Asahi Shimbun reports that a woman in Osaka discovered these pretty katydids in a field. Osaka Museum of Natural History entomologist Itaru Kanazawa identifies them as the larvae of Euconocephalus thunbergi (”kubikirigisu” in Japanese), a close relative of the katydid. While he says it is normal for these insects to change between green and brown to match their surroundings, pink and white are considered abnormal.Link
Source: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=120363
If the drop seems slight, remember that media sellers' costs are rising fast. Even more unsettling, this is the first time since 2001 that media ad spending has fallen for two quarters in a row, according to TNS Media Intelligence, which produced today's numbers. More challenges ahead "While the protracted downturn in automotive spending has been a prime contributor, the overall results reflect weakness across a wide range of industries and advertisers," said Steven Fredericks, president-CEO of TNS. "Given the uncertainties about near-term economic growth and consumer spending, we expect core ad spending will continue to face challenges during the second half of the year." It's true that the first quarter of 2006 was blessed by the Winter Olympics ad bonanza, but it would have been soft even without the Olympic effect. And the second quarter declined without any particularly tough comparison from 2006. The only media to gain were cable TV, which was up 2.8%; consumer magazines, up 6.9%; Sunday magazines, up 4.3%; Spanish language magazines, up 13.1%; outdoor, up 3.6%; and, of course, the internet, up 17.7%. That internet figure doesn't include keyword search or video advertising -- TNS doesn't track those. TV feels pain The brunt of the budget cuts hit network TV, which was down 3.6%; spot TV, down 5.4%; business-to-business magazines, down 7.2%; local magazines, down 4.2%; local newspapers, down 5.7%; national papers, down 6.4%; Spanish language papers, down 4.4%; local radio, down 1.5%; national spot radio, down 5.3%; and network radio, down 4.4%. The top 10 advertisers' collective outlay fell 2.2% in the first half as five of them made significant cuts. Spending fell 12.5% at AT&T; 25.1% at General Motors; 7.9% at Time Warner; 9.1% at Johnson & Johnson; and 2.6% at Walt Disney. Fortunately for the media business, the other half increased their budgets. The biggest advertiser, Procter & Gamble, raised ad spending 1.8% to reach $1.61 billion. Spending also rose at Verizon Communications, which was up 8.8%; Ford Motor, up 2.7%; Sprint Nextel, up 13.5%; and National Amusements, up an impressive 56.5%. By category, declines registered in telecom, which was down 6.3%; nondomestic auto, down 6.1%; domestic auto, down 10.8%; and travel and tourism, down 1.2%. The biggest category of the half, financial services, expanded spending 3.5%. Local services and amusements spending increased 2.1%. Miscellaneous retail (excluding department stores, food stores and home furnishing and appliance stores) grew 0.2%. Direct-response advertising rose at the greatest rate, 11.3%. Personal-care products grew 6.7%. And restaurants expanded 0.8%.
The announcement follows Adobe's implementation of Premiere Express, their online video editor, and it signifies a fairly progressive market plan by Adobe. In a content creation culture where every teen is a video editor, the democratization of powerful multimedia tools online allows Adobe to reach out to this new generation without abandoning their industry professional bread and butter. And it makes us want to remind kids that we once edited a movie on a VCR (after walking 30 miles barefoot in the snow, aiming our kite for lightning to capture the electricity to do our work). [adobe]
Innovation in eco-fire fighting hopes to change that. Arkansas-based Working Chemical Solutions bills its Fire Blockade product as “the fastest, greenest, simplest and cleanest fire suppression system available.” (FYI, the product is the brainchild of Robert C. Smith, a former LSU Tigers defensive end turned biochemist who watched his laboratory burn to the ground — whoa.) Unlike dry chemicals and foams, water-based, biodegradable Fire Blockade doesn’t attack the oxygen in the fire; instead it alters the chemistry of the fuel surface and lowers the temperature of the fire dramatically so it can be more easily extinguished.
Summit Environmental Corp of San Diego has taken eco-fire fighting a step further–the nine-year-old company that previously developed products as diverse as organic skin care and toxic spill clean-up has recently refocused and declared itself on a “Green Firefighting” mission. The company is now 100% focused on its USDA-approved non-toxic Flameout fire suppressant and the development of technology for water and energy-saving fire vehicles.
While we couldn’t find any hybrid fire engines out there yet, if you’re ever unlucky enough to find yourself in a burning building in Sacramento, you might be cheered up by the fact that DaimlerChrysler’s one and only Mercedes Benz F-cell, the first fuel-cell powered fire response vehicle, is in service in the city as a supervisor’s vehicle. No, it doesn’t have a ladder and a hose, but hey, it’s a start.
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