Cheap natural gas from “fracking” shale rock and other unconventional fossil fuels are making life tough for cleantech.

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With political paralysis and the turmoil of Solyndra in Washington, states are taking the lead on green technology action, pitting individual states against other countries.

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Noise reduction download lets radio listeners stifle the shriekers from Wimbledon.

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Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Thursday, May 19.

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Trendy, Stylish, Sleek and feature-rich, laptops have become a necessity today for everyone. Whether it’s an individual or corporates, everyone wants to invest on laptop computers as these devices offer seamless connectivity, rich features and mobility. Computer manufacturers are tolling hard to introduce compact, light weight and high performance laptop computers in the Indian markets. Dell laptops have carved a niche for itself as reliable and superior quality laptop computers. Dell Inspiron 14-S541212IN8 is a high performance, innovative product from Dell that has become a huge hit in the Indian markets. In this article, we will run through various features of Dell Inspiron 14-s541212IN8 and will explore what makes this Dell offering so popular among the Indian consumers.

Dell Inspiron 14-S541212IN8 is a compact yet high end feature laptop. The laptop is lighter in weight yet delivers high performance that makes it ideal for on the go professionals. Dell Inspiron 14-S541212IN8 Laptop supports Intel Core i3-330M 2.13 GHz Processor, 250 GB Hard disk drive which ensures fast processing of the data and ample computing space to save the information. The Inspiron laptop also comes with 14 inch screen size which is comfortable on the eyes. The Intel HD Graphics deployed in the laptop display better, brighter images and high quality graphics for perfect cinematic experience while watching movies or videos on it.

The laptop is also equipped with stereo speakers, integrated webcam, 3 USB ports, wi-fi, Bluetooth, 6 cell battery and Windows 7 home basic operating system. All these features ensure better infortainment experience for users. Talking about the exteriors of Dell Inspiron 14-S541212IN8, the laptop has been designed for comfort. Its dimension is 340x32x242 and weights just 2.19 kg, making it a portable yet trendy device while on the move. The Inspiron 14 also comes with one year service guarantee and is available in India. Dell Inspiron 14-41212IN8 is available at a price of Rs. 31, 000 in India. In case, you are looking for a reliable lifestyle laptop computer that does not burn a hole in your pockets this diwali, Dell Inspiron 14 -41212IN8 can prove to be a smart investment.

In a series of demo videos from Microsoft’s Research group, the company shows off its efforts in 3D face-mapping and display technology that’s user-aware.

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The CEO of Cypress Semiconductor is determined to discover whether the finest technological gray matter can create the perfect red or white. View full post on CNET News.com

A soon-to-be law is designed to make tech more accessible to people with vision loss and other disabilities. CNET speaks with the American Foundation for the Blind. View full post on CNET News.com

ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-PU1X-BK 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 10.5 Hour Battery Life

There are three US versions of the Asus 1005HA:

- Best Buy offers the 1005HA-B for $299 (plus tax). It features the N270 (1.6GHz 533FSB) cpu, glossy display, 3-Cell 23Wh Li-ion Battery (4 hrs), and a 1.3MP webcam. Excluded are the Bluetooth module, 10GB online Eee storage, and netbook sleeve. This is obviously the “Basic” model. I was able to demo this unit at Best Buy on June 27th, and IMO you are giving up quite a bit for the ~$60 savings over the ‘P’ model. Not to mention that as of now Asus will not sell you a spare 3 or 6-cell Li-Ion battery.

- The 1005HA-V is in the middle of the bunch and the only one with a matte display. Those that frequently work outdoors or despise reflections will appreciate the matted display. It also features a N270 cpu, 6-cell 48Wh Li-ion Battery (8.5 hrs), 0.3MP webcam (according to Amazon specs, but it may in fact be 1.3MP), no Bluetooth, and absent again is the netbook sleeve.

- So in a nutshell (or would that be seashell?) the 1005HA-P offers the faster N280 cpu, glossy display, 1.3MP webcam, 6-Cell 63Wh Li-ion Battery with a whopping 10.5 hrs run time, Bluetooth v2.1, and a black netbook sleeve. Realistic battery numbers are between 8.5-9hrs. of battery life if you’re using wifi & doing email/word processing/YouTube/web surfing.

The glossy LED display offers excellent color and contrast when used indoors. I was also pleasantly surprised with the excellent horizontal viewing angles. Keep in mind that once you get in a room full of light or step outdoors screen reflections could become annoying. I’ve used mine outside on a sunny day, and the screen is still very much legible. In fact it was much more detailed than the matte screen on my Dell D600.

