Smart clothes could take photos

The researchers stretch out large fibres to make thin threads

Clothes could one day take snaps of everything happening around whoever is wearing them.

US researchers have made smart fabric that can detect the wavelength and direction of light falling on it.

The research team has found a way to accurately place sensors in each fibre and co-ordinate the electrical signals they send when light falls on them.

The results were a step towards "ambient light imaging fabrics" said the researchers.

Led by Dr Yoel Fink from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the researchers have extended earlier work that placed sensors in relatively large polymer fibres.

Dr Fink and colleagues found a way to stretch the 25mm strands of polymer into much thinner fibres while maintaining the relative positions of the sensors.

This earlier work has led to the creation of very long and flexible light and temperature sensors that may find a role in smart fabrics for soldiers or those working in hostile environments.

In their latest work, described in a paper in Nano Letters, these thinner strands were woven into a 0.1m square section of fabric. The careful creation of the fibres and positioning of the light-sensitive elements meant that the team knew which signals were being sent by which sensors.

This enabled the team to reconstruct, albeit crudely, an image projected onto the small square of fabric. The researchers said their work was an "important step" towards finding ways to get many nanoscale devices working together.

Source: BBC news

Chasing the Toyota Prius' 50-mpg nirvana

by Martin LaMonica

At this point, I don't feel like I need to burnish my eco-credentials, given that I write for CNET's Green Tech blog every day. But when it came to buying a car, I got the iconic, even cliched, 2010 Toyota Prius.

Having driven almost 2,500 miles on it so far, I like it, although I have not yet been able to get the advertised 50-plus miles per gallon when I go around town, which is the bulk of my driving. But it's early still, I tell myself, so maybe the Prius can show me the way. (See also CNET's review of the 2010 Toyota Prius.)

2010 Toyota Prius photos

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Buying a hybrid was not at all my plan. My wife and I were generally content with a 10-year-old Corolla that got us from point A to B with good mileage. As you can tell, fuel efficiency and reliability are high on my wish lists, not luxury features. In fact, what I really wanted to do was hold out for a plug-in electric vehicle.

But a few weeks ago, our well-maintained sedan was totaled by a teenager in an SUV (no serious injuries, thankfully). That meant I needed to get a new car--fast. We went from accident to test drive to transaction in about a week since we needed a new car before we left for a long-planned vacation. Nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.

I was surprised to see how few hybrid options there are. Certainly the Honda Insight was tempting and early reviews were positive. But reviews also said that space in the back seat isn't great, which was a priority for us, while the new Prius improves on interior space.

I also thought of the Ford Fusion hybrid, which I drove this spring. One advantage was the tax rebate I would have gotten for buying a fuel-efficient American car. It gets over 40 miles per gallon in city driving and I liked driving it a second time--it had a comfortingly familiar look and feel, both inside and out, even though it's a hybrid. But with the bigger battery, the trunk didn't seem very roomy and you can't push down the back seats for big loads.

Next stop was the Toyota dealership. The base price of the new Prius is a few thousand dollars higher than that of the Insight but less than the listed base of the Fusion. We took the Prius for a spin and were pleased.

There's not exactly a waiting list for the 2010 Prius, but each car is basically spoken for before it arrives, at least in the Boston area. Our sales guy had one coming in. We grabbed it. Did I mention we were in a hurry?

The day after delivery we started our long drive for vacation. Gas mileage for our roughly 2,000 miles of highway travel in total was about 51 miles per gallon. A limited sample of city driving (less than 100 miles) has me getting in the middle to high 40s.

Different state of mind
The biggest change with driving a hybrid is the feedback system. The 2010 Prius has a few different display options. It's interesting to know what's going on under the covers--how the gasoline engine, generator, and battery coordinate to maximize your mileage.

But so far what I've ended up using is the Eco dashboard, which tells you when you're driving just on the battery and when going out of the super-efficient zone. The big lesson here: don't accelerate aggressively. Picking up speed slowly is the key to fuel-efficiency nirvana, the Prius tells me.

What a difference from my old cars. I've always driven a stick shift, which means a direct sense of controlling your car's functions: put it in gear, hit the accelerator, and you're in control.

The Prius is fly by wire. You tell the computer what to do and it controls the car. The 2010 model has a few modes that you can put it in: all EV, which only works up to about 20 miles per hour; the Eco mode; and the Power mode.

I've used the Power mode to jump onto highways and it works fine. The Eco mode makes it harder to push on the accelerator so my preference is to only use that with cruise control on the highway. With my day-to-day driving, I've ended up not picking a specific mode and just eyeing the dashboard for feedback.

Show me the way, oh eco-indicator. The Hybrid System Indicator coaches you on how to sip gas.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

For a far more thorough run-through, I suggest this review by my colleague Wayne Cunningham at CNET Car Tech. If you want to know how the hybrid system works under the covers, check out this video from the CNET Green Show.

Of course, there's the cost of the car. I ended up with a relatively low-end model, which is fine because I don't rely on GPS or need a solar moonroof (the solar panel powers a fan to keep the car from heating up in the sun.)

I don't drive a whole lot of miles per year so I wasn't going to get out a calculator and run an ROI analysis on buying a Prius with 48/50 miles per gallon mileage versus something else.

Hybrid technology just makes sense and it's a feature I wanted, just like getting video on my digital camera. Why should my car be burning gas when it's standing still? And I think it's brilliant that I'm recouping energy for my battery when I'm decelerating or hitting the brake.

Now when I drive around I notice the other Priuses. And I keep wondering, are you getting over 50 miles per gallon? Any tips you can share?

Source: Cnet news

Call for limits on web snooping

Tim Berners-Lee started the web to help scientists communicate

Governments and companies should limit the snooping they do on web users.

So said Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, who said that growing oversight of browsing could have a pernicious effect.

A greater part of the value of the web lay in the lack of constraints on what people could do with it.

He also warned that attempts to censor what people could say or what they could do online were ultimately doomed to failure.

Open triumph

"When you use the internet it is important that the medium should not be set up with constraints," he said.

The internet, said Sir Tim, should be like a blank piece of paper. Just as governments and companies cannot police what people write or draw on that sheet of paper so they should not be restricted from putting the web to their own uses.

"The canvas should be blank," he said

While governments do need some powers to police unacceptable uses of the web; limits should be placed on these powers, he said.

It's a wonderful experiment and I hope it will have consequences for the way TV is produced in the future Russell Barnes, Digital Revolution producer Find out more about Digital Revolution

If people know that where they go online and the terms they look for are under scrutiny it could have all kinds of pernicious effects, he warned.

Repressive regimes, such as China and Iran, that work hard to limit what people can do online would struggle to maintain that control over time, he said.

"The trend over the years is that the internet in the end goes around censorship and openness eventually triumphs," he said. "But it is by no means an easy road."

