SunPower is signing up residential solar leases at a nice pace in the U.S. while seeing a good demand for its highly efficient solar panels in Japan’s residential market. The company is still posting losses, though it’s doing better than in previous quarters. Read more »
LED production has grown tremendously, accompanied by a significant fall in prices that will further propel the sale of this energy-efficient digital-lighting technology. But challenges remain on the road to widespread adoption. Figuring out ways to use power efficiently for lighting will be crucial for a future when the world’s population will likely be much larger. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Toshiba has acquired another smart grid startup Consert, who has been building a smart home service. Read more »
Goodbye Eee PC and all other netbooks from Asus; the company is no longer producing the small laptops. Acer followed Asus into the netbook market and is following it out as well. What happened to this once quickly growing market? Tablets disrupted the space. Read more »
Indian tech firm Wipro takes the lead for the first time — beating out U.S. companies like Apple, HP and Dell — to become the highest ranking gadget maker in Greenpeace’s latest green guide to electronics. Read more »
The purpose of the on-screen guide has shifted. By connecting the guide to content-recommendation engines and advertising platforms, service providers and connected-TV device manufacturers are using the EPG as an access point for understanding consumers and reaching out to them to own the living room. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Batteries used for content delivery networks could provide power savings up to 14 percent over networks without batteries, and that could increase up to 35 percent if new types of servers were created that could move in and out of different levels of energy states. Read more »
A startup that makes more efficient power conversion devices has raised money from, and partnered with, a group of Japanese electronics giants. Transphorm is a venture-backed startup and its move is a symbol of the growing importance of corporate partners as well as overseas investors in cleantech. Read more »
A Japanese consortium of government groups and tech companies teams up with a New Mexico utility and a federal lab for a smart grid demonstration project to figure out how to integrate solar electricity and energy storage into an electric grid. Read more »
Unlike last year’s product launch, the Galaxy S III will hit the U.S. on multiple carriers soon after the product debuts internationally. Five carriers are ready to sell Samsung’s flagship; a single model for all. HTC’s patent woes continue and Toshiba’s new small slate shines. Read more »
Toshiba is set to add another choice to the small slate market: the company will soon sell the Excite 7.7 tablet running on the latest version of Google Android. Here’s a first look video and early impressions of the 16 GB tablet with Wi-Fi. Read more »
Kurion, a startup that has developed technology that cleans up nuclear waste and is one of the most successful cleantech firms you haven’t heard of, has been acquiring more cleanup tech. Read more »
After raising $230 million in venture capital and developing LED lighting components for a decade, Bridgelux in Livermore, Calif., is making a technology transition to drive down costs. The company is now counting on its partnership with Toshiba to make this transition a success. Read more »
This quarter the EV market struggled to find its footing. Meanwhile, the smart-grid sector solidified and low-power technology proved itself important in the data center. Read more to learn what these news pieces and others mean for the larger space over the next few months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A trio of new Toshiba tablets are on the way ranging in size from 7.7-, 10- and 13-inches with the new Excite 13, With the large display, however, comes a large price: The Excite 13 will start at $649.99 when it arrives on June 10. Read more »
The Hulu Plus mobile app is now available for Android tablets, complete with an updated user interface. The software has a visual redesign offering easier navigation on large touchscreen devices. But not every Android tablet owner can use the software; only seven devices are supported. Read more »
Cloud computing, mobile computing and the consumerization of IT combine to create another force that overwhelms IT departments: complexity, including complexity of devices and applications, physical and virtual computing environments, and related challenges for IT staff. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Big data now touches everything from enterprises to smart-meter startups, while Hadoop is fast becoming the leading tool to analyze that data, and debates around privacy abound. GigaOM Pro analysts offer insights on what to consider when it comes to big data decisions for your business. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The one-year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, which claimed the lives of 19,000 and left another 325,000 without permanent housing, was observed on Sunday. In the wake of the disaster, Japan has reassessed its energy policy, and there’s now a massive cleantech opportunity in the country ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
By 2016, one-third of the U.S. population will own a tablet, says Forrester. This figure — 112.5 million people — is an upward revision due to two names in the tablet market: Apple and Amazon. All other tablet makers should leave Android for Windows, says Forrester. Read more »
This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The definitive gadget of CES 2011 was the Android tablet, heralded by more than one company as the answer to the iPad. A train-wreck of a ye… Read more at paidContent »
As usual, a big chunk of the news out of the Consumer Electronics Show this year revolves around bright-and-shiny devices. But this time out, those devices are acting as the Trojan horses for the hardware makers’ cloud vision. The battle’s all about cloud services now. Read more »
Toshiba’s 7-inch tablet is already available for purchase if you know where to look: One reseller is offering the smaller Thrive. But the $450 price has to include some large markup; here’s why I suspect Toshiba Thrive will see an official price of around $299. Read more »
