The first phase of the farm now has algae ponds and processing equipment spread across about 100 acres about 1/8 of a mile — that includes sizes of 1.1-acre pond and a 2.2-acre pond. Eventually the entire farm is supposed to spread across 300 acres and make 1.5 million gallons of the algae biofuel per year. Five-year-old Sapphire says it’s already harvested 21 million gallons of algae through the farm and the facility is supposed to be done and producing 100 barrels of algae biofuel a day by the end of 2014.

This first portion of the farm took a year to build, used 634 full time construction workers, and required $85 million from Sapphire, backed by a USDA loan guarantee, as well as a $50 million grant from the Department of Energy.

The rest of the farm will require a lot more money. Sapphire is raising another $144 million from investors, including agriculture company Monsanto. Sapphire has already raised $300 million from investors including Bill Gates’ investment firm Cascade Investment as well as the public funds.

Sapphire has had a relationship with Monsanto for at least a year. Monsanto wants access to Sapphire’s genetic research technology to use it for its own agricultural development. Using Sapphire’s genetic technology, Monsanto says it can isolate traits in algae (like high yields and stress traits) that could be used to tweak its other crops. Monsanto’s CTO Robb Fraley said in a release last year that algae is an “excellent discovery tool,” for agricultural genetic research.

Because the New Mexico farm is outside, and exposed to the environment, in a couple months Sapphire will move into using a variety of algae that will respond and perform as well during the winter months. In contrast other companies like Solazyme use closed tanks to grow algae so the algae is not effected by the environment.

Solazyme has also recently been moving aggressively into the biofuel market, after making specialty chemicals, personal care products and food for years.

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Sapphire says with this latest round it has raised more than $300 million in private and public funds. The new capital will go towards building out a commercial algae energy demonstration plant — the Green Crude Farm — in Luna County, New Mexico.

Founded in 2007, Sapphire has had a relationship with Monsanto for at least a year. Monsanto wants access to Sapphire’s genetic research technology to use it for its own agricultural development. Using Sapphire’s genetic technology, Monsanto can isolate traits in algae (like high yields and stress traits) that could be used to tweak its other crops. Monsanto’s CTO Robb Fraley said in a release last year that algae is an “excellent discovery tool,” for agricultural genetic research.

The deal between Monsanto and Sapphire is also another example of how corporate investors, particularly in the biofuel sector, will be crucial to helping startups scale and reach commercialization. Other biofuel companies are connecting with big oil, and Codexis has linked up with Shell, and Synthetic Genomics with Exxon.

Sapphire Energy is one of a dozen algae fuel companies that has ambitious plans, but has yet to reach large scale commercial production. Algae company Solazyme was one of a few companies that went public in recent years but has focused first on using its algae for personal care and food products instead of fuel.

Sapphire has stated more aggressive plans than most. Sapphire previously has said that it planned to ramp up its production to 1 million gallons of algae-based diesel and jet fuel per year by 2011, 100 million gallons per year by 2018, and 1 billion gallons per year by 2025. Update: Sapphire now has revised its projects to say that this farm in New Mexico will be able to produce 1.5 million gallons of green crude by 2014.

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Founded in 2007, Sapphire Energy uses synthetic biology to make a green crude out of algae that can be turned into gas, diesel or jet fuel. Monsanto wants access to Sapphire’s genetic research technology to use it for its own agricultural development. Using Sapphire’s genetic technology, Monsanto can isolate traits in algae (like high yields and stress traits) that could be used to tweak other crops. Monsanto’s CTO Robb Fraley said in a release that algae is an “excellent discovery tool,” for agricultural genetic research.

Monsanto didn’t disclose the size of the equity investment.

Sapphire Energy is one of a dozen algae fuel companies that has ambitious plans, but has yet to reach commercial production. In the release, the companies say the partnership could help “accelerate Sapphire’s road to commercializing algae as a renewable energy crop.”

Sapphire previously had plans to ramp up its production to 1 million gallons of algae-based diesel and jet fuel per year by 2011, 100 million gallons per year by 2018, and 1 billion gallons per year by 2025. Yep, those are some big claims. Sapphire has raised more than $100 million from the likes of Bill Gates’ investment firm Cascade Investment, as well as ARCH Venture Partners, Wellcome Trust and Venrock.

