ajayshukla.com

If you think utilities will swiftly adopt smart-grid technologies, consider the story of GridPoint.

Despite being only seven years old, the high-profile energy start-up has adjusted its strategy a few times and made a string of acquisitions. At first, it planned on selling home energy management systems and batteries to consumers, then shifted its focus to selling smart-grid equipment to utilities, such as software to manage home energy or charge electric cars.

Last week, GridPoint announced that it has signed a deal to supply energy management software and hardware to the United States Postal Service, which has set a goal of lowering energy use by 30 percent by 2015. It could bring in as much as $28.7 million over three years to GridPoint.

The deal is significant because GridPoint sees commercial and industrial energy management, which it entered through its acquisition of ADMMicro last November, as a business with better near-term potential than smart-grid gear, according to the company. Utilities are slow at buying IT-related technology, whereas businesses make quicker decisions based on a return on investment, the company has found.

“The fact of the matter is that the (smart-grid) marketplace is taking time to evolve from pilots to significant rollouts. As a business, we need to make sure we have an opportunity to generate business from multiple sources,” said GridPoint Executive Vice President John Clark, who joined the company after it acquired V2Green, which made utility software for managing electric vehicle charging.

GridPoint isn’t alone in noticing how slowly things are moving in certain areas of the smart grid.

Between the federal government and utilities, about $8 billion will be spent on modernizing the grid with two-way meters and other digital technologies. But for companies that aren’t directly linked to smart metering, that money, which has been slow in coming, may not be all that meaningful.

“There is some disappointment, or disillusionment, that the market did not materialize as fast as people thought, particularly for the tech start-ups and investors that targeted it,” said Rick Nicholson, an analyst at IDC’s Energy Insights service, which recently adjusted its forecasts for spending in North America. “It’s still going to materialize into a multibillion-dollar market, it’s just going to take longer.”

Finding a niche
Smart-grid technologies are designed to make the grid more reliable and efficient for utilities and give consumers more control over how they use energy. But the nature of doing business at a utility means the technology upgrade process is slow.

Utilities typically negotiate with public utility commissions on how they will recoup the costs of capital investment, such as smart meters, batteries, or in-home energy displays for consumers. That investment cycle, coupled with utilities focus on reliability, means they don’t have big incentives to move quickly, said Rob Day, an investor at Black Coral Capital.

The decision to buy IT to use energy more efficiently at commercial or municipal organization is more straight-forward. At the U.S. Postal Service, GridPoint will be installing submetering hardware, which can report energy usage of big energy consumers in a building, such as heating and air conditioning units. Data from hundreds or thousands of locations is collected with an on-board computer and can then be viewed by energy managers through a portal. With that level of detail and alerts, organizations can find ways to lower energy use and troubleshoot equipment problems, Clark explained.

GridPoint hopes to parlay its energy-management services into revenue from installing solar arrays or performing energy audits, a line of business it gained in February when it acquired Standard Renewable Energy, which also caters to residential customers. GridPoint can also work with utilities on demand-response programs where customers are paid to dial down electricity use during peak times, Clark said.

There’s ample opportunity to make money by lowering energy use at businesses, but it’s a crowded market, said Day. Established building-automation companies, such as Siemens and Johnson Controls, have broad product lines and the demand-response field also has a number of suppliers. “I’ve seen a lot of start-ups and established companies targeting that sector,” Day said.

The consumer end of the smart grid is also taking time to take shape. There are a number of companies that have developed home energy management systems to give consumers more detailed electricity consumption data and recommendations on how to be more efficient. GridPoint’s customer-facing software is being used at smart-grid programs in Boulder, Colo.

But there are some doubts about how large that business can become and questions over whether utilities can effectively market these products. A recent survey by the Boston Consulting Group found that many consumers were eager to reduce energy use, but few understood the benefits of smart meters or utilities’ smart-grid programs.

There are certainly still a number of companies earning money by supplying utilities. Smart meter makers or industrial conglomerates, such as Siemens, ABB, and General Electric, have many utility-related products while metering related companies, such as SilverSpring Networks, are doing well, said IDC’s Nicholson.

GridPoint, which has raised more than $220 million in equity financing, is considered visionary in the smart-grid field and continues to pursue business with utilities. In the past several months, it has announced that its products will be used in stimulus-funded smart-grid programs and an electric vehicle charging trial with utility Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. But given the pace of technology change in the power industry, companies like GridPoint need to find a lucrative corner of the market while the smart grid matures.

“Would our investors have liked for the smart-grid space to take off and be the billions and billions of dollars people thought it would be two or three years ago? Absolutely,” said GridPoint’s Clark. “We believe it will, and part of being a successful early-stage company is making sure you’re there to participate.”

