Google Blog Search

Google has recently launched a blog search service, in its famed beta mode of doing things. Apparently it works via indexing RSS feeds which is triggered by pings to sites like weblogs.com.

Try googling, no wait, boogling, umm, well, "google-blog-searching" for keywords like "singapore" or "peak oil" - lowem.log is right there! :)

I'm pleased to report that permalinks seem to be properly supported, which is what I've been watching out for. The peculiar layout of this Roller-based blog, what with its calendar widget, funky datestamp URL's - and the best part, the 15-entry-per-page display layout, which has confused the regular Google search in the past, no longer poses a problem for the new Google blog search. Well done, Google, this new service passes the "Roller Search Challenge (TM)"!! :)

(2005-09-16 23:51:08 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

Maxtor to sell Singapore plant

channelnewsasia.com :

Maxtor Peripherals has put up its Singapore plant in Ang Mo Kio industrial estate for sale. The 370,000 square feet property will be sold with vacant possession. It is billed as one of the largest existing industrial facilities available for sale in Singapore.

The property comprises a three-storey building with a six-storey extension. It has a land tenure of 30+30 years with effect from December 1986. The building is suitable for production and office use. The sale of the plant follows Maxtor's announcement in March that it was slashing 5,500 jobs in Singapore.

Kids for Future

peakoil.com -> kidsforfuture.net :

This is a great website for learning about environmental issues, and it's not only for children too - adults can probably learn a thing or two as well. Lots of nice, bright cartoons and all, but the content is really quite well-written. I'd suppose it's suitable for upper-primary schoool children and older.

(2005-09-16 14:07:38 SGT) [Env] Permalink

Toyota to go all-hybrid

peakoil.com, nytimes.com :

The Toyota Motor Corporation said this week that all its vehicles would eventually be run by hybrid gasoline-electric motors, as record fuel prices curb demand for conventional automobiles. "In the future, the cars you see from Toyota will be 100 percent hybrid," Kazuo Okamoto, executive vice president, told reporters in Frankfurt Monday, without giving a specific timetable.

Toyota, Japan's biggest carmaker and second to General Motors worldwide, is aiming to make as many as 400,000 gasoline-electric vehicles in 2006, including Prius cars, Camry sedans, Highlander sport utility vehicles and Coaster buses, Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Toyota, said at an investor conference in New York Monday. That would be 60 percent more than 2005's objective, he added. Toyota has sold 425,000 gasoline-electric cars since 1997.

(2005-09-16 13:56:38 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 tweaks

A fellow techie wrote this blog entry some time back which lists quite a few tweaks to Acrobat 7 to make it load faster and generally behave in a slightly less annoying manner.

Yeah, I already knew about the plug_ins directory nonsense since Acrobat 6, but I just had to google "acrobat faster startup" to be sure I didn't miss anything .. :)

(2005-09-16 13:23:40 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

Singapore opens first desalination plant

channelnewsasia.com :

Singapore opened its first seawater purifying plant on Tuesday in a drive to increase its domestic water supply. The S$200 million (US$119.76 million) facility in the suburb of Tuas will produce 30 million gallons (114 million litres) of potable water a day, or 10 percent of current daily consumption. The desalination plant was built by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore water treatment specialist Hyflux.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who formally opened the project on Tuesday, described the facility as the largest of its kind in the world to use "reverse osmosis" technology to rid seawater of salt and other impurities. "For Singapore, an island in the sea, desalination is a natural solution. Desalination provides a steady source of water, unaffected by variations in rainfall," Lee said. He added that for Singapore, water "will always be a strategic resource, and not just an economic commodity".

The government will invest another S$1.5 billion in water-related projects over the next two years after spending S$4.5 billion in the last four years, he said. Singapore's daily water consumption of around 1.14 billion litres (300 million gallons) is expected to grow by a third in 10 years. Singapore has drawn up a plan to source supplies from four "national taps," namely imports, reservoirs, recycling waste water, and desalination to meet its long-term water needs.

(2005-09-16 13:00:24 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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