Week of Sun, 2007-04-08 00:00 to Sat, 2007-04-14 23:59

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule today that assures facilities producing ethanol for human consumption, industrial use or fuel are treated equally under Clean Air Act permitting requirements. Ethanol, a clean-burning renewable fuel, can be used to meet the requirements of the Renewable Fuels Standard Program, which is designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil by doubling the use of vehicle fuels from American crops by 2012.

The members of OASIS have approved the Web Services Business Process Execution Language (WS-BPEL) version 2.0 as an OASIS Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. WS-BPEL uses Web services standards to describe business process activities as Web services, defining how they can be composed to accomplish specific tasks.

WS-BPEL defines a model and a grammar for describing the behavior of a business process based on interactions between the process and its partners. The interaction with each partner occurs through Web services interfaces. The WS-BPEL process defines how multiple service interactions with these partners are coordinated to achieve a business goal, as well as the state and the logic necessary for this coordination.

Medis Technologies LTD. has begun commercial sales of its 24/7 fuel cell Power Packs to Microsoft. The first shipment of Microsoft branded 24/7 Power Packs were made April 13,2007.

These first Power Packs were produced on Medis’ semi-automated line. Our fully automated line which was built by Ismeca, in Switzerland, is in the process of being dismantled and shipped to Ireland where it will be managed by Celestica. A video showing operation of the line is available on our web site at www.medistechnologies.com.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. reported financial results for its 2007 first quarter ended March 31, 2007. For the quarter, the company posted a net profit of 1.60 trillion won on revenue of 14.39 trillion won. Operating profit for the quarter was 1.18 trillion won.

Operating profit of the Semiconductor Business reached 540 billion won on revenue of 4.48 trillion won in the first quarter. The decline in the operating profit was mainly due a sluggish demand for both DRAM and NAND flash memory chips due to seasonality.

Lockheed Martin hosted 22 small business nanotechnology enterprises on Friday, April 13, to showcase a wide range of nanotechnology products as well encourage networking on this emerging science.

“While nanotechnology implies processing materials or making devices at the molecular level, this area of science is truly in its infancy,” said Dr. Les Kramer, director and chief technologist at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “There is tremendous potential in nanotechnology and related disciplines to have a very positive impact on our future. For example, weapons will become smaller, lighter, and smarter. Electronics will shrink in size, but have greater capabilities and memory. Sensors will see farther, with greater resolution.”

A new Air Force policy on encrypting and digitally signing e-mails is now in effect to ensure security and reliability of information as the battle for cyberspace dominance continues.

Officially called the Air Force Public Key Infrastructure Policy on Encrypting and Digitally Signing E-mails, it is designed to combat adversaries' growing attempts at network infiltration and sending barrages of malicious e-mails.

The goals are ambitious and even visionary. The call is for more and more renewable raw materials to be used in modern automotive assembly, both for the motor and in the body, trim and all kinds of components. These days, more than ever, sustainability is the key word in the current discussion. Today, 160,000 tonnes of natural fibers are already being used for both commercial vehicles and passenger cars each year. This translates to an average of 4.2 kilograms per vehicle, and the share will be increasing in the future. At the Hanover Trade Fair (“Hannover Messe”) scheduled to take place from April 16 to 20, 2007, BASF Coatings and its R-M paint brand will be presenting a special sustainability project, the BioConcept-Car – the first generation, a Volkswagen-Beetle and coated parts of the second generation, a Ford Mustang.

Fragmentation is one of the most common complaints levied against Linux as a cellular OS and, at present, there is a relatively high degree of variation in Linux-based solutions when compared to other platforms such as Symbian or Windows Mobile.

The Linux ecosystem will have to continue to address fragmentation in order for cellular Linux to remain a viable alternative to strong competitors; however, IMS Research does not believe that fragmentation will hamper the platform in the long-term. In fact, IMS Research projects that Linux as a cellular OS will experience strong growth over the next several years, in both the smartphone and feature rich handset tiers.

After 37 grueling regional tournaments, the top high school robotics teams from the United States and abroad will battle this weekend for top honors.

On April 12-14, 344 of the top FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics teams will gather at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to determine the FIRST Champions for 2007.

Google Inc. to acquire DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion in cash from Hellman & Friedman along with JMI Equity and management. The acquisition will combine DoubleClick's expertise in ad management technology for media buyers and sellers with Google's advertising platform and publisher monetization services.

The combination of Google and DoubleClick will offer tools for targeting, serving and analyzing online ads of all types:

After studying Mars four times as long as originally planned, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor orbiter appears to have succumbed to battery failure caused by a complex sequence of events involving the onboard computer memory and ground commands.

The causes were released today in a preliminary report by an internal review board. The board was formed to look more in-depth into why NASA's Mars Global Surveyor went silent in November 2006 and recommend any processes or procedures that could increase safety for other spacecraft.

An unmanned hydrogen fuel cell powered jet made history this week as it took to the skies over the hills of Bern, Switzerland. The Hyfish astonished its creators as it flawlessly performed vertical climbs, loops and other aerial acrobatics at speeds reaching 200 km/h.

