Signs with opera

Advania, a leading It (IT) organization working in the Nordics, lately agreed upon a contract together with Chrome Software program for your enlargement regarding their procedures on Thor Information Center – a natural info center with Iceland owned or operated by means of Advania.

Chrome Software program uses the results center to be able to facilitate web hunting for greater than 230 thousand Chrome Tiny users around the world. The new contract remains the particular continuing escalation on the info center which has a around doubling regarding Opera’s latest capability.

Gestur Grams. Gestsson, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER regarding Advania, claimed, “It’s vital for us to own ongoing believe in regarding Chrome Software program as well as every single child help the organization having its ongoing achievements. Advania aims to be a trustworthy business lover exactly who supports customers within their operate, being sure that his or her procedures are generally second to none. Ebay collaboration is built for your long term. ”

Chrome Software program has been among the 1st firms to be able to get the opportunity displayed by means of Iceland’s inexpensive natural energy as well as free of charge cooling down. This enables with an very productive functioning though however sustaining equilibrium while using the natural environment since you can find absolutely no as well as emissions by Iceland’s energy output.

Anthony Nichols, VP, THAT Functions on Chrome Software program, explained, “We are generally thrilled every single child keep on on the road regarding environment duty with Iceland, specially since this particular permits us to broaden our own capability to be able to serve our own shoppers while maintaining our own reduced as well as impact in one piece. ”

This company’s info center is perhaps among the world’s greenest info stores since all of the energy utilised on the internet site is produced by environmentally friendly solutions as well as much less energy is employed for cooling down a result of the healthy neat climate with Iceland.

The Simpsons come to Iceland

Icelandic band Sigur Rós will feature in The Simpsons Season Finale this weekend. The episode, which will see some of its main characters visit Iceland, will feature an entirely original score composed by the band – a first for the famous American adult sitcom now concluding its 24th season.

The episode, entitled The Saga of Carl Carlson, will air in North America on Sunday 19th May and in Iceland the following day. The plot of the two-part show revolves around the character of Carl Carlson, Homer’s friend and co-worker, who sets off to visit his home country, Iceland.

The surprising origins of Springfield nuclear power plant employee, Carl Carlson, were revealed in an episode in the 14th series, wherein unexpected brightness in the middle of the night reminded the character of his Icelandic boyhood.

The Simpsons  also featured Iceland in a 2010 episode that parodied the protests following  the 2008 bank crash.

While Sigur Rós only joins a long list of bands and solo artists to make a guest appearance on the show – amongst others Daft Punk, Lady Gaga and U2 have all made appearances – this will be one of the rare times an entire original score is composed for the occasion, including the Icelandic band’s take on the famous opening theme of The Simpsons.

Sigur Rós, which will issue their new album Kveikur on Tuesday 18th June, stated on their website  that ”with this episode, Sigur Rós have written and performed more original music for The Simpsons than any other outside band in the show’s history.”

The creator of the show, Matt Groening, said, “I’m a longtime fan of Sigur Rós, and we’re honored to bring their Icelandic  ambient moods to our goofy cartoon show.”

On the top

In a season of summit firsts, Ingólfur Geir Gissurarson became the fifth, and so far oldest, Icelander to summit Everest, while the first ascent via the North Face by and Icelander was underway by Leifur Örn Gissurarson.

Geir Gissurarson reached the top of the 8,848m high Himalayan peak on May 21st, exactly 16 years after Björn Ólafsson, Einar Stefánsson and Hallgrímur Magnússon became the first Icelanders to summit the world’s highest mountain.

“I think it’s great that Leifur is trying that route,” famous explorer, Haraldur Örn Ólafsson said in an interview with Fréttablaðið.

However, at 51, Ingólfur is still a spring chicken. If 81-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan of Nepal and his 80-year-old rival Yuichiro Miura of Japan, both currently in Everest Base Camp on the South Side of the mountain, reach the summit this season, a new record would have been set for the oldest person summiting. Presently it is held by Min Bahadur Sherchan, a Nepalese who reached the summit on 25 May 2008 at the age of 76 years 340 days.

2013 has already seen five records or firsts set on the mountain, including; first Saudi woman, first Pakistani women, first Moroccan and first twins (Indian sisters).

The next record that could be set is by Vilborg Arna Gissurardóttir, the first Icelandic woman to reach the South Pole, who is now planning to climb the world’s seven highest summits.

Back in Iceland

Iceland will again serve as a key set in the next season of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, which is expected to be shot here this summer, Svarthöfði reports.

This will be the third time Game of Thrones comes to Iceland since it first shot scenes for the second season’s foray “north beyond the wall,” a key geographical area on the continent of Westeros (not to be confused with Västerås, Sweden) where most of the show’s action takes place. It appears Iceland has won a home for wildlings and white walkers and things that occur “beyond the wall.”

