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Here’s why I’m a Gmail convert: for the first time since I started using e-mail nearly 20 years ago, I can keep my in-box tidy.

A month ago, I switched my personal e-mail from Yahoo Mail, with which I’ve been generally happy. What attracted me to Gmail was a number of specific Gmail features, but what I’ve come to appreciate is the big picture: a new way to look at the task of e-mail.

The old paradigm follows the metaphor of a paper-pushing office job with an in-box, trash can, and filing cabinet.

Gmail brings that paper pushing into the computer age. Most messages I care about are already organized with labels automatically as they arrive. I still must read and reply if necessary, but after that I just plop messages into a giant archive with no pesky manual filing. They can be retrieved easily via search or labels.

The result: my Gmail in-box has 14 messages in it, and I’ve had no trouble thus far keeping it in that neighborhood. I wouldn’t say it’s life-changing, but it’s an improvement.

Here’s one measure of its user interface success: several times a day, I miss Gmail features absent from my work e-mail, which uses Microsoft Outlook connected to an Exchange server. That Gmail accomplishment is notable given that its interface uses a relatively primitive Web-based foundation, while Outlook gets all the computing horsepower and interface richness of a Windows PC.

Google's filters automate the drudgery of organizing many e-mails, for example by applying specific labels to incoming e-mail. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit:
Google)

Google’s philosophy with Gmail is to aim for the needs of power users. That might sound like foolishly overlooking the much larger mainstream market. But I think it’s smart, because given the increasing importance of Internet communications, an ordinary user tomorrow will face the same challenges as a power user today.

Despite my overall satisfaction, though, the advantages I found in Gmail made its deficiencies all the more glaring. And the transition from Yahoo was extremely unpleasant. Here are some details for those of you thinking of taking the plunge.

The three Gmail features that wooed me
Three Gmail features got me to make the move, and all three proved just as desirable as I anticipated.

The first feature is labels. Yahoo Mail, like Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora, and every other e-mail client I’ve used, requires me to sort keeper e-mail into folders. Many times, though, I’ve been bothered by folders’ fundamental organizational limit: you can put a message in only one folder. So with a message from my old roommate about his new camera, do I put that into the folder for him or the one for photography? And a year later, when I want to retrieve it, where should I look?

With Gmail, you can have multiple labels on a particular e-mail–one for both “family” and “wife,” for example, not to mention “money,” “travel,” “tech support,” and various other categories I use often. By color-coding labels, various categories are easily found in my in-box, and clicking a label shows all mails that use it.

Yahoo Mail made major progress around this problem by finally fixing its previously ineffectual search ability, but I still like labels a lot better.

The second feature is filters, the automated tasks Gmail performs before I even touch my e-mail. Instead of having to manually move mail from my wife to a particular folder, I set Gmail to attach the appropriate label to any message from her. Any message I get that includes the words “itinerary” or “SFO” automatically gets a “travel” label, for example. Organizational drudgery is down and findability is up.

Filters can also forward, delete, and archive mail automatically. And when I set up my filters, it applies them to the existing archive, which helps ensure e-mail stays organized even years after I received it.

Third is IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). I’ve spent years using the earlier but decidedly inferior POP (Post Office Protocol), but IMAP handles remote access to e-mail much more gracefully. What surprised me was that I ended up liking Gmail’s Web interface better than the e-mail client software running on my computer, so IMAP isn’t as important as I initially envisioned.

Yahoo charges $25 a year just for POP access and at present doesn’t grant IMAP access except to business partners.

The advantages I found later
I use search a lot. Gmail’s search is fast and thorough. I particularly like how it can be controlled, for example by searching e-mail from a particular date range or searching for all messages labeled both “family” and “things to do.”

I also expected to use Gmail keyboard controls extensively–I find it much faster than a mouse for the most part. Yahoo Mail has keyboard shortcuts, but they work erratically for me and don’t cover as much ground as Gmail’s. Less time pawing my mouse, combined with Gmail’s generally snappy interface, means handling e-mail feels much breezier.

