Science & Technology World

EVERY two weeks, the sun pours more energy onto the surface of our
planet than we use from all sources in an entire year. It is an
inexhaustible powerhouse that has remained largely untapped for
human energy needs. That may soon change in a big way. If a
consortium of German companies has its way, construction of the
biggest solar project ever devised could soon begin in the Sahara
desert. When completed, it would harvest energy from the sun shining
over Africa and transform it into clean, green electricity for
delivery to European homes and businesses. Prospects for the project,
called Desertec, have blossomed over the past year, and this month
20 major German corporations are expected to announce the formation
of a consortium that will provide the €400 billion needed to build a
raft of solar thermal power plants in north Africa. They include
energy utilities giants E.ON and RWE, the engineering firm Siemens,
the finance house Deutsche Bank and the insurance company Munich Re.
The current plan, outlined by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in a
report to the federal government, envisages that the project will
meet 15 per cent of Europe's electricity needs by 2050 , with a peak
output of 100 gigawatts - roughly equivalent to 100 coal-fired power
stations. Preliminary designs in the German report show electricity
reaching Europe via 20 high-voltage direct-current power lines,
which will keep transmission losses below 10 cent ( New Scientist ,
14 March, p 42). Trans- Mediterranean links will cross from Morocco
to Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar; from Algeria to France via
the Balearic islands; from Tunisia to Italy; from Libya to Greece;
and from Egypt to Turkey via Cyprus. It is claimed that the project
could meet 15 cent of Europe's electricity needs by 2050 Desertec
would take its place in a wider European supergrid that conveys power
generated from wind turbines in the North Sea, hydroelectric dams in
Scandinavia, hot rocks in Iceland and biofuels in eastern Europe.
Adding solar thermal capacity would help ensure a steady supply of
green electricity. But is this really the best use of such a colossal
amount of money? Critics are lining up to point out the project's
shortcomings. They say it could make Europe's energy supply a hostage
to politically unstable countries; that Europe should not be
exploiting Africa in this way; that it is a poor investment compared
to covering Europe's roofs with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels; and
that, while deserts have plenty of sun, they lack another less obvious
but equally indispensable resource for a solar thermal power plant -
water. Is Desertec really the model of future power generation, as
its promoters would have us believe, or is it politically
misconceived and a monumental waste of money?

Amazon.com is apparently shelving its planned effort to sell wine
online. A little more than a year after word of the effort trickled
out , a senior Amazon account manager told wineries in an e-mail that
the company has decided "not to resume shipping." "As you know, we
were excited to work with you to build the AmazonWine business," Dini
Rao said in an e-mail first reported by WineBusiness. com . "For
that reason, this was a very tough choice for us. Many of you took
the time and leap of faith to really support us." Amazon
representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Word of the effort leaked out in September 2008 when a nonprofit
vintner group announced it had partnered with Amazon to drum up
interest from its members to sell wine through the retail giant.
However, its fulfillment partner New Vine Logistics briefly suspended
operations this summer before securing additional financing from
Inertia Beverage Group. Since the Supreme Court ruled in May 2005
that states must grant the same shipping rights to out-of-state and
in-state wineries, winery-to- consumer shipping has become legal in
35 states , according to wine advocacy group Free the Grapes. But
state laws governing direct wine shipping vary greatly, creating an
onerous task in managing compliance. Amazon had dabbled in the wine
business before, investing $30 million for a 45 percent share in
Wineshopper.com in 1999 , a start-up that was acquired by Wine.com in
2000 before going through a series of layoffs. Wine.com has a
storefront on Amazon, through which it sells gourmet food baskets
but not wine.

