Google Floats Renewable Energy Data Center Plan

Google tries to use its buying clout to prod utilities to offer renewable energy option.

 
Google invested more than $150 million in the Alta Wind Energy Center in the Mojave Desert. It’s a way to earn a steady return on Google’s cash and pursue its corporate goal to be carbon-neutral, but its data centers still draw from the local–and dirtier–grid. Credit: Google

Google has spent more than $1 billion in solar and wind energy projects but it ultimately has no control over the fuel that produces the electricity that powers its data centers. Google today is proposing a new tariff to buy renewable energy directly from utilities, a model it hopes will help scale renewable energy for data centers and other big energy consumers.

Samsung Demos a Tablet Controlled by Your Brain

An easy-to-use EEG cap could expand the number of ways to interact with your mobile devices.

• By Susan Young on April 19, 2013

Why It Matters

A brain-controlled mobile device could give paralyzed people more ways to interact with the world while also improving functionality for all of us.

Thought launch: A Samsung researcher tests an EEG-controlled app on a tablet.

One day, we may be able to check e-mail or call a friend without ever touching a screen or even speaking to a disembodied helper. Samsung is researching how to bring mind control to its mobile devices with the hope of developing ways for people with mobility impairments to connect to the world. The ultimate goal of the project, say researchers in the company’s Emerging Technology Lab, is to broaden the ways in which all people can interact with devices.

A Longer Lasting Phone? Google's Larry Page Says It's Coming

Jessica Leber

April 18, 2013

Improved battery life and durability could be big selling points for new phones from Motorola.

In his January earnings call, Google CEO Larry Page complained that our phones died too quickly and broke too easily. On Google’s next quarterly earnings call today, he cited the same concerns and said new products being cooked up at Motorola Mobility would address them. Google acquired for $12.5 billion last May (see “What Ideas Does Google Have Brewing at Motorola?”).

How Facial Recognition Tech Could Help Trace Terrorism Suspects

The FBI could use software to help identify suspects, and more advanced techniques are around the corner.

• By Tom Simonite on April 18, 2013

Face match: A crowd of spectators near the site of the first bomb blast.

The FBI appealed to the public Thursday for help identifying two men shown in pixilated photos and video footage who are suspected of involvement in Monday’s bomb attacks in Boston.

Startup uBiome Will Catalog Your Microbes, Again and Again

Susan Young

April 18, 2013

Your genome may not change, but your microbiome will.

Sequencing startup uBiome marked its next phase today with the launch of its new sales site where customers can order a swab kit for checking on the bacteria living in their gut, mouth, nose, genitals, or behind the ear.

Steve Jobs Patented an Ad-Supported Operating System – Facebook Built One

Tom Simonite

April 18, 2013

 

In 1999, Steve jobs toyed with the idea of launching a free, ad-supported version of the Mac operating system, and in 2008 he filed a patent on a version of the idea. Microsoft considered making an ad-supported version of Windows in both 2004 and 2005. Neither company tried that tactic, but the idea of pushing ads in return for an operating system is soon to get a real try out, in Facebook’s new app for Android phones, Home.

Intel’s Dubious Plan to Take Over TV

Slumping PC sales and a changing server market are maiming Intel. But its plan to sell services for the home’s biggest screen is a long shot.

• By Jessica Leber on April 18, 2013

Why It Matters

With mobile devices and fast broadband, the way people consume and pay for entertainment programming is rapidly evolving.

When Intel lifted the veil from its stealthy media division in February, many outsiders scratched their heads. Why was the chip manufacturer, which has tried and failed to sell consumer products before, trying to launch a TV service, one of the trickiest consumer markets of all?