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Issue no. 1, 2008 Published: Jan 04, 2008
EU seeks single market for online services
Ebay launches microlending website
Hot asphalt tapped for its solar power
Nano flakes could lead to super-efficient solar cells
Virtual PCs add new layer of security
Japanese researchers demo switchable mirror

EU seeks single market for online services
The European Commission this week announced it will make proposals by mid-2008 aimed at creating a single European market in the burgeoning sector of online music, films, and games. The Commission said it expected the EU market for online content to quadruple from EUR 1.8bn in 2005 to EUR 8.3bn in 2010 and identified four main areas that needed to be addressed: o The reluctance of some owners of creative content to make it available for online distribution, for reasons such as concerns over illegal downloads and online piracy. o The lack of multi-territory copyright licenses allowing the use of content in several or all EU member states. o Interoperability of so-called digital rights management systems (DRMs), the technologies that allow the management of content rights and the fair remuneration of creators. o Piracy of content. The EU executive said it planned to launch codes of conduct between access and service providers, rights holders and consumers to ensure the widespread offer of content online and adequate protection of copyrighted works.
ZDNet / Reuters Jan 03, 2008	back to top

Ebay launches microlending website
Online auction giant Ebay has launched a microlending website that enables people to invest in entrepreneurs in poor communities around the world and get a return on their money. Unlike micro-finance organisations, which make interest-free loans to people in developing countries, Microplace.com offers investors profits in return for funding people across the world who are trying to build better lives. Website visitors can browse investors by country, seeing pictures of people seeking loans and reading about their business goals. Microplace connects investors with micro-finance organisations in the various countries, having vetted the organisations to check their legitimacy. Thousands of people visit the website daily and hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans have already been issued, according to Microplace. Microplace gets fees from microfinance organisations that receive money through the website. Money is moved through online financial-transaction firm PayPal, owned by Ebay. Any profits made by Microplace, Ebay said, will be invested in other initiatives for social good.
Al Jazeera / Agencies Dec 30, 2007	back to top

Hot asphalt tapped for its solar power
If you have ever blistered your bare feet on a hot road you know how asphalt absorbs the sun's rays. Now, a Dutch company is siphoning the heat from roads and parking lots to heat homes and offices. Solar energy collected from a 200-metre stretch of road and a small parking lot helps heat a 70-unit four-story apartment building. An industrial park of some 50,000 square metres is kept warm in winter with the help of heat stored during the summer from 11,000 square metres of pavement. The runways of a Dutch air force base supply heat for its hangar. And all that under normally cloudy Dutch skies, with only a few days a year of truly sweltering temperatures. The Road Energy System, developed by Ooms Avenhorn Holding, is actually a spin-off of a method to reduce road maintenance. A latticework of flexible plastic pipes, held in place by a plastic grid, is covered over by asphalt, which magnifies the sun's thermal power. As cool water in the pipes is heated, it is pumped deep under the ground to natural aquifers where it maintains a fairly constant temperature of around 20 C. The heated water can be retrieved months later to keep the road surface ice-free in winter. Though it doubles the cost of construction, the system's first benefits are a longer life for roads and bridges, fewer ice-induced accidents and less need to repave worn surfaces.
MSNBC Dec 31, 2007	back to top

Nano flakes could lead to super-efficient solar cells
A newly discovered material, dubbed 'nano flakes', could revolutionise the transformation of solar energy to electricity. If researcher Martin Aagesen's future solar cells meet early expectations, the economy and the environment will benefit from the research which could make solar power generation viable for ordinary households. Aagesen is a PhD from the Nano-Science Center and the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. He pointed out that less than one per cent of the world's electricity comes from the sun because it is difficult to transform solar energy to electricity. But he believes his discovery of a perfect crystalline structure which absorbs all light may be a 'huge step' towards boosting the exploitation of solar energy. The nano flakes have the potential to convert up to 30 per cent of the solar energy into electricity, roughly twice the amount that is converted today, according to Aagesen. The material has the potential to reduce solar cell production costs because less semiconducting silicium will be required in the process. At the same time, the future solar cells will better exploit solar energy as the distance of energy transportation in the solar cell will be shorter thus lessening the loss of energy.
VNUnet UK Dec 20, 2007	back to top

Virtual PCs add new layer of security
Worried about people accessing your private information whenever you use a public computer? A new computer program known as MojoPac can turn flash memory sticks, hard drives or iPods into 'virtual' PCs that can run most programs that work on Windows XP. The devices draw on the host computer's resources - including its electricity, Windows XP software and DVD drive. Yet they retain their independence as they move from machine to machine. This independence allows people to use public computers without a trace of their session being left behind. The device can be created by downloading free software onto a computer drive. Once the MojoPac shell is created, users need to install their own software - just as they would do on a regular PC running Windows XP. MojoPac virtual PCs are not just designed for mobile use. They can protect users who share the same computer. A virus introduced by one user into their MojoPac, or virtual computer, would not affect the rest, according to RingCube.
Baseline / Reuters Jan 03, 2008	back to top

Japanese researchers demo switchable mirror
Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have demonstrated mirrored windows that transform from transparent to reflective at the flick of a switch. The new material comes in the form of a flexible film that can be glued onto existing glass. The inventors say it could be used to make buildings and vehicles more energy efficient. Although similar technology already exists to make glass opaque or change colour, it is not ideal for environmental control, according to the inventors. They say It is necessary to control light not by means of absorption but by means of reflection. The switchable mirror performs this function by switching from a transparent film state to a reflective mirror state. When used as window glass, it will block light effectively and reduce the cooling load inside a building or vehicle. The reflective film requires no complex control circuits. A low voltage is passed through the substance to change its state over the course of about 15 seconds, allowing the film to be switched to a partially-reflective state when required. The polarity of the voltage selects the new state. The film maintains its most recent state even when the power is disconnected.
VNUnet UK Dec 17, 2007	back to top