Sir Tim made his comments during a speech at an event that helped to launch the BBC Two series Digital Revolution.

The four-part series aims to explore the history of the World Wide Web and generate debate about how it is changing the way people live their lives. It aims to debate how the web is changing the nation state, how it affects identity, freedom and anonymity.

Over the next eight months as the programme is being produced, viewers will be encouraged to get involved by sending in questions for interview subjects and being able to produce their own clips using the rushes generated during filming.

Social media researcher and broadcaster Aleks Krotoski will present the series of programmes.

Source: BBC news

Mixed results for green IT goals

The Greening ICT Strategy requires 40% recycling by 2010

A majority of public sector employees do not know about environmentally friendly IT targets set out in government's Greening ICT Strategy.

The strategy calls for government IT to be carbon neutral by 2012, with office carbon emissions down 11.5% by 2011.

One of the commissioners of the report says there are scattered trends toward compliance with the strategy.

However, a survey of IT managers in the public sector showed 60% did not know there were any targets to aim for.

The report, titled "The Path to Green Government", was produced by environmental charity Global Action Plan and commissioned by networking giant Cisco.

It is estimated that information and communication technology (ICT) accounts for one-fifth of the Government's carbon emissions. The Greening ICT Strategy was intended to put the government in a leadership role in the sustainable use of ICT.

A large proportion of carbon emissions can be blamed on the manufacture of new equipment, so a principal focus of the initiative is to make the best use of existing equipment.

However, there is more to the plan once procurement is slimmed down, according to Cisco's head of public sector Neil Crockett.

"There is another, much bigger debate about how ICT can enable other things to happen, like building management, travel reduction, flexible working," he said.

'Pockets of excellence'

The Global Action Plan study was conducted by direct surveys of ICT managers in the public sector - local and national government, education, healthcare and so on - as well as a questionnaire in the magazine Computer Weekly.

Some 60% of respondents said that they were unaware of the Greening ICT Strategy, and among those who were aware, nearly one-third said that they had made no changes to their own ICT usage and procurement, and had no plans to make any such changes.

The problem, according to Global Action Plan director Trewin Restorick, is poor collaboration and knowledge sharing across the sector.

government electricity usage is continuing to rise, and it is likely that one of the big reasons for this is the proliferation of computers, laptops, chargers, lobby televisions and the air conditioning of server rooms Rebecca Willis, Sustainable Development Commission

"What we saw was pockets of excellence, areas where the public sector is making both cash savings and carbon savings through smarter use of ICT," he told BBC News.

"But what we discovered was that those pockets of activity tended not to be part of a wider strategy within the public sector. They were very much piecemeal initiatives, which suggests they were being driven by keen individuals."

One straightforward route to knowledge sharing is that between IT managers and those who pay for the energy that the equipment consumes; more than two-thirds of respondents said that they were neither responsible for paying for the energy, nor did they see the bill.

Less than half had calculated their department's "carbon footprint".

"For an ICT manager, if they're not paying the energy bills - which are both volatile and going up - they have no interest in knowing what the long term impact of the product is," he said. "So you get managers buying stuff without thinking about utilising the assets they've got."

While the longer term goal to ameliorate the effects of climate change are a driving force for compliancy, in 2010 the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs' Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme will come into effect.

Under the scheme, each large private sector business and public sector organisation will tally up its carbon emissions, with a price tag of 12 pounds per tonne of emissions. Organisation will be placed into league tables; depending on where they fit, they will or will not get the money back.

The concern is that public sector money can, if the sector performs badly, be siphoned off into the private sector - a loss both in monetary and in ideological terms.

"'Health service money goes to Tesco's' is not a great headline," said Mr Restorick.

Groundswell

Catalina McGregor, government deputy champion of the Cabinet Office's CIO/CTO Council Green ICT Delivery Group, said a report from her office due for release in late August will comprehensively detail how each department is doing in unprecedented detail, from intelligence departments all the way to museums.

While its results are mixed, she told BBC News that signs of progress were widespread and that Mr Restorick's assessment may be a bit wide of the mark.

Lots of firms spend money to keep their servers cool

"I'm a little gun-shy to say that folk aren't working well together, because they are," she said. "It's very rare that something central is taken up by local [offices] to this extent on a voluntary basis. It's true that there are no 'big sticks', no incentives, no budgets; but there is a groundswell of support for the green ICT programme."

Rebecca Willis, vice chair of the government's green watchdog the Sustainable Development Commission, pointed out that despite commitments from government, signs of overall change were still lacking.

"The Greening ICT Strategy is an encouraging step towards making government IT more sustainable," she told BBC News.

"However, government electricity usage is continuing to rise, and it is likely that one of the big reasons for this is the proliferation of computers, laptops, chargers, lobby televisions and the air conditioning of server rooms. It's clear that ambition levels need to be raised."

Source: BBC news

Comcast to offer 4G wireless broadband service

by Marguerite Reardon

Comcast is getting into the wireless broadband business by bundling Clearwire's 4G wireless service with its existing broadband products.

The largest cable operator in the U.S. will launch the new service in Portland, Ore. And it will expand the service to other Comcast cities later in the year, including Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

(Credit: Comcast)

Comcast invested in the new Clearwire in 2008, along with Google, Intel, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint Nextel, which gave Clearwire its 2.5GHz spectrum. Clearwire's plan has been to roll out its service nationwide. The service is now up and running in a few cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, and Portland, Ore. And the company has plans to roll it out to 80 markets by the end of the year.

Some of the cities where it plans to launch the service include, Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas/Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia, and Seattle. And it plans to launch the network in cities such as New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Houston, and the San Francisco Bay Area, in 2010.

Clearwire is using a technology called WiMax, which offers faster speeds than current 3G wireless technologies, but offers wider coverage than other high-speed wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi. Clearwire claims that it can provide up to 4Mbps for downloads and 500 kbps for uploading, which is more than double what consumers can expect using a 3G wireless connection.

Comcast will be selling 4G wireless access as part of an Internet bundle to Comcast subscribers. To entice new subscribers, Comcast is offering the new 4G wireless with its 12 Mbps download cable modem service, plus a free 802.11g router for $50 a month for the first 12 months.

The data card used for the 4G wireless, which fits into a laptop, costs $99. But subscribers who sign up for the package with a two-year commitment get the data card for free.

After the first 12 months, subscribers will then pay $43 per month for the 12 Mbps broadband service and $30 extra per month for 4G wireless service. The 4G wireless service is only available in Comcast's cable territory, but subscribers who travel to other cities where Clearwire's network is operational will be able to access the network at no additional cost.

New customers signing up for Comcast's triple play bundle of TV, phone, and Internet can add the 4G wireless component for $30 extra a month. So with the introductory price of $99 a month for the first year, the total would be $130 a month. After the first year, that bundle increases to $130 per month, so it would cost subscribers with the 4G wireless service $160 a month.

