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IBM shares technology with Syracuse, Albany NanoCollege

So is Syracuse, it turns out - it's one of IBM's "Smarter Cities."
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So is Syracuse, it turns out - it's one of IBM's "Smarter Cities."

Syracuse is one of IBM's "Smarter Cities," reports Tim Knauss at the Post-Standard.  The city will receive up to $400,000 in technology support as part of the honor:

City native Andrew Maxwell, Miner’s 27-year-old director of planning and sustainability, wrote the city’s application and will oversee the project. Most of the dozen or so city employees who will work closely with the IBMers are under 30 — part of a youthful city hall contingent sometimes referred to as “Stephanie’s kids.” “To be under 30 means that you grew up with computers and technology in a completely different way than I did, or (Director of Administration) Bill Ryan or (Deputy Mayor) John Cowin did,” Miner said. “It informs the way that you look at things.”

And IBM is contributing technology to the University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Engineering that will help it build "the most advanced university-based computer chip manufacturing line in the world," reports Larry Rulison at the Times Union.  The school says the technology is "three generations ahead" of current technology for cramming information pathways onto a chip:

[NanoCollege CEO Alain] Kaloyeros said 28-nanometer chips could be five to 10 times faster than current chips on the market, and many companies will want to test it out in Albany before sending their designs off to volume manufacturers like IBM and GlobalFoundries, which is building a $4.6 billion computer chip factory in Malta that will use the 28-nanometer technology. "IBM didn't have to do this," Kaloyeros said. The school will not have to pay for the license, but it has committed $25 million for upgrades in order to be able to run its machines at the 28-nanometer node. That money comes from the fees it charges companies to use its equipment at the sprawling $7 billion Albany NanoTech complex on Fuller Road. Kaloyeros believes that companies that want to help supply the 28-nanometer process will also put more resources in the Capital Region.

Maybe the goodwill gesture is to help repair IBM's reputation after a congressman beat Watson at Jeopardy!?  That's right - the computer that beat the world's Jeopardy! champions earlier this year fell to New Jersey Democrat Rush Holt last week, in a demonstration of the technology, according to Paul McDougall at Information Week.

Canadian solar

The world's largest solar photovoltaic installation is in Ontario, reports Tyler Hamilton at Technology Review.  That's because the province instituted a "feed-in tarffif" in 2009, that guarantees the price of solar power:

With those prices, it is little surprise that Ontario has been deluged with applications. In less than 18 months, more than 30,000 projects have filed for program approval, and so far, contracts totalling more than 1,400 megawatts have been offered, on top of 300 megawatts to be built under the older program. Not bad for a province that five years ago had less than a megawatt of grid-connected solar. Some industry watchers worry the program will fall victim to its own success. For example, utilities are having trouble keeping up with connection requests. In January, more than 1,000 projects were put on hold because of grid-capacity constraints.

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