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El Register has a piece on the development of a technique to extract hydrogen from the hydrocarbon chains in sunflower oil.

The technique does result in some carbon dioxide being released, but the team points out that growing sunflowers would offset it.

Dupont explains that the team uses two catalysts to extract the hydrogen in a process known as unmixed reforming. One catalyst is carbon based, and the other contains nickel. The reforming process means the team does not reply on fossil fuel at any stage in the process.

The full story is available here.

Apple Computer unveiled, after a two-month delay, its new iMac desktop computer on Tuesday which integrates disk drives and processors into a flat display less than two inches thick.

"Now we have the world's thinnest desktop computer," Phil Schiller, head of worldwide product marketing, said in a keynote presentation at the annual Apple Expo in Paris.

Shipping from mid-September, Apple said the computer would be available in versions with a 17-inch and a 20-inch display, with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

Looks snazzy. Full article here.

NASSCOM, India's premier IT industry umbrella group, is planning to unveil security audit with certification for all its 860 member companies soon.

"Although many big IT firms follow stringent security audit on their own, the new framework that is being developed will serve as a global benchmark for the whole industry."

The official said although the audit wouldn't be mandatory, a slew of companies were expected to follow it as firms were fast realising the importance of adhering to global security standards that cover all areas of operations.

Silicon India has this report.

Flextronics, the $14.5-billion Singapore headquartered electronics contract manufacturer, has acquired the Chennai-based Future Software Ltd that provides software solutions to telecom firms globally.

Flextronics' acquisition of Future Software comes close on heels of it acquiring a 55 per cent stake in India-based telecom firm Hughes Software Systems (HSS) and a $10 million investment in inSilica, a semiconductor design firm based in Bangalore.

Sify has this story.

Wired is carrying a report on the increasing viability of renewable sources of energy such as wave-power.

Among the most ambitious, planned for this fall, is a 486-ton wave turbine that converts wave motion into electricity and will be anchored off the coast of Australia, 150 miles south of Sydney. Energetech, the Australian company that developed the turbine, said it will be the "first plant in the world to make wave energy commercially viable." A similar turbine is to be installed off Point Judith, Rhode Island, in 2006.

In September, New York City will receive some of its electricity from six underwater turbines attached to concrete piles in the East River that will be powered by the tides. Although only generating enough power for about 200 homes, this will be the first tidal-turbine power plant in the world. Virginia-based Verdant Power, the company overseeing the project, said if all goes well 200 to 300 turbines will be installed.

The full story is available here.

Despite stiff opposition from local businesses, the California senate has passed a controversial Bill banning state agencies from contracting services to companies that use overseas labour.

California is one of the 34 states where legislation has been introduced, to restrict work on state agency contracts from being performed overseas, or impose regulations on offshoring practices to safeguard the security of medical & financial data.

With the Assembly expected to concur, governor Arnold Schwarzenneger faces a choice between vetoing the measure to please business lobbyists or signing it to appeal to a populist demand for job protection, San Jose Mercury reported on Tuesday.

IndiaTimes has this story.

BugMeNot, which went down a few days ago is back up and running.

Early on Aug. 19, BugMeNot's creator wrote in the MozillaZine forum under the name bgm: "Our host pulled the plug. I reckon they were pressured. If anyone has got some secure, preferably offshore hosting in mind then please let us know so we can get the service back up as soon as possible."

In a post later that day he wrote: "Thanks for the help everyone. I've found a host and should be back within 24-48 hours."

Microsoft has been reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK over misleading advertising.

The UK watchdog upheld complaints about a magazine advert which claimed that the open-source operating system Linux was more expensive than Windows.

Referring to research, it read: "Linux was found to be over 10 times more expensive than Windows Server 2003".

The ASA concluded that the comparison was misleading because the operating systems ran on different hardware.

The BBC has the full story.

India's low-cost airline - Air Deccan, is all set to launch an IPO later this year.

The IPO will be more of a brand enhancement exercise than just a pure fund raising effort For Air Deccan. According to Gopinath, the strategy is not just to make Air Deccan “a common-man's airline” but share its ownership with its customers, somewhat similar to the Virgin Blue model in Australia.

Over the next few months, Gopinath said, “the airline's operations will stabilise and reinforce the faith of existing as well as future investors in the company”. It is at present busy interacting with various international private funds and institutions to raise between $50-60 m by off-loading 20-30% of its equity. The airline expects to clock a turnover of $124 m in the first full year of operation (2004-05).

The Economic Times has this story.

Reliance Infocomm announced the launch of the country's first Multi-Protocol Label Switching Global Virtual Private Network service in association with MCI Inc.

Under the agreement with MCI, Reliance would offer its seamless global MPLS-based VPN connections to its business customers, over the US-based company's global network, the company said in a release.

MPLS VPN is a solution for companies that require best quality of service to carry integrated voice, video and data, while providing Internet access.

The Economic Times has this story.