You can save any email as a PDF by printing it as such, but if you need to save emails to your hard drive quite often, this Chrome extension lets you PDF an email with one simple click.
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How Super Rich Tech Companies Make Employees Live in Squalor
Amazon is a very rich company, with a market cap of $361 billion and stock price of over $750 a share. But as we’ve seen, the fortune of huge tech companies don’t often translate down to its employees. In some cases, it leaves them living in squalor.
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Six places where renewable energy is cheaper than fossil fuels
By Cat DiStasio
In the race to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels, cost is a huge factor. It’s taken years, but advances in technology and increases in both efficiency and output have helped bring down the expense of renewable energy, which has in turn increased demand. Globally, fossil fuels are still cheaper than these alternative sources, but there are a few places around the world where clean energy is winning, dollar for dollar. Sometimes, too, there’s so much of it that the market price drops to zero. With the cost of renewable energy getting lower by the year, if not the month, environmental advocates are hopeful that energy sources like solar and wind power can eventually edge out fossil fuels entirely. Let’s take a look at some of the locales where renewable energy is proving that a clean world doesn’t have to be more expensive.
Free wind power in Dallas
Everything is bigger in Texas, including the wind energy output. In Dallas, Texas, one utility company had so much wind-generated electricity running through its grid that it decided to give it away at no charge. Last November, customers of TXU Energy began taking advantage of free electricity between the hours of 9pm and 6am, thanks to the excessive production. Although federal tax credits aid in bringing down the cost of wind power and wind makes up just 10 percent of electricity production statewide, TXU Energy’s move helped raise awareness for the awesome potential of this renewable energy source. The free juice helped the utility company too, by reducing energy storage and grid maintenance costs that might have been incurred by the power oversupply.
Free solar power in Chile
This year, sunny Chile experienced an oversupply of electricity produced from the country’s solar farms. Based on spot pricing, the country experienced net zero electricity prices for 113 consecutive days (through April), and passed the savings on to utility customers. Chile’s government has invested heavily in its solar industry by installing 29 solar power plants, and it’s planning to add 15 more in the future to supply electricity to its two power grids. In 2015, Chile had a grand total of 192 days of "free" electricity due to solar power production. Since the two grids are not connected and many people live in underserved rural areas, the phenomenon isn’t yet benefiting all residents. In fact, some are paying higher-than-normal prices for electricity despite the overage, but the government is working to improve the grid infrastructure to alleviate that problem as well.
World’s cheapest wind power in Denmark
Last month, a Swedish firm announced it will built an offshore wind farm in Denmark that will produce electricity cheaper than coal and natural gas. The 600-megawatt Kriegers Flak is already being heralded as the world’s first offshore electricity "supergrid," which aims to churn out renewable energy for just $54/MW. Named after the Baltic Sea reef near which it will be located, the wind farm will include a 400MW interconnector with Germany that will enable the two countries to share electricity when needed, further reducing costs and alleviating power shortages. The supergrid is expected to be operational by the end of 2021.
Cost-competitive solar homes in Australia
In Australia, homes equipped with solar power and the Tesla Powerwall 2.0 battery system are proving that Elon Musk‘s visions about renewable energy are not only possible, but practical. The serial entrepreneur has long argued that solar power can provide a sustainable, cost-effective electricity solution and help individual consumers fight back against rising utility costs. Energy consultancy CME recently reported that solar homes in Australia can do just that, based on the capacity of solar power generation and the ability to store it for later use compared to the cost of the same energy usage when purchased on-demand through the power grid. Right now, the two scenarios have approximately equal costs, meaning it won’t cost homeowners more money in the long-run to switch to solar power — a fact that just might help the rooftop solar industry in Australia big time.
US renewables take on fossil fuels
It may surprise some of our readers to learn that solar and wind energy have already reached the point of being cheaper than fossil fuels in the United States. In 2014, The New York Times evaluated industry data and reported that, in some instances, renewable sources had already undercut the price of fossil fuels. Citing developments over the five-year period prior to that point, the Times reported that — with the help of subsidies — renewable energy had become cost-competitive with conventional fossil fuels, but some industry analysts argued at the time that wind power and solar (particularly commercial PV arrays) could compete with coal and natural gas even without those subsidies. That point in 2014 simply marked a tipping point, though, and as renewable energy prices continue to fall (and investments increase), the competition will continue to heat up.
