Smartphones Get More Accurate Battery Gauge
Tom Jowitt, Techworld.com Tue Sep 25, 12:00 PM ET
Texas Instruments has adapted its fuel gauge laptop battery technology to work in smart phone or PDAs. The technology will allow users to accurately gauge how much runtime is left in their mobile devices.
TI says that its battery fuel gauge technology is currently used in millions of notebook computers, but had faced requests from its portable device customers to incorporate the technology into their mobile designs. So TI integrated its system-side fuel gauge integrated circuit (IC), with its impedance track technology, to extend this functionality into smart phones and other handhelds.
The result, TI claims, is that a single cell, Li-ion powered application can run longer on a smart phone or PDA, thanks to the battery fuel gauge.
"As mobile devices add more functionality, such as high-definition video and data transmission, consumers want to operate their devices just like notebook computers and expect to know remaining battery capacity," said Dave Heacock, senior vice president of TI's high-volume analogue and logic business.
TI says that bq27500 system-side battery fuel gauge with the impedance track technology measures (with 99 percent accuracy) data from a device's single-cell Li-Ion battery to predict remaining battery capacity under all conditions, even as a battery ages.
The IC analyses precise state-of-charge by correlating between a battery's voltage and cell impedance (or resistance), and its current integration to adjust remaining state-of-charge up or down the predicted discharge curve.
The bq27500 directly measures the effect of a battery's discharge rate, temperature, age and other factors to predict remaining life within one percent error. By measuring and storing real-time battery impedance values, the IC automatically adjusts to changes in full capacity as a battery ages. State-of-charge and full capacity are calculated from the voltage and impedance measurements, eliminating the need to re-learn from a charge and discharge cycle.
The bq27500 resides on the system's main board, and can support an embedded or removable battery. It is available today in a 12-pin, 2.5 mm x 4 mm SON package, and the device's suggested retail pricing is US$1.35 in 1,000-piece quantities.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Smartphones Get More Accurate Battery Gauge Tom Jowitt
'Fraudster' posts confidential eBay member data on forum
'Fraudster' posts confidential eBay member data on forum
Juan Carlos Perez Tue Sep 25, 6:17 PM ET
San Francisco (IDGNS) - Someone used an eBay discussion forum on Tuesday to post confidential information about eBay users along with what may be their credit card numbers.
The incident, first reported by AuctionBytes.com, a technology news site that focuses on e-commerce, led the e-commerce giant to shut down the forum, which ironically is devoted to the discussion of security issues.
Nichola Sharpe, an eBay spokeswoman, confirmed that on Tuesday morning someone the vendor describes as "a malicious fraudster" posted the names and contact information of 1,200 eBay members on the company's Trust & Safety discussion forum.
"This information could have been obtained as part of an account takeover. Since this time, our Trust and Safety team has been proactively addressing this situation," she said.
Along with members' information, the "fraudster" also posted what appear to be credit card numbers. However, if that's what they are, they don't match the ones eBay has on file for the members whose contact information was disclosed, Sharpe said.
"We are in the process of proactively contacting members by phone, so that if the information is valid somehow -- regardless how this fraudster acquired the information -- these members can take the steps they need to take to protect themselves," Sharpe said.
The "fraudster" didn't obtain the information by breaching eBay's security systems, so eBay thinks the culprit stole the information via methods like phishing, she said.
The company has posted more information in an official blog post.
The incident, which eBay continues to monitor, has been broadly reported and commented on by eBay users on this long thread.
In its article, AuctionBytes reported being able to access the forum and view several posts before they were removed.
The posts included fields labeled "Id verified" and "Store" along with a time-date stamp of the user registration, AuctionBytes reported, adding that it hasn't been able to verify the accuracy of the information viewed.
Pirate Bay strikes back at media content companies
Pirate Bay strikes back at media content companies
Jeremy Kirk Tue Sep 25, 8:07 PM ET
San Francisco (IDGNS) - Swedish police are expected to decide later this week whether a criminal case is warranted against 10 major music and movie companies over their alleged efforts to disrupt the Pirate Bay, one of the largest file-sharing search engines.
If Swedish police decide to pursue a criminal complaint, the Pirate Bay will be spared the time and expense of pursuing its own civil suit against the companies, Peter Sunde, one of a small circle of volunteers in Sweden that runs the Web site, said on Tuesday.
The Pirate Bay, with an estimated 2 million daily users, is a search engine for torrents, or small files used to trade content between computers via a peer-to-peer (P-to-P) network. Media companies say the site is used mainly to enable the illegal trading of copyright files and have sought its closure.
But the Pirate Bay struck back last Friday, filing a criminal complaint in Sweden against content companies that hired MediaDefender, a company that specializes in disrupting P-to-P networks. The Pirate Bay alleges that MediaDefender attacked its operations by distributing fake torrent files and other methods.
It is charging the media companies, which include the Swedish subsidiaries of Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, with infrastructural sabotage, DoS attacks, and other hacking and spamming offenses, according to its blog.
The complaint followed the damaging release of thousands of internal MediaDefender e-mails, which described in part how the company tries to foil file-sharing services. MediaDefender uses a software program that sets up fake user accounts and then distributes fake torrent files, which are designed to reduce the volume of copyright files being traded, Sunde said. The source code for that software, as well as the internal e-mails, are now being widely circulating on file-sharing networks.
The software can read "captchas," the strings of distorted numbers and letters designed to ensure that real people are using a Web site rather than an automated program.
The Pirate Bay says it matched IP addresses for some of the fake torrents to some of the internal e-mails, providing compelling evidence that MediaDefender was sending out fake torrents, according to Sunde.
The Pirate Bay blacklists IP addresses associated with fake torrents and also shares those lists with other torrent search engines, Sunde said. "We are very proactive when it comes to spam handling, but it's still a problem when they [MediaDefender] do it," he said.
Despite complaints from media and content companies, the Pirate Bay has continued to operate in Sweden. In May 2006, Swedish police seized at least 25 servers after a raid on five locations, but have yet to file charges. Swedish prosecutors have until Oct. 1 to file a criminal case, but Sunde said he expects the government attorneys to file for an extension.
Sunde maintains that the Pirate Bay is just a search engine and doesn't actually store any files, merely directing users to where files are located. "We are quite sure the Pirate Bay is legal in Sweden," said Sunde, who is based in Malmo, in the south of Sweden, and also runs a Web site consulting business.
As a precaution against future police action, Sunde said he knows the location of only one of the 40 or so servers currently powering the Pirate Bay. Some of those servers are now in countries outside of Sweden, he said.
New Smithsonian museum appears online
By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institution's museum dedicated to black history and culture launches this week with an interactive Web site — long before its building opens for visitors on the National Mall.
Social-networking technology donated by IBM Corp. will allow visitors to help produce content for future exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Almost anything is fair game — long essays, short vignettes of memories or recorded oral histories. The museum plans to add video capabilities in the future.
