GreenBeat: Doerr wants to see more U.S. leadership in smart grid, cleantech
“Ten years out we want lamps that use 2 of percent the energy [they're usually using now] and put out the same amount of light,” Doerr said at the beginning of his talk at GreenBeat 2009 today — indicative of his interest and that of his firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in the newest, boldest investments when it comes to cleantech and the grid.
He began the conversation with VentureBeat editor Matt Marshall by … Continue Reading
Network equipment company IPWireless restarts with $15.5M
IPWireless, a maker of mobile network equipment, has raised $15.5 million in a new first round of institutional funding. The company previously raised $235 million and was acquired by NextWave Wireless in 2007, but NextWave sold the company back to its founders last year, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. The new round was led by Spark Capital, with participation from Lockheed-Martin and Northrup Grumman.… Continue Reading
Outright raises $5.5M to help small businesses with their finances
Outright, which offers a free online application to help small businesses manage their finances, has raised $5.5 million in a first round of institutional funding led by Sequoia Capital. The firms that invested in Outright’s seed round — First Round Capital, Shasta Ventures, and SoftTechVC — also participated. The Campbell, Calif., company has now raised a total of $7.5 million.… Continue Reading
IBM adds two new utility partners to intelligent grid ops
IBM has announced two new utilities joining the Global Intelligent Utilities Network Coalition. CPFL Energia from Brazil and Liander from the Netherlands are now members of the collective designed to push adoption of smarter energy distribution programs. The IUN Coalition now serves about 100 million customers worldwide.
IBM’s Energy & Utilities Industry manager Guido Bartels said in yesterday’s release that “the addition of these new members furthers the global scope of the coalition and accelerates … Continue Reading
Verizon expands Smart Grid play, launches consulting
Verizon is already eying opportunities to provide wireless networks for Smart Grid communication systems, but today it’s expanding its presence in the space even more with the launch of a security consulting service for utilities rolling out smart meters and other advanced grid infrastructure.
Security is one of the foremost concerns as utilities and other companies work on building a cleaner, more efficient grid. With so much energy consumption data flying by on wireless networks, … Continue Reading
Salesforce.com's Marc Benioff: Don't call Chatter a social network
Salesforce.com announced a new product today called Chatter, which it describes as Facebook and Twitter for enterprises. But during a press and analyst session at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco, chief executive Marc Benioff said he doesn’t want you to think of Chatter as a social network.
That’s some, uh, creative thinking there — Chatter has employee profiles, status updates and news feeds, so it sounds a lot like a social network to me. … Continue Reading
Twitter adds description to new lists feature
Twitter just added a bit more description to lists, a recently launched feature that lets you create and share groups of accounts to follow. I’ve put an example up above with Venturebeat’s list. You can take an existing list, click ‘Edit’ if you’ve created it and just add a description.
How is the new feature doing? Well anecdotally, judging by the lists created around our VentureBeat account, it seems like plenty of people have experimented … Continue Reading
Carlos Ghosn & The Coalition Push for more, more, more
Nissan-Renault CEO Carl Ghosn seems to be taking career advice from Frank White lately; wherever there is an opportunity to start making some money, he wants in. Recognizing that full size vehicles were a cash cow in the U.S., Ghosn wanted his cut. Shortly after taking the reins of Nissan in June of 1999, he built a factory in Mississippi to start churning out big trucks like the Titan and the Armada.
Now, the … Continue Reading
GreenBeat speaker EcoFactor takes top honors Cleantech Open
Making the rounds of Smart Grid events (and there are quite a few of them this season), smart thermostat company EcoFactor nabbed the $250,000 grand prize in yesterday’s Cleantech Open business plan competition. EcoFactor’s Scott Hublou will be speaking today at GreenBeat 2009.
Based in San Francisco, the company provides software allowing two-way thermostats to automate HVAC systems according to consumer preferences. After EcoFactor is installed — which it soon will be for a pilot-sized … Continue Reading
Video player Kaltura adds 2 new partners, new monetization tools
Kaltura, a popular open-source video solutions company, is announcing two new partnerships this week: one with LongTail Video to bring that company’s popular open-source video player JW Player to Kaltura, and one with Artivision, a company creating video monetization tools. These partnerships have huge promise for open-source video, making it easier than ever to create, share, and monetize video around the Web.
