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JohnForDummies points us to the news that the latest attempt to stretch trademark law to ridiculous levels has been sorta maybe rejected — though it appears to still be open for abuse. The case involved Autodesk and a competitor, Dassault Systemes Solidworks Corporation, who had released some software that was compatible with Autodesk’s .dwg files used in AutoCAD. Dassault had apparently reverse engineered the file type (which, by itself, is perfectly legal). Some of Dassault’s products (under the Solidworks brand) used “DWG” in the name, and Autodesk, overprotective as always, sued — claiming that the use of DWG in product names infringed. What happened then goes back and forth a bit, but ends up with a court telling Autodesk that file extension names should not be considered trademarkable:

The court found that ownership of file extension designations cannot be appropriated under the Lanham Act — file extensions are inherently functional, and functional uses cannot be trade-marked. It stated that computer programmers and computer users should be free to designate file extensions as they see fit, without the fear of infringing trade-marks.

The motions judge further opined that the purpose of the Lanham Act is to target unauthorized use of a trade-mark “in connection with a commercial transaction in which the trade-mark is being used to confuse potential consumers.” In contrast, the purpose of file extensions is to indicate to a computer the type of file that is being handled. The court noted that “a computer is not a consumer,” and its recognition of a file extension is not “in connection with a commercial transaction.” In other words, the computer does not concern itself with the question of who made the file format. Therefore, whether on the grounds that a file extension connotes a “functional use” or a “non-trade-mark use,” the court held that a file extension per se is not protectable under US trade-mark law.

In its decision, the court did recognize that computer users may associate a particular file extension with a specific vendor or manufacturer. However, the court found this association only incidental to the primary function of file extensions, namely to identify a file or file type.

Of course, it’s not all good news. The court did suggest that Autodesk could have gotten away with this by disavowing any use of the mark in functional areas, but had limited it to just product names and such. Autodesk pushed back on this a bit, which resulted in the ruling above. And, actually, the transcript from this part of the court discussion is priceless:

THE COURT: I want — you’re skating by something that’s very important to me. So I want to get a clear answer. All right?
Will you disavow, from here to eternity and for the rest of the universe, that the world has a right to use .dwg as a file extension, and you’re not going to try to assert, here or anywhere else, that that use as a file extension violates any law?

MR. SABRI: Your Honor, it may be the case it violates patent law. We’re not addressing that today. I will state —

THE COURT: You will be in trouble if you don’t give me — listen. If you are trying to monopolize .dwg, you and your company are in big trouble.

MR. SABRI: We absolutely are not, your Honor.

THE COURT: Well, then disavow it.

MR. SABRI: Autodesk cannot —

THE COURT: You’re not disavowing it?

MR. SABRI: I am disavowing it, your Honor. Autodesk cannot state claims against functional uses of .dwg, and the distinction between a word mark DWG and the functional uses I believe will be very clear by this presentation.

THE COURT: I want to hear you say we disavow it.

MR. SABRI: We disavow any claims against functional uses of the .dwg, your Honor.

THE COURT: Thank you.

But, still, all is not well. Before the case actually went to trial, Autodesk and Dassault “settled,” with part of the settlement being that Dassault agreed that Autodesk had a legitimate trademark on DWG (of course, Dassault isn’t the USPTO or a court, so Dassault’s agreement on that point is somewhat meaningless). Also, the article notes that our neighbors up in Canada just allowed Autodesk to register a trademark on DWG. So despite the court’s clear concern about Autodesk trying to monopolize DWG, don’t be surprised if it keeps trying…

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In another twist on the state’s political rollercoaster ride, state Rep. Arthur O’Neill said Thursday afternoon that he is running for attorney general – slightly more than 24 hours before the state Republican convention opens on Friday night.

O’Neill is working to gather support from delegates before the convention votes on the attorney general nomination Saturday at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

When asked why he waited until Thursday to make the announcement, O’Neill said, “I didn’t want to wait for the last possible minute.”

That last minute would have been Friday at midnight, he said.

O’Neill made his decision after the shockingly quick ruling this week by the State Supreme Court that Democratic front runner Susan Bysiewicz is not eligible to run for attorney general because she lacks the necessary 10 years of active practice of the law.

With Bysiewicz out of the race, Republican attorney Ross Garber – her brother-in-law – jumped in on Wednesday. Now, O’Neill has made the same decision. 

O’Neill described Bysiewicz as “a Democrat with a huge warchest and very high name recogntion” – two things that he does not have at the moment. He also described her as “essentially unbeatable unless you were an independently wealthy individual who could afford to spend several million dollars of your own money” because she had already raised a large amount of money.

“This is an opportunity to take a run at this office,” O’Neill said during his announcement at the state Capitol press room on Thursday afternoon.

O’Neill’s announcement is the latest twist in the most interesting year in Connecticut politics in decades.

There has never been as many open seats in decades – with contests for U.S. Senator, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, and secretary of the state at the moment.

Incumbent Denise Nappier of Hartford is running for re-election as the state treasurer. All of the other constitutional offices are open as Comptroller Nancy Wyman is running for lieutenant governor and U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell are not seeking re-election.

It is still unclear which position Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz will run for. Some expect her to run for comptroller.

“This is by far the craziest convention on the Democratic side. The Yankees do less trades than what we’re doing now,” said state Rep. Stephen Dargan, a veteran West Haven Democrat who has served for two decades at the state Capitol. “Lembo was running for lieutenant governor. Now, he’s running for comptroller. Glassman was running for governor and runs now with Lamont. Bysiewicz was running for governor. Jarjura was running for governor. Now he’s running for comptroller. Secretary of the State – everybody pretty much stayed the same way there. The only one who is staying is Denise Nappier, our treasurer. … Saturday should be fun. If you’re a political junkie, you won’t be bored this weekend in Hartford.”

He added, “It’s easier to handicap the horses than it is to handicap this convention.”

You saw the preview of SageTV’s new version – SageTV 7 yesterday.  Now you can download SageTV 7 and try it out for yourself.

From SageTV Forums:

Version 7 Public Beta Has Begun!

---

It’s that time again to start the public beta process for a new version of SageTV.

We’ve been pretty busy over here for awhile and have a bunch of new things in V7 of SageTV. Let’s start of with the list of the major new features for V7 of SageTV.

Get the complete changelog and download at SageTV Forums

Stay tuned for a complete walkthrough of the new UI, features and add-ons here at GeekTonic coming soon.

MSI has announced the launch of a Windows-based software tool that puts an end to all that bothersome fiddling around in the BIOS to enable inactive processor cores. The tool lists available cores, and with a few simple clicks on the basic interface and a reboot, a user is able to unleash previously disabled ones…
Continue Reading MSI offers BIOS-free Windows core unlocking software

Tags: AMD,
MSI,
Processor,
Windows

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In a move that shocked not a single person anywhere in the known galaxy; Google has officially announced Froyo at Google I/O.

No word yet on whose getting it (the Nexus One being the only safe bet) and the when is identified only as “in the coming weeks”, but we do now have the actual features of Froyo and while it may not cover every last bit of everyone’s wish list I think it certainly addresses quite a few of the concerns that were out there.

Lets take a quick look at some of the highlights:

Speed/Performance
This was the first point mentioned during the announcement and it is a big one. You’ll recall that we already caught wind of this last week when a leaked build of 2.2 revealed a 5x performance boost on the Nexus One. Officially Google is citing a 2-5x boost on all devices running 2.2 with the Dalvik just-in-time (JIT) compiler. The other notable speed enhancement was to the browser which got a helping hand from the V8 engine used on Chrome and will reportedly see a 2-3x performance increase making it “the world’s fastest mobile browser.” They demoed the Nexus One browser blowing the doors off the iPad on stage.

Flash Support
It’s Flash on your mobile device. Early reports indicate that the experience on interactive elements and video that isn’t optimized for mobile can get a little choppy, but hopefully that will get refined over time and at least you are actually seeing the whole web as opposed to just the parts that someone else wants you to see.

