Pondering Primate December Newsletter

Pondering Primate December 08


CNN pitches a cheaper wire service to newspapers, an alternative to The Associated Press
link

WalMart adopts wind power link

The new remote link
Wiimote, which is essentially a 3D mouse, and thus ideally suited for the speedy, point/click/drag navigation that a true big-screen Internet experience requires

FCC pushing free Web plan link

Credit card industry may cut $2 trillion of lines of credit link

Even cows being hit with greenhouse gas tax link

Advertisers tap another sense to pitch products link

Experiential marketing is also an acknowledgment that products and brands must offer alternatives to the interruptive model of peddling that has been the mainstay of advertising for more than a half-century, which disrupts what consumers want to watch, read or hear

The “phone book” for the Internet. New domain .tel link

Increased definition of “broadband” to Mbps by 2010
Telcos and tech companies issue “call to action” for national broadband strategy.
link

Tax breaks, low-interest loans to build out high-speed networks. link

Energy

F.P.L breaks ground on the first utility-scale solar investment in state (Florida)
link


Electrified walls and ceilings. While AC has huge advantages over DC for transmitting power, Patterson said, many of the devices in use in buildings today have to convert it into direct current, with resulting efficiency losses link

How much is the express lane worth to drive during rush hour?
From .25 to $2.65 tolls change according to traffic volume. link

Google teams up with Hallmark Channel for TV ads link

GE stops producing incandescent bulbs link

Should we watch oil stocks to determine economic recovery? (correlation of oil to economy)
link

RFID boarding passes..EZPass comes to airline industry link

Apple to sell $99 iPhone at WalMart? link

In-store price comparison using mobile phone and barcode comes to a halt at Target.
link
Will this lead to a boom in sales of cell phone jammers?

Facebook offers a universal ID (signon resource) and similar to OpenID. Facebook users will be able to log onto other sites connected with the service. When you view a TV show on Hulu, or read something on the Chronicle, it can show up in your Facebook News Feed, alerting your friends as to what you're watching and reading. Then they can click on it, too. Public cookies?
link

New fabric resists water like no other link

Power line networking
Power line networking chips (and the algorithms that go with them) essentially allow communication signals to travel on the same wires that go to the lights. As a result, rapid, finely tuned commands can be shuttled from a utility without worries that other radios or environmental disturbances will hamper it. link

New players in accelerometer space (the chip that detects motion in remote devices)
link

Keeping DNA samples from people with no criminal convictions is a breach of their human rights a European Court ruled. link

Several major cities will be without a daily newspaper by 2010 link

Google uses 16.5% of US consumer Internet capacity, expected to rise to 37% by 2010
link

YouTube launches high definition link

NBC to cut back number of hours it airs programming. link

Treasury Bills trade at negative rates for first time. link
Government can finance the stimulus packages with cheap debt.

Cancer to overtake heart disease as leading killer by 2010 link

Google wants preferential treatment for Internet traffic link

Obesity tax on non-diet soda link

New York State unveils new taxes ..including iTune downloads
link

Facebook the new lawsuit delivery service? link

YouTube accounts for 25% of all Google searches and now is the 2nd largest search engine. More searches done through YouTube than Yahoo.
link
Google’s $1.65B acquisition pays off.

Coupon websites fastest growing online properties

VHS era is winding down. The last big supplier of the tapes is ditching the format, ending the long fade-out of a product that ushered in the home theater. link

Airline passengers can buy carbon offsets link

Internet surpasses newspapers as main source for national and international news.
link

Websites to get cinema-style ratings. link

YouTube Is Now The 2nd Largest Search Engine

It's official, video is the new content.


YouTube Now 25 Percent Of All Google Searches

Video search on YouTube accounts for a quarter of all Google search queries in the U.S., according to the latest search engine numbers from comScore.

If it were a standalone site, YouTube would be the second largest search engine after Google. More searches are done through YouTube than through Yahoo.

Just recently YouTube launches a high definition version.

Things to ponder.

How long before video mail replaces emailing?

Your PC and mobile have an "email address", how long before your digital camera and video camera have one too?

How long before your video camera has its own IP address, or is Internet enabled (while power is on)

When will we see the ability to click on a hyperlink within a video? think interactive product placement within a video..the holy grail of Internet advertising

All of these upcoming features will increase Internet traffic exponentially.

Pondering Primate November 08

I am introducing a new service to the Pondering Primate. Each month I will offer a recap of headlines, mandates, events and breakthroughs that are worthy of pondering.

In order to act on these headlines, should this be offered on a weekly basis?
Email me with your thoughts, likes, and dislikes.

"All the news that’s fit to ponder"


Barack Obama wins Presidential election

A win for CleanTech link
What Obama presidency means for the Cleantech industry link

He is calling for a $150 billion investment in clean technologies over 10 years, aggressive targets for greenhouse emission reductions, and programs to promote energy efficiency, low-carbon biofuels, and renewable energies

Obama’s Energy Plan link

Will Obama’s clean coal plans bankrupt the coal industry?

Is this the right idea but at the wrong time? link

However, an E.P.A decision may give Obama what he wants link
Recession will allow lower carbon caps. link

The U.S. and European Union can afford to set tougher limits on emissions because slower economic activity will cut greenhouse gas output and lower emission permit prices.

Businesses are already expediting deals before new Obama tax rates go in effect:
Miami Dolphins owner rushes sale of team link
Signing bonuses before the first of the year for employment contracts link

Former U.S.Energy secretaries call cap and trade an “industrial manager’s nightmare”
link
T. Boone Pickens delays his wind farm plan. The biggest advocate of clean energy loses billions with drop in oil prices. link
He cited the fall in natural gas prices, a competing source of electricity generation, as a deterrent.
Biggest U.S. wind energy adopter cuts capital expenditures. link

Will drop in oil prices lead to another “deja vous” for CleanTech industry (remember the renewable energy buzz in the 70’s?).


The era that defined Wall Street is over link

How is New York City starting to cope with the downturn.
New York City proposes additional tax ideas.
Plastic bag surcharge link

Transit Agency sees higher fees link

Oil prices lose 60%…why did the price of oil drop so fast?
hedge funds have gone into commodities as investors, rather than arbitragers.

Like real estate, commodities permit a high degree of leverage — typically 10 to 1 — compared to stocks margined at 2 to 1. Because of this ability to “leverage-up,” and the fact that the supply-demand equation has been unusually attractive over the last two to three years, these “new speculators” have been encouraged to bid up prices to extraordinary and unsustainable levels
This trend service called it perfectly. link

Oil prices save consumers $270 Billion link

The International Energy Agency (IEA) warns oil will hit $200 by 2030 link
Mexico will soon be a net importer of oil and be forced to stop oil exports to U.S.(11% of our imports) link
Could this have any impact on NAFTA?

Brazil a new oil giant. Offshore drilling pays off big for both employment and oil. link

Could Brazil’s success and Mexico’s aggressive deepwater exploration force US to reconsider offshore drilling?

IEA says world energy use is “patently unsustainable” link
A revolution in the energy business is required to maintain economic growth

Congress proposes $50 billion auto bailout. Tough love could lead to tough times. link

Could conditions for bailout be the catalyst for “green cars”?

Fixed labor and healthcare costs prevent auto industry from adapting and competing. What happens to companies that don’t recognize or have the ability to change.

U.S. unemployment rate hits 25 year high link
Winners (armed services, temporary job services, collection agencies, job training, blood banks)
Losers (charities, high end retailers, restaurants)

Voters approve high-speed rail for California. link

Al Gore wants carbon-free electricity in 10 years link

Clean coal initiatives will force smart grid adoption

Will clean coal lead to more blackouts? link
Carbon policies will have to take into account the problems that will come with switching over from a coal infrastructure. The power grid will also have to be upgraded to allow electricity to be consumed more efficiently.

How much will upgraded grid cost, $2Trillion link

The plan could also help solve the country's economic crisis by creating "millions of new jobs that cannot be outsourced."

Renewable energy adoption goes mainstream when there is an efficient delivery method (smart grid).

Goldman Sachs invests in carbon-offset companies.. Carbon offsets are projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. link
These two deals show Goldman Sachs’ interest in the global carbon market.

An immediate solution to our energy crisis?

What has as much capacity as US wind, solar, geothermal and biomass combined? (and it exists today) link
This technology is equal to 29,000 megawatts of capacity during periods of peak summer demand--as much as all U.S. wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass power combined.

One of the largest energy user (Dept of Defense) adopts demand response. link


The “next generation” Internet

Energy is really just another form of data that travels across a network.
Google joins Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition link

How will Google use the power of information for the energy industry?

Are smart meters the next generation PCs?

