VoIP ZONE

PENTAGON PHONE SYSTEM TO GO VoIP

A major renovation to the Pentagon has taken a VoIP twist. The Department of Defense has awarded General Dynamics an $18.4 million contract to design and deploy a VoIP phone system as part of what's called the Wedge 2-5 stage of the Pentagon's modernization program.

The 4 million square-foot project is intended to modernize building systems, increase security and upgrade technology in the world's largest office building. The VoIP contract is meant to provide a building-wide multimedia phone system integrating voice, video and data communications-in both secure and non-secure channels. VoIP not secure? One hopes there will be an unclassified White Paper someday about how the Pentagon made IP telephony more secure than some thought possible.

http://www.fcw.com/article102645-05-04-07-Web

CYBERZONE

COMCAST DEMOS 150 MEGABITS PER SECOND MODEM

Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience Tuesday, showing off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, or roughly 25 times faster than today's standard cable modems.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050900510.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email

FCC CHAIR SAYS BROADBAND IS TOP PRIORITY

If you didn't think that wireless broadband was an important part of your business, you should know that the chairman of the FCC disagrees with you. Kevin Martin, visiting Microsoft's Silicon Valley office, said that broadband access is now the FCC's top priority (in case you thought it was Imus), and that wireless broadband in particular is a great way to get online. For VoIP vendors, that means it's critically important that cellcos not have the option of banning IP voice from their data networks. It also means that the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction may be a way to break the cellcos hold--if a truly net neutral player can piece together enough licenses.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/05/03/martin-fcc_1.html

SOUNDS BRING GOOGLE EARTH TO LIFE

Users of Google Earth may soon be able to hear the sounds found in some locations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/technology/6639977.stm

IPTV FOR THE DEAF GOES LIVE

A new web-based television service for sign language users is launched in the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/technology/6613097.stm

MAC SHARE OF SURFERS DOUBLES IN 8 MONTHS

The portion of people surfing the Web using a Mac has doubled in the past eight months, an Internet metrics analyst said Tuesday, and represents an audience that can't be ignored by Web application developers.

http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=17669E8:ECCF9AA50A17C8DC29AA9E64DE056A90EFF29049075316B4

SCIENCE ZONE

BEER HELPS SCIENTISTS FIND LANDMINES

Biotechnologists have genetically engineered brewer's yeast to glow green in response to an ingredient found in landmines.

http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1917247.htm

MEDICAL-IMAGING INTERACTIVE SYSTEM

New data-display technology developed at Kent State University will provide doctors with an improved ability to evaluate commonly used medical images. The technology allows for interactive viewing of large image data sets from virtually any medical imaging device. The new system is compatible with all imaging devices, will translate and display data immediately and in itsentirety, and allows for user-friendly manipulation of the data for evaluation and analysis.

http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20070510A7

ENERGY AND CLIMATE ZONE

SCIENTISTS LOOK TO THE SKY FOR POWER

Scientists are eyeing the jet stream, an energy source that rages night and day, 365 days a year, just a few miles above our heads. If they can tap into its fierce winds, the world's entire electrical needs could be met, they say. __Dozens of researchers in California and around the world believe huge kite-like wind-power generators could be the solution

LIGHT AND ENERGY FROM PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Understanding how photosynthesis works, thinks Daniel Nocera, professor of chemistry at MIT, could lead to ways to produce and store solar energy in forms that are practical for powering cars and providing electricity even when the sun isn't shining.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18707/

ONCE A WEED, NOW A POTENTIAL FUEL

In the world's most arid agricultural environments, jatropha is emerging as an alternative to ethanol.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0508/p01s03-wosc.html?s=hns

ASIA PACIFIC ZONE

JAPAN's OTEC TECHNOLOGY HELPS INDIA DESALINATE SEAWATER

India has succeeded in test operating a pilot seawater desalination facility with a daily output capacity of 1,000 tons that employs an ocean-thermal energy conversion power plant built with assistance from Japan's state-run Saga University, Japanese scientists said Tuesday.

They said the new technology is expected to help resolve water shortages in developing countries because it does not consume large amounts of energy and can operate irrespective of the quality of the seawater. OTEC uses the temperature difference between deep and shallow waters to desalinate warm surface water, which evaporates and then is cooled for desalination .FULL STORY (Kyodo News)

CHINA TO BEGIN MOBILE FOOD TESTING

The business hub of Shanghai will soon employ mobile testing units that officials say can check the safety of most food within 30 minutes, as fears grew at home and abroad over contaminated Chinese products ranging from cough syrup to pet food.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6622901,00.html

INDIA WANTS $10 LAPTOPS

India Looks To Produce World's First $10 LaptopIndia's Ministry of Human Resource Development, with help from Semiconductor Complex, a state-sponsored designer and manufacturer of integrated circuits, has developed designs for a laptop that would cost about $47, while a $10 system remains the ultimate

goal.http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199203891

WIRELESS ZONE

MP3 PLAYERS COULD PROVIDE SATELLITE NAVIGATION

Computer experts aim to add satellite navigation to hand-held music devices such as MP3 players.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/wales/south_west/6642039.stm

SATELLITE EXPANDS TO COVER RURAL AREAS

HughesNet, WildBlue add satellites to serve remote locales_As many as 10% of U.S. households are in remote areas where satellite is the source for receiving broadband Internet. HughesNet and its main competitor, WildBlue Communications, have a lock on the market and are more than doubling their capacity this year with two new satellite

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/08/AR2007050800916_pf.html

DOG DAY MORNING SITE CITES

DOG GETS OWN LAWYER IN CONTENTIOUS CUSTODY BATTLE

Ron Callan Jr. left an estate worth about $2 million, but the most hotly contested item in the late businessman's Tennessee probate court case is his 13-year-old golden retriever, Alex. The four-way fight over custody of Alex was so intense that a judge appointed an attorney to represent the dog's interests. "Obviously, this is a very unusual set of circumstances," attorney Paul Royal wrote of his four-legged client.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1178615084548

HAPPY DOGS WAG TAIL TO RIGHT

Dogs wag their tails to the left or right depending on how they're feeling, Italian researchers say.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1884414.htm?enviro