If you have Gmail keyboard shortcuts enabled, typing ? will pop up this summary of keyboard commands. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit:
Google)

The archive feature is nice. I worry that my e-mail usage will encroach on Gmail’s storage limits, but so far it looks like my needs won’t outpace the gradually rising limit. Mostly I like it because I’m a pack rat; though I certainly delete dozens a day, too, I’ve often found it handy to refer later to seemingly nonhistoric messages such as flight confirmations. Gmail’s archive-and-search philosophy is a refreshing change from the keep-your-in-box-small-or-we’ll-revoke-your-privileges attitude that still prevails in many parts of the world (not at Yahoo Mail, though, which offers me unlimited storage.)

Gmail also seems to be under more active development. I’ve seen essentially one change in Yahoo Mail since 1998, the arrival of the “all-new” interface. Though Yahoo is working on more changes now, some of them potentially dramatic, I like Gmail’s lab projects, a few of which I use.

The final pleasant surprise was conversation view, which assembles the back and forth of e-mail exchanges into a compact thread. Once I got used to typing P and N to navigate to a list’s previous and next messages and O to expand a message from a title to its full content, I was sold. I also like the fact that an archived conversation pops back into my in-box when a new reply in the thread emerges.

What I don’t like
My biggest complaint about Gmail is its contacts system, though I say this advisedly because I have yet to run into an address book I like and it’s still a step ahead of the primitivist Yahoo Mail address book. Google made Gmail contact list improvements last week that help distinguish people I care about from anyone I’ve ever e-mailed, but managing contacts still involves a lot of tedious pointing and clicking and scrolling, especially when it comes to dealing with hundreds of contacts.

It took me some time to master the selection of messages I wanted to do something with. Both a small pointer and a check box to the left of each message can be used to select them; the pointer is used to open messages or add stars, but the check boxes are used to delete, archive, or label them. This particular complication isn’t a big deal if you’re a point-and-click mouse user.

The 'labs' tab in Gmail settings has experimental options for users.

(Credit:
Google)

It falls short for people with multiple e-mail addresses; I couldn’t find any way except deleting and re-adding e-mail addresses to make sure a contact’s particular e-mail address is the top and therefore primary one that will be used in a mailing list, for example, unless you want multiple entries for a single individual.

Another gripe is with conversations. It’s fine for one-on-one chats, but group mailings can blossom into a confusing, hard-to-navigate morass.

I’d love to see offline access for Gmail, which is in the works. So far I don’t care much if I’m only able to check personal e-mail while online, and I could always use client software if I really wanted to work offline, but for companies thinking of Gmail, some of the cost advantages of cloud computing are eroded if the IT department still must set up Outlook on every employee’s computer.

I initially missed the Yahoo Mail feature that let me write multiple e-mails simultaneously. It’s possible with Gmail–typing Shift+C will pop up an empty message in a new browser window–but Yahoo Mail’s tabbed interface made me feel like the mail operation is in one place.

Transition woes
Some of my biggest troubles with Gmail were related to my transition from Yahoo Mail.

First off, when I set Gmail to slurp in my Yahoo Mail archive, I neglected to check the button that would have left the originals alone and Gmail gutted my archive. Be careful if you’re making the move. Google sets the default to delete the remote messages because people often have capacity limits on the other accounts, but for me, it effectively meant no going back to Yahoo Mail.

Keystrokes are often a matter of programming one’s muscle memory, and shifting to a new set of motions made me clumsy. Gmail takes its cue from vi, the venerable Unix text editor that, for example, uses the forward slash key to initiate a search and J and K to scroll up and down. Yahoo Mail uses Outlook-like conventions, though, with the up and down arrow for moving through the in-box and the delete button for deleting messages. I’m most of the way there with the new shortcuts, but I still mess up and type A rather than E to archive.

The biggest single pain of moving was getting my address book out of Yahoo and into Gmail, and frankly, I’m still only partway there. Some of the blame here goes to Yahoo, whose interface on more than one occasion deterred me from trying to clean up my contacts.

I ended up exporting my contacts and manually scrubbing them in Excel before importing them into Gmail. Even then, a large amount of structured data, while preserved, lost its meaning. Many instant messenger nicknames, birthdays, and mailing lists were converted into boring text, so it’s up to me to go through my list to fix it. Yahoo had labeled this data, so I put the blame here on Google’s inadequate parsing tools. Perhaps with Yahoo’s newly open address book interface this pain will become a thing of the past.

