Aloqa 2.0 expands its location-based info app

Aloqa, a mobile application that serves up local information to users based on their location, has released version 2.0 of its offering. The new version brings more local knowledge and social information to its nearly 300,000 users.

Aloqa, available for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones, is all about helping you discover the world around you—no matter where you are. Aloqa can find nearby stores, hospitals, movie showtimes and more, … Continue Reading

Brightcove's "TV Everywhere" lets you watch your cable shows online

Today Brightcove announced the next logical step in its video publishing platform — and quite likely the next stage in online video in general — the TV Everywhere Solution Pack (TVE-SP). It’s a combination of the current Brightcove 4 platform, along with other tools and services, that allows TV programmers to bring their goods to subscribers online.

Basically, if you subscribe to networks like Syfy or Showtime via your cable, satellite, or telecom provider, you’ll … Continue Reading

Coraid raises $10M to drive momentum for storage virtualization

Coraid amassed 1,100 customers before it raised any venture capital. It managed to do so because it had a disruptive storage solution that fit well with the corporate computing trends toward virtualization and cloud-based storage.

Today, the Redwood City, Calif.-based company announced it has raised $10 million in its first institutional round of funding from Allegis Capital and Azure Capital Partners. The company has hired a number of new executives, including chief executive Kevin Brown, … Continue Reading

ReelSurfer, EduStream partner to enable in-video search of college lectures

ReelSurfer, which lets you search and extract relevant clips from long-form video, has just closed a deal with EduStream, the San Bernardino Community College District’s video portal, to make lectures and other video materials fully searchable by students and faculty.

EduStream is sponsored by the 110 California Community Colleges and their Chancellor’s office. They are working on deploying this fully across 170 institutions across 10 states included in Edustream and plan to launch fully in … Continue Reading

Roundup: Texas Instruments beats expectations, Bill Gates goes green

Bellwether rings in a good new year — Texas Instruments is another one of those bellwethers for the economy, as its chips are used in cell phones, TVs, and other electronic gadgets. The company beat analysts’ expectations today, reporting a profit of $655 million on sales of $3 billion in the fourth quarter. And CEO Rich Templeton predicts that growth will be up sequentially in the first quarter, not down as is typical for the … Continue Reading

Google Reader now lets you track changes on sites without feeds

Google Reader, considered by many to be the ultimate tool for keeping up with many blog and news feeds at once, has just made it possible to keep track of changes on web sites without subscribable RSS feeds. To do this, users can create “custom feeds” that include any kind of updates.

Launched today, this capability should come in handy especially for e-commerce sites that may be adding new products or holding sales; company sites … Continue Reading

Move over Biosphere 2, South Korea shows off plans for sprawling eco-domes

South Korea has just released beautiful schematics and visualizations for a natural preserve — to be housed in a series of state-of-the-art, glassed in domes totaling 33,000 square meters. The complex includes an indoor wetland and botanical gardens, in addition to an education center and environmental think tank.

The landmark technology behind the project, dubbed the “Ecorium,” is the architecture devised by Korean firm SAMOO. To be constructed out of low-iron and low-e double glazed … Continue Reading

Apple dodges tablet question, says App Store concerns are overblown

Apple executives answered a bunch of questions about the iPhone, the App Store, and the mysterious new device to be unveiled Wednesday during this afternoon’s conference call to discuss the company’s latest earnings report.

Everyone on the call realized that they weren’t going to get any specifics about Wednesday’s announcement, which is widely believed to involve the launch of a tablet device. However, one analyst tried to get some answers by focusing on the device’s … Continue Reading

ClearEdge raises $11M to make fuel cells common home appliances

ClearEdge Power, maker of home fuel cell generators that look like big refrigerators, has brought in $11 million in equity financing, according to a filing with the SEC — adding it onto $15 million raised last August. Even though it’s been around for seven years, new interest in the green sector has given it the break it needs to expand adoption of its $50,000 device.