The grid is similar to the Internet. Instead of zeros and ones, megawatts is the new “content”. How will Google utilize (and monetize) the data created by the grid?

Smart grid startups merge link
Smart grid is required in order to meet booming electric car demand. link
Smart Grid will require $2 Trillion link

Demand Response Smart Grid Coalition seeks tax breaks for “Negawatts”. 21 policy recommendations for Obama.
link

Newly discovered energy is a huge source of untapped energy. Frozen natural gas could heat 100 million homes for 10 years. link

Could the smart meter be the “next PC”? link

Smart meter rollout and the effects link

Every home and building will have one and it too will be connected to the Net. It will provide energy efficiency and numerous revenue opportunities.


The Future Of Newspapers?

One of the oldest newspapers (Christian Science Monitor) ceases daily print publication and focuses on the Net. link

Will the New York Times adapt quick enough to changing viewing and advertising trends, or will it go under by May? link

Will newspaper extinction drive up online ad prices? Did Craig’s List (online classifieds) eliminate newspaper’s major revenue source….or was the drop in real estate (listings/ads) the final nail?

Yellow Pages Face Extinction link

They could have dominated location based advertising. Will the death of the Yellow Pages be a boom for Google’s local ad biz?

Here’s what the Yellow Pages could have done to be competitive. link
Even this link

Imagine if the Yellow Pages had offered a service for local merchants (Joe the plumber or Sal’s Pizzeria) to create a website quick and cheap (in addition to being placed in the book). Many of these small businesses didn’t have the time or knowledge to create a Web presence. This would have made the Yellow Pages the local search engine of choice.


US Postal Service considers layoffs..first time ever in history (another unionized industry facing obsolescence?) link

Internet services (online banking etc) are eliminating mail revenue.
More proof the government is not a business saavy.

Is the auto industry next? A sign that unionized businesses are antiquated?

Can you see me now?

Cisco sees Telepresence adoption in 12 months link

High-quality video conferencing systems are helping companies save on travel expenses and a consumer version would help people experience something closer to real-life meetings.

Citrix buys high definition conference call equipment player Vapps link

Will the set top box be the “server” for the home?

Cisco introduces new router that can help phone companies and cable operators deal with onslaught of video traffic link


A “M.P.G”. rating for computer hardware?

The Green Grid is hoping to have a new package of standardized metrics in place from next year that will allow firms to compare the energy efficiency of different servers, storage systems and networking equipment, in much the same way motorists compare the fuel efficiency of different cars. link

Virtualization energy efficiency software for servers?
Data center energy bills could be cut by 30% link

Virtualization software comes to mobile devices link next virtualization bonanza


One of the largest US electronic retailers, Circuit City files for bankruptcy. link
Could it be because flat panel TV sales have peaked link

Was there not enough room for two electronic retailers (Best Buy Circuit City)to survive? Could the same thing happen to home improvement market? (Home Depot Lowes)

First the PC and then the high priced high-def TV, what is the next high price electronic item that will save retailers? Hint, it’s already in your living room.

What’s China’s Economy Doing?

China reported its first decline in monthly electricity output in four years, one of the strongest signs so far that the country's economic slowdown may be worse than thought
link

What happens if to world economy if China’s economic slowdown is this drastic?

Chinese solar companies slowing production. link

What companies benefit from falling solar prices ? link

China takes steps toward a national emission trading platform. link


Google shares flu outbreak search results link

Privacy issues? Will people use alternative search engines for privacy matters? Will advertisers use specific search engines knowing this and choose ads based on specific search topics.

Is bandwidth the new oil?

The combined cost of broadband, home phones, cable or satellite TV and mobile phones can easily outstrip our energy bills, and our connected lifestyle is making these services essential. Is history repeating itself? Will our internet addiction become as costly and as dangerous as our addiction to oil? link


“Wi-Fi on Steroids” Gets FCC approval

FCC approves Google backed white space spectrum. Digital TV transformation represents opportunity for true broadband for America. link

Cheap broadband access represents a $100 billion dollar plus a year market. This spectrum will allow billions of devices and objects to be connected to the Net. With speeds up to 80Mbps, it represents a threat to fiber-to-the-premises solutions like Verizon’s FiOS networks.

One of the beneficiaries? GE announces Smart Appliance program link

It could also provide a network for the smart meter.

Dell incorporates white space radios into laptops link
A threat to the Wi-Fi, WiMax and mobile provider players?


No e-waste dumping in landfills or developing countries link

FedEx cuts aircraft emissions, increases fuel efficiency. link

One of the largest users of fuel takes steps to improve costs by eliminating “gas guzzler” planes, will other carriers too?
What airplanes are most efficient? Least?


Energy efficiency will shape US economic recovery.
“the cheapest and most available source of new energy is the energy we waste”. U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman


Information Technology (IT) members are urging lawmakers to keep big picture in mind when they create economic and energy legislation link

How does America waste over 50% of its energy? (you'll never guess) link

China merges electricity infrastructure with information technology. link

Project aims to reduce China’s energy consumption per unit.
China’s stimulus plan that focuses on increased investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy (smart grid) should be a wake-up call for the US.

IBM proposes a technology-fueled economic recovery plan. link

Sixty-seven percent of electrical energy, for example, is lost because of inefficient power generation and grid management.
Energy efficiency offers the highest return for our economy.
Grid management and power efficiency companies should be monitored.

IBM is also reviving an old idea, broadband over powerlines. link
Google also invested in this space link

Advertising Comes Into Digital Age

YouTube, otherwise know as the world’s second largest search engine introduces targeted advertising to video searches link

New online video site to match YouTube’s revenue. link

This proves media companies can generate revenues online without having to go through Google. (Apple’s iTunes controls the music industry). The end of Google's video monopoly?

Will they start to include consumer produced videos? A threat to Google/YouTube?

Search videos using text link
A search engine is able to search videos using closed captioning technology and image recognition technology.

Dynamic ad insertion for both linear and non-linear TV viewing (HUGE implications for advertising industry)
Targeted ads to be inserted before, after and during on demand content playback
link

Advertisers can now reach prime time and “my time” TV viewers link

Advertisers can now place targeted ads based on WHEN show is watched, not when it is broadcast. A reason for advertisers to love the TiVo now? TV morphing into PC.

Blockbuster enters the set top box market with an on-demand device. (dumb) link

This is just prolonging the inevitable death of this company and industry (retail video stores). Blockbuster failed to capitalize on movies/games being downloaded over the Net. They didn’t recognize that the physical items in their stores were being replaced with digital content online.


The TV remote comes alive with sensing technology.

The first type of ecommerce through the TV? (order pizza using TV remote control)
link

When Apple incorporated sensing technology (accelerometer) in the iPhone, they didn’t just disrupt the mobile phone industry, they disrupted the entire remote device space.
This sensing technology is transforming remote controls into PC mouses. What’s inside an accelerometer?…small micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)

The new remote control.

Wii controller and a browser will reinvent the TV and viewing. link

Will the Wii be the new TV remote? Will hand gestures replace button pushing?

Will set top box manufactures incorporate this motion sensing technology (accelerometer)? What other devices will include this technology? The TV is morphing into a PC.

Biggest spam company shuts down link

Who does this affect? Viagra ( sexual and prescription drugs), email database companies. Will eliminating spam drive up the price of keywords at Google AdSense?

The eBay of working capital?

Recession and tight credit markets create a new way for businesses to tap cash. By selling outstanding receivables, much needed financing is available without resorting to vulture financing. link

How will this financing method What kind of impact will this financing method have on balance sheets? Will this put pressure on banks to lend, or will they too get into this business?

Philips develops “intelligent pill”… contains a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a drug reservoir to release medication in a specific area in the body link

Intel gets into the home health care business link new laptop (computing device) will remotely sync patients with health care providers

File sharing Internet darling BitTorrent falls on hard times. link

Have .99 songs offered on iTunes AND the iPod eliminated this once Internet file-share darling? Or does geographical distance no longer matter for file delivery?

The rebirth of the barcode…a Physical World Hyperlink
Airline industry adopts mobile barcodes for boarding passes. link
Sprint enables mobile phones to scan barcodes for Internet connectivity. link

The 2d barcode represents a way for camera phones to link physical objects with the Internet. Can the barcode save the print industry?

Is Apple building a search engine? link

The end of phone landlines is near. link

Internet of things fights traffic jams. Cars with mobile sensors that pick up real-time information on the location and speed of the vehicles as well as the condition of the roads. The data are fed back to a central computer that calculates the traffic patterns and can predict the optimal route link

Search engine for sound wave recognition link

Streaming online videos to a high definition TV is next major boom.
So far there’s Apple TV but a new player has emerged link

New bulletproof tire is airless link
What other products could this material be used for?


