KAMEIR

I just got my Google PowerMeter set up and it works

Google PowerMeter is a software application being developed by Google’s philanthropic arm, Google.org to help consumers track their home electricity usage. The development of the software is part of an effort by Google to invest in renewable energy, electricity grid upgrades and other measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The software is able to record the user’s electricity usage in near real-time. According to the company, if half of America’s homes’ energy use was cut by ten percent, it would equal taking eight million cars off the road.

It is hoped that this tool will raise the home-owner’s awareness of how much energy they use and make users more energy efficient. PowerMeter is intended for use with a smart meter which is able to track electricity usage much more frequently than standard electric meters. According to Google, there are approximately 40 million smart meters in use worldwide. By early 2009, approximately 7% of US homes had a smart meter installed. – Some other types of electricity meters and in-home energy use displays may also be used with PowerMeter.

SAN DIEGO, June 30 /PRNewswire/ Anametrix, a leader in cloud-based business analytics technology, and The San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego County‘s leading local media company, announced that The San Diego Union-Tribune has selected the InstaVista™ platform for both web analytics as well as real-time strategic insights across more than a dozen data sources, both online and offline.

Anametrix CEO, Blaise Barrelet added, “The San Diego Union-Tribune was one of the first publishing companies to understand the value of real-time business insights over a decade ago, with several Anametrix team members having worked on SignOn San Diego™ original web analytics initiatives.  We are thrilled to now offer The San Diego Union-Tribune the next evolution of cross-channel data aggregation, visualization, reporting, and more at a significant cost savings compared to Omniture.”

InstaVista™ is the ideal solution for multi-platform publishing companies, especially those with online newspapers, magazines and directories.  The San Diego Union-Tribune can deepen its customer relationships, both online and offline, by anticipating future interactions and buying decisions to deliver appropriate content to each individual visitor.  The San Diego Union-Tribune will also be able to offer its advertising partners self-service analytical dashboards through a cloud-based delivery model to create smarter, more effective campaigns.

Although there is probably no such thing as a guide to new product or service design, I tried to summarize the lessons learned from 14 years of working on and around new service designs in a presentation to marketing students at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) this morning. You can find the presentation here.

Anametrix a next generation cloud-based business analytics company, announced the launch of InstaVista(TM) 2.0, a significant service upgrade.  Advanced data filters, security settings, and customization options drive the content of on-demand dashboards that are smarter than spreadsheets and faster and less expensive to implement than traditional business intelligence (BI) solutions.  Anametrix InstaVista(TM) provides immediate actionable insights from pertinent data assets through an appealing and exceptionally intuitive Software as a Service (SaaS) user interface.

A friend of mine just took on a new position: Chief Of Cloud. What seems like a natural development to him (and me), might strike my mom as blasphemy. Mom: “Jim did not replace the god you are worshiping (or any other for that matter)! Cloud is a reference to Cloud Computing. Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand, like a public utility (WikiPedia).” (Still a blank stare from mom.)

Although still fairly new, Cloud Computing is fast becoming a dominating way to develop software and store data. Therefore we can expect more Chief Of Clouds in the future (although I told Jim to trademark the term .