4:59 PM
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60302/title/Kepler_craft_reports_apparent_planetary_bonanza
Advances in high-yield agriculture has helped feed the planet and slow the pace of global warming by cutting the amount of biomass burned when forests or grasslands are cleared for farming. Stanford researchers estimate that over half a trillion tons of CO2 have been cut due to the yield increase in agriculture:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/june/agriculture-global-warming-061410.html
BP agreed to a $20 billion escrow account to handle claims from the oil spill:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/16/AR2010061602614.html??wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
The next version of the Android operating system will apparently be focused on upgrades to the user interface--however, the makers of Android phones might not want to give up their custom user interfaces:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/16/android-team-laser-focused-on-the-user-experience-for-next-release/
Motorola and Verizon will debut the Droid 2 and Droid X phones to the press on June 23...such a coincidence that it is the day before the iPhone 4 goes on sale. Adobe's CEO will be there to talk about Flash on Motorola's phones:
http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100615/verizon-to-debut-next-gen-droid-on-eve-of-iphone-4-launch/
AT&T's CEO says that he's not worried about the close ties between Verizon and Google with the Android platform:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-ceo-brushes-verizons-ties-google/2010-06-15
T-Mobile is expanding its HSPA+ network to 25 metropolitan areas and is calling it "4G" despite HSPA+ not being a 4G technology:
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/press-releases/t-mobile-expands-super-fast-network-and-availability-t-mobile-webconnect-rockettm-usb
UT-Austin estimates that it could make $5 million per year on their Texas TV network, which is probably not an exaggeration since Florida makes $8 million per year on their network:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/06/15/2268189/longhorns-hope-to-get-tv-network.html
Oklahoma hopes to start their own TV network also, but TV experts say that their population might not be big enough to get that network to make a profit. Oklahoma has 3x the population than Hawaii and has a big presence in several Texas TV markets (like Dallas), so if they are too small for a network then a lot of other schools will not be able to make their own networks:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GCEPEO0.htm