Advanced easy-to-use microscope

The Oregon-based company FEI just launched a new microscope, the Phenom, that can magnify objects 20 000 times. Unlike other microscopes, this is very easy to operate and you zoom in and out in a matter of seconds with a touch screen. This tool is mainly aimed at industries and universities.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=17892



Ralph Hermansson

Geothermal energy reaches big politics

In late April, I wrote a story about how you can use geothermal energy to heat (or cool) your house. Since this technology is pretty unknown in the U.S., I got a lot of reader feedback and now it seems as if geothermal energy is making its way into big politics as well. U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney, D, from Pleasanton, California is now pushing a bill to support the development of geothermal energy on a larger scale. The hopes are that eventually some 75 million people in the U.S. alone will be supported with electricity from this source.



Ralph Hermansson





http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/18/BUGGGQG6L21.DTL&hw=geothermal&sn=001&sc=1000

Ergonomic computer mouse

Who would pay $ 200 for a computer mouse? Since problems with carpal tunnel syndrome are on the rise, maybe people will be willing to pay more for an ergonomic mouse that hopefully both can prevent and heal the much-dreaded syndrome. That's at least what Napa Valley entrepreneur Mike Sjoblom (yes, he's Swedish) is hoping with his new pointing device Trackbar Emotion. He says that $ 200 isn't that much if the alternative is long sick leaves and loss of production.
In today's San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/14/BUGFQPP7V91.DTL&hw=hermansson&sn=001&sc=1000

Ground source heat pumps (San Francisco Chronicle)

Finally, finally, finally I got my article about the ground source heat pumps in today's paper. I got the idea already back in Sweden when I was talking with an American friend about how people heat their homes in Sweden.

In Sweden, this kind of heating is getting more and more common. My friend had no idea what I was talking about. Neither did most of my colleagues at the Chronicle and that's when I decided to write the story.

As for most stories, the more concrete it can be, the better. That's why I desperately tried to get hold of people in California who had installed ground source heat pumps in their houses. I called many different contractors and after weeks I finally got a name to a family in Livermore west of San Francisco.

I went out there, did the interview and when we were finished the man said "You know, my wife just reminded me that some years ago we had some reporters from the Chronicle here who wrote about or heat pumps." Sure enough, on July 14 2001 there was a long article about the Johnson's house in Livermore.

I talked to my editor Ken Howe and he said we could still use the Johnson's, but not as a lead, I had to find someone else. Of course I should have checked our digital archives better, but the term they used in the 2001 article was "geo exchange", not "geothermal" or "ground source heating".

I had to contact another family in Healdsburg north of Santa Rosa.Went there last week, did the interview and could finally publish the articles. Learnings for an injo reporter? Well, always try to find a concrete case. The story will gain a lot from that. An, of course, always check your archives thoroughly before making appointments…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/30/BUG8TPH2KB1.DTL http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/30/BUG8TPH2K91.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/30/BUG8TPH2K71.DTL

Innovation Policy SF Chronicle Techblog (San Francisco Chronicle)

My editor Al Saracevic told me on my first day at the Chronicle that he had "something that is right up your alley." Forrester Research had just published a survey where they listed the top countries for innovations (the US, Finland, Sweden, Ireland, etc). He asked me to do an article, which I did.
When I got hold of the whole survey it was dated early December last year and I wasn't sure if it was really news worthy. A couple of phone calls later, it turned out that the report was indeed written in December, but Forrester hadn't gone public with it until now.
When the article was ready, Al wanted it to be less article-like and more blog-like, so I (and, well, he too, I have to admit) worked with the text so that the tone would be more catchy and better fit in with the rest of the pieces in the Chronicles Techblog (which also runs in the paper).
So what initially should have been an article turned out to be a blog and then transformed into an article in the paper the next day: I blog, therefore I am.
Ralph Hermansson
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/author?blogid=19&auth=190