Spinvox

A new startup company in the UK has launched an interesting new voice-recognition technology using 30 million pounds venture capital. BBC video report http://tinyurl.com/2nrglh

Company page: http://www.spinvox.com/

Robots explore the Nazaré Canyon

Robot submarines have been exploring the ocean off the coast of Portugal.
The BBC have a short video about the work here.

Value Engineering - a good thing?

What do the following phenomena have in common?

• extremely quick service at a pizza resturant
• thin doors on kitchen cupboards that you buy at IKEA
• no little bottles of shampoo in some hotel room bathrooms

Answer:

They are all minor but planned examples of Value Engineering.

For more info read the blog of the BBC economics editor.

The odd couple: Greenpeace and McDonalds

An unlikely team of Greenpeace activists and McDonald's executives took a boat up the Amazon to see the destruction of rainforest partly driven by McDonald's demand for soybeans (Washington Post)

Surprising really, considering Greenpeace have regularly campaigned against the fastfood company

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/were-trashin-it

And Mcdonalds attempted to stop Greenpeace campaigners using the courts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLibel_case

http://www.mcspotlight.org/

Global warming and responsible tourism

Interesting combination of entrepreneurism and environmental ethics:

They say:

Founded in 2001 with backing from Anita Roddick (Body Shop) and based in Brighton (UK) we were the first business in the world to use the term responsible travel ( more ). We are one of the fastest growing travel agents in the UK and have booked over 20,000 travellers from all over the world.

____________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile there are reports that Germans this year are planning to stay at home and enjoy the (recently) warmer German climate on German beaches and not flood off to Mallorca or the Algarve.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/3c5klr

Security breach at UK e-commerce firm

Hackers have stolen information from at least 45.7 million payment cards used by customers of US retailer TJX, which owns TJ Maxx, and UK outlet TKMaxx. This was a major breach but it is claimed that the majority of the credit card info. stolen will be already out of date.
Even so, not very reassuring for their online customers!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6508983.stm

World's smallest computer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2018550,00.html

Could this be the computer of the future?



http://sysbio.harvard.edu/csb/benenson/nature_science_update.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-18-2004-51808.asp

Meebo

Neat example of a sucessful start-up:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6498223.stm

WELCOME TO PROFESSIONAL ENGLISH

To develop and practice your English, in addition to the resources on the right hand side, you might also find these two sites of interest:

Portugal News newspaper, online version - general news about Portugal in brief (subscription is required for details)
http://www.the-news.net/

Ig Noble Prize awards at Harvard University:

http://www.improbable.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ig_Nobel_Prize

Flying frog.

A live frog is magnetically levitated. An experiment that earned André Geim from the University of Nijmegen and Sir Michael Berry from Bristol University the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in physics.

Climate change alert

Portugal has been singled out as being one of the European countries that will suffer most from global warming. According to the Stern Review published in Britain this week, and which has gained international prominence since, unless urgent action is taken, Portugal is set to suffer more than most from global warming.
in Portugal News, 4/11/2006

Earlier growing season.

A study of the timing of leaf unfolding for four tree species shows that from 1969 to 1998 the beginning of the growing season has advanced by 8 days. The earlier leaf unfolding corresponds with increasing early spring temperatures over the last 30 years. The greatest warming occurred in Portugal, where average air temperatures in early spring (February to March) increased by nearly 1.1^oF (0.6^oC) per decade, and the beginning of the growing season has advanced by about 14 days since 1969.

http://www.climatehotmap.org/euroruss.html retrieved: 10/11/2006