Exchange Support
This is definitely a significant step for Android as a platform as lack of Exchange support has been holding Android back from Enterprise adoption. Without delving too deeply into the specifics they added:

• Improved security through numeric and alpha-numeric password options
• Remote wipe
• Exchange Calendar support
• Easy setup with Exchange 2007 or greater through auto-discovery
• Global address lists look-up in email provides auto-completion in Email

Tethering and Portable Hotspot
This is another feature that was outed last week. For those that don’t know; this allows you to share your 3G or 4G connection with other devices either by USB cable or by turning your phone into a wifi hotspot. Obviously people having been making use of this function either by rooting their phone or just through the use of an application for quite awhile now, but having it built-in can’t hurt. The only device they are citing at the moment is the Nexus One so the mystery of who else is going to see this option and which carriers are going to be charging extra for it (once devices receive 2.2 that is) remains.

App Storage on SD
Again this is something the root community has been enjoying for many moons now, but it is finally coming to the OS proper. Much as it sounds this will allow you to install and run applications directly from your SD card, which will free you and developers from the 256/512 mb bonds that were found on most Android phones. You will be able to either choose where you want each app to install yourself or you can let the system decide itself based on the app.

Update All and Auto-update
This probably shouldn’t qualify as a major change, but it makes a huge difference as it is simply a pain to go through and click 3 times to update each app. There will now be an “update all” button at the bottom of your “Downloads” screen and if even that sounds like a pain then you can just set it to automatically update any app that says it has an update available.

Those are the major headlining features; which one are you most looking forward to and is there anything missing that you have liked to see this time around?

The wealthy Litchfield County businessman and Republican candidate for Congress from the 5th District has decided not to seek the party’s support at tomorrow’s nominating convention.

Instead, he’ll continue his efforts to petition for an August primary.

“I have said from the beginning that I would take my message directly to the 92,000 people of the 5th District,” Greenberg said in an email. “The decision to represent  ‘We the People’ in Congress is too important to leave in the hands of 330 delegates to a Convention. We should let 92,000 voters make that decision, not 330 political insiders.”

Greenberg, who is fighting Republicans Justin Bernier, Sam Caligiuri and Bill Evans for the right to take on incumbent Chris Murphy in November, is staking a position as a political outsider.

“My Republican opponents are individuals who have made government their careers – one as a career elected politician and the other as a government bureaucratic staffer.  Whichever candidate emerges victorious from the Convention, will be a career politician,” Greenberg said. “I am not a career politician.  My career has been in the business world – not the political world – and that gives me the “real world” perspective that my opponents lack.    I pledge that I will put the people’s interests first and bring real change – and basic, common-sense business practices to Washington.”

The controversy over Google’s collection of personal data via its Street View photo-taking program continues to grow, but the company appears reluctant to acknowledge the full importance of the lapse, saying no harm was done. Although co-founder Sergey Brin has admitted Google “screwed up,” CEO Eric Schmidt said at the Zeitgeist conference in the UK that no one was harmed by the incident, and as such, “No harm, no foul.” Others, however, clearly disagree. The company is facing a class-action lawsuit in Washington and Oregon, two legislators in Washington, D.C. in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission have raised the issue of whether Google’s behavior was illegal, a consumer advocacy group has also complained to the FTC and Germany has begun a criminal investigation.

Google recently admitted that its Street View cars had been collecting data from public Wi-Fi networks — then later admitted that, contrary to its initial statements, such data may have included personal information such as the content of emails and other communications. It also said the data was collected accidentally, and that none of it was ever released or used by anyone. Google has since stopped collecting data from Wi-Fi networks, and says it’s consulting with government and policy groups on the best way to get rid of the information so that users and consumer groups will be satisfied it does so properly.

That said, however, the company maintains that the issue was a simple oversight, and nothing worth getting concerned about. And this isn’t the first time Google has played down complaints about its behavior on privacy. After Buzz was launched and a number of users criticized the company for connecting them with all their email contacts whether they wanted to be connected or not — subsequently publicizing those connections without making it clear they would be public — Google CEO Eric Schmidt told attendees of one conference that the issue was blown out of proportion, that there was no harm caused and that the situation was primarily a result of users misunderstanding the service.

Yet the criticisms aimed at Google have continued. Privacy authorities from 10 countries, led by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, sent a strongly worded letter to the company last month about its privacy practices. The group said that Google too often had “failed to take adequate account of privacy considerations when launching new services,” and that it needed to build privacy safeguards and controls directly into new products as they were being designed, rather than trying to apply them later.

