When asked about the promise of using the Internet and mobile technologies to accelerate improvement at the village level, Premji says there is a role for video programs and they have provided some for staff development over the weekends, for example.

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"It's the kind of continuous improvement of technologies that's needed, " Shellenberger said.

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Initiatives like open storage technologies should help drive this improvement.

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Although Teledesic says it is still confident of success, others fear that the improvement of rival technologies, such as broadband wireless and fibre optics, will leave Teledesic with little but niche markets.

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This approach does not apply to animals created with older, cruder technologies commonly used, for example, for the genetic improvement of fowl, pigs and cows.

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China, America, Europe and the rest of the world must rapidly accelerate the pace of improvement in a whole suite of clean energy technologies, from nuclear and solar alike to plug-in hybrid vehicles, energy storage, and advanced biofuels.

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Second, of the new technologies being offered, each offers something subtle in the way of improvement.

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There is little prospect of improvement for him, unless the government embarks on long-term efforts in peasant education and micro-technologies, to strengthen cottage output, such as flowers.

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