Think secures $47M, will begin making electric cars again soon

Think secures $47M, will begin making electric cars again soon

Think, the Norwegian maker of cute, recyclable electric cars, suspended production last December after running out of money. But the company has emerged from court-protected bankruptcy with its debt restructured and $47M in new funding led by U.S. firm Ener1, Finnish Valmet Automotive and Norway’s Investinor.

“This means we can re-start production of the TH!NK City as soon as possible,” CEO Richard Canny said in a prepared statement. Besides its creative use of uppercase and punctuation,… Continue Reading

Electric cars disappointed in 2008 — and 2009 won’t be different

Electric cars disappointed in 2008 — and 2009 won’t be different

The Detroit Auto Show is underway, and the world’s most famous vehicle brands are touting the next generation of cars. And although yesterday’s fervent promises of hydrogen-powered vehicles have mostly fallen away, they’ve been replaced with new promises, this time centered around the idea of the electric car.

Don’t believe the hype. Although electric vehicles are almost certainly the way forward, much of the motion is really a show intended to sway the opinion of consumers… Continue Reading

Roundup: Agami shuts down, Amazon’s new book-site collection, and more

Roundup: Agami shuts down, Amazon’s new book-site collection, and more

Toyota working on Segway killer — The transportation robot is called Winglet and comes in three sizes. See screenshot, via ZDnet.

Network storage company Agami shuts down — The Sunnyvale, Calif. company raised $85 million and competed against companies that went public, including 3Par. The shut-down was sudden, catching employees by surprise — apparently, a major debt-holder wanted its money back.

Illinois mandates online cancellation for game subscriptions — An Illinois family found it difficult to cancel a recurring online… Continue Reading

Roundup: Digg’s deal, Facebook, Stage6, AideRSS, Toyota’s plug-in, Google & more

Roundup: Digg’s deal, Facebook, Stage6, AideRSS, Toyota’s plug-in, Google & more

Here’s the latest action:

Digg, the news-ranking site, signs big advertising deal with Microsoft — It is similar to the one signed by Facebook with Microsoft, says co-founder Kevin Rose.

Divx to spin off its Stage6 video-sharing site: Stage6, a site featuring user-created videos that uses technology from its publicly traded parent company Divx, has been growing so fast that Divx has experienced a sharp up-tick in operating expenses, lowering its overall operating income. So San Diego’s DivX… Continue Reading