For subscribers who want more ubiquitous coverage, Comcast is offering a 3G/4G service that provides wireless connectivity on the Clearwire 4G network when it is available and on Sprint Nextel's 3G wireless service in other areas where 4G is not available. The cost of this service is an additional $20 per month.

Existing Comcast customers can add the new service for $30 more a month to their existing packages. And they can add the nationwide access with 3G access for $20 more per month.

Comcast has had its eye on the wireless market for quite sometime. The company bought wireless spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission's wireless spectrum auction in 2006. So far, the company hasn't said what it plans to do with that spectrum. But it has at least 10 years to decide, after which time the FCC could ask for the licenses to be returned.

Comcast has also worked with other cable operators to form a joint venture with Sprint Nextel in 2005. This joint venture was supposed to allow Comcast to bundle its broadband, TV, and telephony services with Sprint's wireless services. But the partnership never really got off the ground.

This time, Comcast thinks it has the right service package that will finally offer consumers a compelling product mix. The company is interested in not only using the service to help it win new customers but to also help it keep existing ones who may be tempted to defect to phone company competitors.

"This is really our first entree into expanding our in-home broadband service in combination with a wireless Internet service," said Catherine Avgiris, the company's senior vice president and general manager of wireless and voice services. "We are trying to get those consumers, who may not have chosen Comcast's broadband services in the past, to see that they can get the best and fastest in-home and wireless service from Comcast. But we are also trying to make sure we can keep the customers we do have from going to a competitor."

While it's clear that Comcast is using this new service to compete against its phone rivals, namely AT&T and Verizon Communications, it will also be competing against its partners Clearwire and Sprint Nextel, which will also be selling the same WiMax service to consumers.

Clearwire's service called Clear starts at $20 per month for in-home wireless broadband. And its mobile Internet plans start at $40 per month. Customers can also get a day pass for $10. The company also allows customers to add voice service to their in-home package for $25 per month.

Sprint is also offering a 3G/4G wireless service for people living and traveling regularly to places with 4G wireless coverage. For about $20 more a month, Sprint wireless data customers can get access to its 3G network plus the 4G Clearwire network for $80 per month. Sprint's regular 3G wireless data service costs about $60 per month.

AT&T and Verizon haven't included their 3G wireless data services into their in-home broadband and TV services, but the companies have been offering special deals for wireless customers. And both operators have announced Netbook offers where they subsidize the cost of these mini-laptops in exchange for a two-year service commitment. AT&T has also given free Wi-Fi access for its more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hotspots around the country to its broadband customers as well as some smartphone users.

AT&T isn't the only Wi-Fi provider that could compete with Comcast's 4G wireless service. In cities, such as San Francisco, there is already quite a lot of Wi-Fi in public places thanks to services like X. And in Philadelphia where EarthLink had deployed a citywide Wi-Fi network, Wi-Fi is still available for free in some locations.

Comcast isn't completely down on Wi-Fi. The company also offers a Wi-Fi solution in cooperation with Cablevision, a cable operator serving the New York area. The two companies are deploying Wi-Fi hotspots in train stations and on train platforms along the North East corridor from Philadelphia to New York City. The Wi-Fi access is free to Comcast and Cablevision broadband subscribers.

But Wi-Fi doesn't offer ubiquitous coverage. So these networks aren't the best answer for every consumer. But the success of Comcast's 4G wireless service is very much dependent on price. The company has priced the first year of the service extremely well, making it the hands down winner in terms of value for consumers. But it will be interesting to see if consumers are still interested in the service once the promotion is over.

The other potential downside to the service right now is that consumers will only get one USB laptop card per account. This might make it hard for families with multiple family members who want wireless broadband service outside the home. And this is also a problem for small businesses, which Comcast is also targeting with this service.

That said, Avgiris said that Comcast is working on a solution and will be offering multiple wireless cards for an additional cost. But the exact pricing of these cards and service hasn't been determined just yet.

Source: Cnet news

Rural areas need fast broadband

42% of rural England is on slow broadband

Action needs to be taken to ensure that those living in rural areas of the UK are not left in the broadband slow lane, a report has warned.

The report, from the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC), makes a series of recommendations to ensure that rural homes can keep pace with urban areas.

It calls for more help to be given to community-based broadband schemes.

Alternative investment models need to be explored to ensure fast networks are rolled out in the country-side.

The recently published Digital Britain report - which laid out the government's strategy for broadband - announced a telephone tax to fund next-generation networks in rural areas.

It also pledged to provide a minimum speed of 2Mbps (megabits per second) to all UK homes by 2012.

Rural entrepreneurs

A CRC spokesman welcomed both moves but said it might not be enough.

"There is a danger, with the 2 megabits promise, that people will regard that as job done," he said.

He also questioned the so-called telephone tax, which will collect 50p a month from every household with a fixed telephone line to contribute to rolling out next-generation broadband to areas that providers see as economically unviable.

"It starts to address the issue but there are lots of unanswered questions and issues about whether it will provide enough funding," he said.

According to the CRC some 42% of the rural population in England are currently struggling on speeds below 2Mbps.

Rolling out next-generation broadband networks is expensive and becomes much less cost effective in rural areas.

But the report - entitled Mind the Gap - Digital England, a rural perspective - suggests ways in which offering fast broadband services to rural areas can benefit the UK economy.

It finds, for instance, that one third of people working from home live in rural areas. The government is keen to promote home working as a response to road congestion and global warming.

It also highlights how broadband services can be used by older people to improve the quality of the lives and offer access to government and health services.

A decent infrastructure would create more rural entrepreneurs which in turn could aid economic recovery, the report said.

In response to the report Lord Carter, minister for Communications and Technology, reiterated the government's commitment to a minimum broadband speed and a fund for next-generation access.

"Together these two firm commitments will help ensure that Digital Britain does not become a two-tier Britain," he said.

There are around 40 community broadband schemes around the UK, many of them bringing fibre networks to rural areas.

The Community Broadband Network, which co-ordinates a lot of these schemes, has launched an umbrella organisation to co-ordinate them.

The Independent Networks Co-operative Association will act as a unified voice for local projects, promote common standards and set up a Joint Operating Network (JON) to provide technical and operational support for the patchwork of schemes.

Source: BBC news

Solar tiles that offer style

by Candace Lombardi

Solé Power Tile system developed for US Tile by SRS Energy integrates seamlessly with its terra-cotta counterparts.

(Credit: SRS Energy)

Will a better aesthetic tempt more people into going solar? SRS Energy is betting on it.

The company has partnered with US Tile, a leading manufacturer of Spanish, slate, and shake roof tiles, to design solar panels with the exact same shapes as their clay counterparts.

