Trilliant, ABB partner to make Smart Grid technologies interoperable

Trilliant, provider of communications infrastructure used to beam energy consumption data between so-called smart meters, utilities and their customers, announced today that it is partnering with automation company ABB to make sure their technologies can talk to one another. This type of interoperability is one of the major issues impacting how and how fast the Smart Grid — a cleaner, more efficient electrical grid — takes hold in the U.S.

It seem to be all … Continue Reading

Omidyar Network promises $30M for entrepreneurs in India and Africa.

Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, says it’s committing $30 million to support global entrepreneurship, particularly in India and sub-Saharan Africa.

Omidyar just made the announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. (He has also been tweeting from the event.) Her eare a couple more details about how the firm plans to invest the money and why, according to the announcement:

Through its commitment, Omidyar Network … Continue Reading

DEMO: Internet spreads sexist tweets faster than ever

It’s no secret that the tech world is one big sausagefest.

There were zero women — none — in Paul Graham’s YCombinator startup class last month. There were maybe two female founders at Facebook’s fbFund Rev and about five women presenters at TechCrunch50 last week. DEMO, the conference VentureBeat co-produces and at which I’m now sitting, seems to have about the same ratio.

There’s been plenty of handwringing over why so few women start companies. … Continue Reading

DEMO: MoLo Rewards lets you redeem coupons with your phone at the checkout counter

Mobile electronic coupons have had a long and sorry history. Some companies have made progress with Bluetooth marketing, where you can can beam coupons to people who have their Bluetooth receivers turned on in their cell phones.

But MoLo Rewards is introducing at DEMOfall 09 a solution that makes it a lot easier to redeem coupons. It has built a system that uses the “near field communication radio frequency identification” technology that is being built … Continue Reading

5 O'Clock Roundup: Yahoo's new search, Snot Leopard, Tom Perkins closes 60th-floor condo

Yahoo’s new search engine reviewed by Search Engine Land — “There’s nothing radical or game changing,” writes Greg Sterling.

Poking around Yahoo made me realize that despite myself, I use Bing once in a while instead of Google. Can Yahoo get me to do that? That’s their plan.

But Microsoft’s $100 million Bing campaign works because there’s something about Bing that’s hard to define, but nice to play with. Yahoo, by contrast, seems to be … Continue Reading

LucidLogix marries graphics chips that hate each other

The graphics chip market is an exclusive club with only a few big members: Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia. But Israeli startup LucidLogix Technologies hopes to break into the club with its innovative Hydra 200 chip.

That chip enables a game or other program to take advantage of all of the 3-D graphics chips in a computer, even if those graphics chips are different types or come from different vendors. Hence, a user could … Continue Reading

DEMO: Infochimps lets users share and sell data

Data is hard to find, use and connect. Infochimps is trying to organize the world’s free and commercial data into a repository labeled by content, meaning and source.

The web site, unveiled at DEMOfall 09, lets users sell their commercial data on terms they choose and at a price they set. They can share the data for free without having to bear the burden of hosting and bandwidth charges. The Austin, Texas-based company incentivizes users … Continue Reading

DEMO: TotalTrainer makes sure your diet and exercise fit together

This seriously out of shape woman from TotalTrainer says that gyms are failing us. Too often, we join a gym, go for a while, then drop out.

Fitness centers are addressing that somewhat these days by using computers to log your exercise sessions. But they don’t always have a plan that brings together exercise routines, smart nutrition, and reliable expert support.

TotalTrainer is launching at the DEMOfall 09 conference (which begins today in San Diego) … Continue Reading

DEMO: Cortera helps you see whether small businesses are credit-worthy

Cortera wants to create more visibility about the credit worthiness of small businesses with the Cortera Credit Exchange, which it’s launching at this week’s DEMOfall 09, the emerging technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat. The site takes a “community” approach to credit reporting, by showing both traditional credit data as well as reviews from community members (namely, other businesses and lenders) about how well each company pays its bills.

During its demo, Cortera mentioned that it … Continue Reading

DEMO: Cazoodle helps you find shopping deals and info across the web

Cazoodle Shopping Search helps shoppers find the product information that they need. The company says it uses semantic search technology to connect shoppers with offers from every merchant, allowing you to integrate both deals and knowledge from multiple sites.

Cazoodle previously created an apartment search service, but it’s launching the electronics shopping site at DEMOfall 09, the emerging technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat. The company acknowledges that some sites might sound similar, particularly TheFind, which … Continue Reading

DEMO: Point of Wealth Systems provides digital services to cash-paid workers

The cash economy is huge at $50 billion a year. But workers who get paid in cash often don’t or can’t use bank accounts to pay bills, save money, or even buy things with debit and credit cards.