But now that I’m up and running, Gmail works well for me. And until Google dramatically departs from its don’t-be-evil philosophy or something even better comes along, I’m willing to entrust the company with an important part of my electronic life.

OpSource is hosting a very timely conference in San Francisco this week on software-as-a-service. What with the meltdown in the economy and continuing concern about the cost and environmental impact of energy use, there’s interest in how cloud computing will impact the IT world.

And what better way to cut through the hype over the so-called green aspects of SaaS than to assemble veteran technologists who might share their experiences with the uninitiated? That’s the usual format: People ready to impart knowledge to people eager to receive knowledge.

(Credit:
CNET News)

Good idea but, well, maybe another day.

As I sat in a cavernous ballroom in San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel scribbling down notes, it dawned on me that I was one of, literally, a handful of people listening to the lecturer. At most, there were 10 or 15 of us–a pity because as he faced a sea of mostly empty seats, Randy Bias, a technology strategist for GoGrid, a supplier of cloud computing infrastructure, offered up a convincing brief on the energy-saving advantages of virtualization and why it makes sense to offload server functions to the cloud.

He was followed on stage by Adrian Bowles, a director at Datamonitor, who was equally eloquent about why there are compelling business reasons to rip up the procedures of hardware provisioning that IT followed until the recession (some call it a depression) hit. “The old days of ‘buy it, plug it in, and run it’ are probably gone forever,” Bowles said, proceeding to lay out a hard-headed case on behalf of going green.

By then, I counted eight people–eight–in the ballroom (not including the speaker). Most of the folks attending this two-day kaffeeklatsch couldn’t be bothered with a topic that obviously bored them silly. No matter that
green tech at its most basic is technology done with a low environmental impact. For some reason, a discussion of low-energy technologies, virtualization, and improved cooling techniques weren’t enough to hook them.

As they used to say back in my Brooklyn neighborhood, whaddya gonna do? But truth be told, I was puzzled by all the no-shows. It wasn’t as if the other sessions being held at the same time–”SaaS marketing in a downturn” and “Architecting and delivery for SaaS success”–were so much more thrilling.

Could it be that “green” remains too squishy a concept for most of these red-blooded show-me-the-money types? I buttonholed one attendee in a hallway, who agreed as he was munching down a free ice cream provided by the show’s sponsors. But the proverbial man on the street interview doesn’t suffice.

I heard it said at one of the sessions how IT compensation plans now hinge on how successful you are doing projects faster and doing them more inexpensively. That’s why SaaS advocates believe their timing couldn’t be any better. Maybe that’s misplaced optimism; we’ll see as the year progresses.

But this much is clear: telling the boss that you’re saving the environment in the process is not likely to be the clincher. Ever.

The Samsung Omnia could come to AT&T.

(Credit:
Aliph)

Q: I’m curious as to whether Bluetooth headsets also emit radiation, which could prove harmful to one’s health. What can you tell me about this?
- Craig

Q: I bought a new unlocked phone and would like to start a new account at AT&T. Can I get out of paying an activation fee and signing a contract?
- Elisa

(Credit:
Samsung)

Q: Why do Sprint and Verizon Wireless appear to get sloppy seconds when it comes to the best and brightest new smartphones? It seems as if AT&T and T-Mobile get the most interesting phones, even though their networks aren’t as extensive as Verizon and Sprint. I know Sprint has the Samsung Instinct, but that phone has no Wi-Fi. Will Sprint be getting something like the Samsung Omnia for the holidays?
- Eric

Kent German, CNET’s cell phones guru, answers your questions about cell phones, services, and accessories and reports on the state of the industry. Send him a question.

Because CDMA has a smaller global footprint, some cell phone manufacturers are less inclined to make CDMA phones. Just look at Nokia and Sony Ericsson, for example. Nokia has dabbled in CDMA phones, but it has never had a clear-cut strategy for doing so. And Sony Ericsson, on the other hand, shuns CDMA completely. The technology does get attention from Japanese and Korean manufacturers like Samsung, LG, and Kyocera, but that’s mainly because they have CDMA in their own back yards. Moto spends a good deal of time in both sectors, but there again, Moto operates in a country that uses CDMA.

