UPDATED So much for the estimate that the government’s cash for clunkers coffers would last for four months — they’re just about empty after less than a week. When Congress allocated nearly a billion dollars for the program, which provides vouchers to help … Read More »
Just a few months after the Obama administration set aside $400 million for high-risk clean energy research projects, the Department of Energy has narrowed the pool of some 3,500 applicants down to about a couple hundred. This week, the DOE completed its evaluation of the … Read More »
Remember how in 2006, Apple tried to stop Podcast Ready, Inc. from using the word “podcast” because it infringed on their trademarks? For a brief time, there was talk of Apple cracking-down on anyone who dared use the term in their products or services. Apple’s lawyers … Read More »
Information is leaking out about an Android phone from Motorola which is rumored to be the first such phone for Verizon. Not much is known about this phone, which is dubbed Sholes. If Verizon does release this phone, it will likely be the first Android phone … Read More »
For a product as cool as the MacBook Pro, it sure does get hot. Too hot, sometimes. I’ve had many laptops in my time, and I’d never go back to plastic IBM compatibles as long as Apple keeps churning out these beautiful aluminum machines. But heat … Read More »
Just a few weeks after San Francisco’s hopes of being a biotech hub were slightly dashed by Pfizer’s decision to pull out of its Mission Bay development, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced big news today in the city’s push to be the nation’s cleantech hub: … Read More »
The World Bank, which is providing billions of dollars for clean power and energy efficiency projects in developing countries, plans to fund its first smart grid project in Turkey, according to the World Bank’s vice president for Sustainable Development, Kathy Sierra. Sierra made the comments … Read More »
Earlier this month, Dare to be Creative announced MainMenu 2.0, an update to its system maintenance utility for OS X. This lightweight application allows you to clean up your Mac, improve system performance and free up hard disk space — all directly from the system … Read More »
After Flunking Energy Audit, DOE Cracks Down on Appliance Makers
By Josie Garthwaite
Jul. 24, 2009, 10:03am PT
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What timing: The Department of Energy is ratcheting up efforts to enforce energy efficiency standards for appliances, and has just issued the first subpoena in its new crackdown — less than 24 hours after the agency’s inspector general reported the DOE has been failing, more … Read More »
We knew we were in for a battle royale between Palm and Apple over the iTunes syncing built into the Pre. First Palm figured out a way to build iTunes syncing right into the Pre, by making iTunes think it was an iPod. Then Apple … Read More »
We’ve seen and used Splashtop from DeviceVM in the past. The software is a customized Linux partition offering a fast boot and nearly instant web connection once it’s up and running. For a netbook or notebook, Splashtop is a quick way to get online … Read More »
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Disney CEO Bob Iger told a tech conference crowd yesterday that his company is interested in putting up more content online, but it won’t be free, and it might require a subscription. From MediaWeek: “The notion of going online at some point as a subscribe-to, robust … Read More »
Out of a staff of about a dozen, the investing team at cleantech-focused firm 21Ventures has three people writing grants full time to grab pieces of the stimulus package for the 40 or so startups in the firm’s portfolio. It couldn’t be any other way, … Read More »
Hilarious. Please watch. Last night Jon Stewart pointed out (in that way that only he can pull off: half ridiculous, half totally true) the very real marketing problem with cap-and-trade legislation: it’s confusing and boring. Many of us in the industry, covering this stuff on a … Read More »
When Google recently announced its Google Wave initiative, there were a lot of posts going around the web characterizing it as earth-changing news, although some questioned the effort. Wave combines email, instant messaging, wiki features and more, conjuring up images of a next-generation communications tool. … Read More »
Eight smart grid demonstration projects in seven states have just hit pay dirt. The Department of Energy today announced awards of more than $47 million in stimulus funds for the projects, adding to the $17 million that the agency invested in them last year after a … Read More »
As a rule, neither utilities nor automotive standards groups tend to win many points for speed. We’ve written before about automakers and utilities ratcheting up efforts to hash out standards for how plug-in vehicles will interact with the grid. So far they’ve stopped short of … Read More »
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has inspired hand-wringing among some companies and trade groups in recent months with calls for the international community to take a “very collaborative” approach to improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This morning, the Department of Energy offered … Read More »
The enormous task of setting smart grid standards has been at the top of the industry’s list for months. Now there’s a similar type of effort underway for data specifically related to monitoring solar. An industry group dubbed the SunSpec Alliance will officially … Read More »
By Justin Moresco
Jul. 10, 2009, 1:30pm PT
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The feds on Thursday unveiled guidelines to provide $3 billion in grants for renewable energy projects including solar, wind and biomass. The hope is that the grants will help spur investment in renewable energy projects, but analysts at investment bank ThinkEquity Partners aren’t so optimistic, … Read More »
Free cash from the feds for clean energy, up front — not enough to cover a whole project, but enough to get investors to pony up more. That’s the basic idea of a new stimulus program that the Department of Energy and the Treasury Department have … Read More »
Thin-film startup SoloPower announced today that CEO Homayoun Talieh has left his position, though he will remain on the company’s board of directors. The announcement came two months after Vice President of Research Rommel Noufi — whose hire SoloPower bragged about last year … Read More »