The museum planned to announce the site's debut Wednesday.
"The culture of the African American experience ... is too important to wait five or 10 years until the building is open," said Lonnie Bunch, the museum's founding director. "I wanted people to know that from the day I was hired, this museum exists."
Museum staff will monitor the site for historical accuracy, and technical filters will block racist or inappropriate comments, said Bunch, adding that the site is really a "virtual museum" and a new source of research for curators and scholars.
Museum officials began thinking about launching the Web site during an explosion in the popularity of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. That's when Bunch and IBM Chairman Samuel Palmisano, who sits on the museum's advisory board, got to talking. IBM eventually agreed to donate $1 million worth of hardware, software and services to build the site.
"The museum thought, 'Let's harness this. Let's build a social network that brings together people interested in the African American experience ... all those people that are your visitors but who have great stories to tell," said John Tolva, IBM's senior manager for cultural programs.
One of the first contributions came from Michael Lomax, president of the United Negro College Fund and a member of the museum's board. Lomax recalls when, at age 13, his mother moved him and his five brothers and sisters from Los Angeles to Tuskegee, Ala., to cover the civil rights movement for Nation magazine. He submitted a story his mother wrote for the magazine called "Journey to the Beginning," which recounted his family's encounter with the South in 1961.
"We traveled at first by automobile, and then our car broke down and we had to ... travel by Greyhound bus from Arizona to Alabama. We thought of it as our family freedom ride," Lomax told The Associated Press. "My mother was a writer accustomed to the privileges of the journalist. We found ourselves in a position where we no longer had privilege. We were being segregated, and we tried to stand up to it and were almost arrested."
Lomax said everyone thought his mother was crazy to take her children to Alabama as a single mother during segregation. He said it was "horrifying and exhilarating at the same time" and an experience that changed his life.
Organizers said they hope people of all ages and backgrounds will post messages on the site.
"You've got the sort of historical materials on major people and major moments linked directly to the kind of bottom-up recollections of common folk," Tolva said. "You can link, visually depict, how your memory relates to the other kind of grand narratives of African American history — the narratives of civil rights, Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois."
The museum announced a similar partnership in February with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with hopes of recording about 2,000 oral histories from black families over the next year to be placed in the museum's archives. The StoryCorps Griot project has been traveling across the country to collect recordings.
By opening the museum online, potential donors see that the museum is alive long before its estimated 2015 opening on the National Mall, said Bunch, who is working to raise half the museum's $500 million cost, with Congress providing the other half.
The museum is opening its first physical exhibit in Washington, "Let Your Motto Be Resistance," on Oct. 19 at the National Portrait Gallery. It traces 150 years of history through 100 photographs of well-known abolitionists, scholars, artists and athletes who challenged negative attitudes about race and class.
'Halo 3' packaging scratches disks
By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer Tue Sep 25, 7:52 PM ET
SEATTLE - Just hours after die-hard fans finally got their hands on a copy of "Halo 3," blogs brimmed with reports that special limited-edition packaging is scratching the video game disks.
While the scratches don't appear to be keeping gamers from playing the last installment of the popular trilogy, it's a rough patch that Microsoft Corp., which has faced several Xbox 360 glitches in recent months, could have lived without.
Microsoft, which owns the studio that makes the Xbox-only "Halo 3," responded quickly on its Xbox Web site with details for a replacement program. Customers can fill out a form and send in their scratched limited-edition disks for a free exchange through the end of December.
"We have identified that there are some instances of blemishes on discs as a result of the packaging," said Microsoft spokesman David Dennis in an e-mailed statement. "This is a small fraction of the total number of Halo 3 games shipped and sold, and is a limited production version of the game."
Microsoft is selling the limited-edition version, which comes in a tin with bonus behind-the-scenes features and a making-of-the-game documentary, for $70. A regular copy of the game costs $60, and a "legendary" version, which comes with a replica of the helmet worn by game protagonist Master Chief, costs $130. The game officially went on sale early Tuesday.
Richard Mitchell, the lead writer of the Xbox 360 Fanboy blog, said one of the disks that came in his limited-edition set is scratched but the damage didn't seem to interfere with its playing.
The AP received several review copies of "Halo 3" in limited-edition tins. Both the game disk and an "essentials" disk had come loose from plastic housing designed to keep them in place. The game disk had been scratched but seemed to work fine.
"It sounds like it's just an aesthetic thing, though who wants to pay full price for something scratched?" said Brian Crescente, managing editor of Gawker Media's Kotaku.com video game blog.
Microsoft has been plagued by Xbox 360 problems in recent months. In July, the software maker said it would spend more than $1 billion to repair broken Xbox 360 consoles, and in August it disclosed that some Wireless Racing Wheel game controllers were overheating and smoking.
Since its launch, the Xbox 360 has outsold Sony Corp.'s next-generation PlayStation 3 console, but it hasn't been as popular as Nintendo Corp.'s Wii. Investors and analysts are watching whether Microsoft can turn a profit in the division that makes the Xbox 360. Microsoft, which expects to hit that milestone in the current fiscal year, has said "Halo 3" is one part of its strategy for reaching that goal.
Amazon launches digital music store
SEATTLE - Amazon.com Inc. launched its much-anticipated digital music store Tuesday, a move analysts say represents the first hint of real competition for Apple Inc.'s market-leading iTunes.
Amazon MP3, as the new section of the Web retailer's site is called, currently stocks nearly 2.3 million songs, all without copy-protection technology. Shoppers can buy and download individual songs or entire albums. The tracks can be copied to multiple computers, burned onto CDs and played on most types of PCs and portable devices, including the iPod and Microsoft Corp.'s Zune.
Songs cost 89 cents to 99 cents each and albums sell for $5.99 to $9.99.
Major music labels Universal Music Group and EMI Music have signed on to sell their tracks on Amazon, as have thousands of independent labels. The company said several labels are selling their artists' music without copy protection for the first time on the Amazon store, including Alison Krauss on Rounder Records and Ani Difranco on Righteous Babe Records.
Amazon's store competes with Apple's market-leading iTunes, which is also offering some songs without so-called digital rights management technology, which prevents unauthorized copies from playing.
Although DRM helps stem illegal copying, it can frustrate consumers by limiting the type of device or number of computers on which they can listen to music. Copy-protected songs sold through iTunes generally won't play on devices other than the iPod, and iPods won't play DRM-enabled songs bought at rival music stores.
EMusic.com Inc., another popular download site, also sells tracks in the DRM-free MP3 format but, like Amazon's store, doesn't offer music from some major labels that still require anti-piracy locks.
Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president for digital music, said it will be up to customers to use the music they buy legally.
