Chu rolls out $151M in grants for off-the-beaten-path global warming projects
Choosing Google’s Mountain View, Calif. campus as the venue for another big federal cleantech announcement, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu launched a $151 million round of government grants for unusual, clearly high-risk projects geared to ward fighting global warming.
“We are trying to hit home runs, not base hits,” Chu states boldly, emphasizing that it only makes sense for groundbreaking technology to come out of Silicon Valley, the home of so many other earth-shattering … Continue Reading
Norwest's Tim Chang explains why virtual goods are so hot in social games
Tim Chang, principal at Norwest Venture Partners, has immersed himself in the online games sector for some time and he says that the hottest business model for game startups in 2009 is virtual goods. With the virtual goods business model, game companies let users play online games for free. But they charge them when they want to upgrade to new capabilities such as cool clothing or better weapons. This model was pioneered in Asian online … Continue Reading
More names for the GreenBeat marquee: Gee, Wagner, and Wong
A new flock of experts and industry leaders has joined the roster for GreenBeat 2009, the seminal event on the Smart Grid, on Nov. 18 and 19. We are very excited to announce this group, as it spans analysts, purse-string holders, and an inspiring new entrepreneur in the space.
Before we introduce the new cast, remember to register for your GreenBeat ticket today, while you can still get it for $525 — the offer expires … Continue Reading
Xerox develops silver ink for wearable or throwaway electronics
Xerox researchers have invented a kind of ink that can conduct electricity and be used to put electronic circuits on top of plastics, film, and textiles. That means in the coming years we’ll be able to wear or bend our electronics. You could even print out your electronic gadget on plastic sheets, as if you were printing a document.
Silicon chips have long been too expensive or heavy to use in devices that are extremely … Continue Reading
Nvidia sees big loss of market share in third quarter as graphics chip sales boomed
Nvidia saw a steep loss in market share even as graphics chip sales soared 21 percent in the third quarter.
The strong overall market was consistent with Intel’s announcement that the PC market saw a strong resurgence in the third quarter, according to market researcher Jon Peddie Research. Peddie said that the strong sales boost — the largest quarter-to-quarter increase in nine years — suggested that the holiday season will be strong for PC sales.… Continue Reading
VC will ride out of the downturn on health care, fintech and online ads
The first quarter of 2009 saw venture capital investments hit a 12-year low, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopwers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). While investors are still wary about making new investments as the economy slowly begins to correct itself, venture capital will no doubt reemerge as the preeminent source of financing in the technology and life science industries.
Ultimately, a shift in the way consumers use the internet will serve as … Continue Reading
Yes to Inc., maker of personal care products, brings in $480K
Yes to Inc., a San Francisco-based maker of organic personal care products that it sells online, has brought in $480,000 of a targeted $3 million round of convertible promissory notes, according to a filing with the SEC. It is backed by San Francisco Equity Partners and Simon Equity Partners.… Continue Reading
Samsung and Handmark launch venture fund to invest in mobile games
Samsung Electronics and Handmark, a distributor of mobile apps and services, today announced they are creating a new venture fund aimed at game-related startups developing apps for Samsung mobile phones.
Samsung wants to drive developers to make games for its new mobile apps store. The Global Venture Fund will invest as much as $250,000 in game companies that come up with winning ideas for Samsung’s phones. The fund will be managed by Handmark out of … Continue Reading
How Google's new social search could suck in your Facebook friends, if it wanted to
Google’s foray into the world of social search is now live.
As we wrote last week, Google social search pulls in results from your friends alongside conventional results. If you’re thinking about visiting Brazil, a traditional search might turn up hotels, tourism agencies and restaurants. But in social search, blog posts or tweets about the trip from friends might turn up at the bottom of the search results page. It pulls in contacts from Twitter, … Continue Reading
Web aggregator Ingboo raises $800,000, announces 50 partners
Ingboo, an organize-your-Web-activity site launched this past April, announced this afternoon that it has raised $800,000 in seed funding led by Elis Nemes and Saeed Amidi of Amidzad Partners, Doug Tsui of Horizon Ventures, and Allen Miner of Sunbridge Partners. A previous round had been funded by Nemes, plus investors Peter Green and Mohan Ramanujam.
Ingboo is probably best described as a replacement for Feedburner, which was acquired by Google two years ago. Because it’s … Continue Reading
Palm to debut new Pixi cell phone with Sprint on Nov. 15
Palm and Sprint said today that the Palm Pixi cell phone will be available on Nov. 15 for $99.99.
