If you are a good programmer and have lots of time on your hand, Envato has just released a brand new e-commerce tool to help coders around the world make more money during their spare time. The latest release to its marketplace family, CodeCanyon is a website where subscribed users have the chance to submit plugins or snippets of code and have them promoted and sold on one of the world’s biggest web-related marketplaces.

Currently, the CodeCanyon website is helping developers of JavaScript, PHP, Java and ASP.NET in selling scripts to a wide base of users. This project was originally spun-off by the ThemeForest website, a place where web designers were able to sell web templates for various platforms.

As time passed by, more and more members started submitting simple jQuery plugins, PHP scripts and CSS tools. While their numbers grew, Envato management thought it would be a good idea in expanding its current services to a wider base of users. After releasing 3DOcean into beta, a couple of days ago, the team announced the official coming out of beta for the 3D graphics-inclined marketplace.

As a surprise, and also well kept secret, the team also released the CodeCanyon website, moving all content from the ThemeForest JavaScript and PHP Scripts categories into the new website. While the Java and ASP.NET cate… (read more)

Natural gas has rallied lately, even while many other commodities were falling, partly due to expectations of a cold winter in the U.S..

Still, for investors in Unites States Natural Gas (UNG) and other gas-related investments, here are four threats to watch out for, courtesy of ETFdb:

1. A massive South China Sea discovery.

“Calgary-based Husky Energy announced this week that it made its second major natural gas discovery in the South China Sea, a field that could ultimately yield more than 140 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The new well was just 23 kilometers from the Liwan gas reservoir that the company discovered in 2006. Husky is planning to drill an appraisal well early next year in order to gauge the new well’s potential.

Production at the well likely wouldn’t begin until 2013 at the earliest, but expectations for a major increase in global supplies could weigh on natural gas prices long before then. The world’s proven natural gas reserves are believed to be in excess of 175 trillion cubic feet, so the additional South China Sea supply isn’t exactly a drop in the bucket….” Read more here at ETFdb.

2. Exxon’s LNG projects.

“Last month Murwab, a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, carried enough gas to the U.S. to heat nine million homes for a day, adding to inventories that are already at record levels. Tony Regan, a former executive for Royal Dutch Shell’s LNG business recently described the U.S. as “the sink for cargoes that can’t go anywhere else,” suggesting that increased LNG activity could translate into even bigger supplies to U.S.-based users of natural gas.

Exxon Mobil announced on Tuesday that it will move forward with a $15 billion liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea. The project’s approval now hinges on securing sales agreements in Asia, which is expected to be completed sometime next year according to Exxon….” Read more here at ETFdb.

3. Low rig counts.

“As of late November, the domestic oil and gas rig count was down about 44% from its peak in September 2008 but 30% above the bottom experienced in June 2009. Looking only at U.S. natural gas rigs, the count stood at 748, up only about 10% from the June lows… ” Read more here at ETFdb.

4. Rising natural gas inventories in the U.S..

“The Energy Information Administration’s report for the week ended November 27 showed that inventories actually increased by 2 billion cubic feet over the previous week, the first time in several years that inventories have increased this late in the calendar year….” Read more here at ETFdb.

Also, check out why Exxon sees a mega-trend for natural gas ahead.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Exxon: The Natural Gas Mega-Trend Starts Today (XOM, UNG)
• Gazprom: Shale Is A Joke, And It Can’t Possibly Compete With Gas
• Cnooc Doubles Down On Oil And Gas Production Off South China Sea

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Analyst Timothy Ash today explains how despite the languishing problems associated with Greece and Dubai, the global recovery is finally beginning to take shape, due in part to the amount of cheap money being tossed around:

RBS: As the global real economy has begun to respond to easy money, and fiscal  stimuli globally the focus on cleaning up after the crisis has begun, with Dubai  and Greece in this latter camp, as both are arguably unfinished business.

In the heat of the crisis, almost everyone was too big to fail, and the sovereign support  umbrella was wide, now as recovery suggests that systemic risks are more manageable, there is an incentive to address moral hazard plays more aggressively, and closing the umbrella of sovereign support is part of this  process.

