BrightSource banks $150M more to take its solar thermal plants global

BrightSource Energy, one of the biggest and most promising companies building solar thermal power plants, has just raised $150 million in a fourth round of capital — boosting its total over the $300 million mark — to establish its dominance in the southwest U.S. and a foothold overseas.

Departing from traditional photovoltaics, BrightSource develops fields of mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a single focal point. There, the heat is converted into steam, which turns turbines … Continue Reading

Google shows off YouTube from your couch with Lean Back

During its keynote for Google TV today, Google announced a couch-centered interface for YouTube dubbed Lean Back. It was described as a way to gain access to YouTube’s entire video library on your television in a format “that you can just lean back and enjoy.”

This is something YouTube has needed for some time, particularly since it just recently expanded its offering of rental content. Lean Back will let users easily browse YouTube’s library, received … Continue Reading

TweetDeck raises $3 million in second round led by Betaworks

Investors in the Twitter ecosystem aren’t being dissuaded by the microblogging network’s recent moves to build or buy its own mobile apps.

Betaworks just led a $3 million second round in U.K.’s TweetDeck, a social media dashboard that helps user track status update activity across multiple networks. TweetDeck was one of the earliest companies to build third-party clients for reading tweets and it’s the second-most popular way to tweet behind Twitter’s own website, according to … Continue Reading

Mobile video specialist Movidius brings in $7.5M

A mobile-video upstart is looking to pick up the pace with backing from European venture capitalists. Movidius, an Irish chipmaker focusing on 3D video for mobile devices, has raised a Series B funding totaling $7.5 million. The round came from existing shareholders including Celtic House Venture Partners, Capital E, Emertec Gestion, AIB Seed Capital Fund and angel investors. Movidius raised a total of $14 million in a Series A round in 2008.

Movidius released its … Continue Reading

Google brings the Web to your TV

Google confirmed widespread speculation today by demonstrating a new service for accessing the Web and other applications on your television. Rather predictably, it will be named Google TV, and it will be based on Google’s Android smartphone platform.

Google’s Rishi Chandra told the audience that there have been previous attempts to bring the web to your TV that have only seen limited adoption. The problem, he said, was that they “dumb down” the Web. Referring … Continue Reading

Google TV demo stumbles over connectivity problems

Google executives are on-stage right now demonstrating Google TV, their new service for browsing the Web on your TV, at a conference center in San Francisco for the company’s annual Google I/O developer conference. Rather hilariously, however, the demonstration was delayed by several minutes due to connectivity problems.

Wi-Fi problems are a familiar sight at tech conferences, but it’s a bit of a surprise to see Google struggling with similar issues. In this case, Google … Continue Reading

With Android update, Google comes out swinging against Apple

Google Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra announced the latest update to its Android smartphone operating system. The overriding theme wasn’t a single feature or tool. Instead, my summary of Gundotra’s remarks would boil down to, “Take that, Apple.”

When outlining almost every one of the new features in version 2.2, codenamed “FroYo,” Gundotra took time to make a comparison to Apple’s iPhone and iPad. here are a few examples:

Froyo includes WiFi tethering,

… Continue Reading

Analyst: Apple iPads outselling Macs, nearing iPhone 3GS sales

If you’re still unsure that the iPad will be as successful as Apple’s other trendy gadgets, it may be time to rethink your assumptions. Apple is now selling more than 200,000 iPads every week, which means its outselling Apple’s Mac computers and nearing sales of the iPhone 3GS, according to analyst Mike Abramsky from RBC Capital Markets (via Digital Daily).

Abramsky wrote the following in a note to clients this morning:

Checks indicate that US … Continue Reading

Adobe unveils Flash for Android

Updated

After all the debate about whether or not Adobe’s Flash is the right technology for smartphones, owners of phones using Google’s Android operating system should finally be able to try it out for themselves.

Adobe is releasing a test version of Flash for the latest update to Android, version 2.2 code-named “FroYo.” Anup Murarka, who heads partner development for Flash, said the new Flash Player 10.1 is still on-track for a general release on … Continue Reading

Screened, a new video fan site, rewards members who contribute

Whiskey Media, the company of mostly ex-CNET staffers behind Anime Vice, Giant Bomb, Comic Vine and Tested, has added a fifth site to its portfolio of pop-media portals.