These first amazing flights were the result of 1 and � years of cooperative development between the German Air & Space Center (DLR, or Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft-und Raumfahrt) and a number of international partners, including Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Pte Ltd of Singapore, which provided the record performance fuel cell that powered the flight of this next-generation Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

Tests show that most mobile phones can't be used after they're stolen.

There's now less reason for criminals to steal mobile phones as recent changes made by mobile phone networks, at the government's request, mean most phones stop working within hours of being reported stolen.

80% of phones barred

An independent study of the network by System Concepts demonstrated that all five major mobile networks - 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone - exceeded the target of blocking 80% of stolen mobile phones within 48 hours.

The FCS program is managed for the U.S. Army by Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and consists of 14 systems and a network to tie all the sensors, manned and robotic platforms and weapons to soldiers.

The NLOS Mortar Firing Platform features an automated, single-tube, breech-loaded 120-mm smoothbore turreted mortar mounted on a test stand. With a mission to provide short to midrange indirect fire support for manuever forces, the NLOS Mortar is one of eight Manned Ground Vehicles being designed and built as part of FCS – the Army’s premier modernization program comprising a networked, fully integrated family of manned ground vehicles, unmanned ground and air vehicles, and sensors.

Research In Motion Limited reported preliminary results for the three months and fiscal year ended March 3, 2007 (all figures in U.S. dollars).

The results reported are preliminary pending the U.S. GAAP restatement related to RIM’s historical non-cash charges associated with past option grants. As previously disclosed, while the review of stock option granting practices by the Special Committee of RIM’s Board of Directors is now complete, the Special Committee and its advisors, together with the Company and the Company’s external auditors, continue to do the work necessary to complete the restatement of RIM’s previously filed financial statements and to file its interim financial statements for the second and third quarters of fiscal 2007. As previously disclosed, the Company had originally anticipated updating its filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the United States Securities and Exchange commission (the “SEC”) prior to its fiscal year end of March 3, 2007. Despite best efforts, the Company determined that additional time is required for the Company and its advisors to prepare the updated filings and for the Company’s external auditors to complete their review of those filings. It is the Company’s belief that the impact of any restatement on U.S. GAAP and adjusted operating results for fiscal 2007, including the fourth quarter, will be immaterial. RIM will file its restated financial statements as well as its financial statements for the second and third quarters of fiscal 2007, and the fiscal year ended March 3, 2007 as soon as possible. The Company has determined that the accounting impact on RIM’s most recently filed Canadian GAAP statements do not result in a material adjustment and therefore the Company does not intend to restate the previously filed Canadian GAAP financial statements.

Title IV of the Fiscal Year 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act, Matters Related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

For over two decades, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), as amended, has served as an important framework in the nation’s ability to collect foreign intelligence information, while simultaneously protecting the civil liberties of Americans. FISA provides the legal framework through which the Intelligence Community lawfully collects information about those who pose national security threats to our country. FISA helps those in the Intelligence Community catch spies, international terrorists, and others who seek to do harm to the United States, its citizens and its allies.

LexisNexis Risk & Information Analytics Group have launched the Advanced Investigative Solution (AIS) to help law enforcement agencies locate and monitor non-compliant sexual predators. The solution enables investigators to more quickly respond to child abductions and supports law enforcement agencies with their efforts to enforce the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which mandates strict registration requirements for sex offenders.

Media are invited to NASA's Kennedy Space Center on April 17 to view the flight of a privately operated F-104 jet aircraft on the first in a series of pathfinder test missions from the space shuttle runway. Starfighters Inc. of Clearwater, Fla., will perform the flights to help in assessing suborbital space launch trajectories from the Shuttle Landing Facility and paving the way for future commercial space tourism and research flights from the facility.

The DOE plans to provide up to $8.2 million, over four years (FY’07-’10), for six hydrogen storage research projects, directly supporting President Bush’s Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI). The AEI aims to increase our energy security and reduce our reliance on imported oil by changing the way we power our cars, homes and businesses. These projects, subject to negotiation of scope and funding, are also integral to the President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.

BAE Systems has successfully fired 20 GPS-guided rounds as part of interim testing for the U.S. Army’s Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) Technical Development program. The PGK team fired 20 155 mm projectiles equipped with PGK test modules at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona.

The interim tests were the second series of successful gun-fired tests completed by BAE Systems on its PGK solution in less than two months. The testing included 20 rounds of various test configurations including fully autonomous GPS guided rounds. BAE Systems fired M549 Rocket Assisted Projectiles (RAP) to a range of about 20.5 kilometers. All test objectives were adhered with all rounds functioning properly. The GPS guided rounds demonstrated the ability to acquire GPS within the desired time and the ability to maneuver within the required 50-meter Circular Error Probable (CEP).

No sooner has the market for consumer electronics devices incorporating Wi-Fi begun to gain real traction than another, based on high-speed connections via 3G cellular technologies or mobile WiMAX, is starting to take shape. According to a new study from ABI Research, portable consumer electronics — digital cameras, media players, portable game devices, and more — are beginning to offer direct mobile broadband connections to the Internet. By 2012, annual shipments of such devices are expected to approach 100 million.