October e-commerce slowest growth ever, 1%..lowest monthly growth rate since comScore began tracking data in 2001 link

Another form of physical content gets digitized and goes online. Is the end of book retailers fast approaching? link

Digital music finally surpasses compact disc sales. More than half of music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones.
link

While the losers are easy to see, such as retailers, packaging could it also include the management industry? If an artist can produce an album and get it online, what happens to the agency business?

Merrill Lynch Calls Cleantech The Sixth Technology Revolution

Cleantech, the next investing boom?


Merrill Lynch Compares Cleantech To Computing In The 70's

History shows that technology revolutions occur about every 50 years.

"We believe cleantech is at the beginning of a high-growth period much like computing was in the early 1970s. The application of technology to resource problems should cause profound changes in the energy, utility, and automotive industries." says Mr. Steven Milunovich

Mr. Milunovich believes the sixth technology revolution will be driven by clean technology - the application of technology to optimize the use of natural resources - and biotech.

The current pressure on cleantech stocks may continue for now, but the combination of friendlier government policies and economic improvement should lead to investment opportunities in 2010-11.

Is Bandwidth The New Oil?

Does America face another addiction with limited resources?

"Bandwidth is kind of like a drug," says Dana Waldman (CEO Voyant International). "The more you get, the more you want"

The number of devices connected to the Net is expected to grow exponentially with the "Internet of Things". If you include the growth in video related devices/application (and include the high definition capability) we could be facing another commodity crisis.

Tech Radar asks the question What If Bandwidth Was The New Oil?

While our oil habit continues to cost us dear, we're busily establishing another addiction. This time, it's bandwidth. The combined cost of broadband, home phones, cable or satellite TV and mobile phones can easily outstrip our energy bills, and our connected lifestyle is making these services essential. Is history repeating itself?

Will our internet addiction become as costly and as dangerous as our addiction to oil?

The solution

Is The New Economic Indicator Signalling That Smart Grid Plans Are On Hold?

From W.S.J.
A drop in power use, disrupts utility industry.

An unexpected drop in U.S. electricity consumption has utility companies worried that the trend isn't a byproduct of the economic downturn, and could reflect a permanent shift in consumption that will require sweeping change in their industry.

compel major changes in the way utilities run their businesses. Utilities are expected to invest $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion by 2030 to modernize their electric systems and meet future needs, according to an industry-funded study by the Brattle Group.

However, if electricity demand is flat or even declining, utilities must either make significant adjustments to their investment plans or run the risk of building too much capacity.

But what has executives stumped is that recent shifts appear larger than others seen previously.

"Oil Is Finite But Information Is Infinite".. Google's CEO Eric Schmidt

Bits, bytes, megawatts and kilowatts...it's all just data to me, but Google sees it as content. We saw how they revolutionized content traveling over the Internet.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said “the cheapest and most available source of new energy is the energy we waste”.

Is an antiquated power grid the biggest form of waste?

Here comes the “next generation” Internet. Think of all of the computing devices that are connected (plugged in) to the

"EnerNet" (Energy+Internet=EnerNet)

Eric Schmidt gave a speech at the New America Foundation that outlined what the "next generation" Internet will allow.

How will Google use the power of information for the energy industry?

Energy is really just another form of bits and bytes (data) that travels across a network.

When an air conditioner is turned on, data (or content) is being created.

Millions of ACs, refrigerators, Ipods etc. There are probably fifty times the number of other "computing devices" in your house generating data (content) compared to PCs/laptops.

When Google joined the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition they signaled their intent to dominate handling "information" traveling over the "EnerNet"

Schmidt's first suggestion is to use some of the bailout funds to upgrade the electric grid, and make it smart. Broadband was required before people could really utilize the Net, a smart grid is necessary for the CleanTech boom.

Every structure that relies on heating or air conditioning will require a "new PC".

Are smart meters the next generation PCs? The grid is similar to the Internet.

How will Google utilize (and monetize) the data created by the grid?

Here's how I see the next generation Internet and the analogy of previous Net winners.

Smart meters (Dell), chips that make devices more energy efficient (Intel), software that connects these devices to the EnerNet (Microsoft) and managing the data (content) that is generated when these devices are connected (Google)....and Google again.

Thoughts?

WalMart Makes Commitment To Wind Power

Having a major retailer commit to a product or service can be as transformational as a government mandate.

From Wall Street Journal Blog

WalMart Commits To Wind Power

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer just announced a deal with Duke Energy to use wind power for 15% of the electricity at hundreds of its Texas stores. The wind will come from a Duke wind farm slated to go operational next spring.

What’s interesting about Wal-Mart’s announcement is the company’s long-term bet that using wind power will be cost-competitive with traditional power sources. Wal-Mart’s vice-president of energy said in a statement, “We’re purchasing renewable power at traditional energy rates,” though the company didn’t disclose specific terms.


Wind Energy stocks

Pondering Primate (Team Monkee Do) Off To Race In IronMan Arizona

The end of IronMan racing season is almost here.

Team Monkee Do (Scott Shaffer) is taking off for beautiful Tempe to race in IronMan Arizona.

An Ironman race consist of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run (marathon). It is by far one of the most agonizing but rewarding things to experience.

Follow the race at www.ironmanlive.com

There's a little unfinished business in the desert to take care of.

Google, iPhone and Speech Recognition...Will QWERTY Keyboards Lose Their Significance?

The iPhone represents two major transformations, one is speech recognition. (know the other?)

One of the selling points to smartphones is the QWERTY keyboard. Will speech recognition technology eliminate the need for them?

When word processing was introduced, it was the beginning of the end of handwriting.

Can you think of the last time you wrote anything of length on sheet of paper?

Google is blending the PC with the mobile phone, and will be creating another revenue stream for keywords

NY Times has a story about Google, iPhone and Machines That Listen

Google’s new speech recognition service for the iPhone, understands you most accurately when you speak to it just the way you enter queries into the Google search box. It may even signify an inflection point — speech recognition that is more useful than typing.

Not only will Apple (using Google's technology) transform search on a mobile, but imagine the other applications that will change with this speech recognition technology (text messaging, email, location based services).

(second transformation)
In addition to transforming the way we use a mobile phone, Apple also disrupted the entire remote device space, when they incorporated sensing technology (accelerometer).

What other industries will benefit from this?

Energy Efficiency And Grid Reliability Represent $65 Billion Market

Lux Research report predicts that focus energy efficiency and grid reliability will drive a $65 billion market opportunity in 2013.

The advent of distributed generation, distributed storage, and distributed intelligence will change power infrastructure into an intelligent and more nimble power web, according to a new report from Lux Research, "Alternative Power and Energy Storage State of the Market Q4 2008: Weaving the $65 Billion Power Web.

"Smart grid technologies, like advanced metering infrastructure and demand response services, will enable the transformation of the current grid to a more reliable and intelligent power web," said Ying Wu, Senior Analyst at Lux Research.

More on demand response and smart meter

Comcast Rolls Out Extreme Broadband..But Who Can Afford It?

If you roll it out, with they buy it?

As consumers cut back on unnecessary expenditures, I can't help but think that Comcast's extremely expensive broadband service will receive a lukewarm reception.

Comcast to Roll Out Extreme 50 Mbps

Comcast, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services, today announced it is making the leap from broadband to wideband with the launch of next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

* Extreme 50, offering up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed at $139.95/month.*
* Ultra, offering up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed at $62.95/month.*


To see what broadband speeds you're really getting (as opposed to what they advertise) do a free test at www.speedtest.net

The eBay Of Working Capital

Recession and tight credit markets create a new way for businesses to tap cash. By selling outstanding receivables, much needed financing is available without resorting to vulture financing.

eBay of working capital

What kind of impact will this financing method have on balance sheets?

Will this put pressure on banks to lend, or will they too get into this business?

The First Type Of Ecommerce Using TV Remote Control?

What other order menus do you see cable companies inserting in shows?

Dominos and TiVo Hook Up For Remote Control Ordering

Users can also access the Dominos site through any number of entry points -- Gold Star sponsorship, program placements, interactive tags in live TV spots, and through Music, Photos, Products & More by clicking on "Order Your Pizza" -- and manually enter an address and pizza order. Users will also be able to track their pizzas, according to Domino's.

Voice Recognition Mobile Search From Google Is Here

First Google introduced local voice search (1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411)

Using this service, you can:

* search for a local business by name or category.
You can say "Giovanni's Pizzeria" or just "pizza".
* get connected to the business, free of charge.
* get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone.
Just say "text message".

Microsoft acquired TellMe for $800m. TellMe's founder Mike McCue called his vision "DialTone 2.0".

