| Road work
New Jersey workers, armed with technology, are turning their cars into their offices. Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/30/07 BY MICHAEL L. DIAMOND
BUSINESS WRITER Post Comment Dave Farfalla, a service technician for New Jersey Resources, spends much of the day on his computer. He checks his schedule, orders supplies, answers e-mail and fills out his time sheet. There's just one catch: He does it all from the front seat of his company-owned van. Supervisors "can change my whole day without talking to me," said Farfalla, a Toms River resident. "If they need me, they can send a message saying, "Please call.' " Forget the home office. Farfalla is among a growing number of workers who spend time in a car office. They stay connected through cell phones and e-mails.
Child-sex suspect jailed
An 18-year-old man remained in the Lake County Jail on Wednesday, accused of sexual battery.
Police on Tuesday arrested Eugenio Espinoza of Clermont on charges of twice having sex with a 12-year-old girl.
He told police the first time he had sex with her was July 26 and that he thought she was 18, Cpl. Robert Mata said in an arrest affidavit. A statement from the victim was not available. Information about the second alleged incident was not available.
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Just Like Everybody Else
Kasey Hodges just wants to be a normal teenager. But it's too late for this Springdale 15-year-old -- and it has nothing to do with her disability. Kasey is the classic overachiever.A rising junior at Springdale High School, Kasey maintains a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in pre-Advanced Placement classes. Next year, she tackles classes in the school's International Baccalaureate program. She was named an All-American Scholar by the United States Achievement Academy for this year's work in her English class.Kasey joined the school's BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) team, helping create a robot for competition against other schools, and took classes in the engineering academy. She played a role in the school's spring musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and served on the SHS Student Council, helping organize and work dances and fundraisers."She's in so many clubs," said Kasey's mom Angela Bassett.
New Nanotech Batteries Look, Feel Like Paper
It's a battery that looks like a piece of paper and can be bent or twisted, trimmed with scissors or molded into any shape needed. While the battery is only a prototype a few inches square right now, the researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who developed it have high hopes for it in electronics and other fields that need smaller, lighter power sources. "We would like to scale this up to the point where you can imagine printing batteries like a newspaper. That would be the ultimate," Robert Linhardt a professor at the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at RPI said in a telephone interview. The development is reported in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. .
SunEthanol gets funding boost
SunEthanol Inc., a biofuels technology startup, has secured its first around of funding to commercialize the Q Microbe, a natural bacteria capable of converting cellulose into ethanol, the company said on Tuesday. The amount of the round was not disclosed. .
iPhone does neat stuff, but it's just a $500 toy for now
"I'm watching a guy play a George Harrison tune on a ukulele," my husband said. I had left him in our home office with a new iPhone for two minutes, and this was the result. I can't say I blame him. Much of the time I had the review unit, I watched YouTube. The phone has an icon conveniently positioned on its main menu -- tap the touch-screen twice and you can be the 55 millionth viewer to see that dude in "Evolution of Dance." The gadget's sharp-looking screen (3.5 inches wide) is a seductive pleasure. Which brings me to the bottom line -- the iPhone is a $500 toy. It does some useful things, and may be the closest a cellphone comes to a laptop-like experience. But it's no replacement -- yet -- for a smart phone like a BlackBerry.
Small energy savings can add up
Home air conditioners are energy hogs, but little sources of power running quietly behind the scenes can also pile up over time, adding to costs and demand. It's cell phone chargers left plugged in, DVD clocks running day and night. Televisions, cable boxes, digital video recorders -- any device with a computer chip that allows a display clock or remote control to work. As Duke Energy's residential customers brace for what could be their highest monthly bills ever, conservationists and utilities say unplugging electronics that drain power even in the off position is an often overlooked way to save electricity. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California estimates the power wasted from a typical home's electronics equals burning a 60-watt bulb year-round.
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