Week in review: New breezes blowing in energy tech

(continued from previous page)

If you think the recent flurry of big-media and technology operations setting up shop in virtual worlds such as Second Life is a passing fad, think again.

Representatives of companies such as MTV Networks and its Nickelodeon cable TV division, IBM, AOL and Disney, as well as institutions such as Harvard University, the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gathered in New York for Virtual Worlds 2007, the first major conference designed specifically to promote marketing in virtual worlds to Fortune 500 companies.

The two-day conference comes at a heady time for virtual worlds and 3D social environments. Even as the Virtual Worlds event kicks off, the Accelerating Studies Foundation is readying its formal written report from last year's Metaverse Roadmap Summit--in which participants were tasked with prognosticating on the look and feel of the 3D Web in 2016--and a congressional committee is nearing completion of recommendations on whether the economies of virtual worlds should be regulated.

MTV Networks, which already has one of the most valuable brand names in television, is hoping to repeat that marketing success in virtual worlds.

The company is calling its new cross-platform strategy "4D." Essentially, the approach will attempt to combine content from network television shows with fully 3D virtual worlds and then put it all through a feedback loop in which people can interact with TV personalities and create content that becomes part of the shared experience.

MTV already has launched two branded virtual worlds, Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Hills. These take the story lines of hit shows Laguna Beach and The Hills, respectively, and weave them into a large, public 3D digital environment in which users can meet the shows' stars, or "live" the lifestyles of the programs. Now MTV is preparing to unveil Virtual Pimp My Ride, a virtual-world version of another of the network's hit shows.

Wild about wireless
Intel has come up with a form of Wi-Fi that would let a laptop in San Francisco connect to the Internet from a base station in San Jose, Calif. Academics and researchers from the company's labs have created a system that lets Wi-Fi signals, which ordinarily carry a few hundred feet, instead travel more than 60 miles.

The system isn't designed for the United States or Europe. Instead, it is part of the chipmaking giant's efforts to bring computing technologies to people in emerging markets. The communications infrastructure in most of these countries is fairly anemic, and most of it is concentrated in cities. Villages, where a large portion of the population lives, are effectively cut off from the outside world except by car, bus or footpath.

You won't find Intel's Wi-Fi system in London, but when in London, feel free to use the River Thames to access the Internet. The river has been turned into a giant Wi-Fi hot spot that can be used by anyone with a wireless device on the river or along its banks.

The wireless broadband Internet access stretches for 22 kilometers along the Thames, from the Millennium Dome out in Greenwich up to Millbank by the Houses of Parliament, and it is expected to be extended further over the next two months. The Thames Online service uses mesh-networking technology across 100 access points, allowing users to roam along that stretch of the river without any interruption to their Internet connection--effectively creating one big hot spot.

Another wireless technology--WiMax--was a hot topic at the CTIA Wireless 2007 trade show in Orlando, Fla. WiMax, which is similar to Wi-Fi (both are packet-based wireless technologies), already has the foundation for a strong ecosystem, thanks to support from handset and infrastructure makers such as Motorola, Samsung and Nokia, as well as from chipmaker Intel.

One of the bigger proponents of WiMax is Sprint Nextel, which pushed forward with its plan to build a high-speed mobile network with the announcement of new device vendors, as well as additional markets where the network will be deployed.

Sprint, the third-largest mobile operator in the United States, said in August that it would spend $3 billion in the next two years to build a network using Internet Protocol-based WiMax. The company expects to build a network that can reach 100 million people by the end of 2008. Sprint is using its existing 2.5GHz spectrum, half of which it acquired from its merger with Nextel, to deliver the service.

News.com sat down this week with John Burris, Sprint's vice president of wireless data services, to discuss the company's strategy for the future.

Also of note
Dell said an internal investigation into accounting problems has found "evidence of misconduct," and it therefore will be delaying the release of its annual report...The TJX Companies said 45.7 million accounts were compromised over a nearly two-year period in an update of an investigation into a data breach of customer records...Microsoft claims that Windows Vista is off to a fast start, having sold more than 20 million copies since its January 30 consumer release.

[davek10]

Oil Independence

While alternative, clean fuel source development is crucial, independence from foreign oil is equally as important. I don't understand why there is not more emphasis on extracting oil from oil shale. Colorado,Utah and Wyoming have oil shale reserves that exceed the oil reserves in Saudi Arabia. And, with current technology, if the price of oil is $30/barrel or more (it is currently approaching $70/barrel), oil from oil shale is cheaper.

Check out the following from Wikipedia:
At 3.3 trillion tonnes, the oil shale deposits in the United States are easily the largest in the world. There are two major deposits: the Eastern US deposits, located in Devonian-Mississippian shales, cover 250,000 square miles (650,000 square kilometers). The Western US deposits, the Green River formation in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, are among the richest oil shale deposits in the world.

In Canada 19 deposits have been identified. The most explored deposits are in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

In 2005, Royal Dutch Shell announced that its insitu extraction technology deployed in Colorado could be competitive at prices over 30 USD/barrel. The Israel's AFSK Hom Tov process, which produces oil from a mixture of oil refinery residue, in the form of bitumen, and oil shale, claims profitable at the price of $16-$17 USD/barrel, however this technology still at the test phase.

Using oil shale, we could be independent of foreign oil in short order. What is holding this up? Let's tell the politicians that foreign oil is unacceptable. And, let's do it now.

[wnew813]

Alternative Energy

When is the next event to introduce other alternative energy sources? This is the greatest country in the world with the greatest minds. I am sure there is someone out there that can figure out what can be done to eliminate our dependence on oil even when our, or any other, government is not willing to do it.

[Fil0403]

Greatest minds?

It may be the greatest country in the world, and I have nothing against it (au contraire), but when I think about great minds, USA doesn't exactly turn up in my head; just check how many times Nobel prizes are given to Americans and you'll see what I mean (afterall, last time I checked, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, etc. weren't Americans).

[Fil0403]

Bad week in review: no news against Microsoft

How CNET works:

An unknown company claims that Windows Vista is not off to a fast start, having sold just a few copies since its January 30 consumer release? Scratch off the part "An unknown company claims that" and put it as main news.

Windows Vista is off to a fast start, having sold more than 20 million copies since its January 30 consumer release? Change the news a little and put instead that Microsoft claims that, so it gives the idea it's false, and put in the absolute end of the news of the week.

Sad thing is that it's true. Just pay attention.