From NY Times Google Adds Voice Search To iPhone

Users of the free application, which Apple is expected to make available as soon as Friday through its iTunes store, can place the phone to their ear and ask virtually any question, like “Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” or “How tall is Mount Everest?” The sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the Google search engine.

The search results, which may be displayed in just seconds on a fast wireless network, will at times include local information, taking advantage of iPhone features that let it determine its location.

The other mobile speech recognition deals and players

White Space Provides The Future Of Wireless Revolution

It should come as no surprise to Pondering Primate readers how big the FCC's decision to approve Google Backed White Space Use will be.

It's been called "WiFi on steroids" and offers "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans."

From M.I.T. Technology Review The Coming Wireless Revolution.

"The announcement that the FCC will allow white-space devices has a lot of people feeling like this is a beginning of a wireless revolution," says Anant Sahai, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.

radios that are smart enough to hop from one frequency to another, leaving occupied channels undisturbed--an approach known as cognitive radio

Dell may want to build broadband wireless Internet cards that are faster and have more range than existing ones do (already announced this initiative)

Google may simply want to push Internet coverage to increase the number of people who see Google ads (Google has estimated it will increase revenues by 20-30%)

Jake Ward from Wireless Innovation Alliance describes one white-space application as "mind blowing": sending high-definition television signals from one room to another within a house. "You have a TiVo, a DVD player, a cable box, and three high-definition TVs," he says. "Using a white-space device, you could beam those signals anywhere, to any TV."

More about the White Space potential

Google Joins Smart Grid Coalition

Google joins Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition

The Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG) is the trade association for companies that provide products and services in the areas of demand response, smart meters and smart grid technologies.

DRSG works to educate and provide information to policymakers, utilities, the media, the financial community and stakeholders on how demand response and smart grid technologies such as smart meters can help modernize our electricity system and provide customers with new information and options for managing their electricity use

How will Google use the power of information for the energy industry?

Google Says White Space Will Boost Their Online Ad Revenue By 20-30%

"Wi-Fi on steroids" is said to be worth billions to Google.
How much will it be worth to other white space players?

Could President Obama, Congress and and Google team up to deliver Wi-Fi on steroids?
The FCC just gave it a thumbs up.

From Investor's Business Daily U.S. Broadband Push Seen Gaining Steam

President-elect Obama writes on his website, "America should lead the world in broadband penetration and internet access". He calls for "providing true broadband to every community in America".

How can this be accomplished?

Microsoft said access to white spaces offers "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans."

On Nov. 5, the FCC voted to open vacant broadcast spectrum for unlicensed use. The availability of these white spaces was applauded by Google co-founder Larry Page, who said in a statement: "In terms of how people use the Internet, how they communicate with each other, how rural areas will be able to have connectivity, this will be a tremendously important thing."

Page predicted the free use of white space will boost Internet use so much, his firm's online ad revenue will rise 20% to 30% a year..
(My rough estimates put that figure at roughly $4-7B in additional revenues)

Last week Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt went to Chicago to serve as part of Obama's 17-person economic transition economic advisory board.(Schmidt said no to Obama's CTO position though).

Google's Larry Page defines White Space as "Wi-Fi on steroids"

Utilizing the unused TV "white spaces" for broadband access would be a tremendous opportunity to bring the Internet to more Americans -- including those in rural areas and first responders.

Because of the much longer range of these spectrum signals, wireless broadband access utilizing the TV white spaces could be brought to more consumers using fewer base stations -- in effect, "wi-fi on steriods".

Largest PC manufacturer is already betting on its adoption.


More ponderings on White Spaces

BitTorrent....The Internet's Darling Becomes A Dud

Representing about half the world’s Internet traffic by some measures, The Street.com called it the next gigantic IPO.

CNN called it the The Next Big IPO.

Much of their popularity is due to its ability to break the download bottleneck.

However when Comcast, a service provider, decided to put a "hold" on their Internet traffic, their downfall began.

BitTorrent Sacks Half Its Staff

As an open-source technology protocol, the file-sharing system BitTorrent is going strong, representing about half the world’s Internet traffic by some measures. But the San Francisco company, BitTorrent, is showing signs of serious trouble while it tries to commercialize the technology.

The company, with its remaining 20 employees, will focus on BitTorrent DNA, a content delivery network that helps media and video game companies distribute their products cheaply over the Internet.

Om Malik was spot on with this quote "While Web 2.0 companies may get acquired by Google (or Yahoo), specialized software start-ups with products that enhance hardware will find buyers more often. Expect this trend to continue, and in fact gain momentum"


So is the market in need of more bandwidth, or just bandwidth efficiency?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Picking up any newspaper or listening to any news outlet will have you wondering if the days of a prosperous U.S. economy are over. There isn't anything new to invent (we have heard that before).

How did we get here and where do we go from here?

What is the next boom?


Here's a compilation of events/transformations that got us here:

Year 2K and Internet boom
-massive spending in the hardware/software industry (PC growth)
-telcos ramped up by laying pipe
-govt flooded market with money to fight off any 1/1/2000 problems
-easy money led to "dumb" IPOS (remember Pets.com?)...big fees for investment bankers
-"day trading" a new industry
(the first leg of the financial industry greed)

The end of the Net boom and the recession officially started with 9/11

Fed lowers interest rates to stimulate economy after 9/11

-home building wave starts (demand for lumber, concrete starts)
-home prices start to increase causing refinancing, line of credit boom---consumer wave starts
-Govt creates Homeland Security (security industry booms)
-housing boom starts with all time low interest rates (stock day trading shifts to day trading homes)
-unprecedented hurricane activity (and strength) triggers roofing/repair industry
-home builders, realtors, mortgage brokers see record prosperity
-the financial industry create esoteric investments based on mortgages (second leg of the financial industry greed)

CHINDIA (China and India two massive economies start to ramp

-farming, manufacturing, medical equipment companies
-commodity prices skyrocket
-the tipping point for finding cheap oil and Chindia's massive appetite create perfect storm
-Olympics in China create big spending for one time event
-oil prices reach record levels impacting consumers and manufacturers..the start of the CleanTech money flow
-US Dollar falls to record levels

What caused the upcoming perfect storm?

-Home prices crater causing foreclosures, home-builder weakness
-oil prices dive on economic slowdown (hedge funds on the wrong side of this trade are forced to liquidate contracts causing rapid drop in price)

-worldwide economic slowdown and financial industry
-Govt approves $700b bailout of financials
-Auto industry asks for a government handout

Oil and natural gas prices drop drastically
-Cleantech investment comes to a halt (a massive newly created industry that was expected to resurrect our economy)
-Photovoltaic prices (solar cells) expected to drop in '09
-Pickens delays his wind farm plan

The economy is cyclical with varying sizes of booms and busts.

The question is what technology, government mandate, or event will create the next boom?

A Boom Coming For TV Advertising?

Dynamic ad insertion for both linear and non-linear TV viewing.

The ability to place targeted ads before, after and during on demand content playback will disrupt the television advertising.

A new advertising solution will enable advertisers and content providers to exert exacting control over ad placement and generate revenue through additional advertising opportunities.

Advertisers can now reach both prime time and "my time" viewers. This has enormous implications for advertising.

IBM Proposes Technology Fueled Economic Recovery Plan

From NY Times IBM Proposes Technology Economic Recovery Plan

Sixty-seven percent of electrical energy, for example, is lost because of inefficient power generation and grid management.

I.B.M. is increasingly playing the role of lead contractor in these so-called smart infrastructure projects around the world, from a traffic management network in Stockholm to electric grids in Texas.

computerized grids, thermostats and appliances can sense and communicate line failures or automatically turn off air-conditioners during peak load times to save money and fuel

What Has As Much Capacity As U.S. Wind, Solar, Geothermal And Biomass Combined?

The media rush to highlight every major new renewable power project, but another clean energy resource gets far less attention, even though it's flexible, abundant, relatively inexpensive and valued overall at billions of dollars.

Next 100 highlights the Invisible Energy Resource

According to a recent report by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), this unheralded resource is equal to 29,000 megawatts of capacity during periods of peak summer demand--as much as all U.S. wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass power combined.

The report calls it "an effective and efficient capacity resource, on equal footing with generation" and says it "will become a critical resource for maintaining system reliability over the next ten years."

I've discussed about this technology before.

Know what it is and who the players are?

Energy Internet Or Electronet...Two Terms To Get Used To

Thomas Friedman in Hot Flat and Crowded recognizes the core green truth that the future is all about clean electrons -- that is, carbon-free electricity -- and energy efficiency.

