Google pulls plug on PowerMeter

Google is pulling the plug on its PowerMeter electricity-monitoring tool due to poor uptake, a sign of how tough it is to make money in home energy software, reveals Cnet.

In a company blog, Google said PowerMeter and Google Health Web applications were trailblazers as products, but just didn't catch on as hoped.

“We're pleased that PowerMeter has helped demonstrate the importance of this access and created something of a model. However, our efforts have not scaled as quickly as we would like, so we are retiring the service,” wrote Bill Weihl, Google Green Energy czar.

VP of the European Commission Neelie Kroes has urged European Union members to agree on online privacy standards by June 2012, notes Computing.co.uk.

In a speech given to the “Online Tracking Protection and Browsers Workshop”, in Brussels last week, she argued for the creation of a tracking standard to uphold privacy on the Web.

“The Internet is a global achievement and privacy is a global concern. And I challenge [all interested parties] to agree a Do Not Track standard by June 2012,” she said.

More virtual livestock looks set to be traded and petulant fowl hurled at targets as social gaming takes hold in the booming mobile phone market, industry experts say, writes AFP.

Social gaming, made popular by titles such as “Farmville” and “Angry Birds”, was one of the closely followed topics at last week's CommunicAsia trade fair, in Singapore, where telecom executives meet annually to check on new trends.

Internet-enabled smartphones, as well as tablets, are liberating social gamers from the physical confines of home and office, and more titles specifically designed for handheld devices are on their way.

A 19-year-old charged with hacking the Web site of the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a court has heard, according to the BBC.

Ryan Cleary, from Wickford, Essex, was arrested as part of a Scotland Yard and FBI probe into online hacking group LulzSec.

His counsel told City of Westminster Magistrates' Court he suffers from the form of autism, along with agoraphobia. He was granted bail, but remains in custody after prosecutors objected. The court was told he is of high intelligence, but has difficulty interacting with other people.