so," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters Tuesday.

"The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader, and the president will meet with him in that capacity," he said on Air Force One as Obama made a day trip to New Hampshire.

He did not give a date, but the Dalai Lama is due in the United States later this month for public teachings in California and Florida.

"We'll announce a date as it comes closer," Burton said.

Obama has sought wide-ranging ties with the rising Asian power on issues from the global economy to North Korea. Burton said Obama remained committed to "building a positive, comprehensive and cooperative relationship with China."

Obama in October avoided meeting the Dalai Lama when the monk visited Washington. The move was controversial at home, but the White House said Obama did not want to sour ties with Beijing before his maiden visit a month later.

But officials and experts said it was only a matter of time before Obama agreed to meet the Dalai Lama and to provide weapons to Taiwan, as is required under US law.

The Dalai Lama, who has built a strong global following since fleeing into exile in India in 1959, says he is seeking greater rights for Tibetans within Chinese rule, but Beijing accuses him of separatism.

The United States considers both Taiwan, where the mainland's defeated nationalists fled in 1949, and Tibet, where Beijing sent troops in 1950, to belong to China.

"To be clear, the US considers Tibet to be a part of China," Burton said.

But he added: "We have human rights concerns about the treatment of Tibetans. We urge the government of China to protect the unique cultural and religious traditions of Tibet." Related article: Dalai Lama not a 'sparatist', envoys tell China

Hours earlier, China said that a meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama would "seriously undermine the political foundation of Sino-US relations."

"If the US leader chooses to meet with the Dalai Lama at this time, it will certainly threaten trust and cooperation between China and the United States," said Zhu Weiqun, executive vice minister of the Communist Party body that handles contact with the Dalai Lama. Related article: For Obama on China, no more Mr. Nice Guy?

Zhu's comments followed another round of talks between Chinese officials and envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader -- the ninth since 2002 and the first in more than a year.

Beijing said the talks yielded no progress. Some Tibet activists argue that Beijing is simply biding time with the talks, which the United States has praised, as it waits for the 74-year-old Dalai Lama to die.

China earlier snapped off military ties and threatened to punish US companies over the arms package to Taiwan, which includes Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and other military hardware.

Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the sharp Chinese reaction may be tied to another issue -- F-16 fighter-jets, which the administration did not sell to Taiwan.

"The Chinese are probably breathing a sigh of relief over the F-16s. But they may think that the louder they huff and puff and the more 'costly' they make this, that they will further dissuade the US on the F-16s," he said.

US officials have said that F-16s are not off the table and that they are still studying the proposal. Taiwan has pressed for the fighter-jets, which many analysts believe are vital if the island wants to modernize its fleet.

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Portland Bike Plan goes before City Council, but can the city afford ... - Oregonian

Posted: 02 Feb 2010 07:43 PM PST

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By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian

February 02, 2010, 8:47PM

Jamie Francis/The Oregonian/2005The Hawthorne Bridge plays a key role in Portland's bicycle commuting network. Under a new city plan, that network would greatly expand over the next 20 years.The 2030 Portland Bicycle Plan, envisioning a future when 25 percent of trips are made by bike, is expected to coast to approval when it goes before the City Council on Thursday.

It's easy to green-light America's most ambitious investment in bicycling when it would be funded down the road. But according to city transportation officials, the plan to build 681 miles of new bikeways over the next 20 years will eventually cost $613 million.

By comparison, the MAX Green Line cost $575 million, and all transportation projects in the metro area add up to about $630 million a year.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams doesn't flinch at the estimated cost. He talks of making neighborhoods more livable, transportation more affordable and reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

"Can we do those things without this bike plan?" Adams said. "I think it would be very difficult."

Critics think the mayor and cycling advocates are dreaming. For starters, the plan would require a new steady revenue stream.

"They want to make bicycling more attractive than driving for all trips of three miles or less," said John Charles, president of the Cascade Policy Institute. "Nothing they do is going to make that happen for most people."

The plan calls for an expansive interconneted bicycle network, new street designs and an array of education programs. It also mandates studying "funding concepts" in coming months.

Some ideas – licensing and registration fees for bicyclists, a citywide sales tax on new bikes and advertising in bike lanes – would target just cyclists. But a proposed "green transportation" bond would ask everyone to pay.

Even with the economy dragging, the bike plan is optimistic about property-tax increases because "Portland residents have repeatedly shown strong support for funding sustainable or green spaces initiatives."

With hope, some city officials point to Washington County. There, voters have repeatedly approved new property taxes to build 123 miles of bike lanes through the Major Streets Transportation Improvement Program. Of course, that 25-year-old road tax has always benefited more than one mode of commuting.

From the widening of Oleson Road to the Verboort roundabout, every improvement includes sidewalks for pedestrians and bike lanes (or at least wider shoulders) for cyclists. "Everyone chips in," said county spokeswoman Anne Madden, "and everyone benefits."

By 2012, the Washington County program's $555 million in property-tax revenue is expected to have completed 111 projects on what were narrow farming roads a century ago.

By contrast, the 2030 Portland Bike Plan for the most part calls for separate funding sources for two-wheeled commuters.

Portland's first Bicycle Master Plan was adopted in 1996. With only modest investment, the bicycle network has since doubled to more than 300 miles and bike commuting has boomed.

Last fall, the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey data showed 6.4 percent of Portlanders reported bicycling to work in 2008, a big jump from 4 percent the year before.

The 2030 Bike Plan projects an uptick of 400 percent. To do that, the city is trying to appeal to Portlanders say they who want to commute by bike but don't think it's safe enough.

Through years of surveys and public outreach, PBOT has categorized 60 percent of residents as "interested but concerned" in bike commuting.

Where the 1996 plan emphasized bike lanes on busy streets, the 2030 plan proposes 314 miles of new separated bikeways and 256 miles of new bike boulevards with low automobile traffic that link to key destinations. It also calls for more bike parking and increased maintenance budgets.

The new plan offers a heavenly two-wheeled vision of Portland in 2030 – "a clean, thriving city where bicycling is a main pillar of the transportation system and more than a quarter of all trips are made on bicycles."

It also quotes H.G. Wells: "Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia."

But one might think of George Orwell after visiting the city's official bike plan web site, which encourages visitors to "click here to express your support."

Oppose the plan? Have legitimate concerns about it? Sorry. No link for you.

Since the public comment period opened in October, the Portland Bureau of Transportation city has received 202 comments. Only 17 have been "clearly against" the plan.

Still, given the city's shaky transportation budget and the fact that the so-called "Copenhagen on the Willamette" already is considered a world-class bicycling city, some wonder if the plan is even needed.

Charles wonders why, when technology and culture are changing at a rapid pace, Portland is planning 20 years into the future. He compared it to a business in 1980 committing to 20 years of IBM typewriter purchases, unaware that the computer revolution was on the horizon.

Near Charles' office in Raleigh Hills, Southwest Scholls Ferry Road turns treacherous once Washington County's bike lanes and wide shoulders stop at the Portland city limits.

Although a multimodal property tax such the one supported by Washington County voters isn't in the bike plan, one city official said Portland is exploring the possibility of "something similar."

At the same time, Geller said there will several opportunities for future federal funding. When Congress undertakes the reauthorization of the surface transportation bill, for example, the city is expected to ask for $25 million for a citywide bicycle boulevard program.

More than $600 million for bicycle improvements "is definitely a big number and I appreciate that," Geller said. "But in transportation dollars, it goes a long way." By contrast, he said, "It would build only about 12 miles of urban freeway."

-- Joseph Rose

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