Spotify get's early content

R.E.M's new album "Collapse Into Now" will be available today to Spotify Premium users one week prior to the official album launch. This will be available to premium users in UK, Spain, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands and Finland.

Spotify are also running a competition to go with the launch where users can win: -
* A Fender Squier Stratocaster guitar, signed by Michael Stipe, Mike Mills and Peter Buck
* A Sonos S5 – a high-performance wireless music system
* A signed photograph of the band
* A special Spotify playlist compiled by the band, which will be automatically added to their Premium account

User can enter here by answering a simple question and entering their details and Spotify account name.

Video: Prince Charles' Speech on Low Carbon Prosperity at the European Parliament 2011

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
Late last year, I was fortunate to be a part of a conference call with the Producers of a film featuring Prince Charles: Harmony - A New Way of Looking at the World which showcased November 2010.
Prince Charles recently gave a speech on Low Carbon Prosperity at the European Parliament Feb. 9, 2011, and the video is here for your reference. It's Powerful!
The text version of his speech is also here for reference.

Video: David Dorf Sr Director Technology Oracle on Mobile Commerce

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
David Dorf, Sr Director of Technology at Oracle, discussed the latest Mobile Commerce Strategies at ETail West this week. This was one of the best presentations at the event, and the video is below for your reference.

Government gives cash to program makers

The Government has agreed to making grants available to the Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE) sector as they currently use equipment which wireless transmits and the spectrum used is being re-allocated and they have to migrate from channel 69 to channel 38.

66% of PMSE licensed users have registered claims in the scheme and those that haven't need to register with Equiniiti (the administrators of the scheme) as soon as possible.

PMSE users will then have to return equipment using the old frequencies within the timescales they have agreed (though these may extended by agreement with Equiniiti).

Bill Clinton RSA Conference San Francisco Feb 18 2011

Bill Clinton

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent

On February 18, I attended the information security RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Bill Clinton was the Keynote Speaker and discussed how information technology is integral to addressing Climate Change. (He also discussed Climate Change at the December 2010 Salesforce Conference which I covered in this article.) For the last 2.5 years, I've been working in the Green Tech industry and have been greatly impressed with how European Countries have been using technology, process, and policy to address greenhouse gas emissions and make themselves more competitive economically. Bill Clinton mentioned the European success stories during his speech in addition to key concepts on how the countries that addressed a new energy strategy to address the Kyoto Treaty have lower unemployment rates now because they understood there is a New Economy.
I also included a text excerpt for you where Bill Clinton specifically addresses climate change and its relationship with policy, jobs, information technology, success stories, mistakes, and opportunities.
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Bill Clinton addressing RSA Cybersecurity attendees on Climate Change, policy, jobs, Information Technology, success stories, mistakes, and opportunities:
"One of the reasons that your job is so important... is that we have to build on, not tear down what really will generate economic growth.
For example:
Where should the next round of American job growth come from, and every country is asking itself the same question...Well, I'm a big believer in again in looking at the evidence and seeing what the competition is doing. In the last decade, first Germany leapfrogged the US and Japan to become the number one producer and user of photovoltaic solar cells even though on average the sun shines as much in Germany as much as it does in London. They still did it.
And Deutsche Bank said that they netted 300,000 new jobs out of the effort, even accounting for the drag of the subsidies necessary to create this new economy. When the recent downturn occurred by early 2010, we were at least financially out of the worst and coming back but when Germany had recovered 60% of its losses and America had recovered 70% of its losses, the German unemployment rate was 2 points lower than ours. Why?..Because they had a set of new economic opportunities in the real economy.
Before this meltdown, the 4 countries: Germany, the UK, Sweden, and Denmark, the only 4 that were going to meet their greenhouse gas reduction (GHG) targets under the Kyoto Treaty, were all outperforming America in terms of lower unemployment, higher job growth, no increasing inequality, and they all did it in radically different ways. But they said .. oh this decade should be devoted to changing the way we produce and consumer energy...and even the people that aren't sure about climate change should embrace that if it makes your country more independent, creates more jobs, raises incomes, and allows you to steer a course for your children into the future.
These are the kinds of questions we have to ask. There is no conceivable answer to that question that does not require us to use more information technology especially in this energy area. I'll just give you one example. My foundation mostly works on energy efficiency all over the world and we're helping 16 different companies in 10 different cities build developments that are residential, commercial or mixed use that will have zero carbon emissions. And every one of them expects to make a fortune. They think this is going to be good business. Why? Because of the way they're going to use information technology. They are highly vulnerable to having their proprietary advances stolen.
We worked on the renovation of the Empire State Building being done primarily by Johnson Controls with information technology, as well as new lights, new windows, new heating and air conditioning, new insulation...it's creating hundreds and hundreds of jobs but alot of it is through technology...and if they get the contract they have guaranteed they will reduce their electric bills by 38% and pay it off in 4.5 years."