Jet fuel might be the most willing market to accept algae fuel right now. Sapphire Energy has tested its fuel with two commercial airlines: Continental and JAL.

The deal between Monsanto and Sapphire is also another example of how corporate investors, particularly in the biofuel sector, will be crucial to helping startups scale and reach commercialization. Other biofuel companies are connecting with big oil, and Codexis has linked up with Shell, and Synthetic Genomics with Exxon.

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Conspicuously absent from the announcement was any mention of biofuels and how doubling the yields of corn and soy, the two largest biofuels feedstock in the U.S., might change the market economics of grain-based ethanol. All of these efficiency and yield boosts could greatly help corn and soy ethanol makers, who are getting slammed by slimming margins, and slow the switch to non-food biofuel feedstocks.

Monsanto, one of the world’s largest providers of seed, has seen its year-over-year profits triple recently amid the biofuel boom and food price hike. Critics say this just is posturing from Monsanto and it is taking advantage of the current food crisis to gain approval of its controversial technologies. Monsanto says it will put $10 million over five years into research for wheat and rice, two crops Monsanto doesn’t particularly focus on, to help food production in developing countries. But this is a pittance compared the to $2 million Monsanto spends on research and development every single day.

Monsanto shied away from pushing its controversial genetically modified products, saying its yield goals can be achieved by using “marker-assisted selection.” The method uses genetic testing to identify desirable genetic traits that can then be exploited through traditional hybrid breeding and doesn’t include laboratory genetic manipulation.

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This isn’t the first collaboration between Monsanto and Mendel. For over a decade the two have worked on trait development of a variety of crops including corn, soy, cotton and canola; Mendel has also developed numerous patented plant traits for Monsanto, helping to make it the world’s leading producer of genetically engineered seeds. In face, Monsanto owns part of Mendel, an investment it expanded last October. The financial details between the two companies, however, have not been disclosed.

Founded in 1997, Mendel decided to make a biofuel play in 2005, applying its genomics expertise to the development of dedicated energy crops. This newly articulated partnership will work within Mendel’s nascent bioenergy seeds and feedstocks division.

Monsanto is able to aggressively invest in next-generation biofuels as first-generation biofuels have created windfall profits for the company. Monsanto tripled its profits last year, due in large part to the corn ethanol boom.

Now Monsanto needs to move into cellulosic ethanol, as food-based biofuels, especially corn, have taken a beating. There have been numerous frozen ethanol refinery projects and the public backlash in the food vs. fuel debate has further dampened food-based ethanol investments. Though it will probably take a few years to develop and pay off, Monsanto’s play into cellulosics will likely further increase that profit growth.

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The P1620 I bought is configured as follows:

• 1.2 GHz Core 2 Duo
• 2 GB of memory
• 100 GB hard drive
• FIngerprint reader
• Touch screen (passive digitizer only)
• 8.9" screen at 1280 x 768
• Vista Business
• 6 cell battery (extended)

I also bought a second extended battery, second A/C adapter and a port replicator.  I haven’t had the P1620 long enough to have detailed information about the battery life but I am seeing a good five hours in Power Saver mode with the extended battery in real usage which means WiFi going all the time.  The two batteries will meet my standard of 10 hours of battery life for any given day and I am happy with that.

The first thing that strikes me with the P1620 is the fabulous build quality.  Fujitsu products are always built very solidly and this is no exception.  Every join is flush and everything about the unit feels well constructed.  The second thing that strikes me is how the P1620 is the same as the older models, the P1510 and P1610.  This is fine with me because if something works why mess with it and that was obviously Fujitsu’s thought too.  The unit is designed with usability as foremost and this new model delivers that like the older ones.  The P1620 is also a convertible sub-notebook and one of the handiest features of the swivel screen is that it is bi-directional.  You can swivel it to either the left or the right and while that sounds frilly I can tell you from experience that it is extremely useful.  Every other Tablet I have used only swivels one way or the other and it’s always the second direction I try.  This is not a problem on the Fuji and it makes a big difference for switching back and forth from notebook to Tablet mode.  Fujitsu also kept the unique screen latch which goes both ways and either locks it in slate mode or notebook mode when closed by simply pushing the latch.  Again very simple but extremely useful for the user.

