Business Channel 2007-04-04&06

A divided Supreme 1 Court ruled yesterday that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants 2 under the Clean Air Act. And the court said the Bush Administration broke the law in its refusal to limit emissions 3 of those gases. And according to the Wall Street Journal, since those gases mostly come from cars and trucks, yesterday's decision could mean aggressive new regulations of auto 4 emissions.

But the new regulations could still be years away. They will likely require automakers to increase fuel efficiency and to become less reliant on traditional fuel sources, something that can take engineers years to work out. In the end though, it could be good news for drivers if most of the cars and trucks on the road get a better fuel mileage 5. Nicole.

Gerri, I am really curious, what are automakers saying about this decision now?

They say / they want an economy-wide approach to global warming that looks if all the industries have contributed to it. They also maintain that climate change is not fully 6 understood. And new regulations could carry huge economic consequences. Lawyers for the Environmental Protection Agency had argued that new regulations could hurt the economy, because 85% of the US economy is tied to sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Nicole.

Very interesting, Gerri, I was reading a story also in business headlines now. WiFi in the sky, what's new with that?

Well, after years of discussion and delay, US Airlines could soon start offering inflight internet connections. Airline cabins could be wired to offer WiFi hotspots probably within the next 12 months. Passengers will be able to surf the web, send instant messages and email people all from 35,000 feet above the ground. A company called Airsell has already paid the FCC more than 31 million dollars to take over radio frequencies that were once used for air phone service and that's what will make it possible. Passengers will be able to use their BlackBerries and laptops just as if they were in any WiFi hotspot/ on the ground. And it's expected to cost passengers no more than 10 dollars to use. So far, no specific airlines have been named, but expect to see the service available soon. Hey, good news, right, Nicole?

Yeah, great news, you know, when we all travel with all sorts of gadgets 7 as BlackBerries or cell phones or i-Pods or laptops, I mean, what's next? But you know, that means losing potentially our valuable electronics. What can we do about that, I hate that.

Yeah, a data security firm Pointsec says 3 to 6 percent of these gadgets end up missing each every year, according to the New York Times. The firm found that in 2006, more than 10,000 mobile devices were left in taxicabs in the 2 metropolitan 8 areas surveyed. And planes are also a common place to leave these items. Continental 9 Anilines says some of the most common items left on board include i-Pods, cell phones, DVD players. And if you realize you lose something after you leave a plane, it's not as easy to get it back as you may think. That's because once you pass secure checkpoint areas, you can't go back. You are not allowed to return without going back through security (oh yeah) even to retrieve 10 personal items left on a plane. Some airlines allow you to report lost items on their websites, but most require you to call.

NOTES:

1. Wireless 11 Fidelity 12 (Wi-Fi)

The popular term for a high-frequency wireless local area network. The consumer-friendly name for the 802.11b engineering standard. It lets home and office users create wireless local networks, which connect two or more computers to each other and a faster Internet line. This way there is no more poking 13 holes in walls or tripping over bulky Ethernet cables. The Wi-Fi technology is rapidly gaining acceptance as an alternative to a wired local area network (LAN).

2. hotspot

The geographic 14 boundary covered by a Wi-Fi (802.11) wireless access point. Typically set up for Internet access, anyone entering the hotspot with a Wi-Fi-based laptop can connect to the Internet, providing the access point is configured to advertise its presence and authorization 15 is not required. If the access point is not advertising 16 itself (not beaconing), the user has to know the name of the network, and if authorization is required, the appropriate password or key.