Cortland Coleman

I can't wait to see one of my all-time favorite bands live in Atlantic City on Friday night. Contact me if you're going and we'll meet-up before the show.

New Jersey has a lot to be proud of: Sinatra, The Soprano's, the shore, solar power.

Solar power? New Jersey? Oh yeah. Big time.

In fact, the state has provided such strong leadership and vision on solar that it is #2 nationwide in solar panel installations, right behind California. Part of the success story has been fueled by government support in the form of rebates for residential and commercial installations.

Now, with the state facing budget constraints and the program blanketed in applications for rebates, regulators are seeking a new model to support the future of solar energy in New Jersey. New programs could take the form of energy credits, tax incentives, etc., but will probably move away from cold, hard cash rebates. A new model will have its winners and losers, it supporter and detractors. What's important is the continued support, vision and leadership that has gotten us to the enviable #2 ranking.

New Jersey and solar have been perfect together. Let's keep it that way.

Note - For those who don't know, "New Jersey and You: Perfect Together" was the state's slogan for many years.

General Electric's Ecomagination program, the company's clean tech division, has been a major success with increasing revenues and a long list of orders. GE builds much of the devices, equipment and infrastructure necessary to install, generate and distribute renewable energy around the world. It's been resoundingly applauded and rightfully so. Unfortunately, that hasn't done anything to help GE's stock which currently trades in the sub-$30 area, not a great place for the one-time bellweather. So, why isn't the success of Ecomagination translating to gains in the stock's price? Dow Jones & Company believe it's due, in part, to bad public relations. From their subscriber newsletter Tommorow's News Today:

Ecomagination also suffers from the perception that, however fast growing, it’s mainly a “green” marketing slogan around products that GE would be selling anyway.

That's unfortunate because the success of the program is directly attributable to GE's committment to serve the clean tech industry. They've been an early, effective and visionary leader in the renewable enrgy sector. It seems that the Ecomagination's accomplishments are simply not being communicated effectively. While it's responsible for only a small slice of GE's total revenue pie (8% of $173B), it's list of worldwide accomplishments - heralded by governments, business and environementalists - is impressive and worthy, yet it fails to add to shareholder value.

Remember, the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have a problem. Time to re-think the 'ole communications strategy. Ecomagination is definitely worth it. 

An unfortunate but revealing data point confirms what many of us all already know: telecommuting programs are not supported nor endorsed at work. There is a silent yet undeniable hesitation to support a program that, admittedly, would give employers less control. Of course, on the flip side of middle managers having less control, companies that actively support telecommuting experience reduced costs, enhanced productivity amongst their workforce and less "sick time" abuse. Of course, telecommuting holds huge environmental benefits since it takes cars off the streets, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption while making our highways safer. As if that weren't enough, employees who telecommute are happier, committed and more loyal to their employers.

I think it's time for a telecommuting revolution!

After wrapping up work with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on Friday, I packed up the family and we headed to the Long Beach Island. It has been a beautiful weekend in the Beach Haven-area and we will be a little sad to leave later on today. I have a busy week ahead with several interviews and meetings scheduled, but I am looking forward to getting back to regular posting. I also hope to write a detailed review of the Instinct sometime this week. Stay tuned.

An email was sent to Sprint customers this afternoon inviting them to print the message and bring it to a local Sprint store in order to purchase a new Samsung Instinct, Sprint's answer to the iPhone, one day before the phone goes on sale to the general public.

 

DivShare had a major security breach compromising user log-in information including DivShare subscribers' passwords. If you use DivShare, change your password immediately. If you use that same password for other sites or services, change those passwords as well. Here is the notice you never want to receive from a web services company.

Thanks for being a part of DivShare. Late last night we were alerted of a security breach that allowed a malicious user to access our database, which included user e-mail addresses and other basic profile information. No financial information has been accessed by any unauthorized parties. We have taken extreme measures to secure the site in the last 24 hours and are currently in the process of rolling out new security precautions, which is why many files were unavailable earlier today. We apologize for this inconvenience and for the oversights that allowed this security breach to take place. We take the security of all data and files very seriously and are embarrassed and regretful that an intrusion was allowed to take place on our watch.

Please rest assured that no financial information whatsoever has been compromised. While we are not aware of what data has actually been accessed or copied, the database included user e-mail addresses and other data you may have saved to your profile, such as your first name. We are not aware of any files being accessed without permission, but we recommend that you change your account password and the passwords on any private folders as a security precaution.

We can’t apologize enough for allowing this breach to take place. We know how important security is for all our members and their files, and we are taking every precaution available to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. We ask for your patience as we roll out new security upgrades in the coming days, and we pledge to keep your files and user information under the tightest security possible from here on out.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@divshare.com with any questions or concerns. Yours,

The DivShare Team

Uncle Walt uses the Instinct for a week and shares his thoughts about the product in the video below. The web browser is being repeatedly criticized as inadequate and clunky, not just from Walt but from several reviews. I assume this is something Sprint and Samsung can still address because they definitely need to deliver a better browsing solution by next Friday. A weak web browser - one of the strengths of the iPhone - could be enough to keep me and other potential Instinct purchasers far, far away from the device.

Pricing for the new Samsung Instinct for Sprint has been announced. The iPhone competitor will cost $199 when it becomes available next week. News, reviews and additional Instinct information is busting out all over this morning.

Today, I started Green News. It's a simple FriendFeed Room, but therein lies a lot of power and funtionality. The FriendFeed platform is increasingly popular and the Room feature allows for quick dissemenination of environmental news, visitor comments and, given it's public status, the ability for anyone to post Green News. If you're interested in  sharing, reading or commenting on environmental news, climate change, sustainability or clean tech and renewable energy, then I hope you'll visit often. If you're on FriendFeed, join the room as a member. Just want to read the news without visiting the site every day? Grab the Green News RSS feed.

However you access Green News, I hope you'll consider making it part of your daily web habits. I promise to keep it chock full of informative, interesting and important environmental news.

The western United States is leading the way in recycling compact fluorescent light bulbs. The dirty little secret of CFL's is the mercury they contain, mercury that could seriously harm someone who comes in contact with the substance. Yes, the bulbs are great for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but don't break a bulb anywhere near growing children - the effects of mercury on the nervous system are catastrophic. There is a massive amount of opportunity in CFL recycling, but it's great to see the western U.S. providing leadership and vision here at home. Maybe this will even spark a little healthy competition with eastern states.

Sprint has wisely held off making their new phone available to customers until after the new iPhone has been announced. Sprint developers now have a couple weeks to perhaps make a few tweaks to the upcoming Instinct in order to make it a more formidable competitor to the iPhone. Of course, the iPhone sets the bar and the Instinct can only play catch up, which is not an enviable position for Sprint to be in.