The U.S. government is aiming to pull the plug on hundreds of unneeded data centers over the next few years in an attempt to save taxpayers some hard-earned cash.
In a blog published yesterday, the White House's Office of Management and Budget admitted that instead of consolidating data centers as many businesses have done in recent years, the government went in the opposite direction. Between 1998 and 2010, federal agencies actually quadrupled their number of data centers despite increases in the efficiency of data storage.
And, of course, taxpayers have been stuck paying the bills for those data … Read more
News of the Black Eyed Peas' hiatus proves that if you wish for something long enough, dreams really do come true. On today's episode, Jeff tells us about the long-awaited intersection of tech geekdom and hockey, we analyze WebMD's involvement in the spread of "cyberchondria," and we dispute a Dutch study that claims smoking marijuana makes you a better gamer.
Three senators reached a deal on Thursday to repeal the $6 billion-per-year ethanol tax credit by the end of July, an agreement that must still be passed by Congress.
The loss of the subsidy could add extra costs for ethanol blenders such as Valero Energy and Marathon Oil, but it is unlikely to reduce demand for corn.
"This agreement is the best chance to repeal the ethanol subsidy, and it's the best chance to achieve real deficit reduction," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein from California, who made the deal with Sens. John Thune from South Dakota and Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota.
Government mandates require increasing amounts of the corn-based fuel until 2015. The ethanol industry uses some 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop to make the alternative motor fuel.
The deal would reduce the federal deficit this year by $1.33 billion and direct $668 million to extend tax breaks for technologies to help alternative motor fuels including biofuels get to market, Feinstein said.
Model for other tax credit cuts? The call on Capitol Hill to reduce tax breaks for ethanol and other industries has increased as President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress search for ways to break the budget deadlock.
The path for the deal to become law is still uncertain. It could be attached to a standalone tax bill or become part of a wider measure to raise the federal debt limit. … Read more
California's rebate program for electric and hybrid cars has run out of money for this fiscal year.
The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project has been offering California residents who purchase an electric or hybrid vehicle a rebate of $1,500 to $5,000, depending on the type of vehicle purchased.
The state budget had allocated $5 million for the program for the 2010-2011 fiscal year with an additional $2 million coming from the state's Energy Commission. However, as with the federal Cash for Clunkers program, citizens responded much more enthusiastically than anticipated.… Read more
The calls for Research in Motion to reconsider its current executive structure are getting louder.
Today major shareholder advisory group International Shareholder Services (ISS) added its voice to the mix, telling clients they should support a proposal to split the company's CEO and chairman roles. Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie are co-CEOs and co-chairmen of the Waterloo, Ontario-based mobile computing company.
"The board's mandate is to represent the interests of shareholders through overseeing management and instilling accountability...Conflicts of interest may arise when one person holds both the Chair and CEO positions," ISS said today, according to Bloomberg. … Read more
The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down California's attempt to ban the sale of violent video games to minors, arguing that the current ratings system is enough to let parents make informed decisions about what to buy. Unlike the MPAA's rating system, which led me and my 4-year-old to "Cars 2." Thanks for that, MPAA. Also, LulzSec tucks its puppykicker tail and runs away, but not before hacking a librarian and book-sharing Website. Nice.
The U.S. government is failing to safeguard American businesses from persistent and widespread online attacks emanating from China, former U.S. national security official Richard Clarke argues in The Wall Street Journal today.
"In private, U.S. officials admit that the government has no strategy to stop the Chinese cyberassault," Clarke wrote in an op-ed piece.
Actions being taken at the federal level are lopsided and insufficient, he argues:
Rather than defending American companies, the Pentagon seems focused on "active defense," by which it means offense. That cyberoffense might be employed if China were ever … Read more
The U.S. government is investigating reports from Google that hackers attempted to break into the Gmail accounts of senior government officials but at this point doesn't believe any accounts were actually breached.
"Speaking on behalf of the U.S. government, we're looking into these reports and seeking to gather the facts," Caitlin Hayden, deputy spokesperson for the National Security Council, told CNET today. "We have no reason to believe that any official U.S. government e-mail accounts were accessed."
The FBI is taking the lead on the investigation, according to Hayden, "as … Read more
The U.S. wind industry is growing again after taking a big step backward last year.
Yet turbine makers and wind farm developers are finding few reasons to celebrate as the clean energy source struggles to secure long-term government support while facing stiff competition from cheap natural gas.
Once the world's top wind market, the United States ceded that mantle to China last year as a weak economy halted its growth and cut new installations to half of the 10,000 megawatts of capacity built in 2009.
Since then, business has picked up, but not for the reasons the industry would like. Energy demand is still tepid due to a gurgling economic recovery, and the low cost of natural gas is keeping power prices low.
Pricing in long-term power sales contracts signed by wind developers has fallen 30 percent in the last two years and will fall further this year, according to IHS Emerging Energy Research.
Currently, the market is being shepherded by developers who are scrambling to put turbines in the ground ahead of a 2013 expiration of lucrative federal tax credits for wind. Beyond that date, the industry's fortunes are hazy. … Read more
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--One of the reasons I like to attend events like the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium is that they're opportunities for a reality check. Vendor confabs can sometimes feel like a bit of an echo chamber that is a bit disconnected from what IT departments are really doing or, at least, the pace at which they're doing it.
To be sure, the companies attending and speaking at events like this symposium tend to be more leading edge and forward-thinking than average. Even so, I was still a bit surprised at how strongly most of the end-user panelists … Read more
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