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Yo, there be apps. With the most recent app drop the US App Catalog is slowly creeping towards 2000 (sitting at 1985 right now). But if you roll in all the apps available internationally, that number jumps to 2169. And that’s not including everything available in the web distribution, beta, and homebrew feeds, the available packages. Does it compare to what you can get in other app stores? Quantity-wise, not really. But we’re not concerned with quantity as the only metric of our platform-of-choice’s success. We want quality apps more than just a lot of apps. Is that what we got yesterday? Well, that’s a hard to define metric, so we’ll just let you look at the list after the break and draw your own conclusions.

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Waking up to find out the world thinks you’re dead must be disturbing to say the least – just ask Leona Lewis. The “Bleeding Love” songbird is the latest victim of an internet death hoax.

A joke that the 25-year-old waitress-turned-international singing star had passed away sent fans on Twitter into a frenzy on Thursday night.

One blogged: “Is Leona actually dead or is it just a rumour? Please tell me it’s not true. I feel like crying.” Another wrote: “Is Leona really dead? What a waste of talent.”

This isn’t the first celebrity death hoax to sweep the world’s fast-growing social networking site. Johnny Depp and Bill Cosby have both been the target of internet death jokes this year alone.

Hugh Hefner doesn’t believe in sex addiction. The Playboy founder — who has famously enjoyed relationships with multiple girlfriends at the same time on the E! reality series The Girls Next Door — claims the mumbo jumbo “condition” is just a “cop out” for cheaters careless to have gotten caught.

Here’s what the 84-year-old had to say on the topic in a chat with AskMen.com this week: “I think by and large it’s a cop out. I think ’sex addiction’ is a convenient phrase for what is really an obsession. Sex is not like a drug or alcohol. It doesn’t affect the physicality in the same way. But it can become very obsessive. Neurotic people can do very foolish things. People make choices. Most people who cheat do it because they think they can get away with it.”

Alex Renton visits Port-au-Prince’s Carrefour Feuilles district, where Oxfam’s canteen programme is enabling Haitian people to start work again.

Nine months pregnant, an ankle and a hand still bandaged from her ordeal on 12 January, Carine d’Acier is wonderfully patient and good-humoured. And, as she sits outside the tent that is home to her and ten members of her family, she is very direct about what she needs: “Economic support. Oxfam has done a wonderful thing in getting us fed, but now what we need – what everyone needs – is a way to get job and a way to stand on our feet again.”

Carlene Charles nods in agreement. She has just served a lunch of boiled maize and spicy chicken to Carine and 80 other people in the Bien-Aimee quartier of Port-au-Prince’s Carrefour Feuilles district, under a programme organised by Oxfam. “We’re very content with this idea, it works well,” says Carlene. “It has enabled me to start work again.” Before the earthquake she ran a small local café. Oxfam’s livelihoods teams have enlisted her and, as of mid-March, 55 more local “restauratrices” to serve a hot meal every day to people like Carine and their families. The community and a local NGO, Cozpam, decide who are the most in need, and issue coupons for the free meals.

Oxfam’s team leader in the district, Alix Percinthe, explains the rationale. “There are various benefits. Some people lost everything when their houses collapsed, including cooking implements. And charcoal to cook has gone up in price. So giving them a hot meal once a day like this is effective.”

“But also, many of the small-scale merchants like Carlene had seen their business shattered – this helps them start again, and puts money into the community. The food for cooking is bought by them, locally. And the other good effect is that this encourages the community to discuss things, and work together.” Currently the canteen system is delivering more than 4,000 meals a day to the most vulnerable, at a cost of less than 70 pence a plate.

A sealed off suburb

Earlier I, Alix and some of Cozpam’s volunteers had ventured high up the slopes above Carrefour Feuilles, to where some of the poorest of Port-au-Prince live. Here on the mountainside, people’s simple shacks acted as a metaphor for the precariousness of their lives. We climbed through and over the rubble of those collapsed dwellings, around little encampments of tents and tarpaulins, passing women carrying ten-litre bags of water on their heads. One of them said that the daily climb to fetch the household’s water took her two hours.

We passed human chains of young people, patiently passing rocks hand to hand, in an effort to clear some of the route. Eventually, breathless, we stopped at a tin-roofed church, where 80 or more people had gathered to discuss the setting up of similar canteens here in Pekay. There were former shop, bakery and café owners registering their capacity to cook and serve food, and many family heads, mainly women, already designated as in need of the daily meal. The discussion was noisy, and soon turned to the huge range of problems this community faces.

