totals

Solar firm SunPower goes micro

A leading solar manufacturer has decided to offer panels with microinverters for automatically converting electricity from direct current to alternating current.

SunPower, which is partly owned by gas and oil giant Total, announced this week it's adding the E18 and E19 AC Solar Panel series to its line of solar panels. The new solar-panel models will come integrated with SolarBridge Pantheon AC microinverters made by SolarBridge Technologies.

Normally, a solar panel generates electricity in DC (direct current), and needs to be routed to an inverter that converts it to AC (alternating current), the standard used in homes, before it … Read more

Got protection? Totally.

Just in time for back to school, you can now save 50 percent on the all-new Bitdefender Total Security 2012 and get it for just $34.95 (reg. $69.95). As is often the case, you get a piece of software and you don't know how to customize the settings to fit your needs. Actually, with Facebook continuing to roll out new features, I always feel the need to check my privacy settings to make sure they haven't changed. I just want it to be easy--pick the right level of protection and leave it, forever.

Well, that's … Read more

DIY flying robo hacker threatens wireless networks

With a name like SkyNET, it's got to be scary. This flying robo-hacker deserves its "Terminator"-inspired moniker: Although it stops short of actually hunting humans, it's a potential nightmare for anyone with a wireless home network. Worse, it's a DIYer's dream: cheap and easy to build and fun to operate.

SkyNET combines a toy helicopter and a computer configured to attack Wi-Fi networks. The result is a drone the CIA would be proud of. The nasty little device can compromise computers on wireless networks and dragoon them into botnets. Botnets are widely used for hacking, denial-of-service attacks, and spamming.

The devious beauty of SkyNET is that by controlling the botnet from a drone rather than an Internet connection, the botmaster is harder to track down. To catch the bad guy you'd have to figure out that a drone is involved, spot the drone, and follow it back to its owner (assuming the black hat goes to pick it up). Either that or catch it and do a full-blown forensic investigation to figure out who made it.… Read more

AutoPilot, search guards, and animal avatars in new Bitdefender

Making their debut in the 2012 version of Bitdefender's security suites are interesting new security features, a simpler, easier-to-use interface, and a mythical half-dragon, half-wolf. (They're not saying which half is which.) Check out what Bitdefender's premium suite Total Security 2012 provides in this First Look video.

You can download Bitdefender Total Security 2012 , Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 , and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2012 from CNET Download.com

Bitdefender 2012 brings tighter cloud, behavioral protection

Bitdefender has updated its suites for the coming year, and it says it has done it in part by adopting a bit of Romanian lore. Although, to be honest, it may also sound familiar to fans of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series. Available exclusively today from CNET Download.com, Bitdefender Total Security 2012 (download), Bitdefender Internet Security 2012 (download), and Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2012 (download) were improved in part by taking on the "philosophy based on mythical wolf-dragon from Romania," said Matt Hicks, the company's global public relations manager. The wolf-dragon, he said, … Read more

Total closer to SunPower stake

Oil and gas giant Total is set to buy 60 percent of solar panel maker SunPower on June 14 after the companies received approval from the European Union. The great unknown is whether this combination changes the energy industry or merely gives SunPower some cover as the solar industry enters a rocky period.

The EU approval, announced yesterday, clears the way for Total to close its all-cash offer for 60 percent of SunPower's outstanding shares in a deal valued at $1.4 billion. Given that the two companies received U.S. regulatory clearance already, the deal is set to … Read more

Oil giant to buy $1.4B stake in SunPower

French energy company Total has offered to pay up to $1.37 billion for a majority stake in U.S. solar company SunPower, one of the biggest moves ever by an oil and gas giant into the market for renewable energy.

Solar power has been one of the fastest growing energy industries in recent years, but still remains tiny compared with oil, gas and coal because of its higher cost. With Total's financial heft behind it, San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower said solar energy would become competitive with fossil fuels more quickly.

"It's a vote of confidence … Read more

Sprint smartphone users get remote wipe

Losing a cell phone is never an ideal scenario, but Sprint is now offering smartphone customers an additional protective measure if their handsets go astray. Starting today, Android and BlackBerry users who sign up for the carrier's Total Equipment Protection plan not only can get a new phone, but also they'll be able to wipe their missing handsets.

The service, which will be included in the plan's $7-per-month charge, offers a number of features. Subscribers can back up and erase contacts on the lost device, remotely lock a smartphone, and track a device via GPS while seeing … Read more

Firefox ad-blocking, new security, and multimedia streaming

In its quest to continually improve Firefox, Mozilla has added a new do-not-track tool that will help users better thwart ads. With Mozilla's do-not-track technology, network data packets from the browser would signal to a Web site that a person doesn't wished to be tracked. Of course, the company still has to get the sites to cooperate with the new feature.

In security news, Kaspersky is taking its offerings to the next level with Pure Total Security. A laundry list of features new to Kaspersky debuted this week in the new home security suite. Originally announced earlier this … Read more