Royal Philips Electronics has named Yemen’s Sabrina Faber as the overall winner of its Philips Livable Cities Award, for her idea ‘Rainwater Aggregation in Sana’a’.

The award is a global initiative designed to generate innovative, meaningful and achievable ideas to improve the health and well-being of city-dwellers across the world.

Sabrina’s idea was praised by the supervisory panel for its unique approach to modifying existing structures in Sana’a to capture, filter and store rooftop rainwater. Through her scheme, Sabrina hopes to help solve the water shortages commonly experienced in the city during dry spells, whilst providing clean drinking water. This could potentially result in significant health benefits for the whole population.

Sabrina will receive a €75,000 grant from Philips to enable her to realise her vision.

“What really impressed us with Sabrina’s scheme was the proposed execution of a relatively simple concept that will have such a significant impact on the lives of so many people across the city of Sana’a. We’re looking forward to seeing her idea come to life and improving the health and well-being of the residents of Sana’a,” said Richard Florida, professor, author and chair of the Philips Livable Cities Award supervisory panel.

Two additional winners will each receive €25,000 for their practical, implementable ideas.

Manuel Rapoport, from Buenos Aires, Argentina was recognized for his ‘Plaza Movil Street Park’ idea. James Kityo of Kampala, Uganda, will use his grant to develop his Shade Stands project.

Other finalists come from Argentina, Kenya, Nigeria, the UK and the USA, representing a truly global picture of the solutions offered to city-dwellers across the world.

All eight finalists and their ideas for providing unique and original solutions were showcased and celebrated at the award ceremony in Amsterdam.

The winners will work with Philips and program mentors to help realize their ideas in their local communities.

Microsoft has warned about a flaw on the Internet Explorer browser that could allow hackers to take control of unprotected computers.

The bug allows hackers to inject malware onto any system if they manage to trick users into visiting booby-trapped websites. Anyone with Internet Explorer (IE) 6 to 8 is potentially affected.

The code to exploit the bug has already been published. The computer giant said there was no evidence it was being used yet by criminals but they were “investigating” and working on a permanent fix, reports the Daily Mail.

Dave Forstrom, director of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing group, said: “We’re currently unaware of any attacks trying to use the claimed vulnerability or of customer impact.”

The bug targets how the browser manages a computer’s memory when it is processing Cascade Style Sheets – which are design instructions that determine how most web pages look.

Hackers can inject their own code into the stream of instructions and in this way hijack the PC. Although Microsoft has improved how memory management is protected, it does not work when some older parts of Windows are called on.

The bug first came to light on the seclists.org full disclosure mailing list earlier this month.

Rik Ferguson, security analyst at Trendo Micro, told the BBC: “As vulnerabilities go, this kind is the most serious as it allows remote execution of code.

”This means the attacker can run programmes, such as malware, directly on the victim’s computer.”

”It is highly reminiscent of a vulnerability at the same time two years ago which prompted several national governments to warn against using IE and to switch to an alternative browser.”

Google has unveiled an internet-based laptop running its Chrome operating system, challenging the traditional model of personal computing.

Unlike traditional PCs, the Chrome OS laptop frequently updates the operating system and does not need any software installed on the machine.

The company claims a number of big organisations have signed up for the Chrome OS laptop pilot programme.

When Google announced Chrome OS, the company indicated customised machines would be ready by the end of 2010, but now says the device will not be available until the first half of 2011.

Google said it had ironed out a few bugs in the software and perfected drivers to make the devices work with hardware peripherals such as printers.

The unveiling of the Chrome OS laptop means the battle between Google and Microsoft to shape the future of personal computing has stepped up a gear, according to the Financial Times.

Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive, has described Chrome OS as a viable third choice in real operating systems to stand alongside Microsoft and Apple.

As chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems, Schmidt was among the top proponents of “thin clients”, or machines that rely on networks for data storage and computing power rather than running their own software, the FT said.

But analysts have said Google still has a long way to go if it is to make any impact on Microsoft’s dominance of the operating system market.

Google will have to overcome concerns about compatibility and functionality, as well as explain how it will support the new operating system, they said.

