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Bankerna fÃ¥r hjÃ¤lp med soa 12. May 2008

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En ny allians ska hjÃ¤lpa bankindustrin att infÃ¶ra soa i affÃ¤rsverksamheten. Bakom samarbetet stÃ¥r SAP och Microsoft.

Leijonborg: De ska kunna it

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Sveriges blivande lÃ¤rare ska bli bÃ¤ttre pÃ¥ informationsÂteknik. HÃ¶gskoleminister Lars Leijonborg lyfter nu it-kompetens som ett prioriterat omrÃ¥de nÃ¤r lÃ¤rarutbildningen gÃ¶rs om.

“Sverige ligger efter”

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Svensk dagligvaruhandel drar sig fÃ¶r att satsa pÃ¥ ny teknik mot slutkunderna, enligt utvecklingskonsulten Magnus Berthling.

BrÃ¥k om vem som ska betala

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Banker och detaljhandel tvistar om vem som ska stÃ¥ fÃ¶r finansieringen av betaltjÃ¤nsterna. Bristen pÃ¥ konkurrens bland bankerna gÃ¶r att det inte finns incitament att investera i ny teknik. Nya standarder kan skapa en Ã¶ppning.

I ekonomins blodomlopp

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Nu stoppar vi ner vÃ¥ra varor i kundvagnarna och rullar med ett brett leende fÃ¶rbi kassakÃ¶erna, och personalen vinkar vÃ¤nligt. FÃ¶r fem Ã¥r sedan hade vi blivit haffade fÃ¶r snatteri.

Ring kinesiskt

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Kinesiska ZTE har fÃ¥tt vind i seglen pÃ¥ marknaden fÃ¶r nÃ¤tverksprodukter men i Sverige har mobiltelefonerna lyst med sin frÃ¥nvaro. I Ã¥r ska det dock bli Ã¤ndring pÃ¥ det, lovar fÃ¶retagets svenska representanter.

Hydrogen Cars Won’t Make a Difference for 40 Years

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President Bush, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the big automakers agree on this much: They love hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology and its promise of a zero-emission, petroleum-free future.

Unfortunately, experts say it will be 40 years or more before hydrogen has any meaningful impact on gasoline consumption or global warming, and we can’t afford to wait that long. In the meantime, fuel cells are diverting resources from more immediate solutions.

“As a climate strategy, it’s not very good,” said Dr. Joseph Romm, executive director of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions and author of The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate. “We don’t have the time.”

Climate experts and alternative-fuel researchers, including some hydrogen proponents, agree that hydrogen is at best a long-term solution. In the short and medium term, however, other technologies offer far greater benefit at far less cost: Cleaner internal combustion engines, hybrids and plug-in hybrids.

Some worry that these near-term solutions are being short-changed. But hydrogen advocates counter that the answer isn’t cutting hydrogen funding, but increasing funding for research into a wide variety of alternatives to oil.

“The few million we’re spending to change our energy policy is like sending one platoon to Normandy,” said Paul Williamson, director of the Hydrogen and Alternative Energy Research and Development program at the University of Montana. “It’s just not going to happen.”

To some extent, politicians and policymakers recognize that hydrogen remains a long way off, which is one reason the California Air Resources Board has told automakers to build 58,000 plug-in hybrids by 2014. And automakers are building cleaner gasoline and diesel engines while developing hybrids.

But the emphasis remains squarely on hydrogen.

Congress appropriated $283.5 million for the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative this year, bringing its investment to $1.16 billion since 2004. California’s “Hydrogen Highway” may be floundering, but the Air Resources Board is handing out $7.7 million to build hydrogen stations even though the last three agencies to receive state funding gave it back.

Many hurdles remain to be cleared before hydrogen is a viable source of energy — not the least of which are making, storing and distributing it on a large scale. Meeting these challenges will require, in the words of several hydrogen proponents, a “Manhattan Project”-level of research and funding. And we’re a long way from the hydrogen economy President Bush envisioned in his 2003 State of the Union.

The transition has begun though, and California is leading the way even as it keeps relaxing the rule dictating how many electric and hydrogen vehicles automakers must build. There are 175 fuel cell vehicles in California and more coming. Honda will begin leasing its hydrogen-powered Clarity FCX this summer and General Motors will put its Equinox fuel cell vehicles in 100 driveways this year. Hyundai plans to begin mass-producing fuel cells cars in 2012, and GM — which has invested more than $1 billion in hydrogen — says it will have 1,000 vehicles on the road in California by 2014.

But few people expect to see fuel cell vehicles in showrooms before 2020, and we won’t see any large-scale benefit from them until 30 years after that.

