Thanks to a new “cool microchip”, producing computers may soon become cheaper and more environmentally friendly. The BBC reported this morning about a new technology that allows manufacturers to make computer chips at lower temperatures, which would decrease the amount of energy and resources currently used to make the chips.

Right now, microchips have to be heated to more than 1,000C. The new method uses an argon-filled UV lamp, which looks like a fluorescent tube. The tube “emits light from deep within the UV spectrum at a wavelength of 126 nanometres” to create the cooler power source.

The new technology, created by a team from University College London, has many implications for future products. Cool microchips could be used to make smart clothing, which could heat and cool itself or change colours. The technology could also be implemented in e-books’ paper and other electronics, as well.

Cool microchips have the possibility to become a major benefit to society. As the new chips make computer prices drop, the range of information and services computers provide will be open to a wider section of the world’s population. Also, the technology is a good move toward making computers less taxing on our environment.

Engineers in Tokyo are developing a device that can record smells and play them back at a later time. The device will, no doubt, revolutionise nose technology.

The system will use 15 smell-sensing microchips capable of detecting and recreating a wide variety of aromas. To use the electric nose, one will need to point the gadget at the source of a scent. The electric nose then pulls from 96 chemicals and mixes a digital recipe mimicking the aroma by heating and vaporising vials. The prototype noses can already record and replay the scents of orange, lemon, apple and melon.

What a wonderful gadget! Imagine being able to record the smell of grandmother’s fresh baked cookies, or an aunt’s rose garden and play it again long after they are gone. One could keep the smell of an ocean holiday to replay during drab winter months, even.

This invention could also have a major impact on the way people use the internet. Whilst doing a bit of online shopping, one could smell a perfume before purchasing a bottle, or pre-smell meals from a restaurant’s online menu before deciding to dine there.

The government could effectively employ this technology, too. If rubbish is becoming a problem in one’s area, a constituent could simply record the smell and e-mail it to local representatives to raise awareness of the stinky issue. Also, parties could adopt signature smells which would release when one visits their web sites. Labour could, of course, be a rose. The Green Party. . . pine, perhaps? The Conservatives. . . maybe a box of old books?

The opportunities for the electric nose are endless!

From Tony Blair’s house to George W Bush’s pet cow, governmental web sites offer children insight into the inner workings of the world’s leaders.

This week saw the launch of a new website designed to help children understand Downing Street’s purpose and history. 10 Downing Street offers children easy to understand explanations about the Prime Minister’s role in politics, the history of the famous building, historical Prime Ministers and important topics in the current government. Thing is, though it’s brightly coloured with simple iconography, it’s dull. For the generation who have already grown up with CBeebies, for whom the “red button” is de rigeur, and who will consider Comment is Free old hat, this site has no interactivity what-so-ever. Want to chat to ask the Prime Minister a question? Well get yourself an email address first, oh and by the way “he’s a very busy man” so may not reply.

Whitehousekids, on the other hand, is far superior, although less brightly coloured. Highlights include the Barney Cam (video clips of the president’s dog), a biography of Ofelia, the president’s cow, and quizzes about First Lady and presidential factoids, as well as giving children a guide of the US capital.

Not far away, the Central Intelligence Agency is also aiming to get ‘em young. Ginger’s CIA Adventure follows a cuddly blue teddy bear as she sneaks around all the places in the CIA that little teddy bears are not allowed, yet fantastically does not cause a security breach alarm. The Code Warriors game gives children the chance to use symbols to crack codes. And, Geography Trivia lets kids test their knowledge about geography around the world.

The Mexican government takes a slightly more serious approach. It’s web site designed with young ones in mind contains explanations of the country’s constitution, format of government and territory and details Mexico’s guaranteed human rights–all done in jazzy fiesta colours, with not a quiz in sight.

And if that’s not enough to keep your child from thinking that all it takes to be a world leader or CIA agent is a shiny black door, a dog/teddy bear and a few lines from constitution then the United Nation’s website will put them straight. Cyberschoolbus is a great resource for children to understand many complex global issues such as hunger and disease using fun and informative games as one way to get this message across. Food Force exposes children with the problem of supplying food to a town in crisis. Players have to create a balanced and inexpensive diet plan, guide a convoy of trucks into the crisis area, air drop food packages and, finally, distribute the food aid to the residents. The site also has several quiz games to help children learn facts about populations and water scarcity.

