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News Of New Development and Technology

Internet search giant Google is getting into the energy business. Last month, the company formed a subsidiary called Google Energy and applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to become an energy trading company, capable of both buying and selling energy in the same way that utilities do throughout the United States.

Google spokespeople denied that the firm has intentions of competing with existing utilities and stated that their intention was to have greater flexibility in purchasing renewable energy to supply their power hungry data centers in the US.

Google however, is no stranger to the energy world. The company has invested considerably in renewable energy through partnerships and independent projects with money from its philanthropic and venture capital arms. One of the largest projects undertaken by the company involves attempts to develop renewable energy resources that would be cheaper than using coal or other fossil fuels.

In an interview published in the New York Times, Bill Weihl, Google’s green energy guru reported that the company has invested more than $45 million towards development with a goal of making renewable energy more economically attractive than fossil fuel.

While that sum might seem impressive, keep in mind that over $2 billion has been invested by just one oil company drilling in the Gulf of Mexico over the same period of time.

If Google gains approval of its application, the Internet giant will have the ability to market surplus energy produced as well as purchase power at true wholesale rates. This fact makes the whole Google initiative somewhat threatening to existing utilities that presently broker power to Google facilities.

If rumors are correct, next month Apple will introduce a new tablet PC that could do for E-readers what the iPhone did for cell phones.

While Amazon and Sony have been in the E-reader business for a while, the shortcomings inherent in both their readers come in the form of price and usability. The Amazon Kindle will only produce black and white copies of magazines and newspapers and a user must subscribe through Amazon to get access to some papers and magazines that would be free to read if the Kindle permitted direct Internet surfing. Rumors about the Apple tablet suggest that the device will permit full Internet access as well as subscription discounts for publications.

The Apple tablet is also rumored to come equipped with broadband connectivity, which will allow users continuous internet access just about anywhere in the world.

If Apple’s iPhone and iTouch are any indication of what consumers may expect, then the world may soon be embracing tablet PC’s and the end of print publications like newspapers and magazines may come about far sooner than perhaps anyone ever thought.

The US EPA is proposing the toughest ozone standards in history making some city officials nervous in the wake of a continued economic crisis.

New standards pegging the maximum permissible exposure to 0.060 to 0.070 parts per million for an 8 hour time weighted period would bring exposure limits below the Bush era exposure limit of 0.075 ppm which environmentalists objected to and led to the EPA being sued by some eco groups.

The EPA wants a secondary standard that would vary by season so as to protect trees and plants from the affects of ozone that passes from city centers to less populated areas.

In the latest effort to combat manufacturers of counterfeit goods, luxury goods companies are looking to the use of plant DNA markers to identify their goods as the real deal.

The plant DNA can be mixed into dyes, glues and fabrics that would make and mark the product as unique. Applied DNA has been used by law enforcement already to mark valuables including money and art.

Manufacturers of counterfeit goods have become increasingly sophisticated and can even produce goods that fool the real original manufacturers. Luxury goods makers have been losing billions of dollars annually mostly to Asian counterfeiting groups.

The long awaited maiden flight of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner took place in Washington state this past December.

The production schedule of the aircraft has been postponed by the manufacturer on several occasions and the first order of the new aircraft is expected to be delivered to Japan’s ANA airline around the first quarter of 2010.

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