LAS VEGAS -- While few doubt the importance of maximizing the energy efficiency of their corporate data centers, executive vice president of data center technology for Las Vegas-based Switch, Mark Thiele's talk at Interop this week showcased just how much companies might still be missing. 

Do you know where your smartphone is? Unless you're using it to read PCWorld.com, your phone is probably plugged into an outlet somewhere to charge, because the battery stinks.

Ingram Micro has partnered up Certero, a power vendor that just set up shop in Australia late last year.

Fulton Innovation had an idea: what the world needs is flashier breakfast (I completely agree). So they decided to pair their eCoupled technology wireless power technology with some cereal boxes to make them light up, and interact with a nearby computer to display useful information.

About 56,000 properties are without power in southeast Queensland, with more to follow as the flood crisis continues, Energex says.

A new startup funded by major chip makers and investment firms is taking aim at electricity bills, the biggest cost in data centers.

Keeping mobile phones and other portable electronics charged is a hassle if you make frequent business trips or work in multiple locations. Inevitably, your smartphone's battery dies far from a power source just when you need to make a crucial call or get directions to a meeting.

Google plans to become carbon neutral at the same time promote green energy by entering into a 20-year agreement to buy power from an Iowa wind farm. The farm, part of NextEra Energy Resources in Story and Hardin counties, will sell Google 114 megawatts of renewable power. Google says that the energy it will buy is enough to power several of its data centers.

New York City's Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers is saving power and money by replacing its desktop computers with thin clients running virtualized operating systems.