Netflix online streaming is coming to the PlayStation 3 . A Netflix
press release spelled out the details of deal. The good news is that
the streaming feature--which enables Netflix subscribers to access
thousands of movies and TV shows on- demand via the Internet--is
available at no extra charge beyond the monthly Netflix DVD- by-mail
subscription, which can be as low as $9 a month. (By contrast, Xbox
360 owners also need to subscribe to Xbox Live, which is an extra
$50 per year.) The bad news: PS3 owners will need to put a special
Blu-ray disc in the game console, which will enable streaming via the
Blu-ray's BD Live functionality. That's a departure from all other
Netflix-enabled devices (including the Xbox 360 and other Blu-ray
players), which just have the Netflix option as a built-in feature.
In our experience, tends to be slow and clunky, though it's
generally better on the PS3 than on other Blu-ray players. However,
the press release specifies that the disc will be needed "initially,"
so perhaps a future software upgrade will add Netflix as a built-in
feature on the PS3. Still, the Netflix feature of the 360 has long
been envied by PS3 owners, so its inclusion-- even with the need to
be launched from a disc-- will be welcome news. The Netflix site says
that the feature will be available before the end of the year, and
Netflix subscribers who own a PS3 can reserve a copy of the Netflix
disc as of now. So, what do you guys think: does the addition of
Netflix put the PS3 at the top of the game console heap, or is the
Xbox 360 an all-around better deal? Share your thoughts below.

Acer on Thursday announced a notebook with 3-D viewing technology
aimed at gamers and entertainment buffs. The Aspire 5783 DG has a
15.6- inch backlit Acer CineCrystal HD display integrated with a
TriDef 3- D screen. It comes with 3- D software and glasses. CLOSE X
Loading Image... The Acer AS5738 DG 3- D laptop (click image to
enlarge) It also has an integrated multi-in-one media reader and an
HDMI port. The 5783 DG's Tech Specs At the heart of the notebook is
an Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Core Duo T6600 processor with 2 MB of
L2 cache. The notebook also has a Mobile Intel PM45 Express chipset
and 4 GB of DDR2 1 ,066 MHz memory. For graphics, it incorporates
the ATI (Nasdaq: ATYT) Mobility Radeon HD 4570. This has 512 MB
of dedicated DDR3 VRAM and up to1 ,792 MB of shared system memory.
Storage consists of a 320 GB 5 ,400 RPM SATA hard drive. The Aspire
583 DG also has an 8 x DVD-Super multi double-layer drive and four
USB 2.0 ports. For sound, the notebook has Dolby Home Theater Audio
Enhancement and built-in stereo speakers. It provides 5.1- chanel
surround output. The Aspire 5783 DG has integrated 802.11 a/b/g/ n
wireless support and Gigabit Ethernet. It incorporates a built-in
Acer Crystal Eye webcam that can capture still photos and video. The
notebook has a multi-gesture touchpad. The notebook comes with 64- bit
Windows 7 Home Premium preinstalled. It has a six-cell lithium ion
battery and weighs 6.16 pounds. It measures 15.1 by 9.9 by 1.03
inches and uses Acer's Gemstone design. Three-dimensional
capabilities are provided by the TriDef 3- D solution, which consists
of the 3- D screen, software and special glasses. The TriDef Media
Player lets users play back videos and photos in 3- D, and the TriDef
Ignition tool enables 2- D to 3- D conversion for games and
applications supporting Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) DirectX9 and
above. The TriDef Media Player includes 2- D to 3- D conversion
technologies that let users watch standard definition 2- D DVDs in
3- D at run time, according to DDD , the developers of the Tri-Def
technology. DirectX is a collection of application programming
interfaces for handling multimedia tasks, especially game programming
and video, on Microsoft platforms. The first product in the Aspire
5738 DG line, the AS5738 DG-6165 , will be available at retailers in
the United States this week. Pricing starts at US$ 779.99. TriDef and
3- D Technology DDD, a 3 D software and content creator, first
publicly displayed its TriDef technology in 2006 at the Adult
Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. The company's patented technologies
enable features like 3- D viewing without glasses, the integration
of computer graphics applications with 3 D displays; 2- D to 3- D
conversion; and 3- D transmission over existing networks. Several
electronics manufacturers use TriDef in their products. Sanyo
demonstrated LCD screens with TriDef at the 2004 CEBIT sow
Targeting the Gamers The Aspire 5738 DG notebook is aimed at gamers as
well as business users. "This holiday season, we are seeing 3- D
content become more prevalent in popular films and games," said Ray
Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America. "The
new Acer Aspire 5738 DG notebook enables consumers to enjoy exciting
new 3- D entertainment on a mobile PC that can also replicate a 3- D
experience from standard 2- D content." Targeting both markets might
work, Laura DiDio, principal at ITIC , told TechNewsWorld. "I can
see the appeal to business users," she said. " We've all been stuck on
public transport or sitting in planes, or stuck at airports doing our
work, but sometimes we just need junk food for the mind, and that's
where the games capability comes in." At this point, the Aspire 5738
DG is not a threat to video game console makers, she said. "It'll
sell in parallel with video game consoles," DiDio explained. "But in
18 months or so, when quad- or six-core processors become more
standard in notebooks and we see more filter down to ATI and Nvidia
graphics cards, these notebooks might pose a threat." With
competition so keen in the computer market, manufacturers are
grasping at anything they can to make their products stand out. "
Hardware vendors are really stepping up the game," DiDio said. Dell
(Nasdaq: DELL) , for example, lets users overclock its latest gaming
notebook, and it's letting customers choose not only the colors for
their computers but also logos, such as those of their favorite
baseball teams. "The competition is fierce at every price point, and
it's going to remain that way," DiDio said. 3- D or Not 3- D? Whether
or not 3- D technology will help Acer's products stand out remains to
be seen. Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp unveiled its Actius
RD3 D in 2004. That computer weighed 12 pounds and cost about $3
,000. Sharp's 3 D computer has not been heard of since, according to
DiDio. "It sank without a trace," she said. Its fate may be a warning
for Acer. 3- D is really a gimmick right now, Carl Howe, director of
anywhere research at the Yankee Group , told TechNewsWorld. "While a
3- D display sounds cool, 3- D is irrelevant for most office work,"
Howe pointed out.

