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Jury Scrutinizes DMCA in ElcomSoft Case




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Libyan Rebels Are Flying Their Own Minidrone




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Iraq Collapse May Pose New WMD Threat, Say UN Monitors






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Microsoft Server Service NetpwPathCanonicalize Overflow

This Metasploit module exploits a stack overflow in the NetApi32 CanonicalizePathName() function using the NetpwPathCanonicalize RPC call in the Server Service. It is likely that other RPC calls could be used to exploit this service. This exploit will result in a denial of service on on Windows XP SP2 or Windows 2003 SP1. A failed exploit attempt will likely result in a complete reboot on Windows 2000 and the termination of all SMB-related services on Windows XP. The default target for this exploit should succeed on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 SP0-SP4+, Windows XP SP0-SP1 and Windows 2003 SP0.




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Exploring Finance Options: Yield-cos Don’t Fit the Bill for Many Renewable Energy Companies

Yield-cos have been grabbing headlines lately. Typically, large utilities spin off their high-yield alternative energy operations into separate smaller companies called yield-cos. These new companies are then taken public to attract individual and institutional investors.




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RGGI Chair Says States Won’t Leave Emissions Trading Market for California, Quebec

California and Quebec, which together created the largest carbon market in North America this year, may come away empty-handed as they woo northeastern U.S. states to join their system.




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Microgrid Economics: It Takes a Village, a University, and a Ship

As a businessman exploring investments, I need simple answers, however complicated the problem. I wish to know: Are microgrids economical? How much investment is needed and for what? What are the factors that principally affect profitability, within the system and in the environment? If microgrids are not profitable at the present, when will they be? I recognize that understanding microgrids as a system requires complicated mathematics and modeling. I’m sympathetic to and respect those who do that.





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US Midyear Elections Offer Opportunities and Challenges for Renewable Energy

Every time the U.S. holds midyear elections, the country almost always goes against the incumbent President’s party, which is always sobering to whomever holds The White House. And this week’s elections were no exception.




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Shining a Light on Women Leaders in the Power Industry

In early 2013, a group of women, dubbed the Women in Power committee, assembled in Orlando, Florida to figure out how to honor women who have dedicated their careers to the power industry. The industry is male-dominated with men making up more than 75 percent of the workforce, according to estimates.




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Japan's Prime Minister Re-Election Risks Undercutting Clean Energy Push

Shinzo Abe’s re-election as prime minister risks undercutting Japan’s commitment to clean energy at a time when incentives are under review and the nation’s utilities say they can’t accommodate capacity already planned.





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Renewable Energy Review: Finance Mechanisms

Developers, manufacturers, investors and other renewable energy industry stakeholders need updates on the latest and greatest finance mechanisms available today. Since 2003, global consultancy Ernst & Young has released its Country Attractiveness Indices, which ranks global renewable energy markets by analyzing investment strategies and resource availability.




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California Governor Seeks to Increase Renewable Energy Mandate to 50 Percent

California Governor Jerry Brown proposed spending $59 billion to fix crumbling roads and raising the state’s renewable energy mandate to 50 percent.




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Obama's State of the Union Speech Highlights US Renewable Achievements, Climate Change Goals

President Obama has been under intense scrutiny for what he would do about climate change ever since he was elected in 2008. Part of that scrutiny takes place during his State of the Union Speech, when renewable energy proponents search for key words about solar and wind energy and count how often he mentions "climate change."




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Demand Response: A Valuable Tool that Can Help California Realize its Clean Energy Potential

A tool only has value if it’s used. For example, you could be the sort of person who’s set a goal of wanting to exercise more. If someone gives you a nifty little Fitbit to help you do that, and you never open the box, how useful, then, is this little device? The same is true about smart energy management solutions: good tools exist, but whether it’s calories or energy use that you want to cut, at some point those helpful devices need to be unpacked.




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California's Clean Tech Industry Best in US for Jobs and Investment

California’s bet on green energy is paying off, with clean technology companies creating more jobs and investing more money than competitors in any other state.




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Carpe Diem: Low Oil and Gas Prices Could Be a Clean-Energy Opportunity

The recent dramatic plunge in oil and natural gas prices, to their lowest level since the global recession in 2009, has some observers worried about the effect on clean tech. Conventional wisdom has it that renewables have a tougher time competing when fossil fuels are cheap, making grid parity (in the case of natural gas-fired electricity) more elusive for solar and wind power.




