7:20 PM
Amazing discovery could enable solar power to be obtained *without* solar cells. The researchers found a way to make an "optical battery" by ignoring something that physics has said to be impossible for over 100 years:
http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8368
New study found that growing algae for biofuel could replace 17% of the oil that the US imports for transportation. The study also found that being smart where we grow algae can significantly reduce the water needed to grow algal biofuel. Given enough water and land, algae could replace 48% of US oil imports::
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/04/algae-could-replace-17-of-us-oil.html
SpaceX signed a deal to launch the $3 bil Iridium NEXT family of satellites. The original Iridium used the US Delta II, the Russian Proton and the Chinese Long March rockets, but Iridium NEXT will just use SpaceX for the 8 launches with 9 satellites per launch:
http://www.universetoday.com/84838/iridium-next-prepares-to-ride-the-falcon/
Hackers breached the WordPress servers and may have gotten sensitive bits of their platform's code. This could impact anyone who uses WordPress, which includes individual bloggers as well as Flickr, NASA, Yahoo, and the NY Times:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/hacking/wordpresscom-hack-could-put-premium-users-risk-844
Wireless subscribers in the US sent over 2 trillion text messages and 57 billion MMS messages last year, a growth of 31% and 62% respectively. The numbers are expected to grow even more due to the increasing number of smartphones in the US. Wireless penetration in the US passed the 100% mark in December 2010--there are now 302 million wireless subscribers in the US:
http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=055&ACCT=0000100&ISSUE=1104&RELTYPE=IN&PRODCODE=00000&PRODLETT=BM&CommonCount=0
Google had $8.58 bil in revenue in the first quarter of this year, up from $6.77 bil in the 1Q in 2010. They have about $12.4 bil cash on hand and $24 bil in securities:
http://investor.google.com/earnings/2011/Q1_google_earnings.html
Analyst says that Sprint has no choice but to buy out Clearwire. The analyst downgraded Sprint's stock to Sell because Sprint's stock is projected to be diluted by $2/share by buying Clearwire:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/analyst-sprint-has-no-choice-acquire-clearwire/2011-04-13
Millennial says that Verizon getting the iPhone resulted in an 11% increase in mobile ad impressions for the iPhone, with Verizon ad impressions already making up 8.2% of all iPhone ad impressions. Android has 48% of mobile ad impressions, iOS has 31%, BlackBerry has 18%, Windows Phone and Symbian have 1% each. iOS-based apps got 47% of Millennial revenues in March, Android had 36% and BlackBerry had 7%. It seems to me that when they talk about smartphones, Android is ahead in ad revenue, but when they compare operating system platforms the iPad boosts iOS past Android:
http://www.millennialmedia.com/2011/04/millennial-media-releases-march-mobile-mix-report/
Report about how AT&T and Verizon will be getting the white iPhone 4 (which Steve Jobs announced last June) later this month, but the new iPhone won't be unveiled in June at Apple's Developers Conference like all the previous years. Instead, they say that the next iPhone will be launched in the Fall after AT&T gets their LTE network going:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/rumor-mill-white-iphone-4-coming-within-weeks/2011-04-14
Verizon's "Can you hear me now?" commercial guy is being phased out of their TV ads--he'll still do some Verizon ads but he's no longer exclusive to Verizon. He has been doing Verizon commercials for TEN years! His fame caused problems for himself, such as when he drew more attention to himself than the bride at a wedding or even at his grandmother's funeral. Now that his 10-year exclusivity deal with Verizon is over, he has a movie coming out:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/04/13/verizon.test.man.ads.bowing.out/
The budget deal to cut $38.5 bil from this year's federal budget actually will only cut $352 mil in spending during this fiscal year! In fact, when emergency funding is included, the actual spending under this budget "cut" will result in $3.3 bil MORE being spent this year than before the budget "cut". Congress made the easy cuts--IOUs that were going to be spent someday in theory but many were not actually ever going to be spent (such as funding for programs that have already been cut but had funding left over on paper). It sounds like the biggest cuts were 15% of the EPA's budget, $504 mil cut from a program that provides food and infant formula to low-income families and $600 mil cut from community health centers. The budget deal also removes gray wolves from the endangered species list:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/deal-includes-86b-in-cuts-that-likely-would-never-have-been-spent/2011/04/12/AFFbG4bD_story.html