hey think it's pointless, narcissistic. Some don't Even so, more young
adults and teens -- normally at the cutting edge of technology --
are finally coming around to Twitter , using it for class or work,
monitoring the minutiae of It's not always love at first tweet,
though. Many of them are doing it grudgingly, perhaps because a
friend pressures them or a teacher or boss makes them try the 140-
character "I still find no point to using it. I'm the type of person
who likes to talk to someone," says Austyn Gabig, a sophomore at the
University of California, San Diego, who only joined Twitter this
month because she heard Ellen DeGeneres was going to use tweets as a
way to win tickets DeGeneres set off a frenzy on the UCSD campus
when she promised the tickets to those who, minutes of the tweet,
e-mailed her cellphone photos of themselves wearing a red towel and
standing with someone in a uniform. Gabig got the tweet, found a towel
-- and won Twitter Denial, Then Acceptance She might think she won't
tweet again, but social networking expert David Silver predicts
she'll change her mind. "Every semester, Twitter is the one technology
that students are most resistant to," says Silver, a media studies
professor at the University of San Francisco, where he regularly
teaches a class on how to use various Internet applications. "But
it's also the one they end up using the most." It is a rare instance,
he and others say, of young people adopting an Internet application
after many of their older counterparts have already done so. Their
slowness to warm to Twitter comes in part from a fondness for the ease
and directness of text messaging and other social networking
services that most of their friends already use. Many also are under
the false impression that their Twitter pages have to be public,
which is unappealing to a generation that's had privacy drilled into
them.

lthough no one waits in long lines for a new edition of Windows
anymore, the debut of (Nasdaq: MSFT) latest software that runs
PCs is part of why buying a computer is starting to feel fun for the
first time in years. is expected to work better than its predecessor,
Vista. At the same time, Microsoft's has gotten savvier, and PC
makers (Nasdaq: AAPL) lead by improving hardware design. Computers
with the Windows operating system suddenly seem a lot "If you line up
the six or seven most interesting PC designs, people will say, 'Wow.
I didn't know all of that could be done with a PC,'" Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer said in an interview. Liking It, Not Just Tolerating It
Windows 7 , which became available Thursday, is designed to look
cleaner than Vista, streamlining the ways people can get to work, with
fewer clicks and fewer annoying notifications. Setting up home
networking to share photos and music won't require an advanced
degree in information technology. Plugging in a new device won't set
off a mad hunt online for driver software, which tells the equipment
how to work with an operating system. Making a version of Windows
that people like, rather than tolerate, is critical for Microsoft.
Most people don't choose Windows as much as they end up with it,
because it's familiar and affordable. However, it's conceivable
Microsoft will have to work harder to win people over, thanks to a
small but growing threat from Apple's Macs and a forthcoming PC
operating system from Web search nemesis Google ( Nasdaq: GOOG) .
Vista fell flat because it didn't work with many existing programs
and hardware. Microsoft fixed many of Vista's flaws but didn't spread
the word, instead allowing Apple to attack with ads that pit a dorky
office stiff (PC) against a casual creative type (Mac) and paint Vista
PCs as unjustifiably complex.