In addition to the letter from the two U.S. legislators about the Street View data collection, the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog has sent a letter to the FTC asking it to investigate Google’s practices. The group also launched a site called Inside Google to call attention to what it believes are the company’s failings in various areas, including privacy. As the growing furor over Facebook and its approach to privacy has shown, there is mounting concern about social networks and web companies, what kinds of data they’re collecting and how they’re using it. And yet, like a drunk driver who maintains he did no harm because no one was hurt, Google continues to downplay the importance of what was a serious breach of personal privacy.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d): Why New Net Companies Must Shoulder More Responsibility

Post and thumbnail photos courtesy of Flickr user Blyzz

You might be one of those who are entitled to some unclaimed money.  The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) may help you to get your unclaimed money in your name. The website was featured on The Early Show last week which showed over $33 million dollars in unclaimed American money. Two websites were given last week to check if you’re one of them. For those who were unable to see the original segment, the two websites are Missingmoney.com and Unclaimed.org. These are very helpful websites that are linked up to the state treasury departments that track unclaimed cash across the country. Examples of unclaimed money may be old bank accounts that you may have forgotten, stock dividends, annuities, customer overpayments, insurance refunds and more.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (pbgc.gov) is a federal corporation which was created under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. They currently guarantee payment of basic pension benefits earned by 44 million American workers and retirees who are participating in over 29,000 private-sector defined benefit pension plans. There are no funds received by the agency from general tax revenues.

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Following today’s Google I/O keynote, Sony CEO Howard Stringer mentioned that Sony’s Android device was dominating the iPhone in Japan. When Eric Schmidt reminded him that “Google doesn’t dominate,” Stringer responded with this, some weird opposite of a backhanded compliment. More »

I haven’t ordered from Domino’s since approximately 1988, so I wouldn’t know, but they apparently have a wonderful breadstick dipping sauce. Or, they used to. It’s been discontinued. Scott tells Consumerist that he was dismayed to learn this after placing his most recent order, but heartened to learn that his local franchise is urging customers to contact corporate and bring the precious sauce back.

Let me preface this letter by stating: I understand and respect the power your webpage has over the consumer market and appreciate what you do. I am a devout follower. That is why I am writing to you. I know a lot of other people will feel how I feel about this topic, and this may be the only way to provoke change. Change back to the way things used to and should be.

My girlfriend, her roommates, and college students in general are appalled. Dominos has decided to can their wonderful Parmesan Peppercorn sauce that comes with their breadsticks. We received this in our order instead.

hopefully you post this and at least other people will know not to expect it. In our eyes, this was the only reason to order cheesy bread.

Golden business opportunity, Domino’s: bottle the stuff and sell it in campus convenience stores. Apparently.

Clashes among members of the Texas Board of Education over the content of students’ textbooks have come, in part, to focus on a once obscure intellectual concept — “American exceptionalism” — that has now seen the president of the United States weigh in.

Although definitions in intellectual debates can be tricky, the concept of “American exceptionalism” may be defined as the notion that the United States, by virtue of its origins and ideals, its struggles and accomplishments, stands apart from — and, in some eyes, above — other nations. 

Others have framed it differently.  A reporter for the Financial Times, questioning President Obama at a news conference during a NATO summit in Strasbourg, France in April 2009, asked whether Mr. Obama subscribed to the belief that America is “uniquely qualified to lead the world.”

“I believe in American exceptionalism,” the president replied, “just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” 

Declaring himself “enormously proud of my country and its role and history in the world,” Mr. Obama went on to say that the U.S. is “not always going to be right,” and that he sees no conflict between reverence for his own country and valuing the contributions that other nations have made to world history and current affairs.

Acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates, who teaches at Princeton University, has derided the notion that there is a distinctly American idea, one that is distinguishable from the core concepts that have animated Europeans, Scandinavians, and other cultures.

“[T]ravel to any foreign country,” Oates wrote in the Atlantic Monthly in November 2007, “and the consensus is: The American idea has become a cruel joke, a blustery and bellicose bodybuilder luridly bulked up on steroids…deranged and myopic, dangerous.”

Oates continued: “American exceptionalism makes our imperialism altruistic, our plundering of the world’s resources a healthy exercise of capitalism and ‘free trade.’