Dell Inc will shift thousands of its employees off Research in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry and over to Dell’s smartphones, the company said on Thursday.

The money-saving switch affects the roughly 25,000 Dell employees who carry a company-issued BlackBerry. Dell employs around 100,000 people worldwide.

Dell is also launching an effort to convince its business customers to switch to the company’s smartphone.

News of the company’s plans was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, and confirmed by Dell spokesman David Frink.

Frink said the switch will begin soon, but said it will take some time to complete.

RIM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dell’s BlackBerry users will be shifted over to use the new Dell Venue Pro, which runs on Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 software and operates on the network of T-Mobile USA, the US arm of Deutsche Telekom AG.

Dell’s decision to move its employees off BlackBerry may come as little surprise, given its aspirations in the mobile device market. The company has frequently talked about using handheld devices as a gateway to sell and promote a broader suite of services.

Dell formally entered the smartphone market only late last year, and launched its first device in the U.S., the Aero, earlier this year. The Aero runs on Google’s Android software, as does Dell’s new 5-inch tablet, the Streak.

RIM has long been the dominant player in the corporate smartphone market, but has seen its market share erode as companies such as Apple make gains.

In the third quarter, RIM’s global smartphone market share slipped more than 4 percentage points from a year-ago, according to industry tracker IDC.

London, England (CNN) — A new study has shed light on the sun’s impact on the Earth’s climate, confounding current thinking about solar cycles and how they influence temperatures on Earth.

Previously scientists had thought that radiation reaching the Earth rises and falls in line with the Sun’s activity, which during the 11-year solar cycle goes though periods of low and high activity.

But research by Imperial College, London and the University of Colorado in the U.S. examining solar radiation levels from 2004 to 2007 — a period of declining solar activity — revealed that levels of visible radiation reaching the Earth actually increased during the period.

Using data collected by NASA’s SORCE (SOlar Radiation and Climate Experiment) satellite, which launched in 2003, the scientists were able to scrutinize the full solar spectrum — x-ray, ultraviolet (UV), visible (VR), near-infrared, and total solar radiation — and compare it to earlier, less comprehensive data.

Joanna Haigh, leader author of the study published in the journal Nature told CNN: “What the data has shown, rather unexpectedly, is that the decline in ultra-violet radiation is much larger than anticipated. But more surprisingly the visible radiation actually increased as solar activity was declining.”

Haigh, a professor of atmospheric physics, says that UV radiation is mostly absorbed in the stratosphere but visible radiation gets through to the earth’s surface. The observed increase in VR, despite declining solar activity, may have caused small rises in temperature.
But, as Haigh points out, the research, which covers a short period, comes with some caveats.
“The sun has been behaving very strangely. Its magnetic activity is lower than it has been for several hundred years, perhaps. And so the fact that it’s doing strange things in its spectrum is perhaps not that unexpected,” she said.
It’s also just starting to come out of a very long period (two years) of minimum activity, she says.

As the Sun’s activity starts to increase, “it will also be very, very interesting to see if the visible radiation starts to decline,” Haigh says.

Haigh is aware that research which contradicts existing ideas about how the Sun’s activity affects the Earth’s climate is likely to fuel some climate skepticism.

But she says the solar cycles cancel each other out, going up and down over roughly an 11-year period.
“They [the solar cycles] are contributing nothing to long-term global warming,” she said, “and it has no bearing on what we understand about greenhouse gases and their influence on climate.”

Robert von Fay-Siebenburgen, a solar physicist from the UK’s University of Sheffield told CNN: “What has been published is very interesting and a little unexpected, to be honest.”

But he says that despite the Sun being our closest star, scientists still know very little about it.
“We have a better understanding of the internal processes — what is below the surface of the Sun. However, what is above that and how it affects the Earth’s climate is very poorly understood,” he said.

“But what Professor Haigh has found is very exciting and an important step towards increasing our understanding.”

Sir Brian Hoskins, director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College, London said in a statement: “Studies like this are vital for helping us create a clear picture of how our climate is changing and through this, to work out how we can best protect our planet.”

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will test what it is billing as the world’s largest clock in the holy city of Mecca during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the official news agency reported Tuesday.

