Have you visited the Apple website lately? If you haven't, you should go check it out especially if you're concerned about climate change and politics. Apple put on a message - loud and proud - congratulating the former U.S. Vice-President for winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Gore is regarded by some as one of the geniuses of our time, becoming one of the biggest voices in the fight against global warming. Aside from the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, Gore won an Academy Award for his documentary on climate change "An Inconvenient Truth."

The message in the official Apple site reads:

Al has put his heart and soul, and much of his life during the past several years on alerting and educating us all on the climate change crisis. We are bursting with pride for Al for this historic recognition for his global contributions.

Amid wars and world conflicts, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to (drum roll please) Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Their award isn't without merit of course. The committee believes that uncontrolled climate change may give a reason for the world to rise in conflict again:

[It] may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the Earth's resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world's most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.

Thus Al Gore has achieved with his film, An Inconvenient Truth, what every stereotype beauty queen always wanted: world peace. In a bit of an odd twist, the Nobel Prize was given on the same week that a judge in the UK declared that parts of the film were scientifically inaccurate - mostly those parts that had to be simplified to present a complex topic to a broad audience.

New Jersey legislators have passed and approved the Global Warming Response Act, which seeks to lower greenhouse gas emissions to non-critical levels to contribute in the world's bid to stop climate change.

Former Vice President and global warming activist Al Gore was present to witness the enactment of the milestone legislation, along with New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.

The law requires the state to cut down on the release of greenhouse gases to restore the status of the air to 1990 levels by the year 2020. More ambitiously, the Global Warming Response Act seeks to have total emissions lowered by 80 percent of present levels by 2050.

"We are making a long-lived commitment today that will impact not just our generation but future generations," says Corzine as he described the day of enactment as a very important one for the Garden State.

Gore, on the other hand, says that New Jersey's initiative is very important and should serve as a model for other states and the federal government. "The states are making a difference; New Jersey is making a difference," he says.

Not everyone is pleased with the development, though. Several figures from the state's power industry have criticized the bill, saying that the lone efforts of New Jersey will not change a thing on a global scale and could dampen the economy. Still, support by the citizenry and lawmakers has proven that the populace is in favor of the act.

So, what would you do if you're an architect who never has to worry about money (counting 'em perhaps, but not running out of it)? Build a palatial estate of course! That's just what renowned architect Rolf Disch did. He built a Heliotrop house which tracks the Sun. Now, that's something! Disch must really love sunrises and sunsets.

But the house isn't all about looks and aesthetics - it's environment friendly too. Something that would make Al Gore and other environmentalists green with envy. The balcony rail is actually a solar vacuum tube that is used to heat water. The roof is equipped with Photovoltaics that rotate independently to track the Sun - this generate four to six times the energy needed for the house.

Aside from all that, there is on-site composting, chemical free sewage treatment and rainwater catchment in Rolf's estate. This Green house has been Disch's personal residence since 1994.

The internet started getting massively popular more than a decade ago, and with it came a lot of nice nuances that aimed at giving users that whole digital multimedia experience which was all the rage those days. The age of internet entertainment was indeed heralded, but internet TV didn't catch fire as fast as other Media.

Of course there were a lot of reasons why web TV came later than web radio and web games. Technical issues such as slow bandwidth, licensing gridlocks and the lack of available resources were among the factors that slowed down the dawning of an age. Nowadays, however, the world works a bit differently. Almost everyone can afford broadband connections and Youtube found a way around the licensing knot to tear the market wide open.

Admit it or not, YouTube may be the single, most powerful force that changed the way we think about internet TV and videos. By bringing in users who upload videos for other users, it created a viable network wherein just about every imaginable video. Everything from cartoons to porn was there and it was very easy to access.

Apple followed up with its launch of fifth-generation iPods that can play videos as well as acquire them by purchasing them from the online iTunes market set up by Apple. Podcasts were also conceived and now, anyone with enough time and tech savvy can do a broadcast to the web en route to iPods of millions of owners.

And that's not all, with the Apple TV coming up, a seamless bond between the computer, the home entertainment system and the iPod can be forged. Networks are also getting into the act with Al Gore's "Current TV" which features a hodgepodge of professional and amateur content that can be seen on cable channels and its website.

Dan Hett wrote a very informative essay tackling the digital age of entertainment and its implications. He also extrapolates on what the future holds for digital entertainment and who we can expect to play key roles. To read the entire discussion, follow the read URL.

Apple Inc. and environmental group Greenpeace never got along - despite the company's efforts to improve their green practices. Greenpeace argues that since Apple is shaping up to be a leader in design and product innovation, they should also be a leader in recycling and other environment-friendly activities. Well, Greenpeace is once again pounding on the gates of Apple because of an upcoming Apple board of directors action.

This time around, the target is former vice president, Apple board member, and environmentalist Al Gore. Apparently, the Board has two proposals that would strengthen Apple's environmental policies. But according to Apple, shareholders will be informed that the Apple board is "unanimously" against the plan when the said proposals are sent to the shareholders for voting.

