http://ngioforum.org Popular Discussion Community Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:44:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Telecommunications company Optus has apologised to thousands of its customers for major outages in Queensland and northern New South Wales today. A contractor laying pipes severed a fibre optic cable on the Gold Coast this morning and a backup in southern Queensland also failed. The problem affected telephone, internet, EFTPOS and other ... http://ngioforum.org/optus-says-sorry-for-network-collapse/ If you had any doubts about an upcoming era of electric cars, put them aside. BMW announced it is testing electric powertrains in the Mini Cooper. Over the next year and a half, BMW will use a fleet of several hundred Minis to experiment with electric drive systems and, according ... http://ngioforum.org/bmw-does-the-electric-mini/ Open GI’s eBroker solution is being extended to permit firms to quote online for schemes beyond the standard Open GI search engines. In September last year the eBroker was launched as an addition to Open GI’s eCommerce portfolio. It creates a method to trade over the internet by utilising the firm’s search ... http://ngioforum.org/open-gi%e2%80%99s-ebroker-expanded/ FRANKFURT (AFP) - German investor confidence plunged to a record low point in July, falling below economists' forecasts as high oil prices and a rising euro slam Europe's biggest economy, a key survey showed on Tuesday. The ZEW research institute said its closely watched indicator of economic sentiment fell 11.5 points ... http://ngioforum.org/german-investor-confidence-hits-record-low-in-july-zew/ Putting the big in Big Solar - Green Wombat - Fortune An excellent update, citing some serious challenges, on Stirling Energy Systems and its quest to build acres and acres of reflective dishes in the California desert. A Better Solar Collector - Technology Review This is exciting technology because it can be cheaper ... http://ngioforum.org/green-news-harvest-teslas-wild-ride-a-better-solar-collector/ Giles Insurance has acquired the Wales-based broker Paul Murphy Insurance Services for an undisclosed sum, marking the second Welsh acquisition for the company within a week. The acquisition is the tenth for Giles since March this year, and is a key part of the company’s growth strategy. Charthouse Capital Partners acquired a ... http://ngioforum.org/giles-acquires-again-in-wales/