The result is solar tiles that can be seamlessly integrated with the terra-cotta tiles on your roof. Instead of the solar panels being on your roof, your solar panels are the roof. Instead of consumers going solar as aftermarket adaptation, the Philadelphia-based company hopes that solar will become part of the architecture and building of residences and commercial properties.

BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics) have been around for a while, but many of them fail to visually blend in with the existing architecture. SRS Energy is trying to improve that by partnering with roofing companies to replicate existing roof tile designs into thin-film solar panel counterparts.

The Solé Power Tile system was unveiled at American Institute of Architects 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition this past May at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. On June 15, SRS Energy unveiled one of the first commercial buildings to implement the Solé Power Tile system. The Swiss chalet-like building is Zwahlen's Ice Cream & Chocolate Company, a family-run ice cream parlor in Audubon, Penn., owned by SRS Energy's CEO Marty Low.

US Tile's Solé Power Tile system will begin to be installed in homes this November 2009 by contractors that have taken the company's Solé certification class, the first of which will be held this July, according to Abby Nessa Feinstein, director of marketing for SRS Energy.

The company plans to move into other U.S. and European markets in 2010.

The look of the tiles aside, what about solar efficiency? That's where consumers will have to think about what's most important to them. The Solé Power Tile system, which is warranted for 20 years to generate electricity at a rate of 80 percent of capacity, incorporates triple-junction amorphous solar cells produced by Uni-Solar.

Cell efficiency for the tiles is between 8 percent and 10 percent, according to Feinstein.

That puts it slightly below what others in thin-film photovoltaics have been getting. Global Solar, for example, has said its existing flexible CIGS cells convert about 10 percent of sunlight into electricity, and has plans to get to 13 percent to 14 percent soon. It's also obviously far behind the 20 percent efficiency achieved by efficient traditional silicon solar panels.

Feinstein says the SRS Energy system's overall efficiency makes up for the difference in sunlight to electricity conversion figures.

"If a homeowner bought 4kW of crystalline silicon panels and then 4KW of the Solé US Tiles, they will get 10 to 15 percent more output in terms of a KWh (kilowatt hour) on their electricity," said Feinstein.

"You have three layers of semiconductor material and so it is essentially less picky about the light it converts into electricity so whereas crystalline starts and stops converting between 10 (a.m.) and 4 p.m., our tech will wake up earlier and work later. It converts a larger spectrum of light into electricity. It has less sensitivity to heat, most start to degrade in performance as they get hotter. Our tiles get less hot because the modular is curved and with any curved tile you have air beneath keeping them cooler," she said.

SRS Energy's statistics say the average homeowner with Solé Power Tiles can get 860 kilowatt hours per square foot annually living in an area with "5.8 peak sun hours" per day.

Zwahlen's Ice Cream & Chocolate Company sporting Solé Power Tiles.

(Credit: SRS Energy)

Source: Cnet news

Palm Pre Touchstone dock hardwired into BMW 3 Series

by Antuan Goodwin

An enterprising BMW 3 Series owner has taken it upon himself to hard wire a Palm Pre Touchstone charger dock into his vehicle's center console. The Touchstone charging system is a pretty awesome bit of tech. Essentially, this charging base magnetically holds the smartphone in place while it wirelessly charges the battery using an inductive electromagnetic field.

The Pre's Touchstone looks right at home in this 3 Series' interior.

(Credit: iSmashPhone.com/bretov)

The install itself seems pretty straightforward. The power adapter is hardwired into the the vehicle's 12-volt system, then the Touchstone is secured to the center tunnel with the wires hidden from view. Instead of fumbling with chargers and dongles, the owner just hops into the car, places the Pre on the magnetic stone, and drives off.

In a vehicle that supported Bluetooth hands-free and audio streaming, this would be a tremendous jump in convenience. Perhaps in the future, more phone manufacturers will support inductive charging and Bluetooth standards so that automakers will be able to implement solutions like this at the OEM level.

I wonder how the Touchstone's magnetic grip holds up under serious lateral g-forces?

Check out more images and details at iSmashPhone.

Source: Cnet news

What's the carbon footprint of your handwash?

by Martin LaMonica

A heat map gives a reading of how much energy is used in the supply chain and production of ingredients in a company's products.

(Credit: Planet Metrics)

Start-up Planet Metrics is developing software that could give consumers a better read on the embedded energy of everyday products.

The San Francisco-based company on Tuesday released the beta test version of its hosted application, which it calls Rapid Carbon Modeling. It also said Method, which makes eco-friendly home-cleaning products, is a customer.

There are a number of companies writing software for calculating how much energy is linked to a business' operations and managing carbon emissions. Planet Metrics' software is geared at manufacturers and makers of consumer packaged goods.

Using Planet Metrics' software, a person could, for example, see how much energy consumption is associated with procuring the components that make up a cell phone. With that information, a company can then look for ways to cut energy consumption, such as reducing waste or finding another supplier.

The carbon footprint picture is built by combining a company's internal data, such as bills for certain materials, with scientific and academic models for calculating embedded energy, according to Planet Metrics.

Method is using the software in product design and sourcing, co-founder Adam Lowry said in a statement. "By better understanding volatile energy and resource prices, we can make better decisions to lessen the overall footprint (of our products) and save money," he said.

Planet Metrics CEO Andy Leventhal said the company does not yet have hard return-on-investment numbers for its software, but companies with sustainability initiatives, such as Wal-Mart Stores, have found significant savings in reducing fuel use and waste.

Source: Cnet news

Tax to pay for fast net access

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Lord Carter tells the BBC's Sophie Long why his Digital Britain report calls for phone line charges and punishing file sharing piracy.

Every Briton with a fixed-line phone will pay a "small levy" of 50p per month to pay for faster net access.

The national fund created by the levy will be used to ensure most Britons get access to future net technologies.

The proposal is part of the Digital Britain report outlined by Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw in Parliament.

The report also includes a pledge to curb unlawful file sharing by giving regulator Ofcom new powers to identify persistent pirates.

READ THE DIGITAL BRITAIN REPORT Digital Britain report(3MB) Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here

To encourage take-up of broadband services the government has appointed online entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox as a digital champion.

Mr Bradshaw told the Commons that the government intended to upgrade all national radio stations from analogue to digital by 2015.

It promised a "more robust" system of content classification for the video games industry.

The report, commissioned by the government last year and written by communications minister Lord Carter, offers a blueprint for the UK's digital future.

"Digital Britain is a statement of intent and ambition, a commitment to infrastructure and access, and an overdue recognition of the industrial importance of the creative industries," said Lord Carter.

