WASHINGTON, SELASA - Pihak berwenang federal AS menangkap seorang mantan insinyur Boeing yang dituduh membocorkan teknologi ke China. Ia ditengarai menjual informasi tentang teknologi yang digunakan dalam program antariksa, termasuk pada wahana ruang angkasa maupun roket Delta 4.
Agen FBI menangkap Dongfan "Greg" Chung, demikian nama orang tersebut, di rumahnya wilayah Orange, California tanpa insiden, Senin (11/2). Sebelumnya, pria berusia 72 tahun itu telah dituntut delapan pasal terkait kegiatan spionase (mata-mata).
"Chung dituduh mencuri teknologi rahasia yang dikembangkan selama beberapa tahun oleh para insinyur yang disumpah untuk melindungi produknya karena hal tersebut akan dianggap rahasia dagang," ujar pengacara AS Thomas P O'Brien.
Chung adalah keturunan asli China yang telah melakukan naturalisasi sebagai waraga negara AS. Ia bekerja di Rockwell International sejak tahun 1973 sebelum unit usaha pertahanan dan antariksa diakusisi Boeing tahun 1996. Chung keluar dari Boeing tahun 2002, namun tetap bekerja sebagai kontraktor pada program pesawat Beoing di Huntongton Beach, California sampai September 2006.
Hasil investigasi FBI dan NASA menunjukkan bahwa Chung telah melakukan tindakan mata-mata sejak bekerja di program antariksa. Ia awalnya mendapat surat dari seseorang di industri penerbangan China pada tahun 1979 yang meminta informasi spesifik teknologi pesawat ruang angkasa, militer, maupun komersial.
Dalam suart balasannya, Chung bersedia membantu perkembangan industri antariksa di negara asalnya. Chung sempat mengirimkan manual-manual teknik yang dikumpulkannya sendiri termasuk 24 dokumen rahasia milik perusahaan.
Salah satunya tentang pesawat pengebom B1. Ia juga mengirimkan spesifikasi teknologi antena yang digunakan pada pengembangan lanjut wahana ulang alik AS di pertengahan 1990-an dan deskripsi rinci proses pengisian bahan bakar pada roket Delta 4.
Bahkan, Chung sempat melakukan korespondensi dengan pejabat pemerintah China tentang cara pengiriman dokumen-dokumen tersebut agar aman. Antara lain melalui istrinya yang berprofesi sebagai seorang artis.
"Pengungkapan informasi ke luar seperti kepada (Pemerintah Republik Rakyat China) akan membahayakan kemanan nasional kami," tandas O'Brien.(SPACE.COM/WAH)
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Yahoo Tolak Tawaran Microsoft
Liputan6.com, New York: Yahoo belum lama ini telah menolak tawaran akuisisi senilai US$ 40 miliar yang diajukan raksasa software, Microsoft, dengan mengatakan harga penawaran itu terlalu rendah. Perusahaan pengelola portal search engine itu mengatakan penawaran Microsoft masih di bawah nilai Yahoo yang sebenarnya. Hal tersebut jelas tak menjadi daya tarik pemegang saham.
Microsoft mengajukan penawaran mengambil alih Yahoo seharga 31 dolar per saham, adalah 62 persen lebih tinggi dari harga saham Yahoo ketika penawaran akusisi itu dibuat 1 Februari silam. Penggabungan antara Microsoft dan Yahoo akan menjadi sebuah perusahaan teknologi yang besar, dan akan menyejajarkan kembali Yahoo dengan pesaing utamanya, Google.
Tidak putus asa, pihak Microsoft mengatakan penolakan oleh Yahoo itu bukan jalan buntu. Namun, pihak Microsoft tetap percaya penawarannya sudah pantas, bahkan dianggap sudah maksimal dan terbuka. Dalam penolakan penawaran Microsoft, Yahoo berkata, tawaran itu masih terlalu rendah untuk brand, audience, platform investasi periklanan dan prospek pertumbuhan ke depan, potensi pendapatan serta cash flow (arus kas) Yahoo.
Yahoo mengatakan, dewan direkturnya tengah melanjutkan evaluasi semua opsi strategisnya. Sebuah sumber yang dikutip oleh Wall Street Journal mengatakan bahwa direksi Yahoo tidak akan mempertimbangkan berbagai hal lagi dengan harga yang diinginkan 40 dolar per saham.
Adapun pada penutupan perdagangan Senin di New York, Amerika Serikat, saham Microsoft melemah tipis, sementara Yahoo naik 2,3 persen ke posisi 29,87 dolar. Para analis mengatakan Microsoft sepertinya akan datang lagi dengan menaikkan penawarannya. "Ini penting bagi perspektif Microsoft, ada sebuah peluang yang sangat baik yang bisa mendatangkan banyak uang," kata Ian Maude dari Enders Analysis seperti dikutip BBC News.
"Strategi logisnya adalah pada pasar iklan online. Ini (penggabungan Microsoft-Yahoo) akan membuat mereka menjadi tujuan terakhir bagi banyak perusahaan yang tengah mempertimbangkan rencana periklanannya," kata dia.
Sebuah laporan terpisah menyatakan bahwa Yahoo kemungkinan mendekati divisi online Time Warner, AOL, dengan harapan bisa meningkat menjadi sebuah kesepakatan yang mengikat. Meskipun saham Yahoo telah turun tajam dalam bulan ini, situsnya masih termasuk yang terpopuler di dunia.
Nilai pasar Microsoft sebelumnya adalah sekitar 44,6 miliar dolar, tapi sejak program akusisi Yahoo diumumkan harga sahamnya jatuh. Kini nilai pasar Microsoft turun menjadi hanya US$ 41,8 miliar.(ANS/Antara)
Microsoft mengajukan penawaran mengambil alih Yahoo seharga 31 dolar per saham, adalah 62 persen lebih tinggi dari harga saham Yahoo ketika penawaran akusisi itu dibuat 1 Februari silam. Penggabungan antara Microsoft dan Yahoo akan menjadi sebuah perusahaan teknologi yang besar, dan akan menyejajarkan kembali Yahoo dengan pesaing utamanya, Google.
Tidak putus asa, pihak Microsoft mengatakan penolakan oleh Yahoo itu bukan jalan buntu. Namun, pihak Microsoft tetap percaya penawarannya sudah pantas, bahkan dianggap sudah maksimal dan terbuka. Dalam penolakan penawaran Microsoft, Yahoo berkata, tawaran itu masih terlalu rendah untuk brand, audience, platform investasi periklanan dan prospek pertumbuhan ke depan, potensi pendapatan serta cash flow (arus kas) Yahoo.
