A Swiss adventurer, Bertrand Piccard, announced this week that he plans to fly around the world in a solar powered airplane. He is building the craft, Solar Impulse, with the help from the European Space Agency. The purpose if this flight will be to show the world that solar energy can replace fossil fuels.

In 1999, Piccard made the first non-stop ‘around the world ‘balloon flight and his solar flight, in 2010, will be a non-stop effort as well. This trip will be split into 5 stages, each stage taking 3-5 days and Piccard will fly west to east, 10 to 30 degrees north of the equator so that he can take advantage of winds and of course, sunlight.

Here is the official website of Solar Impulse.

European antitrust regulators raided the offices of Intel on Tuesday as a part of an on-going investigation into Intel’s business practices. The antitrust regulators are also inspecting offices of companies that make or sell PCs. Intel can expect more raids as AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) filed a law suit against Intel 2 weeks back claiming Intel used its market dominance to bully computer makers away from using AMD chips.
Sadly for Intel, its reputation supports AMD’s accusations. In March, Intel had also been investigated by the Fair Trade Commission of Japan (JFTC) and found guilty of violating anti-trust rules in Japan. The result: JFTC asked Intel to end its practice of promising funds to PC makers if the PC makers agreed not to use Intel’s competitors’ processors. They got off pretty easy in Japan ( I guess) but it will be totally different if they are found guilty in Europe and North America.

Click here to see the official complaint from AMD

Israeli security experts argue that there is no such thing as 100% protection against terrorist attacks but they are trying to reach there by increasingly relying on technology to fight terrorism. On July 5, Israel opened the first high-tech crossing point as a part of the west bank security fence. This facility, which is near Tulkarem, is designed to detect explosives and check ID cards. Soldiers are located well behind the barriers and there is no contact between the soldiers and the Palestinians. Palestinians passing through this new checkpoint must go through a metal detector, a magnetic resonance scan and a biometric ID check. This security fence also uses a video motion detection system which warns a control center of any intrusions along the fence.
On the developing technology front, a company called IDesia is developing a unique biometric identification technology based on body signals. “The electronic body signals created by each person differ and are far more reliable than fingerprints, voice, or face recognition,??? said Baruch Levanon, chief executive of IDesia.
Forget RFID tagged passports, using this technology, we would not need to carry passports at all. Get a visa stamped on your biometric record and travel.

Solio, a U.K. firm, has released a line of battery chargers that uses solar energy to energize iPods, mobile phones and other mobile devices as well. Both the iPod and the mobile phone charger feature a fan-blade design and looks like a gadget just out of the Star Trek series. When there is no sunlight, the Solio can be plugged into its wall charger.The rock group, Coldplay, recently agreed to release a limited edition of the Solio iPod charger featuring the art work of their new album, ‘X&Y’. I wish I had an iPod just to get this battery charger (I don’t think my ancient mobile phone will support this charger and my birthday is coming up, this might be taken as a hint).
Check out the price on Amazon.com

In a world where fanatical extremists attack innocent people and large companies spend their free time suing each other, it’s reassuring to see world leaders and CEOs showing that they care about what is happening in the world. Tony Blair was the first leader before the G8 summit to show his support for Africa and the environment and unlike other leaders, he wants to do all he can to help. Bill Gates made a surprise appearance at the Live 8 show to voice his support and as much as people may dislike Bill Gates and Microsoft, he has done a lot as a philanthropist. Bill and Melinda Gates have endowed a foundation with more than $27 billion to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, called up the family of a teenager who was killed for an iPod. Steve Jobs spoke to Errol Rose who was Christopher’s (the victim’s) father and asked how he was doing and conveyed his sympathies. “He told me that he understood my pain,” Rose said. “He told me if there is anything, anything, anything he could do, to not be afraid to call him. It really lightened me a bit.”

I am sure there are many more stories out there that will support the title of this post and if you do know of any, please share them with us.

An extra second will be added to the year 2005 to make up for the slowing down of the Earth’s rotation. This second is called a ‘Leap Second’ and it is the first one to be added since 1998. One of the culprits behind Earth’s unpredictable (to an extent) rotation is our moon because the tidal force exerted by the moon affects the rotation of our planet.
The first Leap Second was added in 1972 as the technology was developed for accurate time-keeping and between the years 1972 and 1983, a second was added every year. The clock on Dec. 31st this year will read 23h 59m 59s … 23h 59m 60s … 00h 00m 00s. Normally, the seconds would roll from 59 directly to 00. So just wait a second longer before you wish everyone a happy new year.

(The picture is of a very old astrological clock from Prague.)