First off, what is smart grid technology? Smart grid technology allows two-way communication between a home or business and the utility company.

Then you are probably wondering why is there so much interest in smart grid technology now? The key reason is that our electrical transmission system is outmoded and overloaded. Our present system will be unable to handle the increasing demand for electricity for much longer. Take the electric car. If thousands of these cars are on the road next year, we will need the electrical delivery system to power them.

Options scandals are becoming almost routine this year. More than 60 companies, most of them flagging tech stocks, have been subject to investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. I now gloss over the headlines most of the time. Oh, another one, I think. Figures.

But Apple? Can it be true? Apple is supposed to stand for all that is good in corporate America -- great products, happy customers, cool designs, top-notch service and a capacity to care about more than money-grubbing for pure profits.

Now this. Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL)has announced it will likely have to restate financial results due to its mispricing of stock options. Not only could profits from past years be erased, but investors are likely to sue. One has already emailed us at Blogging Stocks to report that he plans to "sue the living daylights out of them."

The real blow to the stock -- which has climbed $20 in just the past three weeks -- will be to the company's image. I predict the stock will be hurt by more than the pure number-crunching estimates Wall Street comes up with for how earnings per share could be affected.

I think plenty of individual investors, who put their personal faith in Steve Jobs and were willing to overlook the problem after his earnest and straightforward revelations in June, will now feel burned. They may take their profits and run. As the emailer above wrote, "I am furious at the directors and senior officers at Apple for this outrageous disclosure of options."

Apple shares are down just $2.64, and trading at $66.95 as I write this at 9:50 a.m. I think there is likely more pain coming. Stocks are rallying big across the board today on the weak jobs report since it indicates that the Fed may not have to keep raising rates. But Apple's bad news will take some time to sink in and investors will be reminded of it plenty of times in the weeks to come.

Amey Stone is a senior editor at AOL Money & Finance and longtime financial writer in New York . She has no financial interest in Apple.

Investors wonder whether Apple Computer may have backdated option grants, or reset the grant date (and therefore, strike price) to make them more attractive for the recipients, as the company announced today just after the bell that it found "irregularities" in certain option grants several years ago.

One of the irregular grants was made to Steve Jobs, sometime between 1997 and 2001, although Apple says that it was cancelled quickly and the company's CEO made no financial gain as a result.

While it's certainly commendable that Apple is being proactive about the announcement, I can only wonder whether some other employees did record a significant gain in those boom years of 1999 and 2000 -- when this sort of crooked practice was whispered to be quite common.