To help stop music piracy, Carr said some record labels add a digital watermark to MP3 files that indicate what company sold the song, and Amazon adds its own name and the item number of the song, for customer service purposes. He added that no details about the buyer or the transaction are added to the downloaded music file.
"By and large, most customers just want a great, legitimate way to buy the music they want," Carr said in an interview Tuesday morning. "What the vast majority of labels believe is that they will sell more music by giving customers what they want ... by enabling DRM-free MP3, than by continuing to confuse customers or force them to choose methods that are not legal, because the legitimate alternatives are not good."
Carr characterized the number of record labels that still insist on copy-protection technology as "a handful." But David Card, an analyst at Jupiter Research, said in an interview that "having two out of four labels doesn't cut it."
Warner Music Group Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which is owned by Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG, have not agreed to sell music on Amazon MP3, and Card pointed out that Universal and EMI have made only parts of their catalogs available without copy protection.
"Their catalog is going to suffer for a while," he said, referring to Amazon.
Card said Amazon's entrance into the market represents serious competition for Apple, which can no longer rely solely on the bond between the iPod and iTunes.
But, Card said: "In and of itself, (Amazon MP3) isn't enough to change any market share. They have to do a good job at building their store."
Colin Sebastian, a Lazard Capital Markets analyst, wrote in a note to investors Tuesday that he doesn't expect digital music sales to boost Amazon's profit, "given the significant contribution the company currently receives from traditional (physical) media sales, and the low margins typical with music download services, compounded by a highly competitive environment."
Shares of Amazon rose 89 cents to close at $93.48 Tuesday.
Software takes aim at altered photos
SAN DIEGO - Tracing its roots to a founder's anger at a no-show home remodeling crew, the makers of Shoot & Proof software aim to erase any doubts that digital photos are faked or manipulated.
The software maker, CodaSystem France SA in Paris, unveiled the fruits of its founder's frustrations Tuesday at the DEMOfall 2007 technology show, a two-day rapid-fire procession of new gadgets and gizmos.
DEMO, now in its in its 17th year, has served as a launch pad for such industry standouts as TiVo Inc., Palm Inc.'s Pilot and the Danger HipTop handheld. Each of the 69 presenters gets six minutes to impress a crowd of journalists and venture capitalists as well as technology companies looking for startups to buy.
Shoot & Proof is intended for use on cell phones, said Frederic Vanholder, managing director, and it is running on about 600 handsets, thanks partly to $5 million in venture capital raised last year.
The angry CodaSystem founder, who has since left the company, figured that if he photographed the part of his home that needed the work that wasn't done — and he convinced authorities the image was authentic — then he would be able to get back what he paid for the work.
Shoot & Proof shows where a photo was shot (if the phone is equipped with global positioning software), as well as when and on whose device.
A retailer client of CodaSystem uses Shoot & Proof to ensure manufacturers that their wares are being displayed as promised. A security company uses it to record break-ins and reassure insurance companies they aren't being bilked.
Near the opposite end of the spectrum, another participant in DEMOfall, MotionDSP Inc., introduced a Web site, http://www.fixmymovie.com, where consumers can sharpen pictures and videos taken on cell phones, images that are typically jumpy and heavily pixelated.
MotionDSP, based in San Mateo, Calif., got its start by licensing software from the University of California at Santa Cruz and targeting military and intelligence agencies. In-Q-Tel, an investment firm launched by the CIA in 1990 to support U.S. intelligence work, announced in July that it was an investor.
The company won't discuss its government work in detail but says its software also can be used to sharpen images taken with security cameras, which, like cell phones, are known for delivering poor quality. Though vastly improved, the images still fall short of footage shot with a digital camcorder, however.
Euro gamers get hands on Halo 3
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Gamers across Europe got their hands on Halo 3 at midnight on Tuesday, one of the most anticipated and heavily marketed titles in history.
Thousands of gamers queued on Monday at stores in the US, Australia and New Zealand to be the first to play it.
The Xbox 360 title is Microsoft's key weapon in the console wars with Sony and Nintendo.
Microsoft hopes day one sales will top £70m ($140m), more than the opening takings of any movie in history.
However, sceptics point out that video games cost upwards of £40 ($80), while cinema tickets are much less.
More than 1,000 shops opened across the UK on Tuesday for the launch.
In New York, about 500 people turned out for the midnight launch.
Gamer Alex Escobar, who was one of the first in the queue, told Reuters news agency: "It is worth it. It is time to finish this fight," echoing the tagline for the science fiction game.
Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, said the hoped for success of Halo 3 was an essential element in the competitive console market.
He said: "Halo 3 is the biggest franchise for Xbox. The game is going to drive a lot of Xbox 360 sales and Xbox Live subscriptions this Christmas."
Boost sales
Microsoft needs Halo 3 to boost sales of the Xbox 360; despite investing billions of dollars into the Xbox project it has yet to see any meaningful profitable return
"It's far too early to say what the financial return will be for our investment," Mr Kim told the BBC News website.
Microsoft hopes to make a profit on its Xbox in this financial year.
"If we can't make a profit in the year Halo 3 comes out, then when will we?" said Mr Kim.
We want to let our fans do great things 
More than a million people pre-ordered the game, which is the concluding part of a science fiction trilogy that tells the story of a super soldier, called Master Chief, who is leading the fight to save humanity from an alien collective, called the Covenant.
The game has become a major entertainment franchise in recent years - with spin-off games, clothing, novels and action figures all available.
The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is working with Halo's makers, Bungie studios, on a series of Halo-related interactive episodes.
He has also agreed to produce a movie based on the Halo series, which is currently on hold following financial wrangles over the cost of the film.
"It's not necessarily going to move a lot of new systems like the first Halo did," said Dan Hsu, editor-in-chief of US games magazine EGM.
"At the same time, with all the marketing blitz and hype, consumers will be out there," he said, "and if they are thinking video games, they are thinking one of two things: Halo or the Wii."
Web reviews of the game have begun to emerge with most posting very high scores.
Game site Eurogamer wrote: "Hype machine aside... what we find in Halo 3 is quite simply this - the best game yet in one of the best FPS (first person shooter) franchises of the era."
All three of the leading games consoles rely on exclusive franchises to drive sales. PlayStation 3 has titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2, while Nintendo has Metroid Prime 3 and Zelda.
Microsoft has spent a reported $10m (£5m) on promoting the game, with a series of costly TV adverts, as well as signing deals with food and drink firms in the US.
Most pressure
For Bungie, the game's release is the culmination of three years work.
Brian Jarrard, Bungie's director of franchise and community affairs, said the company had not felt under pressure from Microsoft, which owns the studio.
"We feel the most pressure ourselves. It's always been about driving ourselves to do great work. For the most part we don't feel the pressure from Microsoft executives breathing down our necks.
"The fan's expectations are incredibly high. We gave them a bitter sweet ending at the end of Halo 2 and we're pretty confident they will be happy with Halo 3 and that it was worth the wait."