The main points outlined in the report include:

• a three-year plan to boost digital participation

• universal access to broadband by 2012

• fund to invest in next generation broadband

• digital radio upgrade by 2015

• liberalisation of 3G spectrum

• legal and regulatory attack on digital piracy

• support for public service content partnerships

• changed role for Channel 4

• consultation on how to fund local, national and regional news

• £130m of BBC licence fee to pay for ITV regional news

Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw announces legislation to curb unlawful file-sharing

One of the biggest surprises in the report was the promise to introduce a levy on fixed telephone lines in order to pay for fast broadband rollout to those areas of the country - estimated to be around one-third - which won't be reached by commercial efforts.

It will amount to a 50p a month tax for every household in the country with a fixed phone line.

"It is a contribution which we are asking people to make - it's six pounds a year - offset, as we make very clear in the report, by the likely continued reduction in headline prices because of the competitive market we have in this country," said report author Lord Carter.

Antony Walker, chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholders' Group, believes the tax will mean that 90% of the UK will be able to benefit from broadband of up to 50Mbps by 2017.

"It is a top-up subsidy for the last third of the country and must focus on those areas that would otherwise be uneconomic to deliver fast services to," he said.

He thinks it will eliminate the problem of a two-tiered internet where towns and cities benefit from fast speeds while rural areas remain in the slow lane.

But Alex Salter, from broadband measurement firm Sam Knows, doubts the levy will create enough money to bring next-generation access to every home.

"It answers the main question from the last report which was who is going to pay. This is less expensive per capita than similar schemes, for example in Australia, but is unlikely to generate the full budget required - this will still have to come from the providers," he said.

Communications minister Stephen Carter said that some £200m of funding would be spent to extend coverage to the 15% of UK homes which do not receive broadband at 2Mbps.

The government has pledged to complete this by 2012.

The majority of the money will come from funding ring-fenced in the BBC licence fee for the digital switchover.

Some of this money will also be used to support regional news on commercial channels.

Sir Michael Lyons, BBC Trust chairman said it would fight any changes to the licence fee.

BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons rejects sharing income

Backstop powers

To combat the growing problem of illegal file-sharing the government has given greater powers to Ofcom and internet service providers.

It will allow them to identify illegal downloaders and pursue a "write and sue" approach for the worst offenders.

But the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the UK's record labels, was not impressed.

"The government appears to be anticipating its failure by lining up backstop powers for Ofcom to introduce technical measures later," said the BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor.

The shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said the document was a "colossal disappointment."

World class?

Gordon Brown on the impact of the Digital Britain report

Prime minister Gordon Brown said that the report would pave the way to making Britain's digital infrastructure world class.

"Britain is going to lead the world. This is us taking the next step into the future to being the digital capital of the world. It is making sure no family or business misses out," he said.

Currently Britain stands at about seventh in global broadband league tables, below nations such as Korea, Japan, Sweden and Norway.

The digital and communications industry in the UK is said to be worth around £52bn a year. Lord Carter estimated that some 22 million Britons rely on the industry for their daily work.

Digital Britain was launched in October 2008 to establish a framework for the UK's digital economy. There then followed eight months of lobbying and consultation with an interim report published in January.

Lord Carter is due to quit his post during the summer recess.

The report was a joint effort between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Source: BBC news

Ghostbusters 'not region locked'

The Ghostbusters franchise started with the movie 25 years ago

There are reports that the North American edition of the Ghostbusters video game for the Xbox 360 will be region free.

The game, which goes on sale on 19 June, will be available in Europe only on PlayStation.

But it is thought gamers could get round this exclusivity by buying the US 360 versions online, through so-called "grey imports".

The Xbox 360 European release is scheduled "later in the year".

Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox 360 have been battling for a larger stake in the console market.

Both firms have tried to tie down exclusive game deals to give their hardware a marketing edge.

But the number of exclusive titles has fallen in recent years and the ability to buy a rival format online has further eroded the two companies' ability to lock down exclusives.

Sony Europe declined to comment, but a spokesman said it "wasn't the first time a 360 title had been released region free".

Cross the streams

PlayStation 3, PSP and Nintendo DS titles are usually region free, meaning they can be played on any console in the world. The exception to this is the Nintendo Wii; titles can be played only on a console from the same region.

Retailers are worried that the ability to buy a format online - but not in the shops - could damage sales.

The associate editor of games industry journal MCV, Tim Ingham, told the BBC retailers would be banking on consumers waiting for the European 360 release.

"They will be hoping these gamers wont be savvy - or bothered - to order from the US," he said.

"In a way they are lucky, because the Ghostbusters franchise will appeal to more casual gamers, rather than the hardcore.

"Had this been a Final Fantasy or Halo game then people would have been online ordering it in spades."

It is thought some retailers might buy stock from the United States and then sell direct to European customers in what is known as "grey importing".

Although legal, the practice is discouraged by European publishers as it means they are excluded from the buying process.

"It's unlikely firms will resort to grey importing as it would damage their relationship with publishers," said Mr Ingham.

Source: BBC news

DTV transition is nearly here. Are you ready?

by Marguerite Reardon

In less than 24 hours all full-power broadcast TV stations in the U.S. will flip a switch to stop broadcasting their analog TV signals and will only broadcast TV signals in digital. And for millions who are unprepared, it could mean lights out on their favorite TV shows.

I know what you're thinking. "We've heard this before." In fact, you've probably been hearing about the transition to digital television for the last decade. You likely started seeing public service commercials last year encouraging you to buy a digital converter box to turn your old analog TV into one that could receive digital signals.

In early February another supposed deadline loomed. And then it didn't happen. Congress, fearing that too many people weren't prepared, postponed the switch, and more than 6 million procrastinators were saved.

But now the new deadline of June 12 is upon us once again. And this time it's for real. President Obama himself issued a statement last week:

"We have worked hand in hand with state and local officials, broadcasters and community groups to educate and assist millions of Americans with the transition...I want to be clear: there will not be another delay."

So here we are, less than a day away from the final transition. And despite months of public service announcements and more than $2 billion spent by the U.S. government to help people prepare, millions will still face a blank screen when they hit that little power button on their TV remotes starting Friday at 12:01 a.m.

The good news is that delaying the switch from February to June has given the Federal Communications Commission some time to ramp up efforts to get the public prepared. The agency has enlisted the help of dozens of groups including volunteers from AmeriCorps, civil rights groups, and even firefighters to help people purchase and install their converter boxes and antennas.

Congress also kicked in additional cash, about $650 million on top of the $1.5 billion that had already been allocated for DTV readiness. The bulk of the $650 million was given to the Commerce Department to fund its voucher program. And Congress authorized $90 million of the $650 million to be used by the FCC for outreach programs. So far, the FCC has received $65.7 million of that money, and the Commerce Department has authorized another $9.65 million to help pay for call centers that are in place to address consumers' questions and concerns.

The Commerce Department has been issuing $40 vouchers to help people pay for the new equipment necessary to turn their older analog TVs into ones that can receive digital TV signals. But just before the February deadline, money for the program ran dry and more than 2.5 million people were left on a waiting list for vouchers.

