Public utilities - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Transforming robot probes Fukushima reactor vessel

  Tokyo Electric Power on Friday sent a robot where no machine has gone before -- inside the highly radioactive heart of a reactor at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.

• Pixometer app offers a smarter way to read dumb meters

  So you want to track your water, electricity or gas consumption, but you still don't have a smart meter on your supply? Pixolus has a mobile app that makes it easier to keep track of meter readings, even with dumb meters.

• On the front line against the next Stuxnet

  Something has gone terribly wrong on the plant floor at ACME Specialty Chemical International Inc.

• US warns of problems in Chinese SCADA software

  Two vulnerabilities found in industrial control system software made in China but used worldwide could be remotely exploited by attackers, according to a warning issued on Thursday by the U.S. Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT).

• US launches wireless public safety network

  The U.S. government and the country's top mobile phone service providers on Tuesday launched a public safety program that will allow people to receive emergency alerts via text message.

• Wireless tech saves energy - and makes better mousetrap

  Tucked in a dark corner of the Cebit trade show, in Hall 2, lies a mousetrap. Not just any old mousetrap, but a wireless-enabled one.

• IBM explores water management market

  Divining a possible new market in municipal water management systems, IBM has set up a pilot project in Dubuque, Iowa, to investigate whether cities could both save money and conserve water by monitoring citizens' usage more closely.

• IBM invests in infrastructure sensing and analysis tech

  IBM will develop technology to monitor and analyze the state of buildings, roads, water lines and other urban infrastructure in a new laboratory it is opening with Carnegie Mellon University.