A Silicon Valley start-up television show — A Silicon Valley public access channel (KMTV Channel 15) will debut a new series next month dealing with the “trials, tribulations and successes” of various start-ups and their VC-backers. The show is produced by the nonprofit Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs and will be called “Silicon Valley Entrepreneur”. Look for it every Tuesday at 9pm starting April 1. [via VentureWire]
FBI posts fake hyperlinks to snare child porn suspects — Despite questions of entrapment, the FBI has gone forward with a technique in which it posts fake hyperlinks on certain pages promising to take users to to videos of minors having sex. When a person clicks on that link, they’ll find a video that contains no illegal images and may seem broken, but that click will alert the FBI. One doctoral student at Temple University found that out the hard way in February when police raided his home after he followed the link according to CNET.
Sony charges $50 to remove pre-installed software — A lot of people hate the pre-installed software that come on new PCs and wish manufacturers simply wouldn’t put it on there. Well now Sony has that option, but it’ll cost you $50! On certain Sony Vaio customization pages you’ll now find a special ‘Fresh Start’ option that allows for the removal of Vaio applications, trial software and games — which Engadget affectionately calls ‘crapware’.
U.S. power plant emissions rose 2.9% in 2007 — Despite all the talk of alternative energies and how quickly they are emerging, U.S. power plants saw their worst increase in carbon dioxide emissions since 1998 last year. Texas, Georgia and Arizona had the largest increases according to Clean Edge.
Apple researching 3D displays that don’t require glasses — A patent filed in 2006 and just uncovered by AppleInsider shows a complicated set-up of a projector, something called a ‘3D imager’ and a light sensor. These devices would be placed all around an observer and would give the illusion that a person was seeing an image in its three-dimensional form. The best part is that such an image could be created without the use of 3D glasses and that multiple people could see the 3D projections based on where they were standing.
Sail-powered cargo vessel proven to get 20% energy savings — A cargo ship rigged to use a huge 160-meter sail was able to use about 20 percent less fuel that it regularly would have during a two-month voyage. The sail, developed by SkySails, could save shippers up to $2,000 a day with regular usage. The sail has been estimated to cut as much as 35 percent of fuel consumption depending on weather and sea conditions according to CNET’s Green Tech Blog.
Revision3 launches branded Miro player — Online TV network, Revision3, has teamed up with Miro, the web TV player, on a co-branded, specialized app. This downloadable piece of software allows users to have quick and easy access to all of their favorite Revision3 shows which include “Diggnation” and “The Totally Rad Show”. The application is available for both Mac and PC. We’ve previously written about the co-branded Miro service here.
