It’s no surprise that Ge Wang, cofounder and chief technology officer of music app-maker Smule , sounds excited about Apple’s just-announced social network for music, called Ping . But Wang said he sees greater potential in what Apple might do with Ping in the future. For one thing, Wang said Apple should connect Ping with outside applications by offering something similar to Facebook Connect

More than 1,700 first-hand audio recordings now available for free online PROVO, Utah, September 1, 2010 Buzz-Issue.com— Ancestry.com announced today it has launched a collection of more than 1,700 recorded oral histories from immigrants who arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. This is the first time this collection of poignant recordings has been available online

Smart meter installations around the country seem to be going on at a quick pace, so much so that the U.S.

25-Year Software and Green Industry Veteran to Lead Company Growth SAN FRANCISCO , Sept. 1 Buzz-Issue.com– Recurve, a San Francisco -based provider of home performance software and green energy remodeling services, today announced that software industry veteran Andy Leventhal has joined as CEO

Networking giant Cisco and smart meter leader Itron have joined forces to deliver an IP-based communications platform to the smart grid market, but they announcement is light on details and when they will deliver. The two companies want to create a “definitive” platform that defines a standard for the smart grid network.

After Apple’s press conference today, we were able to check out demos of new Apple products. Here’s our video of the new Apple TV’s user interface. The device is about a quarter of the size of the old Apple TV and has just three plugs: an ethernet jack, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) slot, and a power cable slot.

A unique approach to enterprise IT software elevates Service-now.com as one of the country’s fastest-growing companies SAN DIEGO , Sept. 1 / / — Service-now.com, the creator of modern software-as-a-service (SaaS) for IT service management , today announced it is ranked 69 on the 2010 Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

The X Prize Foundation, already promoting competitions around alternative fuel vehicles and new technology for oil clean ups , is now turning its attention to another form of environmental challenge: cookstoves. More specifically, it is teaming with the Government of India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to create a global competition to fix a problem which is said to contribute to a killer of more than one million people each year .

As many of you are likely aware, earlier this week the BBC came out with a report that strongly suggested electric cars would be more expensive to operate than gas cars in the long run , mostly because they would depreciate (lose their resale value) much more quickly than gas cars. That article has generated a lot of debate on the internet, but I stayed away from it initially because it seemed like such a strange report due to the fact that it’s anybody’s guess what kind of resale value EVs will have.

One month after putting the energy bill onto the back burner due to a lack of bipartisan support, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has told reporters that the bill will be revived after the November elections, during the so-called “lame duck” session. In a conference call yesterday, Reid said he hoped that the possible addition of a renewable fuels standard—which reportedly could attract the votes of two Republicans, including Sen.