Electrabel is positioned in Europe as a provider of comprehensive and tailor-made energy solutions. Whether you are an industrialist, manager of a small or medium-sized enterprise, self-employed or private individual, Electrabel responds to your specific requirements. The generating capacity of its European facilities reaches at the moment more than 31.000 MW. Electrabel has become the largest power company in the Benelux. It is also one of the few companies trading on all of Europe’s energy markets. Electrabel is part of GDF SUEZ, an international industrial and services group that is active in energy and the environment.

Electrabel makes Interactive Art at the Brussels Airport: 15 metres length, 42 screens and 30 square metres of projection. Interactive Art, where different Thermal Imaging Cameras take shots of passengers, thus creating interactive models.

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KEYWORDS: Benelux, Brussels Airport, Electrabel, energy, GDF SUEZ, Interactive Art, passengers, projection, screens, thermal imaging cameras

Review of Scientific Instruments Table of Contents Alert. A monthly journal devoted to scientific instruments, apparatus, and techniques.

Volume 80, Issue 2 , Articles (02xxxx)

by American Institute of Physics

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KEYWORDS: AIP, American Institute of Physics, apparatus, Review of Scientific Instruments, scientific instruments, Table of Contents Alert, techniques

The voice alarm and public address system at the new Woolwich Arsenal station has been supplied and installed by PEL Services. Part of the extended DLR (Docklands Light Railway) in East London, Woolwich Arsenal provides an alternative way to cross the River Thames.

The system installed by PEL Services Ltd. comprises a Bosch Praesidio digital public address and emergency sound system, linked to Penton column speakers in the concourse and Penton projection speakers on the platforms. There is also a zoned station microphone located in the station operations room for general announcements, plus local station microphones at passenger emergency points for use by station staff at platform level.

All equipment was chosen to provide the best audibility for announcements, with ambient noise sensing automatically adjusting the volume of announcements to cope with changing noise levels. The fact that all equipment can be contained in one rack was an important consideration with space at a premium.

Source: FSE

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KEYWORDS: Bosch Praesidio, DLR, Docklands Light Railway, East London, FSE, PEL Services, Penton, public address, River Thames, voice alarm, Woolwich Arsenal, Woolwich Arsenal station

Aesthetics and optimal safety are said to be the main reasons the K-Series fire suppression system is being used in Jamie Oliver’s new Kingston-upon-Thames restaurant.

Based in a former office block, the celebrity chef’s latest venture has a high-tech kitchen design, and technology from Nobel Fire Systems has been installed discreetly to maintain the visual integrity of the location. The K-Series didn’t require obvious pipework or protruding nozzles, helping meet the aesthetic brief of the design.

The reputation of the K-Series line for reliability, added to the promise of rapid installation, sealed the deal for Nobel. A risk assessment of the site was carried out to allow the creation of a bespoke solution.

Source: FSE

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KEYWORDS: fire safety, K-Series, Kingston-upon-Thames restaurant, Nobel Fire Systems

Adding Lightning to Thunderbird

Last week, we began the migration from Outlook in Windows to Thunderbird in Linux. We transferred over the basic data to the open source email client. Now we’ll install a calendar, task manager, and note feature. We’ll also figure out how to export our existing Outlook data and import it into Thunderbird. Lastly, we’ll set up auto signatures. Let’s get started!

Read the full article by Eric Geier

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KEYWORDS: calendar, email client, export, import, Linux, note, open source, Outlook, task manager, Thunderbird, Windows

Shy on Bling, Loaded With Useful Features

Moving from the Microsoft and commercial software world to the open community means you’ll need to find open source or Linux alternatives to the many Windows applications you’ve been using. In this tutorial we’ll concentrate on your email client. More specifically, we’re going to discuss moving from Outlook to the cross-platform email application Mozilla Thunderbird. At first glance, Thunderbird may seem too basic and lacking features. However, it still can be a great Outlook alternative. We’ll discover how to transfer over your settings, mail, notes, tasks, and more.

Read the full article by Eric Geier

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KEYWORDS: email client, Eric Geier, Linux, mail, Microsoft, Mozilla Thunderbird, notes, open community, open source, Outlook, settings, tasks, Windows

How much does it cost to leave your TV on all day? What about turning your air conditioning 1 degree cooler? Which uses more power every month — your fridge or your dishwasher? Is your household more or less energy efficient than similar homes in your neighborhood?