The Palm Pixi phone is the second major smartphone from Palm this year. In June, Palm launched the $199 Palm Pre on Sprint’s phone network. The goal is to get an affordable smartphone out for the holidays.
Like the Pre, the Pixi uses Palm’s new WebOS operating system, which was designed for the hybrid web/voice usage … Continue Reading
Aviary raises $7M to help you create digital goods
Aviary, a company that offers easy-to-use applications for creating pictures and other media, has raised $7 million in a second round of funding. The Long Island company says its technology allows anyone with a creative bent to create and sell virtual goods.
Aviary pitches itself as a sort of Photoshop for the masses — like Photoshop, it lets you create nice-looking images, but it’s usable by folks who aren’t professional artists, and it includes a … Continue Reading
GeoCities shuttered today
After a long, slow death, GeoCities – the free (and once-popular) web-hosting service – will be shuttering for good as of today. The site-builder, which was purchased by Yahoo a decade ago, has long fallen from its hey-day, when every father, son and mother created their own page. But after today, millions of forgotten web pages will be taken offline forever. That means this is your last chance to revisit past humiliation by visiting your … Continue Reading
Reply claims 50-100% better ad conversion rates than search or display ads
Targeted search and display ads are the bread and butter of online advertising today. But ad networks like Reply are learning how to deliver qualified leads — in Reply’s case, potential buyers for cars, homes, home improvement, and insurance deals whose self-selected qualifications that result in up to double the conversion rate from ad to purchase. Since adding publisher tools and more refined categories into which leads can be segmented for automated buying and selling … Continue Reading
Asurion AddressBook unlocks Android's social media potential
A new application called Asurion AddressBook launches on the Android Market tomorrow, opening up new ways to use social media on the phone — and instantly making the iPhone look even more outdated for not running applications in the background and its lower app integration. Asurion AddressBook can be downloaded here.
At its core, the application is an address book that integrates various app feeds, just like the Palm Pre, Motoblur, or what Friendfeed does … Continue Reading
whereIstand.com crowdsources its opinion database
Arianna Huffington feels the Internet has had a positive effect on journalism. She has said flat-out, “Journalism will not only survive, it will thrive.” How do I know? Because I looked it up at whereIstand.com.
The site is a sort of Wikipedia for opinions on current events. Arianna could type in her own statement, but the site’s goal is to have enthusiastic members enter the opinions of well-known and influential people on hot topics. Then, … Continue Reading
Facebook revs up sharing features to become a content hub
Facebook is overhauling its sharing features, bolstering the company’s position as an emerging content hub for the web. The company’s launching a new share button (similar to Tweetmeme’s retweet button) that will show a live counter on how many times a piece of content has been shared on the social networking site.
It’s also releasing new analytics for publishers to show how many people shared the link, “liked” the story, commented on it and clicked … Continue Reading
ViOptix spies $895K to measure tissue oxygen
ViOptix, maker of a device that measures tissue oxygen levels for various medical applications, has brought in $895,000 in equity and debt, according to a filing with the SEC. Last December, during an especially tough time for biotech companies, it successfully raised $4.4 million, closing its fourth round of financing at $16.6 million.
The Fremont, Calif. company is funded by Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, Channel Medical Partners and Morningside Technology Ventures, BioAsia Management and Lincoln … Continue Reading
Tioga Energy captures $1M to broker solar power purchase agreements
Tioga Energy, a San Mateo, Calif. company that facilitates affordable power purchase agreements between solar energy generators and commercial, government and non-profit consumers, has raised $1 million in debt and rights, according to a filing with the SEC.
This type of power purchase agreement allows energy providers and consumers to agree to a rate that is compatible with or less than market rates. Tioga goes as far as to install and maintain rooftop solar panel … Continue Reading
iPierian snags $3.7M grant from NIH for cell reprogramming
iPierian, a South San Francisco-based company that’s researching the use of cellular reprogramming for drug discovery applications, has been selected by the National Institutes of Health for a $3.7 million grant to continue work on these topics in tandem with Johns Hopkins University.
The two-year “Great Opportunities” grant is actually part of the federal stimulus package to help fuel neurological and stroke-related research. Its work could eventually be used to treat ALS, Parkinson’s and spinal … Continue Reading