"There needs to be a process like the one that I went through in '91 and '92 about where the jobs are going to come from in the next 5 to 10 years - what's the most likely. And then what public policies and private incentives would most likely produce the biggest gains. And we can't keep jerking around...so the issue isn't the government vs the private sector, the issue is Tomorrow vs Yesterday."

"There was a fascinating provision in the previous tax bill passed by the Democratic Congress that gave the equivalent of a 30% tax credit to any new business making green technology; 30% tax credit per employee they hired. But since alot of these were startup businesses, instead of giving them the tax credit which you get at the end after you earn the money, and then if you don't make the money in the early years you have to do loss carry forwards, they gave them the money upfront in the form of a check, a rebate; they gave them cash, and then if you didn't hire the person or if the person wasn't on the payroll for a year you had to give it back to the government. It was designed to start more new businesses early; it was a heck of an idea, and it was working.
In January 2009, we only had 2% of the world's capacity in making these high-powered batteries necessary for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles. 30 new plants are either already built or under construction today. 17 in Michigan which has the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the country; those 30 will take us to 20% of the world's capacity, and the plans on the drawing board they were about to approve would take us to 40%. And the Republicans insisted we get rid of that because that was a Spending Program, not a Tax Cut (all Spending Programs are Bad; all Tax Cuts are good). So we've got to get beyond the ideology to look at the evidence. This thing was starting a whole new manufacturing sector in America, and they were going to be able to sell these batteries all over the world...We all need to just tone down the rhetoric and identify the areas of opportunity.
The other thing is you can help alot on that ..the Economic Policy of the Government should be directed to accelerating the areas of greatest opportunity to get in the job-growth business again. We cannot have another decade where we're just subsisting on consumer spending and finance."

Other Articles Featuring Bill Clinton:
1. Bill Clinton's Earth Day Speech at Fortune Brainstorm Green 2009
2. Bill Clinton speaking on Climate Change at Dreamforce 2010

Ofcom will auction 2010 - 2025 MHz band

Ofcom has decided to auction the 2010 - 2025 MHz band instead of using for Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE). The band is currently unused.

This follows a consultation held in May last year after which it was decided that the opportunity cost of reserving the band for PMSE use was higher than expected. Also in Germany the band was auction and only achieved €5.7m. There was also little support for making the band license exempt.

The auction will not take place before Q1 2012 and Ofcom will hold a further consultation.

In the meantime the band can be used for PMSE and will be licensed under standard PMSE regulations from JFMG. The band will also be made available for PMSE during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Video: Jeff Raikes CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Stanford's Global Food Policy & Food Security Symposium

Photo Credit: Stanford University

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
Jeff Raikes, CEO Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, spoke at Stanford's Global Food Policy and Food Security symposium February 10, 2011. The Topic was Improving Food Security in the 21st Century: What are the Roles for Firms and Foundations, and the 2 Videos of his talk are below.

Jeff was brought up on a Nebraska farm, and discussed the challenge of providing more predictable farmer revenues in an environment dealing with Climate Change, Water Scarcity, and Economic Volatility.
Some farming is more intrusive on the environment and impacts food and water supplies, in addition to carbon emissions. Also, I don't believe that animals should be killed for the benefit of humans. However, Video 1 (of 2) below gives his perspective on Systems Approaches in making decisions.
I'm a big fan of using Systems Approaches in solving problems, where I used this in global high tech, logistics, government, and startup environments.
Jeff also mentions Catalytic Philanthropy as his goal, which is to raise the quality of people's lives, realize the interventions, and introduce successes in private and public sectors to scale up success. He also looks for the opportunities that make a great impact for the dollars spent such as using human vaccines in reducing disease.
Climate Change is also a big factor because the poorest farmers in the world will be most affected. He also mentions his own personal experience where a Lake he enjoyed as a child has disappeared in his lifetime.
He adds that Water Scarcity and Economic Challenges are also great factors to consider.
Video 2 discusses the importance of Women in Agriculture.

What are your thoughts on Jeff's Talk? Please share your Comments on this Post. Thanks!

Video (Part 1 of 2)

Video (Part 2 of 2)

ACS:Law turn themselves off

ACS:Law the legal firm that has become infamous due to their actions of trying to prosecute alleged illegal file sharers (and more infamous due to their exposing files containing lists of said filesharers). MediaCAT (the client of ACS:Law involved in the alleged file sharing cases) has also ceased trading.

In the past ACS:Law had said it had "ceased this type of litigation" as it had suffered a series of unfavourable court hearings.

ACS:Law was under investigation from the Information Commissioner's Office after the company allowed files containing alleged downloaders of pornography and file sharers to be made available on-line (though not deliberately it has to be said).

