GSA Technology Council

Fluor Corporation has announced that its polysilicon project in China for LDK Solar, a solar wafer manufacturer, logged more than 2 million craft hours without a single safety incident effective through the end of April 2008. The LDK Polysilicon manufacturing facility, when complete, will be the largest polysilicon production facility of its kind in the world.

This is a major accomplishment for everybody involved. Due to the large scope of this project, a considerable labor force is needed, and with the project expected to peak near 8,000 workers, it is essential to pay especial attention to safety, said Ken Choudhary, vice president of Fluor’s chemicals business line.

The company implemented its Zero Incident program to educate employees and make them more aware of safe habits for work. Fluor applies this program to every project across the globe.

The completed facility will be located in Xinyu City, Jiangxi, China, near LDK’s already existing solar wafer manufacturing facilities and headquarters. Construction began in August 2007 with an expected completion date of mid-2009.

Fluor is providing front-end engineering and design (FEED) and engineering, procurement, and construction-management (EPCM) services for the $1 billion project.

The growing demand for polysilicon-based renewable energy resources throughout the globe, coupled with Fluor’s world-class project management capabilities, has contributed to the company becoming a world leader in the polysilicon new-build arena. Fluor’s participation in the LDK project, as well as several other polysilicon projects all over the world, serves as evidence of the firm’s engineering-construction leadership in this growing market.

via Fluor

AT&T Inc. has announced that the company’s second-quarter 2008 financial results will be released Wednesday, July 23, 2008. The company’s earnings release, Investor Briefing and related materials will be available on AT&T’s Web site at http://www.att.com/investor.relations by 8 a.m. EDT.

At 10 a.m. EDT the same day, AT&T will host a conference call to discuss the results. There will be a live webcast of the call at http://www.att.com/investor.relations, and the webcast will be available for replay at the same address.

via AT&T

Greenville, SC — This week Tyler Minard of Duncan, SC joined BigBlueHat for his 3 month internship. Tyler is a recent high school graduate with an interest in web development and computer networking. For the first several weeks, Tyler will be adding to his knowledge about HTTP, HTML, and other web technologies.

While at BigBlueHat Tyler will have the opportunity to work on the BlueInk Content Management System  and several client projects. His work will include adding new features written in PHP, working with the front-end interface of BlueInk, and helping BigBlueHat migrate much of its code to the REST-based architectural style.

“It was good to find that Tyler already knew so much about HTTP and Web Technology,” said Benjamin Young, President of BigBlueHat. “The initial survey showed he’s very capable of getting involved with our projects quickly.”

Tyler’s internship will last for approximately three months, after which he’ll begin his first term at Spartanburg Community College. From there, he plans to transfer to the University of South Carolina Upstate where he will pursue a degree in the Information Technology field.

BigBlueHat is a web-manufacturing company that creates custom web sites and web-based software for clients around the world. Its chief product is the BlueInk CMS, a proprietary content management system that accommodates both the designer and the end user with an easy-to-use interface.

via BigBlueHat

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced the immediate availability of Adobe Acrobat 9 software, an  upgrade that transforms the process of creating and sharing electronic documents. Acrobat 9 delivers innovations that can enable organizations and individuals to communicate in an engaging, professional manner. Now included are native support for Adobe Flash technology, the ability to unify a wide range of content in rich PDF Portfolios, and access to real-time capabilities for co-navigating a PDF document with colleagues.

“Rapid, reliable communication is key to success on all of our projects,” said Shawn Pressley, director of project management systems and development at Hill International, one of the world’s largest construction claims and management firms. “With enhanced support for a broad range of content types and expanded collaboration capabilities, Acrobat 9 will enable us to reach any audience with the right information, where and when it’s needed. We can include proposals, images, computer-aided design models and even Adobe Flash applications in a single PDF Portfolio to clearly communicate what is required of our local and global teams.”  

Acrobat 9 provides support for Adobe Flash technology, enabling users to include Adobe Flash Player compatible video and application files in PDF documents. For example, a marketing manager can use Acrobat 9 to convert web pages with multimedia to PDF documents. The PDF file can be shared for review and comment with others who are using free Adobe Reader 9 software, which is expected to launch up to twice as fast as earlier versions.

Acrobat 9 also includes the ability to unify a wide range of content into a single document with the new concept of PDF Portfolios. PDF Portfolios enable users to assemble multiple media types into one, compressed PDF file that can be customized with several professional layouts and specific branding. A sales professional could create a single proposal document for a prospective client that includes charts, spreadsheets and images, as well as a branded, introductory video from the CEO discussing the company’s latest products.

In addition, Acrobat 9 provides access to capabilities for collaborating live within a PDF document, enabled by working with Acrobat.com, a suite of hosted services available as public beta at www.acrobat.com. This new capability can enable users to drive a group’s navigation through a PDF document in real-time, helping ensure everyone is literally, and figuratively, on the same page.

The Acrobat 9 family consists of Acrobat 9 Standard, Acrobat 9 Pro, and the new Acrobat 9 Pro Extended software. The most comprehensive member of the family, Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, includes Adobe Presenter software for easily turning Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into multimedia experiences that can be published as PDF files.

via Adobe

In order to allow more user input and control over maps and mapping, Google today launched Google Map Maker.  This product will allow individuals to contribute to and edit map data around the world.  People will be able to locate, draw, and label features on the maps.  Google hopes that using Google Map Maker and local knowledge will greatly increase the value of mapping data.  Currently Google Map Maker is only available for use in 18 countries (Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Cyprus, Iceland, Pakistan, and Vietnam).  

