ie8 fix

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Global investors may benefit from expected U.S. solar growth

The U.S. is poised for a big expansion of solar installations as states, municipalities, and companies add more solar in order to fulfill energy portfolio goals.

The growth will spur from many entities attempting to add renewable energy to the mix, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report released this week.

The report cites a prediction from the Solar Energy Industries Association that the U.S.'s global share of solar installations is predicted to triple within the next four years.

While that's good news for the solar industry overall, without the U.S. establishing strongholds this growth won'… Read more

Stop-motion movies and racing on water: iPhone apps of the week

It's probably not a good sign that the first thing people ask me when they notice I'm holding an iPhone 4 is always something about how I deal with the reception issues. I've said here before that I have yet to experience dropped calls or any other issues related to "Antennagate" (yeesh, will we--as a society--ever get over the whole "Whatevergate" meme?), but that's probably largely just luck; maybe I'm fortunate that where I go in my daily life is covered pretty well by AT&T. I suspect I could be a rare exception.

The interesting thing to me is that the reception issues and "Death Grip" have been all over the news here in the U.S., but reports trickling in from other countries are quite the opposite. An Australian publication, The Daily Telegraph, gave a very positive review to Apple's iPhone 4 today saying finally about the reception issues, "Is the antenna an issue? No it's not. Have I dropped calls? No, I have not." Another story out of Norway (via AppleInsider) had similar results, with the writer concluding that the issues are more about weak U.S. mobile networks than they are about the iPhone 4 itself.

So my question is, even though the "Death Grip" might reduce your signal by a bar or two, if Apple had announced a deal with Verizon (or some other carrier) at launch, would we even be talking about "Antennagate?" I think I know what Steve Jobs would say if he thought nobody else was listening.

This week's iPhone AppsGate includes a fun tool to make stop-motion movies and a water-racing game sequel that is a huge improvement over the original.… Read more