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| EPA, UPS join to launch eco-friendly hybrid trucks
| October 28 2008 |
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Brown is going green. Embracing technology developed by federal engineers, UPS will order a handful of new delivery trucks powered by a hydraulic hybrid system that saves fuel and cuts carbon emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency holds many of the patents on the innovative technology, which was developed in an EPA fuel-emissions lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the help of engineers from Eaton Corp., which designs hydraulics systems. "This vehicle to my right may look like a brown package truck that you'd see every day in your neighborhood," said UPS Chief Operating Officer David Abney, standing beside a prototype of the hybrid truck at a news conference Monday.
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| Airports of the future
| October 20 2008 |
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Space travel, security threats and increasing passenger numbers are forcing major changes in the way airports are designed. In fact, when discussing the future of the airport it is now appropriate to consider both conventional air travel hubs we are familiar with, as well as the imminent 'spaceports'. The rush of interest in setting up 'space tourism' companies has seen proposed spaceport projects in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and California, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Alaska and Wisconsin in the United States. Russia, Australia, Sweden and Portugal have also been rumored as potential spaceport locations. Meanwhile, the air travel industry is continuing to ...
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| Saudi prince to build tallest building
| October 13 2008 |
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Saudi Prince and billionaire Al-Waleed bin Talal says he will build the world's tallest building, planned to be over a kilometer (3,281 feet) high. The tower will be built in the Saudi town of Jeddah and will be part of a larger project that will cost $26.7 billion, (100 billion Saudi riyals) said the Prince's firm, Kingdom Holding Company. The project, entitled Kingdom City, will span 23 million square meters (248 million square feet) and will include luxury homes, hotels and offices. The booming city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has also joined the skyscraper race. While the ever-growing Burj Dubai is already the tallest man-made structure in the world, the Nakheel Tower is set to go even higher.
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| DNA test proves it -- baby shark has no father
| October 10 2008 |
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Scientists have confirmed the second case of a "virgin birth" in a shark. In a study reported Friday in the Journal of Fish Biology, scientists said DNA testing proved that a pup carried by a female blacktip shark in a Virginia aquarium contained no genetic material from a male. The first documented case of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, among sharks involved a pup born to a hammerhead at an Omaha, Nebraska, zoo. "This first case was no fluke," Demian Chapman, a shark scientist and lead author of the second study, said in a statement. "It is quite possible that this is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion."
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| Scientist: Holographic television to become reality
| October 06 2008 |
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Picture this: you're sat down for the Football World Cup final, or a long-awaited sequel to the "Sex and the City" movie and you're watching all the action unfold in 3-D on your coffee table. It sounds a lot like a wacky dream, but don't be surprised if within our lifetime you find yourself discarding your plasma and LCD sets in exchange for a holographic 3-D television that can put Cristiano Ronaldo in your living room or bring you face-to-face with life-sized versions of your gaming heroes. The reason for renewed optimism in three-dimensional technology is a breakthrough in rewritable and erasable holographic systems made earlier this year by researchers at the University of Arizona.
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| 'Space elevator' would take humans into orbit
| October 03 2008 |
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A new space race is officially underway, and this one should have the sci-fi geeks salivating. The project is a "space elevator," and some experts now believe the concept is well within the bounds of possibility -- maybe even within our lifetimes. A conference discussing developments in space elevator concepts is being held in Japan in November, and hundreds of engineers and scientists from Asia, Europe and the Americas are working to design the only lift that will take you directly to the one hundred-thousandth floor. Despite these developments, you could be excused for thinking it all sounds a little far-fetched. Indeed, if successfully built, the space elevator would be an ...
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| House of Representatives' Web site overwhelmed
| September 30 2008 |
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The servers hosting the Web sites of the House of Representatives and its members have been overwhelmed with millions of e-mails in the past few days, forcing administrators to implement the "digital version of a traffic cop" to handle the overload -- for the first time ever. "This is unprecedented," said Jeff Ventura, communications director for the House's chief administrator. The tidal waves of e-mails and page views began over the weekend after negotiators announced Sunday that a deal had been reached on legislation to enact a $700 billion bailout of the country's financial system. In making the announcement, legislators said the public could view the agreement at ...
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| China launches crew into orbit for first spacewalk
| September 25 2008 |
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China successfully launched a three-man crew into space Thursday to carry out the country's first spacewalk, beginning the nation's most challenging space mission since it first sent a person into space in 2003. The Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, China's third manned mission, blasted off atop a Long March 2F rocket shortly after 9:00 a.m. EDT under clear night skies in northwestern China. The spacewalk by one of the astronauts is expected to take place either on Friday or Saturday. Underscoring the mission's heavy political overtones, Chinese President and Communist Party head Hu Jintao was shown live on state television hailing the astronauts ...