“From childhood, we are indoctrinated with the propaganda that America is superior to other nations; that our way of life, a mass-market ‘democracy’ manipulated by lobbyists, is superior to all other forms of government; that no matter how frivolous and debased, our American culture is the supreme culture, as our language is the supreme language; that our most blatantly imperialistic and cynical political goals are always idealistic, while the goals of other nations are transparently opportunistic.”

Andrew Roberts, a British historian and author of the best-selling Masters and Commanders: How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941-1945, has endorsed American exceptionalism in his own writings.  Asked about Oates’s comments, Roberts told Fox News it was evidence of a “psychiatric disorder” among liberal American intellectuals.

“For postmodernists, whereby everything has to be related to something else and nothing is truly exceptional, it’s a disgusting concept that America could stand above and away from the normal luck of history,” Roberts said.  “And of course, it also feeds in very much to Auropean anti-Americanism, especially at this time of the war against terror.”

America, Roberts said, “is not like any other country.  It wasn’t born like other countries.  It didn’t come to prominence like other countries.  It’s not holding its imperium like other countries….It probably won’t lose its supremacy like other countries.  And so in that sense it is completely exceptional.”

Even liberal historians agreed with conservative scholars that the concept has its origin in America’s own, undeniably unique origins — its unique 18th-century ambition, undermined as it was by the persistence of slavery, to create what Thomas Jefferson called “an empire of liberty.”

Eric S. Foner of Columbia University, a leading historian of the colonial and Civil War periods — his The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, due out in October, will be his twenty-second book — is also an avowed Marxist who finds the notion of American exceptionalism “parochial” and “chauvinistic.”

“It causes problems because it has, at various points in our history, led us to interventions abroad…claiming to bring the benefits of American life to people who sometimes aren’t all that anxious to receive it,” Foner told Fox News.  “So it leads to this kind of imperial frame of mind that we know best for everybody, we know that our system is better — and of course sometimes other people aren’t as convinced of that.

“To think about oursleves as exceptional really is a very narrow vision in a world which is becoming more and more globalized every day,” Foner added.  “Throughout our history, many of the processes which have shaped American history — industrialization, urbanization, things like that — are not purely national phenomena.  And yet we sometimes think that the only way to understand American history is to think about it within the United States…[the pushing Westward of] the frontier, or things that are indigenous to the United States.”

Foner also argued that “exceptionalism” is, in and of itself, hardly exceptional: “Many countries are exceptional.  The history of China,” he said, “is not the same as the history of Japan, or the history of France and Germany.”

In Texas, critics of the conservative-led school board faulted it for embracing the concept.  Mavis Knight, a liberal board member, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying the concept “seems like braggadocio to me, rather than trying to be factual.”

One fact on which both sides could probably agree is that there is a limited number of countries in the world where such a debate, with all its ferocity, could play out so openly and freely — and that China, as presently constituted, is not one of them.

US retail sales rose 5.7% in April, after a 7.8% jump in March, which was the best year-over-year improvement since August 2005 at the peak of the housing boom. But unemployment is near 10 percent. Why are Americans shopping? Three quick theories.

1) People are skipping mortgage payments to go to the mall. Yep, it’s a theory.

2) Low prices. The upside of really, really low inflation — April saw the smallest 12-month increase in consumer prices since 1966 — is that stuff is cheap if you have money to spend. Mass market retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot both slashed prices through March on thousands of products. Falling energy prices, helped along by trouble in Europe, also free up wallet space.

3) The stock market. Ben Steverman at BusinessWeek reports: “Fidelity Investments said May 19 its average account balance rose
more than 55 percent from Mar. 9, 2009–the market’s lowest point last
year–to Mar. 9, 2010.”

Water jet manufacturer Jet Edge, Inc., of St. Michael, Minn., will exhibit its Mid Rail Gantry water jet cutting machine at the 2010 WJTA-IMCA Expo, Aug. 17-19 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. Look for Jet Edge in Booth 829.

