| A springboard to riches and opportunities
We are excited about the proposed development of new diving facilities (at the Commonwealth Pool) which will be state-of-the-art and ensure that a centre of sporting excellence will be available to everyone who wishes to participate in water sports." The city has drawn up £36m plans to overhaul the Commonwealth Pool, creating a new 50-metre, eight-lane pool; a re- orientated 25-metre diving pool; a dry dive facility; a 25-metre pool; new soft play facilities; an expanded gym and redesigned changing areas. But the rising cost of the project means the council is facing a £17m funding gap and there are concerns about the city's ability to complete the work without more help from the Scottish Government. The Government, which has pledged £4m, has said the council also needs to play its part in funding the work.
TopCoder chooses China over India
And the quality of India's engineering base has suffered as a result. “Some people are surprised" that India isn't a bigger source of talent for TopCoder, “because of the IITs and the strength in India," he explains. However, “over the last five years there has been such a growth of outsourcing of U.S. companies to India, there has really been a push to get as many people through [the schools], to get them some kind of technical degree." China has been pushing hard, too, with the opening of three dozen software colleges, designed to train engineers for jobs in the industry, since 2002. But Hughes remains a big believer in China, where TopCoder is opening its first overseas office. “I think that the talent is much heavier and better coming out of China," he says. Of course, one reason that it's harder for TopCoder to find engineers in India is that the best ones go to work for one of the companies - Indian or foreign - that has set up shop in Bangalore, Hyderabad or Bombay.
GSA awards software development pact
The General Services Administration last week awarded a contract to develop a package of software tools based on an innovative theory to help manage the federal buildings and property under its control. GSA's Public Buildings Service awarded a $15 million contract to 3H Technology, a subsidiary of QinetiQ North America, to build the so-called eCommon framework that will automate many of the tasks related to building, leasing and maintaining office space. The Public Buildings Service is the largest public real estate organization in the United States, managing more than 342 million square feet of workspace for federal employees living in 2,100 communities. The contract calls for 3H to develop a service-oriented architecture as part of the framework. SOA has been an increasingly popular movement in software development, focusing on using a common approach to develop tools and applications rather than allowing different divisions and offices within an organization to pursue their own software solutions for similar tasks.
Iran expels German diplomat in 'tit-for-tat row'
Mohammad Ali Hosseini, an Iran foreign ministry spokesman, said the diplomat was being expelled for "undiplomatic behaviour" and activities incompatible with his or her status, but did not reveal the German's identity. Germany reportedly expelled an Iranian diplomat last month for seeking to obtain nuclear material. A German foreign ministry spokesman said that a one of its diplomats had recently left Iran, without giving further details on the reasons or manner of the departure. The weekly Der Spiegel reported that Germany had expelled an Iranian diplomat whom it suspected of trying to obtain materials used in uranium enrichment. .
AFP Imaging Begins Deliveries Of Its New Model Three Dimensional X-Ray ...
AFP Imaging Corporation (AFPC.OB) announced that it has begun the delivery and installation of the new model "VG" (vertical generation) Cone Beam CT x-ray scanners ("CBCT") to dentists in the United States, Canada and Europe. The Company recently received regulatory clearance from the FDA, Health Canada and the CE agencies for this new model. It joins the Company's well respected "New Tom" 3-D imaging product line. The Model "VG" allows the patient to stand, sit or stay in a wheel chair while they are scanned in an upright, vertical position. It utilizes a conical beam of x-rays that passes around the head, allowing the capture of a three dimensional, digital radiographic image of the patient's teeth and jaw structures. The Company's technology features proprietary software to capture and quickly display these detailed images.
|
