Google is developing a new product to let people see, in detail, how much electricity they're consuming in their homes--knowledge that should incite many to cut back on their power use, the company says.

Google -the latest high-tech company to jump on the "smart grid" bandwagon--is testing the software product internally with about 30 people and hopes to expand it to more than 200 employees in the next few weeks. Later this year, Google plans to conduct pilot projects outside the company.

The Mountain View, Calif., Internet giant says it is partnering with a host of electric utilities, device makers, regulators and other technology companies to deliver the data to consumers.

One of those partners is presumably Silver Spring Networks, a Silicon Valley company making technology to upgrade the nation's electric grid. Google confirmed Monday that it had made an investment in Silver Spring but declined to provide details. A spokeswoman for Silver Spring also declined to comment.

Other high-tech behemoths, including IBM and Cisco, also are angling to provide technology to improve the aging grid. Right now, the system is old-fashioned and, in many ways, dumb. Utilities can't get much current information about things like outages and power spikes, and most consumers have no idea how much it costs them to use power at certain times of the day.

Google's product, called PowerMeter, is a piece of software that people can view online to see how much electricity they're using every time they run the dryer at 6 p.m. or leave an appliance on overnight.

Google doesn't have concrete plans for how to make money from PowerMeter, but it is yet another product that could drive more Web traffic to the Google site, said Kirsten Olsen Cahill, a program manager with Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm. The coding for the product will also be shared freely, so outside coders can write new applications for PowerMeter.

If 5.3 million people used the new tool and cut back their electricity consumption by 10%, they would save the equivalent of a gigawatt of power--enough to power a large city, Cahill added.

The electricity-monitoring project is also consistent with Google's goal of organizing all the world's information, Cahill said. Getting it to work, of course, will require aligning the interests of government, utilities and manufacturers of things like sensors for electricity meters. That is even before consumers start using it.

Google.org carries out several such "ecosystem" ventures. Its "Predict and Prevent" project, for example, is a disease-eradication program involving health ministries, international agencies and private sector drug and health equipment companies. Closer to the metering project's goal of reducing energy use, Google.org is active in a project it calls "REC," with a stated goal of producing renewable energy for less than the cost of carbon fuels. The organization has made investments in both wind and geothermal energy equipment companies.

Google.org receives 1% of Google's profits and equity, as well as the working time of many Google engineers. They were among the initial 30 individuals to test the iGoogle electricity gadget.

In addition to improving the world with PowerMeter, Google also might soften criticisms of its own dramatic energy use. Computer servers now account for over 2% of total U.S. energy demand. Google, which uses enormous amounts of energy to power its data centers, locates those parts of the business in areas like Washington's Columbia River hydroelectric grid, where juice is cheap. Google has reportedly sought exemption from sales tax on electricity use.

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MILLIONS of computers around the world could go into meltdown on April 1 because of a deadly virus.

The Windows worm called Conficker could give a hacker unrestricted access to every infected machine on the planet.

And the aggressive bug could be hiding on your PC at home right now, waiting to kick in.

For the hackers, it’s like having a virtual army at their fingertips.

The criminals behind it have the power to launch a tidal wave of junk emails, bringing computers grinding to a halt.

They could also plunder information, including your bank details.

But the truth is that the best techie brains in the business just don’t know exactly what the hackers have in mind.

Infected:

Virus expert Mikko Hypponen, from the firm F-Secure, said: “It is scary thinking about how much control a hacker could have over all these computers. They would have access to millions of machines.”

Microsoft, who developed the Windows computer operating system, have slapped a £175,000 bounty on whoever is responsible, so far without success.

The sophisticated Conficker bug — also known as Downadup or Kido — targets systems via the web and can be spread on memory sticks.

More than nine million computers were infected at the bug’s peak last month.

And if Conficker is still on your system come Wednesday, you could be in trouble.

Once inside your PC, it sets up files and starts downloading information from a controlling “boss” server.

Finding that website and the mastermind behind it all is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

That is because the bug creates hundreds of bogus addresses every day to put investigators off the scent.

The infected PCs then form a network and “talk” to each other, updating and evolving.

The bug even attacks anti-virus software and other files on your computer to strengthen its position.

And it resets “restore” points, making recovery of your old system even harder.