For more information visit Google Map Maker

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and NTT DOCOMO announced today their intent to unite Symbian OS(TM), S60, UIQ and MOAP(S) to create one open mobile software platform. Together with AT&T, LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments and Vodafone they plan to establish the Symbian Foundation to extend the appeal of this unified software platform. Membership of this non-profit Foundation will be open to all organizations. This initiative is supported by current shareholders and management of Symbian Limited, who have been actively involved in its development.  Plans for the Foundation have already received wide support from other industry leaders.

To enable the Foundation, Nokia today announced plans to acquire the remaining shares of Symbian Limited that Nokia does not already own and then contribute the Symbian and S60 software to the Foundation. Sony Ericsson and Motorola today announced their intention to contribute technology from UIQ and DOCOMO has also indicated its willingness to contribute its MOAP(S) assets. From these contributions, the Foundation will provide a unified platform with common UI framework. A full platform will be available for all Foundation members under a royalty-free license, from the Foundation’s first day of operations.

Contributions from Foundation members through open collaboration will be integrated to further enhance the platform. The Foundation will make selected components available as open source at launch. It will then work to establish the most complete mobile software offering available in open source. This will be made available over the next two years and is intended to be released under Eclipse Public License (EPL) 1.0. 

The Foundation’s platform will build on the leading open mobile software platform, with more than 200 million phones, across 235 models, already shipped by multiple vendors and tens of thousands of third-party applications already available for Symbian OS-based devices.

Spartanburg, SC — USC Upstate will hold a free public forum on renewable energy sources tomorrow, June 25th, at 6:30 PM in the Campus Life Center Ballroom.  The forum will include speakers from the South Carolina Energy Office, and the Departments of Geological Sciences and Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina.

Erika Hartwig, renewable energy coordinator at the South Carolina Energy Office, and Dr. Venkat Lakshmi, professor of geological sciences at USC will lead the forum with short presentations, and then will open the discussion to comments and questions from the audience.

The forum is the fourth in a series of five energy forums held in locations across the state by the College of Engineering and Computing and the Office of Research at the University of South Carolina. Other forums addressed nuclear power, coal, hydrogen, and energy conservation.

for more information visit USC Upstate

Greenville, SC — Selah Technologies, an advanced materials manufacturer, and the University of South Carolina (USC) announced today the signing of a definitive cooperative research agreement to investigate the use of Selah’s carbon quantum dots in biological diagnostic applications. The collaboration will permit USC access to Selah’s proprietary Selah Dots while allowing Selah access to world class research at the USC NanoCenter.

“Since the creation of Selah Technologies as a consequence of licensing two platform nanotechnologies from Clemson University, we have focused on the need to expand the breadth of our technologies through partnerships and collaborations. The NanoCenter at USC offers a distinctive opportunity to leverage our joint expertise to do just that. Selah is thrilled to be advancing Clemson technologies via this collaboration with USC,” said Michael Bolick, President & CEO of Selah Technologies.

Dr. Chris Przirembel, Vice President for Research & Economic Development at Clemson University, added, “With the recent groundbreaking for the innovation center at the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center, the Upstate is rapidly expanding its emphasis on advanced materials technologies. We applaud Selah’s commitment to advancing this important Clemson discovery from the laboratory to the marketplace. This agreement sends a strong message of collaboration among the research universities and the private sector for economic development and, in this particular case, for application in critical health care issues.”

”USC is excited by our collaboration with Selah. Combining Selah’s unique nanomaterials with the outstanding researchers at the USC NanoCenter creates a win-win situation for USC, Selah and indeed, the State of South Carolina. Collaborations such as this one are a primary objective for USC and a driving force behind the development of Innovista,” says Dr. Harris Pastides, Vice President of Research & Health Sciences at USC.

Selah Dots™ are carbon-based quantum dots that can be used for various applications, including life sciences, solar cells and anti-counterfeiting, among others. Selah Tubes, enriched carbon nanotubes, have a number of applications due to their impressive electrical conductivity properties.

via Selah Technologies

Sun Microsystems is launching a weekly online radio show called “Shift Radio.”  The show will be available on blogtalkradio.com and will focus on subjects about video gaming, rich media industries, and the latest in tech gadgets.  Sun’s Chief Gaming Officer, Chris Melissinos will host the weekly shows which will include both discussions on technology and interviews with notable people in the tech and entertainment industries.  This weeks guest will be Hal Haplin, the President of Entertainment Consumers Association.  The show will airing between 9 - 10 am on Friday June 27th.  To listen visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shiftradio at that time.

via Sun Microsystems

The Columbia division of the FBI is conducting their annual Cybercrime survey. If your organization has been affected by Cybercrime, then you certainly want to fill this out. If you haven’t you might want to read through the survey just to see if you should be filling it out, but didn’t know it. You may recall that the FBI delivered a very informative presentation to the GSA Technology Council lunch in April. The survey is a Microsoft Word document which I posted to BOX.NET so you could see a preview of it before you download it.

link: Download Cybercrime Survey