For climate legislation, clearing the House last month by a slim seven-vote margin marked a major step toward passage of the first comprehensive regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. But as we wrote after the vote, it was only the beginning — with … Read More »
Updated with comment from the EPA: What’s bad for Cello Energy, the Khosla Ventures-backed startup that an Alabama jury last week decided made fraudulent claims about its biofuels technology, could in a way be good for cellulosic ethanol — or at least open up new … Read More »
Updated: The Guardian reports that Nokia is planning a touchscreen mobile phone that runs Google’s Android operating system and the handset maker will likely show off the device at the Nokia World conference in September 2009. When I read the story based on information from … Read More »
News of The Pirate Bay’s impending sale has worried file sharers around the world. Many rights holders, on the other hand, seem to be somewhat optimistic, hoping that the deal will put an end to the world’s largest file-swapping platform. But history has shown again … Read More »
Let there be light. The Obama administration unlocked $346 million in stimulus funds for energy efficiency earlier this week, including $50 million for advancing solid state lighting, or SSL, technology. The Department of Energy designed the program as “a coordinated development of advanced manufacturing techniques” … Read More »
Updated: We’ve heard from a couple of our sources that President Obama is forming an advisory council on energy and economic policy that would be staffed by cleantech leaders, including the CEOs of some buzz-worthy startups along with some high-profile investors. Someone high up on Obama’s … Read More »
We give a lot of props to the entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers and investors that are building the greentech tools of tomorrow. But we don’t often offer a lot of praise for the legislative process or the policy makers that have been driving clean energy and climate … Read More »
Quick: What’s the newest hybrid sensation that combines video games, television programming and social aspects? Is it: X: 1 vs. 1oo on Xbox Live A: Twittering With The Stars B: Donkey Kong’s Digg for Dollars If you said “X”, then you’d be right. Of course, savvy Xbox players might … Read More »
Cleantech investment is on the rise again, according to two reports released this week, hitting $1.2 billion in the second quarter. “Cleantech venture investment has rebounded moderately after free-falling for two consecutive quarters,” said Brian Fan, senior director of research for the Cleantech Group, in … Read More »
For cleantech companies, climate change has been a big deal for some time. But it’s officially become a major mainstream business issue, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report, “Capitalizing On a Climate of Change,” that says energy and climate policies are influencing the way … Read More »
The Obama administration turned the page on a new chapter for energy efficiency today, opening up $346 million in stimulus funds for “energy-efficient technologies in all major types of commercial buildings as well as new and existing homes,” and raising the bar on efficiency and … Read More »
The fact that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, now a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, isn’t a big fan of the current energy bill that passed the House on Friday is hardly a shocker. A cap-and-trade system can be “easily abused,” particularly on … Read More »
The energy bill passed the House on Friday, but the proposed cap and trade system and new incentives for renewable energy are still a long way from going into law as the Senate needs to pass its own version. As we transition to the next … Read More »
The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 has just cleared its biggest hurdle yet, winning approval from the House of Representatives in a close 219-212 vote late on Friday. The bill has already had a long and bumpy ride since a draft began circulating … Read More »
The deals keep coming for solar thermal startup eSolar, indicating confidence from utilities –- but also increasing pressure on the Pasadena, Calif.-based company to deliver quickly. The startup on Thursday announced plans to build a 92-megawatt plant in Lancaster, Calif. It has signed a deal … Read More »
As the world’s largest solar-panel producer for the last two years, China already is a major solar player. But now, some industry experts say, it’s expanding from being mainly a solar panel supplier to also becoming a substantial customer. “China, which already is important in … Read More »
The T-Mobile G1 has been a pretty solid first Android effort for T-Mobile in the U.S., and now the carrier is getting ready to release the next-generation phone, the myTouch 3G. The new phone is thinner and lighter than the G1, but retains much about the … Read More »
Tucked into a military spending bill that just passed Congress and is now heading to President Barack Obama for signature is a piece of legislation meant to help get gas guzzlers off U.S. roads and replace them with new, more efficient vehicles. Called the Consumer … Read More »
The federal tax credit for plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles in the U.S. — $7,500 — is just enough to let Tesla Motors tout a sub-$50,000 base price for its planned Model S electric sedan. But is the credit, and other incentives now coming into … Read More »
As far as regional rivalries go, competition among U.S. states to lead the way on clean energy, efficiency and smart grid tech could be one of the more productive ones. Today the Obama administration gave a few points to states on the Western team, opting to … Read More »
YouTube is running a test on some of its premium content that gives users the choice to either front-load their ad-watching with a single full-length promoted video or stick to midstream ads at intervals throughout. For instance, some watchers of a 20-minute-long episode of Lionsgate’s … Read More »
The Urban Dictionary, the user-generated slang web site, recently had a word of the day which I thought was particularly fitting for cleantech companies and entrepreneurs: the chronoptimist, someone who constantly underestimates the time it takes to complete a task (chronologically optimistic.) While entrepreneurs … Read More »
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A Look At the Upcoming OS Family Packs From Apple and Microsoft
As more and more households have multiple PCs, the idea of a “family pack” (i.e., a piece of software with multiple licenses for use) makes a lot of sense. Since Apple and Microsoft are set to release new versions of their respective operating systems this fall … Read More »