A smart electrical grid is when moving power use to the grid also opens up the full potential of an "energy internet,"

Al Gore speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit:

The nation needs to build “an electronet,” a unified national smart grid, with high-voltage, low-loss underground wires that deliver renewable energy from the places that produce it — like the sunny Arizona deserts or the windy Dakota plains — to the cities where the majority of it is used. Such a grid would require a $400 billion investment upfront, but would pay off in just over three years, he said, because the nation spends $120 billion annually on costs from power failures attributed to the existing grid.

7 Ideas To Watch With Upcoming Energy Infrastructure Build

A new report by the Brattle Group estimates that the U.S. utility industry will have to invest between $1.5 and $2.0 trillion between 2010 and 2030 just to maintain current levels of reliable energy service for customers throughout the country.


The Energy Road Map does a great job summarizing “Transforming America’s Power Industry: The Investment Challenge 2010-2030”

They also list seven ideas to watch.

1) Smart Grid- Software, Sensors & Storage
2) Distribute Power & Energy storage
3) Cleaner Coal conversation gets emotional, but coal wins
4) Next generation biofuels push corn aside
5) Solar grows, but real breakthroughs still waiting in the lab
6) Nuclear tries to reengage public and political leaders
7) Geothermal energy

In addition, the report states that EE/DR programs could significantly reduce, but not eliminate, the need for new generation capacity. And, implementation of a new federal carbon policy would significantly increase the cost and change the mix of new generation capacity.

Pondering Primate Off To Race In IronMan World Championship 70.3

The 09 IronMan racing season is coming to an end. This weekend is the World Championship 70.3 race and in 2 weeks IronMan Arizona.

Team Monkee Do (Scott Shaffer) will be racing at this weekend's IronMan World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater, Florida • November 8, 2008

The Ironman 70.3 Series culminates with its world championship in Clearwater, FL.

More than 1,800 domestic and international competitors earn the right to compete in the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3 by qualifying at one of the 31 Ironman 70.3 events held around the world.

Ironman 70.3 events consist of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. The race will start and finish at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach

Follow the race live at IronManLive.com

Dell Incorporates White Space Radios Into Laptops

Dell adopts "WiFi on steroids".

In short, access to white spaces offers "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans."

I have pondered at great length about the enormous opportunity White Space represents

After the FCC approved the Google Backed White Space Use, the largest PC maker announces they will incorporate this technology.

From PC World Dell To Offer White Space Connectivity In Laptops

Dell will add a new wireless option to future laptops by installing radio chips that provide connectivity over the unused television spectrum known as white spaces. Proponents say the TV spectrum can carry broadband signals significantly farther than Wi-Fi, and that opening up the spectrum will help expand the market for new smartphone-like devices.

Today some 1 billion WiFi chips are shipped each year.

"We intend to integrate white-space radios into future Dell products," said Neeraj Srivastava, director of technology policy at Dell. The products could include laptops, netbooks, and any other devices that provide wireless network access. White spaces could solve a lot of the problems of the 2.4GHz spectrum and allow for higher-bandwidth applications such as streaming audio and video.

4 Reasons why you should care about White Space.
(Hint: one of them is the fastest WiFi ever)

How will this new spectrum affect WiFI players, telcos and cable cos?

Also this week Intel announced they were scrapping their ultrawideband efforts.

More white space ponderings

Suggested CleanTech Reading

A record amount of VC money is going into the CleanTech, or GreenTech space.

Here are some books I have found that give great insight on where some of the next great investments might be found in the CleanTech space.




Nicholas Carr, the author of "Does IT Matter?" (a book that was way ahead of it's time) provides more of his visions.
This book discusses how cheap, utility-supplied computing will ultimately change society as profoundly as cheap electricity did.



Best selling author Thomas Friedman follows up his "The World Is Flat" with a great insight as to how the Green Revolution could provide America with a great opportunity. "The green revolution we need is is like no revolution the world has seen".



Highlights the various types of renewable energy opportunities (trends, pros/cons, timeframes, profitability potential and myths).

FCC Approves Google Backed White Space Use

The "Internet of Things", or "Physical World Connection" is becoming a reality.

When everyone and everything has access to broadband, the Internet will deliver numerous applications, companies and revenue opportunities.

Everything from thermostats, smart meters, digital cameras, sprinkler systems, airplanes to mobile phones and laptops will soon have broadband access capabilities.

Internet For Everyone and soon everything. Cheap broadband wireless services will soon be available to all.

Google calls it "Wi-Fi on steroids". Today some 1 billion Wi-Fi chips are shipped each year. "

Now that the FCC has set the rules, I'm sure that we'll see similar growth in products to take advantage of this spectrum," Google's Larry Page wrote.

Microsoft calls "white spaces" the greatest improvement in Internet access since the advent of Wi-Fi."

White Spaces offers a "ton of bandwidth"

From Yahoo FCC Approves Google-Backed Plan For Airwaves Use

The five-member FCC voted to open unlicensed pockets of the spectrum known as white space that will become available when U.S. broadcasters are required to move to digital television next year.

Companies like Google and Microsoft, as well as consumer groups, said access to the white space airwaves would encourage innovation in cellular telephones and wireless devices, much as WiFi did.

"Let's hope it's not just Wi-Fi on steroids but Wi-Fi on amphetamines," FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said.

While a lot of companies make white space radios (modems), the white space rules mandate that unlicensed users of this spectrum also be able to sense licensed users and not interfere with them (that was a key argument for opposition). That means companies that make white space radios will need more than just radio expertise: they will need sensing expertise.

According to Josh Silver, (Free Press) white spaces adoption would champion four core principles:

-- Access (fat pipes in every home),
-- choice (real competition between providers),
-- openness (this appears to be a code word for some flavor of 'Net neutrality),
-- innovation (job creation and economic growth).


More white space ponderings.



Our company uncovered a small company with modulation techniques (and over $200m in VC funding from Cisco, SBC Communications, US Venture Partners, ComVentures along with $100m from US Govt) that is positioning themselves to be the "Qualcomm of 700MHz and White Space" (modulating standard).

This Silicon Valley player is already receiving white space radio orders.

The report is titled "White Space Represents A White Hot Opportunity"

GE Smart Appliances Reshape Energy Use

GE Announces Program To Reshape Energy Usage With Smart Appliances

"Now that ENERGY STAR® appliances are recognized by 75 percent of American consumers, the next step is to reshape when energy is being used," said Kevin Nolan, Vice President Technology for GE Consumer & Industrial.

"Peak hour energy demand is growing faster than total energy demand.


It is imperative that we begin to shift some of the energy load from peak hours to other parts of the day -- helping to avoid the need to build new power plants to meet the demand," he explained.

These "smart" or Energy Management Enabled Appliances and the utility "Smart Meters" help consumers manage their utility bills by enabling them to avoid peak hour energy usage and benefit from pricing.

For example, the automatic defrost feature on GE refrigerators is initiated by the internal electronics based on the number of refrigerator door openings and other input signals. If the refrigerator can delay the defrost cycle from occurring during peak energy usage hours, consumers will save money by paying for the same amount of energy, later in the day and at a lower rate.

A pilot program is already underway with Louisville Gas & Electric.

WiFi Thermostats Eliminate Need For Smart Grid

The "Information Superhighway" will connect all types of devices and deliver ALL types of data.

Energy efficiency through telematics is here.

Toronto-based Ecobee thinks it has a winning plan for reducing everyone's cost of heating and air conditioning, while giving utilities greater interaction with customers when needed

From ARS Technica WiFi thermostats set to change energy industry

The Ecobee connects to a thermostat through a standard HVAC interface, and hooks in to the Internet via a home WiFi network.

The thermostat regularly synchronizes its data with a secure Web portal.

Once networked, the thermostat can receive alerts, too, from whoever installed the device.

Previous smart thermostats required a smart grid, an electrical network also capable of passing data. Ecobee goes out of band, using the ubiquity of WiFi to pass data. The system can tie into home meters that track usage.

The kicker:

Because utilities pay for more power during peak periods—whether they generate that power themselves or buy it on the open market—being able to send an alert to a customer asking them to participate in backing off usage could have a disproportionate effect.

FCC Commissioner Says White Space Will Win Approval

White spaces, or as Google's Larry Page calls it,"Wi-Fi on steroids" is close to reality.

A top federal regulator said on Wednesday he is optimistic communications officials will approve a plan, backed by Microsoft (MSFT) and Google, (GOOG) to open soon-to-be vacant television airwaves.

From Investor's Business Daily FCC Commissioner Says White Space Use Will Win Approval

The FCC, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, is due to vote (Nov 4) on the white spaces proposal drawn up by Republican commission Chairman Kevin Martin.

there is great potential for a new wave of innovative and faster devices to be developed by the private sector with the new spectrum.

I have pondered at great length about the enormous opportunity White Space represents.

