Making money from the sun is the aim of businesses that gathered in Germany
on Monday to set up something called the Desertec Industrial Initiative.
A dozen companies, including Siemens, Munich Re, E.ON,
ABB and Deutsche Bank, are hoping to build solar thermal power plants in
the Sahara to supply Northern African, as well as Europe and the Middle East.
Talking about the region, Gerhard Knies, Chairman of the Desertec supervisory
board, said: “All the countries involved have an energy problem and also climate
change is going to hit them very hard. They are interested in a solution. So it
is a win-win-situation for all the parties.”
Huge sums will be needed and it will take three years just to work out a
detailed investment plan.
Critics have raised concerns about the costs and potential problems from
political instability in the region where the solar thermal power plants would
be built.
Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP)
plants are ideal for providing secure solarpower. These types of
power plants use mirrors to concentrate sunlight to create heat
which is used to produce steam to drive steam turbines and
electricity generators. Heat storage tanks (e.g. molten salt
tanks or concrete blocks) can be used to store heat during the
day to power steam turbines during the night or when there is a
peak in demand. In order to ensure uninterrupted service during
overcast periods or bad weather (without the need for expensive
backup plants), the turbines can also be powered by oil, natural
gas or biofuels. As an interesting side effect (and of great
benefit to local people), waste heat from the power-generation
process may be used to desalinate seawater or togenerate
cooling.
The main reason for favouring CSP over
photovoltaics is its ability to supply power on demand for 24
hours a day. PV is more expensive than CSP and needs
expensivesystems for storing electricity, such as pumped
storage. If pumped storage facilities in Europe were to be fed
with relatively large amounts of electricity from fluctuating
sources from MENA, there would be a need for more power lines
and those lines would be under-utilized since they would operate
at full capacity for only a few hours each day.
A consortium of 20 blue chip German firms has
thrown its weight behind the gigantic
Desertec Sahara solar plan.
A new study helps explain why: The mega project could help spawn 240,000
new green jobs in Germany and deliver up to $2 trillion in profits to
companies by 2050, according to the
Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.
Desertec was launched in 2007 by the German association of the Club of
Rome. Its architects seek to spread a supergrid of concentrating solar
thermal plants (CSP) across a 6,500 square-mile stretch of North African
desert to eventually power most of Europe.
According to the Wuppertal report, exporting the CSP technologies to
Africa and other desert solar hotspots would help German manufacturers build
on their already strong solar market share.
CSP "offers great opportunities for German plant builders," the authors
wrote. They reveal the nation's likely winners:
Based on what I’ve seen first-hand, along with what third-party sources have
been telling me, Windows 7 RTM build is build 7600.
7600.16384.0907101945
I’ve had a look at this build today (I don’t have a personal copy yet but
will do so by the end of the day) and there doesn’t seem to be many, if any,
changes between this build and the Release Candidate build.
I’d expect an official announcement real soon, along with the build appearing
on MSDN, TechNet and Volume Licensing customers.
Microsoft denies Windows 7 RTM imminent
TechNet, MSDN subscribers must wait a 'few weeks' after RTM to get code
Computerworld - Microsoft late
on Monday denied that it has finished Windows 7, quashing rumors that the
company was about to declare "release to manufacturing," or RTM.
"We are close, but have not yet signed off on Windows 7," said company
spokesman Brandon LeBlanc on the
Windows blog Monday night. "As previously stated, we expect Windows 7 to RTM
in the 2nd half of July."
LeBlanc echoed a comment made by Bill Veghte, Microsoft's senior vice
president for Windows business, in a presentation at Microsoft's Worldwide
Partner Conference (WPC) earlier today. Although Veghte did not reference
last week's reports that claimed RTM was imminent, he did say that Windows 7
would wrap up in the last two weeks of this month.
Windows 7 RTM finalized at Build 7600 – Download Leaked
Posted by Al in Windows 7 News on 07 12th, 2009 4 responses
Wzor is reporting that Microsoft has finalized Windows 7 RTM at last. After weeks of speculation on the possibility of a delay in finalizing the RTM, Microsoft compiled the final RTM build on July 10th. Windows 6 RTM has the build string 6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945 which is a major jump from 6.1.7271.0.win7_rtm.090709-1520, the build that preceded the RTM. This build contains a valid digital signature, which cannot be faked.
Sources from China are claiming that they have already got a hold of Windows 7 RTM, and is in the process of leaking it. At the moment we cannot confirm whether the image being leaked is genuine or not. Windows 7 RTM x64 has been leaked but there is no word of an x86 leak. We can expect many sources claiming to have the genuine Windows 7 RTM leak in the coming days. Please make sure to use a hash checker such as hashtab to ensure your image has not been tinkered with.
Microsoft is expected to unveil the finalized version of Windows 7 tomorrow at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.
...
Windows 7 RTM Coming 13 July
Posted by xper on 07/09/2009 09:54 PM [ Print0 comment(s) ]
Following the release of Windows 7 beta in January and the year long licensed Release Candidate in April it seems we could be getting the RTM (Released to Manufacturing) version in just one more week. 13 July is the date being "confirmed" by GeekSmack.net, Wzor and neowin (all of whom claim to have gotten word from Microsoft insiders) which suggests it is pretty nailed on. It also coincides with the start of the Microsoft 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) so consider us convinced. An RTM is essentially the build Microsoft hopes it will be able to bring to the shelves on its formal 22 October release date, but it does provide some room to make last minute changes should any major bugs be discovered. It is also what manufacturers will largely use as the test bed for their final software and hardware products. Whether Microsoft will make the RTM publicly available is currently unknown but like previous builds it will likely require a fresh install to upgrade from the (now auto shutting down) Beta or RC. Either way expect it to hit torrent sites within minutes of launch. News source:
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A Linux developer has published a new kernel patch that provides a workaround to avoid Microsoft's patents on the FAT filesystem. The patch, which has undergone extensive legal review by patent lawyers, could make it possible to use FAT on Linux without having to pay licensing fees to Microsoft.
