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We’ve heard of a census wherein every citizen in a city is accounted for right since the times of the Bible. Well, San Francisco is going to have all its trees accounted for too! This project, known as the Urban Forest Map, will have information on every tree in the city collected from sources like city of San Francisco itself and a non-profit group called Friends of the Urban Forest.

The website community will also be allowed to edit or add information regarding trees, making the project similar to the functioning of a Wiki. Starting in the Bay Area, the project once kicked off will soon spread its roots to other cities as well. Maybe a hi-tech system to help nab tree-cutters would be a useful addition to this website project!

[Wired]

The Android tablets are coming out of the wood work. This is another one that promises to be an affordable option for all your Android needs. It looks pretty good and if the dock comes with it, it would really be a great deal. The version of Android that is preinstalled is not known.

This tablet has a 7 inch capacitive touch screen, Flash 10.1, SD card slot (I’m assuming it’s a micro slot), Market access via the Cruz Market and some type of eReader capabilities. Are you ready to buy it yet? Looks like you’re going to have to wait a bit longer, the links on the page doesn’t work, there is no price set on the page that we can see. Maybe the page is still under construction. Most of us might be skeptical about this because the last affordable tablet turned out to be a hoax.

[via cruztablet]

Academy Award winner Helen Mirren has signed up to star alongside fellow Brit Russell Brand in a remake of Dudley Moore’s 1981 comedy Arthur.

The Queen star will play a nanny to the title character in a role loosely based off of the one that earned John Gielgud an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the original. Mirren’s role was originally intended for Meryl Streep, who reportedly passed on the part.

Arthur is set to begin filming in New York City in July.

Senators Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham are working with the White House, environmentalists, and industry to craft comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation, which they plan to unveil on Monday. But Senators Lugar (R-IN) and Voinovich (R-OH), both of whom have admitted the threat of global warming, announced yesterday “a narrower competing bill” that resembles the weak legislation passed out of the Senate energy committee last year.  Brad Johnson has the story in this Wonk Room repost:

George V. Voinovich of Ohio and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana are developing an energy-only bill that would mandate new renewable and nuclear power production without imposing cuts on carbon emissions.

This approach, which has also been floated by energy committee members Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and Sen. Lisa Murkowksi (R-AK), has been described by Graham as “half-assed.” Voinovich believes that subsidy-based legislation that fails to reduce global warming pollution is more “doable” than comprehensive reform that pays its own way by putting a price on carbon pollution:

I’d like to get something done. But I’m not sure it would meet the standards of the environmental groups or what Sen. Kerry would like to get done. I’d like to do the doable — move it down the field while I can.

More problematically, Voinovich also announced today that climate legislation “must include a comprehensive preemption provision that goes well beyond language included in previous climate bills” to get his support, a poison-pill stance that would derail the progress made by states across the nation to build a green economy.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) have been jockeying for attention with a bill that addresses the other half of energy reform, a climate-only package with weak targets known as the CLEAR Act.

These senators are participating in a complex dance — if President Obama and the public throw their weight behind real action, then these senators can take credit when elements of their bills appear in the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman legislation. However, if momentum stalls under the weight of polluter lobbying and Beltway indifference to the climate crisis, they can instead say they offered a “pragmatic” alternative.

Unfortunately, such political insurance only covers elected politicians, not people living in the real world.

The world will soon see more of solar power, developing hand in hand with nano-materials popping up everywhere. Quantum dots, nano-wires, nano-antenna, carbon nano-tubes, and multiple quantum wells are pushing solar technology to greater levels. Nano-materials, tiny little particles invisible to the naked eye, help reduce materials needed to produce photovoltaic cells. This also leads to decrease in production costs and material costs.

Materials such as these are being tested for cost efficiency as compared to the use of silicon and thin-film photovoltaics. Companies are also developing photovoltaic sprays and thin film nano-solar panels. Companies like NanoSolar have panels capable of capturing 15.3% of the sun’s light. Nano-materials such as these being developed nowadays will sure help solar power find greater applicability in the very near future.

