Results tagged “CNET News” from Innovations

IBM Looks Ahead to Even Smaller Transistors

September 21, 2008 12:00 PM | | Comments (0)

Computer chips have become more powerful by cramming more and smaller transistors into the same space, and the industry right now is moving from technology where the key size measurement is 65 nanometers to 45-nanometer technology. But as CNET News reports, IBM is looking a couple technology generations ahead, to 22-nanometer devices. The challenge they're tackling: Technology to produce such small features doesn't yet exist, and it's not obvious how to create it.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET News, IBM, nanotechnology, transistors

Categories: Technology, Web Picks

Tags: CNET News, IBM, nanotechnology, transistors

Free Wireless Grows in San Francisco

September 17, 2008 8:00 PM | | Comments (0)

The effort to provide free WiFi connections for low-income residents of San Francisco is proceeding apace, the city says. Mayor Gavin Newsom and wireless router company Meraki said this week they're adding wireless coverage to 12 low-income housing projects in the Tenderloin neighborhood, CNET News says. Meraki says about 150,000 of the city's 860,000 residents are on its network, and it will be a few more years before the entire city is covered.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET News, San Francisco, wi-fi, wireless

Categories: Technology, The Web, Web Picks

Tags: CNET News, San Francisco, wi-fi, wireless

Seen on the Streets of San Francisco: A Prius Without a Driver

September 16, 2008 6:30 PM | | Comments (0)

robotic prius.jpg
A robotic, autonomous Prius takes to the road early one morning in San Francisco last week.
(Credit: 510 Systems)

Tired of the stress of stop-and-go driving? An engineer in San Francisco has a proposed solution, a robot-driven car that makes the decisions for you---speeding up, braking, staying in the lane all on its own. CNET News reports that the engineer, Anthony Levandowski, demonstrated the system he built into a Toyota Prius by having the car navigate its own way through San Francisco last week.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com



Tags: auto engineering, CNET News, Prius, robot

Categories: Technology, Transportation, Web Picks

Tags: auto engineering, CNET News, Prius, robot

Candidates Have Big Differences on Energy

September 4, 2008 3:00 PM | | Comments (0)

Republican presidential candidate John McCain opposes subsidies, earmarks, and heavy regulation regarding energy, while Democrat Barack Obama wants a stronger federal role in developing renewable energy, according to a report from the research firm New Energy Finance. CNET News reports that the firm dug through voting records and public statements to determine each candidate's positions on energy policy. It found, for instance, that McCain wants to scale back the government's role in promoting ethanol, while Obama would continue it.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET News, energy, McCain, New Energy Finance, Obama

Categories: Energy and Environment, Web Picks

Tags: CNET News, energy, McCain, New Energy Finance, Obama

Was the Democratic Convention All That Green?

August 29, 2008 2:08 PM | | Comments (0)

Democrats had been boasting that the Denver convention would be the "most sustainable" in the history of conventions, and in some ways they may have accomplished their goal. CNET News says there were certainly separate trash containers for recycling waste, including biodegradable drinking straws. On the other hand, there were plenty of SUVs idling while waiting to ferry delegates around, and recycling all those signs is going to take energy.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET News, Democratic Convention, garbage, recycle

Categories: Energy and Environment, Web Picks

Tags: CNET News, Democratic Convention, garbage, recycle

Bloomberg Proposes Wind Plan for New York

August 20, 2008 10:42 PM | | Comments (0)

Windmills could top New York City skyscrapers and bridges, or supply power from the waters off Manhattan, if Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way. Speaking at the National Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Bloomberg cited studies predicting that wind energy could provide 10 percent of the city's electricity needs within 10 years, says CNET News. Most of the installations would likely be small turbines on tops of buildings. Well, after all, old New York was once New Amsterdam.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Bloomberg, CNET News, New York City, wind

Categories: Energy and Environment, Government, Web Picks

Tags: Bloomberg, CNET News, New York City, wind

Group Promotes Cybersecurity for Next Administration

August 7, 2008 1:26 PM | | Comments (0)

A private think tank is looking for ways the government can make cyberspace more secure. The Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency, a group organized by a Center for Strategic and International Studies, is working on recommendations it can make to the next president. CNET News quotes Marcus Sachs, Verizon's director of national security policy, a former government official, and a commission member, said that stealthy cyber-intrusions were a real threat to the security of today's networks.