During the WJTA-IMCA Expo, Jet Edge will perform live precision waterjet cutting demonstrations on its Mid Rail Gantry waterjet system. Powered by a 60,000 psi or 90,000 psi Jet Edge waterjet intensifier pump (available in 30-200hp models), the Jet Edge Mid Rail Gantry water jet cutting machine features an exposed tank that easily accommodates overhead loading. It is designed to cut virtually any material. Optional mirroring cuts part cycle time in half. The Jet Edge Mid Rail Gantry water jet system utilizes an industrial PC controller and can be configured so that all three axes are fully programmable (Z optional). It also features direct-couple AC brushless digital servo motors and single or double carriages. Critical bearing components are protected with heavy metal covers with brush seals. The Mid Rail Gantry waterjet system is available in 5’x5′, 8’x5′, and 21’x5′, 8’X13′ and 21’X13′ and 5’x13′ work envelopes.

Jet Edge’s Mid Rail Gantry Waterjet System is proudly made in the U.S.A.

More Information
For more information about Jet Edge, visit www.jetedge.com, e-mail [email protected], call 1-800-JET-EDGE (538-3343) or 1-763-497-8700. For more information about the WJTA-IMCA Expo, visit www.wjta.org, e-mail [email protected] or call 314-241-1445.

About Jet Edge
Established in 1984, Jet Edge is a global designer and manufacturer of waterjet systems for precision cutting, surface preparation and coating removal. Jet Edge systems are used around the world in a broad range of industries, from the world’s leading airlines to automotive, aerospace, industrial manufacturers, machine and job shops. Jet Edge waterjet systems are proudly made in the U.S.A.

For more information about Jet Edge, visit www.jetedge.com, e-mail [email protected] or call 1-763-497-8700 or 1-800-JET-EDGE (538-3343).

A British-made pump is proving so reliable for a South African mine that its only downtime has been for hose replacement and annual plant maintenance. The Verderflex VF40 is installed within the precipitation plant at the Xstrata Alloys Rhovan site which extracts vanadium, a metal whose principle use is for strengthening steel.
The Verderflex VF40 has been employed to pump abrasive mining slurry at 6 – 8 m3/hour, a medium with 60% solid content. Whilst centrifugal pumps struggle to perform well with such slurries the Verderflex peristaltic pumps continue to prove their ability to pump these dense fluids, continuously and problem-free.
Indeed the VF pumps regularly handle slurries with sub-micron content in excess of 80% and with a specific gravity rating of more than 2.0. For this reason the Verderflex industrial hose pump is now regarded by the majority of mining companies around the world as the industry standard for pumping abrasive, high density fluids.
Classified as a small heavy duty pump, the VF40 is designed to run dry without undue maintenance. This is an important feature for Xstrata as no gland water is used in its operation. The company also praises the rotor design and flange arrangement that makes pump maintenance easy. Indeed the speed with which the VF can be maintained has resulted in many other brands of hose pumps being substituted for Verderflex models on site.
Another contributor to the VF’s reliability is the absence of any wearing parts other than the hose. And even this is designed and manufactured to minimise the effect of fatigue resulting in extremely long hose service life. “The Verderflex pump works well and is only off-line for scheduled maintenance,” confirms Xstrata’s Christelle van Vuuren. “Quite simply, it’s a reliable pump.”

TopSolid 7.3, the latest version of the 7th generation of the integrated software range TopSolid will be launched in the upcoming weeks in March 2010. CAD for the mechanical engineering is now available with the version TopSolid 7.3. The CAM module of TopSolid 7 (which will complete the integration that is the hallmark of the TopSolid range) will be completed in the second semester of 2010. The key characteristics of the TopSolid 7 CAD solution are:
• Significant performance benefits – The end user of the new software generation benefits from productivity gains estimated at being 30% superior to traditional solutions thanks to such characteristics as partial loading and very fast realistic rendering.
• Built-in Product Data Management (PDM) – All data management actions are carried out directly in TopSolid (rename, move, copy/paste, …) and data is shared and secured transparently (guaranteed data integrity, PDM messenger, …)
• FreeShape – A new concept to TopSolid which implies that users do not need a history tree to edit imported parts

The integration of LOOS into the Bosch Group last year has brought with it many positive changes. This means that LOOS now can access a wide systems portfolio of Bosch Thermotechnik. Besides the innovative touchpanel and PLC-based controllers LOOS LBC / LSC, LOOS customers can now enjoy the Buderus Logamatic 4321 with the MEC2 operating unit, specially designed for the UT-L boiler series.

