2010/09/10

The line between book and Internet will disappear - O'Reilly Radar

The line between book and Internet will disappear - O'Reilly Radar:

"But everything exists within the EPUB spec already to make the next obvious -- but frightening -- step: let books live properly within the Internet, along with websites, databases, blogs, Twitter, map systems, and applications.
"There is little talk of this anywhere in the publishing industry that I know of, but the foundation is there for the move -- as it should be. And if you are looking at publishing with any kind of long-term business horizon, this is where you should be looking[...]
"I don't know what smart things people will start to do when books are truly of the Internet.
"But I do know that it will happen, and the 'Future of Publishing' has something to do with this. The current world of ebooks is just a transition to a digitally connected book publishing ecosystem that won't look anything like the book world we live in now."

2010/09/02

Can Nuclear Waste Spark an Energy Solution?

Can Nuclear Waste Spark an Energy Solution?:

"The idea is to reprocess that spent fuel to generate more power. Proponents say the know-how is available now to address the nuclear proliferation concerns that have bedeviled previous recycling plans. And they say the advanced reactors that would run on that recycled fuel would mark a new level of progress on safety."
'“It’s very clear when you get into details that [nuclear] is the best energy system, bar none,” said Tom Blees, president of the Science Council for Global Initiatives, a nonprofit focused on resources and climate, and author of Prescription for the Planet, a 2008 book advocating the technology. “We have to make a choice—provide abundant energy for the planet or be content with these resource wars we have all the time.”'
"The International Panel on Fissile Materials, a group of arms control and nonproliferation experts from 17 countries[...] noted that sodium leaks have sparked major fires in a similarly designed prototype reactor in Japan, as well as in several operating reactors in France. One of them, the Superphénix commercial-sized plutonium fueled reactor, was shut down in 1998 for political and technical reasons after experiencing high operating costs."