Game sales squeak out a modest gain in September; Sony takes lead with PS 3 Slim

U.S. video game hardware and software sales grew a modest 1 percent in September, compared to a year ago. That pretty much dashed hopes that strong sales of hit titles released in September would come to the rescue of the console video game industry.

Sales of hardware, software and accessories were $1.28 billion, up 1 percent from $1.27 billion a year earlier, according to market researcher NPD Group. If there is any good news there, … Continue Reading

Cap and Trade 101: For those who haven't been following for the last 30 years

Carbon “cap-and-trade” has become the ultimate buzzword when it comes to climate change and the legislation being drafted to address it. But what exactly does it mean?

Here’s the basic idea: A government agency (the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S., one might assume) decides on an acceptable total for emissions of various pollutants, with emphasis on greenhouse gases, in absolute terms like metric tons, barrels, stones, drams, etc. (depending on where you are in … Continue Reading

More GreenBeat all-star speakers: Andres Carvallo, Pamela Lesh, Benno Ritter, George Arnold, Frank Magnotti, Pilgrim Beart

We’re delighted to announce the latest speakers for our GreenBeat event on Nov. 18 and 19. The caliber of the speakers and program content is helping to make this the first, comprehensive conference on the Smart Grid.

We’re bringing in the industry heavy hitters, the most exciting start-up entrepreneurs and politicians — mixing them all together — and expecting some great insights to come out of it. It all comes at the best time possible … Continue Reading

Apple's Tim Cook scoffs at iPhone competitors

The iPhone was the hot new thing a year or two ago, but now it’s seeing increasing competition from Google, Palm, and others — for example, my editor Matt Marshall just declared that he’s abandoning his iPhone for Droid, the Android phone coming at the end of the month. Asked today about that competition, Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said he’s not worried.

“I think they’re trying to catch up with the first iPhone … Continue Reading

Facebook Groups become more like business-friendly Pages

Like many early Facebook users, I joined way too many groups like “Gotta have more cow bell” and “Burma Aid,” but my attention to them fell by the wayside as I’d have to constantly check for updates. So Facebook is overhauling Groups and making them more like Pages, with a constant stream of updates that can pass through your homepage. If one of your friends posts within the Group, you’ll also see that activity in … Continue Reading

Apple earnings by the numbers

There are some very interesting numbers in Apple‘s third-quarter press release. Apple has also disclosed more numbers in its conference call which is still in progress. Some highlights:

3.05 million Macs sold this quarter, up 17 percent from a year ago. The overall PC market is expected to grow just 2 percent in the third quarter. That means Apple is taking market share from Windows still. But average selling prices per Mac are down. Sales … Continue Reading

Apple profits leave predictions in the dust

Apple has been consistently beating analyst expectations for its financial performance, and its most recent numbers were no exception.

The company’s ‘s fourth quarter  ended on Sept. 26, and the company says it made $9.87 billion in revenue during that period. That is up 25 percent from a year ago and far above analysts’ expectations of $9.2 billion.

Its net profit was $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per share. That’s up from $1.14 billion, or $1.26 … Continue Reading

Wolfram Alpha launches iPhone "knowledge engine" with a big price tag

Early reviews of Wolfram Alpha‘s iPhone application, which appeared in the App Store over the weekend, have been pretty positive, but the $49.99 price is decidedly not a hit with bloggers.

The app is basically an iPhone- and iPod-Touch friendly interface for Wolfram Alpha, the online service that answers factual questions. There are some built-in favorite queries that give some idea of the range of possible answers, from “integrate x sin x log x” to … Continue Reading

Internet marketing firm HubSpot closes fresh funding round

HubSpot, a startup that bills itself as a one-stop shop for online marketing campaigns, has closed a $16 million third round of funding — a high sum for a company in that space.

Based in Cambridge, Mass., the company competes with the likes of Coremetrics (another well-funded firm), which also combines analytics and marketing tools to allow clients to optimize their advertising strategies.

The funding was led by Scale Venture Partners. Rob Theis, managing director … Continue Reading

Lux Biosciences scores $50M Series B for eye cure

In what is possibly the largest biotech investment round to date, Lux Biosciences has obtained another $50 million from its existing investors.