'24' star arrested on drunken driving charges
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Kiefer Sutherland was arrested early Tuesday on misdemeanor drunken driving charges after failing a field sobriety test, police officials said.
Kiefer Sutherland attends a Fox casino party Monday in Los Angeles, California.
The actor was pulled over at about 1:10 a.m. in West Los Angeles after officers spotted him making an illegal U-turn, said Officer Kevin Maiberger.
Sutherland, 40, tested over the state's legal blood alcohol limit of .08 percent, and was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence, Officer Karen Smith said.
He was released around 4 a.m. after posting $25,000 bail, according to Sheriff's Department records.
Maiberger said Sutherland was scheduled to appear in court October 16.
Sutherland won a best actor Emmy award last year for his performance on the Fox TV series "24." The series is set to return to the air in January.Scientists: Rising seas will flood historic sites
(AP) -- Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting.
Rising waters will flood the first American settlement of Jamestown within a century, scientists predict.
In about a century, some of the places that make America what it is may be slowly erased.
Global warming -- through a combination of melting glaciers, disappearing ice sheets and warmer waters expanding -- is expected to cause oceans to rise by one meter, or about 39 inches. It will happen regardless of any future actions to curb greenhouse gases, several leading scientists say. And it will reshape the nation.
Rising waters will lap at the foundations of old money Wall Street and the new money towers of Silicon Valley. They will swamp the locations of big city airports and major interstate highways.
Storm surges worsened by sea level rise will flood the waterfront getaways of rich politicians -- the Bushes' Kennebunkport and John Edwards' place on the Outer Banks. And gone will be many of the beaches in Texas and Florida favored by budget-conscious students on Spring Break.
That's the troubling outlook projected by coastal maps reviewed by The Associated Press. The maps, created by scientists at the University of Arizona, are based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Few of the more than two dozen climate experts interviewed disagree with the one-meter projection. Some believe it could happen in 50 years, others say 100, and still others say 150.
Sea level rise is "the thing that I'm most concerned about as a scientist," says Benjamin Santer, a climate physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
"We're going to get a meter and there's nothing we can do about it," said University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver, a lead author of the February report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Paris. "It's going to happen no matter what -- the question is when."
Sea level rise "has consequences about where people live and what they care about," said Donald Boesch, a University of Maryland scientist who has studied the issue. "We're going to be into this big national debate about what we protect and at what cost."
This week, beginning with a meeting at the United Nations on Monday, world leaders will convene to talk about fighting global warming. At week's end, leaders will gather in Washington with President Bush.
October 23-24 at 9 p.m. ET on CNN
Experts say that protecting America's coastlines would run well into the billions and not all spots could be saved.
And it's not just a rising ocean that is the problem. With it comes an even greater danger of storm surge, from hurricanes, winter storms and regular coastal storms, Boesch said. Sea level rise means higher and more frequent flooding from these extreme events, he said.
All told, one meter of sea level rise in just the lower 48 states would put about 25,000 square miles under water, according to Jonathan Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona. That's an area the size of West Virginia.
The amount of lost land is even greater when Hawaii and Alaska are included, Overpeck said.
The Environmental Protection Agency's calculation projects a land loss of about 22,000 square miles. The EPA, which studied only the Eastern and Gulf coasts, found that Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Texas and South Carolina would lose the most land. But even inland areas like Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia also have slivers of at-risk land, according to the EPA.
This past summer's flooding of subways in New York could become far more regular, even an everyday occurrence, with the projected sea rise, other scientists said. And New Orleans' Katrina experience and the daily loss of Louisiana wetlands -- which serve as a barrier that weakens hurricanes -- are previews of what's to come there.
Florida faces a serious public health risk from rising salt water tainting drinking water wells, said Joel Scheraga, the EPA's director of global change research. And the farm-rich San Joaquin Delta in California faces serious salt water flooding problems, other experts said.
"Sea level rise is going to have more general impact to the population and the infrastructure than almost anything else that I can think of," said S. Jeffress Williams, a U.S. Geological Survey coastal geologist in Woods Hole, Mass.
Even John Christy at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a scientist often quoted by global warming skeptics, said he figures the seas will rise at least 16 inches by the end of the century. But he tells people to prepare for a rise of about three feet just in case.
Williams says it's "not unreasonable at all" to expect that much in 100 years. "We've had a third of a meter in the last century."
The change will be a gradual process, one that is so slow it will be easy to ignore for a while.
"It's like sticking your finger in a pot of water on a burner and you turn the heat on, Williams said. "You kind of get used to it."Needles 'are best for back pain'
 Acupuncture is said to release the body's vital energy |
A German team found almost half the patients treated with acupuncture felt pain relief.
But the Archives of Internal Medicine study also suggests fake acupuncture works nearly as well as the real thing.
In contrast, only about a quarter who received drugs and other Western therapies felt better.
Acupuncture represents a highly promising and effective treatment option for chronic back pain
Ruhr University Bochum
The researchers, from the Ruhr University Bochum, say their findings suggest that the body may react positively to any thin needle prick - or that acupuncture may simply trigger a placebo effect.
One theory is that pain messages to the brain can be blocked by competing stimuli.
Researcher Dr Heinz Endres said: "Acupuncture represents a highly promising and effective treatment option for chronic back pain.
"Patients experienced not only reduced pain intensity, but also reported improvements in the disability that often results from back pain and therefore in their quality of life."
Needles not manipulated
More than 1,100 patients took part in the study. They were given either conventional therapy, acupuncture or a sham version.
Although needles were used in the sham therapy, they were not inserted as deeply as in standard acupuncture. Neither were they inserted at points thought key to producing a therapeutic effect, or manipulated and rotated once in position.
After six months 47% of patients in the acupuncture group reported a significant improvement in pain symptoms, compared to 44% in the sham group, and just 27% in the group who received conventional therapy.
Dr James Young, of Chicago's Rush University, said: "We don't understand the mechanisms of these so-called alternative treatments, but that doesn't mean they don't work."
Acupuncture is based on the ancient Chinese theory that needles can be used to release the body's vital energy, or qi.
Conventional therapies tested in the study included painkillers, injections, heat therapy and massage.
It is estimated that as many as 85% of the population experiences back pain at some point, and the problem costs the NHS around £500m a year.
The study echoes the findings of two studies published last year in the British Medical Journal, which found a short course of acupuncture could benefit patients with low back pain.
Mike O'Farrell, of the British Acupuncture Council, said: "Through these controlled research findings demonstrating the effectiveness of acupuncture, we believe that both the medical health profession and members of the public will see the benefits of acupuncture as part of an integrated healthcare service."
