~e; this week's EM urls

[bc <human@electronetwork.org>]

[some urls from emptying the basket of urls collected this week]


(1)-- The Invisible Lightness of Beams

Company promotes Internet access via laser beams that zap through windows.

By ROY RIVENBURG, TIMES STAFF WRITER

http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000027771apr19.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%
2Dtechnology

"Even so, Terabeam is an odd enterprise. Founded five years ago by an eccentric
inventor, the company delivers high-speed Internet access via laser beams zapped
through office windows. It might sound like science fiction, but Terabeam is
actually borrowing technology developed by the military during the Cold War,
when submarines used blue-green lasers to chat with satellites.
...
"To bypass the roadblock, Terabeam and several competitors are selling "fiber
optics without the fiber." They install space-age laser devices on high-rise
rooftops and windowsills, then beam data through the sky, building to building.
Think of it as an electronic version of the carrier pigeon, except this "pigeon"
hauls enough information to fill a 747 and flies at the speed of light."



(2)-- Banner Ad Museum (related to the offline, billboard advertisements)

http://www.banneradmuseum.com/

Virtual Galleries       Galleries       International Galleries
Flash Banners           Java Banners    Test Your Banner
Banner fine art...      Tell A Friend   Recent Additions
Guest curator           Interested ?    Best of 2000        Top Banners

"Never before have the concerted efforts of more talent and energy been devoted
to the design and implementation of a single advertising vehicle as with the
Banner Ad.

Just 468 by 60 pixels, this small rectangle must carry a corporate identity,
deliver a message and first and foremost get the viewer to click through.

The Banner Ad Museum is a repository for the professional, student and casual
visitor alike to see the art, science and engineering of the Banner Ad as it is
today ‹ in the beginning ‹ and hopefully, to track its evolution in the years to
come."



(3)-- Sea Change

The next wave of renewable power is bigger, cheaper, and multi-megawatts
stronger than ever before. And it's about to go online in the North Sea.

By Alex Markels

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.05/windfarms.html

snippet: 

"First developed in the United States during the 1970s, and fueled by government
subsidies and tax credits as a result of the energy crisis, wind farms enjoyed a
short-lived boom in the US and Northern Europe. But as energy prices stabilized
and governments withdrew funding, the fledgling industry went all but bust. An
exception was Denmark, which continued to subsidize the industry and eventually
established a long-term target of generating 50 percent of the country's
electricity supply with wind-based systems. Turbine manufacturers there
continued to advance the technology. And when demand finally returned in the
1990s amid higher oil prices and growing environmental concerns, the Danes found
themselves in a position to dominate the market. 

Today, Denmark is the world's leading supplier of wind energy systems - and one
of its most dedicated consumers. It generates more than 2,500 megawatts from
wind, about 13 percent of its total electricity usage. Four of the five largest
manufacturers are Danish, among them Nordex A/S, maker of a 2.5-megawatt system,
the world's biggest. Last year, Nordex announced plans to build a 5-megawatt
generator for offshore applications - more than twice as powerful as the ones
off Skegness."



(4)-- Thinking Cap or Dunce's Hat? 

By Daithí Ó hAnluain     

"It sounds like an April Fool's joke but it's more like Ripley's Believe it or
Not! Two Australian scientists claim they've turned a metaphor into a new device
­- they believe they've invented a "thinking cap." 

Professor Allan Snyder and Dr. Elaine Mulcahy say they have completed
experiments that proved they could increase the creative function of the brain
using magnetism. 
...
Snyder believes autistic savants have access to very fast, early brain
processing, the unconscious skills that calculate, say, the trajectory of a
softball without the batter being aware. These early processing functions are at
the heart of hand-to-eye coordination and visual skills, like differentiating a
ball from a disc. 

Anyone can access this early processing using TMS, which inhibits the electrical
signals in left brain neurons, mimicking temporarily the brain pattern of
autistic savants, Snyder believes. 

It's hard to believe, but the "thinking cap" cannot be dismissed as vaporware.
...
"We've definitely shown that (we) can bypass the executive brain and do things
we cannot normally do."

http://wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,51421,00.html


[end]

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