The Portuguese are building a city that has never been see or built before, except in the minds of the designers.  A place where the environment feeds off us and wee feed off it. Through the use of the Urban Operating System (UOS^tm) the physical structure will be fitted with embedded sensor technology that allows it to manage it resources based on feeds it gets from us and the other systems, such as other machines and the atmosphere.

Entrepreneurs and house hunters can now check the quality of broadband speed in a prospective area they are planning to move to.  The British telecom regulator Ofcom has produced an interactive map that gives an estimate of what speed you can expect from the different administrative regions. They have have also published an infrastructure report highlighting the current state of the UK telecom infrastructure (fixed broadband and wireless 2G/3G) and how it is being used.

Enel, Italy’s largest utility supplier has launched the country’s first smart grid renewable power solution.  The pilot project is costing approximately 10 million euros and is to take place in the southern region of Molise.  According to Enel, the project is setup as part of its push to develop the technology needed to handle electricity flows from decentralised, fluctuating renewable power sources.

BRIDGE Energy Group, the Trusted Advisor and Implementation Partner in Smart Grid Integration and Utility Software Solutions, announced today that it will serve as the Smart Grid integration partner for Bermuda Electric Light Company (BELCO), Bermuda's sole supplier of electricity.

BRIDGE has been awarded the first phase of an Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) project, which is BELCO's strategic initiative to define its Information Technology and Operations Technology roadmap for the next several years, as they prepare to implement a Smarter Grid to support future potential initiatives across Distribution Automation, Demand Response, Distributed Generation, Renewables and Energy Efficiency/Conservation programs.

In addition to the home security and home automation solutions provided by Vivint, they launched a new solar energy service which has received a $75 Million renewable energy funding.  Vivint Solar, the recently launch subsidiary will focus on providing affordable residential solar energy solutions across the U.S and its territories.  The fund was made possible by U.S. Bancorp and will allow Vivint to make up to 2,400 solar system installations.

Qualcomm Atheros said Shifta1.0 for Android Smartphones and Tablets is no longer in beta and has received the approval to be in production. Being the first software to received the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) certified sticker.  Skita transforms your Android-based phone and tablet into a media remote control. Allowing you to access and enjoy your music, videos and photo while at home or on the road.

Tensilica today announced that EnVerv has licensed cores from the ConnX DSP (digital signal processors) family for use in a power line communications (PLC) system-on-chip (SOC) design for smart grid applications. Tensilica's ConnX DSPs are low-power, customizable dataplane processors (DPUs) that deliver outstanding performance on compiled C code, without the need for assembly code optimization.

eMeter, a global smart grid software platform provider, today announced that a Portuguese language version of eMeter EnergyIP, an industry leading energy information management platform and an SAP-qualified business solution, will be available in Brazil by December 2011.

Elster has announced that Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) has chosen EnergyAxis as its multi-utility Smart Grid solution.  Partially funded by a United States Department of Energy Smart Grid Investment Grant, the $11.6 million deployment will provide energy-saving benefits to LUS customers.  The turnkey project is anticipated to be installed on a 12-month deployment schedule with completion in 2013.    

For a while Google and Microsoft were encouraging utilities and consumer to get connected through their solutions to learn more about their energy use.  Google launched the Google PowerMeter through it iGoogle platform, Microsoft launched Microsoft Hohm and Cisco launched the Home Energy Controller gadgets and software. They all promised information at our finger tips so we can make more informed decisions on how we use our home energy.