Chief among them was the fact that that rubble landslides on the steep slopes had virtually sealed off this suburb from the roads – even getting a water bladder in looked like a job for a helicopter. Alix listened to these worries, and we climbed even higher into fields, looking for routes that Oxfam could use to access this cut-off community. On the terraces we saw farmers preparing the ground for the rainy season that will arrive next month.

This is something many people in Pekay are dreading. Even before the earthquake, the paths on these slopes were hard to negotiate in the wet, and there was a permanent risk of landslide. But spending the season down in the city, as many used to, is no longer an option – indeed, if people can be supported here, conditions may be better than among the 400,000 living in temporary camps.

“I can begin my job and my life again”

Sylvanie Pierre, 39, is one of the shop owners who will take part in the canteen scheme. We talk in the shattered remains of her cement and breeze-block house. Only one of the rooms is habitable for her and her six children. She is a widow, and badly needs the income the canteen will bring. “It means I can begin my job and my life again. It’s very difficult at the moment to feed the family. I have had to use all my savings, and now I am borrowing money.” Gael-Blanc, the two-year-old on her lap, has been subsisting mainly on porridge made from flour.

Jobs are of course a major challenge for the recovery of Haiti. Carine worked on the third floor of the Palm Apparel garment factory as a seamstress before, sewing t-shirts for sale in the States. She earned 14 Haitian dollars a day – about £1.70 and less than half the official Haitian minimum wage. “I was there when the earthquake hit, and the roof collapsed on me. It was awful.” It was 36 hours before Carine, then seven months pregnant, was rescued. More than 300 of her co-workers died in the factory. Carine has no idea if the factory will ever be rebuilt.

Before we leave, one of the Pekay community leaders, Vendrien Jeannot, takes my arm. “I want to say what a very good idea this is. It’s good for the community, for the little shop owners, and these women who need help badly. Thank you.” The listening crowd nods.

More on Oxfam’s Haiti earthquake response

Make a regular donation to the Oxfam 365 emergency fund

Oxfam GB CEO Barbara Stocking reports from Haiti three months on

Some people never learn: Kiefer Sutherland was kicked out of a London strip club early Friday after before getting into a scuffle with bouncers — drunken and shirtless.

It all went down at the Stringfellows Club in the Foggy City, where, according to The Sun newspaper, an inebriated Sutherland knocked back one too many and began dancing erratically and shouting at other patrons.

The Emmy Award and Golden Globe award-winner, best known for his role as Jack Bauer on TV’s recently-cancelled 24, was described by onlookers as “absolutely screamingly paralytic” and was put in a headlock by security as he violently lashed out during a drinking bender last night.

Sutherland turned his wrath on club security after he was quietly asked to leave the establishment.

“He went bananas (mad), shouting nonsense and dancing like Peter Crouch before kicking off when he was asked to leave,” says a spywitness.

The shirtless star was photographed being hauled out of the venue by doormen, who dragged him from the club and pushed him into a waiting vehicle – only for the star to escape the car and take a tumble on the street.

Oh Kiefer…SMH. Bad things happen when Kiefer starts hitting the bottle: Sutherland served 48 days in prison in 2007 and early 2008 after pleading no contest to a DUI charge. Just last year, he was charged with head-butting fashion designer Jack McCollough.

The star is in London to plug his new film Twelve.

See the pictures of Sutherland at The Sun…

Google’s HTC made Nexus One is well known for not setting any sales records, but now Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is predicting sales that in this day and age can only be called abysmal.

Munster said in a research note:

While we view Google’s Nexus One as the most advanced Android phone available to date, we believe that based on checks from Piper Jaffray analyst Mike Walkley and data released by mobile analytics companies, the phone has not seen the same success in the market as the Droid and other alternatives. Previously we expected the phone would ultimately reach carrier stores for sale, which has not yet happened. Our prior estimate of 350k Nexus One’s sold in Q1 appears aggressive and we believe the number may be closer to 160k for Q1; this represents a $100 million reduction to top-line revenue, but a $0.06 improvement to earnings as we expect Nexus One to carry a lower operating margin than Google’s core search product, for which we increased estimates.

The handset was called the first “super smartphone” by Google, but has been plagued by issues such as poor screen responsiveness, poor daylight performance and lack of support by Google which has seen both enthusiasm and sales flag very soon after release.

Read more at ZDNet here.