Nokia today rejected Qualcomm's public statements that it does not use Nokia patents. Nokia has for the last fifteen years contributed its technology to industry standards, such as GSM, WCDMA and CDMA. If Qualcomm's products comply with industry standards it is in the same position as any other supplier of mobile technology in that it needs access to Nokia's patents covering standardized technologies.

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., NEC Corporation, and its subsidiary, NEC TOKIN Corporation, have signed an agreement to establish a joint-venture company – Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) – to focus on lithium-ion battery business for wide-scale automotive application by 2009.

Nissan and NEC Group will invest 490 million yen (approx. USD 4.1 million*) in the partnership. AESC is expected to begin operations by the end of April, 2007, and will operate as an independent company. The new company will focus on the development and marketing of advanced lithium-ion batteries, designed to power future generations of electric-powered vehicles. After one year, the partnership will be expanded to include mass production and sales. The new joint venture will become the leading company in mass production of lithium-ion batteries for the global automotive community using pioneering technologies developed by Nissan and NEC Group.

Chemists at UCLA Design the Least Dense Crystals Known to Man for Applications in Clean Energy

Chemists at UCLA have designed new organic structures for the storage of voluminous amounts of gases for use in alternative energy technologies.

The research, to be published on April 13 in the journal Science, demonstrates how the design principles of reticular chemistry have been used to create three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks, which are entirely constructed from strong covalent bonds and have high thermal stability, high surface areas and extremely low densities.

VIA Technologies, Inc and HP today unveiled the HP Compaq dx2020, an energy efficient commercial PC for the China market powered by the VIA C7-D desktop processor.

The HP Compaq dx2020 features the power efficient 1.5GHz VIA C7-D processor, the world's first carbon free processor with a maximum power of just 20 watts for much lower electricity use than traditional PCs, and has achieved certification by the CECP, the China Government's key energy rating agency, for its highly efficient operation.

Stretching a carbon nanotube composite like taffy, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) have made some of the first measurements* of how single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) both scatter and absorb polarized light, a key optical and electronic property.

The U.S. Department of Energy will provide up to $14 million in funding for a $28 million cost-shared solicitation by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery development. This research aims to find solutions to improving battery performance so vehicles can deliver up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging.

DOE and USABC seek to identify electrochemical storage technologies capable of meeting or approaching USABC’s criteria for performance, weight, life-cycle, and cost. Other considerations include the potential to commercialize proposed battery technologies and bring them to market quickly.

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Stanford and Northwestern Universities have built micrometer-sized solid-state lasers in which a single quantum dot can play a dominant role in the device’s performance. Correctly tuned, these microlasers switch on at energies in the sub-microwatt range. These highly efficient optical devices could one day produce the ultimate low-power laser for telecommunications, optical computing and optical standards.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked a judge to issue an emergency order requiring the FBI to immediately release agency records about its abuse of National Security Letters (NSLs) to collect Americans' personal information.

Congressional hearings and a storm of media coverage followed a recent Justice Department report detailing the FBI's extensive misuse of NSLs -- requests through which federal agents may collect telephone, Internet, financial, credit, and other personal records about Americans without judicial approval. The report and the ensuing uproar also sparked the introduction of a bill in the House of Representatives to curb the Bureau's NSL authority. In a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), EFF demands that the FBI release all information about NSL abuse without delay, so that the records can be part of the national debate about domestic surveillance.

The Boeing Company has submitted its KC-767 Advanced Tanker proposal Tuesday for the U.S. Air Force KC-135 Tanker Replacement Program.

The 7,000-page KC-X proposal describes a tanker designed for its primary air refueling mission, but also capable of moving cargo, passengers, patients and medical crewmembers. Based on a new version of the 767-200 Long Range Freighter, the KC-767 Advanced Tanker's innovations include an advanced fly-by-wire boom, new wing refueling pods, a centerline hose drum refueling unit, an advanced commercial digital flight deck and a third-generation remote vision refueling system. The next-generation tanker utilizes cutting-edge technology to meet every aspect of the global mobility mission.

The newest range mission control room built to test the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was officially commissioned here April 11.

Combined with equipment installation and recent room certification, the range control room now provides the F-35 test team with the resources necessary to monitor the real-time performance of the aircraft during its test missions here.

QUALCOMM Incorporated has notified Nokia that it has rejected Nokia's $20 million payment and the accompanying multiple pages of terms upon which Nokia conditioned its payment. Nokia tendered the money ostensibly as an advance payment of royalties to QUALCOMM for the quarter ending June 30. Both the amount of the payment and the terms that Nokia sought to unilaterally impose in connection with it are at odds with the parties' 2001 license agreement.

A remarkable eclipse of a supermassive black hole and the hot gas disk around it has been observed with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This eclipse has allowed two key predictions about the effects of supermassive black holes to be tested.