Yahoo mengatakan, dewan direkturnya tengah melanjutkan evaluasi semua opsi strategisnya. Sebuah sumber yang dikutip oleh Wall Street Journal mengatakan bahwa direksi Yahoo tidak akan mempertimbangkan berbagai hal lagi dengan harga yang diinginkan 40 dolar per saham.
Adapun pada penutupan perdagangan Senin di New York, Amerika Serikat, saham Microsoft melemah tipis, sementara Yahoo naik 2,3 persen ke posisi 29,87 dolar. Para analis mengatakan Microsoft sepertinya akan datang lagi dengan menaikkan penawarannya. "Ini penting bagi perspektif Microsoft, ada sebuah peluang yang sangat baik yang bisa mendatangkan banyak uang," kata Ian Maude dari Enders Analysis seperti dikutip BBC News.
"Strategi logisnya adalah pada pasar iklan online. Ini (penggabungan Microsoft-Yahoo) akan membuat mereka menjadi tujuan terakhir bagi banyak perusahaan yang tengah mempertimbangkan rencana periklanannya," kata dia.
Sebuah laporan terpisah menyatakan bahwa Yahoo kemungkinan mendekati divisi online Time Warner, AOL, dengan harapan bisa meningkat menjadi sebuah kesepakatan yang mengikat. Meskipun saham Yahoo telah turun tajam dalam bulan ini, situsnya masih termasuk yang terpopuler di dunia.
Nilai pasar Microsoft sebelumnya adalah sekitar 44,6 miliar dolar, tapi sejak program akusisi Yahoo diumumkan harga sahamnya jatuh. Kini nilai pasar Microsoft turun menjadi hanya US$ 41,8 miliar.(ANS/Antara)
Friday, February 08, 2008
Gong Xi Fa Cai
Jumlah etnis Cina di Indonesia sekitar 3,5 juta. Ini angka proyeksi. Sensus Penduduk tahun 2000 tidak mencatat angka keseluruhan etnis Cina di Indonesia. Yang dicatat adalah per provinsi. Berdasarkan data itu, Leo Suryadinata dkk.(2003) memperkirakan jumlahnya 3 juta atau 1,5 persen. Sedang jumlah penduduk Indonesia keseluruhan, menurut sensus, 205,8 juta. Dengan menggunakan asumsi tingkat pertumbuhan penduduk 1,37 persen per tahun (periode 1990-2000), angka 3,5 juta terbilang moderat.
Sensus Penduduk tahun 2000 adalah sensus pertama sejak kemerdekaan yang mencacah etinisitas, termasuk etnis Cina. Di masa penjajahan, persisnya 1930, sensus sama pernah dilakukan. Ketika itu tercatat 2,03 persen etnis Cina. Dengan alasan bisa menimbulkan konflik SARA (suku, agama, ras, dan antargolongan), sensus penduduk yang diselenggarakan setiap sepuluh tahun sekali menghilangkan pertanyaan tentang etnisitas.
Angka 1,5 persen atau 3,5 juta tentu terasa kecil. Tapi sensus bukan soal rasa. Suka atau tidak, itulah angkanya. Soal berapa persisnya jumlah etnis Cina di Indonesia memang sudah lama menjadi perdebatan. Banyak pakar dan pengamat membuat proyeksi dan perkiraan. Tak jarang bercampur dengan persepsi.
Maka, misalnya, ada yang mengestimasi jumlahnya antara 2,3 juta dan 2,6 juta (antara 2,40 persen dan 2,70 persen) pada 1961 (Skinner, 1963); pada 1965 berjumlah 2,5 juta (N. Iskandar); pada awal 1970-an berjumlah 3,6 juta atau 2,8 persen (Leo Suryadinata, 1978); pada 1970 berjumlah 3 juta (Mackie, 1976); dan pada 1975 berjumlah 5,0 juta (mantan Menlu Adam Malik).
Dibanding negara tetangga, kecuali Filipina, persentase ini terbilang kecil. Di Thailand, misalnya, persentase etnis Cina 13,0 persen, Brunei Darussalam 25,4 persen, Singapura 76,9 persen, dan Malaysia 33,1 persen (Mely G. Tan, 1985).
Persepsi atas besarnya penduduk etnis Cina di Indonesia lebih disebabkan penguasaan ruang publik. Terutama sejak Reformasi, etnis ini tak lagi dilarang mengekspresikan identitas dan budayanya di ruang publik. Perayaan Imlek, misalnya, beberapa tahun terakhir ini begitu meriah dan dahsyat. Di kota-kota besar di Indonesia, terutama yang memiliki fasilitas ruang publik seperti mal dan hotel, ritus Chun Ciek (pesta musim semi) yang mulanya dirayakan kaum petani ini nyaris mewarnai secara fantastis.
Ruang publik media juga tak kalah dahsyatnya. Menjelang dan tepat pada hari H, televisi di Indonesia memborbardir penontonnya dengan program-program yang berkaitan dengan perayaan mensyukuri berkah alam ini. Iklan-iklan di media cetak dan televisi dari berbagai korporasi besar pun seakan berlomba mengucapkan gong xi fa cai.
Apa yang bisa dibaca dari semua ini? Pertama, jumlah menjadi tidak relevan ketika perayaan identitas mengambil ruang publik. Iklan dan program berbau gong xi fa cai yang menghiasi media itu menjelaskan kekuatan etnis minoritas ini memang sungguh dahsyat baik secara ekonomi maupun budaya. Dalam bidang politik belum terlalu terlihat, memang. Ada satu dua figur dan politisi etnis Cina dalam kabinet dan lembaga perwakilan, juga ada partai politik mengusung sentimen entnis Cina, tapi perannya belum begitu menonjol. Bisa dibayangkan seperti apa hebatnya jika tiga kekuataan– ekonomi, budaya, dan politik–ini kelak bergabung.
Orang Jawa, Sunda, dan Madura sebagai etnis bisa saja besar dalam jumlah. Tapi jika jumlah itu tidak bisa ditransformasikan menjadi sebuah kekuatan, ia akan tidak terasa di ruang publik. Ketiga etnis itu bisa saja punya perayaan rakyat seperti Imlek, tapi jika mereka tidak menguasai ruang publik, perayaan identitas dan budaya itu belum tentu juga bisa semeriah dan sespektakuler perayaan Imlek.
