Links from the Gregg Zone

1) One of the big problems with wind, and solar energies is intermittency wind stops blowing, or clouds or night break the sun shine. I was surprised to find that that problem was solved many years ago. Seems there has been an electric company in Alabama using this technology since the ‘80s, basically they are using a technique of storing compressed air underground to balance their energy peaks. Currently, this technology is attracting a lot of attention link here http://www.wired.com
2) This is a link to an article Troll sent me, thanks Troll, this field of nanotechnology just twists the idea of what is physically possible in so many directions. We have been seeing the trend of smaller and smaller devices defying the concept that smaller is weaker, instead in most cases we see smaller is also more powerful. While there is always going to be a comfort level associated with size reduction, my fingers are already too big for a lot of stuff. The payoff is how much you can get into the box. There has been a new never before seen nanotube phenomenon observed that may lead to many energy applications. http://news.bbc.co.
3) One of what seems to me to be a big downside to technology is data mining and its ability to invade my space. Most of this type of thing will never affect me in any way, but I still don’t like it on principal, to me it just seems wrong. This link is to an article is about the new billboard type of sign, hooked to a camera it sees you coming, profiles your appearance then changes the ad to target its assessment of who it thinks you are. How long before it is doing facial analysis looking at what you bought for the last year and checking your bank account as part of its processing. http://www.thesun.co.uk
4) This is sort of a follow up on something I put up a week or two back it was an article about a solar cell manufacturing improvement saving need for rare earths, I referenced China and the coming shortage. This article goes into that a bit deeper. I still think there is some opportunity here for a smart investor. http://news.yahoo.com
5) As usual when I get to the geek link I am at definite risk of not having a lot of grip on what it all means. But, I was impressed by some of the claims made by this article. While a little fuzzy about if capability equals reality. Any way check out the new super whatever router http://finance.yahoo.com