Pond Junk New Kerosene

Airbus is jumping onto the alt fuel bandwagon, working alongside Honeywell, International Aero Engines, UOP and JetBlue Airways to develop technology for turning algae and vegetable oil into fuel. Airbus is betting pond scum and veggies could provide 30 percent of all jet fuel by 2030.With the air industry under increasing pressure to rein in emissions and airlines taking it on the chin from rising fuel prices, the incentive to find an alternative to kerosene has never been higher. Although modern commercial jets are more efficient - and cleaner- than ever,  many in the industry agree they've still got a long way to go.

Airbus is one of the world's largest commercial jet makers, so its involvement lends credence - and a sense of urgency - to the project. UOP, a gas and chemical processing company, has already developed technology for converting natural gases and oils to military jet fuel under a project bankrolled by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). UOP says the technology could be applied to commercial jets. 

Edward M. Kennedy, A Seizure Victim

Edward M. Kennedy was airlifted Cape Cod to the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA after falling victim to a seizure.

A family spokeswoman said Saturday evening that Mr. Kennedy, 76, was “conscious, talking and joking with family” who had gathered at Massachusetts General Hospital. Several other Kennedy associates said they were told that the senator, Democrat of Massachusetts, would recover, but that he was scheduled to undergo tests to determine what caused the seizure.

Mr. Kennedy’s wife, Victoria, his children and niece Caroline Kennedy were among those who rushed to the hospital in Boston after he was taken by medical helicopter from Cape Cod Hospital. He fell ill at his family’s compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., shortly after 8 a.m. and was transported by fire officials to the local hospital.

Mr. Kennedy underwent surgery at the same hospital in October to remove a blockage in his left carotid artery, in part to prevent a stroke, which can be caused by the interruption of the flow of blood to the brain. The blockage was found as doctors were examining his back and neck, which were severely injured in an airplane crash in 1964. After the surgery, doctors recommended that he take aspirin to prevent blood clots. He was already on medication to control blood pressure and cholesterol.

GPS III Satellites

Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin announced that it had been awarded a $1.4 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the next-generation system, known as GPS III. The goal is to deliver better accuracy and availability for both civilian and military users of the navigation technology (which, after all, was born as a military innovation).

In the first round of the undertaking, lead contractor Lockheed, along with ITT and General Dynamics, will build eight GPS IIIA satellites, the first of which is due to go into orbit in 2014. Later increments--for which no dates were specified--will see the construction and deployment of eight GPS IIIB and 16 GPS IIIC satellites, with progressively advanced capabilities.

One advance that Lockheed is promising: Eventually, all of the 32 satellites will be able to receive simultaneous updates from a single ground station through a cross-linked command and control architecture. The artificial constellation will also feature "a new spot beam capability for enhanced military (M-Code) coverage and increased resistance to hostile jamming."

The Air Force is set to launch its final two Lockheed-built GPS IIR satellites, one in June and the other in September. That will make for a total of 20 IIR satellites, which are more autonomous than earlier models, put into service over the span of around a decade. These last two are among eight IIR(M) models, which provide both M-Code and L2C (for civilian use) signals. The satellite launching in June also will transmit on a frequency called L5, intended primarily for aviation safety-of-life applications.

Teens Hacked Government Pages

Spanish police have arrested five young computer hackers who allegedly disabled Internet pages run by government agencies in the U.S., Latin America and Asia, authorities said Saturday.

The National Police described the suspects as belonging to one of the most active hacker groups on the Internet and said two of the suspects are only 16 years old. The others are 19 or 20.

On the Internet, the group calls itself D.O.M Team, police said.

One of the group's techniques was to infiltrate Web sites and insert a page of its own, police said. A Google search turns up several hits with pages that fit this description.

The group attacked some 21,000 Web pages over the last two years, police said in a statement. The five were arrested this week in Barcelona, Burgos, Malaga and Valencia.

The statement did not identify which government Web sites the suspects are accused of tampering with.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported in March that the group had infiltrated NASA's Web page, but a police official said Saturday she could not confirm this. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department rules.

The group also hacked the Venezuelan national telephone company's page, and that of the Spanish telephone operator Jazztel, among others, the paper said.

El Mundo said it had contacted the group and it described itself not as a bunch of delinquents, but computer-lovers that raid Web sites to show system administrators the pages' vulnerabilities.

The Spanish investigation began in March after the Web page of a Spanish political party, Izquierda Unida, was disabled shortly after Spain's general election March 9.

The five suspects did not know each other personally, but rather just over the Internet. They were in contact with other members of the hacking group, mainly in Latin America, police said.