“2050 is when hydrogen might — might — have a significant impact,” said John Heywood, director of the Sloan Automotive Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The timeline has more to do with economics than science. There are roughly 240 million vehicles in America and about 16 million new vehicles sold each year. That means it takes about 15 years to turn over the fleet. But it takes even longer for new technologies to penetrate the market.

Heywood cites hybrids as an example. They may seem ubiquitous, but after 10 years, hybrids accounted for just 2.2 percent of domestic auto sales last year. Run the numbers and Heywood estimates fuel cell vehicles will need 25 years to make up 35 percent of new vehicle sales and 20 years beyond that to get to 35 percent of the U.S. fleet.

We can’t wait that long. Scientists increasingly agree that industrialized nations must cut greenhouse gas emissions as much as 80 percent by 2050 if we are to curb global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency says fuel economy may have to rise to 75 mpg within 30 years to hit that target. California law requires easing emissions even further than that by 2050. Hitting these targets will require putting 379,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2020 and 7.6 million by 2050, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Hydrogen critics argue that plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are the answer. But electricity brings its own challenges. Plug-in technology can cut fuel consumption by up to 62 percent, but it adds $8,000 to $11,000 to the cost of the car, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (.pdf). EVs like the Subaru R1e and Mitsubishi’s MiEV have a range of no more than 100 miles. The Tesla Roadster gets 220 miles and charges in about 3½ hours, but it costs $98,000 and its lithium-ion battery pack which weighs 1,000 pounds.

“The reality is, as much as everyone in the industry has hoped for affordable, high energy batteries, they don’t exist yet,” said Ron Cogan, editor of GreenCar.com and Green Car Journal. “We’re not there yet with battery electric vehicles or hydrogen. We’re on a path to both.”

And we’ll need both if we’re to address global warming and our dependence on oil, climate experts say. Even critics like Romm aren’t suggesting we scrap hydrogen entirely. For all its challenges, hydrogen still presents the opportunity, however distant, for a sustainable source of energy that can displace petroleum.

For now, the issue isn’t electrics or hydrogen but electrics and hydrogen.

“Given that timeline and the number of vehicles we’re talking about, we have to keep working on battery electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicles at the same time,” said Spencer Quong of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Both of them have huge challenges, and if we don’t work on both of them, we won’t meet our objectives.”

Wired.com

iPhone ‘Unavailable’ In Both US & UK Apple Stores 11. May 2008

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Now even the creator is out of stock.
TrustedReviews

Carly Fiorina: McCain Different Than Bush on the Environment. Really

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McCain is set to lay out specifics of his position on global climate change Monday. His chief surrogate and economic advisor Carly Fiorina (remember her?) tries to distance her candidate from the Bush administration when it comes to the environment, talking up the differences on a weekend TV show.

Wired.com

China to Make Its Own Jumbo Jets

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State media reports Sunday that the Chinese central government and the Shanghai government are major shareholders in a homegrown company that will make passenger jumbo jets. The idea is that China Commercial Aircraft will make the country less dependent on Boeing and Airbus.

Wired.com

Lohan withdraws from Manson family movie: spokeswoman (AFP) 10. May 2008

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<a href=”http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080510/en_afp/entertainmentusfilmpeoplelohan”><img src=”http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20080510/capt.cps.ndd17.100508041225.photo00.photo.default-337×473.jpg?x=92&y=130&q=85&sig=Pi1ZPYntED7qKj227Fq2Dg–” align=”left” height=”130″ width=”92″ alt=”Lindsay Lohan, seen here in April 2008, has withdrawn from an upcoming movie about convicted murderer Charles Manson, her publicist said Friday, following an Internet report she had been axed from the project.(AFP/Getty Images/File)” border=”0″ /></a>AFP - Lindsay Lohan has withdrawn from an upcoming movie about convicted murderer Charles Manson, her publicist said Friday, following an Internet report she had been axed from the project. 
YahooTechNews

Shareholder sees golf as AMD cure all

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Better than a kick in the tail

Cash-strapped AMD didn’t bother to tell investors how it plans to reorganize manufacturing operations and return to profitability during its annual shareholder meeting yesterday â€” but apparently nobody was concerned.

TheRegister

Microsoft To Release Office 2007 SP1 Via Automatic Update In June (TechWeb) 9. May 2008

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TechWeb - InformationWeek - The strategy of rolling out service packs in phases gives the market plenty of time to evaluate the software.
YahooTechNews

Über-Investor: Gas Will Reach $10 a Gallon and Make U.S. Greener

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Billionaire investor Steve Novogratz doesn’t see the price of gas coming down any time soon, but that might not be a bad thing as rising energy prices help drive investment in greener technologies that the world needs.

