VentureBeat: Nest 'Crushed' Employees' Ability to Make Great Products, Says Dropcam Co-Founder
Dropcam co-founder and former CEO Greg Duffy has bitten back at Nest’s Tony Fadell, after Fadell claimed in an article published in The Information last week that “a lot of the [Dropcam] employees were not as good as we’d hoped” and “unfortunately, it wasn’t a very experienced team.”
To recap, Google acquired smart home devices company Nest for more than $3 billion back in early 2014, and six months later Nest itself acquired video camera company Dropcam for north of $550 million. But all, it seems, has not been well at Nest, with reports circulating of significant unrest among employees that was leading to a mass exodus.
Taking to Medium (where else?), Duffy has now responded to Fadell’s claims, saying, “I would almost find such blatant scapegoating amusing if it weren’t so insulting to the team. Given that, I feel compelled to set the record straight.”
InsideClimate News: Sea Ice in Melting Arctic Dwindles to Another Record Low
The amount of ice in the Arctic during the depths of winter's freeze hit record lows for the second consecutive year, escalating concerns that sea ice is melting at an alarming rate.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center announced on Monday that Arctic sea ice reached its winter ice cover maximum last Thursday with only 5.6 million square miles frozen. That's down 5,000 square miles from last year's record low, a difference the size of Connecticut. Sea ice has been on a long decline since satellites began monitoring its extent in 1979, with between 173,000 and 196,000 square miles of ice vanishing every decade since then -- a loss larger than the state of California.
Guardian: $1 Trillion Could Be Wasted on 'Unneeded' Coal Plants, Report Warns
Almost $1 trillion of investment in new coal-fired power stations could be wasted if growing concerns about climate change and air pollution leave the plants unused, according to a new report.
About 1,500 new coal plants are in construction or planning stages around the world, but electricity generation from the fossil fuel has fallen in recent years, the detailed report from the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and CoalSwarm found. In China, existing plants are now used just 50% of the time, coal use is falling and new permits and construction have been halted in half of the nation’s provinces, affecting about 250 plants.
Climate Progress: After 115 Years, Scotland Is Coal-Free
After some 115 years, Scotland has burned its last lump of coal for electricity.
The Longannet power station, the last and largest coal-fired power plant in Scotland, ceased operations Thursday. What once was the largest coal plant in Europe shut down after 46 years before the eyes of workers and journalists, who gathered in the main control room.
“Ok, here we go,” said one worker moments before pressing a bright red button that stopped the coal-fired turbines that generated electricity for a quarter of Scottish homes.
KSL: Feds Identify 90 Customers in Utah Solar Energy Scheme
As the federal case against three men and a trio of companies involved in an alleged "solar energy scheme" in Utah and the West continues to progress, the U.S. Department of Justice said it has identified 90 customers who claimed bogus tax credits, and the agency expects to find more.
A planning meeting among attorneys involved in the federal case against RaPower3, International Automated Systems, LTB1, Gregory Shepard, Neldon Johnson and Roger Freeborn was held Friday in U.S. District Court for Utah, with indications a trial could be held in June 2018.
The U.S. Department of Justice sought an injunction against the companies and the men last fall, asking the federal court to shut down the multi-level marketing business involving solar leases that are "purchased" and then alternately leased to reduce income liability with the IRS.