A new company is hoping to turn cloverleafs along the freeway into solar energy farms. Republic Cloverleaf Solar says that it can power 3,000 homes with energy produced by solar panels installed on the unused land along the freeway. It is in negotiations with CalTrans and PG&E, and hopes to begin construction next year.
Articles by Danny Wool
Mountain View’s Computer History Museum is exhibiting a recreation of the granddaddy of all modern computers.This 15-ton mechanical contraption invented by English mathematician Charles Babbage used sequential control, branching, and looping—ideas that would take decades to be integrated into more modern machines.
Netflix is fighting back after Comcast attempted to charge extra fees for overuse of bandwidth for the streaming of movies. Netflix says that such a fee would “threatens the open Internet,” and lead to the imposition of fees on content, depending on who the provider is. They plan to appeal to federal regulators, arguing that this is a breach of net neutrality.
The makers of Firefox are looking into a new version of their popular browser that will help users surf the net anonymously. The news comes just as a Subcommittee of the House of Representatives prepares to hold a hearing about “Do not track” proposals.
President George W. Bush dropped into Facebook on Tuesday for a public chat with the social network’s founder Mark Zuckerberg. Though he refused to criticize President Obama, saying it was not good for the country, he id make reference to the recent Wikileaks revelations, calling them “very damaging.”
Evergreen College’s new Center for the Arts is causing more problems than anticipated. The $38 million building is plagued by a series of design flaws that left one instructor on disability and sixty students with no place to learn. It is also contending with fifty Cal/OSHA safety violations and one fire department violation.
Smokers signed a petition on Monday protesting the proposed extension of anti-smoking measures in the county’s unincorporated areas. The new ordinance would institute an annual permit fee on shops that sell tobacco, prevent pharmacies from selling tobacco products, and ban the sale of tobacco 1,000 feet from schools and 500 feet from other shops selling tobacco. It would also ban the selling of flavored tobacco.
While many companies want a piece of Groupon, only a handful can afford to buy it. Did Google make a bid? The discount coupon company’s value is set at $1 billion at least, and it brings in $50 million a month in revenues. Yahoo reportedly offered $2-3 billion for it, and only a handful of other companies can afford the sticker price.
NASA says that it is willing chip in $20 million to reskin Hangar One if Congress gives another $10 million. The U.S. Navy has been planning to remove the structure’s toxic laminate siding, but this would leave just a skeleton on the site of the iconic building. If the funding goes through the site will be used as it was originally intended, as a hangar for airships.
An 18-wheeler packed with rats pulled up to a storage facility in San Jose this weekend to unload its cargo. The rodents, which were found in the home of an animal hoarder in LA, will be kept in quarantine until December 5. After that, Animal Services will start finding new homes for the cuddly vermin.
