There are many types of solar cells. Some solar cells involve crystalline silicon just like computer chips and others use amorphous silicon, but all types benefit from Moore's Law. In fact one especially good aspect of solar cells is that they can make use of older process technologies that are obsolete for computer work. So every time Intel or AMD builds a new fab there is a market in the solar industry for their old machines. Look at those round solar cells used in many arrays today and you'll notice the smaller wafer sizes favored in Silicon Valley 15-20 years ago. That's no coincidence. - James Corbett
In a hard-hitting television documentary, BBC journalist Tim Whewell visited South Ossetia to find out what really happened during the war. Eyewitnesses interviewed by Whewell allege that Georgian tanks and artillery deliberately fired on civilian apartments, and even attacked refugees attempting to flee the conflict. The BBC notes that if these allegations are true, such actions constitute war crimes and a violation of the Geneva Convention. Georgia’s President Saakashvilli has rejected the allegations. But the BBC isn't the only western voice now questioning the honesty of Georgian accounts. - James Corbett
WE NEED TO TELL better stories about home-grown Irish technology and target those stories at teens attending events like Science Week Ireland. Some really interesting stories remain buried behind the walls of incubation centres or stuffed inside cubicles where sweaty coders make products. - James Corbett
our Bedford branch have developed a distributed mechanism to deploy endpoints and conference servers (note that although they are sometimes referred to as “MCUs”, it is probably more accurate to refer to the whole conferencing infrastructure as “MCU”, which is distributed) in an enterprise network and fully utilize this environment automatically, regardless of physical locations or initial setup - James Corbett
The significance is that China’s activity is in the middle stages—manufacturing, plus some component supply and engineering design—but America’s is at the two ends, and those are where the money is. The smiley curve, which shows the profitability or value added at each stage, starts high for branding and product concept, swoops down for manufacturing, and rises again in the retail and servicing stages. The simple way to put this—that the real money is in brand name, plus retail—may sound obvious, but its implications are illuminating. - James Corbett
Subsequent to some more frantic viewing, Andy McMillan and I have put the stake in the ground and decided that CoWorking Belfast will be opening soon. - James Corbett
I just returned from a World Economic Forum conference on designing a post-crisis global system. The ruler of Dubai was nice enough to pick up the tab for the confab, so I flew business class on one of the double-decker A380 jumbo jets flown by Emirates Airlines. It was without doubt the best-designed flying experience I've had on any commercial airline. - James Corbett
High definition video conferencing is coming home. Cisco plans to launch a consumer version of its HD video conferencing Telepresence system in about a year, according to Cisco CEO John Chambers - James Corbett
Looming even larger is another question: what if KirstenLee Cinquetti's viewer is better in many respects than the official Second Life version? Then we face not just a possible fork in the metaverse, but a competition of viewers akin to the web browser wars of the 90s. - James Corbett
The robotics geeks at Honda have developed an exoskeleton that is worn like shoes to support the body and protect the joints, something the automaker says could reduce injuries on assembly lines but also might help the elderly get around more easily. - James Corbett
Coworking Belfast has been stuck in the paperwork phase for the past couple of months - so needless to say developments have been few and far between. However, we’re almost done with the application for charitable status and have been pre-emptively filling out some funding applications in the mean time. - James Corbett
An interesting new Irish Social Networking site called Hobeze launched recently. As its name suggests, it’s broken down into hobbies, sports, interests etc. Apart from general social groupings, the most popular sections of the site are soccer, golf, scouting and rugby. At the moment they have 670+ hobbies created. - James Corbett
Rather than be sidetracked by the possibility of losing advantages over which we have little control, such as incentives for encouraging foreign investment, lets focus on the advantages nobody can take away. Our excellent wind and wave potential, our good agricultural environment, and above all, our ability to adapt very quickly to changing times. - James Corbett
At a time when the country should be looking to steer clear of recession, Irish Government bodies and civil servants are by instinct bureaucratic rather than innovative, the president of Dublin City University, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski warned last week. “The State should stop establishing public sector bodies that are styled ‘Authority’ or ‘Board’, as these suggest a culture of control and bureaucracy. Instead we should favour ‘Agency’ or ‘Service’, which may help also to instil a spirit of service amongst officials,” von Prondzynski said at a graduation ceremony. - James Corbett
If Apple were to release an iTouch (an iPod Touch without the iPod functionality) that simply was a processor, OS, wifi, touch screen, browser, and a minimal amount of storage (but not enough for photos and music), it would be a killer device to build home controller apps on. I think it could be sold for less than $150 (I'd love to hear some opinions of what Apple could sell it for profitably). And it could participate in the app ecosytem like the iPhone and iPod Touch can. It might even be a great game device too. - James Corbett
A group of Irish people living and working in London have been roped in by the Irish embassy there to help kick-start a new social networking site. The site Irish Network Great Britain is aimed at Irish people working in the UK. - James Corbett
For individual task management without too much fuss, though, TaskFive seems like a pretty great solution. TaskFive is a free service, requires a sign-up to use. - James Corbett
Bloomberg reports that about 30 percent of the netbooks sold by Acer and Asus, the current market leaders, run Linux. That’s huge, when you consider the fact that Windows controls about 90% of the personal computer market, and that netbooks currently represent the fastest growing segment of that market. According to Bloomberg, it’s one of the reasons that Microsoft’s revenue was below estimates last quarter. - James Corbett