These sites can offer great opportunites for children to begin to understand the intricacies of government and inspire them to become involved as adults. Unfortunately, many of the children’s sites governments do offer are blandly informative or merely attempt to entertain or are simply nonexistent. As children become more involved with new media technology, governments should take more initiative to include these future leaders of the world.

The Chinese government is continuing to tighten its grip on national press freedom. In its newest power play, the government is drafting a law stating journalists cannot report on “sudden events” without prior authorization from the Communist controlled legislature.

This law could allow the government from keeping reporters from notifying the public about riots, strikes, major accidents, protests, mass outbreaks of disease, and countless other important subjects. If a media outlet were to defy the law, it could be slapped with a fine of $6,250 to $12,500 each time.

For more information, read the ongoing coverage of media censorship in China from the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s and Reporters Without Borders.

Art museums are using new media technology to make collections more accessible to a global audience.

The Tate Modern’s revamped web site debuted yesterday. Included is a virtual tour of the art museum. Visitors to the site can use an interactive map to select an area to investigate. By clicking on a particular area or room, users can view works of art or see photos of the museum. The map allows future museum-goers to plan out an individualized tour of the collection based on which pieces they wish to see. People who are not able to visit the Tate may also get a taste of its collection through the map.

The Louvre also has a virtual tour of the museum. While this tour lacks good views of its artwork, it does have breathtaking examples of the building’s architecture. Users are able to view the museum’s collection through a “kaleidoscope”, which shows the artwork in an ever changing slideshow.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City also has an easy-to-use, comprehensive site. MOMA’s extensive online collection offers users the opportunity to browse through paintings, sculptures, films, photography and architecture without leaving the comfort of their desk chairs.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Museum of Bad Art. Its online collection boasts loads of portraits and landscapes that should possibly remain unseen. A browse through this unique collection is a guaranteed quick laugh, or shudder, depending on viewers’ tolerance for poor color choice.

Computers are toxic.

PCs use many types of hazardous chemicals, including mercury, lead and arsenic. According to the book Computers and the Environment, the production of an average desktop PC uses more than 1.8 tons of water, chemicals and fossil fuels. This is in line with the production of one SUV.

Once users deem the technology too slow, or the memory not adequate, the old PCs are often doomed to prisons or overseas factories where workers get paid extremely low wages to tear apart old machines, pick around in toxic components, and look for useful scrap material. Eventually, most e-waste ends up in landfills, where it comprises 70 percent of heavy metal waste.

Considering the average computer has a useful lifespan of three to six years, tackling the e-waste problem is an enormous effort. But, there are options to reduce your contribution to e-waste. One is to upgrade rather than replace your computer whenever possible. Because computer parts can often work for 10 years or more, upgrading helps get as much life out of your PC as you can, especially if you use it as a home computer. If you must get rid of your PC, there are many organisations that will refurbish and reuse your old machines.

According to an Ipsos-Mori study for Greenpeace, people are willing to pay up to £108 extra for a computer that uses fewer hazardous chemicals. An eco-friendly PC movement is beginning to take off, due to this consumer response. Dell said it will discontinue use of all brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride in its computers by 2009. Hewlett Packard, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia have also vowed to stop using hazardous chemicles in the future, as well.

Whilst this is a step forward, the reason that many of us need to buy new computers is that the latest software requires faster machines with more memory, or that our present software is no longer supported by the manufacturer. Whilst website owners are often encouraged to pare down sites to make them faster loading, easier to use and more accessible, the same cannot be said of most software companies. Our pockets and desire for shiny new things might cope with this situation, but the environment cannot.

New media technology has given homeless people the opportunity to raise awareness of their cause. In some cases, the public attention has helped them get themselves off the streets and into homes.

New Media Awards nominee, Wandering Scribe, is a blog following an English woman who was living in her car. Through her beautiful story telling about the trials and terrors of being a homeless woman, she has been able to gain a book deal and a place to live. Wandering Scribe still blogs–but now she writes about what it is like adjusting to having living in a home.

The Homeless Guy is a blog that highlights homelessness issues around the United States. Blogger Kevin Barbieux also gives concrete advice about how to help homeless people and details what life as a homeless person is really like. Macauthority.com find out about Barbieux’s situation and donated a refurbished iBook to help him keep blogging.