Microsoft's recent lawsuit against TomTom, alleging infringement of filesystem patents, has left many questions unanswered about the legal implications of distributing open source implementations of Microsoft's FAT filesystem. A new Linux kernel patch that was published last week offers a workaround that might make it possible to continue including FAT in Linux without using methods that are covered by Microsoft's patents.
The patent dispute erupted in February when Microsoft sued portable navigation device maker TomTom. Microsoft claimed that TomTom's Linux-based GPS products infringe on several of its patents, including two that cover specific characteristics of FAT, a filesystem devised by Microsoft that is widely used on removable storage devices such as USB thumb drives and memory cards. The dispute escalated when TomTom retaliated with a counter-suit, but it was eventually settled in March when TomTom agreed to remove the relevant functionality....
posted by Thom Holwerda on Thu 2nd Jul 2009 16:17 UTC, submitted by lemur2The FAT file system is the file system used by MS-DOS and earlier versions of Windows. It's a relatively simple and straightforward file system, supported by just about any operating system, making it the favoured file system on memory cards and the like. FAT is an ECMA and ISO standard, but these only apply for FAT12 and FAT16 without support for long file names, and therein lies a problem....
How to compile the module for VFAT long filename support: see the text on link http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/6/26/313...
Date
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:19:33 +1000
Subject
[PATCH] Added CONFIG_VFAT_FS_DUALNAMES option
From
tridge@samba ...
...--- fs/fat/Kconfig 20 +++++++++++++++++ fs/fat/dir.c 15 ++++++------- fs/fat/namei_vfat.c 59 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 86 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)diff --git a/fs/fat/Kconfig b/fs/fat/Kconfigindex 182f9ff..907a5de 100644--- a/fs/fat/Kconfig+++ b/fs/fat/Kconfig@@ -74,6 +74,26 @@ config VFAT_FS...
Os Cascos e Pés de Cabra de cada dia dos Políticos:
A Época Taurina começou e a de Manuel Pinho acabou
Quais as diferenças entre Manuel Pinho e Yoda? ... e Manuel Pinho no AllGarve
Heloísa Apolónia, a deputada folha de alface
Vestida não para matar nem para deputar mas para ir à praia de Carcavelos enxergou os farrapos para ir para o Parlamento, nem dá pela diferença do ar de "varina chineleira" de deputada, legítima representante da Nação á AR .
E eis O deputado bronco
José Mota (daqui por uns anos ainda vai andar de mota mas com 2 tês, é o costume, se o colega Perestrello tem 2 éles porque não há-de ele ter também 2 tês)
...
inc
Um Bando de Trafulhas, Ordinários e Mentirosos é que nunca se viu! ...
... quem haveria de ser? A pandilha do PS e de mais uns quantos rapazes de porte, maneiras e altivez duvidosas, representado pelo luciferino mor e inenarrável José Sócrates, esse, nunca sabe de nada, nunca responde a nada quando interpelado e faz-se sempre de parvo e de vítima esta putrefacta e vil criatura. Que Cáfila! Deste tipo gente o país não precisa, muito obrigado, têm é que ser todos postos no olho da rua nem que seja a pontapé. Sempre pensei mas também sempre me contive de expressar abertamente num qualquer pasquim, como este daquilo que sinto de como e para onde vai tudo isto, o pagode e o país, a breve prazo, com toda esta imundície de políticos bem engalanados a cheirar a água de limão com canela que conduzem o nosso destino pela opção de totoloto que muitos ceguinhos e muitos outros tolos, mudos, surdos e não menos ceguinhos os reconduzem e os elegem. A raiva vem sempre ao de cima quando se pensa ou se leva demasiado a sério, assuntos sérios como a Economia e as Finanças Públicas ou então ao mínimo sinal de alarme despoleta-nos a bomba da raiva e da indignação sempre que se reconhece aquilo que nos aviva a memória, nos põe em guarda ou em alerta máximo. É o caso da tão reconhecida velha sirene de estar tudo a postos, o alarme ressoa no começo de mais uma noite, aparentemente calma alvoraçando tudo e todos, vai-se à procura do sucedido para tamanho susto ruidoso e lá está aquela voz inconfundível de um grande Senhor de nome, Henrique Medina Carreira que em entrevista dada à Sic Notícias e conduzida pelo jornalista, Mário Crespo, não os poupa, nem sabe ele fazer outra coisa, chamando os bois pelos nomes, os burros à razão e a Nação à coacção. Eu também queria um TGV mas da Corci Toys porque ao outro ainda não lhe posso chegar e de preferência a passar pelo meu quintal para me arrancar o mato que lá cresce todos os anos.
--
... não se ponham a pau não, e depois não digam que não há bruxas, até o PR já anda com cara de assustado e de enterro. E uns quantos não aprendam um pouco mais no dia nem que seja de www.wolframalpha.com e vão ver o que lhes acontece.
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