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| Google phone prepares for October debut
| September 23 2008 |
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The first phone that harnesses Google Inc.'s ambition to make the Internet easy to use on the go was revealed Tuesday, and it looks a lot like an iPhone. T-Mobile USA showed off the G1, a phone that, like Apple Inc.'s iPhone, has a large touch screen. But it also packs a trackball, a slide-out keyboard and easy access to Google's e-mail and mapping programs. T-Mobile said it will begin selling the G1 for $179 with a two-year contract. The device hits U.S. stores October 22 and heads to Britain in November and other European countries early next year. The phone will be sold in T-Mobile stores only in the U.S. cities where the company has rolled out its faster,
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| Bush wants OK to spend $700B
| September 20 2008 |
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President Bush has asked Congress for the authority to spend as much as $700 billion to purchase troubled mortgage assets and contain the financial crisis. The legislative proposal - the centerpiece of what would be the most sweeping economic intervention by the government since the Great Depression - was sent by the White House overnight to lawmakers. President Bush said Saturday that the plan matches the scope of the problem. "It is a big package because it's a big problem," he told reporters at a joint news conference with Alvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia. "The risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package," Bush said. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson,
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| Why the Fed pulled the trigger on AIG
| September 17 2008 |
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The federal government's rescue of American International Group gave the insurance titan something even more important than access to $85 billion ... it gave AIG time. Time is what the beleaguered insurer needs to unwind its sprawling operations - it has $1.1 trillion in assets and 74 million clients - in an orderly manner. Had the company been forced into bankruptcy, it would have to unload its subsidiaries quickly and at a deep discount. "It gives time for AIG to sell assets without having to put out the fire sale sign," said Stewart Johnson, portfolio manager with Philo Smith & Co. a Stamford, Conn.-based investment bank specializing in insurance.
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| Program brings Web's wisdom to patents
| September 15 2008 |
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Some of the biggest players in the technology industry complain that the U.S. patent system is broken -- putting too many patents of dubious merit in the hands of people who can use them to drag companies and other inventors to court.And Blaise Mouttet, a small inventor in Alexandria, Virginia, thinks he knows why. The problem, he said, is that "there are too many lawyers and not enough inventors involved with the patent system." So Mouttet is taking part in an experimental program launched in June 2007 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and backed by the technology industry that is intended to give the public -- including inventors -- more of a voice in the system.
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| Designers developing virtual reality 'Cocoon'
| September 11 2008 |
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You're walking along a street in Roman Pompeii at the start of the first millennium when you notice a spectacular stone building. You reach out towards it and your guide informs you it's a temple to the god Jupiter, built in 200 BC. With a flick of your wrist you save the data and, school assignment complete, you step out of your Cocoon and back into your living room. Educational historical journeys are just one possible use of the Immersive Cocoon, a walk-in virtual-reality pod being developed by NAU, an international design collective that aims to revolutionize the way we interact with computers. When complete, the Immersive Cocoon will be a sleek and shiny human-sized dome.
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| Experts stunned by gene doping possibilities in China
| July 22 2008 |
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A German television report on the availability of gene doping in China has stunned anti-doping experts shortly before the Beijing Olympics. In a documentary broadcast late Monday by ARD television, a Chinese doctor offers stem-cell therapy to a reporter posing as an American swimming coach. The report, filmed with a concealed camera, shows the doctor with his face blurred speaking in Chinese and offering the treatment in return for $24,000, according to a translation provided by the ARD television. The program did not offer evidence that the hospital had provided gene doping to other athletes, but anti-doping officials were appalled that the treatment was so readily available.
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| Bill Gates signs off at Microsoft
| June 29 2008 |
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Bill Gates spent his last day at Microsoft Friday, bidding a teary goodbye to the company he built into a global software colossus. The Microsoft co-founder, 52, known for his boyish face and nerdy manner, will now focus on running the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , aimed at fighting disease, reducing poverty, and improving education around the world. "My life's work really is about software and working with incredible people," Gates told more than 800 Microsoft employees picked by lottery to attend his onstage farewell chat with chief executive Steve Ballmer at the company's campus in Redmond, Washington. "There won't be a day in my life that I'm not thinking about Microsoft and the great things it's doing and wanting to help."
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| Beijing reveals plan for Olympic car ban
| June 21 2008 |
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Beijing will pull half its 3.3 million vehicles off the roads during the Olympics, betting the move, plus a stringent ban on construction and heavy industry, will clean the city's noxious air when the games open in seven weeks. Vehicles will be allowed on the roads on alternate days ? according to even or odd car registration numbers ? from July 20 until Sept. 20. In addition, 300,000 heavy polluting vehicles ? aging industrial trucks, many of which operate only at night ? will be banned from July 1. A deadly earthquake last month and fierce human rights protests on international legs of the Olympic torch relay have removed some of the scrutiny from Beijing's chronic air pollution.