Monday, September 24, 2007
Unlikely: UK Attempting to Ban Power-Hungry TVs
Americans aren't the only ones who love oversized gadgets: Plasma TVs are all the rage in Britain, but doting officials are deeply worried that the power-hungry TV sets will collapse the nation's electrical grid and ruin the environment to boot. The response: A proposal to ban them (and other electronics). Or more accurately: Products for sale in various categories (including DVD players and freezers) would be given a threshold of power consumption which they couldn't legally exceed if you want to sell them in the UK.
Other rules would outlaw "standby" lights and similar low-power modes on electronics, but it is specifically plasma TVs which are targeted in the proposal. The report was scheduled to be unveiled today to an official UK environmental protection department.
Ultimately, attempts to outright ban products like this tend to fail, for a wide variety of reasons. The big one is that technology moves at a much faster pace than government: Limits on one type of product that exists today are obsolete by the time they go into effect, which is typically not for three to five years after a bill is signed. The industry discontinues one technology in favor of a successor, or the technology evolves into something else. Loopholes invariably abound, taking the teeth out of the legislation.
A better response: Taxation. If you want to curb electrical use, why not tax the sale of electronics on a per-watt basis, and use the proceeds to fund research into alternative energy and lower-power alternatives? By making lower-cost products more financially attractive, you encourage overall better consumer behavior rather than simply slapping the consumer with a "you can't have this" stick. Plus, what government doesn't like free money?
The Top Ten Greenest Cities
May 18, 2007
It's not easy being green -- for a city, that is. It's tough enough to simply keep up with the endless trash, traffic and pollution generated by urban life. To actually get the better of it with good public transportation, smart recycling programs and the kind of well-kept streets, parks and playgrounds that make cities fun and healthful places to live, that's the true challenge. So who measures up?
We've picked 10 places -- in no particular order -- that we think are doing a great job at putting residents first. That means they're obsessed with clean air and clean water, renewable energy, reliable city buses, trams, streetcars and subways, a growing number of parks and greenbelts, farmer's markets and, very important, opportunities for community involvement.
Portland, Oregon
Affordable and accessible, this city straddling the banks of the Willamette River has long made sustainable living a priority. More than 30 years ago, with other cities in a freeway-building frenzy, Portland broke ranks and tore down a six-lane expressway to make room for a waterfront park. Since then the city has set an urban growth boundary to protect 25 million acres of forest and farmland, started a solid-waste program that recycles more than half of the city's trash and erected more than 50 public buildings that meet tough standards set by the United States Green Building Council. One of the most bike-friendly cities in the U.S., Portland's public transportation systems boasts a high rate of ridership. Add in one of the nation's largest city parks -- the aptly named Forest Park has 74 miles of running, biking and hiking trails -- and Portland's rep as the nation's greenest city makes sense.
Austin, Texas
Home to the first Whole Foods Market and more than 300 days of sunshine a year (and you thought this city was all about the music) Austin spreads out among 205 parks, 14 nature preserves, and 25 greenbelts. Talk about green. The city plans to meet 20 percent of its energy needs with renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2020. Factor in county laws protecting the region's natural watershed from development, a recycling center that dates back to 1970, a dozen outdoor farmer's markets, city buses that offer free rides on 'high ozone' days and an innovative "pay-as-you-throw" trash collection program that rewards residents for being less wasteful and Austin easily earns a spot on the Green List.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Named one of the top business districts in the nation for by the Environmental Protection Agency, Minneapolis is a commuter's paradise where more than 60 percent of downtown workers use public or alternative transportation to get to the office. Free parking for registered van and car pools, an extensive bike path and bike lane system and employer-sponsored showers and locker rooms not only add endorphins but make a significant dent into auto-based air pollution. On the way to work, commuters thread their way among scores of lakes and parks and ponds and greenbelts and more than 200,000 trees. With great drinking water, active community organizations and the Minnesota State Department of Commerce nudging businesses and residents to hook solar systems up to the city's grid, it doesn't take Mary Tyler Moore tossing her beret into the air to let you know this is a great place to live.
Boulder, Colorado
Being green has been a way of life in this small Rocky Mountain city ever since prescient city planners started preserving parkland in 1898. Today, with more than 42,000 acres of pristine land cushioning the city from urban sprawl, Boulder is a place where hiking trails, rock-climbing areas, picnic spots and fishing holes are within reach of every resident. But there's more to this city than just a pretty face. It's a place where more than 90 percent of residents recycle, where new water meters are not allowed above certain elevation, thus protecting ridgelines and peaks, and where, when recent federal tax cuts gutted city budgets, residents voted themselves a third sales-tax hike to raise $51 million to buy and protect even more open land.
Burlington, Vermont
In this small city on Lake Champlain, community pride and responsibility drive the urge to be green. More than one-third of all energy used in the city comes from renewable resources, an impressive statistic in chilly New England. Burlington laws don't allow the use of pesticides on public parks, land or waterways. Challenged by their local leaders to come up with environmental priorities and solutions to existing problems, residents formed an extensive network of citizen-based groups that take on everything from environmental programs to clean up toxic sites to watchdog groups to monitor pollution in Lake Champlain. With local agriculture a mainstay of the region, schools are switching to locally- and organically-grown foods. The idea of sustainability is becoming part of the school curriculum so, as Burlington's children grow and take their places in the community -- any community -- they can take a greener way of thinking along with them.
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison was the first city in the United States to offer curbside recycling (and one of the few with a university course on ice cream making), and its 15,000 acres of lakes and 6,000 acres of parkland give it great appeal. Drawn by the natural beauty, residents seem determined to help preserve it. The recycling program gets a whopping 97 percent participation, with 265 tons of material -- everything from broken washers to empty beer cans to grass clippings -- collected each week. A year-round farmer's market (held indoors in the frigid winter months) draws vendors and buyers from throughout the fertile region. As a result, organic and local-grown foods are a priority. This bike-friendly city with more than 100 miles of bike paths ranks high in air quality, no surprise in a place where there are three bikes for every car.
New York, New York
Surprise! Thanks to its storied (and widely used) public transportation, energy-efficient housing and good water quality, New York rates a place among the nation's green cities. Central Park makes it even greener. Considered a folly of epic proportions when its 843 swampy, muddy acres were set aside in the 1850s, Central Park is a wilderness within the urban core. More than 80 percent of NYC residents use public transportation, something that earns the city bragging rights. In fact, New Yorkers burn gasoline at the rate the U.S. did in the 1920s. The key to the city's low use of fossil fuels, pesticides and other energy sources is population density. Calculated by square foot, New York uses as much energy and produces as much solid waste as any city. Calculate by population, however, and the numbers shift. Per capita, New Yorkers use fewer resources and put less pressure on their surroundings than any other city of its size. So welcome to the Big Green Apple.
