Hasta La Gadget!

What Google wants, it largely gets. Need some proof of that? Fret not, as we’ve got plenty right here. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just granted the internet behemoth authority to “buy and sell electricity in bulk like any other utility.” As of now, it doesn’t look like Google is jonesing to take on your local power provider, but rather to open up more avenues for acquiring power for its own good. Company spokeswoman Niki Fenwick noted that this filing was made so Google could have “more flexibility in procuring power for Google’s own operations, including our data centers.” That quote lines up with what we heard when this initiative was proposed just over a month ago, but considering that it’s dabbling in the ISP business (and pretty much anything else it wants to), we wouldn’t put it past ’em.

Google gains clearance to buy and sell energy, continue taking over the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Switched  |  FERC [PDF]  | Email this | Comments

It’s coming. And soon. Of course, you know darn well we’re referring to the day where no human in any nation can text and drive legally, and we’re seeing the US Department of Transportation get us one step closer with its latest mandate. Effective immediately, bus drivers and interstate commercial truckers are disallowed from texting while operating a motor vehicle, and should they choose to send that one last SMS anyway, they’ll be hit with “civil or criminal fines of up to $2,750.” Needless to say, the Advocates for Highway Safety are pretty stoked about the notion, but they confess that this isn’t taking things far enough. And for anyone who has been sideswiped by someone special telling someone more special “I LUVRZ U XOXO LOL” while doing 80 on the I-15, well, they’d probably concur.

DOT bars bus drivers and commercial truckers from texting while driving originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Switched  |  CNN  | Email this | Comments

Spare a thought for the noble LORAN network. It helped bombers and ships across the Atlantic in WWII and, since then, has served as a reliable system for helping sailors, domestic and otherwise, to find their position. Of course, now that everybody and their kid cousin has a GPS receiver in their back pocket the need for limited, complex, radio-based geolocation is somewhat reduced. So, the US government is killing it off, shutting down most of the towers on February 8, with those that stay online over the summer going decidedly offline this fall. The savings? $190 million over five years. The cost? No backup for our GPS system, meaning we’ll be totally blind when the first wave of EMPs hit — and don’t try to act like they’re not comin’, man.

Government killing off LORAN-C navigation system, deems GPS good enough originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Los Angeles Times  | Email this | Comments

European countries may have long ago banished the use of cellphones while driving to the dark side of the law, but many of the United States persist in allowing their citizens to talk while driving. One reason for their reluctance may be that outlawing something that has become second nature to most people would be both unproductive and tough to enforce. So what do you do? The natural alternative to forcing people to drive attentively is educating them of the reasons why. Never mind the fact that we all kinda, sorta know the risks we undertake while operating a Droid and a Dodge concurrently. The newly minted Distraction.gov is chockfull of scaremongering statistics, topped by a truly epic video which we’ve handily stashed for you just after the break. Go get it while it’s hot.

Continue reading US government launches Distraction.gov, wants to scare you straight (video)

US government launches Distraction.gov, wants to scare you straight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Autoblog  |  Distraction.gov  | Email this | Comments

Google has its PowerMeter, Microsoft has its Hohm and Obama has his “smart meters.” Got it? Good. Around two years after UK taxpayers began footing the bill for in-home energy monitors, it seems as if America’s current administration is looking to follow suit. While visiting the now-open solar facility in Arcadia, Florida today, the Pres announced that $3.4 billion in cash that the US doesn’t actually have has just been set aside for a number of things, namely an intelligent power grid and a whole bundle of smart power meters. Aside from boring apparatuses like new digital transformers and grid sensors (both of which are designed to modernize the nation’s “dilapidated” electric network), 18 million smart meters and 1 million “other in-home devices” will be installed in select abodes. The idea here is to give individuals a better way to monitor their electricity usage, with the eventual goal set at 40 million installed meters over the next few years. Great idea, guys — or you know, you could just advise people to turn stuff off when they aren’t using it, or not use energy they can’t afford. Just sayin’.

Filed under: Household

US government lays out cash for wall-based, in-home ‘smart meters’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments