We are altering our world. This cannot continue. From energy efficient light bulbs to carbon footprints, environmental considerations are entering our lives. This trend will grow.

Energy efficiency is no longer an optional extra, but an essential design criterion. When you furnish your next home or re-furnace the present one, you will need to think green.

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Satellite Broadcaster BSkyB, has demonstrated its new three-dimensional television (3DTV) system. The new system can broadcast 3DTV into homes using existing high-definition TV infrastructure.

Three-dimensional viewing is on a roll. Games systems are pushing the development of 3D screens. Nvidia's newer graphics cards use Stereo Gaming technology to enhance some of the most popular PC games.

The magic specs were back in the cinema this year with 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' and 'Beowulf' both doing well at the box office. Other 3D movies such as 'Toys Story 3' and 'Ice Age – Dawn of the Dinosaurs' are due out in 2009.

According to BSkyB 3DTV is not far behind. Sky engineers have so far broadcast sporting events and the TV show Gladiators.

The BSkyB system requires viewers to wear special 3D glasses. Technology allowing viewing of 3D shows without special glasses will be cheap enough to use in the home in five to ten years time.

The system also requires a special television set capable of converting the dual pictures sent over the satellite link, into a 3D display. Mitsubishi launched a 73-inch 3D television receiver in June 2008. Other companies are expected to follow in 2009 with prices in the £2,000 range (US$3000).

JHL-40

The Jess Heavy Lifter – 40 (JHL-40) will have a helium filled envelope sized so that the aircraft will be neutrally buoyant. This means that its four rotors lift only the payload. By comparison, the Russia’s Mil Mi-26, the world’s largest helicopter, can lift only half the payload with a similar power plant because it must lift its own weight as well.

"SkyHook secured the patent for this neutrally buoyant aircraft and approached Boeing with the opportunity to develop and build the system," said Pat Donnelly, director of Advanced Rotorcraft Systems for Boeing. "We conducted a feasibility study and decided this opportunity is a perfect fit for Advanced Systems' technical capabilities."

Designed by SkyHook founder Peter Jess, the JHL-40 will use rotor technology from the Chinook helicopter, avionics and flight controls technology from the 787 and Boeing’s experience as a lead systems integrator. "If you have to develop all of that technology from scratch on this aircraft we wouldn’t be sitting here today," Donnelly told Flight Global.

SkyHook envisages the aircraft operating in harsh environments such as the Canadian Arctic and Alaska providing transport for gas oil and mining industries. It hopes that the JHL-40 will be an environmentally acceptable alternative to building new roadways in remote areas. As it uses less fuel than a helicopter for a given load, the JHL-40 is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the projects it supports.

Image: Boeing / SkyHook

In its annual "E-Communications Household Survey", the European Commission highlights trends in telecommunications within the European Union (EU). The report provides a snapshot of a continent in transition, but contains few surprises.

The report, (2.78 MB) released Jun. 27, show some marked differences between the old EU states and the newer members. With the newer states, leapfrogging landline technologies to mobile ones, a pattern often found in developing economies.

The survey of 27,000 households was carried out between Nov. 9 and Dec. 14, 2007.