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September 7th, 2008
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Tech & Telecom Headlines

February 20th, 2008 | Current Issue

Course correction
SkyEurope to use next-gen navigation to save airspace, fuel

IT leaders launch Innovation Thursday forum
U.S., ČR officials stress need for start-up support

BRIEFS


VISTA Microsoft is slashing prices on the Czech version of Windows Vista by almost half, the company announced Feb. 18. Following worldwide trends, Vista has faltered locally, with Microsoft selling only 350,000 licenses, far from their goal of selling 800,000 copies by the end of 2007.

GAS By 2014, thousands of civil servants will switch to driving cars fueled by natural gas, Hospodářské noviny (HN) reported Feb. 19. The plan, soon to be proposed by the Environment Ministry, is part of the countrywide push to curtail carbon emissions. About 25 percent of the government’s fleet, totaling some 5,000 cars, would be replaced.
SMOG The Czech Olympic Committee is weighing how best to protect its athletes from the smog anticipated at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Mladá fronta Dnes (MfD) reported Feb. 19. It’s possible that air cleaners could be installed in athletes’ rooms in addition to the 3M-designed air filters they will wear over their mouths.
IPHONE The small Prague-based firm Bladox was the first to crack Apple’s iPhone last summer, BusinessWeek reported Feb. 12. Soon after the phone’s release, enthusiasts discovered that one of the company’s products, called the Turbo SIM, could be used to fool the iPhone into thinking it was on a proprietary network. While software hacks to the phone now exist, Bladox has sold 30,000 Turbo SIMs in all.
FOXCONN The Taiwanese electronics firm Foxconn is in talks to purchase a plant in central Bohemia, the daily MfD reported Feb. 13. The firm already has two factories in the country. Construction on the second plant, located in Kutná Hora and set to produce primarily LCD screens, is almost complete. Production will begin in April and it is projected the plant will eventually employee 5,000 people.
GARBAGE Cities and companies are discovering that waste management can be a lucrative business, news server Aktuálně.cz reported Feb. 12. Billions of crowns are being invested in facilities to help manage the country’s annual 24 million metric tons of waste. Currently, most of this waste is disposed of in landfills, but the Environment Ministry is preparing legislation that will encourage recycling of waste for biomass power, among other uses.
SCOREBOARD The Czech Republic ranked with countries like Spain, Estonia, Slovenia and Norway as “moderate innovators,” according to a study released by the European Union Feb. 14. The country scored well in its ability to translate innovations into marketable applications, while doing poorly on its ability to retain this intellectual property.
WIND The state-controlled energy utility ČEZ will spend 1.5 billion Kč to build the country’s second-largest wind park in south Moravia, HN reported Feb. 12. The park will have 16 turbines in total, generating 48 megawatts of power. The facility, which could be in operation by 2011, is part of ČEZ’s plan to invest 20 billion Kč in wind power.

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