Kedua, kita belum tahu atau belum bisa menebak ke mana arah perkembangan budaya ini. Kita belum tahu bagaimana perasaan etnis non-Cina atas hiruk-pikuk perayaan Imlek setiap tahun ini. Yang kita tahu: kita punya Pancasila dan Bhineka Tunggal Ika. Artinya, di sana ada pengakuan akan pluralitas, tapi juga kebersamaan dan toleransi. Yang kita tahu juga: kita pernah punya sejarah hitam rasialisme dan etnis Cina selalu menjadi korban. Peristiwa Sukabumi tahun 1950-an misalnya, atau Peristiwa Mei 1998 di Jakarta.
Ketiga, kita berharap perayaan Imlek tidak dipahami sebagai perebutan ruang publik secara tidak adil dan berlebihan. Kita ingin Imlek, seperti perayaan hari-hari besar pada etnis lain, seperti Galungan untuk etnis Bali, dianggap sebagai bagian dari perayaan manusia Indonesia baru. Pada titik mana persisnya pemahaman dan anggapan ini bisa diterima, sangat tergantung pada tingkat pencampuran (akulturasi) budaya yang pas dan bertolak dari pengendalian diri yang pas pula dari semua etnis.
Gong Xi Fa Cai.
Iskandar Siahaan
Kepala Litbang Liputan 6
Sensus Penduduk tahun 2000 adalah sensus pertama sejak kemerdekaan yang mencacah etinisitas, termasuk etnis Cina. Di masa penjajahan, persisnya 1930, sensus sama pernah dilakukan. Ketika itu tercatat 2,03 persen etnis Cina. Dengan alasan bisa menimbulkan konflik SARA (suku, agama, ras, dan antargolongan), sensus penduduk yang diselenggarakan setiap sepuluh tahun sekali menghilangkan pertanyaan tentang etnisitas.
Angka 1,5 persen atau 3,5 juta tentu terasa kecil. Tapi sensus bukan soal rasa. Suka atau tidak, itulah angkanya. Soal berapa persisnya jumlah etnis Cina di Indonesia memang sudah lama menjadi perdebatan. Banyak pakar dan pengamat membuat proyeksi dan perkiraan. Tak jarang bercampur dengan persepsi.
Maka, misalnya, ada yang mengestimasi jumlahnya antara 2,3 juta dan 2,6 juta (antara 2,40 persen dan 2,70 persen) pada 1961 (Skinner, 1963); pada 1965 berjumlah 2,5 juta (N. Iskandar); pada awal 1970-an berjumlah 3,6 juta atau 2,8 persen (Leo Suryadinata, 1978); pada 1970 berjumlah 3 juta (Mackie, 1976); dan pada 1975 berjumlah 5,0 juta (mantan Menlu Adam Malik).
Dibanding negara tetangga, kecuali Filipina, persentase ini terbilang kecil. Di Thailand, misalnya, persentase etnis Cina 13,0 persen, Brunei Darussalam 25,4 persen, Singapura 76,9 persen, dan Malaysia 33,1 persen (Mely G. Tan, 1985).
Persepsi atas besarnya penduduk etnis Cina di Indonesia lebih disebabkan penguasaan ruang publik. Terutama sejak Reformasi, etnis ini tak lagi dilarang mengekspresikan identitas dan budayanya di ruang publik. Perayaan Imlek, misalnya, beberapa tahun terakhir ini begitu meriah dan dahsyat. Di kota-kota besar di Indonesia, terutama yang memiliki fasilitas ruang publik seperti mal dan hotel, ritus Chun Ciek (pesta musim semi) yang mulanya dirayakan kaum petani ini nyaris mewarnai secara fantastis.
Ruang publik media juga tak kalah dahsyatnya. Menjelang dan tepat pada hari H, televisi di Indonesia memborbardir penontonnya dengan program-program yang berkaitan dengan perayaan mensyukuri berkah alam ini. Iklan-iklan di media cetak dan televisi dari berbagai korporasi besar pun seakan berlomba mengucapkan gong xi fa cai.
Apa yang bisa dibaca dari semua ini? Pertama, jumlah menjadi tidak relevan ketika perayaan identitas mengambil ruang publik. Iklan dan program berbau gong xi fa cai yang menghiasi media itu menjelaskan kekuatan etnis minoritas ini memang sungguh dahsyat baik secara ekonomi maupun budaya. Dalam bidang politik belum terlalu terlihat, memang. Ada satu dua figur dan politisi etnis Cina dalam kabinet dan lembaga perwakilan, juga ada partai politik mengusung sentimen entnis Cina, tapi perannya belum begitu menonjol. Bisa dibayangkan seperti apa hebatnya jika tiga kekuataan– ekonomi, budaya, dan politik–ini kelak bergabung.
Orang Jawa, Sunda, dan Madura sebagai etnis bisa saja besar dalam jumlah. Tapi jika jumlah itu tidak bisa ditransformasikan menjadi sebuah kekuatan, ia akan tidak terasa di ruang publik. Ketiga etnis itu bisa saja punya perayaan rakyat seperti Imlek, tapi jika mereka tidak menguasai ruang publik, perayaan identitas dan budaya itu belum tentu juga bisa semeriah dan sespektakuler perayaan Imlek.
Kedua, kita belum tahu atau belum bisa menebak ke mana arah perkembangan budaya ini. Kita belum tahu bagaimana perasaan etnis non-Cina atas hiruk-pikuk perayaan Imlek setiap tahun ini. Yang kita tahu: kita punya Pancasila dan Bhineka Tunggal Ika. Artinya, di sana ada pengakuan akan pluralitas, tapi juga kebersamaan dan toleransi. Yang kita tahu juga: kita pernah punya sejarah hitam rasialisme dan etnis Cina selalu menjadi korban. Peristiwa Sukabumi tahun 1950-an misalnya, atau Peristiwa Mei 1998 di Jakarta.
Ketiga, kita berharap perayaan Imlek tidak dipahami sebagai perebutan ruang publik secara tidak adil dan berlebihan. Kita ingin Imlek, seperti perayaan hari-hari besar pada etnis lain, seperti Galungan untuk etnis Bali, dianggap sebagai bagian dari perayaan manusia Indonesia baru. Pada titik mana persisnya pemahaman dan anggapan ini bisa diterima, sangat tergantung pada tingkat pencampuran (akulturasi) budaya yang pas dan bertolak dari pengendalian diri yang pas pula dari semua etnis.
Gong Xi Fa Cai.
Iskandar Siahaan
Kepala Litbang Liputan 6
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Google Raih US$ 8,6 Miliar
Liputan6.com, Jakarta: Sepanjang tahun 2007, situs mesin pencari (search engine) Google telah meraih pendapatan US$ 8,6 miliar dari para pemasang iklan online di Amerika Serikat. Perolehan ini berarti mencapai 75 persen dari pangsa pasar iklan online di negara tersebut. Sementara pesaing utamanya, Yahoo, hanya menguasai lebih dari sembilan persen pangsa pasar iklan di AS. Sedangkan 16 persen dari bagian itu dikuasai oleh situs online lainnya. Demikian laporan periset bisnis online, e-marketer, Rabu (6/2).
Kendati demikian, e-marketer tidak menyebut siapa yang menguasai sekitar lima persen sisa dari pangsa pasar iklan online di AS yang dijelaskan tersebut. Yang terang, dengan pangsa pasar 75 persen itu, penguasaan pasar Google naik dari tahun 2006 yang 60 persen. Sementara para periset memprediksi pada tahun 2011 peluang pasar iklan search engine mencapai 16,6 juta miliar dolar AS.(ANS/Antara)
Kendati demikian, e-marketer tidak menyebut siapa yang menguasai sekitar lima persen sisa dari pangsa pasar iklan online di AS yang dijelaskan tersebut. Yang terang, dengan pangsa pasar 75 persen itu, penguasaan pasar Google naik dari tahun 2006 yang 60 persen. Sementara para periset memprediksi pada tahun 2011 peluang pasar iklan search engine mencapai 16,6 juta miliar dolar AS.(ANS/Antara)
Monday, April 30, 2007
Gold Nanoparticles Used to Detect a Toxic Metal - Mercury
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Throughout history, mercury has widely been used by alchemists that were trying to produce gold. Now, the roles have changed, and gold is what helps scientists find mercury.
In
the litmus test, litmus is a water-soluble mixture of different dyes extracted from certain lichens, especially Roccella tinctoria, often absorbed on to filter paper. The resulting piece of paper or solution with water becomes a pH indicator (one of the oldest), used to test materials for acidity. Blue litmus paper turns red under acidic conditions and red litmus paper turns blue under basic (alkaline) conditions, the color change occurring over the pH range 4.5-8.3 (at 25 degrees Celsius). Neutral litmus paper is purple in color.
Scientists at Northwestern University have recently developed a simple "litmus test" for mercury that could be used for environmental monitoring of bodies of water, such as rivers, streams, lakes and oceans, to evaluate their safety as food and drinking water sources.
The colorimetric screening technology and its success in detecting mercury rely on using gold nanoparticles and DNA.
Produced directly and indirectly as part of several industrial processes such as the manufacture of acetaldehyde, methyl mercury is a neurotoxin that is particularly dangerous to young children and pregnant women and the form of mercury people ingest when they eat contaminated fish and shellfish.
Mercury is released into the air through industrial pollution, falling into bodies of water and polluting the waters in which fish and shellfish live. Bacteria in the aquatic environment then convert water-soluble mercuric ion (Hg2+) into methyl mercury, which accumulates in varying amounts in fish and shellfish.
Chad A. Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Medicine and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, who led the study, said that "It is critical to detect mercury quickly, accurately and at its source. Most existing detection methods require expensive complicated equipment forcing tests to take place in a lab. Our method is simpler, faster and more convenient than conventional methods, and results can be read with the naked eye at the point of use."
Being highly sensitive, they are capable of detecting mercuric ions at the 100 nanomolar level. "To the best of my knowledge, we have set a record for the most sensitive colorimetric sensor," said Mirkin. "A glucose meter, for example, operates at a high micromolar scale, with glucose being 100,000 times more concentrated than the mercury we are detecting."
Future applications using similar principles will include developing a colorimetric screening method for cadmium and lead.
Linux Kernel 2.6.21 Released
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After two and a half months from the last release, Linus Torvalds has just announced today the final and stable release of the Linux kernel, version 2.6.21. The biggest change in 2.6.21 is all the timer changes to support a tickless system:
"If the goal for 2.6.20 was to be a stable release (and it was), the goal for 2.6.21 is to have just survived the big timer-related changes and some of the other surprises (just as an example: we were apparently unlucky enough to hit what looks like a previously unknown hardware errata in one of the ethernet drivers that got updated etc). [...] So the big change during 2.6.21 is all the timer changes to support a tickless system (and even with ticks, more varied time sources). Thanks (when it no longer broke for lots of people ;) go to Thomas Gleixner and Ingo Molnar and a cadre of testers and coders." - says Linus Torvalds.
Highlights of this release include:
• VMI (Virtual Machine Interface)
• KVM updates
• Dynticks and Clockevents
• ALSA System on Chip (ASoC) layer
• Dynamic kernel command-line
• Optional ZONE_DMA
• devres (optional subsystem for drivers)
• GPIO API
Here come the new drivers:
Graphics:
• Add fbdev driver for the old S3 Trio/Virge
• Driver for the Silicon Motion SM501 multifunction device framebuffer subsystem,
Storage devices:
• Add two drivers for the it8213 IDE device, one using the old IDE stack, and other using libata
• Add IDE Driver for Delkin/Lexar/etc.. cardbus CF adapter
• Add IDE driver for Toshiba TC86C001 (old IDE stack)
• Add SCSI driver for SNI RM 53c710
• Add driver for Initio 162x SATA devices
Networking devices
• Add driver for the latest 1G/10G Chelsio adapter, T3,
• Add driver for the Attansic L1 ethernet device
• Add driver for the Gigaset M101 wireless ISDN device
• Add PC300too alternative WAN driver
• Add driver for Silan SC92031 device
• Add driver for the Davicom DM9601 USB 1.1 ethernet device
Various
• Add driver to charge USB blackberry devices
• Add driver for iowarrior USB devices.
• Add support for the GTCO CalComp/InterWrite USB tablet
• New driver for the Analog Devices ADM1029 hardware monitoring driver
For a full change-log with all the new features, drivers and improvements, please visit this website.
The Linux Kernel is the essential part of all Linux Distributions, responsible for resource allocation, low-level hardware interfaces, security, simple communications, and basic file system management.
Linux is a clone of the operating system Unix, initially written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.
You can download the Linux kernel now from Softpedia.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Summer of Code Student Applications Now Open
The accepted Google Summer of Code 2007 mentors list is now complete at the Summer of Code website — 131 projects could use your help. Student applications are open and the end date is March 24. Google has an application guide in the Summer of Code Announce discussion group that provides more information on the application process.
Google Summer of Code 2007 is on! We are now accepting student applications. We've also published some additional web app documentation for mentors and organization administrators.