[Coolerplanet]

Aquí tenemos la comunicación oficial de Toyota, con galería de imágenes incluida, del nuevo RAV 4 2010. Lo primero que me llama la atención es cómo ha crecido en tamaño, precio y calidad este vehículo que en sus orígenes era un SUV razonablemente barato y ligero, siendo ahora otro todoterreno más parecido al Land Cruiser que a otra cosa.

Un nuevo frontal más dinamico, dtalles cromados en la parrilla frontal y en los faros antinieblas delanteros (habiendo sido reubicados) junto con un diseño interior que aumenta la percepción de calidad son las nuevas señas de identidad de este nuevo RAV 4 que aspira a crecer, a ser una variante más asequible del Land Cruiser en lugar de estar más distanciado de los todoterreno de lujo.

Dos motores tendrá disponibles por ahora, el 2.0 VVT-i Valvematic de 158 cv de potencia y el 2.2 D-CAT de 150 cv, ambos con la tecnología Toyota Optimal Drive que lo situarán entre los más ahorradores del segmento. Los precios oscilarán entre los 23.300 € y los 35.350 €, variando entre los 5 acabados disponibles y la tracción a dos o a cuatro ruedas, precios no válidos para Canarias.

Blanco Perlado, azul Abisal y Rojo Oscuro serán los tres colores disponibles junto a la carrocería Cross Sport, que no tiene barras de techo ni rueda de repuestos en el portón trasero. El acabado superior Executive ofrece una tapicería mixta en cuero y Alcantara con asientos calefactados y regulados eléctricamente.

Nuevo Toyota RAV 4 2010

Fuente | Toyota

Airports around the globe are going greener by the day. We’ve heard of the Page Field General Aviation Airport in Southwest Florida and the Le Castellet International Airport in the South of France using solar power before. This time it’s the Alice Springs Airport in Northern Australia that will soak in the sun.

A 235-kilowatt solar power station has been planned with SolFocus providing the solar arrays. 28 units of SolFocus’ 1100S concentrator photovoltaic arrays will be installed by developer Ingenero and the project will be completed in the third quarter of this year. Half the project’s costs will be financed by the Australian Government, amounting to $1.1 million. This project will help do away with around 470 tons of carbon emissions annually!

[Ecoseed]

You aren’t the only one who has been sweating it out more than ever this summer. Everyone else around the globe is feeling the heat too! The sun is swelling up in pride and baking the earth to a blistering brown. March 2010 was the hottest ever, breaking records globally. Our planet has been subjected to the hottest January to March period in history this year.

Combining together the global land and ocean temperature, March 2010 was the warmest march ever, with 56.3°F (13.5°C), which is 1.39°F (0.77°C) above the 20th century average of 54.9°F (12.7°C). this heat has sure brought out drops of sweat on foreheads everywhere. Brace yourself for a hot summer season this year.

[ScienceDaily]

The results of a new study suggest that individuals who make regular use of tanning beds are more likely to be suffering from substance abuse, raising questions as to whether tanning itself is actually addictive. 

The research, conducted by Catherine Mosher and Sharon Danoff-Burg of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the State University of New York, was published in the latest issue of the Archives of Dermatology. The researchers found that people who admitted to other forms of substance abuse were more likely to have made frequent use of tanning beds in the previous year than those who did not show signs of substance abuse.

The scientists interviewed a total of 421 college students from September through December of 2006. They found that, out of 229 students who used indoor tanning facilities, 90 of them met criteria for signs of addiction to indoor tanning. Those same students also were more frequent drinkers of alcohol, marijuana users and were more likely to suffer symptoms of anxiety.

The study’s results were released less than a month after an FDA advisory panel recommended that the government either ban the use of tanning beds for everyone under the age of 18, or require parental consent. The recommendations were aimed at protecting children from the heightened risk of skin cancer from tanning beds.

FDA began to review the use of tanning beds, particularly among young people, after the World Health Organization (WHO) reclassified tanning beds as known carcinogens last year. WHO came to that conclusion after it conducted a study on tanning bed skin cancer risks. WHO’s report determined that the use of tanning beds before the age of 30 increases the risk of skin cancer by 75%.