HBM Bioventures, Novo A/S, Prospect Venture Partners and SV Life Sciences all backed the company further. Lux is moving forward with the development of LUVENIQ, a capsule medicine that blocks uveitis, an inflammatory disease of the eye that causes about 10 percent of the blindness in the United States.

Uveitis happens when a … Continue Reading

Blu-ray needs to make a big impression this holiday season

The Blu-ray high-definition movie format has had a rough time due to high hardware prices, a growth in consumer movie download alternatives, and slower-than-originally-expected sales of the PlayStation 3.

But Blu-ray is starting to get more popular, and with price cuts, demand could grow further, according to data collected by consumer shopping site Retrevo.

About 40 percent of the popular DVD players are Blu-ray players (as Blu-ray discs can play either the older DVD formats … Continue Reading

PG&E signs with NextLight to import Arizonan solar power

Days after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have put limits on renewable power from outside the state, major utility Pacific Gas & Electric has signed an agreement to buy 290 megawatts of power from a solar station in Arizona.

The Agua Caliente power plant is to be built and operated by San Francisco-based Nextlight Renewable Power. The vetoed legislation would have required Californians to derive one-third of their power from in-state renewable … Continue Reading

Wood: The new clean coal?

Clean coal efforts — ranging from carbon sequestration to microbial scrubbing processes — have gotten a lot of attention (from groups on both sides of the issue), causing many to overlook newer operations adopting waste wood as a low-emission, renewable source of electricity.

At the front of the trend, the Snowflake White Mountain Power Plant in Arizona burns dead pine trees from nearby Sitgreaves National Forest where trees are felled regularly to control wildfires and … Continue Reading

U.S. Chamber of Commerce's support for climate bills a hoax

This morning, several major media outlets, including Reuters and CNBC, reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had decided to abandon its opposition to pending climate legislation, throwing its support behind the Kerry-Boxer bill that would establish a tough carbon trading system. Not surprisingly, the news turned out to be a hoax.

[UPDATE: The perpetrators of this little stunt have been unmasked. They are The Yes Men, a liberal group that has psyched people … Continue Reading

China waffles on climate change, bristles at U.S. carbon tariff proposals

China has announced that it will not set carbon emissions reduction targets for itself at the United Nation’s climate change conference in Copenhagen in December. Its government has also been vocally opposed to U.S. legislation pending in the House that would establish “carbon tariffs” — regulations that would put an import tax on any goods from countries that do not have emissions reduction quotas in place.

If carbon tariffs are approved, China would be hampered … Continue Reading

Droid, the phone that finally lets me cancel my iPhone — here's why

A new phone called Droid is about to hit the market at the end of October, and it will likely have the glitz and power to bury the iPhone.

So I’m canceling my iPhone contract today. I’ll smugly wait out the rest of the month without the iPhone and rely on my second phone, the Blackberry Curve, which is a vastly inferior device to the coming Droid — but at least it can make calls … Continue Reading

Technorati lays bare the state of the blogosphere: most are still hobbyists

Technorati is beginning its slow striptease again. Today marks the beginning of the five-day rollout of its annual State of the Blogosphere report. The company started previewing the report on Friday at the Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas.

Richard Jalichandra, chief executive of Technorati — a search engine for blogs and a host for them as well — said in his presentation on Friday that blogging continues to gain steam as a profession, particularly as … Continue Reading

Ubisoft to debut three short films based on Assassin's Creed II game

MONTREAL, Quebec – Video game publisher Ubisoft is touting the beginning of its entertainment convergence strategy with the unveiling of the first of three short films based on its popular Assassin’s Creed game series.

Assassin’s Creed: Lineage, created by acclaimed Hollywood special effects studio Hybride Technologies (which Ubisoft acquired last year) and Ubisoft Montreal’s Ubisoft Digital Arts (UDA), will make its global debut on Oct. 27 on the front page of YouTube in eight countries.… Continue Reading

With 3 million fans, Fantage formally launches virtual world for kids

While many kids virtual worlds have come and gone, Fantage has quietly built an audience of 3 million registered users. Today, it is formally launching its web site.

The company has managed to do what lots of other kids sites have failed to do: get an audience by offering fun games and social activities in a safe, parent-friendly setting. And they did so just by observing kids, building what they like, and starting over when … Continue Reading