San Francisco, California
To the superlatives the City by the Bay has acquired over the decades -- steepest, foggiest, most expensive -- add greenest. With bus, subway and ferry services that reach throughout the Bay Area, avid bikers and devoted car poolers, San Francisco has a good track record for getting people out of their cars. In fact, more than half the city's residents use public or alternative transportation to get to work. With Golden Gate Park, the newly-decommissioned Presidio, beaches, extensive bike paths and access to the Pacific and the Bay, the city has an abundance of recreational options. Prevailing winds from the water help keep pollution at bay. The city is also a leader in green building, with more than 20 building projects registered for official green certification. And city residents are willing to tax themselves. Voters said yes to allowing the city to sell $100 million in revenue bonds to support renewable energy.
Santa Monica, California
Just 12 years ago, the environmental future of this seaside city looked unimpressive. Thanks to an active city council, which wrote and enacted the Sustainable City Plan, Santa Monica has turned green. Three of every four of the city's public works vehicles run on alternative fuel, making it among the largest such fleets in the country. All public buildings use renewable energy. In the last 15 years, the city has cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 10 percent, a feat in car-crazy Southern California. City officials and residents have made the ongoing cleanup of the Santa Monica Bay a priority -- an urban runoff facility catches 3.5 million gallons of water each week that would otherwise flow into the bay. Add in the miles of beaches, extensive curbside recycling, farmer's markets, community gardens, the city's nimble bus system and Santa Monica is clearly more than just another bathing beauty.
Chicago, Illinois
With open space, public transportation and a commitment to renewable and sustainable energy, Chicago has earned a spot on numerous 'greenest city' lists. The city has 42 green-certified building projects, with more to come. All of the city's nine museums and the Art Institute of Chicago have been converted to run partially on solar power. Close to one-third of all residents use public transportation to get to work. Among the city's energy goals, likely to be met, is buying 20 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources this year. City officials have voted to give tax incentives to homeowners who invest in Chicago's many historic homes and retrofit them with energy efficient heating and cooling systems, as well as water-saving plumbing. Water quality on the city's lakefront is rated as excellent by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a happy detail for all the swimmers, boaters and sun bathers along the shore in the summer. And you thought it was all about Oprah.
More info about Wii Points
Wii Points is a payment system that Nintendo uses for its Wii console through the Wii Shop Channel. Consumers can purchase points by an online credit-card transaction or by purchasing a Wii Points card at retail. These points may then be redeemed on downloadable games and other content in the Wii Shop.A 2000 Wii Points Card
On December 8, 2006 Nintendo Europe confirmed that Star Points, which people collect when they buy Nintendo games in Europe will soon be able to be used to buy Wii Points, although the conversion rate is not yet known. It was announced on January 9, 2007 in a Nintendo Europe press release that Wii Points will be available for purchase in "smaller increments" than the currently available 2,000 Wii Points card.[1] As of September 2007, this is yet to be implemented.
On March 29, 2007, Nintendo released the Wii Points Card in Singapore.
Gamers gear up for Halo 3 launch
Halo 3, one of the most anticipated and heavily marketed video games in history, goes on sale at midnight in North America.
More than 10,000 shops across the US will open at midnight to sell the title which is Microsoft's key weapon in the console wars with Sony and Nintendo.
More than 15m copies of the first two titles in the series have been sold.
Microsoft is hoping day one sales of the game will top £70m, making it the biggest-ever entertainment launch.
Shane Kim, corporate vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, said the success Halo 3 was an essential element in the competitive console market.
He said: "Halo 3 is the biggest franchise for Xbox. The game is going to drive a lot of Xbox 360 sales and Xbox Live subscriptions this Christmas."
Boost sales
Microsoft needs Halo 3 to boost sales of the Xbox 360; despite investing billions of dollars into the Xbox project it has yet to see any meaningful profitable return
"It's far too early to say what the financial return will be for our investment," Mr Kim told the BBC News website.
Halo 3 has the chance of becoming one of the most special entertainment launches of the year
Microsoft hopes to make a profit on its Xbox in this financial year.
"If we can't make a profit in the year Halo 3 comes out, then when will we?" said Mr Kim.
More than a million people have pre-ordered the game but that is not preventing thousands of gamers from queuing outside shops to get their hands on the title as soon as possible.
Concluding part
Halo 3 is the concluding part of a science fiction trilogy which tells the story of a super soldier, called Master Chief, who is leading the fight to save humanity from an alien collective, called the Covenant.
The game has become a major entertainment franchise in recent years - with spin-off games, clothing, novels and action figures all available.
The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is working with Halo's makers, Bungie studios, on a series of Halo-related interactive episodes.
He has also agreed to produce a movie based on the Halo series, which is currently on hold following financial wrangles over the cost of the film.
We want to let our fans do great things
The hopes and hype for Halo 3
Web reviews of the game have begun to emerge with most posting very high scores.
Game site Eurogamer wrote: "Hype machine aside... what we find in Halo 3 is quite simply this - the best game yet in one of the best FPS (first person shooter) franchises of the era."
All three of the leading games consoles rely on exclusive franchises to drive sales. PlayStation 3 has titles such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2, while Nintendo has Metroid Prime 3 and Zelda.
Microsoft has spent a reported $10m (£5m) on promoting the game, with a series of costly TV adverts, as well as signing deals with food and drink firms in the US.
Most pressure
The game goes on sale in Europe on September 26, with a UK launch on Tuesday night at the Imax cinema in London.
For Bungie, the game's release is the culmination of three years work.
Brian Jarrard, Bungie's director of franchise and community affairs, said the company had not felt under pressure from Microsoft, which owns the studio.
"We feel the most pressure ourselves. It's always been about driving ourselves to do great work. For the most part we don't feel the pressure from Microsoft executives breathing down our necks.
"The fan's expectations are incredibly high. We gave them a bitter sweet ending at the end of Halo 2 and we're pretty confident they will be happy with Halo 3 and that it was worth the wait."
'$100 laptop' to sell to public
| By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News |
Computer enthusiasts in the developed world will soon be able to get their hands on the so-called "$100 laptop".
The organisation behind the project has launched the "give one, get one" scheme that will allow US residents to purchase two laptops for $399 (£198).
One laptop will be sent to the buyer whilst a child in the developing world will receive the second machine
The G1G1 scheme, as it is known, will offer the laptops for just two weeks, starting on the 12 November.
The offer to the general public comes after the project's founder admitted that concrete orders from the governments of developing nations had not always followed verbal agreements
Nicholas Negroponte told the New York Times: "I have to some degree underestimated the difference between shaking the hand of a head of state and having a cheque written.
"And yes, it has been a disappointment."
Walter Bender, head of software development at One Laptop per Child (OLPC), told the BBC News website: "From day one there's been a lot of interest expressed in having some way of people in the developed world participate in the programme."
Price hike
The XO laptop has been developed to be used by children and is as low cost, durable and simple to use as possible.
It packs several innovations including a sunlight readable display so that it can be used outside. It has no moving parts, can be powered by solar, foot-pump or pull-string powered chargers and is housed in a waterproof case.