One Silicon Valley player is already receiving white space radio orders.

More White Space ponderings.

Visionary Innovations uncovered a small company with modulation techniques (and over $200m in VC funding from Cisco, SBC Communications, US Venture Partners, ComVentures along with $100m from US Govt) that is positioning themselves to be the "Qualcomm of 700MHz and White Space" (modulating standard).

The report is titled "White Space Represents A White Hot Opportunity"

A Smart Grid Relies On Demand Response

SmartGrid offers an Industry News summary
Their take: That new transmission has to be smart and self-healing to better accommodate the stresses of intermittent wind.

NERC cites improving Demand Response and lagging grid

Highlights I found in the 2008 Long-Term Reliability Assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corp

To consistently validate and measure the results of the demand response programs, NERC is inaugurating a demand response event analysis system (Demand Response Data Task Force), expected to be launched in 2010.

Significant increases in demand response programs over the next ten years are projected to reduce growth in demand and provide ancillary services across North America.

Demand response will become a critical resource for maintaining system reliability over the next ten years.

Though demand continues to grow, new development of supply-side options are becoming increasingly limited – many coal plants have been deferred or cancelled, nuclear plants are becoming more and more expensive, and transmission lines increasingly difficult to site.

Further, demand response also has an important role to play as more variable resources (such as wind) are added to the system. Variable resources, for example wind generation, often need a “dance partner” which can provide operational flexibility to maintain reliability during resource down-ramps that can be ssociated with them.

Demand response can provide all or a portion of the flexibility required for this integration.

Brattle Group consultant Ahmad Faruqui revealed that his firm has updated its 2007 assessment of DR’s present value. The previous assessment, called The Power of Five Percent, concluded that if DR could reduce peak demand by five percent it would produce a benefit stream over twenty years with a present value of $35B.

Since then, says Faruqui, the cost of providing peak energy has doubled. Meanwhile, DR technology costs have come down and regulators have started promoting faster adoption. Even at a five percent reduction, the present value jumps to $66B.

If DR can reduce peak demand by 25%, says Faruqui, the present value is $332B.

2008 Long-Term Reliability Assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corp

CleanTech Opportunities Offer Inflection Point For American Economic Turnaround

M.R.Rangaswami at Earth2Tech outlines 3 opportunities to set America on a new path.

The resolution of the presidential election next week will be an opportunity for a fresh start.

1. Rebuild the national grid
2. Stimulate the Green Economy
3. Move to a sustainable economy

--------------------------------

America is at a Tipping Point and here are my 6 points (with some government incentives).

1. Reduce our dependence on oil..oil supply is finite. Solar and wind are free and supply is infinite.

2. Utilize our own natural resources (offshore drilling, ANWR) that buys us time (and lowers prices) until renewable energy becomes grid parity or competes with coal.

3. Reduce money going to oil producing countries (terrorist nations) and keep the money within our country (massive trade deficit reduction)..higher GDP,

4. Create millions of jobs (some that include manufacturing)

5. Allow people to be producers of energy in addition to consumers of it (HUGE transformation)..imagine the income change when Joe Consumer can sell power back to the grid while he's working at his job

6. Renewable energy technologies can be licensed to other countries...instead of buying oil, we can sell our own "oil" to other countries.

7. Profits generated by renewable energy companies (instead of foreign countries) can be put back into R&D and the economy.....the money stays here in the U.S.

The Land of Eco-Opportunity

U.K Creates Smart Meter Mandate

The U.K. Government announced yesterday that it will require all households to have smart meters installed over the next decade.

Announcing the mandatory smart meters roll-out, Lord Hunt said: “This is a major step forward; no other country in the world has moved to an electricity and gas smart meter roll-out on this scale.

Verizon Sees Physical World Connection With 700 Megahertz Spectrum

Physical World Connection can be static or dynamic.

From Technology Review
Verizon Sees All Kinds Of Devices Connect

"It's about connecting any- and everything that could be connected," Verizon VP Tony Lewis said at the Mobile Internet World Conference.

In addition to cell phones, Lewis expects to see an explosion of devices that connect to cellular networks, such as industrial machinery and home appliances.

He talked about home health monitors that might track, for example, whether an elderly person is taking medicine at prescribed intervals and then notify family members via the wireless network if a dose is missed.

He also talked about home appliances that would automatically send for a repair person if a key part fails, or order new supplies, such as groceries, when they run out.

What Happens When Electric Motors Go Green?

Each year billions of dollars and electricity are wasted from electric motors electricity that can only run at 2 speeds, ON or OFF.

Their inability to adjust power to varying loads, makes them one of the biggest “wasters” of electricity.

Improving motor efficiency is a huge and the easiest to implement untapped “green resource” and represents a multi-billion dollar opportunity.

Power Efficiency has developed a patented and patent-pending technology platform, called E-Save Technology™, which has been demonstrated in independent testing to improve the efficiency of electric motors by up to 35% in appropriate applications.

Electric motors consume over 25% of the electricity in the U.S., and many operate inefficiently.

Power Efficiency is also developing a new product based on E-Save Technology™ for the tens of millions of small motors found in applications such as residential air conditioning, pool pumps and clothes dryers.

The company is working with manufacturers to incorporate this technology directly into new motors and appliances.

Read our complete report on how Electric Motors Go Green

Google's Energy Ideas...What Is A Kilowatt Worth?

Do you roughly know what the price of kilowatt per hour (kWh) is, and that it fluctuates daily?

Would your your consumption habits change if you did?

Informed consumers are efficient consumers.

The N.Y. Times has a piece titled Google's Energy Ideas Might Emerge Under Open Source Licenses

Ed Lu, who works in advanced projects at Google said “the big area that we are looking at is energy information,”.

Buying electricity today, he said, is a bit like going to a grocery store where the items have no prices and where you get billed a month later for your purchases. Some engineers in Mr. Lu’s team, are working on tools to turn energy buyers into more informed consumers, he said.

VCs Discuss Cleantech At Seattle’s Renewable Energy Finance Forum

Gregory Huang at Xconomy gives us his highlights at the Top 10 Takeaways from VCs At Renewable Energy Forum

Key points I found of interest:

Record investment levels in energy

Cleantech isn’t a sector. It’s many different sectors with very different markets

Solar is dead. “We’ve placed our bets in solar already,” said Atluru of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “You’re going to see solar drop off.

Smart grid is getting a lot of attention from info-tech investors, in part because it’s capital-efficient.

Waste, water, and recycling aren’t getting as much investment as they deserve, but that may change given the enormous market opportunities worldwide

time horizons for exits have increased to 7-9 years, up from 5-7 years not too long ago

The needle has moved from optimism to skepticism in cleantech

The enthusiasm of entrepreneurs in this sector is an order of magnitude higher than any other sector.

the panelists agreed that entrepreneurs are ahead of investors when it comes to dealing with the economic downturn

The full story.

700Mhz..The Frequency For Energy Efficiency?

I've discussed how I think the smart meter will be The Next PC.

Smart meters give energy consumers the ability to better manage their individual power consumption. It is the management of energy consumption by individuals that will bring one of the largest sources of carbon emissions in the world under control.

These "mini computers" will need to be connected to the Net continuously,

The question is....Who or what will be the service provider for them?

Data and energy-consumption choices are being offered to consumers like never before.

Utilities are investing in smart meters and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) at a rapid pace. Engineering giants are partnering with smart grid start ups.

Utilities are deploying smart meter technology at a rapid rate to avoid the difficulty of building and permitting new power plants, to prepare for impending carbon regulation and more importantly because managing electricity use at a granular level opens up new business opportunities with customers.

Efficiency gains achieved by upgrading to a smarter grid from a conventional one would be like switching from a typewriter to a word-processor.

The smart grid is not “one” product, but rather, a solution suite of products and software technologies improving the grid’s overall performance. Thomas Friedman calls it the "Energy Internet".

As the Smart Grid grows, with digital devices (meters, relays, switches, routers, circuits) sending out more and more data, unlicensed spectrum could be the Achilles heel of your communication backbone.

In order for this data to be accurate, it has to be delivered over the Net without latency.

The real problem is that utilities have no dedicated spectrum.

700 MHz spectrum, a former television frequency, can carry between 20-25 miles without relays and requires less power to carry the signal (approximately 1250 sq miles per base station.)

Arcadian Networks provides “last mile” wireless carrier services to the energy sector (electric, water, and gas utilities and oil and gas companies). The company’s 700 MHz licensed spectrum delivers a converged IP network with voice and data communications for fixed and mobile applications.

The real-time broadband communications platform reduces operational costs, improves resiliency, and transforms electric grids into efficient “smart grids” and oil fields into optimized “smart fields”.