A: Bluetooth headsets do emit radiation, but they do it at a much lower power than a cell phone. In fact, it’s so low that it’s almost negligible. Keep in mind that while cell phones need to connect to a tower that could be a couple of miles away, a headset has an effective range of just 30 feet. However, if the prospect of Bluetooth radiation really worries you, I would suggest using a wired headset instead.

A: Though the selection of Sprint and Verizon Wireless smartphones isn’t quite as extensive as with the GSM carriers (AT&T and T-Mobile), I’d say they have some very decent options. Verizon has the XV6900, the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330, and the Samsung SCH-i760, while Sprint offers the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 and the Motorola Q9c, to name a few. And though it’s not a smartphone by our standards, the LG Dare is a solid option as well. I’d agree, however, that the CDMA phones are lacking in Wi-Fi support. AT&T in particular does better in that department. And incidentally, if anyone is getting the Omnia, Bonnie Cha thinks it will be AT&T.

The Aliph Jawbone 2. Is its radiation harmful?

A: As a new customer you will have to pay an activation fee, even if you’re using an unlocked phone. Yet, you might be able to avoid signing a contract that includes an early termination fee. The only reason carriers charge an ETF in the first place is to recover the cost of selling you a new phone at a discount. But, if you’re not getting such a discount or rebate then there’s no reason you should be stuck with an ETF. If AT&T tries to press you with one, I’d argue that point.

As for the lack of Wi-Fi on Sprint and Verizon phones, I’d blame that on the peculiarities of the carriers. In my experience, the CDMA carriers tend to be much more controlling and protective than T-Mobile or AT&T. Verizon was the last carrier to remove Bluetooth restrictions in its phone and it was only last year that Sprint and Verizon said they would start allowing unlocked phones on their networks. I’d theorize that they’re slow to adopt Wi-Fi because they want to keep their customers using their calling minutes.

Click here for more news on Windows 7.

For the first time in recent memory, Microsoft has chosen to stick with its code name for a final Windows release.

Microsoft plans to give developers at the Professional Developer Conference later this month a pre-beta version of the software.

“For me, one of the most exciting times in the release of a new product is right before we show it to the world for the first time,” Nash wrote. “In a few weeks we are going to be talking about the details of this release at the PDC and at WinHEC. We will be sharing a pre-beta ‘developer only release’ with attendees of both shows and giving them the first broad in-depth look at what we’ve been up to.”

Nash said the decision to stick with the Windows 7 name is “about simplicity.”

In a blog posting, general manager Mike Nash said that the next version of Windows will retain its
Windows 7 code-name when it is released to the market–a date currently pegged as late 2009 or early 2010.

Microsoft has said precious little about what’s actually in Windows 7. In a May interview, engineering chief Steven Sinofsky said it would use the same driver structure and underpinnings as Vista. The software maker has also talked about its multitouch capability.

“Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore “Windows 7″ just makes sense,” Nash wrote.

“Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows,” Nash wrote. “We’ve used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or ‘aspirational’ monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista. And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense. Likewise, coming up with an all-new ‘aspirational’ name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.”

Savio suggests that “the community” may be hurting open-source businesses. Most days I’d find this simply wrong, but reading the responses to a harmless suggestion that people should contribute more to open-source projects…it makes you wonder.

In other words, the “free-riders” are not just some abstract pool of people from which you extract cash. In a true open-source project, they are the foundation that makes the project something great. Everyone who is a contributing part of an open-source project was once a “free-rider” who just wanted to try it out. Every person involved in any way at all adds momentum, even if it’s just by asking a question and being answered on the list. That answer goes into the global pool of knowledge (which maybe a future user will find, while googling, and won’t have to ask himself).

Even in that I suggested there’s some positive value. So why were we disagreeing, again? Or were we?

…and I appreciate the thought. But you’re speaking of a small minority of successful open-source projects. I would love to see all open source operate like this, but it doesn’t. That’s not my opinion. It’s an established fact. You’re describing an open-source ideal, one that I hold in as high esteem as you do. But it’s very hard to come by.