Just as eclipses of the Sun and moon give astronomers rare opportunities to learn about those objects, an alignment in a nearby galaxy has provided a rare opportunity to investigate a supermassive black hole.

There is a strong relationship between a consumer’s perception of a retailer’s reputation for safeguarding card account data and the consumer’s willingness to shop there, according to new findings published by Javelin Strategy & Research. The study is based on a nationwide survey of 1,200 credit or debit cardholders. The survey was conducted by phone in February 2007 from a random sample of US adults.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a brief with a New York district court, urging a judge to allow the target of a recording industry lawsuit to fight back with counterclaims of his own.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has already moved to dismiss copyright infringement claims against Rolando Amurao. However, Amurao alleges that the RIAA's case is meritless and intended to harass him, so he has countersued for a declaration of non-infringement and a finding of RIAA copyright misuse. In its amicus brief, EFF argues that giving Amurao his day in court increases RIAA accountability in the industry's broad lawsuit campaign against file-sharing.

InfoLogix, Inc. acquired a cutting edge patent portfolio surrounding RFID technology that manages proper medication management and delivery. The acquisition strengthens InfoLogix’s ability to extend the functionality of its Mobile Care StationsTM with automated medication tracking, in addition to complementing the capabilities of InfoLogix’s RFID-based software systems, HealthTrax and BedCentral ED, which help manage workflow and locate clinicians, patients and assets in hospitals. To date, InfoLogix has delivered their software, services and infrastructure outsourcing solutions to over 1,100 hospitals in North America.

The latest worldwide rankings of top Web properties from comScore World Metrix service. The rankings are based on unique visitors and also “average visits per visitor,” using a new suite of “visits” metrics. A “visit” is a frequency measure and indicator of user engagement defined as an individual’s set of interactions with a specific Web site. In counting visits, if an individual does not interact with the site for at least a 30-minute period, that visit will be defined as having been concluded and a new visit will be counted when the individual next accesses the site. Included among the new suite of metrics are total visits, average minutes per visit, average visits per visitor, and average visits per usage day.

A breakthrough chip-stacking technology in a manufacturing environment that paves the way for three-dimensional chips that will extend Moore's Law beyond its expected limits. The technology – called "through-silicon vias" -- allows different chip components to be packaged much closer together for faster, smaller, and lower-power systems.

Three new Mobile WiMAX (WiBro in Korea) devices, from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd,- a WiBro smart phone (SPH-M8100), a top of the range multimedia convergence device (SPH-P9000), a USB Dongle (SPH-H1200) and a PCMCIA card.

Samsung SPH-M8100
Samsung's SPH-M8100 is a PDA WiBro smart phone which offers wireless Internet, voice telephony and video telephony services through WiBro and CDMA 1x EV-DO. The slider phone boasts a 2.8" color touch screen display, a TV-out, an MMC card slot, and 2 cameras; a 2 megapixel camera and a VGA camera for video calls. Samsung's M8100 also features T-DMB, Bluetooth® with A2DP functionality, 128ROM/64MB RAM memory and Microsoft's latest view and edit function.

NASA's next major space observatory, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is one step closer to unveiling the mysteries of the high-energy universe. Almost all the components have been assembled onto the spacecraft, which will undergo a review this week before environmental testing begins at the primary contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz.

Drooling over a tricked-out truck isn't unusual for many American males.

But salivary glands spring into action for an entirely different reason when a particular Dodge pickup drives around this post ... it emits the yummy smell of fried food.

Its fuel is cooking oil.

The blue and white truck, which belches out food fragrances instead of noxious fumes, is owned by Maj. Bradley Bourn, plans analyst for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Training, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Unique three-dimensional solar cells that capture nearly all of the light that strikes them could boost the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems while reducing their size, weight and mechanical complexity.

The new 3D solar cells capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature "tower" structures that resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid. The cells could find near-term applications for powering spacecraft, and by enabling efficiency improvements in photovoltaic coating materials, could also change the way solar cells are designed for a broad range of applications.

SPACEHAB, Incorporated plans to develop a new company division that will focus on manufacturing pharmaceuticals and materials in space for distribution into the commercial marketplace.

With a 22-year heritage of processing and transporting over a thousand experiments to low Earth orbit, SPACEHAB plans to leverage the company's deep understanding of microgravity science and payload processing into a new focus towards on-orbit manufacturing for both intercompany initiatives and as a service provider for other customers.

The powerful earthquake struck suddenly, shaking the seven-story building so hard it bent, cracked and swayed in response.

But this was no ordinary earthquake. In a groundbreaking series of tests, engineering researchers from UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering jarred a full-size 275-ton building erected on a shake table, duplicating ground motions recorded during the January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, California.

Running shoes, ski bindings and foot prostheses all have one thing in common: They must be tested thoroughly. This is now done by a robot-based 3-D test rig which simulates human movements, thus enabling any kind of load test to be carried out under realistic conditions.