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| David Diaz vs. Manny Pacquiao
| June 16 2008 |
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Newly-crowned World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao and WBC lightweight champion David Diaz will battle in a 12-round rumble with Diaz's title at stake. Promoted by Top Rank, in association with MP Promotions, Pacquiao vs. Diaz will take place Saturday, June 28, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. "This will be my hardest-fought battle," said Pacquiao. "It's been over three years since I have changed weight divisions and I will be doing it against the lightweight division's world champion. I saw how he took the fight to Erik Morales in his last title defense...
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| MMA in clinch with mainstream
| May 29 2008 |
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After coming on strong among young men in the last several years, the sport of mixed martial arts is headed for a clinch with mainstream pop culture. This Saturday, CBS will become the first legacy network to show full matches in prime time. In the wee hours after "Saturday Night Live," NBC is airing a series with fighter profiles and bout footage. Two movies set in the MMA world hit theaters in recent months, including one by acclaimed writer David Mamet, and more are on the way. But can the brutal sport of chokeholds and sharp elbows truly cross over? Karo Parisyan says it already has.
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| Dealers, Union Protest at MGM Foxwoods Opening
| May 20 2008 |
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Roughly 300 Foxwoods dealers and their labor and political supporters held a protest rally in front of MGM Foxwoods on Sunday, the first day that this 800-room hotel and casino opened its doors to the general public. The primary issue was the lack of a labor contract between Foxwoods and the dealers, complicated by Foxwoods' recent refusal, citing tribal sovereignty, to recognize the results of am employee election approving unionization. An initial appeal of the election results was denied by the by the National Labor Relations Board, kicking off what is expected to be an extended legal battle between the tribe...
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| FIA's expert to examine Mosley-Nazi link
| May 06 2008 |
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FIA has appointed an independent expert to investigate allegations that the sex scandal involving motor racing chief Max Mosley included Nazi role playing. Anthony Scrivener will examine whether there was a Nazi connotation to Mosley's liaison with five prostitutes in London, as a British tabloid reported last month, FIA said in a statement. Mosley, who is suing the News of the World newspaper, welcomed the appointment, FIA said. Mosley has admitted visiting the prostitutes but denied there was any Nazi connotation. The 68-year-old Mosley has refused to resign from his post and has instead left it to a secret vote...
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| Interpol: 'Real possibility' of violent acts during Beijing Games
| April 25 2008 |
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Widespread protests along the Olympic torch relay route and reports of foiled terrorist plots in China suggest a real possibility for violence during the Beijing games, the head of Interpol said Friday. Ronald Noble said potential attacks could involve efforts to block transportation routes, interfere with competitions, assault athletes or destroy property during the Olympics. Chinese officials have said that terrorism is the biggest threat to the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Games and has called for closer international co-operation to prevent possible incidents. "When thwarted attacks are coupled with the recent violent protests viewed by us all worldwide..."
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| IOC: Russia must work 'hard and fast' to get Sochi ready
| April 23 2008 |
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Not a single venue has been built for the 2014 Winter Olympics, the head of the company charged with building them resigned has and environmental and community groups are calling upon the IOC to relocate some of the facilities. So time is already of the essence. "We all know that we cannot waste one single day," Jean-Claude Killy said after a two-day visit of his International Olympic Committee coordination commission to the Black Sea resort. It was the first inspection by Killy's panel since Sochi was awarded the games last July. The sprawling Soviet-era seaside resort plagued by traffic jams and aging infrastructure has to build virtually all its Olympic venues...
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| Beijing halts construction to clear air
| April 14 2008 |
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Beijing is ordering a stoppage at construction sites and plans to shut down some heavy industries in temporary actions aimed at shut cutting air pollutionion for the 2008 Olympic period. Builders are to cease digging and pouring of concrete from July 20-Sept. 20, the city's Environmental Protection Bureau told the Associated Press. Nineteen heavy-polluting companies also have been told to cut their emissions by 30 per cent in the same period. The International Olympic Committee showed increasing concern over air pollution as criticism by athletes escalated in recent weeks. The world's top marathon runner, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, opted out of the classic distance...
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| Speedo suit could rewrite record book
| April 10 2008 |
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The Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit is making such a splash in the pool that U.S. coach Mark Schubert believes every record in the sport could fall at the Beijing Olympics. Since the suit was unveiled in February, 19 long-course world records have been set and four short-course marks. The new Speedo suit has been worn in all but one of the 23 records. At this point in 2004 ? the last Olympic year ? five world records had been set. Swimming's world governing body decided last weekend not to ban the new high-tech suit, despite claims of buoyancy and "technological doping" by some critics. "I wouldn't be surprised to see every world record broken at the games...
