In the News
| Pages | 28-28 |
DECEMBER 2011
28
Copyright industries added over
US$ 930 billion in value to the U.S.
Economy in 2010, according to a
recent study released by the
Washington-based International
Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA).
In addition to their almost 6.4 per-
cent contribution to gross domes-
tic product (GDP), the industries
account for some US$134 billion in
foreign sales and exports, and
employ nearly 5.1 million workers,
oering salaries 27 percent above
the average. The study, prepared
by Stephen Siwek of Economists
Incorporated for the IIPA, updates
12 previous studies that track the
impact of U.S. industries that cre-
ate, produce and distribute theatri-
cal lms, TV programs, home vid-
eos, DVDs, business software,
entertainment software, books,
journals, music and sound record-
ings. The IIPA ’s Steven J. Metalitz
noted, “the 2011 edition of our
study shows once again how sig-
nicantly the U.S. copyright indus-
tries contribute to U.S. jobs, wages,
economic growth and internation-
al competitiveness,” according to
an IIPA press release. The full report
is available at: www.Iipa.com/copy-
right_us_economy.html.
The world’s rst regular television (TV) service, oered by
the U.K.’s agship broadcaster, the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC), began broadcasting just 75 years ago
at 3 p.m. on November 2, 1936, from a hilltop at Alexandra
Palace in North London.
The rst broadcast lasted two hours and covered the for-
mal launch of the service, a Movietone newsreel, a variety
show and a 15-minute documentary entitled “Television
comes to London”, set to an excerpt of Dvorak’s New World
Symphony and which provided a behind-the-scenes view
of the preparations leading up to the launch.
For the rst six months, the studio tested two competing
technical systems, a mechanical system developed by John
Logie Baird which produced images of 240 lines, and an
electronic system developed by EMI-Marconi which pro-
duced images of 405 lines. In comparison, today’s digital
high-denition TVs oer picture resolutions of 1,080 lines.
Winning on the toss of a coin, the Baird system was used for
the inaugural broadcast, although it was dropped after the
trial period in favor of the EMI-Marconi system. The studio’s
hilltop location meant that its programs could be reliably
picked up by some 20,000 homes within a 25-mile range.
Although the dream of television became a reality in the
1930s, inventors from many dierent countries had been
working on it as far back as the 1850s. Today, television is
an extremely powerful means of communication and the
world’s most popular form of entertainment. As noted by
Matt Cooke, Chair of the Alexandra Park and Palace Trust,
the rst broadcast “paved the way for a new kind of social
entertainment, but it also prompted technological
advancements in the way we communicate with each
other which still impact on us today.”
A low-tech sub-surface irrigation sys-
tem for growing crops in arid regions
caught the attention of judges to win
this year’s annual James Dyson Award
which seeks to “encourage the next
generation of design engineers to be
creative, challenge and invent.”
Edward Linacre’s “Airdrop Irrigation”
technique harvests moisture from the
air and delivers water directly to plant
roots. Solar panels are used to charge
small battery-powered wind turbines
that draw heated air underground
where it cools, condenses and is col-
lected in an underground trap. Solar
energy is used to pump the water
directly via underground dripper pipes
to plant roots. The system includes an
LCD screen that displays tank water
levels, pressure strength, solar battery
life and overall system health.
Mr. Linacre, a former industrial design
student at Melbourne’s Swinburne
University of Technology in Australia,
said his system is “a response to the
devastating effects of drought.” He
explained that it works on the prin-
ciple that even the driest air contains
water molecules that can be extracted
by lowering the air’s temperature to
the point of condensation. The sys-
tem is easy to install and maintain.
“There are very few low-tech solutions”
for harvesting water, he said, and
“I wanted farmers to be able to install
this themselves.”
With £10,000 in prize money that
comes with the award, Mr. Linacre
now aims to develop and roll out his
ingenious solution. “Winning this
award means that I can develop and
test the Airdrop system. It has the
potential to help farmers around the
world and I’m up for the challenge of
rolling it out,” he said.
IN THE NEWS
Copyright industries driving
U.S. economy
Television turns 75
A low-tech irrigation solution for arid regions
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