It is one of those single-arm, orange-colored robots normally used to punch and weld sheet metal components for cars in large manufacturing halls. One such industrial robot can also be found in the laboratories of the Fraunhofer Technology Development Group TEG. However, the researchers there have given it much more human qualities. This robot arm can almost perfectly imitate the natural walking movements of a human being, and so, mounted on a treadmill, it walks and walks and walks. The reason for this continuous exertion is a prosthetic foot which is attached to the machine and is being put through its paces.

RSA, The Security Division of EMC (NYSE: EMC), and Hirsch Electronics will be demonstrating the interoperability of their physical and logical access systems at the Smart Cards in Government Conference - to be held April 10-13 in Washington, DC.

The interoperability of the RSA® Card Manager smart card management solution with Hirsch's Velocity physical access control system (PACS) and SCM Microsystems Physical Access Control Terminals (PACT) will help enable government agencies to enhance efficiency, increase security and reduce costs by consolidating multiple credentials onto a single device that is designed to enable employees to access both secured areas and electronic resources.

The worldwide mobile TV broadcast market is expanding, as the number of commercially launched mobile TV broadcast networks will grow from 9 in 2006 to 13 in 2007, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). The unavailability of spectrum is the largest barrier to the launch of more mobile TV services, particularly in Europe, the high-tech market research firm says.

Research by In-Stat found the following:

SYSGO and AMD have formed a cooperative venture to exploit AMD multi-core technology in conjunction with SYSGO’s PikeOS paravirtualization real-time operating system. AMD and SYSGO aim to provide a unique combination of multi-core technology, hardware virtualization, and software virtualization for the embedded industry. The first result of this partnership demonstrates the cooperative execution of Windows Embedded XP and a real-time application in clearly separated partitions.

Nokia has made available a Open C Plug-In extension for the S60 3rd Edition Software Development Kit (SDK), enabling easier porting of Linux-targeted open source projects to Symbian OS-based S60 smartphones and increased productivity for developers of mobile applications running on S60 devices.

Nokia's Open C significantly improves productivity of S60 developers working in the Symbian C/C++ environment, giving them the use of familiar standard C function libraries for easy migration of open source and desktop applications to S60 on Symbian OS. By enabling the reuse of code from existing open source projects, Open C frees up developer time and resources to focus on the core mobility aspects of their applications.

NASA scientists believe they have found a way to predict the color of plants on planets in other solar systems.

Green, yellow or even red-dominant plants may live on extra-solar planets, according to scientists whose two scientific papers appear in the March issue of the journal, Astrobiology. The scientists studied light absorbed and reflected by organisms on Earth, and determined that if astronomers were to look at the light given off by planets circling distant stars, they might predict that some planets have mostly non-green plants.

On May 31, 2007 Google Inc. offices in ten countries will host Google Developer Day™, a global event featuring workshops, keynotes and breakout discussions on Google's APIs and developer tools.

The "Day" will explore innovative uses of Google developer products to create and enhance applications, integrate with Google services and reach millions of users on Google and beyond.

The 7200rpm premium 2.5” hard drive series, SpinPoint MP1, from Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung’s SpinPoint MP1 Series provides the industry’s highest storage density of 200 gigabyte (GB) at 7200rpm on a 2.5inch disk base with SATA interface. The MP1 series is designed for enterprise applications such as workstations, RAID (redundant array of independent drives) servers, and blade servers.

2GB microSD™ memory card with dual adapters, from Transcend Information Inc. This new card is the smallest memory card (15mm x 11mm x 1mm) in the world, and it is a great choice for the next generation of mobile phones and portable devices, which include a memory card slot as a standard. This microSD card comes with a miniSD and a full-size SD adapter that allows you to use it in multiple devices.

26 percent of large advertisers in companies with annual revenues of $50 million or more plan to increase spending on search engine marketing by more than 25 percent this year, according to JupiterResearch. Detailed in a new report, "US SEM Executive Survey, 2007: Understanding the Increasingly Sophisticated Search Marketer," JupiterResearch has found an additional 28 percent of large advertisers anticipate spending increases between 11 and 25 percent, based on the expectation that keyword prices will continue to rise. These findings and more will be presented at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in New York today.

IONA® Technologies (NASDAQ: IONA) acquired LogicBlaze. LogicBlaze is privately held, and financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The all-cash acquisition of LogicBlaze enables IONA to accelerate its strategy of delivering innovative, enterprise Open Source SOA solutions to the large IT organizations typified by the Company's customers. As a result of the acquisition, the LogicBlaze organization, including co-founders Hiram Chirino, Rob Davies and James Strachan will join IONA's Open Source business.

The Green Grid, a non-profit consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems, has announced plans for a technical summit to be held April 18-19 in Denver, Co. The summit, which will be the first since the formal launch of the organization earlier this year, is expected to produce detailed technical objectives and program plans for 2007. The consortium also announced its first new members, who represent various industry segments.

Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) reported financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year ended February 28, 2007.