The Logamatic 4321 can offer the following functions and options for the basic variant of the UT-L boilers:

· Control functions for low-cost, efficient and environmentally-friendly energy generation and distributions
· Display of system data including the current temperature values
· Weather-compensated control
· Return temperature protection
· Performance regulation for firing systems
· Safety switch-off of firing
· Control of boiler circuit pump
· Selection between different weekly heating programs to specify heating times and
breaks, orientated to user behaviour
· Radio-controlled clock reception can be activated for super-accurate date and time, automatic changeover of summer and winter time
· Comfort functions for short-time influence of the regular heating program

PRO2AIR Pre-PUR® membrane tube diffuser made from polyurethane for increased safety and lower operating costs
NORRES, the Gelsenkirchen based hose manufacturer, recently unveiled an innovative Pre-PUR® membrane tube diffuser made from premium polyurethane. All the other tube diffusers currently available in the market often have a shorter lifetime and are much more sensitive to dynamic loads owing to their inferior raw materials. In many cases, their mechanical properties deteriorate during the course of their service life, leading to premature damage such as cracks in the diffuser membrane. Some of these diffusers additionally suffer from a significant increase in pressure loss as they grow older because the softener leaches out. With the new PRO2AIR Pre-PUR® made from premium polyurethane this is no longer possible: it is absolutely free of softeners and impresses with its extreme flexibility and mechanical strength under dynamic loads.

The innovative PRO2AIR Pre-PUR® membrane tube diffuser made from premium polyurethane was recently added to the portfolio of the NORRES Schlauchtechnik Environmental Solutions Business Unit. It is used for intermittent, fine-bubble, compressed air aeration (nitrification / denitrification) as well as continuous aeration. The membrane material exhibits very good resistance to municipal wastewater according to the latest version of the DWA-M 115 Advisory Leaflet. Thanks to the
Pre-PUR® premium polyurethane, the new membrane tube diffuser is characterised by high tensile strength and tear resistance, and is also remarkably durable and robust. Its extreme flexibility and mechanical strength under dynamic loads mean increased reliability, an extended service life and hence lower operating costs. Other tube diffusers currently available in the market tend to form a kink edge in intermittent operation; the resulting permanent kinking can be a primary cause of damage in the long term. If damage of this kind occurs, sludge can get into the system; significantly more air escapes from a defective or ruptured diffuser than from an intact one. There is a rapid decrease in oxygenation, leading to reduced oxygen transfer efficiency and impacting the diffuser’s reliability.
[..] You can find the complette Press Release at http://www.norres-aeration.com/hm/06/040102.

Adding somewhat to earlier speculation, Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw, has suggested Nokia may have to turn to Windows Phone 7 as their next generation smartphone platform if their Symbian-based smartphones continue to fail to gain traction, claiming “the odds are stacked against the survival of Symbian.”

Speculation already exist for a Nokia Windows Phone 7 device, and like most of the older generation smartphone OS’s have seen a drop in market share recently, by as much as 4.5% between Q1 2009 and Q1 2010.

Calling Windows Phone 7 a “a wild card”, he still however went on to predict a mobile world dominated by iPhone and Android.

Does this analyst know any more or less than most of his rather inaccurate colleagues?  Let us know your opinion below.

More at Barrons here.

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Northern Ireland’s Wrightbus has officially won the contract to build London’s next double-decker bus – the new Routemaster – and this is what it will look like. This rendering of the final version comes from the winning entry in the design contest, drawn up by Capoco Design. That drawing was given to Wrightbus and made ready for actual use on the streets of The City.

Although it’s roughly ten feet longer than the old Routemaster, it seats two fewer people, but those 62 folks will have a better time of it getting in and out with three points of entry. Also improved are means of accessing all areas of the bus with two staircases inside, and extensive use of glass aims to keep the behemoth from appearing so behemoth-y.

Having been blessed by London Mayor Boris Johnson himself, the new Routemaster will be showing up on London roads in 2012. Follow the jump to look around it for now.

[Source: BBC]

Continue reading London unveils design for next-gen double-decker bus [w/video]

London unveils design for next-gen double-decker bus [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 May 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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