$999 is as low as Apple will go. (Credit: Apple) By not coughing up a
low-cost MacBook, as some had expected , Apple has ceded a
potentially huge market to PC makers. But is this just all part of
Apple's marketing genius? during the third quarter, putting it right
behind Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Acer. Comparatively, overall PC
shipments in the U.S. grew by 3.5 percent from a year earlier. But
among those unimpressive overall PC numbers (HP's third-quarter
shipments grew only 2.7 percent), was an impressive statistic for
Acer: buoyed by Netbooks, Acer's shipments grew by 61.4 percent
year-over-year, and it blew past Dell to become the No. 2 PC maker
worldwide based on this growth. Granted, Netbooks are a relatively
low-profit segment (i.e., profit on a $400 Netbook is going to be a
lot less than that on a $999 laptop). Nevertheless, they're a hot
market. Intel CEO Paul Otellini has stated numerous times that Intel
was able to create a market that grew faster than either the iPhone
or Nintendo Wii . Case in point: Windows 7 -based Acer Netbooks are
now big on the Home Shopping Network-- which claims to have sold more
than 5 ,000 in one segment on Saturday. And that's not the only
market Apple is punting on. A new category of inexpensive, thin
laptops has emerged with the roll-out of Windows 7 on Thursday.
Like Netbooks, these laptops are light (typically 4 pounds) and
don't include an optical drive. But they are relatively powerful and
full featured. The 15.6-inch Acer Aspire Timeline , for example,
with a 320 GB hard disk drive and dual- core Intel processor is fairly
well-endowed at only $500. Apple is not receiving a lot kudos in the
mainstream business press by sticking to its $999 guns. The Wall
Street Journal said that users can get roughly equivalent laptops
for a lot less at Dell and HP. And other publications have said
that Apple is not just ignoring new market realities but, in fact,
ignoring the Mac lineup as a whole in favor of the iPhone . So, do
consumers lose by not getting the chance to buy a competitive
low-cost Apple MacBook? The short answer to that rhetorical questions
is yes--because Apple offers no alternative to, for example, a thin,
light $650 HP Pavilion dm3 laptop. But an apples-to-apples (pun not
intended) comparison shows that while Apple skimps on a couple of
white MacBook features, it's not an egregiously bad deal for $999.
Let's do a quick side-by-side of the cheapest MacBook with a
mainstream HP laptop. • For $999, you get white polycarbonate wrapped
around a 13.3- inch 1280- by-800 LED- backlit glossy widescreen
display, a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of memory, a
250 GB (5400 RPM) hard disk drive, an optical drive, and the standard
wireless features. All in a 4.7- pound package. • For $997, HP will
sell you (online) an HP Pavilion dv3 t series with a 13.3- inch 1280-
by- 800 LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 2. 0 GHz Intel Core 2
Duo processor, 4 GB of memory, a 500 GB (5400 RPM) hard disk drive,
an optical drive, and the standard wireless features. Also, in 4.7-
pound package. Apple beats the HP by a hair in the processor category
and loses in the memory and storage departments. If polycarbonate
is, in fact, better than the plastics HP uses, then that aspect of
the design would be a win for Apple. The real win, though, is for
Apple the company. It avoids the cut-throat sub-$900 laptop market
and still sells--quite profitably--a lot of laptops. But will Apple be
able to snub this growing market of inexpensive Windows 7 laptops
indefinitely? We should know in about six months when Gartner
reports first-quarter 2010 numbers.