Guys: Are we reading the same post? I really think you didn’t read a single word in my post beyond “free rider.” Go back and re-read it. Seriously. I don’t think it says what you think it says. I’m honestly bewildered by the responses. They don’t seem to comport to the reality of what I wrote.

For those in the commercial open-source world (and that’s most everyone now), we need to focus on finding ways to draw more people into the cash/code bargain without sacrificing the benefits that derive from fee-free adoption of open source.

Regardless, my argument was not that the world of free riders should be pilloried and decimated. Re-read my post. It was simply that we need to find ways to get more code or cash from communities. I’d be ecstatic to never get a penny but get lots of code. Most people, however, don’t contribute documentation, bug reports, bug fixes, code, cash, awareness, or anything else. They just use the software, if they even do that much (I suspect most downloads die on the vine).

Benjamin, I was speaking from my own experience (both with my company and those I advise), as well as a decade’s worth of experience following various open-source communities like Linux, Apache, etc. I see you write things like…

commentary

Whatever you do, don’t rile the community. I posted an innocuous suggestion earlier today that had this as its basic conclusion:

Shocking, isn’t it? The vast majority of the world would look at that statement and shrug. “The community?” Well, it’s apparently a shocking thought to want to find ways to sell more of what one produces. Tarus went on a rampage, discrediting everything in his path…except my argument, which he conveniently overlooked. Dana called it “dumb[].” Benjamin Reed inexplicably calls my post “sensationalist,” as if I have something to gain from denigrating open source (??? Benjamin, I work for a 100 percent open-source company - any money from CNET is peanuts compared to my day job).

Ah, community. They love you…until they don’t. Say the right things, and you’re a hero. Step out of line and you’re, well, flame-bait. But in this case I didn’t even say anything remotely approaching sensationalist. I just said “It would be great to get more people contributing.” I almost fell asleep typing it, it’s so bland.

The Tokyo facility will be linked to the new North Carolina facility and seven other IBM cloud computing centers in cities including Dublin, Ireland, and Beijing.

IBM announced Friday that it’s spending nearly $400 million on new cloud computing data centers in North Carolina and Tokyo. Big Blue will spend nearly $360 million to renovate an existing building at its Research Triangle Park campus in North Carolina. The goal is to reuse 95 percent of the existing building’s “shell,” recycle 90 percent of the old building’s material, and make sure 20 percent of the new material is recycled. The new center is expected to be completed by late 2009.

Clean air benefits aside, few should be surprised that IBM, which runs the largest computer consulting business in the world and derives the bulk of its revenue through services such as software hosting, should jump head-first into cloud computing services.

While Google caters to consumers with its Web-based applications, Amazon provides hosting services to start-ups, and companies like Salesforce.com provide an array of on-demand software, it can be easy to forget that IBM is the real heavyweight in business computing.

Who knew cloud computing could also clean the air?

Big Blue also boasts that the new data center’s mechanical equipment will be “50 percent more efficient than the industry average, equaling a reduction of approximately 31,799 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.” If IBM can follow through on that promise, that would be the equivalent of taking 5,800
cars off the road, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In November 2007, IBM unveiled its “Blue Cloud” bundle of services. And at a conference in Los Angeles in April, IBM executives made it clear that providing hosting services is nothing new to them. The rest of computer industry? According to IBM, they’re new to this game.

Google said it tested the code on many machines to find the bottlenecks and integrated feedback sent by an optional mechanism by which the software can send anonymous diagnostic information to Google.

The software indexes a computer’s files so users can search their machines and provides a mechanism to house small applications called widgets, but Google heard gripes that Google Desktop was too big and slow. “We heard the message loud and clear and decided that the Google Desktop 5.8 for Windows release would be based entirely on performance,” Jói Sigurðsson, Google Desktop tech lead, said in a blog post Monday.

Google has released its new version 5.8 of its Google Desktop software for Windows, with a focus on speed.

Google unveiled the software as Google Desktop Search in 2004, shortly after going public. It expanded into the widget domain later, and Google continues to refine that ability. The new version of Google Desktop can detect which widgets are bogging the system down and offer the user the option to shut them down, for example. It also erects some security barriers between widgets and permits widgets that were built using Flash technology.