A startup called Point of Wealth Systems, unveiling at this week’s DEMOfall 09, hopes to change that. The company will put its Point of Wealth Registers on site at companies where funds can be electronically allocated to … Continue Reading

DEMO: Webroot provides security for users who log in from multiple computers

Webroot is an established security software vendor that has a presence in both desktop and web-based computer security solutions. The company is now introducing Webroot Internet Security Complete to protect consumers who work with multiple computers.

The service, which will be unveiled at this week’s DEMOfall 09 conference, protects consumers’ identities and personal information, using real-time threat defense, password management and file-sharing services.

The challenge is that the company will face big competitors such as … Continue Reading

DEMO: Buy local produce, meat and dairy with Local Dirt

The refrain that the industrial food system is broken gets louder by the day.

With bestsellers like Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” decrying large-scale farms, and organic food now an $18.3 billion industry, LocalDirt wants to tap into demand for local and eco-conscious food. The startup company is launching at the DEMOfall 09 conference in San Diego this week, the technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat.

It connects buyers and sellers of locally-grown produce and meat … Continue Reading

DEMO: Gelato makes online dating more authentic with real-time streams

Gelato is a startup that wants to marry the real-time stream with online dating (not to mention maybe real people).

Instead of creating a profile, Gelato pulls in updates from your Facebook profile, Twitter account, Netflix queue, Pandora stations and Flickr photos to create what founder Steve Odom says is a more authentic profile of who you are. Odom says online dating is ripe for change because it involves static profiles that are time-consuming to … Continue Reading

DEMO: Need a quick background check on your date? Intelius' DateCheck will do it.

It was spooky enough a year ago when Intelius launched iSearch, a comprehensive service that combines public databases to deliver a complete dossier on individuals you are seeking.

Now this is downright scary. Or maybe it’s just useful, depending on your point of view. The Bellevue, Wash.-based Intelius has returned to DEMOfall 09 this year with a service that lets you quickly identify what you need to know about a person via a mobile phone. … Continue Reading

DEMO: Freeddom turns your phone into a credit card

Freeddom says it can allow retail stores, telecommunication companies, and banks to turn consumers’ phones into credit cards. Merchants enter the purchase into their own phone or their own point-of-sale device, then the customers are asked to enter their personal identification numbers (PIN). No new hardware is required.

The company has already built a business in Brazil, and is launching its US efforts at DEMOfall 09, the emerging technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat. Its on-stage … Continue Reading

DEMO: Armorize's HackAlert notifies you if your web site is under attack

When web sites go down because of hacker attacks, the site owners often have no clue what is happening. Armorize Technologies’ HackAlert, unveiled at DEMOfall 09, immediately notifies subscribers if their web sites are under attack or have been compromised already.

It will also tell you if your site has been hijacked by malware and has been turned into a distributor of malicious software, infecting the users who visit your site. HackAlert will automatically scan … Continue Reading

Fisker trumps Tesla with $528M loan from Energy Dept.

In a somewhat unexpected move, the U.S. Department of Energy has granted luxury plug-in hybrid-electric car maker Fisker Automotive a $528.7 million conditional loan to finance the development of two different car models. As part of the stimulus package, the money — announced today by Energy Secretary Steven Chu — could help Fisker create up to 5,000 jobs — it also beats out $465 million in loans the DOE gave to the company’s primary competitor, … Continue Reading

DEMO: Ringful provides personalized healthcare service through your mobile phone

Ringful provides healthcare services and preventive care through your smartphone. The company’s platorm, previewed at the DEMOfall 09 conference, lets hospitals, clinics and insurers build health-monitoring apps on consumer cell phones.

It offers services such as monitoring patients via their phones and delivering data from the patient to the caregiver. The service can thus reduce visits to doctors and hospitals and keep costs lower. Patients can upload data through the phone to their doctors via … Continue Reading

DEMO: eLearning startup MicroAssist launches program against sexual misconduct

Social networking technologies and cellphones can raise sticky questions for teachers on what sort of contact outside of the classroom is appropriate.

So MicroAssist, an e-learning company based in Austin, is launching a program targeted at preventing sexual misconduct at DEMOfall 09 technology conference in San Diego today.

Called EthicsEd, it’s a course meant for distribution through a district’s e-learning system for teachers. It covers situations like whether it’s OK for a teacher to be … Continue Reading