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Solar power is on the verge of becoming mainstream in the California housing market. The goal of a new bill passed in California is to create a million solar-powered homes. In addition, new solar energy start-ups such as NanoSolar are expecting to decrease the cost of solar cells by a factor of 10. So, it should be no surprise that here in California, even boats are going solar! Yes, a new solar-powered (hybrid electric + diesel) passenger ferry called the Solar Sailor is expected to begin operation by 2008, shuttling passengers to and from Alcatraz.

And while we're talking about alternative-fuel boats, there's also the EarthRace, a biodiesel powerboat that is circumnavigating the world, and happens to be in California right now. Check it out.. this is one of the coolest looking boats you'll ever see.

Posted by spotsearch at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is the travel site I've been wishing for! Have you ever wondered whether you should buy airline tickets now or wait? Well, now Farecast tries to help you out by predicting for you. It looks at historical patterns to recommend flight ticket purchases. Currently, it's in beta, and only covers the some common destinations. Hopefully they'll have full global city coverage soon!

They also have a blog.

Posted by spotsearch at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This was a really cool site I came across.... some researchers tried to measure "happiness" around the world. Here's a map of happiness (and below it, a table) for different countries!

Some notable results:
#1 Denmark
#2 Switzerland
#3 Austria
#4 Iceland
#5 Bahamas
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#10 Canada
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#23 USA

Posted by spotsearch at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just came across a new site, Prosper.com. Prosper is a fusion of Ebay+P2P+Lending. It's a site where people can post their loan requests, and then lenders (individuals like yourself) can then bid on them to lend them the money. It's a fantastic idea, with the power to transform a whole industry, similar to what EBay did with product auctions.

I just signed up for it as a lender.... we'll see how it goes. Signing up is straightforward but you need a bit of information, such as your drivers license, a bank account routing number, and information from your credit report (it asks you questions based on the report it pulls from you to verify your identity, such as the servicer of your last auto loan, or a previous employer name).

The attraction to borrowers is that they can try and get loans at lower rates than would otherwise be possible, since people are bidding and competing to get their loan. Also, some people in difficult situations (poor credit) might be unable to get loans otherwise. People with good credit may be just looking to get a better deal or pay off some debt. The lender is there to get a better deal than their traditional fixed income investments. In addition, it's actually gratifying to help someone out of a difficult situation. Risks abound for the lender. But it's a bold and interesting experiment.

Posted by spotsearch at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just came across a new site, Prosper.com. Prosper is a fusion of Ebay+P2P+Lending. It's a site where people can post their loan requests, and then lenders (individuals like yourself) can then bid on them to lend them the money. It's a fantastic idea, with the power to transform a whole industry, similar to what EBay did with product auctions.

I just signed up for it as a lender.... we'll see how it goes. Signing up is straightforward but you need a bit of information, such as your drivers license, a bank account routing number, and information from your credit report (it asks you questions based on the report it pulls from you to verify your identity, such as the servicer of your last auto loan, or a previous employer name).

The attraction to borrowers is that they can try and get loans at lower rates than would otherwise be possible, since people are bidding and competing to get their loan. Also, some people in difficult situations (poor credit) might be unable to get loans otherwise. People with good credit may be just looking to get a better deal or pay off some debt. The lender is there to get a better deal than their traditional fixed income investments. In addition, it's actually gratifying to help someone out of a difficult situation. Risks abound for the lender. But it's a bold and interesting experiment.

Posted by spotsearch at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have always wondered why most housing and condos are so dull and ordinary in design- ESPECIALLY large residential projects. Here in California, cookie-cutter homes and McMansions are everywhere. The cost of hiring a world-class architect is often insignificant compared to the total project costs. Well, at least a few projects are beginning to change that as designer condos catch on.

Famous Names Design New Luxury Condos

Starchitecture Comes Home

80 South Street Tower - in New York City, these condo townhouses are a unique stacked cube architecture designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. It fuses both modern art and architecture.

Museum Residences in Denver, overlooks the Denver Art Museum. These residences were designed by Daniel Libeskind.

Aura Condos - Another Daniel Libeskind condo, this one a high rise located in Sacramento, CA. (Warning, annoying audio track in this link). Also related is a condo project in Sacramento called Epic. Here's a list of All Daniel Libeskind Projects.

Posted by spotsearch at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The amount of money and opulence in the middle east is amazing. It seems that Dubai is becoming the playground for the rich. And so, Dubai is becoming a world center of innovative architecture.

* Burj Al Arab, currently the tallest hotel in the world. It is billed as the world's first 7 star hotel and has a unique sail-shaped architecture. See also the Wikipedia Link

Where do you think the world's tallest building will be? The U.S? Malaysia, Taiwan, or China? How about Dubai?

* Burj Dubai (see also Burj Dubai on Wikipedia ) to be completed in 2008, this is expected to be the World's Tallest Skyscraper when it's done.

* Al Burj is another tall Dubai skyscraper whose height is still unknown, and may possibly compete with Burj Dubai for the tallest building title.

Remember the underwater city of Atlantis? Stuff that dreams are made of. Imagine the beginnings of that, an underwater hotel in Dubai.

* Hydropolis which will be built about 44 feet underwater. See also this link

Perhaps the most amazing project of all- the Palm Islands. This project aims to build a whole series of islands in the ocean into a palm-shaped design, and building residences there. See also this link

Posted by spotsearch at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have always wondered why prefab houses had to be drab houses. Why doesn't someone just spend some time to design a cool, modern prefab that can be produced cost effectively while exuding style and class? San Francisco architect Michelle Kaufmann has done just that, and thrown in some eco-friendly design as well. I want one!

Video Tour of a BreezeHouse

Some Assembly Required - Wired

Michelle Kaufmann Designs

BreezeHouse- LiveModern

GlideHouse - LiveModern

Posted by spotsearch at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, billionaire Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway, has just released its annual report. If you haven't read his reports, I highly recommend you spend some time to read one or more. They're filled with general investing information, and useful advice, as well as Warren's views of the economy and market outlook. It's easy reading too. This year he talks about investing fees and hedge funds, investing in foreign markets, and of course his company's recent acquisitions and investment activity.

Buffet's shareholder meetings are becoming a cultural event- attendance is often over 10,000 people. This year, for the first time ever, I'm going to attend the shareholders' meeting, May 6-7, 2006. It should be pretty interesting. Here's a brief description of what the meeting is like. If you're planning on going, or have gone before and have some comments, or experiences to share drop me an email .

(Disclosure:  I own stock in Berkshire Hathaway at the time of this writing)

Posted by spotsearch at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There's an interesting article in Fortune about The Birth of the Cubicle. Interestingly enough, it wasn't designed to pack lots of people into a space at all. The inventor of the cubicle, Robert Pobst, had a vision of a flexible dynamic work space. I liked some of the later designs in the picture slideshow in the article.

In Silicon Valley, space is at a premium, so it's pretty standard to live at work in a cubicle. At Kosmix, until recently, we were small enough that almost all the developers fit in one medium-sized open space room. Surprisingly, I liked the everyone-in-one-room concept. I guess it also helped that the room had a lot of windows. Now, we've grown and needed more space so we all live in a new cubicle-land office :)

Posted by spotsearch at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)