La propuesta de las grandes de la industria cultural norteamericana a través de sus organizaciones (RIAA, MPAA) es de las que clarifican la visión que tienen de internet, la propiedad intelectual y los derechos de los ciudadanos. Se puede acceder al PDF de la petición que han hecho al gobierno USA, tal como enlaza Nación Red:

Entre otras medidas, las “majors” proponen la instalación de un software en los ordenadores personales que permita la detección de material ilegal, la filtración por parte de las operadoras de las descargas de los usuarios, la persuasión por parte del Gobierno de EEUU a la comunidad internacional para que se tomen medidas similares y el control en las fronteras del material (¿portátiles? ¿reproductores?) introducido por los visitantes extranjeros en busca de cualquierque infrinja el copyright.

A estas alturas de la película, lo que sigue sorprendiéndome es como muchos intelectuales, analistas y editorialistas de medios de comunicación siguen obviando el mayor ataque a la privacidad y a los derechos individuales proveniente de organizaciones y empresas que “defienden a la cultura y a los artistas”. Cuando uno les lee, les escucha, casi siempre se parapetan en una posición defensiva contra “los del todo gratis”. No hay forma de que presuntos defensores de las libertades, progresistas, liberales o conservadores, hagan del derecho a la privacidad en internet y del secreto de las comunicaciones una causa propia. Aquí debe fallar algo, me resisto a creer que ninguno de los columnistas vehementes de nuestros medios, tertulianos, intelectuales o artistas mediáticos sean capaces de comulgar con quienes directamente proponen: “espiemos todo lo que hacen los ciudadanos, filtremos sus comunicaciones, controlemos lo que pueden ver, oir y leer para evitar el descenso de ingresos”.

Tata Indicom has changed the face of wireless broadband in India. With its comparatively cheap unlimited offer, it is currently the best buy.

Tata Indicom offers unlimited surfing + download at Rs.800 per month. The offer is valid for Tata Photon Whiz. Although it operates at a compromised speed, it provides the advantage of unlimited surfing.

Tata Indicom Whiz has a dialer for Windows. However, many complain that there is no Tata Indicom dialer for Linux.

Well, there is no dialer because Linux has a dialer of its own which does the job. Follow these steps to setup your Photon Whiz with the “wvdial” dialer.

1. Install “wvdial” if you do not have it already. To install wvdial, use the command:

   sudo apt-get install wvdial

2. Next, plug in your Tata Indicom USB Modem.
3. Now, create a dialer for your modem with the command:

   sudo wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

   This creates the appropriate dialer configuration for your modem. Remember to keep the modem plugged in while running this command.

4. Edit the wvdial.conf file by issuing

   sudo vi /etc/wvdial.conf

5. Your wvdial.conf file opens on issuing the above command. It should look like this :

   [Dialer Defaults]
   Init1 = ATZ
   Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
   Init3 = AT+CRM=1
   Stupid Mode = 1
   Modem Type = Analog Modem
   Phone = 0
   ISDN = 0
   Password = <password>
   New PPPD = <username>
   Username = internet
   Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
   Baud = 9600

6. Now you have to edit the file. If you did not get the

   Init3 = AT+CRM=1

   and

   Stupid Mode = 1

   fields, add them manually. Next, put “internet” in place of <username> and <password>. Do not change any other auto-generated entry. Place the appropriate phone number in place of 0. It is #777 for Tata Indocom.

That should complete setting up your dialer. Now, to dial a connection, simply execute

sudo wvdial

in a terminal window. Enjoy.

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EurActiv has an article on a proposal for the EU to shift to 100% renewable energy – 100% renewables ‘feasible by 2050’, EU told.

The EU could cut its emissions by more than 90% by 2050 by moving to produce all its energy from renewable sources, according to the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), an industry group.

In a report published on Thursday (14 April), it said the environmental and social benefits would outweigh the required investments.

The report provides a roadmap to 2050 for different renewable technologies, arguing that 100% renewables is both economically feasible and environmentally desirable.

EREC predicts the largest increase to take place in renewable electricity, driven by wind and photovoltaic (PV) solar, with its share of total energy demand rising from 10% in 2020 to 18% in 2030 and 41% by 2050. It also expects the renewable heating and cooling market from biomass, solar thermal and geothermal applications to take off quickly, comprising 21% of the EU’s total energy consumption in 2030 and 45% in 2050.