(Credit:
Aliph)

Aliph Jawbone 2

Aliph has just announced the Jawbone 2, the highly anticipated successor to the Jawbone Bluetooth headset that debuted almost two years ago. If you’ll recall, the Aliph Jawbone broke new ground by being the highest-rated Bluetooth headset here on CNET, mostly due to its excellent noise-canceling technology and unique eye-catching design. However, many of you had a few problems with it: It was bulky, a little tricky to wear, and the charge connector seemed a bit flimsy. Well, the Jawbone 2 has changed all of that. It is about 50 percent smaller than the original, with a brand new diamond pattern design that puts its predecessor to shame. No longer is there the awkward and unusual springy ear loop; instead you get an optional curved ear hook that’s far easier to put on. Also, the Jawbone 2 now has a magnetic charging connector similar to that of the Apple Macbooks. But of course, the best part about the Jawbone 2 is its noise-canceling abilities–it still has that Voice Activity Sensor nub that helps to enhance your voice and eliminate background sound, plus its “Noise Shield” technology has been upgraded to “Noise Assassin” (clearly a marketing term) that promises to eliminate even more noise than the original. For the full shakedown of the new Jawbone 2, check out our review as well as our First Look video. The Aliph Jawbone 2 is available now in black for $129.99, though silver and gold versions are coming down the pipeline.

A group of Chicago lawyers had sued the online classifieds site over real-estate ads that stated discriminatory preferences such as “no minorities” or “no children.” The group, the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, argued that such ads are prohibited under the Fair Housing Act and that Craigslist should be held liable for allowing them to be posted on its Web site. Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, likening Craigslist to courier services such as FedEx or UPS, which do not read or screen the messages they deliver. Easterbrook said it would be expensive and problematic for Craigslist to filter messages before they were posted.

Craigslist.org can’t be held liable for discriminatory ads posted on its site, according to a court ruling released Friday.

The ruling (PDF) is good news for the many Web sites that host public forums, giving them further legal protections against liability claims based on content posted by their users, but is an obvious setback for proponents of fair housing online and off.

Blow Hard: Wind to Supply 20% of U.S. Power? - Environmental Capital - WSJ.com

Newest GREET Model Updates Environmental Impacts Of Specific Fuels And Automobiles - ScienceDaily

Duke Energy plans $100 million investment in solar - Charlotte Business Journal

Biofuel Comparison Chart: The "Good," the Bad and the (Really) Ugly - TreeHugger

It’s The Meat Not The Miles - Science News

- A carbon cap-and-trade system is in our future. Now it’s just the dirty details and the role of government and industry. The story includes a link to text of McCain’s climate change policy speech.

A sampling of the latest
green-tech news.

- The carbon footprint of food is complicated. A study confirms that meat produces more greenhouse gases than other foods. It also finds that transportation is a small portion of meat’s overall impact.

- Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers is definitely a man to watch in the energy business. This announcement helps explain why he recently joined the board of solar-equipment maker Applied Materials. Found via Earth2Tech.

- Not all biofuels are created equally. Take a look see.

- The Department of Energy says wind can supply 20 percent of U.S. power, the same target as Europe. Sounds awfully ambitious, unless NIMBY sentiment dies down significantly.

- This is a quick roundup of commercial and research efforts around algae, teeing off with Bionavitas, a start-up whose CEO says toxic cleanup through algae is a more realistic near-term market.

NCAR Installs 76-Teraflop Supercomputer for Critical Research on Climate Change, Severe Weather - Newswise Science News

- This may sound wonky, but getting accurate measures for alternative fuels is very important, as policymakers consider "low carbon fuel standards" that take into account the entire life cycle of fuels.

Replacing Gasoline with Solar Power - R-Squared Energy Blog

- IBM supercomputer to crunch numbers of climate change models.

Algae start-up Bionavitas says “4 years to reach commercial stage” as “shade wall” perplexes engineers - Biofuels Digest

- Robert Rapier runs the numbers on how much solar energy is required to replace gasoline and finds that it’s not all that big. Found via The Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital blog.

John McCain fleshes out his climate policy, draws contrast with Obama - VentureBeat