America's energy transformation will be driven by the green technology investments of the next decade. Research findings will be discussed at a symposium this week at the Washington University in St. Louis. ...
... "The report will be the topic of a symposium to be held from 12:30-5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in the May Auditorium in Simon Hall. Titled America's Energy Future: Technology and Transformation, the capstone report summarizes findings from the America's Energy Future project, an ongoing research effort sponsored by the NRC, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering. " ...
Combined with a UPI-based design, the PIM solution helps IT managers ensure their network resources are being effectively utilized, but also provides the visibility to provide timely alerts when connectivity failures occur ? and even provide information required to prevent network failure in the first place.
Label changes are being proposed for lamps, meaning lightbulbs, to enable more informed decisions by consumers. The facts about energy, brightness, lifecycle, and hazardous materials will be more accessible. ...
... "The proposed package labeling amendments create a two-panel labeling format: a front panel with brightness and energy cost information and a Lighting Facts label with additional information on the side or rear panel. This two-panel approach benefits consumers by providing the most important information in a simple-to-read format on the package front and more detailed information on the side or rear panel. The proposed required disclosures are brightness, energy cost, life, color appearance, wattage, mercury content, and, for non-standard voltage bulbs, voltage information." ...
Southwest has remade on of their planes, tail # WN222 into a test bed for eco-friendly products. As it is in revenue sservice you may get a chance to check it out! "At Southwest, we are all about innovation ... the paint isn't green, ... you probably can't tell much difference on the interior, but our Green Plane is a "test lab" of eco-friendly products that we are evaluating. ... we hope to be able to reduce the weight of the aircraft by up to five pounds per seat, saving fuel and reducing emissions while being good environmental stewards. ... environmental decisions can also make good business sense ... are the first airline to do something like this. " " ... aircraft, WN222 ... to serve as a test for these eco-friendly products and other future initiatives. ... Green Plane will be in regular revenue service so we can evaluate normal wear and durability. If you're lucky enough to be on the Green Plane, expect a post-flight survey where we ask what you think and how we are doing." See the video ... Via: Southwest Airlines LINK
[In his ongoing but sporadic series Don't Throw That Away!, the Green Cheapskate shows you how to repurpose just about anything, saving money and the environment in the process. Send him your repurposing ideas and challenges, but whatever you do, don't throw that away!]
I was a bank robber, the first Halloween I can remember. That involved carrying a burlap bag filled with stacks of newsprint "loot" over my shoulder, wearing a black turtleneck sweater like Illya Kuryakin wore in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and -- most memorably -- sliding one of my grandmother's worn out silk stockings over my head.
That memory (the last part, in particular) is etched upon my mind. And, my therapist says, no amount of counseling is ever likely to erase it.
Silk stockings are of course as long gone as my dear grandmother; truly sad to say, in both cases. But here are 20 creative ways to repurpose today's worn-out nylon pantyhose, even if you're not planning to rob a bank:
Gift wrap storage: Keep rolls of gift paper neat and tatter-free by storing them in old pantyhose -- one roll per leg -- and hanging them in the closet.
Green Cheapskate soap on a rope: Put bath soap slivers in the foot of a pair of pantyhose to get every last bit of suds out of them in the shower. Rub-a-dub-dub, there's a cheapskate in my tub. (See more "Recycling Oddities.")
Plant ties: Use lengths of pantyhose to stake up tomatoes and other plants in the garden; because of its elasticity, it's easier on tender plants than string.
Mold and mildew stoppers: Partially fill pantyhose with kitty litter and place in shoes, luggage, closets, dressers, etc., to absorb moisture and reduce mold and mildew.
Panty-pantry storage: Store onions, potatoes, and garlic in pantyhose and hang them in the pantry to promote good air circulation and keep them from rotting.
Sweet smelling sachets: Fill lengths of pantyhose with potpourri, tie off at both ends, and use to keep closets and dressers smelling sweet. They also work well when filled with cedar shavings or moth-repelling herbs to prevent damage to clothing in storage.
Pillow stuffing: Cut pantyhose into strips and use to stuff throw pillows or toys.
Repair torn pair in a pinch: If she has a run in the left leg and a matching pair with a run in the right, my wife sometimes cuts off her bad legs (so to speak) and doubles up, wearing two layers of panties with a good leg attached to each. (God I love that frugal woman.)
Packing peanut storage: Store menacing foam packing peanuts in a pair of pantyhose to keep them from invading the house until you're ready to reuse them. Cut a hole in the toe and tie it off with a twisty seal for easy peanut dispensing.