Some studies have shown that the use of tanning beds by young adults results in eight times the risk of developing melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer once found mainly in the elderly, but which has increasingly become a problem for younger adults. The American Cancer Society says that melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer, is diagnosed in about 69,000 Americans each year and causes about 8,650 deaths annually. Less dangerous, but more common, basal and squamous cell carcinomas affect more than one million Americans each year and cause about 2,000 deaths annually.

If the process of getting a tan from an indoor tanning bed is itself addictive, it may make it harder to devise effective interventions to reduce skin cancer risk, researchers warned. However, the study does not draw a direct link between tanning and addiction, it only notes that frequent tanning bed users often show signs of an addiction and are more likely to be addicted to other substances.

Officials from the Indoor Tanning Association, which represents the U.S.’s $5 billion indoor tanning industry, was skeptical about the results, saying that there was no definitive proof that tanning was addictive, and that the word addiction was being used to stir up media attention.

Concerns over tanning bed cancer has resulted in bipartisan legislation aimed at lowering tanning bed cancer risks. The Tanning Bed Cancer Control Act, was introduced in late January by U.S. Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) and Charlie Dent (R-Pennsylvania). The bill would allow federal regulators to set controls on the amount of ultraviolet radiation emitted by tanning beds as well as set limits on the amount of time users can use the devices.

The sun shone with all its glory this Earth Day brightening up the world to its sparkling golden glory. And as a gift to us all, SunRun came up with an ingenious info-graphic that will help spread the word of solar power use around. Informative and enlightening, this info-graphic can also be embedded on blog sites and your own webpage, and visitors are sure to stop and have a look at it.

The info-graphic informs on ways to fix the broken electricity grid with the use of solar power. It also has a whole lot of stuff on the potential of solar energy and shows just how bad coal power can be. With a whole lot of information on rising energy demand and costs and the current usage of solar energy, the info-graphic also states that there should be around 30,000 new solar installations in 2010 in the United States. Worth a look!

[Sunrunhome]

According to ID Insight’s latest report, The State of Broadband Competition in America – 2010, Minnesota ranks number 13 in terms of the most competitive broadband environment. (You have to sign up to get access to the report; however, the report is free.)

The ranking is interesting – but the good stuff, in my opinion, really is in the details. They found that:

There is a strong correlation between income and home value and the level of competiveness in a state. As income and home values show an increase from state to state, the level of competition – as measured by the report – decreases.

States with the largest percentage of Internet users and the highest available speed tend to be less competitive.

The bulk of broadband stimulus funding did not go to states with the least competitive environments.

At first this seems a little strange – but it makes sense. Where there are profitable customers one of two providers have stepped in to supply service. In areas where this is less true the market is still pretty open. The researchers raise some good questions about these findings:

If more lucrative markets tend to become less competitive, will this trend continue?

If the most lucrative markets tend to become less competitive, what will incent those providers to increase their networks and available speeds?

In the areas with lower incomes that have more competitive environments, what factors will increase broadband adoption (an assumption being that there are barriers either to constituents buying services from these competitors, or competitors selling services)?

Also interesting is that these findings are true for Statewide perspective, but do not hold at a countywide level. Here is what they say…

In reviewing the data, this does not appear to be the case, especially as we moved to more rural counties. What we saw instead was noise. As we got down to the county level, it appeared that the competitive environment was much more volatile. Some counties are extremely competitive while others are even more monopolized. The highly competitive areas appear more the result of local communities having a greater hand in determining their broadband future than areas where the larger providers are acting mainly for financial reasons.

Troubled ex-child star Gary Coleman is hoping love will be sweeter the second time around after recently reuniting with his estranged wife, Shannon Price.

The Diff’rent Strokes star, 42, was arrested in January after police were called to the couple’s Utah home following reports of a fight.No criminal charges were filed at the time, but Coleman was cited for failing to appear in court for a hearing into a separate altercation involving his wife in April 2009. He pleaded guilty to one count of domestic violence criminal mischief and was fined.

Gary and Shannon decided to patch up their differences after Gary was hospitalized twice for seizures earlier this year.