The four-faced clock tower will top a massive skyscraper that when completed will be around 1,970 feet (600 meters) tall, the second tallest in the world after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

The clock will dwarf London’s Big Ben, once the largest four-faced clock in the world, with dials more than five times greater in area.

The around 130 foot (40 meter) diameter Saudi clock dials are also bigger than the current world champion at the Cevahir Mall clock in Istanbul, which has a 36 meter face set in the transparent roof of the shopping complex.

The complex overlooks Mecca’s famed Grand Mosque, which Muslims worldwide face during their five daily prayers and is part of Saudi efforts to develop the city visited by millions of pilgrims every year.

A three-month test run for the clock will start during the first week of Ramadan, the monthlong period of prayer, reflection and sunrise-to-sunset fasting, the report said. This year, Ramadan will begin Wednesday.

Only one of the clock’s four faces has so far been completed and is covered with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics.
Each face will be inscribed with ”God is greatest” in Arabic and fitted with thousands of colored lights.

The clock will be visible from more than 16 miles (25 kilometers). An observatory deck is planned at the base of the clock.

A huge golden crescent moon, 75 feet (23 meters) in diameter, will eventually rise above the clock on a 200 foot (61 meter) spire, from which some 15 beams will shoot up into the sky, the agency added.

The entire clock, from the base up to the crescent, itself will be 820 feet (251 meters) high.

German and Swiss engineers designed the clock and according to the Ministry of Religious Endowments, the entire project will cost $800 million.

The seven tower complex is being built by developer Saudi Binladen Group, the press agency reported. -AP

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Inc unveiled a new iPhone Monday that goes on sale in scores of countries this year, preparing its fastest-ever global roll-out to try and stay a step ahead of rivals like Google Inc in a red-hot smartphone market.

CEO Steve Jobs showed off a redesigned $199 “iPhone 4” that is a quarter slimmer than the current handset. The device boasts a higher quality screen and better battery life, video chat via Wi-Fi, and a gyroscope sensor for improved gaming.

A slim but energetic Jobs told a media and industry audience at Apple’s annual developers’ conference in San Francisco that the latest phone will be available June 24 in five countries, expanding to 18 by July and 88 by September in the quickest-ever international roll-out for an iPhone.

That signaled how serious Apple is about gaining traction abroad, where iPhone penetration is still relatively small.

Despite the iPad’s success in its first two months on the market — more than 2 million sold in 60 days — the iPhone remains Apple’s main growth line, and the international market is key. Some analysts estimate more than two-thirds of iPhone sales are now coming from overseas.

“It’s really just a huge market unit opportunity abroad for the iPhone,” Broadpoint Amtech analyst Brian Marshall said.

But many of the innovations on the iPhone 4 had been expected, and industry watchers say it is becoming more difficult to stand out in a crowded field.

Google’s Android operating system — used by many brands from Motorola Inc and HTC Corp to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Dell Inc — poses the biggest threat, analysts say.

The iPhone’s global share surged to more than 15 percent in the first quarter, making it No. 3 in smartphones. Phones based on Android ranked No. 4 with close to 10 percent of the market, a huge increase from the previous year and gaining, Gartner data shows.

“There was nothing earth-shattering about what we saw or heard today,” said CCS insight analyst John Jackson. “All of that said, you can’t think it will be anything other than a phenomenal success.”

Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst called the new device “more evolutionary than revolutionary.”

“It doesn’t completely change the paradigm for the iPhone,” he said.

Gold Standard

Still, Jobs argued the fourth-generation iPhone — which for the first time sports the same A4 processor that powers the iPad — marks the biggest technological leap since the first model debuted and set the standard.

“This is beyond a doubt the most precise thing and one of the most beautiful things we’ve ever made,” Jobs said.

Apple’s CEO displayed all of his famed skills as a pitchman, mixing wry wit with an obvious passion for Apple’s products. He even joked about the iPhone prototype that fell into the hands of Gizmodo, which spilled many of its secrets.

Although the iPhone remains Apple’s main growth driver, the iPad has stolen some of its thunder. With the early success of the tablet computer, Apple’s stock has gained around 20 percent this year, overtaking Microsoft Corp to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

Apple’s shares fell 2 percent to close at $250.94 on the Nasdaq. Google shares fell 2.7 percent, while Research in Motion Ltd dropped 5.2 percent.

Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar noted that investors are likely waiting for Apple to expand its iPhone distribution to U.S. carriers beyond AT&T before getting excited.

“The next big event is going to be Verizon. It’s a guessing game whether it will be late 2010 or early 2011,” he said.

For now, the new device should be more profitable, given price and hardware specifications, Marshall said.

“I feel like we’re going to see gross margins expand here on the iPhone,” he said.

The iPhone — introduced in 2007 with the touchscreen, on-demand application template now adopted by its rivals — remains the gold standard in the fast-growing smartphone market.

Apple sold a record 8.75 million iPhones in its latest quarter, accounting for 40 percent of its revenue. With margins estimated at 60 percent, it is Apple’s prime growth driver, helping margins climb to a record 41.7 percent in the most recent quarter from 34 percent in fiscal 2007.

Only last year, Research in Motion Ltd was seen as Apple’s top rival. While the company’s BlackBerry remains the smartphone of choice for many corporations that need fast email, Apple has made strides in that market.

Analysts said the latest iPhone incorporates new security features obviously targeted at business customers.

Apple’s prime target remains the consumer. But there, new competitors are designing high-powered handsets based on Google’s Android software, offering fast, web-surfing and video-enabled phones with access to thousands of apps.

Interpret analyst Michael Gartenberg said that the newest iPhone will manage to exert pressure on Google and rival handset-makers.

“It’s much more complete, much more adept in terms of the polish and delivery and it’s going to force the other competitors to up their game,” he said.

The internet as we know it is reaching its limits.

Within 18 months it is estimated that the number of new devices able to connect to the world wide web will plummet as we run out of “IP addresses” — the unique codes that provide access to the internet for everything from PCs to smart phones.

“The internet as we know it will no longer be able to grow,” Daniel Karrenberg, chief scientist at RIPE NCC, the organization that issues IP addresses in Europe, told CNN.

“That doesn’t mean it will cease to function, but entry could be limited to new devices.”

Some estimate that by September 2011 the last large batches of addresses will be issued, meaning that months after that date there will be no new addresses available.

But while this sounds like a complete disaster — another Millennium Bug — it need not be, and there is a solution, if we all act quickly enough.

Currently the internet is built around the Internet Protocol Addressing Scheme version 4 (IPv4), which has around four billion addresses — and they’re fast running out.

Four billion no doubt seemed a huge amount when the system was designed in the 1970s, but few then could have predicted how the internet would take off, and how many billions more connections would be needed.

However, there is a replacement, IPv6, which has trillions more addresses available and ready to go. The problem is that businesses are proving slow to adapt their technology to IPv6, leaving experts fearful that we might be heading for a crunch within 18 months.

“My impression is that while awareness of the issue is quite high, a lot of businesses are sitting on the fence,” said Karrenberg. “Many small businesses are waiting to see what the early adopters do; how they handle things.

“My suspicion is too many are leaving it too late.”

This growing problem has been compounded in recent years as the amount of hardware needing an internet connection has risen enormously, thanks largely to the popularity of smart phones, like Apple’s iPhone and other mobile devices, and the rapid pace of technological development in countries like China and India.

“All sorts of devices need to access the internet now, from smartphones and games consoles, to cars,” says Karrenberg.

“But still only a quarter of European businesses are using IPV6 — the rest should be making this a priority.”

All the big players in the internet, such as Google, and YouTube, are fully IPV6 enabled, but many others have yet to commit.

“If they keep on lagging behind then the internet will not be able to grow in the way it has been; the curve will flatten out,” said Karrenberg.

“Although it’s still unclear what kind of plateau we will see, certainly we could see impeded or seriously curtailed growth.”

None of this is what businesses need to hear as they struggle out of a serious recession, but there is still time to act.

“The window left to invest is still relatively large,” said Karrenberg.

“But businesses should remember that the earlier they act, the less they will pay. The more they neglect this issue, the higher premiums people can expect to be charged.”

According to Karrenberg, the necessary costs can be met as part of the routine process of upgrading technology. “It is possible to deal with these issues through the usual round of investment in hard and soft technology,” he said.