Total revenue for the quarter was $111.1 million, an increase of 41% from the year ago quarter and 5% from the prior quarter. Subscription revenue was $95.9 million, up 44% year-over-year and 8% sequentially. For the full year, total revenue was $400.6 million, an increase of 44% over fiscal 2006 revenue, and subscription revenue was $341.2 million, up 48% from the prior year.

The Massachusetts Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles issued a Determination of Adequacy on Cape Wind’s Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR).

Cape Wind President Jim Gordon was pleased with the news, “The Agency’s favorable decision on Cape Wind reflects the fact that our economic and environmental future is best served by rising to the challenges of energy independence and climate change. Today’s decision brings Cape Wind and the benefits of new jobs, a healthier environment and greater energy security one step closer to the people of Massachusetts and the region.”

The Anti-Spam Product Developers’ Consortium formed by ICSA Labs®, an independent division of Cybertrust®. This consortium was created to advance anti-spam technologies and to provide a third-party information source to help the anti-spam user community select and effectively implement anti-spam products.

ICSA Labs recently conducted a stakeholders’ meeting for anti-spam developers to discuss the significant need in the marketplace for cooperation among anti-spam vendors. The vendors present unanimously agreed on the need for a consortium, whose goals would be to educate end users about anti-spam products and create publicly vetted, objective, and credible security criteria against which anti-spam products can be tested and certified.

NASA is targeting June 8 as the next possible launch opportunity for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-117 mission to the International Space Station.

Tuesday’s decision by agency management followed a meeting that reviewed the progress in repairing insulating foam on the shuttle’s external fuel tank, which was damaged during a sudden hail storm Feb. 26 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla. That damage required engineers to repair approximately 2,660 sites on the tank.

Lockheed Martin successfully conducted the second flight test of its P44 long-range strike missiles Friday at White Sands Missile Range, NM. This Control Test Vehicle (CTV) flight builds on a successful Ballistic Test Vehicle (BTV) flight in February, and validates the functionality of the control actuation system and GPS-aided inertial guidance mode for P44.

The missile achieved all test objectives, demonstrating both boost and sustain operations, stability in cruise mode and GPS guidance mode.

In the futuristic cartoon series "The Jetsons," a robotic maid named Rosie whizzed around the Jetsons' home doing household chores--cleaning, cooking dinner and washing dishes.

Such a vision of robotic housekeeping is likely decades away from becoming reality. But at MIT, researchers are working on a very early version of such intelligent, robotic helpers--a humanoid called Domo who grasp objects and place them on shelves or counters.

Richard Sylvestre, 43, of Boylston, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $25,007 in restitution, upon his conviction for damaging protected United States Navy computers. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after Sylvestre was sentenced by United States District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.

Tiny, biodegradable particles filled with medicine may also contain answers to some of the biggest human health problems, including cancer and tuberculosis. The secret is the size of the package.

Using an innovative technique they invented, a Princeton University-led research team has created particles that can deliver medicine deep into the lungs or infiltrate cancer cells while leaving normal ones alone. Only 100 to 300 nanometers wide -- more than 100 times thinner than a human hair -- the particles can be loaded with medicines or imaging agents, like gold and magnetite, that will enhance the detection capabilities of CT scans and MRIs.

HP has outlined its strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth in online, mobile and PC gaming and demonstrated some of the company's advanced technologies applicable for the gaming industry.

Gaming applications demand massive amounts of raw computing power and scalability to achieve high levels of interactivity. HP will focus on providing the technology that powers PC, online and mobile gaming, including infrastructure and workstations for gaming companies, content developers and service providers that participate in this demanding and rapidly growing market.

It's no ordinary driving test and they won't have to parallel park, but future astronauts will learn what it will take to some day drive on the surface of the moon. NASA is looking for the world's best moonbuggy drivers who can also create and build their own original "lunar rover."

Teams of high school and college students from across the country and around the world are hard at work designing and building their own lunar vehicles in preparation for NASA's 14th annual Great Moonbuggy Race, sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corp. The event, open to the public, runs April 13-14 at the U.S Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.

SourceForge.net has embedded search engine, from Krugle, Inc., into the world's largest repository of open source software. The search engine gives developers direct, contextual access to the underlying code of the site's 145,000 open source projects. The announcement addresses the growing importance of specialized search engines as valuable tools to help developers deal with increasing software complexity.

A Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist says transferring large data files, such as movies and music, over the Internet could be sped up significantly if peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing services were configured to share not only identical files, but also similar files.

David G. Andersen, assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon, and Michael Kaminsky of Intel Research Pittsburgh have designed such a system, called Similarity-Enhanced Transfer (SET). By identifying relevant chunks of files similar to a desired file, SET greatly increases the number of potential sources for downloads. And boosting the number of sources usually translates into faster P2P downloads, Andersen explains. How much SET could speed up downloads varies based on a number of factors, including the size and popularity of a given file. In some cases, SET might speed transfers by just 5 percent; in others, it might make downloads five times faster.

Rachel Reyes, age 29, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was sentenced today to 55 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $415,754.84 in restitution, in connection with her role in distributing fraudulent celebrity memorabilia items on eBay. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and, Cassandra M. Chandler, Special Agent in Charge, Norfolk Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, made the announcement after Reyes’ sentencing today before United States District Judge Walter D. Kelley, Jr.