Yahoo Inc is planning to introduce features that will give its users even more access to updates from the popular social networking site Facebook, expanding a partnership the web companies struck last year.

Yahoo and Facebook accounts can be more broadly linked together, allowing Yahoo users, for instance, to have a Facebook newsfeed delivered to their homepage or mail.

The additional integration will also make it easier to share activities performed on Yahoo sites, such as photos uploaded Yahoo’s Flickr, across Facebook. The expansion was announced by Yahoo on Sunday.

The new features underscore Yahoo’s efforts to tap the popularity of social networking, and keep its users from fleeing to hot sites like Facebook, which counts more than 350 million worldwide users.

Yahoo also said it would rename Yahoo Profiles, a central spot for users to manage their identity and activities, to Yahoo Pulse and change the settings to make privacy features easier to use.

Just as it has done for the past three years, a new iPhone should play a major role at Apple’s Worlwide Developers Conference next week. And when CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage on Monday to give his keynote address, I’ll be there, along with CNET reporter Erica Ogg, to bring you all the details.

Until that time, I’m happy to speculate on what the new iPhone will offer. Although this year has been a little different because of a well-publicized leak of an iPhone prototype in April, few details about new devices emerge form Apple’s labs before a formal unveiling. But that won’t stop us from putting together the various clues to make our own guesses.

What we won’t see
4G or not 4G? First off, an important clarification is in order. Though some have called the new handset the “iPhone 4G”–and we refer to it as such in informal conversations around the CNET office–we do not expect it to run on a 4G network. It will be the fourth-generation iPhone model, but because it should operate solely on AT&T’s network (more on that later), its fastest data speeds will continue to be 3G. AT&T will begin testing its 4G LTE network later this year, but commercial deployment won’t begin until 2011 at least. So check back then for a faster iPhone.

Verizon: I also have to repeat what we’ve said already. There will not be a Verizon iPhone this year. And if you don’t believe us, just consider that Verizon spokesman John Johnson told Beet.TV on Wednesday that the carrier has no plans to carry the phone in the “immediate future.”

Yes, it’s a carefully worded statement, which means that it’s very possible that we’ll see a Verizon iPhone at some point in the future. Yet, when that will happen–if happens at all–is unclear. This fall has been suggested as a likely time frame, but I think that’s unlikely. I predict that Apple will wait until Verizon rolls out its own 4G LTE network, which should begin later this year. There’s also the matter that AT&T’s exclusivity contract won’t end until 2012, but that could change at any time.

Design
Pictures of the new iPhone have been all over the blogsphere since Gizmodo paid $5,000 for a prototype of the new iPhone that an Apple engineer allegedly lost.

From what we can tell from the pictures, the device will be marginally heavier with a flat back, sharper corners, a smaller and brighter display, and an aluminum border around the edge. Indeed, that’s a break from the iPhone 3G and 3GS, which have a curved back and wobble slightly when resting on a table.

I’ll save my opinions until I see the actual handset and get it in my hands, but a boxier shape would put it more in line with the iPad and some Google Android devices, such as the HTC Incredible. According to Gizmodo, the new iPhone also should have a flash for the main camera, split volume buttons, a micro-SIM card slot (like the iPad), and a possible noise cancellation microphone.

We’ll reportedly see a front-facing video camera, as well, though I’m not convinced that it will be used for video calling. AT&T offers its Video Share application on a limited number of phones, but the service isn’t available everywhere, and the carrier hasn’t promoted it aggressively. The new iPhone might mark a change in strategy for AT&T, but then again, the new camera could just be for self-portraits.

Features
Tethering: AT&T’s recent announcement that it was revamping its smartphone data plans brought welcome news about tethering. We’ve waited more than a year for the capability, since Apple executives first mentioned it during the iPhone OS 3 announcement in March 2009. It’s worth noting that tethering is available on the iPhone in other countries, which means that AT&T has been the holdup, so we’re glad that it’s finally here.

Horsepower: The new iPhone could have a faster processor similar to the iPad’s A4 chip. We’d welcome any added zip to the handset’s performance, particularly since we’ll get multitasking with iPhone OS 4.

Battery: Of course, a faster processor would mean improved battery life. Indeed, any change for the better would be more than welcome. I also wouldn’t worry about the effects of a more vibrant display on performance. Even with twice the resolution, it would still be smaller than the iPad, and it wouldn’t have to push as many pixels.