All the information for participants in Google Summer of Code 2007, including student abstracts and other information provided by them, is available by visiting the individual mentoring organization pages below.
We are no longer accepting applications from open source organizations.
If you're feeling nostalgic, you can still access the Google Summer of Code 2005 and Google Summer of Code 2006 pages. We've also created a map (requires Google Earth) of all 2006 mentors and student participants for your perusal.
Please peruse our FAQ and Terms of Service for more information about the program. If you still have questions, email us for support.
This document is a work-in-progress. Additional information on how to use the application will be added as Google's program administrators receive questions via either our program discussion list or to our support alias.
These are the steps for registering as a student participant for Google Summer of Code:
Please list your name as you would like it to appear on your program certificate.
We are required to ask for this information. Please see the FAQ entry in student ineligibility for more details.
Please be very, very careful when filling out this section and provide as much detail as possible. While we're successfully cutting down on the number of problem shipments of t-shirts, etc., we rely on you to provide us with accurate address information. If you have any questions, we suggest you call your local FedEx office and see if they would be able to ship to your address as you have listed it in the web app.
It is very important that you provide a phone number where you can be reached consistenly, as all shipping companies ask for a phone number so they can follow up when there are issues with delivery. If you have a mobile number, please provide it here. It is also very important to include your country code, as a problem with your shipment may occur in a country outside of your own and the shipping company will need the country code information in order to reach you.
While all of the information in this section is optional, we'd be totally stoked if you'd provide it, especially since we're planning a Google Summer of Code blog planet this year! By selecting please publish my location, you agree to let us include your coordinates in our yearly GSoC map. (Map file requires Google Earth.)
Once you've updated your profile, you should be redirected to the Student Dashboard. You can also visit this page directly once you have filled out your personal profile.
Your Student Dashboard is a running list of all applications you have submitted. It's also your starting point to submit new applications.
The "Last Modified" column will display the date that your application was submitted. If this information changes, it means that a mentor has posted a public comment, meaning a request to you for to add additional information to the application.
The "Status" column will let you know when mentors have begun reviewing your application.
To submit an application, click on the "Add a new application" link in your Student Dashboard . (The "Add a new application" link will also automatically update so you always know how many applications you have left to submit. The maximum number of applications any student can submit is 20.)
You will then be redirected to the application page.
Once you've clicked the "Submit" button, your application will appear in the selected organization's application review queue.
Mentors may post a comment to your application asking for more information. You will receive an email requesting that you log into the GSoC web app and review the comments. You will be able to view the comments by selecting the correct application from the list in your Student Dashboard. The application title will be a link to the frozen application text and the comments provided by the mentor(s) reviewing the application.
Google Summer of Code™
Google Summer of Code 2007 is on! We are now accepting student applications. We've also published some additional web app documentation for mentors and organization administrators.
All the information for participants in Google Summer of Code 2007, including student abstracts and other information provided by them, is available by visiting the individual mentoring organization pages below.
Mentoring Organizations Participating in Google Summer of Code 2007
We are no longer accepting applications from open source organizations.
If you're feeling nostalgic, you can still access the Google Summer of Code 2005 and Google Summer of Code 2006 pages. We've also created a map (requires Google Earth) of all 2006 mentors and student participants for your perusal.
Questions?
Please peruse our FAQ and Terms of Service for more information about the program. If you still have questions, email us for support.
Guide to the Google Summer of CodeTM Web App for Student Applicants
This document is a work-in-progress. Additional information on how to use the application will be added as Google's program administrators receive questions via either our program discussion list or to our support alias.
Using the Web App to Register for GSoC
These are the steps for registering as a student participant for Google Summer of Code:
- Login to your Google Account.
- Start registration by reviewing and accepting our program Terms of Service.
- Once you have accepted the Terms of Service, you should automatically be redirected to the student dashboard.
- Click on the "My Profile" link in the left hand navigation menu. Please update your personal information.
Notes on the Student Profile Page
Name
Please list your name as you would like it to appear on your program certificate.
Citizenship
We are required to ask for this information. Please see the FAQ entry in student ineligibility for more details.
Shipping Address
Please be very, very careful when filling out this section and provide as much detail as possible. While we're successfully cutting down on the number of problem shipments of t-shirts, etc., we rely on you to provide us with accurate address information. If you have any questions, we suggest you call your local FedEx office and see if they would be able to ship to your address as you have listed it in the web app.
It is very important that you provide a phone number where you can be reached consistenly, as all shipping companies ask for a phone number so they can follow up when there are issues with delivery. If you have a mobile number, please provide it here. It is also very important to include your country code, as a problem with your shipment may occur in a country outside of your own and the shipping company will need the country code information in order to reach you.
School
- Please include the full name of your school as it would appear in any official document sent from the administrative staff.
- Please include the URL to your school as a whole, not to a particular department.
- Your major is your primary field of study at school. If you have not chosen a primary field of study at this time, write in N/A for "not applicable."
- The "Degree to be Completed" section may have some choices that you do not recognize. Here's a basic overview:
- Undergrad: select this option if you are working towards your first degree
- Masters: select this option if you are working towards a second degree at the graduate level
- PHD: select this option if you are working towards a Doctorate degree of any kind
- If you have not yet begun attending college or university, make your best estimate of the date you will be graduating.
Optional
While all of the information in this section is optional, we'd be totally stoked if you'd provide it, especially since we're planning a Google Summer of Code blog planet this year! By selecting please publish my location, you agree to let us include your coordinates in our yearly GSoC map. (Map file requires Google Earth.)
The Student Dashboard
Once you've updated your profile, you should be redirected to the Student Dashboard. You can also visit this page directly once you have filled out your personal profile.
Your Student Dashboard is a running list of all applications you have submitted. It's also your starting point to submit new applications.
The "Last Modified" column will display the date that your application was submitted. If this information changes, it means that a mentor has posted a public comment, meaning a request to you for to add additional information to the application.
The "Status" column will let you know when mentors have begun reviewing your application.
Submitting an Application
To submit an application, click on the "Add a new application" link in your Student Dashboard . (The "Add a new application" link will also automatically update so you always know how many applications you have left to submit. The maximum number of applications any student can submit is 20.)
You will then be redirected to the application page.
- Title/Summary: Make this a very terse description of your application, e.g. "Garbage collection tuning for GCC."
- Organization: Select the organization to which you'd like to apply from the drop down list. If the organization has provided us with an application template, it should propagate into the "Detailed Description" section once you've selected the organization.
- Abstract: A shorter summary of your overall application to be linked from the GSoC Program Page. View an example.