"In the transition between the Clinton and Bush presidencies in late 2000, there was no group doing what we're doing now...trying to tee up cybersecurity as an agenda item," Sachs said during a panel discussion at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET news, Commission of Cyber Security, CSIS, Marcus Sachs, Verizon

Categories: Best Ideas From Around the Country, The Web

Tags: CNET news, Commission of Cyber Security, CSIS, Marcus Sachs, Verizon

Investment in Cleantech Growing Rapidly

August 6, 2008 1:00 AM | | Comments (0)

 

solar mirrors.jpg

Solar mirrors manufactured by Ausra, one of many cleantech companies.

Concerns about the environment are helping to drive up venture investing in cleantech companies, according to a report from Ernst & Young. The report found venture investing in cleantech hit $961.7 million in the second quarter of 2008, says CNET News. A big portion of the increase is coming from large corporations, such as Shell, Chevron, and DuPont.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

 

 

Tags: cleantech, CNET news, Ernst & Young

Categories: Energy and Environment, Web Picks

Tags: cleantech, CNET news, Ernst & Young

Does Street View Really Violate Your Privacy?

August 3, 2008 7:00 AM | | Comments (0)

A Pittsburgh couple has sued Google over its Street View feature, which contained a photo of the outside of their house. Aaron and Christine Boring say the feature lowered the value of their property and caused them mental suffering. A blogger at CNET News feels the Borings might be taking the notion of privacy a little bit too far.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET news, Google, Street View

Categories: The Web, Web Picks

Tags: CNET news, Google, Street View

California Opts for Paper Ballot System

July 31, 2008 5:35 PM | | Comments (0)

Given the fears about possible flaws and abuses with electronic voting machines, the California Secretary of State has announced the state will be relying on paper ballots that will be optically scanned but can be recounted by hand this election season. Debra Bowen says she opted for the paper ballots because they preserve the original vote, CNET News reports. Bowen commissioned a study last year that showed that electronic voting can be tampered with or have programming mistakes that alter the results.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: ballots, California, CNET news, Debra Bowen, voting machines

Categories: Government, Technology, Web Picks

Tags: ballots, California, CNET news, Debra Bowen, voting machines

Huge Physics Project Leads to Super-Speed Network

July 17, 2008 7:00 AM | | Comments (0)

Today's Internet capacity will seem incredibly limited in a decade or two, but some of the steps needed to increase bandwidth are being previewed in a large-scale physics project in Switzerland. As CNET News reports, CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has built an ultra-high-speed network so scientists can share massive amounts of data collected from the world's largest particle accelerator, scheduled to go online next month. The people who built the network are learning how to handle data moving at speeds about 1000 times as fast as the average home broadband connection.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: bandwidth, broadband, CERN, CNET News, physics, Switzerland

Categories: Technology, The Web, Web Picks

Tags: bandwidth, broadband, CERN, CNET News, physics, Switzerland

Solar Moratorium Reversed

July 3, 2008 2:43 PM | | Comments (0)

After an outcry from the solar power industry, the federal Bureau of Land Management has lifted its recently announced ban on new solar energy projects on public lands. The BLM had placed a two-year moratorium on such projects so it could study their impact. CNET News says the bureau reversed course on Wednesday.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Bureau of Land management, CNET news, solar

Categories: Energy and Environment, Government, Web Picks

Tags: Bureau of Land management, CNET news, solar

Web Pick: Innovation Cuts Data-Center Power Use

June 23, 2008 2:18 PM | | Comments (0)

Finding new sources of energy is important, but so is cutting back energy use at power-hungry facilities like computer data centers. CNET News brings us the story of a startup, Power Assure, which has developed so-called Holistic Power Management. The company says it can reduce data center power by up to 80 percent.

posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET news, Power Assure

Categories: Energy and Environment, Web Picks

Tags: CNET news, Power Assure