Do recent struggles dominating the news represent the beginning of the end for green technology? Nah, it looks like business as usual for Silicon Valley. Only one in ten start-ups ever make it, VCs like to say, and failure makes you stronger. Read more »
Big hardware vendors continue to fight Apple’s iPad for a piece of the tablet pie and the three newest entries debuted today at the IFA electronics show. Samsung went high-end in a small device, while Lenovo went low cost. Meanwhile, Toshiba slimmed its 10.1-inch Android tablet. Read more »
Google rocked the mobile world on Monday, August 15, with the news that it will buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, marking a 63-percent premium for the handset manufacturer. It’s a move that ushers Google into the exclusive club of companies that control both the hardware and software elements of their smartphone offerings, and it will enable Google to design handsets that are more closely integrated with Android. However, the deal doesn’t come without its risks, and it remains to be seen just how it will affect other handset makers, competition from Microsoft and the crucial patent issues currently surrounding Google. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Research In Motion and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A young woman held against her will, a mysterious Chinese takeout receipt, a laptop that offers access to YouTube and Facebook but not Google Earth: Those are some of the puzzle pieces of a new interactive movie called The Inside Experience, unveiled by Intel Monday. Read more »
A group of nuclear tech companies on Friday afternoon (Japan time) are poised to begin cleaning the contaminated water in the turbine buildings at the Fukushima nuclear power plants in Japan that suffered damage in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Read more »
After watching other hardware makers launch Google Honeycomb tablets, Toshiba’s take is ready. The Thrive ships next month but can be pre-ordered starting today. At $429, you only get 8 GB of internal storage, but a full-sized USB port and memory card slot can expand memory. Read more »
Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Skype is the largest the company has ever made, and it’s raised many questions in the process. This research note examines Skype’s overall value and where it fits strategically into the world of Microsoft. From Office 365 and Bing to Xbox Kinect and Windows Phone, there are numerous ways in which Microsoft can leverage the functionality of its newest addition — and numerous risks it could incur in the process. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Cisco, Panasonic and Google. For a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It’s official. On Thursday, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba said it plans to acquire Swiss smart meter company Landis+Gyr. The deal will turn Toshiba, already a huge player in power and grid systems, into a sizable smart grid contender. Read more »
Landis+Gyr is on the auction block, and big smart grid suitors like General Electric, Toshiba and Honeywell ABB are rumored to be interested in paying $2 billlion-plus for the smart meter giant. Strategic buyers could find value by integrating into their own lines of business. Read more »
Philips has unveiled a 17-watt energy-efficient LED bulb that can replace a 75-watt incandescent bulb, the standard widely used today. However, the bulb will still be expensive, at around $40 to $45 a pop. Read more »
Is the greentech industry headed for a breakout year or is it retrenching for hard times to come? The first three months of 2011 provided evidence that could support both assertions, with a big rise in venture capital investment and a big drop-off in global energy financing. Solar power remained the largest green technology sector in terms of venture capital investment, while in the world of electric vehicles, GM’s Chevy Volt hybrid and Nissan’s all-electric Leaf — the first two mainstream plug-in vehicles — hit the showroom floors in significant numbers. Meanwhile the smart grid sector’s relative dearth of VC investment was more than made up for by the massive round of acquisitions. Companies mentioned in this report include NRG Energy, Microsoft, Silver Spring Networks, Tesla and BrightSource Energy. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The MacBook Air may or may not get a June spec bump, as per recent rumors, but at least one component appears to have already been quietly updated. Some newer MacBook Airs are shipping with what seems to be a noticeably faster SSD. Read more »
The television business is on the cusp of the biggest technological upheaval since the introduction of cable TV. The addition of Internet connectivity to living room devices will enable new functionality around programming services, program discovery, social networking, ad targeting and measurement — aspects of the TV viewing experience that have remained largely unchanged for decades. These trends have the potential to become the foundation for new economic models around how viewers pay for video service and how program creation is financed. In this report, we examine the leading contenders’ strategic positioning, relative strengths and weaknesses, and provide the early line on their odds of success. Companies mentioned include Google, Apple, Boxee, Roku, Vudu, Samsung, Microsoft and Sony. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Greenpeace has been a thorn in the side of the consumer electronics industry with its Guide to Greener Electronics for years. The latest edition shows shuffling in the ranks of top companies as they launch new products and sail past deadlines for eliminating hazardous substances. Read more »
Today on the Net: Sony has added the BBC iPlayer app to its Sony Bravia TVs, the Yahoo Connected TV platform is now available on Toshiba TVs and Disney has rolled out a new Muppets web series. Read more »
After nearly five months of owning the consumer tablet market, Apple’s iPad is about to face its first real competition from optimized tablets running on Android. Samsung will take center stage by introducing their Galaxy Tab slate this week, but others are sure to follow. Read more »
