Tech Money: Ideas

The Colorado puffer law makes it illegal for people to warm up their cars unattended. But one local business owner says the law doesn’t allow for the latest technology:

The expansion of crops to produce biofuels results in vast amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere and it doesn’t contribute to stopping climate change or global warming, according to the first thorough scientific audit of a biofuel’s carbon budget.

Scientists have produced evidence that suggests that biofuels could be one of the biggest environmental lies, because they could worsen global warming by increasing the emissions of carbon dioxide that are supposed to decrease.

Two separate studies, published in the journal Science, show that the crops to produce “green” alternatives to oil-based fossil fuels emit much more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and all these emissions cannot be absorbed by the plants.

The scientists discovered that, in the case of some crops, it would take several centuries to pay off the “carbon debt” that is generated. These environmental costs don’t take into account other damages to the environment, for example the loss of biodiversity that is caused when a forest area is used for biofuels production.

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Yahoo management is considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago on an alliance as an alternative to Microsoft’s bid, that source said. At $31 a share, Yahoo believes the bid undervalues the company, two sources said. A second source close to Yahoo said it had received a procession of preliminary contacts by media, technology, telephone and financial companies. But the source said they were unaware whether any alternative bid was in the offing:

Yesterday, Apple introduced the new (and more expensive) models of its iPhone mobile handset and iPod media player with double the memory of previous versions. In this way, the company alter its lineup for the second time in six months in order to attract the consumers.

Apple has sold more than 4 million iPhones since the launching last June, and now the company has explained that the iPhone will be available with 16GB memory, and the iPod Touch comes in a new 32GB model. Both devices will be sold for US$ 499. The new iPod can store about 7,000 songs, while the new iPhone can store about 3,500 songs.

The company will continue selling its former iPhone with 8 GB for US$ 399 and two old versions of the iPod Touch, allowing 8GB and 16GB of storage space, for US$ 399 and US$ 299, respectively.

The new models were launched while Apple stocks are down temporarily (so far, -34% this year) due to recession fears in US economy and uncertainty about how a recession could affect the sales of these devices. While iPod unit sales growth slowed last quarter (2007), the product generated more revenue because users bought more expensive models, according to Bloomberg.

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Facebook was initially known as an online college network. Actually, Facebook became popular because a lot of college students signed up there to share photos, opinions, jokes, etc. But now Facebook is a global network, not only for students but also for anyone who want to stay in touch with friends an other people around the world. However, people in college are being courted by startups and projects that could be capturing this niche after Facebook has been opened up to the masses outside of the college students.

Lymabean is an example of this. It’s a website that is planned to be launched shortly at Arizona State and University of Arizona (USA).

As usual, Lymabean will have all the features present in a social network: profiles, friends, photos, videos, instant messaging and a Flash-based interface which will be very attractive, though it could have disadvantages for some people. Other features include professor ratings and class notes.

So far, the Lymabean guys have published a blog, pictures about people “that’s down with the Bean” (the Bean will be the symbol and logo for this website) and funny videos of its promotion strategy.

If you are a college student, you can sign up as an insider (and order your free bean shirt).