Indeed, this is part of the medicine for countries like Greece, which  need to be weaned off the belief that they can always rely on support from the centre in the EU. 

Ultimately we doubt that Greece will default, but allowing that greater degree of  uncertainty as to whether the EU/EC/ECB and big wealthy EU member states will  step in to help Greece is part of the solution.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• US Futures Keep Head Above Water Despite Overnight Selloff And Fears About Greece
• Dubai World To Sell Overseas Assets, Retain Private Equity Arm
• Bill Gross: Systemic Collapse Would Be A "Gray Swan" Event (DUK, T)

The UK daily The Guardian, an IPS columnist client that over the last years also linked to some of our Africa stories, has now started to publish IPS stories on its environment website. IPS has become a partner in the Guardian Environment network. For a trial period of three months, the Guardian can publish up to two IPS environment stories a week. If the cooperation is successful, the agreement can be continued.

Among other issues, the Guardian is interested in IPS coverage of climate change and the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen. The first story that appeared on the Guardian site was written by Claudia Ciobanu from the Danish capital “Brazil defends biofuels at Copenhagen summit – As the world’s largest producer and exporter of ethanol, it’s no surprise the Brazilian government advocates biofuels as the only real alternative to fossil fuels”.

From IPS, part of the Guardian Environment Network.

November 2009 (Alkmaar, the Netherlands) – The self-cleaning central filter units of Euromate have been developed to meet the demand for plug & play filter units to support small and medium-sized extraction hoods and multiple arm systems with up to 7 extraction arms.

High-quality filtration is extremely important to ensure a healthier working environment. As a specialist in welding fumes, Euromate offers a variety of filter units for any air volume. The latest filter unit, SCF-F, has an integrated extraction fan making the unit very compact; developed in accordance with the latest international electrical standards.

The main feature of the SCF-F is the outstanding cleaning technology of the filter cartridges. The pressure loss of the filters is measured continuously. Cleaning starts automatically, which makes the unit very user-friendly. The self-cleaning mechanism ensures that the filter stays efficient and has a longer lifespan.

Besides that the SCF-F 4 features a programmable intelligent control with a frequency inverter as standard. The unit will adapt to specific needs and controls the air volume automatically. Reliable and constant filter performance is one of the main benefits. On top of that the frequency inverter has a very positive effect on the lifespan of the filter cartridges. In addition substantial energy savings up to 40% can be achieved; keeping the overall operating costs extremely low.

For more than 30 years, Euromate has been specialising in indoor air cleaning. We know about the work, the discomforts and risks that welders face on a daily basis. As a result, we have devised solutions that meet all international guidelines. Innovative technology, practical knowledge and years of experience have resulted in a wide range of high-quality extraction and filtration products. For more information, please visit our website www.euromate.com.

Control Design recently surveyed its readers to learn about the power supplies and circuit protections now delivering the juice to their applications and production processes. We asked about their power protection policies, as well as use of surge protection devices, uninterruptible power supplies or UPSs, overload or short-circuit protection, and circuit breakers. Jack Chopper, chief electrical engineer at Filamatic, join us to interpret those answers from a machine-builder perspective.

Watlow introduces the EZ-ZONE® RM – a configurable multi-loop temperature/process controller. The EZ-ZONE RM is the first industrial controller to integrate an entire assembly of control loop functionality in one space-saving, DIN-rail mounted package.
EZ-ZONE RM can be used as a PID temperature/process controller, an over/under limit controller or these functions can be combined into an integrated controller. Other control functions can be integrated as well, such as high amperage power controller output, creating a complete and integrated thermal loop controller all in one package.
EZ-ZONE RM can be configured with between 1 to 16 modules controlling from 1 to 64 loops. Because the controller is single-loop scalable, customers pay only for what they need – exact loop count.
Utilizing an integrated controller solution reduces wiring time and termination complexity, improves overall system reliability, reduces termination and installation costs and eliminates compatibility issues encountered when using many different componentsand brands. In addition, integrated controllers reduce troubleshooting time and downtime costs since the system can specifically identify to the operator if there are any problems with a sensor, controller, solid state relay (SSR) power output or heater load.

