brightness

California will soon lay claim to having the world's largest commercial solar thermal energy project in the world.

BrightSource Energy and NRG Energy subsidiary NRG Solar announced today that they're partnering on a 392-megawatt solar thermal project called the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System.

All the other moving parts to make the plant a go also seem to be in place.

NRG Solar has signed a memorandum of understanding to partner with BrightSource, and plans to invest over $300 million in Ivanpah. Ivanpah has signed power of purchase agreements with Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric. … Read more

BrightSource Energy today said that it has received the final approvals from the Bureau of Land Management needed to build a solar power plant in California using solar "power tower" technology.

The company expects to start building the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generation System, which will have a capacity of 392 megawatts, later this year and complete the work in 2012.

The Ivanpah plant is one of nine large-scale solar projects working through the federal permitting process for building on public land. The BLM yesterday gave approval for two other solar projects to built on public lands, also in … Read more

Apple has released a small update for Mid 2010 iMacs, which addresses problems where the 21.5-inch iMac model would change display brightness temporarily after waking from sleep.

The update is 378KB and installs a new version of the "AppleBacklight" kernel extension. It is available via Software Update for applicable systems, and can also be downloaded from this Apple Support webpage.

The update requires OS X 10.6.4, and should require a restart when applied.

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or e-mail us! Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.… Read more

General Motors has invested in electric vehicle company Bright Automotive, marking the first investment by the auto giant's venture-capital arm.

The companies said Tuesday that the investment by recently created GM Ventures for an undisclosed amount will give GM a minority stake in Anderson, Ind.-based Bright and accelerate Bright's plans to manufacture a plug-in hybrid van that can get up to 100 miles per gallon.

Bright designed the hybrid gas-electric utility van, called the Idea, specifically for fleet vehicle operators. The company was spun out of the Rocky Mountain Institute think tank and co-founded by John Waters, … Read more

BrightSource Energy has raised $150 million to fund the construction of large solar power plants in the southwest U.S. over the next six years, the company said Thursday.

New investors in the Oakland, Calif.-based company include the California State Teachers Retirement System and Alstom, the France-based conglomerate that develops power generation and rail projects. Existing investors VantagePoint Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson also funded the series D round, which brings the total equity raised for BrightSource Energy to more than $300 million.

The money will be used to develop a planned 2,610 megawatts of … Read more

Finally there's a free image editor worth reviewing. So many Photoshop wannabes have failed to live up to expectations, which admittedly are high. But PhotoFiltre stands on its own as a basic, capable image editor.

The first good news is the program's user interface, which is very clean and not at all overwhelming, unlike many graphics tools. Menu items line the top of the window with their respective shortcut buttons below in two rows. Rather than using moveable color and tool palettes, PhotoFiltre places them in a narrow right-hand sidebar, which leaves plenty of room for images. We … Read more

The United States on Monday gave its biggest backing yet to a renewable energy project, guaranteeing $1.37 billion in loans for a California development by BrightSource Energy that uses the sun's heat to power a steam turbine.

BrightSource's proposed solar thermal plants are expected to generate about 400 megawatts of electricity and power about 140,000 California homes, giving it the heft to compete with plants fueled by coal and natural gas.

President Obama's administration has touted green energy investments as a way to create jobs and increase international economic competitiveness.

"We're not going … Read more

Face Smoother offers to help clear up blemishes and improve photo quality, especially with shots of people. While it provides all the proper tools to get this done, the program's limitations are frustrating.

The program's interface was its best attribute. Allowing us to learn onscreen with helpful command icons, we didn't need to utilize the program's slightly disorganized Help file. The program offers options to sharpen, adjust, smooth, rotate, and resize any photo. Rotate, Resize, and Adjust were the most user-friendly options, as they were able to be customized by sliders or entering in new dimensions. … Read more

Golden Autumn 3D Screensaver is an attractive program that lets users view a coming autumn scene on their desktop. Although a few aspects of the graphics could be better, overall, this is a very enjoyable program.

The screensaver starts and users are transported to a parklike setting that is full of turning trees. A soft rain falls and gentle music plays. We encounter various points of interest throughout the park, such as a gurgling fountain and ducks swimming in a canal. The program made us feel relaxed and a little wistful. Our only disappointment was that the colors of the … Read more