In the cloud: The adoption of a cloud-based music service is another popular Apple rumor. Music industry sources told CNET in March that such a service won’t be ready until the third quarter of this year, which is a likely time frame, given that Apple usually reveals music announcements in September.

iPhone OS 4
Of course, the new iPhone will debut with all the new features of iPhone OS 4, including multitasking, home screen folders, a unified e-mail in-box, and a 5x digital zoom in the camera. During the keynote speech, we should hear more about the new mobile operating system and when it will roll out to the iPhone 3GS.

What else?
We have a standing list of features the iPhone still lacks. Nicole Lee wrapped them up nicely, following the OS 4 announcement, so I’ll refer you to her blog post for the full story. Some items–such as compatibility with Adobe Systems Flash and a removable battery–we’re pretty sure we’ll never get, but others–such as audio profiles and a multiple-notifications bar–may indeed come. Whether the new iPhone will have them, however, is a mystery until Monday.

Release date
Speculation abounds over when the new iPhone will hit stores, and AT&T has reportedly blocked employees from taking vacations in June. I’ve heard that Monday, June 21, is a possible release date, whereas another rumor says it could hit stores as early as Monday. Both dates would break from Apple’s tradition of Friday iPhone releases, but Apple always can surprise us. I’m guessing that we will see it during the second or third week of this month. I’m not inclined to believe rumors of a July release.

Be sure to tune in Monday to get the full scoop. And before you go, please tell us what you expect and what you want from the new iPhone.

Intel® Xeon® and Intel® Itanium® processors

Intel® Xeon® and Intel® Itanium® processor numbers are categorized in four digit numerical sequences, and may have an alpha prefix to indicate power and performance.

Alpha Prefix ———————————— Description
X ———————————— Performance
E ———————————— Mainstream (rack-optimized)
L ———————————— Power-Optimized

Intel® Xeon® and Intel® Itanium® processor families and their number sequence

Processor Family Number Sequence ———————————— System Type
Intel® Itanium® processor ———————————— 9000 Multi-processor and dual-processor
Intel® Xeon® processor ———————————— 7000 Multi-processor
Intel® Xeon® processor ———————————— 5000 Dual-processor
Intel® Xeon® processor ———————————— 3000 Single-processor

A rise in fake antivirus offerings on Web sites around the globe shows that scammers are increasingly turning to social engineering to get malware on computers rather than exploiting holes in software, a Google study to be released on Tuesday indicates.

Fake antivirus–false pop-up warnings designed to scare money out of computer users–represents 15 percent of all malware that Google detects on Web sites, according to 13-month analysis the company conducted between January 2009 and February 2010.

That’s a five-fold increase from when the company first started its analysis, Niels Provos, a principal software engineer at Google, said in an interview.

Meanwhile, fake antivirus scams represent half of all malware delivered via advertisements, which is becoming a problem for high-profile sites that rely on their advertisers and ad networks to distribute clean ads.

Google analyzed 240 million Web pages and uncovered more than 11,000 domains involved in fake antivirus distribution for the study, which Google is set to unveil at the Usenix Workshop on Large-Scale Exploits and Emergent Threats Tuesday in San Jose, Calif.

Researchers also found that over the course of the study, domains used for distributing the malware were online for shorter and shorter periods of time in the face of Google’s Safe Browsing technology. Used in Chrome and Firefox, Safe Browsing helps alert Web browsers to sites hosting malware, Provos said.

“As early as 2003, malware authors prompted users to download fake AV software by sending messages via a vulnerability in the Microsoft Messenger service. We observed the first form of fake AV attack involving Web sites, e.g. Malwarealarm.com, in our systems on March 3, 2007,” the report says. “At that time, fake AV attacks employed simple JavaScript to display an alert that asked users to download a fake AV executable.”

“More recent fake AV sites have evolved to use complex JavaScript to mimic the look and feel of the Windows user interface,” the report continues. “In some cases, the fake AV detects even the operating system version running on the target machine and adjusts its interface to match.”

Fake antivirus is easy money for scammers, Provos said.

“Once it is installed on the user system, it’s difficult to uninstall, you can’t run Windows updates anymore or install other antivirus products, and you must install the [operating] system,” rending it unusable until it is cleaned up, he said.

Provos said when encountering a fake antivirus message, Web surfers should close the browser and restart the program. People who are duped by the scam may have to get professional help in cleaning up the computer, he said. They should also monitor their credit card accounts because scammers can use the credit card information for identity fraud.

source:- Cnet News

A month after the rumors first started flying, Apple finally confirmed that it has indeed purchased Intrinsity, a Texas-based chipmaker.