http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8368
New study found that growing algae for biofuel could replace 17% of the oil that the US imports for transportation. The study also found that being smart where we grow algae can significantly reduce the water needed to grow algal biofuel. Given enough water and land, algae could replace 48% of US oil imports::
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/04/algae-could-replace-17-of-us-oil.html
SpaceX signed a deal to launch the $3 bil Iridium NEXT family of satellites. The original Iridium used the US Delta II, the Russian Proton and the Chinese Long March rockets, but Iridium NEXT will just use SpaceX for the 8 launches with 9 satellites per launch:
http://www.universetoday.com/84838/iridium-next-prepares-to-ride-the-falcon/
Hackers breached the WordPress servers and may have gotten sensitive bits of their platform's code. This could impact anyone who uses WordPress, which includes individual bloggers as well as Flickr, NASA, Yahoo, and the NY Times:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/hacking/wordpresscom-hack-could-put-premium-users-risk-844
Wireless subscribers in the US sent over 2 trillion text messages and 57 billion MMS messages last year, a growth of 31% and 62% respectively. The numbers are expected to grow even more due to the increasing number of smartphones in the US. Wireless penetration in the US passed the 100% mark in December 2010--there are now 302 million wireless subscribers in the US:
http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=055&ACCT=0000100&ISSUE=1104&RELTYPE=IN&PRODCODE=00000&PRODLETT=BM&CommonCount=0
Google had $8.58 bil in revenue in the first quarter of this year, up from $6.77 bil in the 1Q in 2010. They have about $12.4 bil cash on hand and $24 bil in securities:
http://investor.google.com/earnings/2011/Q1_google_earnings.html
Analyst says that Sprint has no choice but to buy out Clearwire. The analyst downgraded Sprint's stock to Sell because Sprint's stock is projected to be diluted by $2/share by buying Clearwire:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/analyst-sprint-has-no-choice-acquire-clearwire/2011-04-13
Millennial says that Verizon getting the iPhone resulted in an 11% increase in mobile ad impressions for the iPhone, with Verizon ad impressions already making up 8.2% of all iPhone ad impressions. Android has 48% of mobile ad impressions, iOS has 31%, BlackBerry has 18%, Windows Phone and Symbian have 1% each. iOS-based apps got 47% of Millennial revenues in March, Android had 36% and BlackBerry had 7%. It seems to me that when they talk about smartphones, Android is ahead in ad revenue, but when they compare operating system platforms the iPad boosts iOS past Android:
http://www.millennialmedia.com/2011/04/millennial-media-releases-march-mobile-mix-report/
Report about how AT&T and Verizon will be getting the white iPhone 4 (which Steve Jobs announced last June) later this month, but the new iPhone won't be unveiled in June at Apple's Developers Conference like all the previous years. Instead, they say that the next iPhone will be launched in the Fall after AT&T gets their LTE network going:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/rumor-mill-white-iphone-4-coming-within-weeks/2011-04-14
Verizon's "Can you hear me now?" commercial guy is being phased out of their TV ads--he'll still do some Verizon ads but he's no longer exclusive to Verizon. He has been doing Verizon commercials for TEN years! His fame caused problems for himself, such as when he drew more attention to himself than the bride at a wedding or even at his grandmother's funeral. Now that his 10-year exclusivity deal with Verizon is over, he has a movie coming out:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/04/13/verizon.test.man.ads.bowing.out/
The budget deal to cut $38.5 bil from this year's federal budget actually will only cut $352 mil in spending during this fiscal year! In fact, when emergency funding is included, the actual spending under this budget "cut" will result in $3.3 bil MORE being spent this year than before the budget "cut". Congress made the easy cuts--IOUs that were going to be spent someday in theory but many were not actually ever going to be spent (such as funding for programs that have already been cut but had funding left over on paper). It sounds like the biggest cuts were 15% of the EPA's budget, $504 mil cut from a program that provides food and infant formula to low-income families and $600 mil cut from community health centers. The budget deal also removes gray wolves from the endangered species list:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/deal-includes-86b-in-cuts-that-likely-would-never-have-been-spent/2011/04/12/AFFbG4bD_story.html