A source tells The National Enquirer: “Shannon has moved back in (and) Gary’s like a new person. Gary really thought he could die at any time and it (recent health crisis) made him realise how much he really loves Shannon. They’ve never been happier and all their friends are hoping their love will stick this time.”

The couple — who wed in August 2007 — are reportedly setting up a dog-breeding business.

(photo: Grove Park Inn)

The Obama family is headed to the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 22, 2010

DAILY GUIDANCE AND PRESS SCHEDULE FOR
FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 2010

In the morning, the President will deliver remarks at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members in the Rose Garden. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will deliver the oath of allegiance. The President will also present the Outstanding American by Choice Recognition. This event is open press.

In the afternoon, the President and the First Lady will travel to Asheville, North Carolina. The departure from the South Lawn and the arrival at Asheville Regional Airport is open press.

At 2:00PM, Austan Goolsbee, Chief Economist of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, will participate in a live video discussion following up on the President’s speech on Wall Street Reform, via WhiteHouse.gov/live or Ustream.tv/whitehouse.

In-Town Travel Pool
Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP
TV Corr & Crew: CNN
Print: Tribune
Radio: AURN

Out-of-Town Travel Pool
Wires: AP, Reuters, Bloomberg
Wire Photos: AP, Reuters, AFP
TV Corr & Crew: CNN
Print: Politico
Radio: CBS

EDT

8:45AM In-Town Travel Pool Call Time

10:00AM THE PRESIDENT delivers remarks at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members
Rose Garden
Open Press (Pre-set 9:00AM – Final Gather 9:30AM – North Doors of the Palm Room)

11:45AM THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart The White House en route Andrews Air Force Base
South Lawn
Open Press (Pre-set 11:15AM – Final Gather 11:30AM – North Doors of the Palm Room)

12:00PM THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart Andrews Air Force Base en route Asheville, North Carolina
Out-of-Town Travel Pool (Call Time 11:00AM – Virginia Gate, Andrews Air Force Base)

1:20PM THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive in Ashville, North Carolina
Asheville Regional Airport
Open Press

##

Aproveitando a postagem:

Da série cultura inútil: você sabia que o slogan do McDonald´s é:

Me encanta. (espanhol)
C’est tout ce que j’aime. (francês)
Ich lieb es. (alemão)
Amo muito tudo isso. (brasileiro)
Ja’ tyck’ om ä’. (sueco)
вот что я люблю. (russo)
işte bunu seviyorum. (turco)

A coalition of groups representing various medical fields has come up with new ethical guidelines that aim to severely limit the influence of industry on medical policy. 

The new code for interactions with companies was released on April 21 by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), which represents 32 major medical professional societies and represents 650,000 physicians across the U.S. Overall, the new codes seek to prevent and disclose conflicts of interest and financial ties, promote more independent program development and promote the rise of medical leadership without industry ties.

The new guidelines include a rule to prevent industry from underwriting the development of medical guidelines, and restrictions on allowing industry to promote and give free gifts at medical conferences. The new code also calls for a ban on consulting deals from top medical society leaders and medical journal editors.

“Physicians and patients count on medical societies to be authoritative, independent voices in science and medicine,” said one of the code’s authors, Dr. Allen Lichter, CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “By adopting this code, societies demonstrate their commitment to the highest level of ethical standards in their activities and to providing the best possible care for patients and populations.”

The new guidelines come in the wake of a sustained media interest in reports that industry-paid doctors and consultants have frequently ghostwritten articles in medical journals, and researchers have repeatedly failed to disclose ties to companies that could be considered a conflict of interest regarding papers they’ve published.

In March, an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) blasted GlaxoSmithKline’s research over the side effects of the diabetes drug Avandia, which some say are responsible for tens of thousands of heart attacks and deaths. The authors called for new, stringent, medical and scientific journal reforms that would ensure integrity and minimize the ability of corporations to obfuscate scientific data.