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Will Lower Oil Prices Dampen the Mining Industry’s Appetite for Renewables?

For many mining companies, the rallying cry for investigating solar or wind energy options has been that the price of oil and other conventional fuels is too high — and will almost certainly rise over time. Now, though, with oil prices having taken a dramatic nosedive, this argument no longer packs quite the same punch that it once did.




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Protecting Workers and Communities During the Clean Energy Transition

When I worked at the New York Attorney General's Office, we sued coal-fired power plants because their air pollution was making people sick. But in some towns, I saw that the reliance on coal really had people in a bind. The coal plant was making them sick, but it was also a major tax generator for the town. If the plant closed, the town might have to lay off teachers and cops, in addition to losing the plant jobs.




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Harvard’s Star Alumni Urge Week of Fossil Fuel Protests

Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels.




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Republican Texas Bows to California and Backs Energy Finance Plan

Jim Keffer is Republican state lawmaker in Texas with a permit to carry a concealed weapon and doubts about whether human activity is causing global warming.




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Australian Clean Energy Deadlock Spurs Companies to Focus Abroad

Political deadlock over Australia’s clean energy future is prompting companies such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Acciona SA to increasingly turn to rival markets for growth.




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New World Bank Report: Chinese Clean-tech SMEs Embrace Opportunities

The World Bank indicated in its new report "Building Competitive Green Industries: The Climate and Clean Technology Opportunity for Developing Countries" that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries are set to undergo significant growth and create more jobs in the field of clean technology. Anabel Gonzalez, senior director for the World Bank's Global Practice on Trade and Competitiveness, said developing home-grown clean-tech industries will help developing countries more effectively increase the adoption of low-cost clean energy and drive sustainable economic development.




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Where Coal Was King, Pope's Climate Warning Faces a Tricky Sell

In West Virginia, where workers have harvested coal seams for centuries, Pope Francis’ new warning about the risks of fossil fuels will find skepticism even among the faithful.




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Sandia Lab Program To Assist Small Clean Energy Companies

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) chose Sandia National Laboratories as one of five leads in a pilot that will give small, clean-energy companies access to national laboratory expertise and resources. Sandia will receive $2.75 million of DOE’s $20 million investment to launch the voucher pilot for small business assistance and collaborative research.

 




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Renewable Energy Gains Greater Opportunity in US Clean Power Plan

After a year of being pummeled by opponents, Obama’s final carbon reduction plan emerged this week with an even stronger push for renewable energy.

Wind and solar energy are centerpieces of the Clean Power Plan, the United States’ first ever rule to reduce carbon dioxide from power plants.

The rule not only makes renewables one of the plan’s three central building blocks, but also creates special incentives to spur communities to build renewables more quickly than required.

The revised version of the rule comes after a year of review, hundreds of meetings and 4.3 million public comments delivered to EPA.  It requires that states come up with plans to cut carbon pollution from power plants by 870 million tons, or 32 percent below 2005 levels, in 2030.




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U.S.-led Power Africa initiative to invest US$1 billion in Nigeria for energy including hydropower

Power Africa and Trade Africa Coordinator, Andrew Herscowitz, announced on Feb. 14 during the Abuja Electricity Distribution Co.’s two-day Distribution Company Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria, that the U.S. will invest US$1billion in the country through the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).




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Cognizant: Ransomware Attack Expense at Least $50 Million

IT Services Giant Offers Update During Quarterly Financial Results Call
Cognizant estimates that the April ransomware attack that affected its internal network will cost the IT services firm between $50 and $70 million in losses, according to the company's latest financial results. Cognizant has said that the Maze ransomware gang is behind the attack.




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Marubeni Begins Geothermal Survey in Japanese National Park

Marubeni Corp. began a geothermal survey of Daisetsuzan National Park on the northern island of Hokkaido that will continue through February in the hopes Japan will discover more clean-energy sources.




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The Inherent Opportunity in Today’s Energy Poverty Crisis

"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis'. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognise the opportunity," said former U.S. president John F. Kennedy.




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Capturing Geothermal Opportunity Amidst a Transitioning Market

“I can remember as a young man driving from Carson City to Reno for the first time and I saw this steam coming out of the ground,” Nevada Senator Harry Reid told the geothermal industry last week. Although the congressman was in Washington DC trying to prevent a government shutdown, as his representative Vinny Spotleson reminded the audience, he and Senator Dean Heller both conveyed their support and appreciation of geothermal via video remarks at the opening plenary session of the GRC Annual Meeting and GEA Geothermal Energy Expo in Las Vegas.




