Fox jets off to Delhi

Liam Fox is in Delhi this week promoting the Typhoon multi-role combat aircraft in a bid to secure a £7bn contract with the Indian Air Force.

According to a report in The Sunday Times, India would be offered the technical blueprint of the jets - including access to computer source codes - and the jets would be built on the sub-continent also.

Fox will be followed by the Russian and French premiers, who are attempting to sell the MiG-35 and the Rafale respectively.

A decision on the contract is expected next year.

Friday sees the launch of Avanti Communications’ Hylas 1 satellite in French Guiana.

Hitching a ride on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle, the satellite will be able to offer high-speed internet access to the estimated 10 per cent of the country where next-generation internet networks have been deemed too uneconomical to install beyond 2015.

Still with computing and news that the very first Apple computer is to be sold at Christies tomorrow.

The Apple-1 is said to be one of only 200 computer models hand made by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

The computer, estimated to sell for between £100,000 and £150,000, was released in the summer of 1976 with a devilish retail price of $666.66.

The computer was sold without casing, power supply, keyboard or monitor but it did come with a pre-assembled motherboard, which was considered a major step forward at the time.

Energy is on the agenda this week at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel and Conference Centre, London, where conferences are taking place that will discuss issues in renewable, waste and nuclear power.

The renewables conference has a full agenda that includes assessing both the practical plans and potential of the Green Investment Bank and the impact of feed-in tariffs, analysing the costs versus benefits of wind-energy projects and considering the potential of distributed energy.

Over in the nuclear conference, delegates will look at the latest research and technologies to increase safety and security, and will discuss how to develop the most effective and secure nuclear waste management plans for nuclear stations in the UK.

Energy from waste will look at the opportunities and challenges in adopting CHP with energy from waste, review biomass to energy projects, and consider planning energy from waste projects under the new government.

The LA Motor Show is now in full swing and making its world debut is the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Set for a UK launch in January 2011, the all-electric i-MiEV has been involved in UK government trials since mid-December 2009, testing the i-MiEV against typical UK urban usage.

The i-MiEV and its EV and hybrid brethren might be well be on the agenda at ‘The futures of the city: towards sustainable urban environment and mobility’, which is taking place in Amsterdam this week.

The organisers say they will gather transport and urban development experts to map, among many things, the problems and challenges regarding the built urban environment and urban mobility.

Is the future of urban transport all-electric? Let us know your thoughts.