Transport will remain the biggest challenge for renewable energies, according to EREC. But as conversion technologies for biofuels and electric vehicles enter the market on a large scale after 2020, it expects the share of renewable transport fuels in Europe’s energy consumption to increase from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2050.

EREC stressed that the technologies required to achieve a 100% renewables scenario are already available and it is simply a matter of finding the political will to make it happen.

When Google first showed off Chrome OS, it made a simple but bold pledge, it would not run any native app, at all. The browser is the only native application that the user will have access to, everything else is in the cloud. It sounds like an enticing option, but many pointed out that the market was not yet ready for this, there isn&r… (read more)

Here are live test pics of our Alfa Giulietta test drive, in which our colleagues at Autoblog.it got to drive the new Alfa Romeo hatch over 100 km, between track driving and street driving. While the Alfa MiTo was a much-awaited car and has been an important model for Alfa and its launch into the compact segment, the Giulietta is essential to Alfa for a brand revival, and in terms of building a new, quality vehicle in a competitive segment.

The Giulietta looks better in person than in pictures, and overall the muscular design and the combination of colours and accessories is very pleasing. The front is still quite prominent and if you’re in the market for the Giulietta, you might want to splash out on some bigger wheels as the 16-inch design can get a bit lost (the 18-inch wheels on the Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde are much more attractive), but other than that we’re looking at quite a sexy little hatch.

The thing that gives us most relief about the Giulietta is that it isn’t just constructed around Alfa good looks. The first good impressions of the interior, with a BMW 1 Series style dash, a lovely mix of leather, alcantara and metal finishes, are only confirmed the more you come into contact with this new Alfa Romeo. Let’s face it though, to compete in this segment Alfa’s new C EVO platform had to be good, comfort and safety had to be very good and price had to be appealing. It’s not an easy feat but the Alfa Giulietta seems to pull it off quite well.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta test drive

The Giulietta in this test was a 1.4-litre Multiair with 170 hp, with Distinctive package and Sport kit. You’ve only got to go a short distance before you fall in love with the steering: clean, precise and well-balanced, it makes you forget you’re driving something with electronic steering assistance, and you can just enjoy the Dual Pinion technology. The Multiair engine has 250 Nm of torque, and you can feel it. At just 2,000 rpm the acceleration is generous and you don’t have to make this car work hard to enjoy it.

If you want to play around with the DNA function, you get even more satisfaction, and this is where the Giulietta really shows what it’s made of. A different personality comes out of the car and you feel a heavier and more involved steering, overboost function, ready acceleration, active Q2 differential, a more relaxed VDC electronic stability and even a brake management system that makes for faster and more responsive braking. You can read all of that in a press release, but in the Giulietta you can actually feel it at the wheel.

Some annoying aspects are present, though, this is not a perfect car. The multimedia system controls are in a slightly uncomfortable position and sometimes the sports seats and overall noisy aerodynamics on highway drives do not make for a smooth ride. But apart from that this is a driver’s car, with an agile engine that you will appreciate in the city for its elasticity and quiet ride at low revs, and some fun steering when you want to tackle the bends a bit more. With a start&stop system, you get some decent mileage out of your fuel, with Alfa declaring an average fuel consumption of 4.6 l/100 km. We figure we probably did about 10 km/l but we did throw the car around a bit and use the sports function most of the time.

We also got to try briefly the Alfa Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde model. At first glance, it’s a lovely looking sporty hatch, but we would have liked more exclusive features, especially on the inside as most of the elements of the sports kit seen on the previous model are apparent here, too. This 1750 Tbi engine had 235 hp and while the engine rumble was more noticeable, it’s still quite discrete for what is Alfa’s performance variant. The dedicated suspension of this model and the more powerful braking system are evident at the first turn on the track, and the Giulietta Quadrifoglio has a very exact driving style. Some understeer can occur on exaggerating with the accelerator, but the electronic assistance will never really dampen the enthusiasm of a good driver.

Quick changes of direction and hard braking are easily achieved, but the Cloverleaf is also a sweet car to drive at top speeds. The Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde is a necessary compromise between speedy sports driving and safety, and for some the rear multilink suspension might be a little on the ‘polite’ side. The transmission, like on the other Giulietta model, is very very good, although sometimes you can be lulled into thinking there is less horse power under the bonnet that what you’ve actually got.