- Detailed Description: Enter the text of your application here. Text only, 7500 characters maximum.
- Link to Further Information: You can only provide a single link in this field. If you wish to provide more than one link, include additional links in the "Detailed Description" section.
Once you've clicked the "Submit" button, your application will appear in the selected organization's application review queue.
Comments on Your Application
Mentors may post a comment to your application asking for more information. You will receive an email requesting that you log into the GSoC web app and review the comments. You will be able to view the comments by selecting the correct application from the list in your Student Dashboard. The application title will be a link to the frozen application text and the comments provided by the mentor(s) reviewing the application.
Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon Valley
J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times
Andrew Beebe is the president of Energy Innovations, which makes low-cost solar panels.
Related Series
The Energy Challenge
Articles examine the ways in which the world is, and is not, moving toward a more energy efficient future.
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Out of the ashes of the Internet bust, many technology veterans have regrouped and found a new mission in alternative energy: developing wind power, solar panels, ethanol plants and hydrogen-powered cars.
It is no secret that venture capitalists have begun pouring billions into energy-related start-ups with names like SunPower, Nanosolar and Lilliputian Systems.
But that interest is now spilling over to many others in Silicon Valley — lawyers, accountants, recruiters and publicists, all developing energy-oriented practices to cater to the cause.
The best and the brightest from leading business schools are pelting energy start-ups with résumés. And, of course, there are entrepreneurs from all backgrounds — but especially former dot-commers — who express a sense of wonder and purpose at the thought of transforming the $1 trillion domestic energy market while saving the planet.
“It’s like 1996,” said Andrew Beebe, one of the remade Internet entrepreneurs. In the boom, he ran Bigstep.com, which helped small businesses sell online. Today, he is president of Energy Innovations, which makes low-cost solar panels. “The Valley has found a new hot spot.”
Mr. Beebe said the Valley’s potential to generate change was vast. But he cautioned that a frenzy was mounting, the kind that could lead to overinvestment and poorly thought-out plans.
“We’ve started to see some of the bad side of the bubble activity starting to brew,” Mr. Beebe said.
The energy boomlet is part of a broader rebound that is benefiting all kinds of start-ups, including plenty that are focused on the Web. But for many in Silicon Valley, high tech has given way to “clean tech,” the shorthand term for innovations that are energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. Less fashionable is “green,” a word that suggests a greater interest in the environment than in profit.
The similarities to past booms are obvious, but the Valley has always run in cycles. It is a kind of renewable gold rush, a wealth- and technology-creating principle that is always looking for something around which to organize.
In this case, the energy sector is not so distant from other Silicon Valley specialties as it might appear, say those involved in the new wave of start-ups. The same silicon used to make computer chips converts sunlight into electricity on solar panels, while the bioscience used to make new drugs can be employed to develop better ethanol processing.
More broadly, the participants here say their whole approach to building new companies and industries is easily transferable to the energy world. But some wonder whether this is just an echo of the excessive optimism of the Internet boom. And even those most involved in the trend say the size of the market opportunity in energy is matched by immense hurdles.
Starting a clean technology firm is “not like starting an online do-it-yourself legal company,” said Dan Whaley, chief executive of Climos, a San Francisco company that is developing organic processes to remove carbon from the atmosphere. “Scientific credibility is the primary currency that drives the thing I’m working on.”
Just what that thing is, he would not specify. For competitive reasons, Mr. Whaley declined to get into details about his company’s technology. His advisory board includes prominent scientists, among them his mother, Margaret Leinen, the head of geosciences for the National Science Foundation.
In the last Silicon Valley cycle, Mr. Whaley’s help came from his father. In 1994, he did some of the early work from his father’s living room on GetThere.com, a travel site. It went public in 1999 and was bought by Sabre for $750 million in 2000.
This time around, entrepreneurs say they are not expecting such quick returns. In the Internet boom, the mantra was to change the world and get rich quick. This time, given the size and scope of the energy market, the idea is to change the world and get even richer — but somewhat more slowly.
Those drawn to the alternative-energy industry say that they need time to understand the energy technology, and to turn ideas into solid companies. After all, in contrast to the Internet boom, this time the companies will need actual manufactured products and customers.
“There are real business models and real products to be sold — established markets and growing economics,” said George Basile, who has a doctorate in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and specializes in energy issues.
Cop: Wife googled 'How to commit murder'
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
At exactly 5:45:34 on April 18, 2004 a computer taken from the office of the attorney of Melanie McGuire, did a search on the words "How To Commit Murder."That same day searches on Google and MSN search engines, were conducted on such topics as `instant poisons,` `undetectable poisons,' 'fatal digoxin doses,' and gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Ten days later, according to allegations by the state of New Jersey, McGuire murdered her husband, William T. McGuire, at their Woodbridge apartment, using a gun obtained in Pennsylvania, one day after obtaining a prescription for a sedative known as the "date rape" drug.
Jennifer Seymour, who worked for the State Police digital technology unit, testified thismorning how she examined the digital contents of computers and hand held devices obtained as part of the investigation.
Her testimony was the strongest evidence yet in the state's circumstantial evidence case against the 34-year-old McGuire, who allegedly murdered her husband with a .38 caliber weapon, dismembered his body and placed body parts in three suitcases found in the Chesapeake Bay in May of 2004.
While the jury has yet to see any fingerprint, blood or DNA evidence in the case, the evidence presented by Seymour illustrated how computers can be a valuable investigation tool.
Seymour was still being questioned by Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso when Superior Court Judge Frederick De Vesa gave the jury its lunch break. Testimony was scheduled to resume at 1:45 p.m.
Seymour, now employed by the U.S. Department of Defense, testified how digital investigators can trace activity on a computer, including information the user has deleted.
She testified that she isolated data that was accessed in the weeks leading up to the murder, by inserting the keyword "search," which showed activity by Google and MSN search engines, with the searches center-ing on poisons and gun laws.
The murder took place the same day, according to allegations by the state, that a two-ounce prescription of chloral hydrate was purchased at a Walgreen's in Edison.
A search on April 26, 2004 of the computer seized by the state found that the user accessed the site www.walgreens.com/storelocator.
On Monday Yan Kim Lee, a pharmacist at the Walgreen's on New Durham Road in Edison, testified that on the morning of April 28 she filled a prescription for chloral hydrate for a woman named Tiffany Bain, on script signed by Dr. Bradley Miller of Reproductive Medicine Associates in Morristown.
Melanie McGuire worked at the RMA office as a nurse, and at the time of her husband's death she was having an affair with Miller.
