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Steven Chu

He has often used his bully pulpit to talk about the need to develop alternative sources that will help reduce the earth’s carbon footprint. As part of any prospective solution, he has spoken favorably about the potential of nuclear power.

Chu, the Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since August 2004, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. Previously, he headed up the Quantum Electronic Department at Bell Laboratories.

The Obama Transition Press Office had no official comment, but this looks to be a done deal. Among other news organs, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that Obama will name Chu at a press conference on Thursday in Chicago. Barring a snag, Chu’s appointment would mark the arrival of the first Nobel Laureate in the cabinet.

Everybody and their mother-in-law is reporting that Steven Chu, director of the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will be nominated as the Obama administration’s Energy Secretary.

But Samberg and his business partners are trying to promote the song featured in the skit and have a record deal with Universal Music Group. Samberg likely wants to reach as many consumers as possible. While the SNL skit featuring Tina Fey’s impersonation of Gov. Sarah Palin drew an enormous audience to NBC.com and Hulu, there’s no arguing that YouTube, which topped 100 million visitors in October, has a much larger following than NBC.com and Hulu combined.

The comedy skit known as “Jizz in My Pants” starring SNL cast member Andy Samberg has recorded nearly 8 million views since being posted on December 6 and is YouTube’s most watched video this month. NBC hasn’t ordered the clip to be pullled from YouTube. That may seem like a policy shift, but in this case the TV network apparently has no right to do so.

And it’s important to note that YouTube is increasingly becoming an important music hub. The major recording companies are negotiating new licensing deals with YouTube. A source at one of the major labels told me this week that the top labels are beginning to see growing revenue from their deals with YouTube.

Sure, in the end Samberg gave a tacit endorsement to YouTube. The site obviously fit his needs. Regardless, it doesn’t change one important fact. This is one video. Most of the hot videos Samberg and SNL produce will only be accessible at NBC sites.

NBC guards video content pretty jealously. NBC clips posted to YouTube without authorization typically are pulled down fast. But a clip that appeared on the network’s stalwart comedy show, Saturday Night Live, is racking up huge viewership on YouTube.

The skit was produced by Samberg and his production company. They own the rights and they uploaded the clip to YouTube. Choosing to promote the clip on YouTube rather than NBC sites such as NBC.com and YouTube has raised some eyebrows.

Microsoft is applying its tried and true formula of creating software platforms that can attract millions of users and developers to the hosted applications world. It will be the next major frontier for Microsoft to conquer, competing with companies such as Amazon.com, EMC, Google, IBM, and others. And it’s safe to bet that Microsoft becomes one of the major players in the cloud. More to come at Microsoft’s PDC event later this month.

We also discuss Microsoft’s forthcoming moves into cloud computing and the state of citizen journalism following the fake Steve Jobs heart attack story that showed up on CNN.

In this week’s EIC Squared podcast, ZDNet’s Larry Dignan and I talk about how the economic crisis will impact the tech sector. Both the House and Senate have passed the bailout package, but the legislation doesn’t mean that tech or any other industry sector will reverse the downward spiral. Tech companies and financial analysts are rapidly cutting estimates to prepare for a potential nuclear winter in the global economy.

In short: Facebook supports the act and says it will cooperate with it.

Social network MySpace also supports the KIDS act.

Kelly continued: “At Facebook, we’ve long barred registered sex offenders from our service. Currently, we work cooperatively with individual states’ attorneys general to check users against state-registered sex offender lists.” He’s referring to the negotiations that the social network underwent with state lawmakers who claimed that Facebook misrepresents how safe it is for minors.

Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly has put out a statement to the Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act (KIDS), which President George W. Bush signed on Monday along with the Protect Our Children Act.

But, Kelly said, both Facebook and legal authorities “consistently find that these (state) registries lack the essential e-mail and IM data for comprehensive and rapid screening. The process is also less efficient and less effective than anyone, especially concerned parents, would like, which is why we’re such ardent supporters of the KIDS Act Registry.”

“We see KIDS as an important tool to prevent inappropriate outreach from ever occurring,” Kelly wrote in a post on the company blog about the law, which mandates that registered sex offenders have all identifying Internet names, including e-mail addresses, on file with the National Sex Offender Registry. “The penalties and consequences for registrants violating KIDS’ provisions are so severe, we hope they’ll deter potential predators from coming online altogether. This is a vital step in protecting children online, and it is by no means the end of our efforts.”