Homemade Bungee cords: The elasticity of pantyhose make them perfect all-purpose tie down straps, or tie a metal "S" hook from the hardware store on each end for a homemade Bungee cord.
Lint mitt: Use like a mitten to remove lint and pet hair from clothing and upholstery rather than a lint brush. The mitt will also remove deodorant residue from clothing.
Scratch-less scrubbers: Try pantyhose to scrub tile and other surfaces where you're afraid of scratches. Also good for applying polishes to silver, brass, gold and other easily scratched metals.
Protect prized veggies: Put pantyhose over vegetables like squash and melons while they're still growing in the garden to protect against pest damage without using chemical pesticides. Is that a zucchini in your pantyhose, or are you just happy to see me?
Flower bulb storage: Store seasonal bulbs in pantyhose and hang them up in a dry place to promote good air circulation.
Shoe shine buffer: Old pantyhose are perfect for putting the spit-shine on shoes.
Wear them outdoors: Guys, don't be shy about sporting a pair of worn out pantyhose next time you go camping or work in the yard. Real outdoorsmen (and outdoorswomen) have known for years that they prevent chigger and other insect bites and minimize foot blister.
Draft dodgers: Partially fill pantyhose with kitty litter to seal off cold drafts from under doors and windows.
Fishing trick: When I wasn't wearing my Granny's worn out stockings over my head, my Gramps was using them to catch catfish. He'd wrap a piece of chicken liver bait in a section of nylon stocking to keep it on the hook; the fish would still bite, and he'd still have his bait.
Paint/stain/plaster applicator: Use pantyhose to add interesting texture and designs when applying and/or finishing paint and plaster.
Special photo effects: Stretch pantyhose over your camera lens to give photos a muted or starburst effect. (Note: It's best to have her take them off before you try this.)
Being in the reservation and sales services business requires a top-notch communication system. Especially when it comes to phone and fax technology. When ITS Magellan Services, a company that offers reservation and sales services to more than 700 independent hotels in about 30 countries, needed to streamline its operation, it turned to RingCentral, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of Internet phone systems for small businesses.
As enterprises continue to expand their global footprint, executives are searching for high tech tools to help them reign in the cost of doing business. One sector that appears to be bolstering despite the economic downturn is unified communications. And companies in Asia and the Middle East, in particular, are taking advantage of the technology, a new Frost & Sullivan report found.
SES WORLD SKIES, an SES company reportedly announced the successful launch of NSS-12 satellite into space on-board an Ariane 5 ECA booster from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Initial signals from NSS-12 were confirmed received at a control station in Uralla, Australia.
PAETEC Holding Corp. a provider of data, voice, and Internet solutions to business-class customers, has reportedly announced that it launched a new, enhanced Web site that highlights its capabilities in serving the needs of today's businesses. Company officials said that it took nearly a year to design the new look and to feed relevant details to the Web site to make it easier for users to find information quickly. The site now includes links for people to follow PAETEC on popular social media sites.
GCI, an Alaska-based telecommunications company, has reportedly installed Harmonic's SUPRALink 1550nm DWDM transmission system and PWRBlazer segmentable nodes to expand its network bandwidth capacity.
Organizations have identified business travel as a means to cut costs and be 'greener' by reducing environment-damaging air-and-road trips via conferencing. At the same time they are also seeking ways to bolster productivity through these solutions. ILinc, which provides Web and video conferencing software and services, has launched the iLinc 10 Fall Release aimed at achieving both needs.
Companies' need to control costs coupled with multiple work places and growing competition are some of the reasons why businesses in the South Asia and Middle East region are adopting unified communications, including Web conferencing solutions, a new report found. The Frost & Sullivan report found that growth in India, the largest buyer of UC applications, for example is expected to grow at a pace of 7.9 percent at a CAGR between 2008 and 2015.
CRM software vendor NetSuite has introduced a new cloud-based business management suite for global services companies, NetSuite OneWorld Services Resource Planning (SRP). NetSuite claims this new offering -- made possible through the integration of OpenAir's (which NetSuite acquired last year) cloud-based PSA (professional services automation) solutions with NetSuite's cloud-based platform -- gives global services businesses comprehensive real-time visibility, integrated financials, resource optimization and services management from corporate, to subsidiaries, down to the individual project level across geographies, currencies, and tax jurisdictions.