The editorial was written in response to findings by a Mayo Clinic investigation that found an alarming number scientists and medical experts, who supported Avandia after it was linked to an increased risk of heart attacks, had undeclared financial ties to GlaxoSmithKline. The Mayo Clinic study found that 87% of scientists who downplayed Avandia side effects had links to the drug maker, and about a quarter of them failed to declare the potential conflict of interest.

Adhering to the code is voluntary for medical societies, and not required to stay a part of the CMSS. However, those who do sign are expected to either adhere to the new ethics code or put in place policies that are even more stringent. In addition, medical associations outside of the CMSS organizations are invited to sign on as well.

Robert Downey Jr. walking to his Mercedes-Benz S400 HYBRID on set. (Photo: PRNewsFoto/Mercedes-Benz USA, Clark Samuels at Startracks)

From Green Right Now Reports

Mercedes-Benz has figured out that many of today’s Hollywood stars are looking for something “green” in their ride. So the luxury automaker is touting that its lineup of hybrids — including the 2010 S400 HYBRID luxury sedan and the ML450 HYBRID SUV — is pulling in the star power.

Mercedes-Benz says its eco line-up is making it easy for celebs to have green transportation by offering the best of both worlds: supreme luxury, safety and technology with “solid environmental credentials.”

And the company is happy to name names. Here are a few:

S400 HYBRID — This new Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan is the vehicle of choice for Robert Downey Jr., who drove the luxury sedan when off-camera while shooting his upcoming film Due Date, and Gerard Butler, among others.

ML450 HYBRID — This mid-size SUV uses a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine, two electric motors and sophisticated electronics to produce more than 46 percent better fuel economy than a comparable V8-powered ML550 model, and is the vehicle of choice for international pop star Miley Cyrus.

Mercedes-Benz’s BlueTEC and ML Hybrid deliver “20-30 percent higher fuel economy” than a comparable gasoline engines, according to Mercedes.  The Hollywood elite you’ll see behind the wheel include:

• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Liv Tyler
• Rosario Dawson
• Christina Applegate
• Molly Sims
• Giles Marini
• Felicity Huffman

So how far does Mercedes go to super-serve the “greenerati” with exclusive rides? Well, for 2010 the automaker plans to offer a limited number of B-Class hydrogen fuel cell vehicles available for lease in …California. Essentially an electric car that makes its own power on board, the company says the new F-Cell has a range of about 240 miles before needing refueling. Running on compressed hydrogen, the F-Cell is expected to deliver an equivalent fuel mileage of 86.6 city-highway combined miles per gallon and water is the F-Cell’s only emission.

That’s one vehicle that might cause even the biggest names to queue up for a chance to own one.

Windows XP was one of the most successful operating systems in Microsoft’s history. However, now it is starting to become a thorn in its way, as millions of Windows XP users around the world are refusing to let go. Nevertheless, Microsoft is making it clear that it is ready to move on.

After Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft has decided to drop Windows XP support from the next generation of Windows Live Essential applications. Microsoft confirmed this through a comment posted on the WindowsTeamBlog:

We know many customers use Windows XP and are happy with their experience, and of course we will continue to support our current release of Windows Live Essentials on XP and the new versions all of our web-based services (including Hotmail and SkyDrive) will run on XP. As some have noted on this blog, Windows XP is nearly 10 years old and simply doesn’t provide the same level of platform support for graphics, and we recognized early in our work on Wave 4 that we could do much more in our software on a modern graphics platform. As a result our new version of Essentials will require the new graphics platform and controls that are only available on Windows 7 or Windows Vista and therefore will only run on these platforms. So if you are happy with XP, you can keep running the current version of Windows Live and our new services. When you move to Windows 7 and Windows Vista, we will have a new version that will let you do more on a modern platform.

Windows Live Essential bundles various Microsoft utilities for home users including Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Writer, Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Photo Gallery. Microsoft is currently getting ready to begin the public beta phase of Windows Live Wave 4. However, an early version has already been leaked on torrent websites.

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

• Download Windows Live Writer 2009 [Microsoft Live Essentials]
• Windows Live Wave Release Dates Leaked
• Download Morro, Microsoft Security Essentials
• Windows Live Wave 4 Leaked, Reviews
• Download Windows Live Wave 3

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