IT100_13/2010_Reader

Flip phones may be somewhat on the outs these days (at least among those demanding the latest and greatest), but they may well be the key to future 3D cellphones -- at least if this Motorola patent application is any indication. The basic idea is actually a fairly simple one: you'd see a regular 2D image on the screen when the cover is open, but when it's closed you'd be able to look through the transparent lid and see the images with a "three dimensional appearance." As you can probably figure out, that screen would be a touchscreen that takes the place of a keypad, and another illustration also shows that the same idea could be applied to a slider phone. Of course, what the illustrations don't show is how effective that three dimensional appearance would actually be, although it seems like it could give Motoblur a whole new meaning.

By now you'd think folks would know what to let fly on Facebook and what to keep to themselves. Not so.

The critical question is whether soils release more CO2 because faster-growing plants pump more in, or if soils release CO2 that would have stayed in the ground at lower temperatures. If the latter, the fresh influx of CO2 could produce a self-reinforcing cycle, producing higher temperatures that cause even more CO2 to be released. “That’s the $50,000 question: Is there a feedback effect?” said Ben Bond-Lamberty, a University of Maryland, College Park biogeochemist and co-author of the review, in the March 24 Nature. “The data we have implies a feedback. It doesn’t prove it, but it’s consistent with the possibility.” Carbon dioxide enters the soil through the roots of living plants and from the decaying bodies of dead plants, and is processed by microbes, fungi and insects. Over time, some of that CO2 releases back into the atmosphere. At any given time, there’s about twice as much CO2 in Earth’s soils as in its atmosphere.

One of the blokes from Top Gear was tooling around Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull in a Toyota pickup about a week before it blew and scientists who set up monitoring equipment just hours before the eruption used the same truck.

Most airports in northern Europe remained closed early today as ash from a volcanic eruption on Iceland continued to wreak havoc on air travel. Some European airlines made test flights over the weekend to assess the situation, and the industry wants the skies reopened.

If you want a bittersweet alternative, a $30 cable and an iPad can do everything the Apple TV can, and more. But, be warned, it’s confusing and also a little frustrating to set up.