The Fingerprint, A Physical World Hyperlink, And Physical World Connection Help Police

How is a fingerprint like a website (URL)?

When an Internet enabled device scans a fingerprint (retrieves a match using a database through the Net) and delivers information, it (fingerprint) has acted as a Physical World Hyperlink.

A computer resolves a machine readable identifier and delivers information through the Web.

From Guardian Police use fingerprints in the street

Every police force in the UK is to be equipped with mobile fingerprint scanners - handheld devices that allow police to carry out identity checks on people in the street.

The new technology, which ultimately may be able to receive pictures of suspects, is likely to be in widespread use within 18 months. Tens of thousands of sets - as compact as BlackBerry smartphones - are expected to be distributed.

What CleanTech Industries Benefit From New Tax Incentives?

From IBD New Tax Incentives Highlight Big Winners In CleanTech

As part of the $700 billion economic rescue package, solar, wind, geothermal, fuel cells and other clean-energy firms received tax incentives that help them compete with traditional forms of energy

Incentives are key for clean energy, which usually costs more to produce than traditional sources of power such as natural gas, coal and nuclear plants.

The clear winners: solar and emerging fuel-cell technology for providing electricity for industrial and commercial buildings.

Even more important, power utilities can now access the tax credit under the new bill. That will help create demand for larger-scale projects that deep-pocketed utilities can roll out, analysts say.

Analysts also point out that wind is closer to becoming competitive with traditional power sources

I've compiled a list of:

Solar Stocks

Wind Energy Stocks

Internet Of Things..Physical World Connection Right Around The Corner

"In five years it will be hard to find an electronic device that is not connected to the Internet," ZeroG Chief Executive John Cummins predicted.

More than 9 billion micro-control devices are shipped every year, he said, suggesting a huge market opportunity.

Creating Energy By Efficiency

“the cheapest and most available source of new energy is the energy we waste”...... U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman

The death of broadband over powerline (BPL) opens up other possibilities.

Another bit of energy efficiency trivia.

Shedding just 5 to 10 percent of utility's load at peak times on demand could reduce or eliminate turning to the expensive spot power market or powering up dirty old power plants.

Shaving that usage can have enormously disproportionate cost and environmental savings.

Improved energy efficiency and so-called demand response programs that curtail power consumption on hot days would reduce North America's total power demand 3.3 percent by 2016.

There's a unique opportunity to become part of the solution-and to profit from it at the same time. By leveraging Internet-enabled electricity load management technologies, businesses can help to save the grid by automatically reducing peak demand during critical periods.

This is all due to this government mandate.

Did You Know?

Incandescent light bulbs, which convert heat into light, use only about 2% of the electricity they consume and wasting the rest as heat.

Lighting accounts for nearly one quarter of the world's electricity use, the potential energy savings are prodigious.

The most powerful light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which are not expected to enter commercial production until 2010, use only a fraction of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs and often outperform compact fluorescent bulbs in terms of energy efficiency.

The U.S. plans to ban the bulbs beginning in 2012.

Here are some more Bright Ideas For Lighting

U.S. Department Of Interior Launches Geothermal Energy Initiative

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced a plan to make more than 190 million acres of Federal land in 12 western states available for development of geothermal energy resources, an initiative that could increase electric generation capacity from geothermal resources ten times over.

Under the development scenario outlined in the plan – known as the Final Geothermal Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement – the initiative could produce 5,540 megawatts of new electric generation capacity from geothermal resources by 2015.

That’s enough to meet the power needs of 5.5 million homes. The plan also estimates an additional 6,600 megawatts by 2025 for a total of 12,100 megawatts – enough to power more than 12 million homes.

Clean Energy Will Depend On A New Smart Grid

Renewable energy is only as effective as the infrastructure that moves it around: the electrical grid.

Parts of the current grid are over a half century old, predating the personal computer.

From WSJ Renewables Need A Smart Grid

Even at today's levels, renewable energy is straining an electrical grid already showing signs of fragility.

The current electric grid has two basic shortcomings.

It's not big enough to accommodate all the new electricity the nation is likely to need in coming decades,regardless of how that electricity is produced. And it's not flexible enough to handle the inconsistencies of renewable energy, which is less steady than the workhorses of coal and natural gas; the wind doesn't always blow, and the sun doesn't always shine.

The Most Revolutionary Phase Of All...Physical World Connection

When every physical object is, or can be connected to the Internet, ie (Physical World Connection), is when a revolution occurs.

Some call it the "Internet of Things", I also call it the Internet Phase 2.

Cars, refrigerators, billboards, tennis rackets, water heaters, digital cameras, stop signs, airplanes, sprinkler systems and any physical object you can think of, will soon be "connected" to the Internet. This occurs with various types of Physical World Hyperlinks.

A Physical World Hyperlink is any sensing device (RFid, GPS, ZigBee etc) or a machine readable identifier (barcode, image, sound etc) that when initiated or scanned provides an Internet connection (or a connection through the Net).

The ability for devices (more than PCs and mobile phones) to connect (or have the ability to connect to the Net) will offer some exciting applications. The ability for individuals and corporations to connect/interact via the Net, created new multi-billion dollar companies/industries (Google, eBay, Amazon, YouTube). This also allowed economies to become so much more efficient.

The areas to watch for Physical World Connection:

1. software/hardware (solution) that resolves any type of physical world hyperlink

2. a "registry" for domains that will be issued for every device (that will dwarf the number of website domains)..like Verisign

3. a network provider that can ensures a secure network for these devices (it's one thing if your website is hacked, it's something completely different if your machinery or car is)

4. a delivery system/platform that can move any sized data from a physical object through the network (what good is having objects connected and providing data if they cant transmit and receive it)

On the advertising side of PWC here's how Google Can Connect The Physical World

Even Microsoft is developing the RFID browser.

Internet enabled everything

In the 15 years since Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, the life of almost everyone in the industrialised world has been touched by it. But just as many of us are getting to grips with its second stage, the mobile internet, few are prepared - or even aware - of the third and potentially most revolutionary phase of all: the internet of things.

Rent A Solar Panel For Your Home

What a great idea.

From CNN Money Solar power your home, for cheap

A Silicon Valley startup rents solar panels to homeowners - a strategy that is both cost-effective for customers and, thanks to generous tax breaks, a boon to its bottom line.

"The biggest barrier for solar is the upfront cost," said Lyndon Rive, CEO of Foster City, Calif.-based SolarCity.

Rive's company may have hit on a solution. Instead of selling solar panels to homeowners, SolarCity's main business is leasing the panels. The consumer pays SolarCity a monthly lease payment - about $75 for a 2.8 kilowatt system - which, when combined with his newly-lowered electric bill, typically adds up to a savings of 10% to 15%.

SolarCity does all the installation work, and there's little risk for the consumer since SolarCity guarantees a minimum level of power production.

An Area To Watch..The HAN (Home Area Network)

You've heard of WAN (wide area network) and LAN (local area network), well there's a new one to start monitoring.

The HAN, "Home Area Network" is the next industry set to explode, and this is the computing device for it.

Who will become the Microsoft, Dell, Cisco for this space?

From PR Inside:

Tendril, a leading provider of Residential Energy Management Systems (REMS) for the utilities industry and their customers, today announced the successful integration of a metering solution leveraging the Tendril Residential Energy Ecosystem (TREE) and the OpenWay by Itron advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).

Through its collaboration with Itron, Tendril is utilizing the Itron AMI network to provide real-time, two-way communications beyond the smart meter and into the home through a home-area network (HAN).

Energy providers looking to invest in AMI can now take advantage of the TREE to achieve reliable two-way communications over an advanced metering network.

With OpenWay, Tendril integrates with the utility infrastructure at the head-end, providing unprecedented ability to communicate directly into the home through the electricity meter. This allows utilities to extend interactive and consumer-centric energy efficiency, demand response and variable pricing programs to their customers.

Could The Smart Meter Be "The Next PC"?

As more computing functions take place on the "cloud", there is a new computing device that will be required to stay at home to function properly.

Given all the functions the smart meter can perform, and money it can save, will it be considered the "Next PC"?


From N.Y.Times Smart Meters Open Market For Smart Apps


embedded in the promise of an improved, 21st-century “smart grid” are “smart meters,” which are quietly gaining ground in American households as utilities replace aging meters with high-tech, networked versions.

The units provide real-time, two-way communication between customer and power company.

And as the smart-meter market grows, so too does the demand for networking, software and hardware tools to make it all work.

Yesterday Pacific Gas & Electric announced they would be spending $1.7 billion to replace 5.1 million electric meters and 4.2 million natural gas meters with so-called smart meters by 2011.

Pennsylvania to give every home and business a smart meter.

