If IBM researchers get their way, remembering passwords will soon be a thing of the past. Big Blue has recently published a video of what it thinks will become reality by 2016, such as mind reading and generating electricity from human activities, among other predictions: …

Sony has unveiled two new photo frames in its S-Frame range today, offering for the first time Wi-Fi connectivity in a 7-inch frame.

The DPF-WA700 and DPF-W700, once connected, can automatically retrieve and display photos shared on Facebook. Users can also hook up to an existing email account and view photos through it. …

Microsoft is partnering with Dell to build a green data centre that will power Bing Maps‘ suite of geospatial imaging applications. The centre is located on the grounds of a Microsoft facility in Boulder, Colorado.

Dell claims that the new data centre is highly efficient in energy consumption, thanks to a cooling system that uses air with evaporative cooling technology to achieve a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating of as low as 1.03. …

Hitachi celebrates 100 years as a company this year, and I was invited to Japan to attend their annual uValue event, where they had some fanfare for this occasion. This year the event runs from the 22nd to 23rd July at the Tokyo International Forum (near Roppongi).

One thing I learnt from the uValue event is that Hitachi is a sprawling technology conglomerate that spans many divisions: from IT and telcos, to transport, to consumer devices.

Yes, I know they are a high tech company that builds computer and consumer electronics, but I didn’t know they also build train systems, elevators and nuclear power plants.

The company generates US $100 billion in annual revenues and it’s the third largest high-tech company in the world in terms of revenues, behind Samsung and HP.

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In the past, when I went to one of IBM’s Smarter Planet events I found it hard to write something and distill the message for readers.

At the back of my brain was always this burning question: Just what is IBM selling here? I have difficulty connecting their really big picture green IT story to what they do as a technology company.

Let me set the context and take a short detour to explain why. I’m better known as a technology journalist-blogger hybrid, but I worked for a very brief time at the Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore. In that short stint I gained an appreciation of the complex problems facing cities.

Different cities face different problems, depending on how developed a city is. A developed megalopolis like New York or Tokyo will face vastly different challenges than say, Hanoi, Vietnam or Sao Paulo, Brazil. And this is only one one aspect of a city. Culturally, economically, politically, every city is different and will have different issues.

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Networking giant Cisco Systems unveiled its vision of smart, connected cities of the future during a media event at the Shanghai World Expo today.

In a showcase of interest to urban planners striving to build sustainable and environmentally friendly cities, Cisco demonstrated several network enabled applications in areas such as health care, security and transportation.

Telemedicine, for instance, allows patients to measure blood oxygen levels and send that information to their doctors while urban transportation management systems allow city officials and transportation service providers to monitor real time traffic conditions and divert traffic if necessary.

Underpinning these technologies are ubiquitous smart networks and data centers that process and serve up critical information in real time.

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Green IT is one really hot meme.

At a press conference held by Panasonic yesterday at Marina Sands in Singapore, Panasonic declared their ambition to be the top number one green innovation company in consumer electronics by 2018.

This means continually innovating and developing consumer products that “save energy, save water, and are long-lasting”, said Ikuo Miyamoto-san, managing director of Panasonic Asia. Panasonic makes consumer products like plasma and LCD TVs, washing machines, and air conditioning systems.

How does Panasonic benchmark their products to be environmentally friendly? The company will work with authorities in countries to ensure that these products pass or exceed local green standards. For example, in Singapore, the National Environmental Agency (NEA) runs a mandatory energy labelling scheme for electronic products.

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Fancy your internet business being powered by cow dung?

According to a recent research paper by HP, this is not a pipe dream. At the 4th ASME International Conference on Energy Sustainability in Phoenix, Arizona, which started May 17th this week, HP outlined how a farm of 10,000 cows could fufill the power requirements of a medium-sized 1-megawatt (MW) data center. The research was done by HP Lab’s sustainable IT ecosystem division, which seeks to design efficient green data centres using renewable energy resources.

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