The first of three Conficker strains was discovered in November last year.

A second, more aggressive strain followed in December and a third this month. This contains the all-important April 1 trigger.

Trigger :

To avoid infection, Windows users must download a special free update “patch” from the Microsoft website. But that isn’t enough — you also need good anti-virus software too.

Many businesses around the world are thought also to be at risk after failing to update systems.

Graham Cluley, from computer security firm Sophos, warned: “Microsoft did a good job of updating people’s home computers.

“But the virus continues to infect businesses that have ignored the update.”

He also stressed the need for strong passwords on your computer, adding: “If users are using weak passwords — 12345, QWERTY etc — then the virus can crack them.”

F-Secure’s Mikko warned potential problems with Conficker would be highlighted wildly before April 1.

But he said he didn’t foresee an attack, despite the fears and mystery surrounding the problem.

He said: “There’s always hype — just think of previous cases.

“There is not going to be a ‘global virus attack’. We don’t know what they are planning to do, if anything.

“I think the machines that are already infected might do something new on April 1.”

Let’s hope, for everyone’s sake, that it turns out to be an April Fools’ Day hoax.


TEST your system’s safety for free by attempting to go to f-secure.com. If you can’t, you can download the patch at microsoft.com to disinfect your PC.

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The internet is filled with threats real and imagined, from malicious hackers to government censors.

Beyond the hacks and cracks — and in celebration of Sunshine Week — we've compiled a brief list of some of the biggest public and private threats facing the internet.

1. Warrantless Government Monitoring : Following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the practice of wiretapping all internet traffic began in the United States with the Bush administration, and is now being defended in court by the Obama administration. All of the nation's major internet service providers are accused of funneling Americans' online traffic to the National Security Agency without warrants.

2. Private Censorship : From the mundane to the frightening, the examples run rampant. Wikipedia, the world's most trafficked online reference tool, is subject to shameful spin from trusted names of news organizations to the not so trustworthy engines of commerce. Among the examples, The Boston Globe enhanced the biography of a columnist while deleting information about his alleged plagiarism. Diebold excised an entire section critical of the company's voting machines.

3. Government Censorship : Reporters Without Borders reported last week that 12 nations — China, Burma, North Korea, Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba and Tunisia restrict internet access and often prosecute users for what they post online.

Even in democratic countries, censorship rears its ugly head. On Thursday, a secret blacklist surfaced detailing 2,395 webpages the Australian government is planning to filter from the internet. While about half of them dealt with illegal pornography, the remainder did not. Some of the sites were about gambling, dentists and even dog kennels.

In December, Wikipedia couldn't be edited by users in Britain. The entire site was put on a blacklist because it linked to the 1976 album cover of Virgin Killer by the Scorpions, which featured a nude young girl.

In the United States, a federal judge last year blocked WikiLeaks from operating in the country for a week after the renegade site posted allegedly stolen documents detailing individuals' Swiss bank accounts.

4. Deep Packet Inspection : Several U.S. internet service providers, including giants like Comcast and Cox Communications, have started inspecting the contents of internet packets, a practice (.pdf) allowing them to monitor, filter and ultimately control the traffic that passes through their pipes. In addition, online advertising services like NebuAd are paying ISPs to let it eavesdrop on web users via DPI.

5. ISP Tiered Pricing : Major ISPs, including AT&T, Time Warner and Comcast have moved or are gravitating toward pricing services based on the amount of bandwidth individuals use. Theoretically, the plans could unlock the internet door to low-income users. But we suspect the plans are designed to increase profits for ISPs as bandwidth use skyrockets — all of which may have a chilling effect on internet usage.
6. Recording Industry Association of America Proposes "Three-Strikes" Policy : The record labels are pushing for ISPs to ban service to customers the RIAA claims are file-sharing copyrighted music. Overseas, industry groups like the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry are pursuing similar efforts.

7. Digital Millennium Copyright Act Abuses : Unwarranted YouTube takedown notices by misguided copyright holders comes immediately to mind — including assertions by Universal Music that it need not consider whether a video, under the DMCA, makes a "fair use" of the copyrighted works in question. Google says 57 percent of takedown notices it received were sent by business targeting competitors and 37 percent were not valid copyright claims.

Note : Tell us what you think are the most threatening threats to the internet...

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