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This thread of conversation seems to already have gone down the tubes, and I don't mean gas-tubes. I think most people meant it as jokes, but when future schoolchildren will Google it up they'll find this Slashdot discussion, and then update Wikipedia accordingly (Think of the children!), so to try to put the record straight on a few things...

Finland has 4 operating energy production reactors, one research/medical reactor that's in the process of being shut down (Turns out using nuclear power for good is too expensive). A fifth power-generating reactor has been under construction since 2005, and each year the expected finishing date seems to slip forward... Current projected construction cost of 8,5 billion euros cements it firmly as world's fourth most expensive construction project. That is, if it's finished on time, of course.

This all of course is slightly moot, as about 17% of Finland's total energy needs are met by the existing nuclear plants even at nearly 100% utilization. Likewise, natural gas covers only less than 10% of Finland's energy use. Predictably, like in most of the world top place is held by oil at 24%, mostly gasoline for vehicles. Second place is wood and derivatives at about 22%, then nuclear's 17%. Even coal at 11% beats out natural gas.

Although Finland is far from dependent on natural gas, the original assertion about Russia is still mostly true: Most of Finland's oil use and almost half of energy use overall are met by imports from Russia, or through Russia. The reason for this is clear from looking at the map; Finland shares land-border mostly with Russia, and the Baltic Sea is a difficult and long way to navigate for large tankers. Finland has no domestic sources of fossil energy, yet it's northern location means heating is required most of the year, making energy imports vital.

Yet discussions of Finland's energy dependency or lack of it are mostly moot for this discussion, too. Laws are passed and changed by politicians, who act like politicians do. Even in Finland, they will be willing to do anything at all that rewards them with a mention in positive light alongside whoever happens to be in charge in US at the time for example. That's pure political capital, that can be cased later on for a comfy job at some organization or other whose name begins with "World" once Russia decides to cut those energy imports.

Though to be honest, general cynicism aside, I've not seen recent statistics but I believe in Finland too most people who have or imagine they will have "valuable intellectual property", and that's most of them, believe the current laws work in their favor (Certainly artists will usually state something to the effect that they're not strict enough as is). And those with most influence will have enough money to just buy those albums, or pay people to shut up when they're caught using someone else's material.

It's so cool, it look exactly like it would in any pulp sci-fi TV series.

It looks like this translucent blue glowing.. stuff.

This picture shows it as pink, but I've only seen blue before

I realise that this is not what energy looks like, because energy is an abstract concept. But finally, some future tech that looks like it aught to. :D

J1M.

The Finnish national Research Institute VTT announced last week that they have developed a type of sensor that enables a mobile phone to recognise its owner from the way he/she walks. Video and more media material here.

In Finland, cell phones watch your every step...

The Finnish national Research Institute VTT announced last week that they have developed a type of sensor that enables a mobile phone to recognise its owner from the way he/she walks. Video and more media material here.

In Finland, cell phones watch your every step...

The Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a somewhat similiar (or at least remotely related) tehcnology for about 17 GHz wireless networking. Those who are interested of this thecnology might want to check out http://www.vtt.fi/vtt/new/new109.htm (or http://www.vtt.fi/vtt/uutta/uutinen409.htm in Finnish).

The Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a somewhat similiar (or at least remotely related) tehcnology for about 17 GHz wireless networking. Those who are interested of this thecnology might want to check out http://www.vtt.fi/vtt/new/new109.htm (or http://www.vtt.fi/vtt/uutta/uutinen409.htm in Finnish).

GPS will aid GSM, but you can do without it.
In cities, GSM can give you position information in with an accuracy of about 100m. Which suffices for several location based information.
PHS systems will provide an accuracy from up to 100m, too.
Telcos currently know in which cell you are and how far you're away from its base station. Sometimes, they even know your distance from a second base station.
This is already used to offer differentiated price schemes and (e.g cheaper rates in your home cell (no pun intended)) location based services in at least Japan and Germany, and BT has invested quite a amount for wcities, some location-based information service provider (a new buzzword, rejoice).
As you may see it's not far fetched, it's already (to some degree) there and it is considered as the next goldmine (or at least the investors hope so)

This doesn't necessarily requires advertisement as it can be seen as a advertisement in itself.
The providing telco can use it as argument to differentiate itself from other telcos.

Nonetheless, I think it'll surely lead to advertisement. The whole thing reminds somehow of yahoo.com.

does anybody have a clue to how these new "SR" motors are supposed to work?

SR Motor = Switched Reluctance motor

Let's see here..
Quick search found this site:

http://www.vtt.fi/aut/kau/results/srm/

There's even a few GIF animations to show how it works.

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