In its most recent report to the FCC, representatives from the Commerce Department said that the program is in good shape, and there is enough money in the program to provide vouchers to all households that still need them until the final deadline of July 31.

It looks as though these last ditch efforts to prepare Americans for the DTV switch have made a big difference. The number of households that are unprepared for the June 12 transition has been cut in half from what it was in February, according to the Nielsen Co., which has been tracking the number of households prepared for the transition

But even though most people are prepared, millions will still not have access to TV on June 12. In its final update before the June 12 deadline, Nielsen reported that 2.8 million American households, or 2.5 percent of the television market, are completely unready for the transition. As of the end of May, another 9 million homes that subscribe to cable or satellite services but that have spare television sets, in bedrooms or kitchens and that are not connected to a paid TV service, are expected to lose reception.

Vulnerable markets
The FCC has targeted 49 markets that it considers particularly vulnerable. These markets include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, Boston, and Dallas-Fort Worth. Aside from inner cities where many low-income people live, people living in rural areas, particularly in the West where fewer subscribe to cable and satellite services, are the least prepared for the transition, according to Nielsen's latest report.

Acting Federal Communications Chairman Michael Copps has said that he is pleased and impressed by the cross-agency and volunteer group collaboration and cooperation over the past few months.

"In January I feared where we were headed with this transition," he said during a recent public meeting. "But it has turned into an inspiring and enjoyable experience to see how these different agencies can work together. "

He also acknowledged that many people will still face problems during the transition.

"Even though we are better prepared this time," he said. "There will still be disruptions for some consumers. And candor compels us to inform viewers of these issues."

Not only are some households completely unprepared, but officials also say that millions of people who have already bought converter boxes and/or antennas will still experience problems, such as poor reception. These problems may occur from improperly installed antennas or people using the wrong kind of antenna for their region. But it may also be due to the fact that digital signals travel differently through the air than analog signals. So some TV viewers who may have been able to tune in analog channels may not be able to receive digital channels.

Because many TV broadcasters have already been transmitting some or all of their channels already in digital, some viewers who made the switch early and are watching digital TV should rescan their boxes. And they may need to readjust their antennas to get signals after June 12. The reason for this is because some stations will have to move some digital channels when spectrum is vacated. And some broadcasters may also be broadcasting the signals at different power levels to avoid interference.

To help answer questions and deal with confused and frustrated TV viewers before and after the transition, the FCC has staffed nearly 4,000 call centers at a cost of more than $40 million. The voucher program, which provides up to two $40 coupons per household to help defray the cost of digital converter boxes, will also be extended to July 31.

The switch to broadcasting in digital instead of in analog was mandated to free up wireless spectrum so that it could be used for other purposes. Digital signals use up far less spectrum than analog signals. The FCC has already auctioned off the spare spectrum in its 700MHz auction, which raised $19.6 billion for the government.

This auction generated more revenue for the government than any other wireless auction the FCC has ever held. Not a bad tradeoff considering that the government spent a total of about $2 billion to help get people ready for the transition. The Bush administration spent about $1.5 billion on DTV transition preparation, and Congress allocated another $650 million when it delayed the transition in February.

The move to digital TV has also proved to be a big boon for retailers, TV makers, and other consumer electronics makers. Millions of consumers have bought digital TVs, converter boxes, and antennas to prepare for the switch. The Consumer Electronics Association says that TV sales are up about 32 percent in 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, and this is despite the fact that the U.S. is in a recession. But some experts attribute the uptick in new digital TV sales to lower prices and more digital programming.

Even though buying a new TV, an antenna, or a digital converter box for an older TV is a hassle and an expense, consumers also benefit from the transition to digital TV. These signals provide better picture quality. And because digital consumes less wireless spectrum when it transmits, broadcasters can offer viewers several more channels of programming. Many stations throughout the country that have already been broadcasting some or all of their signals in digital have already added channels.

The FCC has also been emphasizing to consumers that if they're already subscribed to a paid TV service, they will not have to worry about the transition at all. The DTV transition applies only to full-power broadcast television stations. These are stations that use the public airwaves to transmit their programming to viewers through a broadcast antenna. That said, satellite customers who receive local stations through an antenna, rather than by satellite, may be affected. The FCC recommends checking with the provider.

"Analog nightlight" services
So in short, the vast majority of Americans are already prepared for the digital TV transition. But for the small percentage of people who are still unready, all hope is not lost.

About a hundred TV stations around the country serving nearly 70 percent of all households are providing "analog nightlight" services. The "nightlight" program is a voluntary program in which TV stations agree to keep an analog signal turned on in addition to their digital signals to provide information about the DTV transition and to notify unprepared TV viewers of emergencies, such as hurricanes. More than half the stations broadcasting the "analog nightlight" service will remain on air for 30 days. And the rest will be on for at least two weeks. In total, these stations will reach 69 percent of TV households.

And only high-power broadcasters are required to switch to digital, a few low-power analog stations and rural relay stations known as "translators" will still be available in some areas.

The FCC and the Commerce Department also won't leave DTV laggards in the lurch after the June 12 deadline. Converter box coupons will still be available, while supplies last, until July 31. But consumers must keep in mind that the coupons expire 90 days after they are mailed, so they are urged to act quickly to redeem them. The FCC also recommends calling retailers ahead to confirm availability of coupon-eligible converter boxes on the day people go shopping.

And if you're still confused and frustrated and you don' t know what to do, the FCC is also planning to provide assistance to TV viewers after June 12. In some areas the FCC will continue to offer free in-home installation services and walk-in centers to consumers who need technical assistance. These programs will be available until the end of June, and in some locations, through July. And the FCC will keep its call center available to consumers at least through the end of July for anyone who has questions.

Source: Cnet news

Intel 'Braidwood' chip targets snappier software

by Brooke Crothers

Intel appears ready to take another crack at flash memory-based acceleration--this time offering it with future chipsets.

Intel Braidwood technology is based on a flash memory module.

(Credit: Intel)

"Braidwood is a flash memory technology that provides faster boot-up time, faster application launch, and a snappier, more responsive system," said Rob Crooke, vice president and general manager of Intel's Business Client Group, speaking during a presentation streamed over the Web from the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan, earlier this week.

Braidwood will be offered with the future "5 Series" chipset family--which is Intel's first single-chip chipset--and the future "Clarkdale" processor (see discussion below).

The chip accelerates I/O (input/output) accesses by saving that data to flash memory, according to Crooke. In a demonstration at Computex, Crooke showed Braidwood "caching the I/O...And then, when it launches that application again, it happens very quickly," he said.

Intel's first stab at technology analogous to Braidwood came in 2006. That product was code-named Robson and eventually branded as Turbo Memory. But it only received lukewarm reviews and was never adopted widely.

