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Wireless Networking

ISPs Losing Interest In Citywide Wireless Coverage 98

Posted by Soulskill from the too-busy-monitoring-traffic dept.
The New York Times is running a story about how hope is fading for the implementation of municipal wireless access in cities across the US. Major cities and small towns alike are finding that ISPs are withdrawing from such plans due to the low profitability of ventures that are similar to Philadelphia's incomplete network. We've previously discussed Chicago's and San Francisco's wireless status, and also some of the stumbling blocks other cities have faced. From the Times: "In Tempe, Ariz., and Portland, Ore., for example, hundreds of subscribers have found themselves suddenly without service as providers have cut their losses and either abandoned their networks or stopped expanding capacity. EarthLink announced on Feb. 7 that 'the operations of the municipal Wi-Fi assets were no longer consistent with the company's strategic direction.' Philadelphia officials say they are not sure when or if the promised network will now be completed."
Republicans

White House Says Hard Drives Were Destroyed 411

Posted by kdawson from the just-in-case dept.
wanderindiana brings us an update on the White House missing emails mess, which we have discussed before. It seems the hard drives of many White House computers are gone beyond the possibility of recovery. Is it unusual in your experience for, say, a corporate IT department to destroy hard drives by policy? "Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005. The White House revealed new information about how it handles its computers in an effort to persuade a federal magistrate it would be fruitless to undertake an e-mail recovery plan that the court proposed."
Earth

A Super-Efficient Light Bulb 468

Posted by kdawson from the it's-little-it's-lovely-it-lights dept.
Chroniton writes with news of a Silicon Valley company, Luxim, that has developed a tiny, full-spectrum light bulb, based on a plasma of argon gas, that gives off as much light as a streetlight while using less power. The Tic Tac-sized bulb operates at temperatures up to 6000K and produces 140 lumens/watt, almost ten times as efficient as standard incandescent lamps, and twice the efficiency of high-end LEDs. The new bulbs also have a lifetime of 20,000 hours. There's no mention of mercury or other heavy metals, which pose a problem for compact fluorescents.
Mozilla

Mozilla CEO Objects To Safari Auto Install 768

Posted by CmdrTaco from the hey-wait-a-minute dept.
A reader writes "Do you use iTunes on Windows? If so you may be getting the gift of Safari from Apple whether you want it or not, and Mozilla CEO John Lilly is not happy about it. After his daughter was offered Safari as a 'bonus update' with a recent update to her iTunes software, Mr. Lilly says on his blog, 'What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong. It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that's bad — not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web.' He also pointed out the check box is already clicked when you go to update meaning you have to opt out, not in and that it lists Safari as getting an update even if you don't have it installed." Update: 03/21 21:44 GMT by KD : Corrected the name of the Mozilla CEO; also linked directly to his blog.
Power

Microchip Powered by Body Heat 73

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-couldn't-power-an-8088 dept.
An anonymous reader writes "MIT and Texas Instruments researchers have designed a chip that they say could be up to 10 times more energy efficient than current technology. The chip's power consumption is so low that devices with the chip may even be able to be recharged using the owner's body heat." The intent is to use these in medical applications like pacemakers where one would expect to have the free power source.

Feed Engadget: Sharp solar panel system installed at AT&T Park (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

While you were busy watching Vladimir Guerrero take home the Home Run Derby crown last night, you may not have been aware that AT&T Park was feeding uber-clean energy back into the grid serving PG&E's customers throughout northern and central California. Sure enough, the home of the San Francisco Giants is now also home to 590 Sharp solar panels located in three separate areas of the stadium, which combine to generate some 120-kilowatts of electricity. The size of the entire array is reportedly "equivalent to approximately 40 residential solar systems," and while this system won't conjure up as much power as the CIS Solar Tower, it will certainly make good use of the ballpark during the off-season.

[Via EETimes image courtesy of MatrixCS]

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