Doty says he's looking at utility applications for BPL as a potentially more attractive option.

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Utility applications for BPL--the smartening up of a dumb power infrastructure--may be the thing that justifies the technology for utility companies.

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The number of utility patent applications filed in the United States last year exceeded half a million.

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Major software companies, including Oracle, IBM, Google and even Amazon.com, are all beginning to offer their own forms of utility computing applications, such as software-as-a-service and rented storage and processing power.

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Apple might as well go into medical applications and utility items that need the next innovation and simplicity.

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What all really wanted, however, is merchants and other brokering partners to build applications for the system, increasing its utility.

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MySQL's lighter-weight database system may also fit into Sun's ambitions of becoming a major player in "utility computing, " a model of information technology infrastructure that pipes in software applications, processing and storage over the Internet rather than from a company's own data centers.

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Additional wellness applications built into the MyFit include a water intake manager and smoking cessation utility.

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