Named Grover, the space vehicle weighs some 800 pounds and stands six foot tall, making it considerably more robust than its predecessors. Although it won’t be much faster than previous models, travelling at only 1.2mph, it is powered entirely by solar panels.

Grover will gather data and test itself in harsh conditions during a journey to the highest part of the iced landmass of Greenland. Radar waves will be sent deep into the ice to look for buried objects. In doing so, it will provide scientists with crucial new information of the melting ice-sheet.

Gabriel Trisca, a graduate student working on the project, said that Grover could be a useful platform for all kinds of science instruments, not just radar.

“It would be just a matter of getting one instrument and plugging it in, I hope there are other projects that can benefit from an autonomous vehicle like this, that can be controlled via satellite from anywhere in the world.”

Grover was designed by teams of students at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. It’s considered a far more practical and cost-effective means of exploration since humans need not accompany it, nor does it need to rest.

Opera Software uses the data center to facilitate web browsing for more than 230 million Opera Mini users around the world. The new agreement continues the ongoing buildup at the data center with a near doubling of Opera’s current capacity.

Gestur G. Gestsson, CEO of Advania, said, “It’s very important for us to have the continued trust of Opera Software and to be able to support the company with its continued success. Advania aims to be a trusted business partner who supports clients in their work, ensuring that their operations are second to none. This business partnership is built for the long haul.”

Opera Software was one of the first companies to seize the opportunity represented by Iceland’s affordable green energy and free cooling. This allows for an extremely efficient operation while still maintaining harmony with the environment since there are no carbon emissions from Iceland’s energy production.

Anthony Nichols, VP, IT Operations at Opera Software, explained, “We are pleased to be able to continue on the road of environmental responsibility in Iceland, especially since this allows us to expand our capacity to serve our customers whilst keeping our low carbon footprint intact.”

The company’s data center is arguably one of the world’s greenest data centers as all of the energy used at the site is generated from renewable sources and less energy is used for cooling due to the natural cool climate in Iceland.

The coldest day in May for 36 years was recently recorded in Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum when the mercury dipped to 17.6°C below 0°C (0.32F). Meanwhile, Reykjavik experienced its coldest April this century, but conversely had the sunniest skies on record in this spring month at 212 hours. Rainfall was considerably lower than usual, however.

It fits a trend across Europe that has seen snow in the United Kingdom when spring flowers should have been appearing and a slow start to the warm weather across the continent.

By the May Day weekend, temperatures had improved slightly, moving into positive figures. The 15 April is traditionally the ‘first day of summer’ but warm days only arrive much later. This year on 14 April, Reykjavik awoke to a carpet of snow and misty conditions but by mid-afternoon the snow had all melted and the sun had come out, such is the famous ever-changing Icelandic weather.

The four-day conference, which began yesterday at Reliant Park in Houston, Texas, is the world’s foremost event for the development of offshore resources in the fields of drilling, exploration, production, and environmental protection. Every year, the conference attracts around 80,000 attendees from 110+ countries and is considered the world’s largest meeting place for the oil and gas industry.

“Interest in this year’s event is bigger than ever, and the 40^th anniversary will be marked with the attendance of the Crown Prince of Norway at the opening of the Norwegian pavilion,” explained Gunhild Gaarder Kjørstad, project manager at Innovation Norway.

Kåre Storvik, Norway’s most famous OTC veteran, lead the first Norwegian delegation to OTC in 1973 where the then crowned prince of Norway, now King Harald, opened the first Norwegian pavilion.

“We were 40 people in total who travelled over to the U.S. from the Norwegian oil and gas industry, looking to position ourselves on the global stage. Over the years we have gained knowledge of foreign technology that we have further developed in Norway, making us a true force in today’s market,” said Storvik.

Amongst other Norwegian companies showcasing their services at this year’s event will be TUjobs, an online recruitment website that helps professionals find jobs and employers find suitable candidates within the oil industry in Norway.

Other companies at the Norwegian pavilion include APIteq, BW Offshore, Frigstad Engineering, MacGregor / Cargotec Norway, Norsafe, SINTEF Energy Research, Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions, and many more.

In the study, Swedish police said they believed using social media would help them have better communication with young people. However, most of the people who follow and ‘like’ any of the 90 Facebook pages for various local and regional police forces throughout Sweden are between the ages of 25 and 59.

There is no proper administration in place for any of the Facebook pages dedicated to Sweden’s police forces, all of which are currently managed by enthusiasts and supporters rather than official police staff. There are no plans to change this in the near future.

