September has not been a good month for politics in Japan. At the beginning of September, Agriculture Minister Takehiko Endo resigned only a week after being appointed. He admitted that a private farm group he heads was involved in illegal dealings – it had been paid 1.15m Yen ($9,900) by the state after overstating crop …
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Mobile phones as wallets
In the UK, the 5 big mobile phone service providers have launched, PayForIt, a payment system that turns handsets into digital wallets for buying goods and services with a value of up to £10 (€ 15). It is hoped to raise trust in using the handset as a payment tool and is expected to be …
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Livestock endangered by industrial agriculture too
Its not just wild flora and fauna that are endangered by the human footprint, cattle breeds and other domesticated animals are having their genetic diversity whittled away exposing them to disease. (Note the rapid spread of BSE, foot and mouth, bird flu etc.) At a recent UN summit on animal genetic resources, researchers from the …
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Cost of food rising fast, driving inflation and hurting the poor
The cost of food is rising fast. We had been expecting this because of variations in weather patterns which we feared would upset cultivation. However, the sudden interest in corn for ethanol, since the warnings last year by the Stern Review, An Inconvenient Truth and IPCC, has also contributed to an increase. The chart here …
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Antartica melting: images
Even the coldest continent on Earth is melting, say NASA scientists. These maps illustrate different aspects of seasonal melting on Antarctica. After analyzing 20 years of satellite data, scientists have concluded that persistent melting—melting that lasts for at least three daytime periods or one consecutive day and night—has been occurring increasingly farther inland and at …
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Green auto design: light, lean and cheap
That’s the objective of Gordon Murray, ex-Formula 1 car designer who recently launched a new company to design a green family car, the T25. Production will be outsourced for this concept car which Murray would like to have online in 18 months. He’s aiming for safety, efficiency and cost competitiveness. Let’s hope this initiative helps …
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Hacking kits available on-line
A recent report by the BBC highlighted the growing availability of hacking and virus writing tools. Available are easy to use tools that automate attacks. With prices up to € 750, you can find everything from individual viruses to comprehensive kits that let budding cyber thieves craft their own attacks. Some of the most expensive …
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Bee CCD caused by virus and other problems
At the beginning of the year reports of colony collapse disorder of bee populations seemed to swarm around the world. Many causes were suggested. Recent research reported in Science suggests that one organism, Israeli acute paralysis virus of bees, was strongly correlated with CCD. Unfortunately, this does not mean that prevention or a cure are …
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BBC iPlayer to be cross-platform
The recent launch of the BBC iPlayer, which allows viewers to see news reports and other programmes on line, was met with criticism because it was soft-launched as a Windows only device. More than 16,000 people have signed an electronic petition that called on the government to ensure the BBC’s iPlayer works on non-Windows PCs. …
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Internet service may become tiered
In comments to the US Federal Communications Commission, which is investigating net access, the Justice Department said that internet service providers should be allowed to charge for priority traffic saying it is opposed to “network neutrality” – the idea that all data on the net is treated equally. This is extraordinary; it is contrary to …
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