AT&T Looks To "Internet Of Things" For New Stream Of Revenue

What is the "Internet of Things", or as I call it "Physical World Connection"

When every physical object is, or can be, connected to the Internet.

From N.Y.Times AT&T wants more web-enabled devices

AT&T has created a new division within the company to help devise new consumer devices – digital cameras, devices for cars, even dog collars – which they hope will make it easy to access the Web using AT&T’s network.

Because nearly nine out of ten people already own a mobile phone, AT&T can’t grow fast enough by selling more phones. It needs to find new sources of revenue, particularly devices that use data.

More Physical World Connection discussion.

Interview With Google's Chief Environmental Policy

The International Herald Tribune interviews Dan Reicher, Google's Chief of Environmental Policy.

Recently Google and General Electric forged a pact to push for an upgraded U.S. electricity grid and Google presented a $4.4 trillion plan to wean the United States off coal and oil by 2030. (21st Century Electricity System)

The deal combines each company's strengths:

GE will make the hardware -- from wind turbines to metering switches, and Google will make the software -- applying network technologies to the grid.

Dan Reicher:

We're interested in the whole spectrum, from grants for energy research, to "valley of death" ventures, to scaling up projects, to standard commercial investments.

We focus on solar thermal, advanced geothermal and wind energies, plus the "enablers," such as transmission and distribution.

In transit, we're focused on electric vehicles and the enabling infrastructure. That includes batteries, smart grids and applications to monitor and bill folks who plug in

Our focus is on transmission and the "smart grid" and the policy around both areas. The U.S. grid is seriously inadequate. Much of it dates from the '50s and '60s. We need to build a bigger and smarter grid to get renewable energy to big cities and for millions of vehicles to plug into the grid.

Plastic Solar Cells Move Into Large-Scale Production

From Technology Review:
Mass Production of Plastic Solar Cells

In a significant milestone in the deployment of flexible, printed photovoltaics, Konarka, a solar-cell startup based in Lowell, MA, has opened a commercial-scale factory, with the capacity to produce enough organic solar cells every year to generate one gigawatt of electricity, the equivalent of a large nuclear reactor.


Organic solar cells could cut the cost of solar power by making use of inexpensive organic polymers rather than the expensive crystalline silicon used in most solar cells.

The technology has several drawbacks that will initially limit its applications. The solar cells only last a couple of years, unlike the decades that conventional solar cells last. What's more, the solar cells are relatively inefficient.

Window tinting becomes energy producing.

Because the solar cells can be made transparent, Konarka is also developing a version of its solar cells that could be laminated to windows to generate electricity and serve as a window tinting.


Publicly Traded Solar Stocks

The Associated Press....Dying On The Net And Now In Print

Through pricing issues and the inability to adapt to the Internet, the world's largest and oldest news gathering organization is becoming extinct.

Tribune Company has given a two-year notice to the Associated Press that its daily newspapers plan to drop the news service, becoming the first major newspaper chain to do so since the recent controversy over new rates began

Tribune, which owns nine daily papers including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, joins a growing list of newspapers that have sought to end AP contracts, or given notice of that, following plans to introduce a new controversial rate structure in 2009.

In addition, the Associate Press pretty much eliminated any Internet traffic with this move

Google Taps Harris Corporation For TV Ad Penetration....What Market Is Next?

Google is embedding their TV advertising software operating system/platform into the communications equipment Harris sells to business and government clients.

What other markets does Harris provides communication equipment for?

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Harris offers a complete portfolio of cost-effective digital technology solutions that enable broadcasters to easily and affordably transition from standard definition (SD) to high definition (HD) and all the way to 1080p broadcasting.

From Google's Traditional Media Site Google Announces Partnerhip With Harris Corporation

Today, Google has partnered with Harris Corporation to enable media companies to more easily make their inventory available to Google TV Ads advertisers through Harris' current traffic systems' inventory tools.

Harris Corporation is a worldwide leader in TV advertising traffic, scheduling and billing systems. This partnership will make it easier for our television inventory providers to manage their media sales through the Google TV Ads platform within the existing Harris system.

As advertisers upload their ads and bid the clearing price for your inventory, the spots are delivered from Google's system to the Harris traffic system where they follow the spot placement rules you've already set up. As spots are approved and aired the Harris service returns verification details to Google's system.

Each week, Google processes data from millions of anonymized set-top boxes (STBs), including which channels each STB was tuned to, second-by-second.

This data is provided by our partner, EchoStar. We're then able to provide advertisers with next-day reports of how many impressions were delivered to each ad airing, as well as tuning metrics, such as what percentage of the audience stayed tuned to their ad from beginning to end.

I can see this relationship expanding to the radio industry as well as the aviation broadband space.

What does this mean for Google and their IPTV penetration?

Google proposes TV monitoring

Google could partner with telcos and cable companies in their respective efforts to deliver next-generation interactive television using Internet-style networking. The only problem is that IPTV, as the marriage of television and broadband networking is called, belongs to Microsoft. Microsoft is the major vendor of software for IPTV network operators and it has plans to be the Google of IPTV.

Could this partnership change that?

White Spaces, Or Wi-Fi On Steroids Almost Here?

From Washington Post:

FCC Chair Wants To Go Forward With Use OF White Spaces

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said he wants to allow portable devices to use the airwaves between TV channels for wireless broadband service (White Spaces)

After months of testing and over a year of lobbying by tech firms Google, Microsoft, HP, Dell and others, the FCC's engineering office is releasing a report today that spells out the standards devices must meet in order to use the empty airwaves.

Martin said he is circulating the report with other commissioners and hopes to vote on the item at the FCC's Nov. 4 meeting.

He said the portable devices must have sensing technologies as well as a geo-location database. This would make sure the devices would be able to detect nearby broadcasts in order to avoid those frequencies.

Google's Larry Page said:

Utilizing the unused TV "white spaces" for broadband access would be a tremendous opportunity to bring the Internet to more Americans -- including those in rural areas and first responders.

Because of the much longer range of these spectrum signals, wireless broadband access utilizing the TV white spaces could be brought to more consumers using fewer base stations -- in effect, "wi-fi on steriods"

For more pondering about white spaces

Texas And Pickens Plan Making Wind Energy Progress

A billionaire oilman and the 'Lone Star State' of Texas are driving wind to new heights of acceptance and growth in the United States.

Pickens Plan blog has a great story titled High Winds For Texas

Some highlights I found.

Or as put by Paul Sadler, executive director of The Wind Coalition, the decision solves the infamous ‘chicken and egg’ issue that stymies wind energy growth.

The resource needs transmission to grow, but transmission owners do not want to build unless they know for sure that wind generators will come on line.

At the same time, wind developers do not want to commit to projects unless they know the transmission will exist.

Oil fields have a decline curve, a finite supply.

Pickens said that the development of wind power is critical as oil supplies decline. ‘You find an oilfield, it peaks and starts declining, and you’ve got to find another one to replace it’, Pickens said. ‘It can drive you crazy. With wind, there’s no decline curve.’

Pickens, and others pushing for an expanded transmission system, miss another key point, according to Kurt Yeager, former president and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and now executive director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative.

Yeager says it is not enough to make the grid bigger, it needs to be better, specifically upgraded from a ‘dumb’ 1950s mechanical switch-based system to a digital technology befitting the times.

To that end, Yeager and former Motorola chief Robert Galvin are attempting to convince industry thought-leaders and policymakers that as a first step they need to pursue a smart grid, particularly on the distribution level.

In today’s power system, the ability to accommodate that kind of intermittency is not possible unless we have large quantities of back-up power or storage.

In a smart grid, I can use silicon as my back up energy source’, Yeager said.

Up-to-date digital controls and communications technology allows the grid to anticipate the natural fluctuations in wind and solar power and keep power supply in step with consumer demand, according to Yeager.

If such a system is developed, the US would find it could use the existing transmission system more, ‘rather than stretch new wires that nobody wants in their backyard’, Yeager said in an interview.

Publicly Traded Solar Stocks

Cisco To Invest In Smart Grid

From Venture Beat Cisco Ventures In Smart Grid Space

Cisco made the announcement of a fledgling venture in the smart grid space.

The winning idea that Cisco selected for their business plan called iPrize was the smart grid, the general name given to companies that try to add intelligence to the electricity networks spread between utilities and users.

Guido Jouret, Cisco’s chief technology officer at the Emerging Tech Group, argued that Cisco is actually better-positioned than a startup to explode in the smart grid, since it’s sizable enough to approach the entire market, rather than just catering to customers or utilities.

“It’s a lot like VoIP,” he told me. “If you look at who’s cleaning up now, it’s not the startups, it’s more the traditional telcos.”