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Branson's Carbon War Room takes aim at profits

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.--The key to avoiding the worst effects of global warming is to make money while doing so, says iconic entrepreneur Richard Branson.

The chairman of the Virgin Group, which oversees 350 businesses, is involved in dozens of efforts to reduce carbon emissions linked to global warming, both in Virgin's business operations and through spin-off efforts.

Branson was interviewed at the Fortune Brainstorm Green business conference here yesterday, where he argued that entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations need to take the lead on addressing global warming. Government policies should set ground rules, such as taxing dirty fuels, but … Read more

When ER doc consults iPad, don't panic

Nobody likes a conversation interrupted by the mobile-device grab, that increasingly familiar maneuver by which someone betrays a total lack of interest in said conversation and searches for whatever else might be going on in the world instead.

But when your physician gets device-happy in the middle of your next doctor's visit, even in the ER, chances are it's for a good cause, such as looking up the latest on your condition in a reference guide.

Rosen and Barkin's best-selling 5-Minute Emergency Medicine Consult has, for years, been a six-pound, 1,300-page clinical reference tome designed to support urgent care providers. Now, Unbound Medicine is releasing the new-and-improved fourth edition for mobile devices (including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, etc.) in a "proven, rapid-access format."

At $99.95, the price tag is heftier than it is for the paper product (at the time of this posting the hardcover is $81.64 on Amazon), but it features not only the guide's 600-plus urgent care topics and updated protocols and treatment guideline, but also personalized "favorites" (perhaps not the best word) for symptoms and conditions a user might encounter more frequently.… Read more

Hacking Whac-A-Mole

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook asks permission to change its privacy policy

Skype tweaks Skype To Go, letting you make international calls as local ones

Sony drops the price of the PlayStation Portable to $129.99

A Chinese version of Groupon is announced

Motorola sues TiVo for alleged patent infringement in its DVRs

Motorola is sued for using the name Xoom on its new tablet

New York Sen. Charles Schumer wants HTTPS to be the default security setting on major Web sites

A man in Florida is arrested for allegedly planting viruses in Whac-A-Mole arcade games

A … Read more

New Facebook app nags your crush to break up

Hey, if you dump your boyfriend, you'll be happier. How do I know? Because you could be with me.

How do you know you could be with me? Because I'm in your waiting room. No, not in the waiting room at your dental surgery. I'm in your Facebook WaitingRoom.

You might have thought that the Breakup Notifier was enough to make love's course run smoother than your own sometimes coarse behavior has managed to effect. Breakup Notifier is a Facebook app (since blocked by Facebook) that notifies you the minute one of your many crushes became … Read more

Surgeons using iPads in operating rooms

Georgetown University has begun a program that uses iPads in their operating rooms to assist doctors with complicated operating procedures.

The iPads allow surgeons easy access to all sorts of medical data, imagine, and processes during an operation. The ease of using iOS comes in handy (no pun intended), since no stylus or keyboards are needed. It's quick and efficient, according to a Journal of Surgical Radiology statement:

With its attractive screen and networking capabilities, the iPad offers surgeons real-time access to images and patient data during an operation. Integrating it into routine clinical practice can save lives and … Read more

Does Kinect hate your small apartment?

In many ways, Microsoft's Kinect for the Xbox 360 is an innovative concept: ditch the controller and let your body interact directly. Sounds great on paper, but the Kinect is a bit more greedy with its space requirements than either the Nintendo Wii or PlayStation Move, and that could hurt folks with small apartments. Folks like me.

I've had a rough experience with the Kinect in New York City, mainly because my living room has only about 6 feet between my 32-inch TV and the edge of my sofa. The Kinect requires a good 6 to 10 feet of space between the user and it, according to documentation in the games we received. That's a huge amount of room in most urban apartments, especially as that space also needs to be open and unobstructed. The Kinect's setup process suggests you move furniture if necessary, a task that's impossible for me, and an unkind expectation for most people.… Read more

Macy's mirror lets your reflection try on clothes

Clothes shoppers wanting to experience the 21st-century version of dress-up have until November to try on the new Macy's Magic Fitting Room in the retail chain's New York's Herald Square flagship store.

The company is showing off a 72-inch mirror display that enables you to superimpose clothing on your reflection. The mirror features a multitouch screen that lets you select items such as tops, dresses, bottoms, and coats. After making a choice, the item covers your reflection, making it look like you're actually wearing the garb. Swimming in that shirt? Simply touch the mirror to take … Read more

Robot mannequin helps shoppers find the right fit

How do you increase the odds that a shirt you bought online will fit just right? Well, you could cross your fingers--or enlist the help of a new shape-shifting robot mannequin that shows you how clothes hang on your frame.

The headless robot is part of a virtual fitting room service for retailers created by Estonian start-up Fits.me. Customers shopping at a participating site enter their body measurements online (height, chest, arm length, torso, type, and so on), then see photos of a mannequin shaped just like them "trying on" the item they're eyeing in different sizes and styles.

For now, the robo-mannequin can only step in for male shoppers. Created using scientific algorithms based on more than 30,000 3D human body scans, it can shift into 2,000 different male body shapes (wait, are there really that many male body shapes?!), gaining or losing pecs and biceps with the adjustment of a scroll bar.

The virtual fitting room, which launched earlier this year, is currently being tested by several retailers, including Germany's Quelle and U.K.-based Hawes & Curtis, which makes and sells shirts and other apparel items.

"Not only do we expect it to increase sales," Hawes & Curtis' e-commerce director, Antony Comyns, told the BBC, "but it should also cut down on returns, because customers should be receiving a product that fits perfectly on their bodies." … Read more

Appointment keeper

Business Appointment Manager (BAM) from Business Management Systems is a multiuser, network-capable business software and database suite that bundles scheduling, billing, customer contact, and a variety of reporting tools. The program can help coordinate appointments and other important events and actions, everything from ordering supplies and reserving conference rooms to sales, client meetings, and purchasing, helping to reduce wasteful duplication and conflicts like double-booking. It also integrates billing, customer relations, and business-planning tools, all in one comprehensive, shared interface.

When you install BAM, you have the option of installing the full program, which includes SQL Server components, or just the … Read more