In a questionnaire answered by about 4,200 users of Facebook about how they wanted their local police to use the social media site, 89 per cent wanted crime wave alerts, 90 per cent wanted general information and 82 per cent wanted to know more about the inner workings of the police. Nearly three quarters of those surveyed just wanted their local police to have a visible and available social media presence.

Certified by VISA Europe and approved by the Visa PayWave standards, the new software is the first one in Iceland to offer this kind of technical innovation. It enables merchants to accept payments via contactless Visa cards and also via smartphones where the credit card functionality has been implemented on the SIM card.

“This is a major step towards establishing contactless payments in Iceland,”  explained Sigurhans Vignir, the Executive Director of Corporate Solutions of Valitor. “With this development in place, we can prepare merchants with a pilot   phase where Valitor will initiate contactless card and smartphone payments in cooperation with all card issuers in the country, as well as with two of the country’s largest network providers Síminn and Vodafone.”

Valitor and Point have been working together since 1995 and the cooperation has proved very successful.  Elvar Guðjónsson, CEO of Point, commented, “It has been an interesting challenge to finalise this project so we are very pleased that it‘s now in place. This is yet another great milestone in the cooperation of Point and Valitor.”

The software is currently in experimental runs with selected vendors to ensure proper functionality before the official distribution. All acquirers and service providers that use the merchant POS terminals VeriFone Vx820 and Vx680 from Point can update the POS terminals with this software.

The European Algae Biomass Conference 2013 aims to bring together senior executives from industry and academia to discuss the latest commercial and technical developments, challenges and research breakthroughs throughout the entire algae value chain.

Representatives of Kadeco, including Kadeco’s Managing Director Kjartan Þór Eiríksson, will be exhibiting the algae biomass production opportunities at the Ásbru Enterprise Park in Iceland.

Ásbrú has available industrial lots with the possibility to develop buildings into facilities that are suitable for algae biomass production. The local facilities already build give manufactures possibilities to start production in smaller scale and gradually build up on a nearby lot.

It has previously been noted that Iceland has big advantages as a location for algae biomass production due to the country’s local geothermal renewable energy sources providing a lowered cost of production. This also results in stable grid connections and reliable delivery rates. In contrast from the U.S., Iceland can make long-term energy contracts offering a much-needed stability in productions cost.

In addition, Keilir, an educational institution located at Ásbrú, offers two multidisciplinary B.Sc. programs in co-operation with the University of Iceland; green energy technology, and mechatronics – these institutions provide opportunities regarding future Labour.

Ásbrú Enterprise Park is on the forefront of entrepreneurship, business and academic development in Iceland, with focus on technology, renewable energy, medical tourism and engineering.

For more information regarding Kadeco, and algae biomass production in Iceland, visit http://www.asbru.is/english/kadeco/.

Valitor and its associated issuing projects and partners came out on top in two categories, Best Business Card Programme, and Best New Prepaid Card Product of the year. Partner of Valitor, CorporatePay, was awarded as the Best Business Card Programme for 2013. This category represents the card issuer or brand that can show how it has offered the best card programme focused on the business customer (large and small), under one or more of the following criteria – value to the customer; commercial benefits for the card issuer and the business user; innovation; features and enhancements; clear T&Cs.

Valitor and CitizenCard won the award for Best New Prepaid Card Product of the Year.  The award is handed out to the best new prepaid card product first issued or advertised between 1st October 2011 and 30th September 2012. Valitor and CitizenCard were noted to have demonstrated high commercial success, and responded well to the needs of its targeted customers.

“This is a great success for our team. Twenty experts at Valitor have been working on these projects for the past three years in a dedicated development and marketing team, and the market’s reception of our efforts have surpassed all expectations. We have since entered into a number of issue agreements with companies in the UK, Canada and Sweden for the issue of prepaid cards and will be opening an office in London early this year to follow-up on our success. This recognition will undoubtedly help us achieve our goals in London and elsewhere,” explained Viðar Þorkelsson, CEO of Valitor.

The awards were handed out at a prestigious Black Tie Dinner and Awards ceremony at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane on Wednesday 6th February 2013. The awards, the largest of their kind in Europe, are highly respect amongst experts in the financial sector, and saw a total of 1,500 guests at the event this year.

The Card and Payment Awards recognise the companies and projects that are seen to have excelled in the UK and Ireland over the past year in the field of card and payment solutions, with particular focus on the ingenious development of ideas and innovation.

To find out more about Valitor and its award-winning card and payment solutions, visit http://www.valitor.com.