It's that time of year when the city is relieved ever slightly and for the shortest span of time of its being overpopulated. Big numbers of city residents are currently in the process of leaving the metropolis behind for a few days.

A process that for some has started even before the last weekend, this province-bound migration albeit of a temporary notion is like a purging process. Each year, when this particular week in summer comes, the city becomes the quietest and most peaceful piece of real estate. The holy week soothes, balms, and silences the heart and soul.

Of course, it does not hurt either that the holy week drastically reduces the volume of vehicles traversing the city's streets. It is like a weeklong Pacquiao bout, the city and its remaining residents slumber into a dreamless sleep.

Quantum Dots Photography

As scientists find it increasingly difficult to rely solely on silicon to enhance the sensors used in today's digital cameras, manufacturers are looking at quantum dots. QuantumFilm, is a technology developed by Menlo, California-based InVisage. Made of quantum dots, QuantumFilm offers four times better performance than existing silicon sensors.

Compared with silicon, quantum dots (which are minuscule semiconductors) have higher levels of sensitivity to light. This means they can transform more of incoming light into an electric charge. Silicon-based sensors capture about 25% of incoming light. QuantumFilm can capture 90–95%.

Plasma TV, Clean Energy

Now, you would have a reason to feel less guilty for splurging on a widescreen plasma TV. According to a report by the American Chemical Society, a process used to light up plasma TVs' displays can also be used to produce very clean fuels. The report describes a "small, low-tech, inexpensive device called a GlidArc reactor" that uses plasmas (electrically charged clouds of gas) to produce clean fuels from waste materials.

About as big as household refrigerators, the reactor is designed to clean dirty gases produced by gasification of everyday wastes, biomass, or other energy sources to produce carbon monoxide and oxygen gases that are used in synthesis of biofuels. The technology is described as low-tech and low-cost by its proponents, which makes it ideal for consumers and households in developed and developing countries.

Bangkok Solar

Tensions are blistering in Thailand's capital as the country's political crisis edges nearer to boiling point. But things are about to get hotter. In the solar energy field, that is. Germany-based Conergy plans to build the largest commercial solar power plant in South-East Asia in Ayutthaya, about 70 kilometers north of Bangkok.

Once completed, the solar power park is expected to produce up to 3 megawatts of electricity.

That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.