Lee testified that she typically fills only about three or four prescriptions annually for chloral hydrate.
In her testimony Seymour said she was able to trace e-mails on Hotmail accounts allegedly used by McGuire and Miller. She said the e-mails seemed to indicate the two had a romantic relation-ship, with such phrases as "I love you," and "I miss you."
Seymour said that on Sept. 8, 2005, the State Police obtained eight computers, three laptops and eight hand-held devices as part of the murder investigation.
In her testimony today, she said she examined the contents of a computer obtained at the office of McGuire's attorney, though she did not identify the name of the attorney. She also said she tested a home computer used by the Woodbridge couple, and a home computer used by her parents, who now live in Barnegat.
The HP Pavilion computer obtained from McGuire's attorney's office had a 60 gigabyte hard drive, and not all of it was searched by Seymour.
She told the jury that it is known in the computer industry that if information stored on a 12 gigabyte computer was put on paper it would create a stack of paper higher than the Empire State Building.
The first person to testify Tuesday was David A. Barron, a forensics examiner for the state of Virginia, who participated in the initial murder investigation.
Barron testified that he did not examine William McGuire's re-mains for chloral hydrate. He said his office no longer has the samples it used to test for alcohol and certain drugs.
"The protocol is once we complete our testing we submit it to the investigating agency," he said. "My understanding is that it has been destroyed."
Under cross examination by defense attorney Stephen Turano, Barron said no test for chloral hydrate was done on the remains.
When asked by Prezioso if it is routine in autopsies to test for "every substance known to man-kind," Barron said, "We could do a research project on any case we receive, but we don't have the manpower."
The state's second witness, Donna Todd, the director of the Kinder Castle daycare center in Metuchen where the McGuire's 4-year-old son was enrolled, testified for the state about the child's attendance record on April 28, 2004, the day the state alleges the murder take place.
On cross examination by Joseph Tacopina she also testified about his attendance on April 29. Ac-cording to her records the boy arrived at the daycare center at 8:30 a.m.
Todd told the jury that Melanie McGuire explained to her that she was obtaining a temporary restraining order against her husband, and told her about a fight the night before that ended when William stuffed a dryer cloth into her mouth.
Tacopina asked Todd if McGuire looked "upset or crazed."
"She did look upset," said Todd.
Gnome 2.18 Released
GNOME 2.18
GNOME 2.18 is the latest version of the popular, multi-platform free desktop environment, providing all the tools a user needs for everyday work, and a platform for developers to write new software.
GNOME's focus is ease of use, stability, and first class internationalization and accessibility support, so that GNOME and its applications are usable by anyone, anywhere. GNOME runs on a variety of platforms, including GNU/Linux (commonly called Linux), Solaris, HP-UX, BSD and Apple's Darwin. Work has been done in this release to make it easier to port GNOME tools to Windows as well.
GNOME is part of The GNU Project, and is Free Software.
GNOME 2.18 Release Notes
The Release Notes explain the contents of this release, showing what GNOME is, what's new, and how to get it, with links to further information.
The Release Notes are available in other languages: Arabic, Catalan, German, French, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Panjabi, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai.
We encourage you to submit screenshots of GNOME 2.18 to our gallery. You can check out the great screenshots submitted by our intrepid community. These shots demonstrate our users' beautiful desktops, as well as some of the new features in this version of GNOME.
Getting GNOME 2.18
LiveCD and Disk Images for Virtual Machines
To download and preview the latest version of GNOME, try our easy LiveCD. Download, burn, and reboot - Without touching your current system, it just shows you the latest and greatest in GNOME and beyond.
You can alternatively download a disk image, and launch GNOME in a virtual machine using your favorite virtualization software. You don't even have to leave your current system to try out GNOME!
The LiveCD and the disk images contain all of our supported languages.
GNOME in Distributions
Although Linux distributions and other flavors of UNIX do not immediately integrate new GNOME versions, in the next few months many of the biggest distributions will package and ship GNOME 2.18. To see the latest information about who is shipping GNOME 2.18, visit our Get Footware page.
Building From Source
Of course, our sources are always available so you can build GNOME from scratch. To ease the build, we recommend that you use GARNOME or jhbuild.
Source Tarballs:
Other Announcements
The Community Announcement is the official email announcing the release to the people who actually did the work.
Users
Developers
GNOME 2.18 (Simply Beautiful)
GNOME 2.18 is out, on time as usual. The top-class free desktop for the masses looks and feels better than ever. This is another progressive release in our road to perfection. It integrates another load of improvements done in the visual design, the performance of the desktop components, and the growing collection of integrated applications. The web browser and the themeable window manager are two good examples to check.
Personal security is now fully integrated into the desktop, allowing digitally signed communications, encryption of emails and local files, and user-friendly management of personal keys. Internationalization records progress in all directions, with support for vertical text layout and a full Arabic localization matching the quality standards. The official release incorporates essential tools for developers, which hopefully will contribute to get more and better software for the GNOME users.
What's more important, for the first time we ship online games, chess with a 3D look, and endless Sudoku entertainment.
The GNOME desktop is distributed through free and commercial operating systems including Debian, Fedora, Mandriva, OpenSolaris, RedHat, SLED and Ubuntu. GNOME is also present inside XO (the One Laptop Per Child device) and an increasing collection of mobile devices. Users can already get their hands on GNOME 2.18 trying our official live demos or the testing versions released by some distributions. Check the Get Footware page and give it a try.
In More Detail
Everyone
- Tomboy, the note-taking applet, helps you to keep better track of your most important notes by pinning them, making sure they will always easier to find.
- Using Tomboy to create lists is now as simple as adding a * or a -.
- Never lose track of your work and pick up where you left off by finding the recently opened files, or just search for new distractions with the new Deskbar applet.
- Find out where all your disk space is going with the new ring chart view in GNOME's Disk Usage Analyzer.
- Save battery power with GNOME Power Manager's control over your processor.
- Whether you have two monitors or not, the GNOME Document Viewer now supports opening multiple instances of a document at the same time.
- Use the new history feature to navigate your documents like a web page.
- Hand out better printed slide notes and keep your audience engaged with Evince's new presentation mode.
- Digitally sign or authenticate your documents using Seahorse, the new front-end to GNU Privacy Guard.
- Use Seahorse to manage the security of your desktop and your OpenPGP and SSH keys.
Developers
- Create applications faster using the new Glade graphical interface builder.
- Display all your reference documentation using the new integrated help system.
- Improved bug reporting ensures that GNOME just keeps getting better.
Fun
- Encode your audio in more formats including OGG, MP3 or even AAC!
