greentech

This Day in Tech: Bin Laden's sneakernet

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET News for Friday, May 13.

RIP: Where our gadgets go when they die.

Bin Laden's sneakernet: How the al-Qaeda leader used e-mail off the grid.

We signed on to Tinychat: What happens when a group-oriented take on Chatroulette adds location sharing?

No surprise here: Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies receive Guinness World Records.

Freebie: Sure, it's Friday the 13th, but it could still be your lucky day to win 3D desktop speakers.

Massachusetts goes green to relive tech glory

It's been a long time since the Boston area could claim to be home to more than a handful of big high-tech companies. Now regional leaders are betting on green to restore cutting-edge luster to "the Hub."

The state already hosts a number of established green-tech companies such as Evergreen Solar and Conservation Services Group, which does building energy-efficiency retrofits. Of course, no green-tech companies have replaced former tech powerhouses like Digital Equipment (acquired by Compaq, which was in turn acquired by Hewlett-Packard) or Lotus Development (now part of IBM).

But that doesn't mean green-tech boosters … Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: What new funding means for green innovation

In his final podcast for CNET News, the incomparable Charles Cooper talks with reporter Martin LaMonica about how funding from the U.S. Department of Energy will affect innovation and business in the green-tech sector.

Also in this podcast: Congress will investigate whether peer-to-peer Web sites lead to inadvertent sharing; study shows that file-swappers buy 10 times as much legal music as those who never use P2P sites; iPhone OS 3.0 may include voice control; and more of today's top stories.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Green technologies to watch

Congress to probe P2P sites over 'inadvertent sharing'… Read more

AT&T will spend $565 million on alternative-fuel vehicles

WASHINGTON--AT&T is making the largest ever commitment by an American company to purchase alternative-fuel vehicles, CEO Randall Stephenson told the Economic Club of Washington on Wednesday.

"My No. 1 job is long-term growth," he said. "I only know of one way to do that and that's by investing in areas that drive sustainable growth."

Companies like AT&T, Stephenson said, have an obligation to make investments that will drive the nation's economic growth and productivity, as well as to invest in America's workforce.

"The time to invest in America'… Read more

Unions want share of green tech 'stimulus' jobs

WASHINGTON--The massive "stimulus" bill that's careening through the U.S. Congress spends billions of dollars in areas including green technology, energy research, and rural broadband.

Congressional leaders have made sure it comes with some strings attached. A "Buy American" requirement remains after the Senate failed to remove it by a 31-65 vote. Net neutrality rules for broadband spending is another condition that's been imposed.

But strikingly absent is one provision that unions would seem to naturally prefer: requirements that spending be directed at unionized firms, or at least focused on jobs with minimum hourly … Read more

Smart grid, broadband appear in $825 billion 'stimulus' plan

House Democrats on Thursday revealed details of a massive legislative effort they said would inject new life into a flagging U.S. economy, thanks to a combination of $825 billion in tax cuts and new government spending.

The sprawling, 258-page draft bill includes $32 billion in electric power upgrades, sometimes known as "smart grid" technology, $6 billion for expanded broadband Internet access, and $20 billion for health care information technology.

"The economy is in a crisis not seen since the Great Depression," said letter published Thursday by Rep. David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat who heads the … Read more

Green-tech VC jumps nearly 40 percent in 2008

Green-tech venture capital funding soared last year, aided by megadeals in thin-film solar companies, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Cleantech Group.

During 2008, green-tech venture investments jumped to $8.4 billion, a 38 percent increase, according to the report.

Solar investments helped drive the growth, capturing 40 percent of green-tech investments. Thin-film solar deals did particularly well, capturing the three largest investments in green technology last year.

NanoSolar raised $300 million last year, followed by Solyndra with venture investments of $219 million and SoloPower with $200 million.

Cleantech Group's senior research director, Brian Fan, said in … Read more

Illuminate your blinds

Feeling a little blasé about how ordinary your blinds look from day to night? OK. Fine, so you don't care. How about if they did something more than just open and close?

Designed by Yoon-Hui Kim and Eun-Kyung Kim, the Solar Vertical Lamp takes an average vertical blind and embeds it with special mini photovoltaics and LED pixels. Close the blinds during the day and the miniature solar pads on the back of the blinds start to soak up the sun's energy. Once the sun goes down, artfully placed lighting pixels illuminate in certain parts of the … Read more

Green news harvest: Consumers affect climate change

A sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary:

Small actions add up to big impact on climate change - Wall Street JournalAmerican consumers contribute 65 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to McKinsey & Co. The report suggests that individuals making small changes in driving habits and energy use could slow climate change. Imitating electric eels to power medical implants - ZDNetResearchers say artificial energy-producing cells could mimic those of electric eels, and would be ideal for firing up tiny medical devices. It's an example of biomimicry, which patterns technologies after structures found in nature. … Read more