By offering telephony boards that work more like turn-key solutions ? rather than major, all-involving communications technology projects ? Positron Telecom makes it easier for customers to quickly and affordably deploy VoIP across their organizations. The company's solutions are fully-customizable ? companies can use Positron's PBX PCI adapters to deploy VoIP and conferencing organization wide ? or even a full featured contact center system with intelligent call routing.
Novatel Wireless boasted 20 percent revenue growth and strong bottom line results for the third quarter of 2009 fueled by the launch of MiFi, a portable WiFi hotspot.
Axeda Corporation, the on-demand intelligent asset management company, reportedly has entered into an alliance partner agreement with ORBCOMM Inc., a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way Machine-to-Machine, or M2M communications.
Speech recognition technologies have typically been deployed to achieve ROI and the ROI has been derived from labor cost savings such as enabling a natural interface for people to interact with computers compared with the much more expensive option of interacting with other people. The technology has been supplanting DTMF a.k.a. TouchTone IVR for more complex exchanges that have led callers to 'zero-out' to live contact center agents. Microsoft is reportedly rolling out solutions, which capture and utilize the benefits of speech recognition.
U.S. based operators SureWest Communications, an integrated communications provider and Reservation Telephone Cooperative , a local provider of voice, data, and video services, have reportedly deployed 180SQUARED's v.Allegro solutions set to rapidly plan, integrate and launch their Microsoft Mediaroom implementations. 180SQUARED offers an extensible integration framework to maximize the profitability of IPTV services for service providers.
The United States Army has reportedly licensed Transparent's CL-150 Technology Matrix for Critical Languages for use by all its foreign area officers. Transparent Language officials said that the CL-150 is an extensive suite of software applications and content for language learning. The CL-150 Technology Matrix for Critical Languages, or "the CL-150," is research-based, experience-driven, multi-language, multi-platform software that economically and effectively supports both general language learning and language learning for specialized government purposes.
Beijing CandidSoft Technology Co. Ltd. (CandidSoft), a subsidiary of China Voice Holding Corporation reportedly has signed an agreement with China Mobile, a mobile network and mobile subscriber base carrier, to provide CandidSoft with preferential rates and cooperation. The China Mobile agreement term is for five years. Company officials said that both agreements are revenue sharing arrangements and also provide for installation and support of the company's current Chinese government and large enterprise customer contracts for SKY O/A office automation with integrated digital voice application in the Guangxi Province.
Vocollect, Inc., a major player in voice solutions for mobile workers, has established of an office in Hong Kong and reportedly hired Vance Lau as managing director for the territory. Lau's career spans more than 20 years in the information technology industry, with more than half of it in supply chain provider companies.
IPC Systems, a provider of indispensable communications solutions to financial services firms, reportedly has expanded its global network coverage with the addition of a new direct point-of-presence in Dubai. Company officials said that the new POP facility located at the Dubai International Financial Centre helps IPC Dubai-based clients dramatically reduce the installation time to connect with trading venues across Europe and Asia-Pacific.
China Crescent Enterprises' pending contract with Aoyuan Electronic Co. Ltd in Dalian, China, for $36 million over three years, is expected to close and go into service next month. Company officials said that the CEO Paul Danner is slated to meet with the client in China the week of Nov. 9 for finalize and execute the contract. Preparations to complete the contract are underway and service is expected to start immediately, the company said.
Harris Corporation has reportedly received a $196.5 million contract from the Department of State Consular Affairs IT Services. As part of the five-year contract, the company will support the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs to deliver critical services to U.S. citizens domestically and overseas, and facilitate foreign visitors traveling to the United States.
Just as important as having an ATCA solution in place that supports current standards is ensuring you have one that's future proofed for the next generation of technology.
During a busy month that included a trek to Satcon to demonstrate its iNetVu portable satellite antenna and, for the first time, its iNetVu SolarPack S1600, Ottawa-based C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. released results for the third quarter in 2009.
Juniper Networks reportedly said that it has licensed its Junos operating system to BLADE Network Technologies for the development of Junos-based blade server switches. BLADE Network Technologies is a provider of Gigabit and 10G Ethernet cloud-ready networking solutions for dynamic, enterprise data centers worldwide. Under the latest agreement, the company will be the exclusive global supplier of Junos-based blade server switches to server manufacturers.