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| Scientists use pig bladder to help man regrow his fingertip
| April 08 2008 |
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When Lee Spievack cried out in pain after slicing off his fingertip he had no idea he was about to find himself at the centre of a medical mystery that appeared to have more in common with Harry Potter than the British Medical Journal. Rather than follow his doctor's advice and have a skin graft to cover what was left of his finger, the 68-year-old shopkeeper sprinkled the wound with a powdered extract of pig bladder. Within four weeks, his finger had regained its original length and by the end of four months it was almost back to normal. Now scientists in America believe the pig bladder "potion" may lead to an extraordinary breakthrough in regenerative medicine...
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| Pound loses bid to become CAS president
| April 03 2008 |
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Italian lawyer Mino Auletta has been elected president of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, beating out former World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound. Auletta, who has been acting president of CAS, said by telephone from Monaco that he received a majority of the votes at a meeting of the 19 members of the court's governing body. At least 10 votes were needed to win. Auletta, who will oversee the appointment of arbitrators for the sports world's top appeals body, also defeated Swiss lawyer Robert Briner and Sweden's Gunnar Werner to get the job.
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| Ultimate fighting expands to include kids
| March 29 2008 |
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Ultimate fighting was once the sole domain of burly men who beat each other bloody in anything-goes brawls on pay-per-view TV. But the sport often derided as "human cockfighting" is branching out. The bare-knuckle fights are now attracting competitors as young as 6 whose parents treat the sport as casually as wrestling, Little League or soccer. The changes were evident on a recent evening in southwest Missouri, where a team of several young boys and one girl grappled on gym mats in a converted garage. Two members of the group called the "Garage Boys Fight Crew" touched their thin martial-arts gloves in a flash of sportsmanship before beginning a relentless exchange of sucker punches, body blows and swift kicks...
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| US Congressman calls for release of WTO GATS Settlement terms
| March 14 2008 |
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U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has written a letter to other members of Congress urging them to join him in demanding that the US Trade Representative office make public the terms of the agreements it reached with other countries in its recent World Trade Organization settlements regarding Internet gambling. The letter from DeFazio, dated March 6, 2008, follows the discovery by Michigan Messenger contributing writer Ed Brayton that the USTR would not release specifics of the settlements...
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| Bodog Overcomes Domain Issues, Makes New Home At BodogLife.com
| September 19 2007 |
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The results are in from the great "Man vs. Machine" computer poker showdown in Vancouver, with the humans coming out on top by a narrow margin. But the main result of the exercise was mutual respect, on the part of the computer programmers as well as the poker pros.
The final 500-hand playoff went until past 11 p.m. PT Tuesday, and when the takes were totaled up, high-ranked poker players Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Ali Eslami came out $570 ahead. Those results were combined with a too-close-to-call draw and a win for the University of Alberta's Polaris...
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| HUMANS BEAT POKER BOT ... BARELY
| July 27 2007 |
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The results are in from the great "Man vs. Machine" computer poker showdown in Vancouver, with the humans coming out on top by a narrow margin. But the main result of the exercise was mutual respect, on the part of the computer programmers as well as the poker pros.
The final 500-hand playoff went until past 11 p.m. PT Tuesday, and when the takes were totaled up, high-ranked poker players Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and Ali Eslami came out $570 ahead. Those results were combined with a too-close-to-call draw and a win for the University of Alberta's Polaris...
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| Google Expands Ban On Internet Gambling Advertising
| June 06 2007 |
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Google have announced a change in their advertising policy for gambling websites, due to be implemented immediately. Until today, an advertiser would be able to run an advertisement on the search engine advertising free-to-play gambling websites. Now, that policy extends to cover all online gambling sites, including those where no money is needed to play games.
Google and Yahoo! have both recently banned advertisements on pay-to-play online gambling websites in the UK, but Google are the first major engine to ban all forms of online gambling advertising from their service.
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| U.S. Disavows Own Trade Agreements, Plans to Ignore WTO Judgment
| May 08 2007 |
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The United States has announced that its way of complying with a recent online gambling trade decision rendered by the World Trade Organization will be to ignore its own trade compacts. The U.S. announcement, the latest move in the long complaint brought by the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, is a rare ploy that not only amounts to a rewrite of history, but has the potential to threaten the very framework of the WTO itself.
In the announcement, Deputy U.S. Trade Secretary John K. Veroneau conceded defeat in the narrow online dispute centering on accessibility to Internet-based horseracing wagering.
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