The cheapest solar power in the world
The world record for the cheapest solar power is a constant race, with a new title-holder popping up every few months. Earlier this year, in May, Dubai set a new record low with a price of just $29.90 per megawatt hour, which made history as the cost of solar dipped below coal. Just three months later, in August, Chile busted that price with an even lower one. In an energy auction, Spanish developer Solarpack Corp Tecnologica bid $29.10 per megawatt hour on a solar power project, when coal-fueled projects at the same auction fetched nearly twice that price. It surely won’t be long before another auction in another country bests that record, proving that renewable energy can not only compete with fossil fuel costs, but can actually do a lot more for the same amount of money as well.
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NASA is helping Stephen Hawking get a tiny ship to Alpha Centauri
NASA is helping Stephen Hawking and Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner with the monumental task of getting a tiny probe to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to Earth. Project Starshot aims to propel a lightweight silicon "StarChip" to one-fifth the speed of light by hitting it with lasers from Earth, getting it to the star within 20 years. The space agency will help solve one of the thorniest problems — the intense radiation of interstellar travel.
To accelerate it a chip with lasers to 134 million mph — 1000 times faster than a regular spacecraft could go — it has to be feather light. That means that radiation shielding is out of the question, as it would add too much additional weight, NASA believes. Another option, changing the chip’s route to Alpha Centauri to avoid radiation, would add time without significantly decreasing the radiation problem.
NASA and researchers from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) think that the best option might be "self-healing" transistors. The team tested an experimental gate-all-around nanowire transistor to see if it could self-heal from radiation damage. Such chips can be used for both flash memory and logic transistors, and would be ideal for the project, according to KAIST researchers. That’s because they have very small 20-nanometer features, making them both lightweight and relatively impervious to cosmic rays.
On such chips, the logic gate completely surrounds the nanowire channel, so by adding an extra contact, you can pass current through the gate and heat it up. That causes a heating and cooling "annealing" effect, restoring the functionality of a chip that has been damaged by ionizing radiation. "Therefore, the lifetime of devices can be extended, which opens an opportunity for nano-spacecraft sustainable for more than 20 years of deep space exploration," according to the paper.
There’s a lot more experimentation required to prove conclusively that it works, but it’s a step in the right direction. It’s also just one of a huge number of other potential problems that need to be solved before the chip can be laser-beamed on its way (see the animation video, above).
It’s worth the effort, however, as we’re lucky enough to have a three-star system (completely with a potentially habitable planet) so close to Earth. If they succeed, it would represent a huge breakthrough in space travel, and you might even get to see it in your lifetime.
Via: Independent
Source: Spectrum IEEE
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Google Dreams of Drone Food Delivery for Six Dollars
Google has been dreaming of hot pizzas and freshly-made coffee descending from the sky to your doorstep. The Google X technologies lab has already begun delivering burritos to Virginia Tech students using its Project Wing drones. But the truly bold part of the Google X plan may be the goal of offering drone food delivery for just a $6 fee.
Google’s delivery drone vision includes an online website called Wing Marketplace where customers could place orders with retailers and restaurants, ac
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Google’s new “Android Things†OS hopes to solve awful IoT security
The Raspberry Pi 3, one of Android Things-supported devices.
Raspberry Pi Foundation
Today Google is announcing a developer preview and rebrand of Project Brillo, Google’s Android-based Internet of Things initiative. The new name highlights the project’s Android base—it’s called “Android Things.”
“Android Things” joins the Android family alongside Android TV, Android Auto, and Android Wear. At its heart, Android Things is a stripped-down version of Android aimed at cheap, ultra-low-end IoT hardware. Today Google’s developer preview is offering “turnkey” support for the Intel Edison, NXP Pico, and the Raspberry Pi 3. If you remember the Raspberry Pi 3 showing up in Google’s AOSP repository earlier this year, now we know why.
Google has also partnered with these companies to create a smooth upgrade path from development hardware to a large-scale production run.
Android Things allows developers to build a smart device using Android APIs and Google Services. This takes the usual Android development stack—Android Studio, the official SDK, and Google Play Services—and applies it to the IoT. Developers will be able to use the Google Weave protocol to communicate between devices along with Google Cloud services like Google Cloud Vision.
Of course updates are always a problem with Android phones, but Google is solving that here with “updates direct from Google.” The post says that “in the coming months” newer developer previews will support some kind of “infrastructure” so developers can push out images and OTA updates on their own schedule. This sounds way better than most of the IoT market, which has an almost nonexistent approach to security. A platform with regular updates would go a long way to fix that.