Taking a quick tour around the P1620 you quickly appreciate the functionality that Fujitsu has packed into such a tiny notebook.  On the left side you find an on/off switch for the radios, Bluetooth and WiFi, and a Type II PC Card slot.  I use an ExpressCard form modem for 3G connectivity so I have to use an adapter which lets me use that form card in the PC Card slot.  It works flawlessly so that’s OK with me.  On the Front of the unit you find nothing in particular, just the extended battery if that’s what you get which sticks out about 3/4 of an inch in front of the device.  Moving on to the right side of the P1620 you find front to back the stylus silo, SDHC slot, USB 2.0 port, headphone jack, mic jack, a second USB 2.0 port and the power jack.  On the back you find a VGA-out port behind a trap door, Gigabit Ethernet jack, modem jack, Kensington lock port and a ventilation port.  On the bottom of the device you find access panels to reach the memory and hard drive, the battery release levers and a connector for the dock.

Left side

Right side, in the port replicator (dock)

Back of device

Opening the lid you find a useful array of buttons on the bottom screen bezel.  There are 5 buttons on the left of the hinge, page up/down, screen rotation, Fn button, Ctrl-Alt-del.  All of these buttons are programmable for a second function that is invoked by hitting the Fn button followed by the programmed button.  On the right of the screen you find a brightness toggle (min/ max), a battery indicator, HDD activity indicator and a sliding power switch.  All of these buttons and indicators are accessible while in slate mode as well as in noteboo mode.  On the left side of the screen is the fingerprint sensor which can serve as a mouse scroller as well as a security login for the computer and programs.  What is sadly missing from the inside lid is a web cam as the P1620 still doesn’t have one included.  This is the only regret I have about this refreshed model and I wish Fujitsu would include one as there seems to be plenty of room for one.

Open lid, lower left

Open lid, lower right

The keyboard of the P1620 is much smaller than a full-sized one but as I discovered with the P1610 I used for a good while it allows touch typing once I get used to the size.  My hands are quite large but I can still touch type long pieces with it no problem.  For some reason I have always had trouble hitting the Back Space key and I still do.  I don’t know why that is but it’s always been that way.  It’s not a big deal as it encourages me to not make many typing mistakes.  :)  Above the keyboard are three indicator lights, num lock, caps lock and scroll lock.  The Num lock key turns the right side of the keyboard into a 10-key device and on the tiny front of the key you can see what those keys are when Num lock is pressed.  The Scroll Lock requires the Fn key to be pressed first followed by the Num Lock key to toggle it.  There is no room for a trackpad so those who are fans of them will not be happy.  I prefer the trackstick control and use this one just fine.  There are two large mouse buttons below the keyboard which are easy to use and a small middle mouse button which is useful for scrolling the screen with the trackstick.

Performance vs. the P1610

One area I expected to find the P1620 to be much improved over the older model is in performance.  The new Core 2 Duo processor coupled with the 2 GB of memory I got is good enough to even run Vista well, something the older Core Solo processor and only 1 GB of memory couldn’t do in the P1610.  I have not been disappointed with the snappy performance in the P1620, Vista runs well and multi-tasking is a real joy.  I am finding the P1620 with this configuration to be just as good as other devices I have used and have no complaints at all.  Everything happens quickly and it can handle multiple tasks simultaneously with ease.  Fujitsu was wise to update the components and I don’t think anyone will be unhappy with performance of the P1620 over the P1610.

Performance vs. the HP 2710p

The hardware components of the new Fujitsu are comparable to those of the HP 2710p I have been using so I felt confident I would see the same snappy performance on the P1620 that I have gushed about on the HP.  This is true for the most part but the HP is definitely a better performer than the P1620.  I have investigated this to find out why that should be as the processor, amount of RAM and the hard drive is the same in the Fuji as those in the HP.  There turns out to be one difference in a major component that I wasn’t aware of and I believe it is the reason the HP performs better than the Fuji.  HP coupled the U7600 CPU (same as that in the Fuji) with a newer graphic chipset, the Intel 965M.  Fujitsu decided to stay with the older Intel 945M chipset and since Vista is so graphically intensive I believe HP’s choice was wiser.  I think the slight performance difference that I am seeing between the two devices relates back to the graphics chipsets and the performance they each deliver.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy with the performance difference as it is relatively minor but the Core 2 Duo processors were designed by Intel to be coupled with the 965 chipset (or newer) so in my opinion Fujitsu should have updated the graphics like HP did.

