Energy and carbon measurement startup AMEE raises $1M
AMEE, short for “Avoiding Mass Extinctions Engine”, calls itself a platform to track “all the energy data on Earth.” That’s an ambitious goal, but the company is better known for simply tracking CO2 emissions and helping others to reduce their energy consumption.
Based in the United Kingdom, AMEE is working on standardizing the carbon tracking industry. It is working with several hundred organizations to develop the platform and also helps individual companies to cut emissions.
O’Reilly AlphaTech… Continue Reading
Cobalt Biofuels gets $25M for biobutanol
Usually when a startup classifies itself as a biofuel company, it makes one of two fuels: biodiesel or ethanol. However, there’s a range of alternatives that could be commercialized, one of which Cobalt Biofuels is after: biobutanol, a liquid fuel that is more similar to gasoline than ethanol.
Cobalt has just taken a third venture round of $25 million to put further work into the fuel, which it plans to use as an additive for either… Continue Reading
PageOnce brings your online accounts to your smartphone
PageOnce, a startup that wants users to access all their web accounts through a single site, is now bringing its service to the BlackBerry. The company’s free mobile application has already found some success on the iPhone, and chief executive Guy Goldstein says smartphones have become his focus.
“This is our business now,” he says.
Back in June, Palo Alto, Calif.-based PageOnce launched as your standard web-based business, and I was already impressed by the concept. It… Continue Reading
Twine goes fully public with next-generation bookmarking
Twine, a bookmarking and knowledge-tracking application developed by Radar Networks, is leaving its closed beta tonight with an array of new features, in hopes of becoming one of the definitive websites of the next generation of the Internet.
Here’s why it might succeed: It hopes to create a web of connected knowledge encompassing the whole Internet, which will start by replacing your bookmarks bar and finish by assembling a modern-day Dewey Decimal System for the cluttered,… Continue Reading
Imeem launches music application for Android and the G1 phone
The imeem music-sharing service is launching its first mobile application today — for the new Android-powered G1 phone that is itself launching on the T-Mobile network this Wednesday. So there are all sorts of interesting “firsts” here. But first, about the app itself.
Imeem is taking your user profile — information such as what songs you listen to and what artists you’re a fan of on the site — and using it to recommend “stations” comprised… Continue Reading
Lala convinces major record labels to be a little less dumb
Have you ever been sitting at your computer, wishing you could listen to your music collection without being forced to open a desktop application? If so, Lala is launching just the thing for you.
Since the beginning of the summer, Lala has offered a service that lets you stream any song one time, then pay $.10 for the right to stream it as often as you want. The Palo Alto-based company has now convinced the major… Continue Reading
Aka-aki, Wubud and other startups will demo at Mobile 2.0
Mobile 2.0, a conference for mobile web developers, has announced the lineup of companies that will present at its Nov. 3 event. The one-day conference in San Francisco will focus on strategies to make mobile apps and services thrive during the economic downturn.
We’ve covered many of these startups already — and some have demoed at past Mobile 2.0 events — but since most of them are based in Europe, this should be a good opportunity… Continue Reading
Video game industry revamps its ailing E3 trade show
By most accounts, the E3 trade show in July was a disaster for the video game industry. (I liked it, because the crowds were so thin I could interview most of the bigwigs). But in recognition of the sorry show, the Entertainment Software Association is planning to announce tomorrow a redesigned format, according to Newsweek game blogger N’Gai Croal.
The game companies will now hold their premiere event of the year in the first week of… Continue Reading
GE Healthcare partners with Living Independently to monitor elderly
GE Healthcare has accepted a 20 percent stake in Living Independently, developer of a monitoring system for seniors that aims to prevent and immediately respond to emergencies and health problems. Based on the deal, which was struck in mid-September, GE will distribute and help market the New York-based company’s QuietCare product. Living Independently also hopes to use some of the extra funding to come out with new products designed to diagnose conditions and to check… Continue Reading
Swiss security researchers can snag typed passwords wirelessly from 65 feet
This really ought to be in the next James Bond movie. Swiss security experts showed that they can monitor keystrokes typed on wired keyboards from afar.
The researchers showed they can capture the words being typed on 11 different models of keyboards by monitoring the electromagnetic radiation emitted by those keyboards. The techniques work on PS /2, universal serial bus, and laptop keyboards. (That seems like just about everything).