"Clarkdale," a Nehalem-based processor, will be offered with Braidwood, according to Intel documentation released at Computex. Clarkdale will integrate graphics silicon into the same package as the main processor. It is on track to begin production in the fourth quarter of this year--with systems available in 2010--and is built on Intel's second-generation 32-nanometer process technology. Clarkdale will be offered with the Intel 5 Series chipset.

On another front, Crooke also talked about the mainstreaming of Intel's Nehalem Core i7 desktop chips, which are currently limited to high-end enthusiast systems. Due later this year, the "Lynnfield" processor is a new four-core, eight-thread processor that will be paired with the P55 Express chipset. Threads essentially double the number of tasks a processor can perform.

Users can expect 40 percent better performance on widely used SPECint benchmarks with the Lynnfield-based platform, compared with last year's mainstream Core Q9650 processor-based technology, Crooke said.

Source: CNET news

US cuts off 'criminal' net firm

The FTC said the ISP helped funnel spam on to the internet

An American ISP allegedly involved in distributing spam and images of child abuse has been thrown off the net.

The US Federal Trade Commission asked for Pricewert LLC's net links to be severed after it had gathered evidence of the firm's 'criminal' connections.

The FTC alleges that Pricewert had created one of the "leading US-based havens for illegal, malicious, and harmful content".

Pricewert denied the allegations and said it would fight them in court.

Legal fight

In an official complaint filed in a San Jose Federal court, the FTC described Pricewert as a "rogue" or "black hat" ISP that acted as a hosting centre for many hi-tech criminals.

The FTC alleges that Pricewert was paid to host "child pornography, botnet command and control servers, spyware, viruses, trojans, phishing-related sites, illegal online pharmacies, investment and other web-based scams".

The evidence against Pricewert was gathered with the help of Nasa's computer crime division, Symantec, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as groups such as Spamhaus and the Shadowserver Foundation.

In its statement accompanying its filing, the FTC said its complaint was "not a finding or ruling that the defendant has actually violated the law". That, it said, would be decided by a court. A preliminary hearing will be heard on 15 June.

So far, the FTC has not been able to identify who was behind Pricewert. Although its servers are based in the US, it is registered as a business in Belize and many of its employees are thought to be located in Eastern Europe.

Talking to technology news site Network World, a spokesman for Pricewert said the action was "unfair" and it would take legal action to defend itself.

Source: BBC news

Fight is on for better broadband

By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter, BBC News

Would you live in a house without broadband?

While some have welcomed the government's pledge to provide a minimum broadband speed of 2Mbps to every home in the UK by 2012 others think it will be an extremely challenging task, and insufficient to meet future needs.

The government has defended itself saying that the 2Mbps speed is just a baseline and will form just one strand of its broadband strategy going forward.

It has its work cut out to get the UK up to speed. Ofcom estimates that some 15% of UK homes currently cannot get broadband speeds above 2Mbps while 1% are unable to get any form of broadband.

Broadband is currently defined by international bodies such as the OECD as anything above speeds of 512 kilobits (half a meg) but the UK government acknowledges believes that should now be 2Mbps.

Notspots are by no means confined to rural areas. Areas such as Leicester Forest East and Kirby Muxloe, suburbs of Leicester suffer slow speeds because their telephone lines have to go around the M1. The further away homes are from the telephone exchange the slower the speed will be.

There are properties near London City Airport known for slow broadband because of the distance the cable has to go around the Albert Dock.

Uploading art

Ewhurst residents struggle to get a decent broadband connection

Ewhurst in Surrey is typical of many villages in the UK. Lying just a few miles outside of Guildford, it is prime commuter belt and not the type of area one would imagine to be struggling with broadband speeds.

But of the 1,000 properties in the village only a handful can get speeds above 2Mbps.

Outlying properties, including two private schools, cannot get any form of fixed line broadband. This is despite lying close to a 100Mb fibre pipe.

Watercolourist Alexander Creswell works from home and relies on a decent broadband connection.

"I'm a self employed artist and I upload and download a lot of art but I am at the very end of Ewhurst where the greatest problems lie and the service is just not reliable," he said.

"We are here in the Home Counties, just 26 miles from Hyde Park Corner as the crow flies, and yet people get better broadband in Scotland and Cornwall." he said.

His three children attend the Duke of Kent school down the road.

"That doesn't have any broadband at all. How on earth a school can offer 21st century education on dial-up I don't know," he said.

Neighbour Bill Bruford is better known for making a noise in the world of music. But the world-renowned drummer with bands such as Yes and King Crimson, is ready to start shouting about broadband.

As a self-employed musician, he is less than impressed with the speed of his service - about a third of a meg on a good day.

"It is terrible. Absolute torture. What can you do in life with a third of a meg?" he asked.

He is unimpressed with the current definition of broadband, believing that half a meg would offer little improvement to people like him who rely on web access for work.

"I could probably just about live with two megabits. I am trying to earn a living via the computer, in contact with customers, running a couple of bands, sending music around, and I'm competing with others with much faster services," he said.

Down the road neighbour Jean Crouch is still struggling on a dial-up connection.

"The main factor is that it is totally frustrating. You have to have an awful lot of patience and resign yourself to the fact that you may be sitting there for an hour just to find something out," she said.

"Ten years ago it didn't seem to matter but now I can't even send e-mail because I can't get the photos through. I might occasionally complete a transaction online but often I end up using the phone," she said.

Semi-retired communications engineer Walter Willcox has been lobbying on behalf of Ewhurst residents to improve coverage in the area. So far he has 122 people signed up to his campaign to find better broadband for the village.

Mr Willcox himself lives a few miles down the road and enjoys a 9Mbps connection, courtesy of Virgin Media.

As well as being just out of reach of Virgin Media's fat pipes, Ewhurst is also neighbours with the Mullard Space Laboratory, which is served by a high capacity fibre cable offering speeds of 100Mbp.

Dr Paul Lamb, head of the computing group at the lab has plenty of sympathy for the residents but can't offer a lot of practical help

"We do want to be good neighbours but we just don't have the resources to provide this to the public. We are also bound by the academic network JANET and offering it to third parties would break our licensing agreement," he said.

Next stage

What will deliver next-generation broadband?

The proximity of prime fibre is not just restricted to Ewhurst. Fibre is likely to be just around the corner from a lot of people who are struggling with their own broadband connections, said Andrew Ferguson, editor of ThinkBroadband.

"In reality most of us are just a mile or two from some fibre, the problem is who owns it and how much they will charge aside from the issues of tapping into it," he said.

It is unlikely that fibre will be the solution for the majority of villages and even towns due to the expense of laying it.

Virgin Media covers 50% of the UK and is being upgraded to support speeds of up to 50Mbps. The firm has also recently announced that it will be adding half a million homes to its existing network, with 50,000 coming online this year.