Earthrace has left San Diego and is continuing on her round-the-world speed record attempt. The unique wavepiercing vessel was involved in a collision off the coast of Guatemala with an unlit fishing skiff, resulting in considerable damage that has been mostly repaired in San Diego. She is now 800 nautical miles off the coast of California en-route to Hawaii, the next refueling stop on her global circumnavigation.

If your washing machine is devouring too much electricity due to lime scale buildup or worn bearings, you may get a nasty surprise when the electricity bill arrives at the end of the year. A new monitoring system exposes energy guzzlers before the bill gets too high.

In the midst of preparing for a party, the host hurriedly stacks her cold cuts and cheese in the fridge to make room for the bulky cake plate. In her haste, she doesn't notice that the plate is blocking the fridge door, causing energy to be wasted. A message immediately starts blinking on a display in the kitchen: “Please close fridge door.” In another scenario, the washing machine's bearings are worn, and the cylinder is guzzling an unnecessary amount of electricity to cope with the resulting friction. A text message saying “Please have your washing machine inspected” warns the owner in time, thus helping to avoid a horrendous electricity bill at the end of the year.

New distribution channels for online music and video are beginning to have a significant impact on the music and video industries, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). Online sales of digital music represented 6% of the total worldwide music market in 2006, up from 4% in 2005, the high-tech market research firm says. By 2011, online sales of digital music will represent 26% of all music purchased worldwide.

Nokia has paid Qualcomm USD 20 million for patent licenses covering the second quarter 2007. Nokia and Qualcomm have had patent license agreements since 1992 and Nokia's obligations to pay license fees under the old agreements partially expire on April 9, 2007. The payment announced today does not extend, and is not related to, the old agreement. Rather, it is based on the licenses that Qualcomm has agreed and provided through the European Telecommunication Standardization Institute (ETSI).

The head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration says the United States plans to put humans on the moon again by 2019. At the same time, he said he is concerned by what he described as a "significant" gap in U.S. human space flight following the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle program in 2010. VOA's Stephanie Ho reports from Washington.

Arlington, Va.—Chief of Naval Research Rear Admiral William E. Landay III has announced the funding of a $1.3-million "Tech Solutions" project to deliver advanced infantry immersive training to Marines. This project will field two systems by the fall of 2007. The first system will be installed in the I MEF Battle Simulation Center at Camp Pendleton, California, and the second will be installed in the new Marine Expeditionary Rifle Integration Facility opening this summer near Quantico, Virginia.

The Defense and Space Systems (D&SS) Division of EMS Technologies, Inc. will offer anti-jam antenna solutions to the commercial space sector. EMS D&SS, which specializes in providing beam-forming networks that enable and protect communication channels to and from communications satellites, now sees a demand for its military style anti-jam beam management system from its commercial space customers following several high-profile incidents of jamming in the international arena.

As ethanol production increases, so does the demand for suitable feedstocks.

Affordable, plentiful and easy to work with, corn is currently the feedstock of choice in the United States. So Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in Wyndmoor, Pa., are investigating ways to avoid overburdening the corn market as ethanol production expands.

The spam epidemic is costing US businesses $712 per employee each year in lost worker productivity, according to Nucleus Research.

A survey of 849 e-mail users conducted during March 2007, Nucleus Research and KnowledgeStorm found that two out of every three e-mail messages received by today’s business users are spam.

As a result, users are spending 16 seconds identifying and deleting each spam e-mail, which translates into an annual cost of $70 billion to all US businesses.

SanDisk® Corporation and Yahoo! Music, Yahoo, Inc.’s music division have a partnership. The partnership pairs SanDisk’s new wireless MP3 player with both free and subscription-based services from Yahoo!, allowing consumers to stay connected to their music, photos and friends via WiFi, with no PC required1.

When the Sansa Connect is not connected to a WiFi network, the player behaves like a traditional Flash MP3 player and can be connected to a PC. Users can play music and view photos stored either on the player or on an optional microSD™ card.

Tens of millions of years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a massive star suffered a nasty double whammy.

Signs of the first shock reached Earth on Oct. 20, 2004, when the star was observed letting loose an outburst so enormous and bright that Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki initially mistook it for a supernova. The star survived for nearly two years, however, until on Oct. 11, 2006, professional and amateur astronomers witnessed it blowing itself to smithereens as Supernova (SN) 2006jc.

NextWave Wireless Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire IPWireless Inc., a privately-held company headquartered in San Bruno, California, with research and development facilities in the United Kingdom. IPWireless is widely recognized as the world’s foremost supplier of TD-CDMA network equipment and subscriber terminals. The company has been a leading force in the development of 3GPP TDD UMTS standards which serves as the foundation for its next-generation mobile TV and wireless broadband public-safety network solutions. Its TD-CDMA mobile broadband technology was recently selected by New York City as part of the deployment of a citywide, public-safety wireless network.