The Quadrifoglio version is a pleasing element to the overall Alfa Giulietta mix. It is an excellent offering for a large range of customers: it’s sparky, but sweet, and is focussed on providing control and precision in a car flexibile enough to meet many needs. You could drive it as a young woman, you could drive it as an older man, and the Giulietta will be exciting or docile enough for whoever. Alfa is counting on selling 40,000 models by the end of the year, with 50 percent dedicated to the Italian market. The long term aim is to reach 100,000 units sales per annum. With prices starting at 20,300 euros, they could make it. It’s not cheap, but it’s a very good, solid offering (and it comes in red).

This is a great idea, but it’s kind of been done before, Apple. Already ticket retailers are issuing QR barcodes via SMS, to be scanned when entering gigs—though Apple does show nifty iTunes integration in its patent. More »

A Rolls Royce aimed towards drivers
By Nauman Farooq

Rolls Royce is one of the oldest car companies around. They first opened their doors in 1904, however, their first series production car didn’t come until 1906. It was at first called the 40/50 HP, because that is roughly the amount of power it produced.

2010 Rolls Royce Ghost

The press however preferred to call it by its nick name, the “Ghost” or “Silver Ghost.” During its 20 year production run, Rolls Royce had produced 7874 examples of this model, making it one of the most successful cars in the company’s history.

Hoping to repeat the success of this classic, Rolls Royce has just launched an all new Ghost. The new Ghost is the entry-level model, placed under the Phantom line-up, but don’t think this entry level model is equivalent to a Hyundai Accent.

Oh no, in many ways, the Ghost is an equal match for the Phantom. While the Ghost may be 15-inches shorter than the Phantom, it is still 6-inches longer than a BMW 760iL. The Ghost is also quite wide, measuring close to 6.5-ft.

You certainly become aware of its size the very first time you take it out. I was handed the keys to the only Ghost currently in Canada, by the only Rolls Royce dealer in the country, Grand Touring Automobiles in downtown Toronto, On.

The roads close to the dealership are narrow, uneven and broken, and are typically infested with the worst drivers this city has to offer. So it was quite a tense first few minutes as I guided it out of town, giving it a wide birth and not attempting any quick maneuvers.

Once my nerves calmed a bit, I started noticing that this car rides these broken streets unlike anything I have ever driven before. These roads usually can rattle your fillings out, but in the Ghost, it was as if all the bumps and imperfections have been ironed out. Its ride quality is truly impressive.

Once out of town and onto the highway, I pointed it towards Barrie, On. to see how it handles a highway commute. This is also the place I first got to taste this cars most amazing feature, its engine. The Ghost gets a 6.6-liter, direct-injected, twin-turbo charged V12 that produces 563 hp and 575 lb/ft of torque. All this power goes to just the rear-wheels via a brand new eight-speed automatic gearbox.

All this grunt equates to a 0-100 km/h sprint in just 4.9 seconds, and onto a limited top speed of 250 km/h.

Numbers are one thing, but in reality its how it translates into real world performance is another. You’d think a Rolls Royce would be soft and serene, which the Ghost is too. But the moment you stab the throttle, it erupts forwards like it was launched by a steam catapult. It is truly, eye-openingly quick. It sounds good under full-throttle runs too, a trait never seen before on a Rolls Royce.

However, it still doesn’t pretend to be a sports car, because it’s not. That is why its transmission doesn’t feature any paddles for manually changing gears. It just asks you to give it more throttle input and it does the rest for you.

Splendid, but a Rolls Royce isn’t so much about speed as it is about comfort, and this one doesn’t fall short on that either. First of all, out on the highway, I engaged its adaptive cruise control which keeps it from bumping into the car that is ahead of you. If the car in front slows down, so would the Ghost. This system might be available in many other cars, but in the Ghost it works very seamlessly and works all the way down to a full stop. Very clever car this.

Then there are other goodies like night-vision camera, lane departure warning system, heads-up display, above view parking assist system and side-view cameras for when you’re trying to get a better view coming out of a junction. So be in no doubt, this is a very technological car.

All this before I even tell you about its luxury features like the heated and cooled seats with built in massagers, a wonderful entertainment system front and back and its panoramic sunroof. I should inform you that most of these features are an optional extra, hence the price on my test car went from a base of $275,000 to $342,000 with these and many more options, but hey! Its only money.

Before I knew, I was up in Barrie. Met some friends for lunch (they were all very impressed with the car) and then drove back down to Toronto.

The Ghost just eats away motorway miles with ease. The steering at high speeds feels great thus making lane changes in this 5400 lb car a cinch.