All three units come with the Digital Array Mic which consists of two powerful microphones. Ambient background noises are eliminated, as well as reduced echoes for clearer voice recording. What’s more, with only direct sound (within 60°) recorded, you’ll obtain better voice capture. I’ve tested the mic with Skype, and it’s loud and clear once you fine tune using the Realtek HD Audio manager. All models also include a WiFi 802.11 b/g/n adapter and 160GB 5400RPM hard drive. My 1005HA-P contains a Hitachi HTS543216L9SA00 hard drive and Atheros AR9285 wifi card. Atheros chipsets are known for excellent range and are typically less prone to connection drops. I’d like to point out that the AR9285 is only capable of 150Mbps.

All three variations of the 1005HA ship with 1GB DDR2 800MHz memory. The good news is that you can remove the memory door on the bottom of the chassis and swap it out for a 2GB DDR2 200-pin SODIMM in under 2 minutes. Anytime you install new memory I’d recommend running a Prime95 “Blend” torture test for 12-24 hrs to make sure your system is stable. The Eee Super Hybrid Engine utility lets users overclock or underclock their Eee PC’s to boost performance or provide better battery life depending on their immediate requirements. In Super Performance mode CPU-Z shows the bus speed to increase up to 169.9MHz which translates into roughly 1.7GHz. One way to quickly change modes is to press Fn + spacebar.

One word of advice is to be really careful about which anti-malware software you install since it will degrade performance both on and off the internet on these netbooks. Whatever you elect to install I would highly recommend you benchmark the performance both before and after. In regards to free anti-viruses that run light I would tip my hat to Antivir (nag screen can be disabled by searching Google) and Panda Cloud. For pay versions Norton 2010 & NOD32 should be considered.

One minor annoyance is that the display will not tilt back as far as some people may like. The glossy chassis is also a fingerprint magnet. A few other things I’d like to point out is that you must push the micro-sized right angle end of the ac adapter until it snaps in place or the battery may not charge. In addition the ac adapter does get quite hot while it is actively charging the battery, which Asus clearly mentions in the user manual, so one should not be alarmed over the heat output. The final quirk is that the hard drive is split into two 80GB (before formatting) partitions. Fortunately this can be resolved by using Easeus Partition Master Home which is a free utility.

Overall I am extremely satisfied with the 1005HA-P, and it is arguably the finest 10″ netbook on the market. Keep in mind that if you want a White or Pink shell you’ll be limited to the ‘B’ or ‘V’ models. Asus has already released the two aforementioned colors in Europe & Asia, so hopefully by the end of 2009 we’ll get them as an option on the ‘P’ model. Be sure to check out the Amazon community forum for this product located towards the bottom of this page if you require additional enlightenment. You’ll find a lot of tips, tricks, and general FAQ’s.

Peek Pronto Mobile Messaging Device with Lifetime Service Included (Grey)

My Peek and the fine folks at Peek-they call themselves Peeksters-have introduced a whole new side of the Internet to me which is revealing and disturbing all at the same time. I, as well as everyone else on the planet, have long suspected what highway robbers the major wireless carriers are and this was only truly understood by me when I first started to work with my Peek.

A text message is just an e-mail that is limited to 140 characters. You can send a text to your daughter or your husband or anyone by simply typing in their 10 digit telephone number in the to: box of your gmail or yahoo or hotmail account and pressing send. Chances are that you are now sitting at your computer: try it right now to your own cell phone. If your carrier is in compliance (and most but not all are) you will at this moment be freed from the hokey, shadowy, slimy world that are the wireless companies.

This is the premise that the folks at Peek have based their business model upon. They are the counter culture mobile e-mail and text message based company. But there is a price that you as a consumer must pay. If you own an iPhone or a Blackberry then you must play the Internet game under their rules and pay them money to do so at a hefty price.

With Peek the price to play the Internet is minimal but the learning curve to use text based e-mail can be a bit steep. Need to know movie showtimes, or traffic issues, or directions, or the weather picture off the satellite, or sports scores, or breaking news? You can do all of that in e-mail. You can even, in a very limited but useful way, surf the internet with e-mail, but you need to learn the language. You need to know what words to send to what addresses and once you accomplish that the Peek can do the absolute critical things that you really need in a mobile device.

The folks at Peek pride themselves in the fact that their gadget is bone simple, and it is. Your grandma can use a Peek in about two minutes. But you, the clever, savvy consumer, can take that simple gadget and turn it into a highly sophisticated information and communication device. All you need to do is learn the language of e-mail.

Buy this lifetime deal. It will start to pay you back in less than a year. You will be freed. You will never go back.