Global Capacity, a Chicago-based provider of telecommunications information and logistics solutions, reportedly announced that GCPrice, the latest addition to its Software-as-a-Service application portfolio, has received a good response. A global source for automated tariff pricing information, GCPrice launched last week. The application provides accurate pricing and automated quotes, expediting the sales cycle. It also enhances profit by cutting down back-office cost per quote.
TANDBERG, a provider of telepresence, high-definition video conferencing and mobile video products and services, has reportedly strengthened interoperability with Microsoft with its latest Unified Communications Gateway technology.
Polycom, Inc., a global provider of telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, announced that its RMX 4000 real-time media conferencing platform was awarded 'Best Infrastructure Product' at the AdvancedTCA Summit 2009 Best of Show awards ceremony held recently.
Polycom, Inc., a global provider of telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, announced that its RMX 4000 real-time media conferencing platform was awarded 'Best Infrastructure Product' at the AdvancedTCA Summit 2009 Best of Show awards ceremony.
Polycom, Inc., a global provider of telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, announced that its RMX 4000 real-time media conferencing platform was awarded 'Best Infrastructure Product' at the AdvancedTCA Summit 2009 Best of Show awards ceremony.
ExteNet Systems reportedly announced that Cricket Communications, a provider of unlimited wireless services, has launched a new indoor wireless network that covers Chicago's famed McCormick Place convention center using ExteNet Systems' wireless-over-HVAC technology. McCormick Place comprises of four state-of-the-art buildings with a combined total of 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space, 1.2 million square feet all on one level, making it the nation's largest convention center.
Array Networks, a provider enterprise secure application delivery and universal access solutions for rapidly growing secure sockets layer virtual private network and application acceleration markets, announced the launch of the Array Business Continuity Pre-Paid License.
BroadSoft announced that it has joined forces with IBM to make it easier to provide real-time communication and collaboration tools in a cost effective and comprehensive way to businesses of all sizes.
Blue Ridge Communications reportedly has deployed Harmonic's Electra 8000 universal encoder to expand its HD offering to its subscribers in central and eastern Pennsylvania.
Up until a couple of years ago, ASKO, which manufactures and sells home appliances, was using traditional telephone systems in each of its five offices in Australia to handle customer service.
The system creates automated up-to the-minute reports and documentation that can be used to assist with policy management in compliance with corporate and/or regulatory reporting mandates and requirements.
In a pair of timely moves, Convio -- which provides hosted online marketing, fundraising, advocacy and constituent relationship management software and services to nonprofit organizations ? has unveiled its new Convio Web Services. This is a new set of standard interfaces for building client applications that retrieve and synchronize data with Convio.
iTriage, a new smartphone application from Healthagen provides a searchable database of symptoms that helps consumers decide when to consult a healthcare provider. What makes iTriage even smarter is that it is connecting an ecosystem of local healthcare providers to help users find the most appropriate local health service for their condition.
Cisco has announced that it is offering a collaboration platform to facilitate discussions at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Dec.7-18.
Tim Lorello, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of TeleCommunication Systems, a supplier of mission-critical wireless communications, was recently elected to serve a two-year term on the E9-1-1 Institute Board.
Infonetics Research's new report "SIP Trunking Deployment Strategies: North American Enterprise Survey" shows that SIP trunking is becoming more popular.
James Tomlinson, senior security strategist at Verizon Business, notes that Web applications can be weak links in a security framework, which can open a company to breaches by hackers looking to access data for financial gain. Indeed, according to the company's 2009 Data Breach Investigations Report, SQL injection attacks are responsible for 79 percent of breached records; online data accounts for 99.9 percent of breached records; 79 percent of attacks are against the application layer; 91 percent of all compromised records are linked to organized crime; and 94 percent of records are compromised via hacking.
AT&T is among the few companies in Forrester Research's independent report "The Forrester Wave: Managed Global Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Services, Q4 2009" credited as a leader in global MPLS services, the carrier announced this week.
724 Solutions, a provider of next-generation mobile data solutions, announced that it has deployed its Seamless Access system for next-generation mobile Internet and mobile broadband service for 14 global operators serving more than 165 million subscribers.
PCT International has announced the availability of its new "Battery Testing and Charging System," which has been designed to simplify the ability of cable system operators to test, re-charge and redeploy the units.
SoundBite Communications, Inc., has announced the introduction of the "Proactive Preference Management Solution Suite" to help organizations capture and manage consumer communication preferences.
Windstream Corp., a company that provides phone, high-speed Internet and high-definition digital TV services to customers in 16 states, has reportedly introduced a new managed router service for business customers.
