plants

IBM cuts chip plant pay, following job cuts

IBM is cutting pay for workers at chip manufacturing plants in New York and Vermont. This comes on the heels of job cuts at the Vermont facility.

Some shift workers at IBM's semiconductor plant in Essex Junction, Vt., will see net pay reductions of up to 10 percent in early 2009, said Jeff Couture, an IBM spokesperson.

In effect, a 20 percent premium for shift workers is being eliminated, according to Couture. To mitigate employee earnings losses, IBM is making a one-time base pay increase, he added. However, even with this increase, the "net for employees will range … Read more

My Plant LED lights help indoor plants stay perky

Out of Japan, here's something for plant-loving city dwellers. My Plant, a plant-rearing LED stand, is aimed at those who want to grow plants indoors but are finding it difficult due to the lack of sunlight. My Plant comes with two lamps, each made up of 10 red and 2 blue LEDs.

By placing the lamps about 4-16 inches from plants, the blue and red LED lights are effectively absorbed to promote photosynthesis. While the LEDs are said to be similar to ultraviolet rays from fluorescent lights and not harmful to humans, they will burn plants if placed closer … Read more

SunPower lands mega solar deals in Florida

SunPower on Thursday announced two deals with Florida Power & Light to build 35 megawatts worth of electricity, including an installation at the Kennedy Space Station.

The deals are the largest to date for SunPower, which makes and installs solar photovoltaic panels.

A 25-megawatt plant will be installed by DeSoto County by 2009 and the Kennedy Space Center will have its 10 megawatt plant done by 2010. Florida Power &Light will own and operate the plants.

The largest solar photovoltaic plant in the U.S. is at the Nellis Air Force base in Nevada, which generates 14 megawatts.

Earlier … Read more

The 404 137: Where Justin will not be censored

Big Daddy Wilson can't make it on the show today, so we scoured the office and found his lovechild with MTI, CNET Account Coordinator Eddie Nguyen. He joins us for another wild show- this time, we address the not-so-recent trend of DVD piracy, the George Dubya Bush Sewage Plant (GDBSP), and Google's plan to redirect socially inept nerds. Most importantly, we expose a CON ARTIST within The 404 family. Seriously, we're fuming. EPISODE 137 Download today's podcast

The 404 127: Where Justin gets his wardrobe off eBay

All the bizarre stories on today's show throw us into a rollercoaster of emotions. We start off innocent enough, begging Rick Moranis to do more movies, but then quickly spiral into flora weaponry, gender identity and male pregnancy, heartbreaking eBay auctioneering, and the difficulty in "Shorty" pimpery. We also come to the sobering realization that we've been duped...AGAIN! This must stop. EPISODE 127 Download today's podcast

Gadgettes 94: The Solar Episode

Lindsey's going green, pigeons! Molly and Jason never knew she was such a hippie. But she'll have a chance to explain herself on this week's solar powered episode of Gadgettes. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 94

Microinverters track solar panels via the Web http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9964732-54.html

The solar powered golf cart at Hammacher Schlemmer http://www.hammacher.com/publish/11164.asp

Floating solar farm juices up winery http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9954667-1.html

Profolio solar bag, take solar with you anywhere you need it! http://www.rewarestore.com/product/profolio.html

Artificial … Read more

Crowd source your green thumb with Folia

Curious about gardening? Check out Folia, a social network for plant enthusiasts who want to share and learn tips from the successes and failures of those around them.

Much like Ravelry, the social network for knitters, Folia's claim to fame is that it lets you share and track your gardening with others whether they're near or far. It's also been built up to help you keep an inventory on all your plants and aid you in making swaps with other growers for plants you'd normally have to go out and buy yourself. Think of it like … Read more

Plant power to fight toxic tech

Most Americans live and work in buildings awash in chemicals blamed for asthma, lung cancer, and a host of other maladies.

The best way to clean the air could be with a green thumb, according to Bill Wolverton, a former NASA environmental scientist who has spent more than 30 years studying how plants purify the air. The results of his research could come to market this fall as a household air filter that looks like a potted plant.

"Every chemical we tested, plants could take them out," said Wolverton, who originally worked on life support systems for the … Read more

Hackers attack Russian nuclear power Web sites

In what Russian officials say was a coordinated effort, hackers knocked Web sites for nuclear power plants offline temporarily last week amid false reports of an accident at a plant, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Several Internet forums had false reports of radioactive emissions from the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant near St. Petersburg at the same time as some official Web sites that provide real-time information about radiation incidents were attacked, said a spokesman for the Rosatom state nuclear corporation.

"This was a planned action by hackers, which has brought down almost all sites providing access to … Read more

Security hole found in software used by power plants

We can all live with outages at Yahoo Mail, Twitter, and CNN.com. But what about when there's an outage that affects our electrical power, heating systems, and gas supplies?

Boston-based security firm Core Security has discovered a serious hole in the Suitelink software that is used to automate operations at power stations, oil refineries and production lines, according to a report in New Scientist.

Attackers exploiting the vulnerability could crash the software by transmitting an outsize packet data to a certain port on the computer running Suitelink, the article says.

Fortunately, Wonderware, the company that makes Suitelink, has … Read more