Featured Post: July 2, 2009 | Eric Eldon
Ain’t no thang: Socialthing sort of becomes AIM Connect
This past April, AOL began testing out a social toolbar for web sites, under the name of a lifestreaming service called Socialthing, which it acquired in 2008. The toolbar is now going through a rough transition into something else, although it’s not totally clear what’s… Continue Reading
Real estate site Trulia says traffic is still growing
Trulia, the real estate website backed by prominent venture firms Sequoia Capital and Accel, published some numbers today showing that despite continued problems in the housing market and the general economy, the San Francisco startup has been having a strong 2009.
That continues a pattern… Continue Reading
Future car: A magnet-powered hamster wheel?
Magnets very rarely come up in serious renewable energy discussions. But why? It doesn’t get more zero-emission than that! At least that’s the thought behind car designer Harsha Vardhan’s new Transporter TW: an electric vehicle propelled by magnetic fields.
The single-passenger car is technically electric… Continue Reading
DOE taps DuPont for $9M solar research project
Science-oriented conglomerate DuPont has landed a $9 million partnership with the Department of Energy to conduct research into consumer-facing solar goods and components. The focus of the three-year program will be to market a protective film for plastic and glass thin-film photovoltaics, the company says…. Continue Reading
Latest Wire Stories
- Gilt Groupe gets $40M to make luxury online retail even glitzier
- ParAccel brings in $22M for analytical databases
- Cardiac device maker VytronUS raises another $11M
- Virsto packs away $7M for virtual storage space
- Nokeena takes $6.5M to speed up online video
- Ozmo takes $750K for personal Wi-Fi networks
German utility Yello Strom steals the smart grid spotlight — at least for today
The net is abuzz today with talk of Yello Strom, the German utility that reportedly takes smart grid technology and web integration to the max with its new Sparzahler meter — rivaling U.S. utilities that are just beginning to adopt green initiatives. But, on closer… Continue Reading
DEMO announces $1M media prize
Here’s the latest reason why entrepreneurs should consider launching their products at the fall DEMO conference in San Diego:
Two winners, as selected by a panel of individual judges, will be awarded a significant amount of media publicity, totaling $1 million in ads — to… Continue Reading
New Twine interface lets users visualize shared bookmarks
Social bookmarking service Twine attracted a lot of attention as an early poster boy for semantic technology, which it uses to help serve you links customized to your interests. But in addition to delivering smarter bookmarks, Twine just unveiled a better interface for exploring that… Continue Reading
FriendFeed introduces real-time search
Lifestreaming service FriendFeed is introducing real-time search, so you can search for anything on the site and see it instantly. Real-time search is also live for advanced search options, including search terms that you can save and track through FriendFeed, and on its blog widget…. Continue Reading
DigitalBeat
Engadget founders launch new crowdsourced site, Gdgt
Peter Rojas and Ryan Block are among the world’s most recognized bloggers on any topic, not just tech. The website they built together, Engadget, is one of the world’s most-read blogs. Engadget and its crosstown rival site Gizmodo set the bar for fast reporting of… Continue Reading
Facebook to get simpler privacy, sharing features
Today, Facebook is announcing simpler ways for users to share information. I’m on a briefing call with a bunch of other reporters, listening to Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly and product manager Leah Pearlman walk us through a presentation about the specific changes the company… Continue Reading
GreenBeat
Cleantech bounces back in Q2 with $1.2B
The big story a couple of months ago was that cleantech investing had fallen off a cliff in the first quarter — signaling what many feared would be a prolonged negative trend in the sector. But it looks like things have started to turn around,… Continue Reading
California gets green light for strict greenhouse gas requirements
The White House today approved California’s move to institute tough greenhouse gas emissions regulations for automakers well ahead of similar federal legislation. The waiver, officially granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is said to be a first major step for the country to follow… Continue Reading
GamesBeat
Nickelodeon launches its AddictingGames brand on iPhone
Nickelodeon is launching a cross-promotion network for the iPhone, dubbed the AddictingGames iNetwork.
AddictingGames iNetwork will let the company and others publish games on the iPhone with built-in social features that can help the game and other games spread. The features include high scores, reviews,… Continue Reading
Gaikai demos how to serve games over the Internet
Playing video games on demand, or over a server connection instead of installing a game on your own machine, has become the hot topic of the game industry, not only because it threatens to cut retailers out, but also because it lets gamers play any… Continue Reading
Deals & More
Apple-exec-turned-VC sees big opportunity in mobile infrastructure
Bob Borchers, who led Apple’s marketing efforts for the iPod and then the iPhone over the past five years (and even appeared in iPhone videos), recently made the leap to venture capital, becoming a general partner at Opus Capital. Yesterday, I had a chance to… Continue Reading
Does Google Apps break Microsoft Outlook? Not anymore
Those of you who get uncomfortable around confrontations and arguments may be able to breathe a little easier now — it looks like Google has resolved a recent spat between the search giant and Microsoft peaceably, with a bug fix.
The trouble started when Google… Continue Reading