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Pay By Touch discontinues biometrics services
Pay By Touch came to market with much fanfare, offering to process biometric transactions for merchants; things did not work as planned, and company discontinues service
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Canadain chocolate factory off-limit to visitors
Non-American companies exporting food to the United States must comply with the strictures of the 2002 BioTerrorism Act; for a Victoria, Canada, chocolate factory this meant prohibiting school kids from touring the factory
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Company profile: Universal Detection Technology (UDT)
UDT licenses spore detection technology from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and commercializes it; UDT developed a real-time continuous detection device capable of identifying abnormal levels of bacterial spores in the air, which is signature of a possible anthrax attack
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Western companies eyeing India's $90 billion processed food market
The globalization of food supply is a two-way street: More and more Western food companies sell their products in the growing Indian market; rising standard of living and working mothers drive the demand for pre-packaged and pre-prepared food, but local culinary preferences, and government bureaucratic practices, die hard
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Company involved in largest U.S. meat recall admits it was at fault
In February Hallmark/Westland Meat was forced to recall 143 million pounds of meat — the largest recall in U.S. history — after it was revealed that the company processed cows which were potentially sick; a week after the recall, the company went out of business; company’s president admits company was at fault
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Beyond fingerprinting: Alternative biometric technologies advance
As more organizations turn to biometric technology to help them perform their missions, they show interest in a variety of technologies — vein architecture, retinal scan, facial recognition, and more; these are good times for innovative biometric companies
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Fuel cell joint venture formed
In an effort to accelerate the development of fuel cells, two companies form a JV to target the light industrial, commercial, and residential markets in the United Kingdom and Ireland
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Resistance to a U.K. hedge fund's effort to control CSX
Ever since the 2006 Dubai Ports World’s takeover of management operations in major U.S. seaports, Congress has shown increasing irritation with attempts by foreign companies to own U.S. critical infrastructure assets; there is a growing resistance in Congress to U.K.-based TCI to take control of rail operator CSX
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Singapore embarks on water reclamation project
Singapore suffers increasing water shortages; the country’s Public Utility Board (PUB) has joined with two specialists in the field in a joint development of wastewater reclamation technologies using separation membranes
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Bosch acquires Extreme CCTV
Video surveillance is a growing market, and Bosch moves in by acquiring Canadian specialist in infrared illuminators
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Canberra shows Falcon 5000 portable radiation detector
The company has more than four decades of experience in radiation measurements of all kinds; the Falcon 5000, a portable radionuclide identifier for first responders, determines whether there is a radiation source present, the location of that source, and which isotopes are emitting the radiation
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VCs invest $3 billion in clean tech in 2007
VCs investment in clean tech in 2007 increased 43 percent over similar investments in 2006; U.S.-based companies received $2.52 billion, or 83 percent of the total, in 159 clean-tech deals
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Chevron, Weyerhaeuser to develop fuels from non-food sources
Using food crops such as corn to produce fuel may not be such a good idea after all, as the contribution to pushing up the price of corn-based fuel would likely be greater than the contribution to reduce oil dependence or clean up the environment; two companies offer a way out
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Qinetiq in £951 million test and evaluation MoD contract
Good news for Qinetiq: the Ministry of Defense signed a £951 million contract with the company, part of a contract values at £5.6 billion over 25 years; company has already been paid £964 million for the 2003-9 period
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Israeli clean-car project largest recipient of VC clean-tech funding in 2007
Israeli electric car venture raises $200 million in first round financing — the largest single recipient of VC cleantech funding in 2007; total VC 2007 investment in cleantech: More than $3 billion
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The long view
U.S. Reliance on Chinese Drones: A Sector for the Next CHIPS Act?
More and more lawmakers from both parties are beginning to pay attention to the issue of drones and national security. Different bills seek to regulate federal agency procurement and use of certain foreign-made unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), or drones. Annie I. Antón and Olivia C. Mauger write that “Building on the bipartisan consensus to enact the 2022 Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science (CHIPS) Act, there is a compelling case that UASs should be a next sector for similar action.”
PEGA Committee Votes on Spyware Recommendations
In July 2021, the Pegasus Project—a consortium of 80 journalists from 17 media organizations in 10 countries—broke the story that several governments were using the Israel-made Pegasus spyware against journalists, activists, politicians, academics, and even heads of state. Responding to the public backlash, the European Parliament set up a committee of inquiry (PEGA committee) to investigate the allegations concerning misuse of spyware on the continent.
Using AI to Find Rare Minerals
A machine learning model can predict the locations of minerals on Earth—and potentially other planets—by taking advantage of patterns in mineral associations.