LOTD for August 24 (Part 2)

The military’s increasing reliance on UAVs ($3.5 billion in FY2010) have altered the landscape for the defense industry:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/single.php?id=8594

Qinetiq got an AUS$23million order by the Australian Department of Defence for its robots and replacement parts:
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/312812/TALON+robots+for+Australian+forces.htm

The Big Dog 4-legged robot can carry soldiers’ equipment (already demonstrated a 154kg load) across rugged terrain that vehicles cannot get to. It has already shown that it can hike 12.8 miles over 8 hours without stopping or refueling:
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/312799/An+infantryman%27s+best+friend+.htm

Nanoparticle “inks” could allow for solar cells to be printed like newspaper or painted onto the roofs or sides of buildings, leading to a a 90% reduction in the cost to make solar cells. These nanomaterials are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair and are semi-transparent, so even windows could become solar cells:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uota-lsc082409.php

The cable industry is actually growing *faster* than the wireless industry! The main factor for this is that the wireless industry has a LOT of competition while the cable TV/broadband industry has much less competition:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32503068/ns/us_news-weird_news/

Clearwire’s CEO says that they will have no problem raising the additional billions in capital that they need:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2009722690_qa_with_clearwire_ceo_bill_mor.html

Column that delves into the details of the response AT&T and Apple gave the FCC about the rejection of Google Voice:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/mike-can-you-come-snappy-headline-here-im-brain-dead/2009-08-24?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

AT&T is requiring all of its customers who buy or upgrade to a smartphone to purchase a $30 data plan in addition to their voice plan:
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/08/att_data_plans.html;jsessionid=GPYOSFJDMLOXLQE1GHPSKH4ATMY32JVN

Nokia in entering the competitive netbook market–after all the of the rumors about their using Linux, I’m disappointed that their netbooks are using Windows 7:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE57N1ZM20090824