The machine's price has recently increased from $176 (£88) to $188 (£93) although the eventual aim is to sell the machines for $100 (£50).
Governments can buy the green and white machines in lots of 250,000.
In July, hardware suppliers were given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build the low-cost machines.
The decision suggested that the organisation had met or surpassed the three million orders it need to make production viable.
The names of the governments that have purchased the first lots of machines have not been released.
Developing whirl
But, according to OLPC, there has also been huge interest in the XO laptop from individuals in the developed world.
"I don't know how many times people have added an entry in our wiki saying 'how do I get one?' or 'I'd gladly pay one for a child if I could get one'," said Mr Bender.
The organisation has previously hinted that they were considering selling the laptop on a give one get one basis, but not this early. 
In January this year, Michalis Bletsas, chief connectivity officer for the project, told the BBC news website that OLPC was hoping to sell the laptop to the public "next year".
Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of OLPC, has also previously said: "Many commercial schemes have been considered and proposed that may surface in 2008 or beyond, one of which is 'buy 2 and get 1'."
According to Mr Bender, OLPC see several advantages to offering laptops to the developed world.
"There's going to be a lot more people able to contribute content, software development and support," said Mr Bender.
But primarily, he said, it was a way of extending the laptop project to countries that cannot afford to participate.
"We see it as a way of kick-starting the programme in the least developed countries."
Early adopter
The first countries to receive the donated laptops will be Cambodia, Afghanistan, Rwanda and Haiti.
Other least developed countries (LDC), as defined by the UN, will be able to bid to join the scheme.
The laptops will go on sale for two weeks through the xogiving.org website.
They will only be available for two weeks to ensure OLPC can meet demand and so that machines are not diverted away from countries that have already placed orders.
Although the exact number of laptops available through the G1G1 scheme has not been revealed, Mr Bender said that the "first 25,000" people that purchase one should receive it before the end of the year.
Others will receive their machines in the first quarter of 2008.
Mr Bender said that if it proves successful, the organisation would consider extending the scheme.
"Our motivation is helping kids learn and giving them an opportunity to participate in the laptop programme so whatever will advance that cause we will do," he said.
"This is something we are going to try and if it looks like it is an effective tool we will do more of it."Sunday, September 23, 2007
Yahoo to buy e-mail software maker Zimbra
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Yahoo Inc. is buying e-mail service Zimbra Inc. for $350 million in an all-cash deal that may open a new revenue channel for the slumping Internet icon.
The acquisition announced Monday represents Yahoo's second significant expenditure this month as co-founder Jerry Yang spearheads an effort to breathe new life into the Sunnyvale-based company.
Two weeks ago, Yahoo disclosed plans to buy an Internet direct marketing network, BlueLithium, for $300 million. That purchase marks another step in Yahoo's attempt to sell more advertising on other Web sites besides its own, hoping to boost its sagging profits.
With the Zimbra purchase, Yahoo appears poised to branch in a new direction that may intensify the company's already fierce competition with rivals Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.
San Mateo-based Zimbra specializes in selling e-mail software and hosting services to businesses, universities and Internet service providers.
That's something Microsoft has been doing for years with its Exchange platform. Google entered the market earlier this year when it began offering e-mail accounts to businesses as part of a software bundle that costs $50 per user annually.
"My guess is that this deal is partly a response to Google," said e-mail analyst David Ferris.
Zimbra's customers include one of the nation's largest Internet service providers, Comcast Corp., as well as several well-known companies, including H&R Block Inc. and Raytheon Corp., and prominent schools like UCLA and Georgia Tech. For the most part, though, Ferris said Zimbra has had trouble getting companies to buy its hosted e-mail service.
Privately held Zimbra doesn't disclose its revenue. Ferris estimated Zimbra's annual revenue range between $10 million and $20 million, figures that indicate Yahoo is paying a steep price.
Founded in 2003, Zimbra employs more than 100 workers. Its chief executive and co-founder, Satish Dharmaraj, plans to remain with Yahoo after the deal closes in the fourth quarter. The fate of Zimbra's brand hasn't been determined.
Besides providing Yahoo with a springboard for selling e-mail services to companies and universities, Zimbra also could provide tools to add more bells and whistles to the free, Web-based e-mail service that Yahoo has been peddling to consumers for the past decade.
After buying a startup called Oddpost in 2004, Yahoo drew upon some of the technology that it picked up in the deal to upgrade its free e-mail service.
"Zimbra's tremendous talent and innovative technology will help to extend our core mail offerings, further strengthening our strong leadership position in this space," said Yang, who took over as Yahoo's CEO three months ago after Chairman Terry Semel relinquished the job amid deepening investor discontent.
Yahoo's free e-mail service recently has been losing traffic, according to the research firm comScore Media Metrix. In August, Microsoft's Live Hotmail service attracted 255.3 million visitors worldwide to eclipse Yahoo's e-mail traffic of 254.9 million, which represented a 1 percent decrease from the same time last year, Media Metrix said.
Google's Gmail ranked a distant third at 82.9 million worldwide visitors, up 64 percent from last year. Google opened its e-mail service to all comers seven months ago.
Yahoo shares rose 22 cents to close at $24.95, then dipped by a penny in extended trading after the Zimbra deal was announced. The company's stock price has plunged by 36 percent since the end of 2005.Iceland phasing out fossil fuels for clean energy
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (CNN) -- Iceland may be best known for world-famous musical export Bjork but there's a new star quickly gaining this island nation worldwide acclaim -- clean energy.
For more than 50 years Iceland has been decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels by tapping the natural power all around this rainy, windswept rock of fire.
Waterfalls, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs provide Icelanders with abundant electricity and hot water.
Virtually all of the country's electricity and heating comes from domestic renewable energy sources -- hydroelectric power and geothermal springs.
It's pollution-free and cheap.
Yet these energy pioneers are still dependent on imported oil to operate their vehicles and thriving fishing industry.
Iceland's geographic isolation in the North Atlantic makes it expensive to ship in gasoline -- it costs almost $8 a gallon (around $2 a liter).
Iceland ranks 53rd in the world in greenhouse gas emissions per capita, according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center -- the primary climate-change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Retired University of Iceland Professor Bragi Arnason has come up with a solution: Use hydrogen to power transportation. Hydrogen is produced with water and electricity, and Iceland has lots of both.
"Iceland is the ideal country to create the world's first hydrogen economy," Arnason explains. His big idea has earned him the nickname "Professor Hydrogen."
Arnason has caught the attention of General Motors, Toyota and DaimlerChrysler, who are using the island-nation as a test market for their hydrogen fuel cell prototypes.
One car getting put through its paces is the Mercedes Benz A-class F-cell -- an electric car powered by a DaimlerChrysler fuel cell. Fuel cells generate electricity by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water. And fuel cell technology is clean -- the only by-product is water. 
