It seems that the website of the Prime Minister has been using a wordpress theme designed by antbag.com, they produce these themes for free, although if someone wants to donate some cash or something else then that would be welcome.

However, the simple fact is that anyone who uses a free theme is required by common courtesy to provide a link to the designer with no cash is required.

Nevertheless, Gordon Browns website uses the theme and does not provide the link; in fact, the company who designed it claimed that they built it from scratch, although if they had done that then why are there credits to the designer in the CSS file?

Source [Torrent Freak]

The idea is to lay conductive copper piping before a new asphalt (Black Top) is laid. They also found that the hottest point is around two centimetres below the surface.

Obviously if this does really work, then the copper piping can be replaced with something that is even more conductive. However, whatever is underneath the road, the benefits speak for themselves:

It’s really cheap
They don’t need to find extra land
It’s invisible to the average person
Blacktop stays hot, and could produce power for hours after the sun goes down
There are roads and parking lots everywhere power is needed.

Source [Eco Geek]

This may seem like a trivial matter, after all they are only small insects, what possible harm could it do?

Considering that most plants need the bee’s intervention, this could mean that apart from the obvious loss of the honey that they produce, they also have a hand in the pollination of fruits and vegetables.

This is how the humble honey bee can affect the lives of everyone on the planet, with food being expensive and in some cases short supply already then this is serious enough to think about.

Source [Guardian]

However, are there any tips that the business world could learn from the sports world?

Great talent means nothing without great teamwork
Endorsement deals are great, but don’t let them distract you
Finish
When you are injured, you need to work even harder to reach your goals
Know your competition
Nothing worth accomplishing comes quick and easy
Remember what’s really important

How many business people will actually take notice of these may never be known, but maybe it is only going to be the winners who take any notice.

Source [Mashable]

The main reason for this jump is being put down to the economy in the US being much weaker than the originally thought.

In 2009, China will be expected to reach the seventeen per cent mark, with the US dropping down to sixteen per cent, although if there was a recovery the roles could easily be reversed all be it temporary, as China will inevitably assume the top spot at some time.

This is a remarkable achievement for China as they have only been considered as a manufacturing country for the past twenty years, whereas the USA has seen over a hundred years of manufacturing at the top level.

Source [FT]

The Cloud are applications which are server based, this means that remote staff are able to login wherever they are and whenever they want to access company data, this means that the day of office based staff could be numbered.

The problem for companies are the range of applications out there, this makes it difficult and sometimes expensive to switch to using the cloud, there are also the very real concerns of allowing company data and records to be based in a virtual office.

However, as mobile computing expands, the options will open up making costs and other issues up to the individual companies.

Source [Business Week]

At the moment, the Peso is at a six year high against the Dollar, which may not have a direct financial effect on the US economy, but in the minds of the Americans is means a lot, after there was time when the dollar was strong and could buy almost anything in Mexico.

This has meant that there has been a real rise in the amount of investors from Mexico looking into the US, in such places like Texas where property has also been suffering from the credit crunch making it very attractive to investors with Pesos to back them up.

Source [Reuters]

It is not that social networking is not a happening over there, they already have a site called Mixi, which is the sixth most popular website in the country, whereas MySpace is ranked at 95 and as for FaceBook they do not even register in the top one hundred.

The simple thing is that social networking in Japan is not the same as it is in the rest of the world. This is where a single site cannot make it around the world, because of translation issues and the different cultures that have been up in these countries.

Being a success here in the west does not necessarily mean that it can be replicated in other regions of the world.

Source [Techcrunch]

Being successful can mean different things to different people, but the principles are the same. It makes no difference if we are talking about sport, business or politics, there some things that you can do that will give you the advantage.

Take not of this list and see how you can apply it to your circumstances:

Public Speaking
Writing
Self-Management
Networking
Critical Thinking
Decision-Making
Math
Research
Relaxation
Basic Accounting

Source [Life Hack]

Yet recent research has shown that this business may not be as healthy or natural as we are informed, through the many adverts that appear in the media.

Out if 152 products tested, over ten per cent were found to have illegal or banned substances in. this may not mean much to the man in the street, but for athletes and possibly people who have to take drug tests at some point in their life it could mean the difference between winning and being banned.

Therefore, there could be some surprises in store for some of the athletes, who are at the Olympic Games, which open in just over a week’s time!

Source [Telegraph]