Google is also releasing a public device SDK for the Weave communication protocol, along with a management console and access to the Google Assistant. At the moment, the Weave Device SDK supports schemas for light bulbs, smart plugs and switches, and thermostats, with more device types coming soon. Google is also working to rectify the current (crazy) situation where “Google Weave” and “Nest Weave” are two different things. The blog post says the company is working toward merging the two while giving devices on both platforms an upgrade path going forward. Google says that SmartThings and Hue are already using Weave to connect to the Google Assistant and says that “Belkin WeMo, LiFX, Honeywell, Wink, TP-Link, First Alert, and more” are working on adopting Weave, too.
With today’s announcement, Brillo/Android Things is also finally coming out of its closed “invite” program and will soon have a public source code release. We’ll finally be able to stop talking about Brillo/Android Things in vague generalities and see what Google is actually offering, which sounds exciting.
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Wells Fargo scandal spreads to Prudential insurance
It may not have been just fake bank and credit card accounts. Now there are allegations that Wells Fargo customers were sold Prudential insurance products they didn’t want.
Wells Fargo employees appear to have signed up customers for a low-cost Prudential life insurance policy without their knowledge or permission, according to three former Prudential employees who filed a lawsuit last week against the insurance giant.
The allegations bear striking similarities to the scandal that has rocked Wells Fargo (WFC) for three months.
The lawsuit notes that some Prudential insurance products owned by Wells Fargo customers listed obviously-fake home addresses on their applications like “Wells Fargo Drive” or phony email addresses such as “noemail@wellsfargo.com.”
More alarming, the insurance premium payments may have come from dormant Wells Fargo accounts.
The three former Prudential (PRU) employees filed a Dodd-Frank whistleblower complaint with the SEC on Saturday alleging they were retaliated against after uncovering the misconduct. The employees were members of Prudential’s investigations division and had been tasked with reviewing the insurer’s relationship with Wells Fargo following the fake account scandal that emerged in September.
The employees say their review into the insurer’s Wells Fargo relationship turned up a number of red flags. They found a 70% lapse rate for MyTerm policies sold in 2014 (the first year they were sold in Wells Fargo); a spike in sales near the end of each quarter; policies were sold “predominately to individuals with Hispanic sounding last names.”
Related: Trump Cabinet pick made $1.2 million from Wells Fargo
The three Prudential employees were put on unpaid, administrative leave by Prudential and walked off the company’s premises on November 21, their attorney Christopher Chang told CNNMoney.
The employees allege they were punished over their refusal to participate in Prudential’s “cover-up of illegal and fraudulent business practices it has engaged in — and continues to engage in — with Wells Fargo Bank.”
One of the employees, Julie Han Broderick, was previously co-head of Prudential’s corporate investigations division.
Their lawyer said Prudential has not formally notified the three employees they have been fired, even though all three assume they have been let go. Prudential refers to them as “former” employees and said they have been “terminated.”
Shares of both Wells Fargo and Prudential fell more than 2% on Monday after The New York Times and other outlets reported on the news over the weekend.
Prudential announced on Monday it has suspended the distribution of its MyTerm policies through all Wells Fargo branches and website pending the results of a review.
Related: Wells Fargo fired 5,300 for over 2 million fake accounts
Lawyers representing an alleged victim of the insurance scheme filed a class action lawsuit against Prudential on Monday claiming “financial fraud.”
Prudential said Wells Fargo customers who have concerns about how the product was purchased may be eligible for refunds and can call the insurer’s customer hotline: 1-877-291-7193.
Prudential said the termination of the employees was “entirely unrelated to Prudential’s business with Wells Fargo” and were instead prompted by an “ethics complaint” filed against them. Prudential said it is “confident that the court will agree once the facts are revealed.”
The SEC complaint filed by the Prudential employees said they do not possess “any supporting materials” because they were escorted out of the office.
Wells Fargo said it is “deeply concerned about these allegations as they are completely counter to our values.” The bank said it’s working with Prudential to investigate and it will take action if “improper conduct is found.”
Related: Scandal-ridden Wells Fargo wants less regulation
The lawsuit claims the review turned up 99 customers who repurchased their policies after having allowed them to lapse or canceling them.
Prudential said the Wells Fargo settlement prompted a review that remains ongoing. The insurer also said it surveyed Wells Fargo customers last year but the responses “did not indicate potential fraudulent sales activity.”
It’s the latest allegation of retaliation linked to the Wells Fargo scandal. In September, CNNMoney uncovered half a dozen former Wells Fargo workers who say they were fired after calling the bank’s confidential ethics hotline over improper sales activity.
Wells Fargo has admitted some workers may have been mistreated and said it’s reviewing its ethics hotline procedures. The U.S. Labor Department is reviewing whistleblower complaints against Wells Fargo and Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked the SEC to investigate the allegations as well.
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