Wired.com

Apple Reportedly Agrees To Refunds In Mac-User Suit (TechWeb)

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TechWeb - InformationWeek - The payout was based on user complaints that led to Apple recalling 570,000 power adapters and offering replacements at no charge.
YahooTechNews

McCain and blogger trade barbs over his 2000 vote (Reuters)

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<a href=”http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080509/wr_nm/usa_politics_mccain_dc”><img src=”http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080509/2008_05_09t134945_450×347_us_usa_politics_mccain.jpg?x=130&y=100&q=85&sig=7hwVMj.aOBl1j9u4Oz.UPQ–” align=”left” height=”100″ width=”130″ alt=”A television frame grab shows Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain and his mother Roberta McCain, 96, in a new television ad, entitled 'Johnny's Mom,' that was released by the campaign on May 8, 2008. The new ad, where McCain and his mother discuss his childhood, will air this Sunday on Mother's Day on networks including ABC Family, A and E, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, Oxygen and TLC. (John McCain 2008/Handout/Reuters)” border=”0″ /></a>Reuters - Did U.S. Republican presidential
candidate John McCain vote for President George W. Bush in
2000? 
YahooTechNews

A Close Look at the Colossal Squid

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: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

Scientists at the national museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, have recently completed dissections of several enormous squids, including pieces of a colossal squid — the largest invertebrate ever caught. The female specimen weighs more than 1,000 pounds and measures 26 feet long.

The squid’s resemblance to fiction’s monsters of the deep, including its dinner-plate-size eyes, has attracted global interest. Scientists now believe the cephalopods can grow even larger, to more than 45 feet long, with a corresponding increase in weight.

In this gallery, we take you into the gritty, visceral business of defrosting and preserving this Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, known in English as the colossal squid.

Left: Researchers at Te Papa had to custom-build a tank in which they could defrost the enormous squid — and preserve it in formaldehyde.

The colossal squid is not to be confused with the giant squid, which is longer but less massive. The colossal squid pictured is almost twice as heavy as the largest giant squid discovered.

An international team of scientists was flown to New Zealand to assist in the examination of this unique find.

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

The squid was accidentally caught in the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica by fishermen searching for Chilean sea bass. The ship’s captain, John Bennett, was understandably excited.

“Being alongside a creature like this is just awesome,” he told Newsweek. “It’s easy to see why outlandish stories about them get stretched out.”

After its capture, seen here, the squid was blast-frozen aboard Bennett’s boat to keep it from rotting. While necessary, it created a headache for scientists who spent days figuring out how to defrost what they call “the squidcicle.”

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

Scientists didn’t perform a full dissection of the new colossal squid, but they did cut up two other specimens while the largest squid was defrosting.

At left is a smaller colossal squid, which is only a partial specimen — it was damaged in transit. Still, even the partial specimen is a boon for researchers. Only 10 of this type of squid have ever been found.

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

The researchers also dissected a giant squid, a cousin of the colossal variety. The giant squid is often longer than the colossal squid but significantly lighter.

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

The colossal squid lives on a diet of fish, caught at depths below 6,000 feet. The squid’s arm tentacles, which it uses to catch and hold prey, are lined with dozens of powerful, clawed hooks.

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

Here we see the colossal squid’s beak.

Squid bodies are rarely found, but squid beaks turn up in the stomachs of marine predators like sperm whales. They providing much-needed data about the size of this elusive animal because the size of the beak corresponds to the overall size of the animal.

This specimen’s lower rostral beak is only 1.7 inches across, considerably smaller than the largest found in a sperm whale stomach, suggesting that much larger colossal squid exist.

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

The colossal squid’s eye measures 10.6 inches across — the largest eye in the animal kingdom. Scientists believe the squid is an almost entirely visual predator and needs the huge eye to spot prey in the dark depths of Antarctic waters.

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

The squid’s eye was well-preserved. Here, the single lens of the creature is presented in two halves. In a living squid, the larger piece of tissue drapes over the smaller one to form a single lens.

“When this squid was alive, the lens was almost certainly spherical and possibly of a size similar to an orange,” professor Eric Warrant explained on the dissection team’s blog.

But scientists don’t know much about the animal’s eye yet because, as an expert told USA Today, “This is the only intact eye (of a colossal squid) that’s ever been found.”

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

In this shot of the viscera of the smaller colossal squid, we can see its striped gills and orange ovaries, which can hold thousands of tiny white eggs.

: Courtesy Te Papa Museum

The record-breaking colossal squid specimen is nearly thawed in this picture. The plastic bags are serving as floaties for the squid’s delicate arms so that they don’t break before defrosting.

After three more weeks immersed in a formaldehyde-based solution, the colossal squid will be moved to a special tank at the Te Papa museum for permanent display.