The freeware CCleaner hasn't seen many major revisions since Piriform launched it in 2004, so when you do see a major update, you can be assured that it's going to come with impressive new tools. CCleaner 3 doesn't disappoint on that front, introducing two major new features that make it worth the upgrade.
One is a drive wiping tool that can wipe all the data from your hard drive, but can also scrub only the available free space. As with many of the tools in CCleaner, it's fairly nuanced and allows for a simple one-pass overwrite, … Read more
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Rather than close the blinds on a sunny day, perhaps you'll pull down the solar panel.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology here today presented early results of research projects funded by Italian oil company Eni, including paper-thin solar cells, which could be used as window covers, and a paper-based material to collect oil spilled in water.
MIT showed prototypes of paper solar cells able to generate enough current to light a small LED display. A commercial solar paper device could be available in five years, said chemical engineering professor Karen Gleason, whose lab is doing the work. … Read more
IBM is tapping into its own network of PC owners to help figure out how to clean up drinking water.
Big Blue announced Monday a series of high-tech projects related to creating safer drinking water, which IBM notes is a rare resource for at least 1.2 billion people worldwide.
To drive the initiatives, the company is calling on its World Community Grid, a network of PC owners who pitch in computing time to help scientists tackle global problems. People who volunteer for the Grid allow their idle computers to be used by IBM to collectively run simulations and other … Read more
The U.S. Energy Department on Thursday awarded $1 billion for the FutureGen clean-coal power program and carbon dioxide storage network in Illinois, aiming to cut emissions of greenhouse gases from coal-fired electric generating plants.
"This investment in the world's first, commercial-scale, oxy-combustion power plant will help to open up the over $300 billion market for coal unit repowering and position the country as a leader in an important part of the global clean energy economy," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Oxy-combustion burns coal with a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of … Read more
Magix PC Check & Tuning Free promises to optimize your PC in a few easy steps. It quickly analyzes your computer's performance, identifies any roadblocks, and removes them automatically, based on your settings. Its PC Check Live feature continuously monitors your PC in the background, even when the main application is closed. It has privacy and security features, such as cleaning browser traces, and can also optimize your computer's Internet access. Just as important is what it didn't do, which was any harm to our system.
This tool is free, but you must register online to receive … Read more
A Chinese government fund has told a U.N. panel it supports project developers that earn carbon offsets under a lucrative Kyoto Protocol program, and rejects the idea that they are overcompensated.
Chinese project developers rejected key grounds for a review of Kyoto's clean development mechanism (CDM), and the China CDM Fund supported them, confidential papers showed a week before a U.N. panel decides whether to launch a formal review of the program.
The projects are the most lucrative under the CDM, which allows rich countries to buy offsets from carbon-cutting projects in the developing world as a … Read more
WASHINGTON--The United States and dozens of other countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward clean-energy initiatives to help battle climate change, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Tuesday.
Meeting in Washington, D.C., for a two-day conference, delegations from 24 countries representing 80 percent of global energy consumption promised initiatives that would mean building fewer power plants and using more clean energy.
"We know the clean-energy challenge won't wait, and we won't wait either," Chu said at the first Clean Energy Ministerial.
The countries pledged to improve energy efficiency in appliances and buildings, accelerate deployment of smart-grid technology and electric vehicles, and help developing countries embrace low-carbon technologies.
These initiatives "will save enough energy in the next 20 years to equal the output of 500 medium-sized power plants," Chu said.
Eight companies--including Wal-Mart Stores, Target, Marriott International, and Nissan Motor, along with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology--backed a plan to create efficiency standards for buildings and industrial facilities. … Read more
Those yellow Clean Air Vehicle stickers that gave tens of thousands of hybrids access to full-time use of California's carpool lanes are long gone, and the clock is ticking down on the time they're valid. But for a few near zero-emissions vehicles, the HOV lane remains wide open to the single-party driver for another four years.
A recent bill was signed in California extending the amount of time that vehicles meeting California's super ultra-low emission vehicle (SULEV) standard and the federal inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) standard can use the HOV lane with less than the minimum number … Read more
Virgin Group CEO and entrepreneurial icon Richard Branson promised "one hell of a party" for the kickoff flight for air carrier Virgin America's first international route from San Francisco to Toronto on Tuesday, and if the trays of mimosas and acai-cranberry cocktails that kept getting toted past his first-class seat were any indication, his promise would not be broken.
Branson, a British national who was knighted in 1999, has become one of Silicon Valley's icons of late for his enterprises in green energy and the fledgling Virgin Galactic space company, and Virgin America is headquartered in … Read more
In recent years, you may have seen a story or two about how toilet seats are cleaner than your cell phone. Well, there may not be an app for eliminating those teeming germs from your mobile, but Violight, a company that specializes in UV toothbrush sanitizers, has developed something called the Cell Phone Sanitizer to execute microbes.
Violight says it's the first UV sanitizing device designed to "eliminate up to 99.9% of germs and bacteria on your cell phone," as well other small electronic devices, including earbuds and Bluetooth headsets.
According to the company, the germicidal … Read more
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