Texas,United States

Coconuts are notoriously difficult to open. If you’ve ever tried it (I have), you know that even before you get to the rock-hard shell, there is a thick, matty, impossible-to-pull-off husk encasing the nut entirely. While most of us would simply curse the stuff as we try to rip it away, scientists in Texas have instead thought “Hey, this stuff would make a really strong composite material!”

It can sometimes be a little unclear (especially first day of a new year) how the previous year changed the world. No one guessed in 1946 that the Magnetron Spencer Percy was developing for use in a RADAR system (and that subsequently melted a candy bar in his pocket) would one day become the microwave oven. But I like to think that we can make some pretty good guesses about which of this year's innovations are going to be with us, and changing our world, for a good long time.

If you had to make a list of US states leading the green tech revolution, who would be on the list? Probably West Coast states like California and Oregon. Maybe Texas, with its burgeoning wind industry. Maybe even Massachusetts, which is becoming a center for developing battery technology. But no matter who you put on your list, don’t leave out Hawaii.

The evolution of libraries from public houses for books to public houses for information took another step forward Thursday as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $6.9 million award for a pilot initiative to improve public access to broadband Internet.

The award was made to Connected Nation, a nonprofit that promotes broadband Internet, and to the American Library Association's Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP) to improve connectivity speeds for public libraries in Arkansas, California, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Virginia.

I just got off the phone with Wal-Mart, who is very excited to announce that they'll be purchasing 100% of the power generated by a new wind farm in Texas. The power will be bought by 360 Texas stores and distribution centers, providing about 15% of the power those locations need.
This is a good step toward Wal-Mart's goal of producing 100% of its power from renewable sources.

I just got off the phone with Wal-Mart, who is very excited to announce that they'll be purchasing 100% of the power generated by a new wind farm in Texas. The power will be bought by 360 Texas stores and distribution centers, providing about 15% of the power those locations need.
This is a good step toward Wal-Mart's goal of producing 100% of its power from renewable sources.

A team of researchers from the University of Maryland posed the following question: what would happen if we were to literally blanket huge swaths of land in wind farms? Could we change the weather? The short answer is yes, if you build an absurdly huge wind farm stretching from Texas to Canada and from the Great Lakes to the Rockies. Doing so would lower wind speeds by 5-6 mph downwind.

EMG Technology has filed a patent suit against Apple in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

The suit alleges that Apple is infringing on U.S. Patent No. 7,441,196 in the way the iPhone navigates the Internet. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages against Apple.

"Web sites are just beginning to develop their mobile sister sites for fast and easy navigation," said Stanley Gibson, an intellectual property expert and partner at the law firm of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of EMG Technology.

Dell, one of the world's largest makers of personal computers, reported better-than-expected earnings as the company's cost-cutting efforts, including the elimination of 8,300 jobs over the past year, blunted the pain from falling revenues in the early stages of the world economic slowdown.

Wal-Mart is often the subject of unfavorable press, but last week, they took another step towards being a greener company. The company announced a deal with Duke Energy to use wind power for 15 percent of the electricity at hundreds of its Texas stores.