In the past it is alleged that ACS:Law offered cash to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for data on their subscribers.

The latest action may be as a result of recent court action where ACS:Law tried to discontinue the case against file sharers. However Judge Birss QC wasn't happy to do so and stated "I want to tell you that I am not happy. I am getting the impression with every twist and turn since I started looking at these cases that there is a desire to avoid any judicial scrutiny". Judge Birss is expected to rule on his finding this Thursday and many suspect that ACS:Law and MediaCAT ceased trading to avoid judicial scrutiny.

DOE Pursues SunShot Initiative to Achieve Cost Competitive Solar Energy by 2020

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
Per Feb. 4 DOE Alert:
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced additional details of the Department of Energy's "SunShot" initiative to reduce the total costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75% so that they are cost competitive at large scale with other forms of energy without subsidies before the end of the decade. By reducing the cost for utility scale installations by about 75% to roughly $1 a watt—which would correspond to roughly 6 cents per kilowatt-hour—solar energy systems could be broadly deployed across the country.

This will increase American economic competitiveness and help the United States regain leadership in the global market for solar photovoltaics. As part of the SunShot initiative, Secretary Chu announced today that the Department of Energy is awarding $27 million in projects to support the development, commercialization, and manufacturing of advanced solar energy technologies.

"America is in a world race to produce cost-effective, quality photovoltaics. The SunShot initiative will spur American innovations to reduce the costs of solar energy and re-establish U.S. global leadership in this growing industry," said Secretary Chu. "These efforts will boost our economic competitiveness, rebuild our manufacturing industry and help reach the President's goal of doubling our clean energy in the next 25 years."

The SunShot program builds on the legacy of President Kennedy's 1960s "moon shot" goal, which laid out a plan to regain the country's lead in the space race and land a man on the moon. The program will aggressively drive innovations in the ways that solar systems are conceived, designed, manufactured and installed.

In addition to investing in improvements in cell technologies and manufacturing, the SunShot initiative will also focus on steps to streamline and digitize local permitting processes that will reduce installation and permitting costs. To achieve the SunShot goal of reducing the total installed cost of large scale solar electricity by about 75%, DOE will be working closely with partners in government, industry, research laboratories, and academic institutions across the country.

SunShot will work to bring down the full cost of solar—including the costs of the solar cells and installation—by focusing on four main pillars:

Technologies for solar cells and arrays that convert sunlight to energy
Electronics that optimize the performance of the installation
Improvements in the efficiency of solar manufacturing processes
Installation, design and permitting for solar energy systems.
For more information and to follow the initiative's progress, visit the SunShot Initiative website.

As part of the launch of the SunShot initiative, DOE is also announcing $27 million in awards to nine new projects. This funding includes support for five projects that are receiving $20 million to further develop U.S. supply chains for PV manufacturing. This includes support for companies across the solar energy supply chain, including U.S. material and tool suppliers and companies that are developing technologies that can be adopted directly into current manufacturing processes. More information and a list of awardees is available.

Additionally, DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory is investing $7 million to fund the latest round of the successful PV Incubator program, which helps to shorten the commercialization timeline for promising emerging solar technologies. The companies work closely with DOE national laboratories to scale their technologies and manufacturing processes and move the products from pre-commercial and prototype stage to pilot and full-scale manufacturing operations. More information and a list of awardees is available.

The SunShot initiative builds on the Department's significant research and development (R&D) efforts in solar energy over the past decade, conducted in partnership with American universities, national laboratories, and the private sector. In the last ten years, DOE has invested more than $1 billion in solar energy research that has been leveraged with significant private industry funding to support more than $2 billion in total solar R&D projects. This includes investments by DOE's Office of Science, Solar Energy Technologies Program, and ARPA-E, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. Innovations in both science and technology have driven the cost of solar down 60% since 1995, and have yielded a number of critical breakthroughs in solar PV performance and cost. A fact sheet detailing some of the Department's past and current work in solar energy is available.

NY Times: Gas Drilling Technique Injects Diesel & Violates Safe Water Drinking Act

By Mary Vincent - Follow on Twitter @MaryVincent
Per the NY Times, Oil and gas service companies injected tens of millions of gallons of diesel fuel into onshore wells in more than a dozen states from 2005 to 2009, Congressional investigators have charged. Those injections appear to have violated the Safe Water Drinking Act, the investigators said in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday. See the full article here.
(Photo Credit: Ralph Wilson/Associated Press)

Ofcom wants to allow mobile operators to trade spectrum

Ofcom is holding two related consultations, the first is to allow mobile operators to trade spectrum in the 900MHz, 1800MHz (1.8GHz) and 2100MHz (2.1GHz) bands, the second is to vary the Wireless Telegraphy Act so that the 3G licenses can be changed to support a new coverage obligation, a change to licence duration, a revocation notice period of 5 years (such revocation not to be capable of taking effect before the period for which the licences were auctioned expires), a provision for Ofcom to charge annual licence fees from the end of 2021 (when the period for which the licences were auctioned expires) and a provision relating to spectrum trading.