Associated Press

Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 Alpha

Mozilla has released Thunderbird 3.0 Alpha as a 'teaser' for Thunderbird users.  The Alpha does not include many of the feature 3.0 will have, but its a good idea of how the interface will work.

WWDC 2008 Sold Out

Apple confirmed yesterday that the Worldwide Developer's Conference this year is sold out.  This being the first time ever, some analysts say it may be partly because of the iPhone.  The App Store in being unveiled in June, and there will be sessions on using the iPhone SDK and writing using Cocoa

Gas Prices Set Yet Another Record

Six straight days of retail gas price increases to yet another record high of $3.718 a gallon

Clyclone Trouble

As aid heads toward Myanmar to help victims of the cyclone, 22,500 people are dead and around 40,000 are said to be missing

Is Free Satellite Radio In America's Future?

Attorneys General from Connecticut, Ohio, Maryland, and Washington have sent a letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin appealing for free satelite radio channels

McCain Criticizes Handling of Hurricane Katrina

John McCain criticized the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and promises that it will never happen again.

VMware Fusion 1.1.2

VMware has released an update to the popular VMware Fusion virtual computer software for the Mac platform.  Version 1.1.2 includes increased support for the MacBook Air, and now includes support for backing up your virtual machines using Time Machine, the built-in backup utility included in Mac OS X 10.5 (codename Leopard).  Other minor fixes included in this update include proper disconnection of USB devices at virtual machine shutdown time, remapped system keys, a repair to external speakers, and Simplified Chinese is now available.





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Apple's 2nd Fiscal Quarter Results

Apple profitted of 1.05 billion dollars during the second fiscal quarter between January and March.

Click on title to read a more in-depth article from our friends at MacWorld!

Apple Buys PA Semi

Apple bought processor designer PA Semi, but we don't know what for yet.  Speculation is Apple will use PA Semi's processor designs in an UMPC (ultra-mobile personal computer).

Sony Buys Gracenote

On Monday, Sony announced that it will buy Gracenote, for around $260 million.  Gracenote is known for their music identification technology.  Sony and Gracenote will remain separate, and Gracenote's management and workers shall not change.

AT&T To Lay Off More Than 4,000

AT&T plans to lay off over 4,000 people to compensate for first-quarter losses.

Pystar's Stunning Idea

Pystar, a company little known until yesterday, recently released a computer capable of running Mac OS X, and costs only $399.  The call it the OpenComputer, and it is capable of running Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), Microsoft Windows Vista, and Linux.  Although it is expected to arouse the attention of Apple's lawyers, analysts predict there is little Apple will be able to do.

MacHeist Retail Freeware Bundle

Monday, MacHeist, the popular organization, released a new software bundle called "The MacHeist Retail Bundle Unboxed".

The bundle includes Awaken, Cha-Ching, CoverSutra, DEVONthink Personal, iClip, Overflow, Wallet, WriteRoom, XSlimmer, Enigmo, Bugdom 2, and Nanosaur 2.  More details will be included in FryCast 3.

Food Aid

President Bush recently demanded that $200 million be released to help buy basic food in countries where costs are ever-rising.

Delta - Northwest Airlines Merger

Late Monday (today), a merger was announced between Delta and Northwest Airlines.  The resulting corporation will be named Delta, and will be the world's largest airline.  The board at the new Delta Airlines would consist of 7 Delta board members, 5 Northwest board members, and 1 representative from the Air Line Pilot's Association.  The transaction, which will be handled in stock, will total $17.7 billion.

Northwest shareholders will recieve 1.25 shares of Delta for every 1 Northwest share they own.  The main offices would be in Atlanta, Georgia, and executive offices might be in Minnesota.  The new company, Delta, would create over $1 billion in annual revenue, and the integration costs are estimated not to exceed $1 billion as well.

Although it seems as though every other aspect is playing out well, the one key point where the airlines have not yet agreed is pilots.  The pilots have not yet integrated their hierarchies, and this will pose a major problem.

The Microhooglespace News Corporation?

How exactly do you think all these deals will play out?  

Ok, here goes: Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo, and every bid Microsoft has made so far has not been enough, as Yahoo still believes that Microsoft undervalues the company.  Microsoft has threatened Yahoo with a 3 week deadline, or to prepare for a proxy fight.

Another surprise is that Yahoo is trying search ads from Google, their biggest competitor, so will there be another partnership?  Microsoft is looking for help to acquire Yahoo from News Corp., the parent company of MySpace.  Yahoo is also thinking of taking AOL in exchange for a large investment from Time Warner