http://twitter.com/digiportusa

Well, I can honestly say that this is the greatest experience i have ever had with any form of government. I called the Office of Governor Christ to request information regarding the distribution of Stimulus money. Specifically, I requested a website sponsored by a group within the government that listed where and when money would be spent. I called the “Citizen Services Hotline: (850) 488-4441″ which is easily located on http://www.flgov.com/ .

The woman who answered the phone was spectacularly helpful and provided me with a website (http://peoplesbudget.state.fl.us) immediately. While this didn’t contain exactly what I was looking for my second call landed me on the phone line of someone from the budgetary group within the Governors office. Both phone calls including the transfer were handled professionally and promptly (within a ring or two).

While I am waiting on a callback that was promised, I can say that if all the State Governments are treating the residents with the same respect then we all have a great chance of getting out of this recession.

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I thought it odd that CNN constantly was displaying ads for Penile Enhancement so I started doing some digging.  Sure enough my PC was owned by a malware application that was more then difficult to remove.  I ran superantispyware, rootkit checker, you name it and I ran it.  I ended up having to go through a number of steps to remove it right down to editing the Registry Hive directly from a bootable CD with a linux install and specialized app.  I will list the steps here shortly.  Contact me if you cant wait

Part 2

Step1 - Download the rootkit checker from Microsoft.  it will find both hidden keys and hidden services related to gaopdx.  I am telling you now.  DO NOT reinstall Windows.  It will not work.  You might also want to roll back to a different config using the automated tool.  Another good idea but the virus writers thought of that too and disabled your ability to do so.  WRITE DOWN THE LOCATION IN THE HIVE where the keys are contained.

Step2 - Run a good virus removing program You will need to download both the application and updates on another machine and install it on the infected machine.  I like AVAST.  It checks the memory and indidivual files for the virus and runs a full scan while booting up.  Once it has completed this, boot the computer from a boot disk and create a folder in the windows\system directory with the same exact file name as the virus.  This will prevent the file from being created again.

Step3 - you need a registry editor that downloads the hives and makes them available.  Now grab that piece of paper with the keys location and use the utility to delete the keys.  I wasn’t able to delete the service but i was able to delete all the values from within the service.  Complete that, merge the HIVE back witht he registry and reboot.  Once windows loads, the service should be disabled so you can now run regedit and remove any remaining elements related to the virus.

Contact me if you need help

CalCEF is an oddity in the VC world. They are a non-profit venture fund hatched with the help of a $30M PG&E bankruptcy settlement in 2004. They invest in emerging clean energy technology companies that benefit the PG&E service region.
CalCEF has tweaked their model and has established a for-profit Angel fund, a separate entity from their non-profit fund. They’ve added staff members Susan Preston and Matt Lecar to better focus on angel investments with The CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund and and established the CalCEF Angel Network - a new angel network that already has 150 companies that have submitted business plans and applications to the network.
According to Matt Lecar,”We want to do for the cleantech angel investor community what the Cleantech Open has done for entrepreneurs — organize the resources and provide the infrastructure to promote smarter investment.”
CalCEF’s model is to provide early-stage funding, and help start-ups in the critical “first MW” gap. “The market still needs seed-level financing. There are not enough person-hours for VCs to make $500,000 size investments in the energy field. CalCEF helps serve that gap in the very early-stage investment markets,” said Dan Adler, the President of CalCEF. The CalCEF portfolio includes Fat Spaniel, CoalTek, Solarcentury, Tesla Motors, et al.)
They had a get together last evening at the law offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati in Palo Alto, California.
California is Different
Hal LaFlash of renewable-friendly utility Pacific Gas & Electric spoke at the event on the future of energy in California. “California is different than the rest of the US.”
California has the lowest per capita energy usage in the US
California has the most aggressive Renewable Portfolio Standard - 20% by 2010 and 33% by 2020.
PG&E has 9 large solar projects ranging from 2MW (GreenVolts) to greater than 200MW (Brighsource, Ausra, Optisolar, et al.)
PG&E has connected more than 27,000 customer solar installations (more than 280MW). More than half of new solar installations in the US were interconnected with PG&E.
Start-Ups on Parade
Each month the angel network showcases a pair of early stage start-ups looking for funding. The first tonight was TrendPoint. TrendPoint is focused on energy and carbon metrics in the data center. According to CalCEF’s Matt Lecar, “Most data center operations look like giant industrial installations even though they are in office buildings.”
Trendpoint’s CEO, Bob Hunter claimed that, “Data center electricity usage is growing more than 15% annually. The firm establishes yardsticks for the data center and tries to help corporate managers attack their energy problems. Their hardware and software system allows data center managers to measure and manage their usage with “utility-grade energy and carbon data” and a focus on circuit management in the panel. Their customers include VMware, Facebook, and EDS-UK. “Nobody racks a server at Facebook without looking at our system,” said Hunter They have $700,000 in sales and are looking for $2M in funding.
Quality start-ups (some with revenue!) vetted and groomed by investors. CalCEF is looking for new members to join their angel network.

Eric Wesoff
CalCEF Angels

FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT DATA CENTER DESIGN PLEASE CONTACT ME or DIGIPORT

 I wonder why it took so long for Microsoft’s MSN to figure it out. I’ve always thought us IT workers are sexy and it is no surprise to me that we hold the keys to the office.

IT workers
Although IT workers have earned a bad reputation for not understanding the problems of the computer-illiterate worker, we aren’t the office villains some people have made us out to be. And if power is sexy, then us men and women outrank everyone. Whether you’re low on the totem pole or an executive, if you can’t open your e-mail account or figure out why your monitor is flickering, you call IT. In many offices, IT workers have the most lax dress code of all the departments, so everyone is envious of us. Knowledge is power!!!

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-1737-Job-Info-and-Trends-10-Sexy-Careers-You-Never-Thought-Of/

According to the worlds most well known playboy Entrepreneur we are the ones who are going to save the day.  Watch it yourself.

http://www.openforum.com/dtw/video_multi_richardbranson.html?campaignid=OF2_ola_sb

Want to know what projects I am working on ?  Email me at rob@robthorell.com

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There is nothing worse then lying sleepless at night in bed, mind racing, images playing on the back of y eye lids like some late night drive in theater.  Luckily, as a result of working for myself, this no longer has to be a stressful event.  No one is going to miss me if I don’t punch a clock tomorrow morning right on time so long as the work everyone is expecting is complete.  Hours like now 3:33am can now be a time to work, at peace and without distraction.