Signal Soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division set up near Story Barracks March 14-16 to validate a new satellite communications terminal.

Called Secure, Mobile, Anti-jam, Reliable, Tactical Terminal, the equipment was tested before it gets dispersed throughout the division to units like 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team and 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

The Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor QX6800, the twelfth quad-core processor offering, from Intel Corporation. Running at 2.93 GHz with the Intel® Core™ microarchitecture for the quad-core desktop. The Intel Core 2 Extreme processor QX6800 is ideal for those gamers, digital design professionals and enthusiasts.

At the recent Game Developer's Conference* in San Francisco, several software developers demonstrated new games that have been "threaded" to take advantage of multiple processor cores and threads. This increased performance can help deliver smoother gameplay, more realistic game effects and more lifelike artificial intelligence.

The Infiniti EX Concept is a preview of the all-new Infiniti EX35 luxury crossover SUV. The EX Concept also showcases two innovative systems that are expected to be the first production versions in the world. The AVM system utilizes front, side and rear-mounted cameras to help reduce the blind spots when parking, while the LDP system takes Infiniti’s currently available Lane Departure Warning System into a new dimension of safety by actively using the Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) system to help assist the driver in maintaining lane position if the vehicle inadvertently starts to drift out of the lane.

Toshiba Corporation announced that on April 6, 2007, Toshiba and Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. filed a formal complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) against 17 manufacturers and importers of DVD players, DVD recorders and other DVD-related products, as a means to halt infringement of Toshiba's DVD patents. Toshiba's filing requests that the ITC prohibit the importation into the United States of DVD players, DVD recorders and other DVD-related products by the companies named in the complaint. In a related move, Toshiba also filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on the same day, seeking damages resulting from infringement of Toshiba's DVD patents by the same 17 companies.

VMware Lab Manager won the 2007 Jolt Product Excellence Award in the Utilities category. The Jolt Product Excellence Awards, sponsored by Dr. Dobb’s Journal, are designed to recognize the most innovative, trend-making, ahead-of-the-curve products for developers.

VMware Lab Manager automates the setup, capture, storage and sharing of multi-machine software configurations and makes them available on demand to local or remote development and test teams through a self-service portal. The product also includes a unique delta-tree image library management feature, which enables large image libraries to be maintained while eliminating data redundancy and reducing the amount of disk storage required compared to other lab management systems, as well as seamless integration with downstream production operations systems. The result is a system that uniquely helps enterprise operations and application development teams maximize utilization of development and test lab assets, accelerate software development cycles and increase the quality of delivered software systems.

The Linux Foundation has announced an update of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and the release of a new testing toolkit. The update to LSB 3.1 introduces new automated testing toolkits for distributions and application vendors, linking development more closely to certification. The result will be reduced development costs and tighter integration between upstream developers, distributions, applications and the LSB standard. This continued enhancement of standards, testing and tools for the Linux platform will make it easier and less costly for application developers to support the Linux operating system.

According to a newly published IDC study, a resurgence of spam and the increased frequency of being replaced by text messaging and voice over IP (VoIP) calling, especially among younger consumers and workers, will make it more difficult for email to maintain its status as the leading mission-critical electronic communications method. IDC predicts that nearly 97 billion emails, over 40 billion of which will be spam messages, will be sent daily worldwide in 2007. This is the first year that spam email volumes are expected to exceed person-to-person email volumes sent worldwide.

Sample shipments of a new 3.5-inch (8.9-centimeters-diagonal) video graphic array (VGA), low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) module, part number NL4864HL11-01B, from NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd. The new LCD module is highly suited to installation in a wide variety of portable devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and personal navigation devices (PNDs) as it enables a high level of visibility in indoor/outdoor environments with high ambient light.

TERPROM® system has been integrated into the, BAE Systems, Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) mission computer to enable the provision of a GPWS. TERPROM® is a digital ground-mapping database which the aircraft's mission system links to a projection of the aircraft's current flight path. Should the aircraft be flown too close to the ground, or obstacles such as masts and pylons the pilot is provided with a voice and visual warning, enabling the pilot to recover the aircraft.

There's a new subject being taught in school, and it features sexual predators. More and more schools across the country are taking on the task of teaching Internet safety to students and parents. School officials are stepping in, even though the online luring or harassment is primarily happening off campus.

There's no sugarcoating the message when police detective Malinda Wilson takes the stage at Steilacoom High School in Washington State. "There's nothing flattering about a freak having an interest in you," she tells the teens in the auditorium. "You know, freaks and predators can be really nice guys. They're not all creepy guys in trench coats standing outside the school with a bag of candy saying, 'Hey little girl, you want some?''" She gets some laughs as she adds, "And they can be cute too."

Earthrace is in San Diego undergoing urgent repairs before continuing on her around-the-world speed record attempt. The unique wavepiercing vessel was involved in a collision off the coast of Guatemala with an unlit fishing skiff; resulting in damaged propellers, gearbox and engine mounts. She recently voyaged up the coast to San Diego, and the crew and support team are now busy finalizing repairs.