EZ-ZONE RM allows for many optional integrated controller functions to be combined together or ordered in different quantities, including:
• PID temperature/process controller
• Over/under temperature limit control loops
• 10 or 15 ampere power output/heater driver options
• On-board data logging
• Current measurement input
• Sequencer start up and control function
• Programmable timer and counter functions
• Programmable math and logic options
• Multiple communication protocol options;
• Mobile configuration with removable secure digital flash card
• SPLIT-RAIL™ configuration to isolate low voltage input modules from high voltage output modules.

EZ-ZONE RM offers current monitoring for the entire system, on-board data logging, sensor back-up capability and TRU-TUNE®+ adaptive control, which provides tighter control for demanding applications. Its communications capabilities feature a range of protocol choices including USB (Universal Serial Bus) device port, EtherNet/IP™, Modbus® RTU, Modbus® TCP, DeviceNet™ and Profi®Bus making integration to a larger PLC based system architecture seamless.

Filed under: Concept Cars, LA Auto Show, Nissan, Electric

The LA Auto Show’s Design Challenge has a victor from among its Youthmobile 2030 entries: the Nissan Vehicle-to-Grid, aka V2G. It envisions a nationwide electric highway system (the “grid”) driven on by Generation Z, and their cars will pay for use of the grid like a mobile phone plan. The V2G doesn’t offer much in the way of variety, but it’s ultra-efficient, cheap to run, and convoys of them can gather in interlocked formations called “flocks.”

But when the Gen Z’ers get their hacking fingers on it, they customize it so it can be taken off-grid, creating the V2G Unlimited and the Halo-esque future we are beginning to think is inevitable. Sadly, none of the customized demos feature guns, which is all the V2G Unlimited appears to lack and will make it difficult to deal with the Covenant.

When the V2G is finished providing useful service, it can be recycled. Made of bioresin impregnated carbon nanotube cloth, a specially yet-to-be-created bacteria would devour the bioresin and leave only the cloth, which can be used to build another V2G. Or something. Check out the V2G in the high-res gallery below and start studying for the future, now.

[Source: Car Body Design]

Nissan V2G wins LA’s 2009 Design Challenge originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we first sat down to write this post, we had every intention of featuring white kitchen accessories from all across the web. But once we started looking, most things, although functional, really lacked the design (and price point) we wanted in a super special Christmas gift. So instead we went straight to the source for fabulous white kitchen finds—Jonathan Adler.

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Almost 80 million smallholder farmers in Africa, supply about 80 percent of its food. In order for Africa to establish a prosperous and sustainable economic future, the voices of its farmers must be amplified.

To enable this, journalists from across the West Africa region attended a media workshop in Accra, Ghana, hosted by Inter Press Service IPS Africa on behalf of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The workshop aimed to build the capacity of local journalists and editors from West and Central Africa to gain the skills and knowledge they need to report on the food crisis and how it can be solved, particularly with the contribution of smallholder farmers.

This forms part of the activities for the “Communication Campaign on Farmers and the Food Crisis: Focus on West and Central Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean” small grant funded by IFAD.

The goal of this grant is to amplify the voice of farmers by ensuring their needs; perspective, experience and expertise are heard as part of the continuing global debate on rising food prices and how to achieve global food security.

Training was facilitated by IPS Africa’s regional Editor Terna Gyuse in collaboration with Farm Radio International, a Canadian-based, not-for-profit organization working in direct partnership with approximately 300 radio broadcasters in 39 African countries to fight poverty and food insecurity.

The training was planned to coincide with the IFAD Regional Project Implementation Workshop for West and Central Africa, providing an opportunity for reporters to not only network with IFAD officials but also hear first-hand of the challenges and success of small-holder interventions in the region.