The Oregon companies flagship fuel cell, called the ClearEdge5, turns … Continue Reading

Google's Chrome gets extensions on PCs, Mac users should 'hang tight'

Even though Google’s web browser Chrome has been available for more than a year, it’s still adding important features that will help it match other browsers like Firefox. Today, Google announced the addition of extensions — programs that users install to bring additional functionality to their browser — for Chrome on Windows PCs

In the video outlining the announcement (embedded below), Google highlights a couple of extensions to illustrate the concept: Shareaholic for sharing webpages, … Continue Reading

Verical scores $459K to run electronic component marketplace

Verical, an online b2b marketplace of electronic components targeted at high-tech companies, has brought in $458,984 of an expected $1 million round of securities and debt financing, according to a filing with the SEC. Based in San Francisco, the company includes a partner from Ruxton Ventureson its advisory board. … Continue Reading

Apple's Tim Cook defends AT&T's iPhone performance

When Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook discussed the company’s just-announced estimate-busting earnings, he spent a moment defending one of Apple’s less popular partners, AT&T.

The very first question during this afternoon’s analyst conference call addressed AT&T’s continuing deal to serve as the exclusive carrier for iPhone owners in the United States. Since AT&T’s network service is the subject of frequent complaints, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Muenster asked what Apple is getting out of that … Continue Reading

Apple blows by earnings estimates again as holiday sales soar

Apple beat earnings expectations for its December quarter thanks to strong sales of its iPods, iPhones and Macs during the holiday season.

The company said earnings were $3.4 billion, up from $2.3 billion a year ago. Earnings per share were $3.67 a share, up from $2.50 a year ago. Apple reported revenues of $15.7 billion, up 32 percent $11.9 billion a year ago.

“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now … Continue Reading

Sun CEO Schwartz said to be resigning

Sun Microsystems chief executive Jonathan Schwartz will be leaving the company after its 7.4 billion-with-a-b-dollars acquisition by Oracle is completed. No surprise, but All Things Digital reporter John Packzowski claims Sun insiders have confirmed Schwartz’s departure plan. His recent all-hands email “had all the sentimentality of a farewell letter,” Paczkowski observed. If you didn’t notice, the first letters of the message’s first seven paragraphs spell B-E-A-T I-B-M.

Schwartz, who came to Sun in 1996, replaced … Continue Reading

Creepy Chrome ads unintentionally highlight Google's data prowess

This probably wasn’t intentional on part of Google’s marketing team. But it sure is eerie!

It’s a London billboard ad promoting Google’s web browser Chrome, showing stats on how the product helped one hypothetical user grab a cheap ticket to South Africa for the World Cup without a browser crash. Although the ad is meant to highlight how much Google can help you manage your life, it also underscores how much data the search giant … Continue Reading

MySpace now smaller than Facebook was a year ago

December data released by Nielsen examines year-over-year trends in unique visitor counts and time spent on social networking sites in the United States and around the world, including Facebook and Myspace.  US time spent on social networks increased faster than the average global increase of 82%, with the average US user spending 143% more time on social nets than last year.

Facebook, not surprisingly, was accountable for much of the increased social network usage in … Continue Reading

Beacon bets on flywheels for grid-scale energy storage with new plant

Flywheels, a technology that dates back to the Neolithic era, are getting a fresh look. Popularized in steam engines during the Industrial Revolution, their energy storage potential was quickly overshadowed by less expensive batteries. But now as grid storage becomes more of a necessity with solar and wind gaining momentum, flywheels are being revisited and revamped.

The most recent example: Beacon Power has broken ground on a plant that will build next generation flywheels targeted … Continue Reading

Laszlo Systems raises $3M to integrate internet applications

Laszlo Systems, builder of integrated internet applications for email, workplace dashboards, calendaring and other services, has brought in $3 million in new funding, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. Based in San Mateo, Calif., the company is backed by Sofinnova Ventures, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners and the WI Harper Group.… Continue Reading

ViOptix finds $3M to measure oxygen levels in human tissue

ViOptix, maker of a device that measures tissue oxygen levels for various medical applications, has landed $3 million in bridge funding that should segue nicely into a targeted $5 million fifth round of venture funding, according to Dow Jones VentureWire. Based in Fremont, Calif., the company is backed by BioAsia Management, Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, Channel Medical Partners, Lincoln Funds International and Morningside Technology Ventures. It took in $895,000 in October. … Continue Reading