The are many reasons to allow spectrum trading which benefit the UK as a whole especially financially as spectrum licenses generate around £40bn per annum for the UK (and account for around 3% of the GDP). Spectrum trading has also been directed from Government.

This will also allow Everything Everywhere (the combined Orange and T-Mobile) to effective get rid of 2 x 15MHz pairs of spectrum from their 1800MHz allowance, which was agreed with the EU as part of the merger conditions. Everything Everywhere will be able to trade directly, as part of the digital divide spectrum (800MHz and 2.6GHz) or give it back to Ofcom who can re-award it.

This is likely to have a major impact when the 800MHz and 2.6GHz licenses are awarded as some entities may have a large chunk of additional spectrum (though companies such a 3 are hoping that there will be sub 1GHz spectrum caps) and can therefore free-up existing mobile spectrum.

The spectrum trading consultation may be responded to here and the WTA variance consultation here.

Coal Ash Waste Contains Hexavalent Chromium

Press Release: Just weeks after recent headlines about hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing toxic chemical, contaminated drinking water systems around the U.S., a new report shows that scores of leaking coal ash sites across the country are additional documented sites for such contamination.
Hexavalent chromium first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now new information indicates that the chemical leaks readily from leaking coal ash dump sites maintained for coal-fired power plants.
Public interest law firm Earthjustice, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Environmental Integrity Project are pushing for federally-enforceable safeguards from coal ash as this new information is released. Also, in a signal that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee recognizes the hazards of hexavalent chromium exposure, they have called on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson to testify tomorrow on a hearing about the chemical.
“Communities near coal ash sites must add hexavalent chromium to the list of toxic chemicals that threaten their health and families,” said Lisa Evans, senior administrative counsel at Earthjustice. “It is now abundantly clear that EPA must control coal ash disposal to prevent the poisoning of our drinking water with hexavalent chromium.”
Coal ash, the leftover waste from power plants, contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, selenium and many other chemicals that can cause cancer and damage the nervous system and organs, especially in children. Hexavalent chromium is a highly toxic carcinogen when inhaled, and recent studies from the National Toxicology Program indicate that when leaked into drinking water, it can also cause cancer.

“The cancer risk from hexavalent chromium is one more serious threat to health from coal ash,” said Barbara Gottlieb, Deputy Director for Environment & Health at Physicians for Social Responsibility. "To protect the public from carcinogens and other dangerous substances, the EPA needs to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste.”
“The pollution from coal ash sites is making people sick,” said Dalal Aboulhosn who works on coal ash for the Sierra Club. “As we’ve seen time and again, big polluters can’t be trusted to police themselves. We need EPA to hold them accountable.”
“Studies by EPA, the state of California, and the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry show that ingesting minute amounts of hexavalent chromium increases the risk of cancer,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director for Environmental Integrity Project. “Coal ash dumps have contaminated groundwater with much higher concentrations of this deadly carcinogen, according to the industry's own monitoring data. The Obama Administration should keep its promise to respect science and protect the public’s health, by putting strict standards in place to keep this contamination from spreading even further.”
Among the findings from the new report:

* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that the type of chromium that leaches from coal ash sites is nearly always of the hexavalent variety, which is the most toxic form of chromium.
* The threat of hexavalent chromium drinking water contamination is present at hundreds of unlined coal ash sites across the country.
* At least 28 coal ash sites in 17 states have already released chromium to groundwater at levels exceeding by thousands of times a proposed drinking water goal for hexavalent chromium.
* Power plants dump more than 10 million pounds of chromium and chromium compounds into mostly unlined or inadequately lined coal ash landfills, ponds and fill sites each year. The electric power industry is the largest single source of chromium and chromium compounds released to the environment.
* The U.S. Department of Energy and electric utility industry have known for years about the aggressive leaking of hexavalent chromium from coal ash.
* Hexavalent chromium contamination from coal ash is clearly a grave threat. Yet the U.S. EPA, which is currently in the process of deciding whether or not to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste, has completely ignored the cancer risk from chromium in groundwater.

CONTACTS: Patrick Mitchell for Environmental Integrity Project at (703) 276 3266 or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com; Lisa Evans of Earthjustice at (781) 631-4119 or levans@earthjustice.org; Barbara Gottlieb of Physicians for Social Responsibility at (202) 587-5225 or bgottlieb@psr.org; and Virginia Cramer of Sierra Club at (804) 519-8449 or virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org.