Executives from startup ETV Motors tell us, in an exclusive interview, how they’re shifting gears and divesting from the turbine business to focus on high-voltage, energy-dense battery cells for aviation, electric bikes and eventually plug-in cars. Read more »
Electric cars will soon be zipping around the streets of Northern Ireland, plugging in at charging stations installed with help from the United Kingdom. That’s the vision, at least, of a new partnership between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and the government of Northern Ireland. Read more »
It’s official: Tesla Motors has completed the purchase of a long-sought home for its Model S electric sedan, and received the title to the former NUMMI factory in Fremont, Calif. Read more »
Somebody jumped the gun at Apple’s official Discussions page early this morning, adding new sections for iMovie ’11, iPhoto ’11 and GarageBand ’11. There’s also one called “MBA (Need official name)” which means a new MacBook Air is all but certain at today’s event. Read more »
Today, Motorola filed suit regarding three complaints against Apple over patent infringements. The complaints deal with antenna design and other associated smartphone technologies covered in 18 patents held by Motorola. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Apple’s legal problems. Read more »
Today on the Net: an analyst estimates that NBC Universal is worth negative $600 million while USA Network is worth $11.7 billion, broadcasters like NBC are holding back the available ad inventory for sale on Hulu and Imax’s CEO says not every 3-D movie will work. Read more »
Lithium ion battery Amprius tells us that it has demonstrated in the lab the basic recipe for a much higher energy density battery that can tolerate the hundreds of charge cycles needed for long-lasting electronic devices. Up next, batteries for electric vehicles. Read more »
Google has acquired the Israeli video tour start-up Quiksee, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Rumors of the sale first started this weekend, but were confirmed today by a post on the Quiksee site, making this Google’s 28th acquisition since last August. Read more »
YouTube is following up on the next phase of its ambitious Life In A Day project, making video submissions from around the globe available through a new gallery page that captures many different views of what life was like for users on July 24, 2010. Read more »
For most YouTubers, the almighty viewcount reigns supreme — if your video doesn’t break five figures, it doesn’t matter how good it is. It’s an interesting yet at times exhausting attitude — which is possibly why the 0Views blog is so refreshing an experience. Read more »
Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., an electric truck and van maker based in Kansas City, Mo. and backed by $32 million in stimulus grants, has become the great green hope for its loss-making parent company, the United Kingdom’s Tanfield Group. Read more »
Private Media Group CEO Berth Milton doesn’t think it’s worth fighting piracy. The porn veteran wants to instead give the content of his adult entertainment company away and use it as a free promotional tool to build a new business based on actual real-life sex. Read more »
Tesla’s IPO was all about expectations and innovations from a Silicon Valley startup that fancies itself a technology developer on the scale of Apple or Google. GM’s IPO will be about overcoming its recently-tumultous and century-old past, and about delivering as a manufacturing company. Read more »
ALTe, a startup founded by former Tesla Motors executives and managers, takes the goal of converting vehicle fleets to run on electricity literally. The company aims to take used models and give them new guts to run as extended range electric vehicles. Read more »
Need to covert a file from one format to another and don’t want to have to bother with downloading a dedicated conversion program? Check out online-ConVert.com, a free online file converter that can convert files into a huge number of popular formats. Read more »
PayPal is giving away $160,000 USD in prizes to the most innovative apps to use the
PayPal X Platform, judging based on app innovation and business potential, with additional awards honoring innovation in use of the eBay Developer API, integration with Yahoo and cross-border
payment systems. Read more »
California regulators voted unanimously on Thursday that companies providing electric vehicle charging stations and services will not be regulated as public utilities in the state, which is expected to be one of the earliest and largest markets for plug-in vehicles. Read more »
One of the first disappointments a brand new iPad owner often faces is the fact they simply can’t use their magic new toy right out of the box. To setup an iOS device, you need a computer running a compatible version of iTunes. But why? Read more »
Molycorp, a company that controls one of the largest deposits outside China of a group of metals used in many green technologies, is off to a rocky start on the public markets after raising $393.8 million in its IPO today. Read more »
We took (arguably) the most affordable, mainstream, soon-to-be-released all-electric vehicle the Nissan LEAF out for a test drive for this week’s episode of Green Overdrive (where if it’s green we’ll drive it.) Read more »
Porsche has tapped a trio of Boxster sports cars to serve as the latest guinea pigs in the automaker’s experiments with electric drive. But if you’re eager to see Porsche joining Tesla Motors in the all-electric sports car market, don’t hold your breath. Read more »
The UFC is looking to crack down on illegal live streams of its pay-per-view events, subpoenaing live streaming sites Justin.tv and Ustream to get the IP addresses needed to identify and shut down users that have made videos of those events available for free online. Read more »
Many of the initiatives detailed at this week’s Clean Energy Minsterial seem more like pledges to figure out how to reach green energy goals and gain access to necessary data than a definite road map with all the answers in place. Read more »
Online invoicing service FreshBooks today announced a new integration with Salesforce, enabling Salesforce users to automatically bill through FreshBooks without leaving the Saleforce interface. The integration is made possible through the use of a third-party app, DataSynch OnDemand for FreshBooks & Salesforce by Pervasive Software. Read more »
Honda Motor Co. plans to start selling a pair of plug-in vehicles in 2012, including a “mid-size to larger” plug-in hybrid and an all-electric model, the automaker’s president Tkanobu Ito said on Tuesday. Read more »
DRM has a new name, and that name is “UltraViolet.” The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem today announced the name for its “Buy Once, Play Anywhere” digital content framework, along with a consumer website in which consumers will be able to manage all their content and devices. Read more »
Compact Power, a Michigan subsidiary of South Korea’s LG Chem, is starting to look like the player to beat in the competition to supply lithium-ion cells and battery packs for electric vehicles, having bagged deals with General Motors, Eaton and Ford. Read more »
Want to win people over to greener cars? Then skip the greenwash and tell them about the benefits straight up. That’s the message in a new set of guidelines for automakers marketing environmental claims to consumers in the UK. Read more »
The electric RAV4 — a model that Toyota Motor discontinued in 2003 after selling only about 300 units — could get a new lease on life, courtesy of the automaker’s alliance with electric car maker Tesla Motors. Read more »
How long should you expect a plug-in car battery — the most expensive part of the vehicle — to last before dwindling storage capacity or other problems leave you longing for a replacement? This question opens a hornet’s nest of vehicle emission regulations. Read more »
At some point you’re going to step away from the computer and take a break this summer (right? promise us!). Here are some of the GigaOM team’s favorite recent reads for that moment — a diverse list that reflects the many topics that interest our writers. Read more »
The Obama administration has kicked off its electric car and battery offensive with a report laying out the facts and figures for its investments in advanced vehicles and batteries so far under the Recovery Act. Here’s the digit-by-digit highlights. Read more »
Some of the fog is lifting on the details of a partnership between Tesla Motors and Toyota, as Tesla has said that by the end of this month it plans to deliver two electric vehicles to Toyota, both converted from current Toyota models. Read more »
ZAP, the Santa Rosa, Calif.-based developer of low-speed electric vehicles, says it has closed a deal to buy a 51 percent stake in China’s Zhijiang Jonway Automobile Co. for $29.03 million in cash. Read more »
Tesla’s stock has sunk for the first time below its $17 IPO price, shedding more than 16 percent today to close at $16.11. At one point the stock traded as low as $15.83, a significant drop from last week’s peak above $30. Read more »