Screened is a fan site for video that plays on any screen, whether it’s Blu-ray on a big screen or streaming clips on a cellphone. In fact, the site is meant to appeal to video-savvy people who watch movies and shows across a range of screens.

CEO … Continue Reading

Zynga makes its move into China with XPD Media deal

In a big strategic move, social game company Zynga is announcing today it has acquired XPD Media as part of a plan to expand into the Chinese market.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Beijing-based XPD has 40 employees and has made social games such as Medical Mayhem. The acquisition marks Zynga’s first move into China and the larger Asian market, where social games have had a huge run.

Zynga said the move will … Continue Reading

Netflix talks HTML5 (but not for video), adds video output to iPad app

Netflix director of Web engineering Adrian Cockroft teased yesterday that the company was looking into implementing HTML5 on its site — but not in the way you’d initially think. At first, it seemed as if Netflix was readying an HTML5 version of its video player — which would displace the Microsoft Silverlight player it’s currently using.

That’s the angle TechCrunch took in its report, but Cockroft later updated his post in response to the speculation. … Continue Reading

Japan's Rakuten acquires e-commerce site Buy.com for $250M

Japanese e-commerce site Rakuten announced today it has agreed to acquire Buy.com for $250 million. The all-cash deal is expected to close next month.

Rakuten has more than 64 million members using its e-commerce site, while Buy.com says it has 14 million customers in the U.S. and Europe. Rakuten, which is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and has a market cap above $9 billion, reported sales last year of $3.2 billion, while Buy.com had … Continue Reading

Social email startup Xobni going global, starting with Germany

Xobni, an email tool that provides social network data about your contacts, today announced its availability in Germany as well as a partnership with Xing, a business social network popular in Germany according to the company. The expansion is the company’s first step to bring it’s service to a global audience.

Xobni makes it easy to search for users in Microsoft Outlook and also to see your contacts’ Facebook, LinkedIn and Hoover’s information. Additional features … Continue Reading

Sulake's Habbo virtual world for kids keeps growing at fast clip

Virtual worlds aren’t fashionable in the age of social networks. But Finnish virtual world operator Sulake reported strong growth in the first quarter as its Habbo Hotel expanded quickly despite the lingering recession.

Helsinki-based Sulake said its revenue grew 25 percent to $20 million in the March quarter compared to a year ago. Thanks to cost savings achieved in part through layoffs in the fourth quarter, the company reported earnings before income taxes and depreciation … Continue Reading

Is Richard Branson jumping on the video game bandwagon?

Richard Branson’s Virgin travel and entertainment empire might be moving back into video games. So reports MCV, a European video game publication.

If so, it suggests that video games are an attractive expansion territory for major brands, particularly as the iPhone, Facebook, Android, and other online game markets continue to grow at a faster pace than other forms of entertainment. Branson was actually an early pioneer in video games. His company formed Virgin Games in … Continue Reading

Roundup: Jason Calacanis quits Facebook, eVenues wins Founder Showcase

Here’s the latest action:

Jason Calacanis quits Facebook — The Mahalo chief executive sent out an email declaring that he will broadcast the deletion of his Facebook account live on Ustream on Friday afternoon. He wrote: “Simply put, I no longer trust Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg with my information.”

eVenues wins Founder Showcase — The demonstrators were selected by members of TheFunded, and event attendees chose the grand prize winner, a service for booking meeting … Continue Reading

Tweetdeck, Seesmic up their game with new versions; add support for Buzz

Seesmic and Tweetdeck, which were early players in building third-party software to read tweets and status updates from social networks, are showing off fresh versions of their software that can interact with Google Buzz among other new abilities. The two companies seem to be taking divergent strategies, however, with one company focusing on HTML5 and the other still pushing to support multiple platforms.

San Francisco-based Seesmic debuted a new desktop edition today (pictured top right), … Continue Reading