Carlini's Comments

EMP: IS NORTH KOREA A THREAT?

Filed Friday, July 3. 2009

North Korea doesn’t have anything that could reach the U.S. Or do they? The threat of nuclear bombs is such a remote possibility today that no one really thinks about it these days. Is this really true?

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JUMPSTARTING LITHIUM-ION TECHNOLOGY TO CONSUMERS

Filed Wednesday, June 24. 2009

Lithium-ion technology can be used on a more personal level. While it’s becoming more well known that lithium-ion technology is being used for next-generation cars, there are applications on a more personal level that the average consumer may be able to use in powering their phones and cameras.

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COMMERCIALIZING LITHIUM-ION TECHNOLOGY AT ARGONNE

Filed Wednesday, June 17. 2009

Argonne National Laboratory is a key player in commercializing lithium-ion technology. Illinois can be as well if the state acts quickly. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a region to raise economic viability for all.

Interest on last week’s column on lithium-ion battery commercialization has led to some great feedback from prominent readers as well as an interview with Jeff Chamberlin. He’s the senior account manager at Argonne’s office of technology transfer.

Sam Raimi and Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3

Argonne National Laboratory battery researchers (from left) Khalil Amine, Chris Johnson, Sun-Ho Kang and Mike Thackeray flank a continuously stirred tank reactor used to produce scaled-up quantities of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Argonne’s lithium-ion battery technology will be commercialized by chemical company BASF under a licensing agreement announced on June 3, 2009.
Photo courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory

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Last modified on 2009-06-24 04:08

ILLINOIS DROPS BALL ON LITHIUM-ION TECHNOLOGY

Filed Wednesday, June 10. 2009

With President Barack Obama talking about recovery and creating jobs from building next-generation cars, why is Illinois like the Chicago Cubs when it comes to winning big time? The Illinois all-star politicians have dropped the ball.

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Last modified on 2009-06-24 04:09

GM: GOOD MOVE OR GREAT MISTAKE?

Filed Friday, June 5. 2009

Now that the government is a major owner in GM, what would you like to see changed there? I said in Dec. 2008 that they should have let the market take its course and let GM go into bankruptcy back then. I wrote:

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BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY SUPPORTS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Filed Saturday, May 30. 2009

My recent TV interview on the Illinois Channel discussing Broadband Connectivity and economic development.

http://www.illinoischannel.org/CarliniJames080926.htm

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HIGH-SPEED INTERNET: AN ACCEPTED OXYMORON

Filed Wednesday, May 27. 2009

High-speed Internet service should be measured in gigabit speeds rather than megabit speeds.

How many times do we have to repeat that before it sinks in? Where are the corporate executives and academics who talk about the quest for excellence and the pursuit of quality in lofty speeches who rarely come up with pragmatic solutions and profitability for their organizations?

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FOLLOW CALIFORNIA's LEAD: ILLINOIS SHOULD TAKE A VOTE

Filed Wednesday, May 20. 2009

Before we start raising more taxes in Illinois, we should ask the voters what they want. I wrote a column several weeks ago about watching how we spend the stimulus money that states are getting. How are they going to spend it? This was my observation:

There are many people coming out of the woodwork with reasons that their agency or organization needs more money. To them, this is the most critical thing they know must be funded with the stimulus money. Nothing else matters.

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Last modified on 2009-05-20 20:08

BANK OF AMERICA: THE CHRYSLER OF BANKING

Filed Wednesday, May 13. 2009

How many people get at least a phone call a day from Bank of America? It’s funny how Bank of America has become a government-dependent network pest instead of a leading financial institution. It needs another $34 billion to keep afloat?

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THREE CRITICAL ISSUES FACING MANY STATES

Filed Thursday, May 7. 2009

The three most critical issues facing Illinois today are job erosion, education and network infrastructure. These issues aren’t unique to Illinois, I observed on last week’s Comcast “Newsmakers” program on the CNN channel.

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STIMULUS MONEY - DO STATE LEGISLATORS HAVE AN OBJECTIVE APPROACH?

Filed Thursday, April 23. 2009

Do any state legislators really have a clue when it comes to prioritizing projects for stimulus package funding? There is a lot of money coming to every state from a federal funding stimulus package. How are they going to spend it?

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Last modified on 2009-04-23 18:15

TWITTER AND OTHER DIGITAL BLING

Filed Wednesday, April 15. 2009

Do some of the social networking tools have real value or are they just a fad?

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Last modified on 2009-04-15 17:08

REAL ESTATE STIMULUS: RE-FINANCING ISN'T FOR EVERYONE

Filed Thursday, April 9. 2009

If you have a credit score of 620 or less, you will not qualify for hardly anything.

Watching the hype and listening to the politicians isn’t the same as talking to your real mortgage broker when it comes to refinancing a mortgage. With all the money floating around to different banks, it would appear that money is easily available for refinancing and buying the next house.

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