Watch the F-cell navigate through Reykjavik »
"It's just like a normal car," says Asdis Kritinsdottir, project manager for Reykjavik Energy. Except the only pollution coming out of the exhaust pipe is water vapor. It can go about 100 miles on a full tank. When it runs out of fuel the electric battery kicks in, giving the driver another 18 miles -- hopefully enough time to get to a refueling station. Filling the tank is similar to today's cars -- attach a hose to the car's fueling port, hit "start" on the pump and stand back. The process takes about five to six minutes. 
See some of the F-cell's unique features »
In 2003, Reykjavik opened a hydrogen fueling station to test three hydrogen fuel cell buses. The station was integrated into an existing gasoline and diesel station. The hydrogen gas is produced by electrolysis -- sending a current through water to split it into hydrogen and oxygen. The public buses could run all day before needing refueling.
The bus project lasted three years and cost around $10 million.
October 23-24 at 9 p.m. ET on CNN
The city will need five refueling stations in addition to the one the city already has to support its busy ring road, according to Arnason. The entire nation could get by on 15 refueling stations -- a minimum requirement.
Within the year, 30-40 hydrogen fuel-cell cars will hit Reykjavik streets. Local energy company employees will do most of the test-driving but three cars will be made available to The Hertz Corp., giving Icelanders a chance to get behind the wheel. 
Learn more about fuel cells »
"I need a car," says Petra Svenisdottir, an intern at Reykjavik Energy. Svenisdottir, 28, commutes to work from her home in Hafnarfjorour to Reykjavik. The journey takes her about 15 minutes if she can beat traffic. "If I didn't have a car I would have to take two or three buses and wait at each bus stop to arrive at work more than an hour later, cold and wet!"
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Most Icelanders drive cars, says Arnason. Around 300,000 people live in a place about the size of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Transportation is limited to cars, buses and boats. "Everyone has a car here," Arnason says. And it's very typical for an Icelandic family to own two cars. Arnason drives a small SUV.
Fuel cell cars are expected to go on sale to the public in 2010. Carmakers have promised Arnason they will keep costs down and the government has said it will offer citizens tax breaks.
He figures it will take an additional 4 percent of power to produce the hydrogen Iceland would need to meet its transportation requirements.
Once Iceland's vehicles are converted over to hydrogen, the fishing fleet will follow. It won't be easy because of current technological limits and the high cost of storing large amounts of hydrogen, but Arnason feels confident it can happen. He predicts Iceland will be fossil fuel free by 2050.
"We are a very small country but we have all the same infrastructure of big nations,"Digital TV increases its UK reach
 A billboard with a digital countdown has been erected in Whitehaven |
It marks a 13% increase since 2006 - the biggest year-on-year increase yet.
The figures were released by media watchdog Ofcom in the run-up to digital switchover, which begins in Whitehaven, Cumbria, in October.
Chief executive Ed Richards said the figures were "extremely encouraging" with less than a month before Whitehaven's analogue switch-off.
In the second quarter of this year (April to June), nearly two million Freeview boxes were sold.
Digital terrestrial is now the most commonly used platform on main TV sets, available in more than 9.1 million homes.
Satellite - both pay monthly and free-to-view - follows closely behind, with a presence in 9 million homes.
Sky now has nearly 8.1 million subscribers, with 77,000 new customers in the second quarter of 2007.
The total number of homes with cable television also continued to rise, with more than 3.4 million subscribers at the end of June.
There are about 35 million secondary sets in the UK i.e. outside the main living room. More than 10 million of these have also been converted to digital.
Analogue TV is expected to be redundant across the UK by 2012.Fight cyberbullies, schools told
 Bullying has evolved, ministers say |
More than a third of 12 to 15-year-olds have faced some kind of cyberbullying, according to a government study.
Ministers are also launching an awareness campaign on the social networking sites used by many pupils.
Schools have been told they can confiscate mobile phones and how to get hurtful material pulled from websites.
'Happy slapping'
Schools Secretary Ed Balls said cyber bullying was "insidious" and had grown with technology and changes in society.
Schools needed to get to grips with newer forms of bullying, he said.
Examples cited include threats, intimidation, harassment or "cyber-stalking", unauthorised publication of private information or images, impersonation and so-called "happy slapping".
Mr Balls also called for action against anti-gay bullying -calling for schools to promote a "culture of respect" and saying that "homophobic insults should be viewed as seriously as racism".
Ed Balls said: "The vast majority of schools are safe environments to learn in. However, we know that behaviour, particularly bullying, is a key concern for parents and bullying of any kind is unacceptable.
"Cyberbullying is a particularly insidious type of bullying as it can follow young people wherever they go and the anonymity that it seemingly affords to the perpetrator can make it even more stressful for the victim.
"One message that I want to get across to young people is that bystanders can inadvertently become perpetrators - simply by passing on videos or images, they are playing a part in bullying.
"We now have an advanced approach to cyber bullying, thanks in no small part to the co-operation with the industry, teaching unions and charities."
The guide being sent out to schools in England says cyberbullying can be an extension of face-to-face bullying, "with technology providing the bully with another route to harass their target".
But it says it differs in that it invades home and personal space and the perpetrator can use the cloak of anonymity.
Among the new guidance are tips for drawing up anti-bullying policies to cover cyber bullying, how to have offensive or malicious material removed from websites, and advice on confiscating equipment used in bullying, such as mobile phones.
Offensive weapons call
The new measures were developed in consultation with anti-bullying experts, mobile phone companies and websites including Bebo, MySpace and YouTube.
Teaching unions say children are not the only victims of cyberbullying and that school staff are increasingly falling victim to it.
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers' union, said teachers would be pleased that ministers had recognised the problem.
"Mobile phones capture videos and pictures of teachers at work," she said.
Misuse of internet sites can destroy teachers' confidence and professional reputation
"The often distorted images are transferred to the phones of other pupils within the class, across the school or uploaded on to the internet. E-mails are used to abuse, harass and insult.
"Misuse of internet sites can destroy teachers' confidence and professional reputation and provide yet another vehicle for false allegations against staff."
The union is calling for pupils' mobile phones to be classed as potentially offensive weapons and for them to be banned during school sessions.
The advent of cyberbullying is a symptom of a wider problem in society
Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: "Sadly, bullying is a negative feature of any society and will only be countered by strong action against bullies and a bullying culture.
"We would encourage all partners in the world of education to play a part in stamping out wanton actions that negatively affect the lives of others.
"Many schools harness the student voice, through student councils and other means, to counter bullying in the most effective way, because students are closer to the lives of their peers."
The ATL teachers' union also backed the need for action against homophobic bullying - saying that it remained a "pervasive" problem in schools.
A survey for the union found that 70% of teachers had heard children in their schools using homophobic language.