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The machines are coming - better look busy. There's no arguing the fact that these days we depend on technology for much of our everyday lives. From the moment our phone alarm wakes us up in the morning to the moment we fall asleep watching a film on our iPad, we are connected to our technology in a wide variety of ways.

A $1 billion network of electric car recharging stations will dot San Francisco Bay area highways under a plan unveiled Thursday that aims to greatly expand the number of electric vehicles on the road. Palo Alto-based Better Place along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed announced the deal, which sets out to install charging stations in homes, businesses, parking lots and government buildings by 2012.

A Seattle company is hoping to convert the motion of the ocean into electricity. Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permits to harness energy from waves off the coastline of six states. In all, the company would build seven harnessing sites - in federal waters off California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island - each covering about 100 square miles.