Piaggio did not immediately return a request for comment.

The plug-in hybrid version in the works is a modified version of Piaggio’s MP3 500 (the Gilera Fuoco in Europe). The MP3 500 scooter in plug-in hybrid version will get about 140 mpg, have a range of 40 miles per charge when running on electric power alone, and be priced between $8,000 and $9,000, according to Timoni.

The Piaggio MP3 500 scooter is a three-wheeler with two wheels at the front.

If the company makes good on Timoni’s promise, as HybridCars points out, this would mean Piaggio is going to beat Chevy and its Volt to market by about six months.

While there are all-electric plug-in scooters, a hybrid would give riders the flexibility of filling up at the pump in an emergency. They wouldn’t be stuck without juice, or have to time when they next need to charge up at an outlet.

Whether a scooter is an actual competitor to a rain-proof car is arguable. But you could see a plug-in hybrid scooter as an option for urbanites and commuters who park daily at the train station near their house.

(Credit:
Piaggio)

Piaggio Group Americas, a subsidiary of the Italian manufacturer known for the Vespa, has a highway legal plug-in hybrid scooter in the works that could be available in the U.S. for early 2010.

But the company was encouraged by its 2008 U.S. success, according to Timoni. While sales were down in the last quarter, Piaggio Group Americas saw a 61 percent increase in the sales of scooters and 15 percent increase in motorcycles overall for 2008. The company attributed the good year to the gas price increase, convenience, and the lower cost of scooters generally compared to cars.

While Paolo Timoni, the president and CEO of Piaggio Group Americas, has made mention of this plan in interviews, the company has made no formal announcement so it’s been hard to gauge whether you can hold it to the timeline.

Timoni acknowledged in one interview that one obstacle his company has had to overcome is that U.S. cities are not yet scooter-friendly. Rather than offering preferred parking spaces, most U.S. drivers are faced with the same parking options as
car drivers.

For those unfamiliar with the MP3 500, it’s a scooter/motorcycle hybrid that attempts to get rid of the girlie, Audrey Hepburn image of the Vespa. It offers a little more speed and heft, but with two front wheels maintains the stability of a scooter. There is even a switch so drivers don’t have to balance themselves at stoplights.

The service is PC-only for now, which is mostly a limitation from game developers who don’t offer the titles on computers running OS X or Linux. However, a
Mac version of the store is likely in the works.

Amazon.com on Tuesday launched its first foray into digital downloads for games. The new online store offers more than 600 casual titles without the need for physical media. Amazon says all the titles at launch are under either $6.99 or $9.99 with older titles leaning towards the lower end of the spectrum. As an added promotion, the company is giving away three free titles, which gamers have a week to scoop up before the prices return to normal.

Each game can be played for 30 minutes as a timed trial before the need to purchase. This model directly competes with that from Yahoo Games and to a certain degree Valve’s Steam service, although unlike Valve, Amazon is not yet offering a download service for larger AAA titles from major publishers.

The launch comes just a little over two months since Amazon acquired Reflexive Entertainment, a casual-game service that is still selling titles with its own DRM solution and store front. In Amazon’s case, purchased games must be downloaded with a special download tool similar to what’s required to grab music tracks from the company’s MP3 service. The games then phone home the first time you launch them to verify the purchase information.

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Amazon)

Preferred Sites will suggest frequently visited sites based on search history when it’s relevant, but users can also add and delete sites, according to the new feature’s help page:

The preferred sites feature lets you set your Google Web Search preferences so that your search results match your unique tastes and needs. Fill in the sites you rely on the most, and results from your preferred sites will show up more often when they’re relevant to your search query.

Google is experimenting with a search feature that allows users to tailor their searches by creating a list of sites they would like to appear most in search results.

If the feature goes live to everyone, people will be able to pick a list of authoritative sites and influence all search results.

Google said that Preferred Sites could also have an impact on everyone’s searches:

Preferred Sites is an extension of Google SearchWiki, which lets people elevate, delete, add, and annotate search results. It is activated only while the user is logged in to their Google account, and users’ preferred sites and search results are private.