Apple confirmed the acquisition on Tuesday to The New York Times, though it did not disclose the purchase price or what Apple’s plans for Intrinsity are. One guess has the value at $121 million.

It’s the second chipmaker purchased by Apple in two years starting with P.A. Semi, which it bought for $278 million. It’s also the fourth acquisition Apple has made since last fall; it bought map API maker PlaceBase in October, social music site LaLa in December, and mobile ad company Quattro Wireless in January for $275 million.

Though it appears like Apple is on a bit of a shopping spree right now, the company has the funds to back it up. At the end of its second fiscal quarter of 2010, Apple reported it had accumulated $41.7 billion in cash. Though Steve Jobs told investors at the annual company meeting that he had no plans to use that to offer a dividend to shareholders, he did hint what he’d rather do instead.

“You never know what opportunity is around the corner,” Jobs said at the February meeting. “We’re very fortunate that if we needed to acquire something we could write a check for it and not have to borrow money.” In light of the recent string of purchases, that could be a hint there are even more small acquisitions like this to come.

But what does Apple need Intrinsity for? It’s unclear, but it’s been rumored that the chipmaker is the outfit that assisted Samsung in building the speedy processor inside the iPad.

Microsoft announced Tuesday it has finished the task of customizing Windows 7 to run on TVs, set-top boxes, digital signs, and other devices.

Among other things, the new software could allow Windows Media Center on new types of devices, Microsoft said. The operating system, dubbed Windows Embedded Standard 7, was shown Tuesday at the ESC Silicon Valley conference in San Jose, Calif.

“With the release of Windows Embedded Standard 7, Microsoft has furthered its commitment to the integration of Windows 7 technologies in the specialized consumer and enterprise device markets,” said Kevin Dallas, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Embedded unit.

The PC version of Windows 7 is already running on more than 10 percent of computers worldwide, Microsoft said last week as it announced quarterly earnings.

Microsoft first showed the embedded software, previously code-named Quebec, at ESC Boston in September. At that point, Microsoft was calling it Windows Embedded Standard 2011.

2010 is shaping up to be a good year for Skype. A few weeks back, spokesperson Peter Parkes confirmed the company’s VoIP iPhone App would soon be able to access AT&T’s 3G network. Now it appears Skype could be making its way to Verizon’s network.

Verizon issued a statement on Friday announcing a joint news conference with Skype on February 16 at the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. John Stratton, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless, and Josh Silverman, chief executive officer of Skype, will both speak.

Word of a joint announcement by the two companies might not be enough to conclude that Verizon will give Skype access to “America’s largest 3G network,” but Business Week is reporting that is the case. “Two people familiar with the matter,” confirmed Verizon plans to include 3G Skype software compete with AT&T, according to the magazine.

Skype started working on a 3G iPhone app after the upgraded SDK for the iPad removed restrictions for calling over 3G. If Verizon has been directly working with Skype, it could mean Verizon smartphones (ahem, Moto Droid) could get a jump on the iPhone version, which is still in development. (A Wi-Fi version is available.)

Skype has been seeking access to wireless networks for the past several years. In 2007 the company petitioned the FCC to open mobile networks to third-party applications. A year later, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said approving Skype’s petition would be “premature” since carriers were voluntarily taking steps to open their networks. He then urged other commissioners to dismiss the petition.

If Verizon is allowing Skype to operate over 3G, the development would be a huge milestone for Skype.

Here’s the coment from Parkes; watch for PC World’s coverage of the Skype-Verizon announcement and more news from the Mobile World Congress.

Twenty-four telecom operators have formed an alliance to build an open platform that will deliver applications to all mobile phone users in an effort to compete with Apple’s successful apps store.

The move is supported by three of the world’s largest device makers — LG Electronics, Samsung and Sony Ericsson the telecoms industry body GSM Association said on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, MTN Group, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Orascom Telecom, Telefonica and Vodafone are among those who have agreed to the initiative, the GSMA said.

Together these operators have access to over three billion customers around the world, the GSMA said, adding the plan would help reduce fragmentation in the industry.

In a first step, “the alliance will seek to unite members’ developer communities and create a single, harmonized point of entry to make it easy for developers to join,” the GSMA said.

Now that the aughts are behind us, we can start the new decade with a bang. So many new technologies are ready to make a big impact this year. Some of them will be brand new, but many have been gestating and are now ready to hatch. If there is any theme here it is the mobile Web. As I think through the top ten technologies that will rock 2010, more than half of them are mobile. But those technologies are tied to advances in the overall Web as well.