Guest speakers included Mohamed Beavogui IFAD Director for West and Central Africa, who answered critical questions about the ‘Challenges of Agriculture in West Africa’. Participants also appreciated the session on ‘Web 2.0 Tools for journalists’ presented by Roxana Samii.

Annina Lubbock, IFAD’s Senior Technical Adviser on Gender and Poverty Targeting, facilitated a discussion on ‘Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change’, and told particpants that “a gender perspective and a focus on women’s empowerment is essential both to feed the world and for climate change. The majority of farmers, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa are women. Women’s contribution to food crops vary between 40 percent in Latin America and up to 80 percent in sub-Saharan Africa”, she added.

The bilingual sessions in French and English also included a role-play exercise on interviewing techniques, where participants teamed up with each other during mock interviews.

An IFAD organised field trip on December 4, provided a timely opportunity for participants to meet with farmers at the local celebration of a nation-wide Farmers’ Day (public holiday in Ghana).

Read some of the latest stories on our ‘Farming the Future Africa‘ project website.

Quick question: how many of you were hoping that the Star Wars game that’s supposed to be announced (psp/news/new-star-wars-game-to-be-announced-at-the-spike-vgas.html) during the Spike VGAs would be a

A group of Bronx residents have been asking City Council members not to give a developer permission to open a mall in the long vacant Kingsbridge Armory. Surely this is a sign that the economy, at least in New York City, isn’t doing so badly.

“Oh, our armory. Oh, our armory,” a small group sang on the step of City Hall last week. “Before we take minimum wage, we’ll be buried in our graves and go home to our Lord and be free.”

Community activisits have been opposing a plan to build a shopping mall at the 575,000-square foot landmark. They’ve been arguing that the developer should have to guarantee that stores in the mall will pay at least $10 an hour plus benefits. The developer points out that many retailers simply won’t open stores in the mall if the cost of labor is artificially inflated.

One of the main opponents of the mall is a local grocery store whose owners fear that they might face price competition from a chain grocery that would open in the mall. They are asking the mall developers to guarantee that no grocery store will be given space in the mall.

It’s as if none of these people have ever heard of the crisis in commercial real estate. And they probably haven’t. We can’t help but suspect that when community activists continue to oppose job creation, the community members must not be doing so badly.

See more at WNYC–>

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Whatever trade statistics you may be reading, here's a simple dose of reality:

There's an armada of empty shipping vessels lying idle off the coast of Singapore.

Yet Singapore is supposed to be one of the busiest ports in the world. It is a major transhipment hub for global trade. But today, it still looks relatively dead.

Don't believe us? Check out the stunning pics we captured on a recent trip:

See Amazing Pictures of Singapore's Ghost Fleet >>>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• The Port Of Singapore Is Eerily Quiet... Too Quiet
• Need A Job? They'll Hire You In Singapore, China, And Brazil
• Singapore Homebuyers Leave Blank Checks With The Broker

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Mini

The Mini Coupe and Roadster concepts have been making their way around the auto show circuit since Frankfurt in September, and when we saw the two vehicles at the LA Auto Show we got the impression that the high end micros were near production ready. If a story from MotoringFile is to be believed, the next two Mini variants could be even closer to production than we thought.

The Mini-obsessed site is claiming that its sources tell them that engineering for the the Coupe and Roadster is well under way. Further, the final model could hit the assembly plant in Oxford by next June with full production commencing in October. If that time line holds true, the first Mini two doors could be hitting dealer showrooms in Europe by early 2011 at the latest, with models crossing the Atlantic soon after.

[Source: MotoringFile]

Rumormill: Mini Coupe and Roadster could go on sale as early as 2011 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After last year’s Spore DRM fiasco, EA and its CEO John Riccitiello seem to have learned that the stick approach to dealing with pirates backfired badly, and it was time to try out the carrot. It started, earlier this year with Riccitiello talking about how they were trying to view pirated software as a really good demo product, with the impetus then being on them to convert those users into paying customers. Later, they started actively embracing the claim that their pirated software could lead to additional sales of in-game content and offerings. The latest, as sent in by william, again has Riccitiello in an interview saying that he now sees “pirates” as a new marketplace, again with the emphasis being on how it’s EA’s responsibility to give those users something to buy. He still says that he wants people to buy the legit versions of the game, and he thinks it’s very wrong to make an unauthorized copy, but he says that reality dictates that they should embrace those users, rather than attack them, and look for ways to make money off of them:

“There’s a sizable pirate market and a sizable second sale market and we want to try to generate revenue in that marketplace.”

Furthermore, he notes that this approach seems a lot more reasonable than the music industry’s approach of just trying to punish people:

He said the music industry erred in “demonizing” its consumers rather than reacting to them. He believes that EA has an obligation to make it enticing for people to play games legitimately. And he hopes that services such as EA Sports’ community hub or the BioWare social site that hooks into Dragon Age will make it so alluring that it will be “increasingly less likely that people will pirate because there is so much value on the other side of the door.”

None of this necessarily addresses some of EA’s past sins relating to aggressive use of DRM, but it does suggest that Riccitiello (or at least his savvy PR staff) have recognized that giving people a reason to buy is a better way forward than trying to attack those who use unauthorized copies of the games.

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Using Google Maps, or Google Earth for that matter, can be a lot of fun, but there’s certainly a utilitarian side to it. Recently Google has greatly expanded the usefulness of Maps by adding Place Pages, entries for many interesting and important places around the world filled with information, photos and other content. The feature is still in the early stages, but Google eventually wants to have a Page for every “place” on Earth. But information isn’t of a lot of use without a way of accessing it, so Google has now made it possible to view Place Pages inside Google Earth, allowing users to also learn things as they’re exploring our planet in 3D.

“When I’m exploring my neighborhood or planning a trip, I often find places I want to know more about. That’s why I love using Place Pages for Google Maps to see lots of great information about a place on a single page,” Matt Holden, associate product manager, Google Earth Team writes.

“Starting today, you can see the same rich Place Page content in Google Earth, while browsing the world in 3D. You can see a summary whenever you click on a business or place of interest, and then click the View more information » link if you’d like to see more.”

The Places layer is enabled by default if you have the Geographic Web layer … (read more)

Civic Engagement of Undergraduates in United States Research Universities

Findings from a survey of the members of The Research Universities Civic Engagement Network (TRUCEN) prepared by Liz Holllander, Senior Fellow, Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts in the fall 2009. This report provides a snapshot of how 15 members of TRUCEN approach the civic education of undergraduates. It maps current practice and frames an agenda for continuing dialogue and action. The survey confirms that a growing number of research universities are being creative and assertive in expanding their civic engagement efforts. It also suggests that there is ample room to extend and improve their efforts, and it frames an agenda for continued dialogue and action toward that end.

Filed under: Sedan, Plants/Manufacturing, Chevrolet

It’s long been presumed that the Chevrolet Volt (and its Opel/Vauxhall Ampera twin) would not be the only car rolling out of General Motors’ Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant after late 2010. After all, Volt volumes are unlikely to be sufficient in the first several years to justify an entire plant. However, when a future product plant was leaked out after the 2007 UAW contract was signed, it was assumed the new Chevy Orlando would join the Volt. After all, the Orlando shares the Delta platform with the Volt and Cruze.

Following the announcement Monday of the investment in the Detroit factory to build the Volt, The Detroit News believes it has learned that the next-generation Malibu will also be built in Detroit. The new Malibu is slated to debut in 2011 as a 2012 model. Current Malibu assembly takes place in Fairfax, Kansas. The General’s Orion, Michigan plant had also been building the mid-sized sedan, but it is now being re-tooled build the next generation Aveo. With Fairfax now also building the Buick LaCrosse, a second plant may be needed to meet demand if the new model is successful.

[Source: The Detroit News]
Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

REPORT: Chevrolet Malibu to join Volt in Detroit-Hamtramck plant originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems Gearbox Software has more love on the way for Borderlands players, if these newly sighted Trophies are anything to go by.