So it is a great car, but it’s not perfect. I wished the driver’s seat had more adjustments, but my biggest gripe is against its huge wing mirrors. Their position makes it very hard to spot pedestrians and other cars during left hand turns. So some extra care in needed while undertaking some maneuvers. Other than that, the car is flawless; afterall it even comes with its own umbrellas located in the front doors.

Some might say that other luxury cars offer the same type of gadgets and comfort for a whole lot less money, but that would be missing the point. A Rolls Royce is like a Cartier or Breitling watch. While many cheaper watches can do the same job, in the end, those who can afford get a certain satisfaction from owning a truly rare, hand-made piece. So while you might spot several Mercedes-Benz S-class or BMW 7-series in a day, a Rolls Royce is a rare and pleasant sight. So if you can afford to be different, you should put your name down for the Ghost quickly, since only 12 examples are coming to Canada this year.

For decades boys and girls have dreamed of becoming astronauts when they grow up. Now young assembly-line robots and claw vending machines can share the same dream with news that NASA plans to send Robonaut 2 (R2) into space. R2 will be the first human-like robot in space when it is launched on the shuttle Discovery later this year to become a permanent resident of the International Space Station (ISS). ..
Continue Reading Robonaut 2 headed for orbit

Tags: General Motors,
Humanoid,
NASA,
Orbit,
Prototype,
Robot,
Space

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• Spaceward Foundation and NASA create US$250,000 Telerobotic Challenge
• SpaceX prepares for Falcon 9/Dragon spacecraft demonstration

Night time is when I get the worst sugar cravings and often I will satisfy my sweet tooth with things like cookies, cake, ice cream, or rice krispy treats. Since starting this sugar wean in January, I’ve noticed that besides wanting the sugar, I’ll eat the sweets at night just out of pure habit.

So, the other day, when I was up late blogging and wanted to eat a granola bar or a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich bar, “I tried something new” for the #foodrevolution and cracked open a can of tuna to get some protein and Omegas.

Awhile back, I remember my ND telling me to eat protein instead of a sugar at night because the body is dropping blood sugar and what it actually needs is protein and not sugar although that is what we crave. Of course, did I follow that advice? Um-no.

But for one day, I did, and it was fine. Eating the tuna certainly wasn’t like eating a cookie but my cravings did go away, and I felt good that I made a conscious effort and took a tiny action to break one of my sugar habits. We’ll take a win for any little victory we can get 🙂

Nanoparticles may be small, but they sure ain’t cheap – ounce for ounce some of them are more precious than gold. Which is why scientists are seeking better ways to recover, recycle, and reuse the tiny particles that are barely 1/50,000th the width of a human hair. A new method to recover these valuable specks using a special type of microemulsion may make such recovery efforts easier and speed the application of nanotechnology in a variety of fields.
..
Continue Reading Recovering pricey nanoparticles using oil and water

Tags: Nanoparticles,
Nanotechnology,
Recycling

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Inhabitat has a post on a rather out-there plan to build an artificial island using the rubbish collecting in the north pacific gyre –
Architects Envision Hawaii-Sized Island Made of Recycled Plastic.

A group of architects from the Netherlands have a crazy idea to take all the plastic floating out there in the Pacific Ocean, and recycle it into a floating island the size of Hawaii. Climate refugees would be able to move there and live in recycled plastic homes, and work on farms or grow seaweed. The entire island would be totally self-sufficient once built, producing its own food and energy, and managing waste. While totally off the wall, this is an intriguing concept that gets our imaginations in motion about what we can do with that ginormous mass of plastic floating around in the ocean!

There are millions of pounds of plastic swirling out in the ocean and the best way to take care of it would be to collect it all and recycle it. Whim Architecture, from the Netherlands, is proposing to do just that with their Recycled Island – collect the plastic, sort it and then recycle it into building blocks to create a whole new floating island as big as Hawaii (approximately 10,000 sq km) depending on how much plastic could be collected. As the climate changes, many people, especially island nations like the Maldives, will be forced from their homes, becoming refugees. The new island, located somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii would be made available to those refugees.

The island would be totally self-sufficient, capable of producing its own food, managing waste and producing renewable energy. One section of the island would be for urban housing, built from recycled plastic, and would also include all the necessary amenities for recreation, commerce, and living.

Toshiba’s gone crazy with Intel’s latest Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, adding them to the Blu-ray playin’ Satellite A660, C650, L650 and L670. Sadly there’s no 13-inch options with the new chips, a decision Apple made with the MacBook Pros. More »