Below is my list of the ten technologies that will leave the biggest marks on 2010:

1. The Tablet: It’s the most anticipated product of the year. The mythical tablet computer (which everyone seems to be working on). There are beautiful Android tablets, concept tablets, and, of course, the one tablet which could define the category, the Apple Tablet. Or iSlate or whatever it’s called. If Steve Jobs is not working on a tablet, he’d better come up with one because anything else will be a huge disappointment.Why do we need yet another computer in between a laptop and an iPhone? We won’t really know until we have it. But the answer lies in the fact that increasingly the Web is all you need. As all of our apps and data and social lives move to the Web, the Tablet is the incarnation of the Web in device form, stripped down to its essentials. It will also be a superior e-reader for digital books, newspapers, and magazines, and a portable Web TV.

2. Geo: The combination of GPS chips in mobile phones, social networks, and increasingly innovative mobile apps means that geolocation is increasingly becoming a necessary feature for any killer app. I’m not just talking about social broadcasting apps like Foursquare and Gowalla. The advent of Geo APIs from Twitter , SimpleGeo, and hopefully Facebook will change the game by adding rich layers of geo-related data to all sorts of apps. Twitter just recently launched its own Geo API for Twitter apps and acquired Mixer Labs, which created the GeoAPI.

3. Realtime Search: After licensing realtime data streams from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and others, Google and Bing are quickly ramping up their realtime search. But realtime search is still treated as a silo, and is not regularly surfaced in the main search results page. In 2010, I expect that to change as the search engines learn for what types of searches it makes sense to show Tweets and other realtime updates. In the meantime, a gaggle of realtime search startups such as Collecta, OneRiot, and Topsy will continue to push the ball forward on the realtime search experience. Realtime search will also become a form of navigation, especially on Twitter and Facebook. The key will be to combine realtime search with realtime filters so that people are delivered not only the most recent information but the most relevant and authoritative as well.

4. Chrome OS: In November, Google gave the world a sneak peek at its Chrome operating system, which is expected to be released later this year. The Chrome OS is Google’s most direct attack on Windows with an OS built from the ground up to run Web apps fast and furious. Already a Google is rumored to be working on a Chrome Netbook which will show the world what is possible with it a “Web OS.” It sounds like it would be perfect for Tablet computers also (see above). Chrome is a risky bet for Google, but it is also potentially disruptive.

5. HTML5: The Web is built on HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and the next version which has been taking form for a while is HTML5. Already browsers such as Firefox and Google’s Chrome (the browser, not the OS) are HTML5-friendly. Once HTML5 becomes more widespread across the Web, it will reduce the need for Flash or Silverlight plug-ins to view videos, animations, or other rich applications. They will all just be Web-native. HTML5 also supports offline data storage, drag-and-drop, and other features which can make Web apps act more like desktop apps. A lot of Websites will be putting HTML5 under the hood in 2010.

6. Mobile Video: With video cameras integrated into the latest iPhone 3GS and other Web phones, live video streaming apps are becoming more commonplace—both streaming from phones and to them. As mobile data networks beef up their 3G bandwidth and even start to tiptoe into true broadband with 4G (which Verizon is heading towards with its next-gen LTE network), mobile video usage will take off.

7. Augmented Reality: One of the coolest ways to use the camera lens on a mobile phone is with the increasing array of augmented reality apps. They add a layer of data to reality by placing everything from photos to Tweets to business listings directly on top of the live live image captured by the camera. Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera, Layar, GraffitiGeo and even Yelp are examples of augmented reality apps.

8. Mobile Transactions: As mobile phones become full-fledged computers, they can be used for mobile commerce also. One area poised to take off in 2010 are mobile payments and transactions. Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s latest startup Square turns the iPhone into a credit card reader. Verifone has its competing product, as does Mophie. The idea is that any mobile phone can become a point of sale, and those mobile transactions can tie into back-end accounting, CRM, and other enterprise systems.

9. Android: Last year saw the launch of nearly two dozen Android-powered phones, including the Verizon Droid. In a few days, Google’s Nexus One will launch as the first Android phone which can be unlocked from any given carrier (it is launching with T-Mobile). Android is Google’s answer to the iPhone, and as it reaches critical mass across multiple carriers and handsets it is becoming increasingly attractive to developers. There are already more than 10,000 apps on Android, next year there will be even more. And other devices running on the mobile OS are launching as well.

10. Social CRM: We’ve seen the rise of Twitter and Facebook as social communication tools. This year, those modes of realtime communication will find their way deeper into the enterprise. Salesforce.com is set to launch Chatter, it’s realtime stream of enterprise data which interfaces with Twitter and Facebook and turn them into business tools. Startups like Yammer and Bantam Live are also making business more social.