According to Svarthöfði, this year’s shooting will take place around Þingvellir, Hengill volcano and Þórsárdalur valley among other places. Previously, scenes were shot near Svínafellsjökull glacier, Mývatn lake and Vatnajökull glacier.

Filming is expected to begin in mid July and continue through August. During the last shoot, some 270 locals worked on the set and a similar number is likely to be employed again this year.

The show is currently screening its third season. 

NO PORN!

Iceland is working on banning Internet pornography, calling explicit online images a threat to children.

'"There is a strong consensus building in Iceland," Halla Gunnarsdottir, an adviser to the nation's Interior Minister, told England's Daily Mail. "We have so many experts, from educationalists to the police and those who work with children behind this, that this has become much broader than party politics.

"At the moment, we are looking at the best technical ways to achieve this. But surely if we can send a man to the moon, we must be able to tackle porn on the Internet."

Such a step is somewhat surprising among Western nations that, for the most part, champion free-speech rights. But the move wouldn't be unprecedented in the island nation.

Iceland has had laws banning the printing and distribution of pornography for years, but those laws haven't been updated to include the Web. And two years ago, the nation's parliament banned strip clubs, saying they violate the rights of the women who work in them.

Iceland would become the first Western democracy to try and block pornography online.

READ: In the tech world, porn quietly leads the way

Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson has appointed committees to study the best methods for keeping young people from seeing explicit images and videos on computers, game consoles and smartphones.

The options being considered, according to the Daily Mail, include blocking the IP addresses of known porn sites and making it illegal to use credit cards from Iceland to subscribe to X-rated sites.

"This move is not anti-sex. It is anti-violence because young children are seeing porn and acting it out," Gunnarsdottir said. "That is where we draw the line. This material is blurring the boundaries for young people about what is right and wrong."

Attempting a total block of porn sites somewhere like the United States, with its legions of public and private portals onto the Web and the millions of software engineers who likely would spring into action to find workarounds, would be nearly impossible.

But Iceland has a population of 322,000 -- roughly the same as St. Louis, Missouri. That, and its remote location 1,300 miles off of the coast of Europe, would make jamming or blocking Web traffic to certain sites easier, if that was the route the government there chose.

The move is, predictably, drawing fire from Web-freedom advocates, including some in Iceland who agree with Jonasson on most issues.

"Since he claimed office as minister, Jonasson has brought forward progressive legislation and has shown that he can be a man of principles and courage. For that, I truly respect him," Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of Iceland's parliament who represents part of Reykjavik, wrote in an editorial for London's The Guardian.

"But he is way off track in his attempts to place a shield around Iceland in order to 'stop porn' from entering the country."

A member of the parliament committee studying the issue, Jonsdottir says a porn ban has "near zero" chance of passing parliament and that she's working to find other ways the government can help protect children from Web porn.

"Introducing censorship without compromising freedom of expression and speech is like trying to mix oil and water: It is impossible," she wrote. "I know my fellow MPs can often turn strange and dangerous laws into reality, but this won't be one of them."

Iceland forms center-right govt, halts EU talks

The leader of the center-right Progressive Party was chosen as Iceland's new prime minister Wednesday and promptly announced a halt to talks with the European Union about joining the 27-nation bloc.

Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson spoke about the policy shift at a press conference after being selected premier.

"The government intends to halt negotiations between Iceland and the European Union," he said. "We will not hold further negotiations with the European Union without prior referendum."

Iceland has engaged in on-and-off talks with the EU for several years. Gunnlaugsson's party has been opposed, in part because members fear that joining would mean giving up control of Iceland's vital fishing stocks.

The new government will also include Bjarni Benediktsson, head of the conservative Independent Party, who will serve as minister of finance.

Icelanders voted April 27, returning to power the parties who had governed for decades before the 2008 economic collapse, the Independents and the Progressive Party.

The two parties had ruled together from 1995 until the 2008 fiasco. After the collapse of the Icelandic banking sector that year, Icelanders voted in a liberal government led by the Social Democrats and the Left-Greens.

The small North Atlantic nation with a population of 320,000 went from economic powerhouse to financial disaster almost overnight when its main commercial banks collapsed within a week in 2008. The value of the country's currency plummeted, while inflation and unemployment figures soared. Iceland was forced to seek a bailout from Europe and the International Monetary Fund.

The Progressive Party promised during the campaign to cut Icelanders' housing debts by 20 percent.

"The government keeps open the option of creating a special adjustment fund to achieve its goals," Gunnlaugsson said, promising further details soon.

That fund would help reduce loans taken out in foreign currencies, which soared as the Icelandic krona depreciated. Many Icelanders took out mortgages and car loans in foreign currencies prior to the financial collapse.

The government will also focus on lowering taxes and lifting capital controls to increase foreign investment.

Gunnlaugsson has said in the past that foreign creditors of Iceland's collapsed banks will likely need to suffer a substantial "haircut" — or reduction — on claims denominated in Icelandic currency. Details of any potential new plan for dealing with foreign creditors have not yet been announced.