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Demand for biofuels in Europe and the United States has forced up food prices 75 percent around the world, according to a World Bank report that was leaked and published in The Guardian newspaper on Friday.

The number stands in sharp contrast to the 3 percent contribution to higher food pricing estimated by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Meanwhile, a study commissioned by food manufacturers pegs the contribution of biofuels on food prices at between 25 percent and 35 percent. (Click here for PDF).

The reports will surely heat up the debate on biofuels policy one week before the … Read more

Can the lowly algae ease a growing food-versus-fuel debate?

A growing number of start-ups are betting against the dominant biofuel crops--corn and soy--and looking to sidestep the backlash against biofuels, which are being blamed in part for higher food prices and deforestation around the world.

Melbourne, Fla.-based PetroAlgae says that it hopes to test a commercial system as early as next year.

The company licensed strains of freshwater algae bred by Arizona State University and is developing the bioreactors and harvesting methods to grow the algae at large scale, said Fred Tennant, PetroAlgae's vice president of business development. … Read more

Monster Cable today announced a new upgrade program intended to guarantee forward-compatibility for the company's high-end HDMI cables. Beginning in mid-September, Monster's Home Theater Ultra 1000, M Series M1000HD and 1000HD cable lines will be emblazoned with the new "Cable for Life" logo. Monster is pledging to replace said cables, free of charge, when and if future products eventually appear that make use of higher bandwidth HDMI connections. For instance, current 1080p video streams max out at 8-bit color and 60Hz frame rate, which require about 4.46 gigabits per second of data bandwidth, but Monster is anticipating 12-bit, 120Hz 1080p video streams a few years down the road, which will require more than three times the throughput capacity. So the HDMI output on a 120Hz-capable Blu-ray player that hits the market in, say, 2010 may exceed the current bandwidth capacity of existing cables--and if you've got one of Monster's "lifers," you can swap up to a new one at that time. (Note that the "Cable for Life" guarantee is separate from the lifetime warranty found on many Monster Cables.)

To be sure, the Cables for Life guarantee sounds great--but is it worth it? … Read more

What's more fun than a little competitive rivalry? Spoofs of competitive rivalry, that's what!

Apple's "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads (watch them at Apple) have stirred up the international cultural imagination, spawning spoofs of the newly classic campaign.

Here are two new favorites to add to your collection. Wired points us to this South Park-style gem. True to the cartoon's saucy style, neither OS avoids taking heat.

Then CNET UK holds a joust--literally--with Mac OS X and Windows Vista. CNET is a big fan of staging prizefights, but CNET … Read more