Aside from using blogs to raise awareness about homelessness, both have links to PayPal accounts, so interested readers have an opportunity to donate.

The new privacy policy of telecommunications behemoth AT&T may suck out and destroy your rights to privacy, but at least the text is “easier to read”. This is the reason, not an evil Orwellian scheme to track Americans’ every conversation, that AT&T spokesman John Britton said the corporation set a new policy to legally safeguard its sharing customers’ information with the National Security Agency (NSA).

“We don’t see this as anything new,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. “Our goal was to make the policy easier to read and easier for customers to understand.”

The digital freedom watchdog, Electronic Frontier Foundation doesn’t buy it.

The new policy, which states that AT&T, not its customers, “own” their personal information, is a reaction to the EFF’s class action lawsuit against the company. In the lawsuit, the EFF alleges AT&T has allowed the US government near total access to more than 300 terabytes of customer information. By opening its “Daytona” database, one of the largest in the world, to the government’s data-mining and wiretapping programme, EFF says the company has violated the privacy of its customers, as well as whom they email and call, and broken communications privacy laws.

These are not mere accusations, EFF has evidence. Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, provided a declaration for the case in which he testifies to seeing a secret room in the AT&T San Francisco switching center in which National Security Agents shunted people’s internet traffic to data-mining equipment.

Since AT&T’s new privacy policy is now a condition for service, current customers have no way to avoid being becoming a possible target except by switching providers. But, there are many other ways to protest against AT&T’s behaviour.

• Call AT&T’s free customer service number (US only) 1-800-222-0300 to complain, or simply leave the phone off the hook and run up its expenses.
• Make AT&T users aware of the changes to their privacy policy
• You can donate to the EFF to make sure they can continue their case against AT&T.
• Encourage AT&T users to change companies.
• Call the National Security Agency and complain at 001-301-688-6524. You can also e-mail the agency at nsapao@nsa.gov.
• Call the White House and say just how you feel about the President Bush’s wiretapping and data mining programme. The phone number is: 202-456-1111. You can also e-mail at: comments@whitehouse.gov.

“Arrrrrrrrr me hearties”
Pirate Quiz: Have you ever stood in front of the eyepatch section of your local drug store, longing for a life of swash-buckling and buried treasure? I know I have. Take this quiz to find out what your pirate name would be. You can call me Black Bess. . . Arrrr!

Fashion for all seasons
The Little Brown Dress That Could: This site follows a woman who had decided to wear the same dress every day for a year. You can follow the life of the dress, from its first day to its first hole, on her blog.

Purrfect
Stuff On My Cat: Why is dressing up animals always so hilarious? This web site is the best of the best corny cat sites. This is my favourite pic!

Henrik Christensen, a member of the European Robotics Research Network, said in a recent Sunday Times article that people will be having sex with robots in five years. The question is… how… and… why… and…

Robot sex questions are endless and have certainly got the NS online team thinking.

• Can having sex with a robot ever be considered cheating?
• Won’t it feel cold and metallic and gross?
• If the robot can react to someone, is it possible to abuse it?
• Will other sex bots start sleeping with eachother and ignore humans?
• Will robots become prostitutes? And, if so, is payment required? Who would the money go to?
• If there were sex bots, would sex trafficking of human women still exist?
• Will sex bots wear clothes, or will they walk around the city naked?
• Can robots be “naked”?

Yeesh!

The world of robotics is getting pretty scary– and by “scary” I mean really cool. In the Sunday Times article, futuroligist Ian Pearson suggested robots will become conscious by the year 2020. This will bring the evolution from “robot” to “android”. With the change comes a whole slew of ethical questions, in addition to the laundary list of sexbot queries. What we do know is that humans will grow increasingly dependent on our metallic mates.

For now, let’s just be content with our Roomba vacuums.

In less creepy robotic news, RoboGames 2006 (not to be confused with Robocup) just wrapped up in San Fransisco. These games involved miniature robots beating each other up and spitting fire at opponents. Singapore dominated the sumo category, while Brazil came out winners in the combat realm. And, in once-in-a-lifetime (if robots can be considered to have a lifetime) glory, the US team grabbed the gold medal from the UK in the football category!

Way to go team!