Our lack of knowledge about our own energy usage is a huge problem, but also a huge opportunity for us all to save money and fight global warming by reducing our power usage. Studies show that access to your household’s personal energy information is likely to save you between 5–15% on your monthly bill, and the potential impact of large numbers of people achieving similar efficiencies is even more exciting. For every six households that save 10% on electricity, for instance, we reduce carbon emissions as much as taking one conventional car off the road (see sources and calculation).

At Google we’re committed to helping enable a future where access to personal energy information helps everyone make smarter energy choices. To get started, we’re working on a tool called Google PowerMeter which will show consumers their electricity consumption in near real-time in a secure iGoogle Gadget. We think PowerMeter will offer more useful and actionable feedback than complicated monthly paper bills that provide little detail on consumption or how to save energy.

But Google PowerMeter is just a start; it will take lots of different groups working together to create what the world really needs: a path to smarter power.

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KEYWORDS: energy consumption, energy saving, Google, Google PowerMeter, iGoogle Gadget

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KEYWORDS: 2009, Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, NicoShop, Season's Greetings, wishes

The war over desktop operating systems has raged, with each side proclaiming the unrivaled superiority of its chosen OS. Computer world asked four experts to lay out their best arguments in support of their desktop operating systems of choice.

Linux: Light on its feet and ready to strut its stuff

If running Adobe Premiere is the most important thing in your life, or you want to play Halo, Linux isn’t going to do it for you, at least not at the moment. While most Windows software can run under Linux in one fashion or another, applications that make extensive use of hardware drivers or high-end graphics may not work right. But for everything else, Linux is definitely the way to go.
Unlike Mac OS and Windows, Linux is free as air and open to development by folks who are motivated by the desire to make the technology better, rather than by corporate tech farms whose real interest is the bottom line.
Linux is free, fast, small, powerful, stable and flexible. It will get you off the “new hardware every other year” life cycle and let you concentrate on being productive rather than playing nursemaid to your operating system. You almost certainly already have Linux in your home or business, even if you don’t know it.

Mac OS X: All you need in one dynamite package

If you want a simple-to-use computer that can run virtually any application you need on stylish hardware that gives you easy online access and instant connectivity to all types of satellite devices, just go to an Apple store and buy a Macintosh.
Apple capitalizes on its unique position as sole operating system designer, application developer, hardware engineer and media distributor, offering a seamless experience across its product lines and services. Macs may not “just work” exactly 100% of the time, but they sure work when I need them to.

Windows Vista: the best there is

Vista, the operating system that people love to hate. The system that has been blamed, it seems, for everything from global warming to the U.S. economic meltdown.
The conventional wisdom is flat-out wrong. Vista is a solid, hard-working operating system that will run whatever software you need with simplicity and grace. And it doesn’t suffer from the world of woes that affect its competitors.
If you want a safe, modern operating system that will run the software you want on reasonably priced hardware without requiring an advanced degree in geekology, Windows Vista is the only way to go.

Windows XP: The people’s choice

Microsoft gamely touts increasing Vista adoption, but the backlash against XP’s successor is unprecedented.
The operating system should be like a referee — invisible and anonymous — and that’s exactly what XP does. It provides all the features I need in an environment that is completely familiar and easy to use.

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KEYWORDS: Apple store, Computer World, Linux, Mac OS X, Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, Operating System, Windows Vista, Windows XP

QUEEN: THE SINGLES COLLECTION, a project 35 years in the making has begun, in the first of four limited edition boxes of individual CDs, facsimiles of the original vinyl singles. The tracks span more than 20 years and are drawn from sixteen studio albums, beginning with the debut LP, Queen, in 1973, and ending in Made In Heaven in 1995.

Volume 1: the first box contains 13 CD singles, dating from the beginnings of the band’s recording career in 1973, to Don’t Stop Me Now in 1979. Box 2 will continue the story into the mid 1980s, and so on. Ultimately, the four boxes will offer every one of Queen’s singles to have made the upper reaches of the charts anywhere in the world.

The Singles Collection also includes rare non-album B-sides, including some live tracks, and some seldom-heard alternative mixes. It will trace the band through four decades, and many musical styles; every top 40 Queen single heard on the radio anywhere across the world will be found in these collections.

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KEYWORDS: Queen, queensinglesbox.com, Singles Collection