“It’s just a question of what tactics people follow as they make their choices. “Businesses need to future-proof their decisions and this issue needs to be on every CTO’s radar.”

In addition, while IPv4 and IPv6 are designed to work together, there have been reports of teething troubles, and businesses that leave their switch-over too late may find glitches compound their problems.

Business leaders should also remember that this isn’t only an issue for those producing devices needing a connection or selling broadband services. Content providers also need to ensure their services are IPv6-ready, otherwise they will exclude potential clients connecting using the new protocols.

“They will lose their customers — the eyeballs — who may not be able to connect,” said Karrenberg.

It’s a classic paradox of the internet era — while the technology exists to leap frog the problem, human nature is naturally cautious and some businesses are reluctant to do what they know they need to do, whether due to tightened budgets or simple inertia.

“I’m certainly not optimistic this will all work out for everyone,” said Karrenberg.

“I suppose I’m cautiously pessimistic. My fear is that a significant number of businesses will be left in a position where they have to scramble to catch up.

“People know there is a problem, but it’s converting that knowledge into action plans, business plans, which is so important.”

Apple said Monday that it had sold more than two million iPads since it launched the tablet two months ago.

The announcement came on the heels of the iPad’s debut in Europe, Australia, Canada and Japan, where crowds lined up last Friday to buy the new media tablet, and amid continued reports that supplies are tight in the U.S., where Apple’s online store lists a seven-to-10-day delay between ordering and shipping.

“We appreciate [customers'] patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement on Monday.

Apple’s milestone is considerably higher than most Wall Street analysts’ projections earlier this year. Shortly after Jobs unveiled the iPad in January, analysts estimated that Apple would sell between 175,000 and 778,000 iPads monthly.

Brian Marshall of BroadPoint AmTech posted the most aggressive Jan. 28 estimate of 778,000 tablets per month during 2010, or more than 6.2 million for the year. Since then, Marshall has raised his iPad estimate to seven million, while industry research firms such as Gartner have pegged the number at eight million.

iPads have actually been on sale longer than the “less than 60 days” touted by Apple today: The company’s sales numbers include pre-orders in the U.S., which began March 12. Those pre-orders were fulfilled April 3, when the tablet officially hit retail.

By Apple’s admission it’s sold 181,818 iPads per week in the 11 weeks since the March 12 start of pre-orders in the U.S. If sales remain at that level, Apple will sell another 5.6 million in the remaining 31 weeks in 2010, for a total of 7.6 million iPads for the full year.

That number is likely to be larger, however, as Apple expands sales. Also on Monday, the company said it would launch the iPad in nine more countries in July, and still others later this year. Apple did not specify which countries will make up the July nine or how many markets it will enter before year’s end.

Although iPad sales are on track to reach nearly eight million units for the year, the tablet can’t touch Apple’s iPhone. Last summer, Apple sold a million iPhone 3GS smartphones in the new device’s first three days of availability.

The Financial Times reports that according to Google sources, all versions of Microsoft’s Windows OS are henceforth banned. Employees will instead be able to choose between Apple’s Mac OS and Linux.

Google employees have until now been able to choose their OS of choice, but apparently due to security concerns in the wake of that whole hacking mess, the Google higher-ups have deemed Windows too risky to support. Google declined to comment.

Google competes with Microsoft in several areas, not least of which is Google’s bread and butter, search–Microsoft’s Bing is gaining marketshare (though, to be fair, it’s nowhere near Google’s). The two tech giants also compete in the cloud, with Google Docs taking on Microsoft’s online version of Office, as well as in the mobile world (Android vs. Windows Mobile). Soon, they’ll have even more competition; Google TV plays in the same sandbox as Windows Media Center, and Chrome OS may compete for space on netbooks with the lightweight Windows 7.

On the other hand, Apple is at least as fierce a competitor as Microsoft, and significantly more so in the mobile world, yet Apple’s full-sized OS seems to be the norm at Google HQ.

Google may not have intended this move to look like a dig at Microsoft. But when a company as high-profile as Google finds Windows too easily attacked to be used by its employees, it’s got to sting.