So with that, Greenpeace is urging Al Gore to support the proposals and use his leadership ability and environmental track record to improve Apple Inc.'s environmental policies. For now, former VP Gore has no comment about that.

After Al Gore told us about the Inconvenient Truth, the White House seems to be buckling under the inconvenience. This is after an internal memo, distributed in the Alaskan division of Federal Fish and Wildlife Service, appear to be discouraging biologists and other employees traveling in countries around the Arctic to speak regarding climate change, polar bear, and melting ice caps unless assigned to do so.

Late last year, the Bush administration was pelted by calls from environmental groups to include polar bears as one of the species under the Endangered Species Act. The said Arctic mammal is facing sheer loss of numbers from the unusual retreat of sea ice (used by bears for seal hunting) caused by warming climate. Environmentalists are trying to use such a listing to force the United States to restrict heat-trapping gases that scientists have linked to global warming as a way of limiting risks to the 22,000 or so bears in the far north.

The issued memos, to be used by biologists and wildlife officials as a guide in prepping travel requests, carry the heading "Foreign Travel — New Requirement — Please Review and Comply, Importance: High". Here's what's written on the cover note:

Please be advised that all foreign travel requests (SF 1175 requests) and any future travel requests involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice and/or polar bears will also require a memorandum from the regional director to the director indicating who'll be the official spokesman on the trip and the one responding to questions on these issues, particularly polar bears.

The sample memorandums indicate that employees applying for travel permits should understand "the administration's position on climate change, polar bears, and sea ice and will not be speaking on or responding to these issues."

When asked for comment, Alaska Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson Bruce Woods defended the memo saying. "What the administration wants to know is who is going to be spokesperson and do they understand administration policy? It's not saying you won't talk about it."

It will be remembered that the US government has been wary of verging into efforts to alter the negative impacts of Earth's deterioration, even choosing to pull itself out of the Kyoto Protocol back in 2001. It's been long argued that capitalist nations would be hit the hardest when the rest of the world has started clamping down on pollution.

You'd think that Sir Richard Branson is crazy when he came up with ideas like space tourist flights and storing your baby's umbilical cord and placental blood. But his next idea is attracting the good kind of attention.

The Virgin boss recently launched a contest looking for the person who can come up with the best way to remove huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The prize? A cool, US$ 25 million.

The competition was launched recently alongside former US VP, Al Gore. A panel of judges will oversee the prize, including James Lovelock (Gaia theory inventor) and NASA scientist James Hansen. Other members of the panel include British environmentalist Sir Crispin Tickells, Gore, and Australian mammalogist and paleontologist, Tim Flannery.

To win the cash prize, you have to come up with a method that will remove at least one billion tons of carbon per year from the atmosphere. Here's to hoping that those who'll enter the competition will not do it for the money or the fame, but will do it because this is a cause he/she believes in.

There's nothing quite like free stuff, and thanks to Al Gore and his tube-powered brainchild, getting freebies has never been easier. Take today for example. Right now we're focusing the QJ spotlight on Freeware OS X's freeware picks for the month of January.

Freeware, folks. Free. For an unlimited time. Not only that, these applications run the gamut from video and media players to programming apps, making the collection a must-have for all of you Mac lovers out there. Read on for a list of the applications.

• Video: VLC Media Player
• Audio Editor: Audacity
• Chat: Adium
• Graphics: Blender
• Portable Applications: Audacity Portable
• Programming: Smultron
• Torrent: Transmission
• Screensavers: LotsaWater
• Utilities: Yep
• Word Processing: TextWrangler

You can get all of the apps above by giving the "via" link below a little click.

Apple, the leader of providing consumer-designed technology to the industry, might want to rethink their future should co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs decide to step down. The news about Steve Jobs could have been responsible for the recent faked backdated options, which forced a 5.8% percent drop in Apple's stock. Apple director and former U. S. Vice President Al Gore stepped up to clear Steve Jobs of the allegations and brought back a miraculous 4.9% rise in stock.

His creativity, his closeness to the prospects and directions of the company and stockholder confidence in his leadership strengthens Apple's progress. Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company Inc. in New York, believes that Apple's value might fall as much as a third of its current value if Jobs were to just suddenly leave.

The creativity Jobs possesses is unquestionable, as he has turned himself into a fashionista icon of technology over the past five years with the iPod and further solidifying his position with a new Apple mobile phone (no, not an "iPhone", sorry) that plays movies and music. He is also able to transform a conservative product introductions into high-profile media events, with celebrities such as U2's Bono and Kanye West.

Piper Jaffray's Munster said, "The biggest risk to Apple is not competition or markets or products. It's probably the reality that at some point Steve Jobs is going to leave. That's just the wild card that investors have to deal with."

Apple will then have to make a selection among the jeans-wearing executives who also imitate Job's words "cool," "awesome" and "revolutionary." But in our opinion, because the void that would be left behind would be quite vast to fill, the only way Apple could survive is if the one filling it equals or exceeds Jobs' qualities.

Now where can you find someone like that?