The researchers at the Security and Cryptography Laboratory… Continue Reading
Display ad co. ValueClick sells off properties, hunkers down
Online advertising firm ValueClick has sold off two of its less critical subsidiaries in order to brace for what is predicted to be a tough time ahead in the web display ad market. The public company brought in a total of $18 million with the sale of Mediaplex Systems and an unnamed inkjet e-commerce company, reports AdAge.
Mediaplex, maker of AdVault, the software that helps advertising firms usher their workload through production, planning and billing, went… Continue Reading
Sun Microsystems pre-announces earnings drop and write-down
After teetering along a recovery path for years, Sun Microsystems is slipping into the mire of a weakening business market.
The company said in a pre-announcement today it would swing to a large quarterly loss. The company expects to lose 25 cents to 35 cents a share on revenues of $2.95 billion to $3.05 billion in the first fiscal quarter. The company will report earnings on Oct. 30.
Sun’s shares closed at $5.78 a share today, down… Continue Reading
Movidia brings in $14 million for mobile video chip
Movidia, developer of mobile video processors, announced today that it landed $14 million in first-round funding to launch its new mobile phone video chip in early 2009. The chip will require less energy to run, while at the same time giving users the ability to quickly produce their own video content using only their cell phones.
The Irish semiconductor company hopes the processor’s capabilities will help it make a name for itself in the social networking… Continue Reading
Synthetic Genomics turns to palm oil with $8M investment
Craig Venter is famous for discovering and modifying microorganisms, but his biofuels company, Synthetic Genomics, plans to take the research a step further by sequencing the genome of the oil palm plant.
The company just raised $8 million from Genting Group, a Malaysian conglomerate, according to national newspaper The Star (credit to Earth2Tech for digging this up). Synthetic Genomics already had a partnership with Genting to work on palm oil, which is a major export in… Continue Reading
Music video games overtake sports and game console growth
Music has overtaken sports as the No. 2 category for video games and has led to the highest adoption of video game consoles in years.
The results from market researcher Odyssey offer proof that the video game industry is expanding its audience and that game consoles are reaching a greater part of U.S. households.
Music simulations such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band have driven an explosion of growth in the category, said Nick Donatiello, president and… Continue Reading
Updated: SanDisk may escape Samsung hostile takeover through a deal with Toshiba
Looks like SanDisk has figured out a way to avoid Samsung’s hostile takeover offer. Toshiba and SanDisk said today that Toshiba will pay $1 billion to gain a larger stake in their joint venture in flash memory chip manufacturing.
Under the deal, Milpitas, Calif.-based SanDisk has agreed to sell 30 percent of the manufacturing capacity of the joint venture to Toshiba, reducing SanDisk’s own capital spending costs. The venture currently operates two chip factories. The extra… Continue Reading
InSeT wins $790K in state backing to track miners
InSeT Systems, developer of a tracking system to be used in underground mining, received a $792,750 loan from the state of Ohio via the Innovation Ohio Loan Fund for further expansion. The Akron-based company plans to use the money for software development and to acquire necessary equipment to construct a demo system.
If the demo gets a stamp of approval from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, InSeT plans to roll out commercial systems by… Continue Reading
ClearCount absorbs $4M to ensure surgical sponges don’t get left behind
Who knew that leaving surgical sponges inside patients was actually not that rare? At least that’s the message from ClearCount Medical Solutions, a developer of RFID technology used to detect and track the location of surgical sponges. The Pittsburgh company just brought in $4.1 million in first-round financing, earmarked for the wide release of its commercial product next year. The round was led by Draper Triangle Ventures and included unnamed angel investors.
Its product, the SmartSponge… Continue Reading
Cohera Medical gets $16M to heal nips and tucks
Cohera Medical, a provider of wound care products and surgical adhesives, announced today that it has snagged $16.1 million in a second round of financing led by Bradford Capital Partners. Kern Whelan
and several previous investors also participated. The new money will be used to further develop the Pittsburgh company’s TissuGlu product, a sprayable adhesive tailored to plastic surgery needs, as well as several other products in the pipeline.
With tummy tucks the prime target, Cohera hopes… Continue Reading
Consumer electronics survey shows darkening mood for holiday consumer spending
Consumer electronics sales are expected to be up 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, down from 7 percent a year ago, an indication that consumer spending is slowing down but not dramatically so, according to an industry survey. Overall, each consumer plans on spending $200 less on average this year for the holidays compared to 2007.
The Consumer Electronics Association conducted the 15th annual survey during late September, a period that overlapped with significant economic turmoil…. Continue Reading