Kaltura, unlike sites like YouTube that simply host and play videos, provides a … Continue Reading
Smart Grid Index-based Fund launches on Nasdaq
The NASDAQ OMX Group has launched a new exchange traded fund (ETF). Called the First Trust NASDAQ(R) Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund (Nasdaq: GRID). Based on their Smart Grid Infrastructure Index (QGRD), the ETF is managed by First Trust Advisors and listed on NASDAQ.
QGRD is a market capitalization index that includes companies whose chief concern is the U.S. electric grid. This includes software development, network, hardware and metering companies, as well as … Continue Reading
GreenBeat dives into the Smart Grid in T-3 hours!
The seminal conference on the Smart Grid has arrived.
Our two-day inaugural GreenBeat conference kicks off this afternoon at the San Mateo Marriott, bringing together 400 utility, finance, political and entrepreneurial leaders working to make our electrical grid cleaner, reliable and more efficient.
This is the first time we’ve seen the entire Silicon Valley community converge around a cleantech issue. And we’re not just talking about the usual suspects. Everyone from big corporate hitters like … Continue Reading
LinkedIn lands in your Microsoft Outlook inbox
LinkedIn became the second of Silicon Valley’s biggest social networks to make a compelling distribution move this week. It’s landed in your inbox — quite literally if you have Microsoft Outlook.
They’ve partnered with Microsoft to launch the Outlook Social Connector, which will deliver LinkedIn updates directly to your inbox and give you better social context when you reach out to business contacts. When you write an e-mail, you’ll be able to tell what the … Continue Reading
Cloud antivirus company Immunet raises $2M
Cloud antivirus solutions, which tap web-based computing resources, are becoming more popular as security firms seek better ways to protect consumers from malware attacks.
That’s evident in the funding announced today by Immunet, a cloud antivirus startup that has raised $2 million in funding from Altos Ventures and TechOperators. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Immunet launched its first product, Immunet Protect, in August. The product harnesses the growing power of sharing networks to create a community of … Continue Reading
GoodGuide lets you scan barcodes to find the most ethical products
GoodGuide, one of my favorite applications for the iPhone, just got a cool new feature — barcode scanning. Users could already consult the app for data on whether a product was healthy, environmentally-friendly, and socially-responsible, but now you don’t have to type in a search. Just scan the barcode, and the app brings up the relevant information.
The San Francisco company also announced a $5.5 million second round of funding led by new investor Physic … Continue Reading
Is Google working on its own Android phone?
Google isn’t content making the Android software that runs on cell phones and other devices. Now it is apparently working on its own Google-branded Android phone, according to Techcrunch.
The upcoming Android device would be thinner than a Motorola Droid (another recently launched Android phone on Verizon), this phone is called the Google Phone. We don’t know if the rumor is true. Google declined comment.
It’s always an interesting choice when a platform creator chooses … Continue Reading
Salesforce.com announces Chatter, another social network for companies
Salesforce.com announced today that it’s going to join the hordes of companies offering a social networking service for your business. With a new product called Salesforce Chatter, companies get their own secure, private social network where they can collaborate and communicate in real-time.
It’s a crowded market, with existing products from Jive Software, Socialtext, and many others, but Salesforce is one of the biggest companies to throw its hat in the ring. (Cisco recently announced … Continue Reading
CIA's In-Q-Tel funds FireEye anti-botnet security firm
The CIA’s In-Q-Tel investment arm took a stake today in FireEye, which is creating an anti-malware platform for enterprises.
Milpitas, Calif.-based FireEye is working on a platform that can fight off “botnets,” which are fleets of zombie computers that have been taken over by criminal hacker rings. The technology being developed can support the “missions of the U.S. intelligence community.”
Terms were not disclosed. While there are many anti-malware and anti-botnet technologies out there, the … Continue Reading
As Midas List dies, AlwaysOn offers a new selection of top VCs
Folks wanting to identify the top venture capitalists will have to look at a new source from now on. Forbes’ annual Midas List, in which the magazine ranked the VCs who saw the best returns in the past five years, is reportedly dead. Meanwhile, online network and conference company AlwaysOn has released its own list, the 2009 Venture Capital 100.
Forbes’ decision to drop the Midas List was reported by peHUB, which said the news … Continue Reading
Modern Warfare 2 continues to blow away entertainment records
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has set the all-time entertainment industry record, generating $550 million in sales in its first five days on the market.
That number means it has beaten all other video game launches as well as generated more revenue in its first five days than any movie. It has done that in spite of, or because of, a controversial scene in the game where a player can choose to mow down … Continue Reading