- Turn up the volume on your music and movies with the new and improved volume control that now supports advanced sound cards including the Audigy 2.
- Take a break and try our two new games: Chess with glChess, where you can play either against a friend; or try to master the computer opponent or try yourself in solving a Sudoku with GNOME Sudoku, the Japanese crossword puzzle.
- Challenge a friend to an online game of Nibbles, Iagno, or Four-in-a-Row.
Share Your Desktop
- Connect to your desktop from anywhere in the world.
- If you rotate your photos in the camera, they stay that way when you view them with the Eye of GNOME Image Viewer.
- Show your friends how you customized your desktop from the login screen to the appearance of your favorite GNOME applications.
Universal Access
- Added support for vertical text layouts in Chinese and Japanese.
- Added New text-to-speech drivers including Loquendo, Cepstral Swift, and eSpeak.
- Improved support for Orca.
- Improved support for Chinese using the IBMTTS engine.
- Improved support for Gnome Magnifier.
- Added Thai dictionary to GNOME Dictionary.
- Improved results display in GNOME Dictionary.
About GNOME
We produce free software that makes computers friendly, useful, and fun. We provide a graphical environment that is easy to use, a set of integrated programs, and tools to develop and maintain your own applications.
GNOME is available in dozens of languages. It is compatible with multiple operating systems. It works on home computers, laptops, mobile devices, supercomputers, and small embedded appliances. You can find GNOME across the world in homes, schools, offices, and probably also in your neighborhood.
GNOME has won a reputation for its simplicity and ease of use. We love software that just works: logical, clean, intuitive, and full of sense. Attention to detail is always appreciated: we polish interfaces as well as internal processes, in a constant search for beauty and integration.
The coordination of this large project relies on the GNOME Foundation, an open organization formed by volunteers, professionals and companies.
Learn more about GNOME's best assets at www.gnome.org.
Windows Vista Brute-Force Attack Alive and Kicking
Enlarge picture
The Windows Vista brute-force crack is alive and still kicking. While the original Windows Vista Brute Force KeyGen has proved to be nothing more than a hoax, with its author coming up
in the open and not only apologizing for creating the crack but also revealing that it was not functional, the key generator workaround for Vista is not yet history. Not even by far.
In fact, the Windows Vista brute-force crack has survived and even got updated. However, it appears that the Vista Brute-Force Method GUI 0.1 + SourceCode has a new father that identifies himself as “stof91.”
“I strongly suggest that you use SoftMod, if you are looking to illegally activate Windows Vista.
(Which doesn't mean that I'm not against it). I stopped development, and will only continue if everyone stops complaining and if it's needed, I had a look at SoftMod.. and it seems that it's the way to go... The application will stay online, until it is removed... after that, you can pm me if you want it,” stof91 revealed.
However, he does offer not only the Windows Vista brute-force crack with a streamlined interface but also the proof-of-concept for the workaround. The brute-force attack is designed in such a manner that it will randomly search for legitimate product keys for the operating system. The actual functionality is similar to the first version released by ComputerUser. This version brings nothing new to the table in comparison to the original release, and as such it is just as much of a hoax, although the author did provide a screenshot designed to prove that the brute force attack actually works.
MIT provides blueprint for future use of coal
Leading academics from an interdisciplinary MIT panel issued a report today that examines how the world can continue to use coal, an abundant and inexpensive fuel, in a way that mitigates, instead of worsens, the global warming crisis. The study, "The Future of Coal--Options for a Carbon Constrained World," advocates that the United States assume global leadership on this issue through adoption of significant policy actions.
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According to Deutch, "As the world's leading energy user and greenhouse gas emitter, the U.S. must take the lead in showing the world CCS can work. Demonstration of technical, economic and institutional features of CCS at commercial scale coal combustion and conversion plants will give policymakers and the public confidence that a practical carbon mitigation control option exists, will reduce cost of CCS should carbon emission controls be adopted and will maintain the low-cost coal option in an environmentally acceptable manner."
Moniz added, "There are many opportunities for enhancing the performance of coal plants in a carbon-constrained world--higher efficiency generation, perhaps through new materials; novel approaches to gasification, CO2 capture and oxygen separation; and advanced system concepts, perhaps guided by a new generation of simulation tools. An aggressive R&D effort in the near term will yield significant dividends down the road and should be undertaken immediately to help meet this urgent scientific challenge."
Key findings in this study include:
-- Coal is a low-cost, per BTU, mainstay of both the developed and developing world, and its use is projected to increase. Because of coal's high carbon content, increasing use will exacerbate the problem of climate change unless coal plants are deployed with very high efficiency and large-scale CCS is implemented.
-- CCS is the critical enabling technology because it allows significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions while allowing coal to meet future energy needs.
-- A significant charge on carbon emissions is needed in the relatively near term to increase the economic attractiveness of new technologies that avoid carbon emissions and specifically lead to large-scale CCS in the coming decades. We need large-scale demonstration projects of the technical, economic and environmental performance of an integrated CCS system. We should proceed with carbon sequestration projects as soon as possible. Several integrated large-scale demonstrations with appropriate measurement, monitoring and verification are needed in the United States over the next decade with government support. This is important for establishing public confidence for the very large-scale sequestration program anticipated in the future. The regulatory regime for large-scale commercial sequestration should be developed with a greater sense of urgency, with the Executive Office of the President leading an interagency process.
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-- The U.S. government should provide assistance only to coal projects with carbon dioxide capture in order to demonstrate technical, economic and environmental performance.
-- Today, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle appears to be the economic choice for new coal plants with CCS. However, this could change with further research development and demonstration, so it is not appropriate to pick a single technology winner at this time, especially in light of the variability in coal type, access to sequestration sites and other factors. The government should provide assistance to several "first of their kind" coal utilization demonstration plants, but only with carbon capture.
-- Congress should remove any expectation that construction of new coal plants without carbon dioxide capture will be "grandfathered" and granted emission allowances in the event of future regulation. This is a perverse incentive to build coal plants without carbon dioxide capture today.
-- Emissions will be stabilized only through global adherence to carbon dioxide emission constraints. China and India are unlikely to adopt carbon constraints unless the United States does so and leads the way in the development of CCS technology.
-- Key changes must be made to the current Department of Energy research development and demonstration program to successfully promote CCS technologies. The program must provide for demonstration of CCS at scale; a wider range of technologies should be explored; and modeling and simulation of the comparative performance of integrated technology systems should be greatly enhanced.
The report is available online at http://web.mit.edu/coal .
Source: MIT
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