BT is moving ahead with its fibre plans, offering so-called fibre to the cabinet technology to around 40% of homes by 2012.

Economically viable

Mr Willcox has been waging his own battle with Openreach, the BT spinoff that will provide the fibre technology to street cabinets.

He first wrote to OpenReach in April 2007, asking for an upgrade to the telephone cables which serve Ewhurst villagers. Openreach told him that it could not do the work because it would cost "in excess of £85,000".

In January of this year, Mr Willcox offered that residents could contribute to the costs of upgrade but so far BT has not given him a quote for so-called fibre to the cabinet technology.

"Openreach will only talk to providers and not local communities," said Mr Willcox.

Openreach's managing director of policy Amy Chalfen told the BBC it was more than willing to talk to community groups.

"We regularly engage with local councils and parish groups. We recognise that we play a big part in people's communities," she said.

It has been estimated that if BT spent £5.5bn it could bring the whole UK up to at least 2Mb speed using its fibre to the cabinet technology.

Ms Chalfen said the solution for communities such as Ewhurst should not fall solely on BT's shoulders.

"We expect to play our part alongside everyone else to fulfill the 2Mb universal service obligation but we are not the only solution. There are mobile options and Virgin could extend its network," she said.

In the end whether villages such as Ewhurst will get faster speeds will be down to economics.

"Even with public funding there will be some places where it just isn't economically viable," said Ms Chalfen.

Sticking plaster

It is unclear whether Lord Carter will make any funding available for broadband upgrades but he is likely to suggest a combination of technologies, including mobile broadband and satellite to fill the gaps.

Not everyone is convinced they are the real solution.

"There is a real danger that the 2Mb Universal Service Obligation will simply act as a sticking plaster, and need replacing every few years," said Andrew Ferguson, editor of broadband website ThinkBroadband.

"Surely it would be much better to adopt a programme of work that had a clear path towards a true next generation solution which pretty much all accept will be fibre to the premises," he added.

Ian Fogg, analyst with Forrester, agreed.

"I don't think that 2 megabits will be a long-lasting benchmark for broadband. It won't be future-proofed and we will need to change it again in five year's time," said Ian Fogg, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

Whatever technology and speed is adopted in the UK there will be homes left behind and people will start voting with their feet he thinks.

"Living in the countryside has its upsides but it also has it downsides such as the nearest hospital or post office being a long way away. And homes there may have very poor broadband speed," said Ian Fogg, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

"We will start taking this into account when we decide to move house," he said.

For those determined not to miss out on the next generation of broadband the only option will be to upgrade not their network but their house.

Source: BBC news

Microsoft promises 'search 2.0'

By Darren Waters Technology editor, BBC News website

Microsoft Live Search is changing

Microsoft is re-launching its search engine, promising to make search simpler, and aiming to overhaul Yahoo.

Re-named and re-branded Bing.com, the search engine will go live first in the US and launch in beta elsewhere.

Google has more than 64% of the search market in the US, followed by Yahoo at 20% and Microsoft at 8.2%.

Bing offers to make search more relevant by understanding the intention of searches, and grouping more related information to the original query.

For example, searches for a product will also bring links to reviews, accessories, and online shops, as well as information about the item.

Searches for flight information will pull schedules and times from websites, as well as linking to hotels and weather.

Microsoft wants to reduce the amount of clicking a user has to do to find specific and related information.

Paul Stoddart, Microsoft UK search lead, "Forty percent of search queries go unanswered. There is something missing here and a big consumer need."

Google haven't been able to innovate a lot of the UI Paul Stoddart, Microsoft

He added: "We can see it in the logs [of searches]. When searching using existing search engines I have to keep re-querying things - adding more words, clicking on a site, going back because it is not the right site, and ultimately abandoning their queries."

He added: "We are pulling information that we know people use every day."

He said Microsoft was hoping to build an "emotional connection" between users and its search engines, as well as brand loyalty.

Bing has a much softer, less clinical feel than previous Microsoft search engines and rivals, with a daily changing backdrop image.

"Google haven't been able to innovate a lot of the UI (user interface) because they have to display their ads as that's how they make their revenue. We can try things a bit differently," said Mr Stoddart.

Users are also able to save their searches to avoid having to remember on which site they found a particular piece of information.

Microsoft is forming partnership with a host of different online services which Bing can then trawl to aggregate specific information around searches - such as flight deals, reviews and holidays.

Mr Stoddart said the UK version of Bing was launching later than the US because Microsoft was busy finding the "best of breed" in web services specific to the UK that it could add into search engine results.

"People keep building global search engines but doing something for the UK is important," he said.

He denied that Microsoft's goal of overtaking Yahoo lacked ambition.

"Second place would be a great place. And once we're in second place we will go for first place.

"Microsoft has a great tradition of coming from behind."

Source: BBC news

UK 'worst electrical recycler'

Old TVs and computers often get dumped at the side of the road

A study on recycling suggests Britons are the worst in Europe when it comes to recycling electrical equipment.

Computer manufacturer Dell found that fewer than half of UK residents regularly recycled old hardware, compared with more than 80% of Germans.

Within the UK, the Welsh are the worst when it comes to recycling technology; almost 20% have never done so.

It is thought the UK creates enough electrical waste each year to fill Wembley Stadium six times over.

Environmental consultant Tony Juniper said that lack of awareness was a serious issue.

PERCENTAGE WHO DO NOT RECYCLE E-WASTE Wales: 19% North-West England 17% North-East England 15% East Midlands 15% London 13% Scotland 13% East of England 11% South-West England 11% West Midlands 10% South-East England 9% Northern Ireland 7% Source: Dell

"Governments in every country need to make the disposal of old electrical equipment as accessible and commonplace as recycling old paper, plastics and glass," said the former Friends of the Earth director.

In early May, mobile operator 02 looked at what electrical equipment was inside a typical home. It found that there was an average of 2.4 TVs, 1.6 computers, 2.4 games consoles, 3 mobile phones, and 2.2 MP3 players.

Historic legislation

Introduced by the European Commission in 2002, although not coming into force in the UK until January 2007, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) was European legislation designed to "reduce the amount of electrical and electronic equipment being produced and to encourage everyone to reuse, recycle and recover it".

Jean Cox-Kearns, recycling manager with Dell, told the BBC that one of the reasons Britain lagged was because other countries had implemented the WEEE directive two years before.

"The UK had historic legislation that they had difficulty in implementing," she said.

There are concerns that many items that are disposed of - especially computer equipment - still work but have been rendered obsolete by new technology. A number of charities actively collect IT equipment so it can be used in the developing world.

Ms Cox-Kearns acknowledged that was preferable to recycling, although she did have reservations.

"I agree we should maximise the use of computer equipment. However, we need to find out what happens to the equipment after they [the recipients] are finished with them, otherwise it is effectively dumping."

Source: BBC news