Inking on the touch screen

Fujitsu replaced the passive digitizer controller of the P1610 with a new USB-based controller on the P1620 but I don’t see any difference in operation.  I am very happy to report that the outstanding palm rejection technology I appreciated so much with the P1610 is still living quite nicely in the P1620.  I find that inking, especially in OneNote which is where I take volumes of notes, is very nice and while active digitizers are better for inking than passive digitizers I don’t feel I am sacrificing anything with the Fuji.  The digitizer reacts well to the stylus and inking is fluid and smooth on the touch screen just like on the P1610.  This is very important to me and I am happy with the results.  I do find that interacting with the touch screen on the P1620 with my fingertips is a little harder than the P1610 and I need to press a little bit harder with my fingertips.  Again this is not a negative rather a difference I have noted.  It is very nice to be able to just tap stuff on the screen without reaching for the stylus in any event and I really miss the touch screen already when I pick up the HP without one for a bit.  I don’t miss the HP’s active digitizer at all when I go back to the Fuji so that speaks volumes.  I find the P1620 is as fine a Tablet PC as anything out there, better in fact since the size makes it much easier to use in the hands like a slate than bigger Tablets. 

Conclusion

You can probably tell I am very happy with my decision to go with the Fujitsu P1620 and while it is somewhat expensive when the components are beefed up where I think they need to be to run very well I can happily recommend one to those looking for a highly mobile Tablet PC.  It is a joy to use in the hands for extended periods even with the heavier extended battery and requires such a small bag to carry it in.  You know how mobile my work keeps me and the Fujitsu fits my needs perfectly.  I should comment on the new screen since Fujitsu has stated it is an improvement.  My memory is not what it used to be but I recall the P1610 screen was more glossy and a bit brighter than the screen on the P1620.  I haven’t taken it outside in bright sunlight yet to try it out but it’s certainly bright enough for me and I don’t notice any outstanding difference in the older screen and this one that is big enough that it sticks in my mind.

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The startup appears to have also gone by the name Livefire.tv, according to parts of its web site. PlayCafe/Livefire was founded by Mark Goldenson and Dev Nag, who have experience at PayPal (EBAY), Google (GOOG), and a number of startups.

If we turn to the ever-trusty want ads to get more information about the company, we’ll find it’s a “seed-funded startup” that is “launching a first-of-its-kind, live Internet show involving games.” It’s also apparently got a high schooler who came in second on a Kids Week episode of Jeopardy working as a “trivia writer,” according to his MySpace profile.

It’s not clear exactly what “live Internet show involving games” is, and from the clips embedded below you’ll see they’re still figuring it out themselves.

The site is partially accessible, and is currently accepting invite requests for its private beta. It features advertising from Netflix (NFLX). The second episode below features ads from 7-UP, Budweiser, and FedEx, though they appear to just be placeholders. Prizes include Amazon and iTunes gift cards, ringtones, and cash.

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Today I received an email from iTunes Support with (among other things) the following note:

Please accept the following Five Song Credits as an apology for the delay in receiving your purchase. These credits are good for five songs of your choice from the iTunes Store.

I would assume I’m not the only person who will receive this but I also doubt Apple will do anything in regards to explaining what might have happened to cause the huge delays people experienced.

If you experienced download delays, have you received this credit from Apple?

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I actually just signed up for the 30-day trial of .Mac the other day, to see if there were any features that would be especially useful to me. So far, not seeing it. But who knows. The notMac Challenge is a big one, and I think the bounty – which at this point is $7500 which will be matched, up to $10,000, so upwards of $20 thousand! – will be much deserved if anyone can crack that nut.

Thanks to Chris for sending this tip over.

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