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More Countries around the Globe Recognizing the Values of Geothermal Power

Walk into any panel discussion at a geothermal power event and you will often hear about barriers hindering geothermal development. In spite of the obstacles, the geothermal industry has grown and adapted to adversity, and it is unfortunate when more attention is not given to geothermal power’s technological accomplishments and the long-term potential. Today, 73 countries across the globe are actively engaged with the geothermal energy sector, showing that more governments, utilities, and industry stakeholders are recognizing the long-term value geothermal power can bring to their power systems.




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Earnings Season for Ten Clean Energy Stocks

The third quarter earnings season has been quite eventful for my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013 and six alternative picks model portfolios, so much so that writing about them has taken a back seat to keeping up with the announcements. There were a number of earnings disappointments and earnings announcements which were in line with my expectations but the market treated like disappointments. These resulted in an overall decline of 2.5 percent for the portfolio since the last update, even as my industry benchmarks, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy (PBW) and my small cap benchmark (IWM) were up 1.0 percent and 3.9 percent over the months since October 15th.




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What the Energy Future Looks Like: West Village, University of California at Davis

In the global competition for appealing clean energy solutions, a leading entry is the new West Village at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis), which today celebrated significant progress toward its goal of becoming the largest planned “zero-net energy” community in the United States.




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Geothermal Energy 2013 Year-in-Review: An Awakening Global Market

As the thousands of people in the geothermal energy industry wrap up an exciting and challenging year, they are united by some recurring themes. Investigative geologists, problem-solving engineers, and pioneering international business leaders are some of the players who worked this year to bring together the heat of the Earth with the cities, customers, and other industries that need its unique environmental and economic benefits.




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Danish Pension Fund To Invest in Renewable Energy Projects in Developing Nations

PensionDanmark A/S and other Danish pension investors backed a state fund to finance emission-reduction projects in developing countries as the Scandinavian nation seeks to export its climate know-how abroad.




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Iceland, Japan Can Cooperate to Boost Geothermal, Minister Says

Iceland and Japan, two nations rich with underground sources of renewable energy, can tackle climate change together by promoting the use of geothermal power, Iceland’s environment minister said.




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The U.S. and Canada can benefit from pioneering ocean energy work in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is known for its pioneering work in wave, tidal and ocean current energy. The U.S. and Canada have vast marine resources and would benefit from partnerships with UK companies in a number of ways, including building expertise, sharing lessons learned and fostering industry growth.




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Unique study of net evaporation at a hydroelectric facility in Canada

A first-of-its-kind study of net evaporation at a hydroelectric facility reveals that the project has very little effect on the loss of water to the atmosphere as compared with pre-impoundment conditions.




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EU Needs Low-Carbon Energy Union, Ministers’ Advisory Panel Says

The European Union needs an ambitious emissions-reduction goal, targets for energy- efficiency and renewables as well as tools to foster investment under its planned 2030 policies, an advisory panel to 14 ministers said.




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RGGI Chair Says States Won’t Leave Emissions Trading Market for California, Quebec

California and Quebec, which together created the largest carbon market in North America this year, may come away empty-handed as they woo northeastern U.S. states to join their system.




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Japan's Prime Minister Re-Election Risks Undercutting Clean Energy Push

Shinzo Abe’s re-election as prime minister risks undercutting Japan’s commitment to clean energy at a time when incentives are under review and the nation’s utilities say they can’t accommodate capacity already planned.




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California Governor Seeks to Increase Renewable Energy Mandate to 50 Percent

California Governor Jerry Brown proposed spending $59 billion to fix crumbling roads and raising the state’s renewable energy mandate to 50 percent.




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California's Clean Tech Industry Best in US for Jobs and Investment

California’s bet on green energy is paying off, with clean technology companies creating more jobs and investing more money than competitors in any other state.




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Harvard’s Star Alumni Urge Week of Fossil Fuel Protests

Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels.




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Republican Texas Bows to California and Backs Energy Finance Plan

Jim Keffer is Republican state lawmaker in Texas with a permit to carry a concealed weapon and doubts about whether human activity is causing global warming.




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Australian Clean Energy Deadlock Spurs Companies to Focus Abroad

Political deadlock over Australia’s clean energy future is prompting companies such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S and Acciona SA to increasingly turn to rival markets for growth.