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Google proves its search methods aren’t set in stone (5)
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VentureBeat (2088) permalink
Google has released a new feature, called SearchWiki, that allows users to vote search results up or down, remove them entirely, or leave notes with their thoughts. While the rankings appear to only affect the account of the user who made them for now, the notes are public and readable by anyone, and seem to already be in use for discussions (see above). This move appears to have caught most users by surprise, although that ...Contribute comment -
California to set up a $1B electric car network (13)
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Hacker News (4689) permalink
CommentsShared by Aranittara (30) Dan (15) Dan (44) Igor The Troll (216) jbruin (35) Mladen Srdić (249) nicolas.boullosa (241) Oudi Antebi (121) Paul (17) rachna (36) Rex (668) Ryan Sholin (181) todd (98)- todd said: Very exciting news. Good to see we are leading and not just waiting around for others to solve our problems.
- Ryan Sholin said: This is fantastic news. If you read the Wired cover story on Shai Agassi a couple months back, you'll have an idea of how much potential this electric car plan has to change the way we drive, and the way we think about driving and energy consumption.
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Banks show confidence in solar — SunRun secures $105M financing (2)
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VentureBeat - PostRank (PostRank: All) (9) permalink
We may be in the depths of a credit crunch, but some banks still seem willing to give loans to renewable energy projects. This morning, solar services firm SunRun is announcing a $105 million commitment by U.S. Bancorp (USB) to buy about 2,000 of the residential projects it installs. Keep in mind that this isn’t equity or debt money that SunRun itself receives. Because the company leases out solar arrays that it installs on customers’ ...Shared by Ed (20) Ghosthead (821)Contribute comment -
Tech Ranch kicks off in growing Austin startup community (2)
onFor years, Austin, Texas has been a hub of the semiconductor and computing industries. But the city has always been known more for its large corporations than Silicon Valley-style startup culture. The founders of a new incubator called Tech Ranch Austin say that’s a changing equation. The problem, says cofounder Kevin Koym, is the lack of any easy way to make connections. A successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Koym moved to Austin for the quality of ...Shared by Carter (45) Matt (37)Contribute comment
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Another Indian solar services firm snags Silicon Valley funding (2)
onShared by Kamath ॐ (195) ScorpFromHell (189)
- Kamath ॐ said: The investment is the second that Silicon Valley venture firms have made in Indian solar in less than two weeks. Previously, a firm called Kotak Urja raised $8 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sherpalo Ventures and Applied Materials.
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Obama: Cap and trade is a top priority (3)
onFor anyone that doubted that President-elect Barack Obama would push for carbon cap legislation immediately on entering office, he provided reassurance today with an address to a meeting of state governors in Los Angeles. Both business spokesmen and politicians have opined that a carbon cap and trade system, which places a limit on the greenhouse gases that can be released by industry, could or should be put off while the country recovers from recession. But ...Contribute comment
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Need more power? Try recycling what you’ve already used » VentureBeat (5)
onAnother significant funding for the energy conservation crowd has been announced this morning, with ReGen Power Systems getting $5 million for an engine that can convert waste industrial heat into power. That may sound a bit boring, but the investment and technology are a harbinger of big changes to come. Everyone has experienced waste heat from electricity-driven machines — take your common electrical oven for example. The oven exists to cook things, whether atop its ...Contribute comment
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While You Were Raking Leaves (1)
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The IN VIVO Blog (2) permalink
An uncharacteristically quiet autumn weekend for industry that we hope gave you the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the characteristically peaceful sounds of plastic tubes strapped to roaring V6 engines. It was better than staying in to watch football anyway. But if you were that unlucky: while you were watching your team tie (in the ugliest way) ...The Boston Globe reveals "the best-kept secret in Massachusetts medicine" in a lengthy piece about the regions ...Shared by T and S (41)Contribute comment -
Gordon Murray’s plan to redesign the way cars are made (3)
onThe trimmed down, one-size-fits-all automobile chassis Gordon Murray Design is building isn’t as impressive as, say, a Tesla Roadster or Aptera Typ-1. But the United Kingdom automaker’s plan to revamp the auto industry and boost fuel efficiency is nevertheless getting some attention. Modern cars are designed and built much the same way as the first mass-produced vehicles, barring some broad advances: Robotics, computer-aided design software, international supply chains. What has stayed the same is the ...Contribute comment
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Planet Metrics tracks down carbon hotspots, at home or abroad (1)
onEnvironmentalists like to point out that a person’s carbon footprint is about more than just the CO2 they emit through daily activities like driving or surfing the Internet. It extends to the goods they own, and even the food they eat. The same holds for most companies, Planet Metrics’ core user group for a new carbon information platform. Companies’ hidden CO2 emissions tend to come from their supply chains, long tails of vendors and manufacturers ...Shared by nicolas.boullosa (241)Contribute comment
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Carbon caps coming next year, says key Obama advisor (3)
onThe recession may not prove as much of a barrier to a national carbon cap and trade scheme for the United States as pundits thought, according to the lead energy and environment advisor for Barack Obama’s campaign. ... VentureBeat - http://venturebea...Contribute comment
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SolFocus provides numbers for its concentrating photovoltaics — should conventional solar worry? (3)
onConcentrating photovoltaic (CVP) maker SolFocus has a long uphill climb to compete with standard solar panels, the flat silicon-based arrays most people are familiar with. Standard PV is well understood, with predictable costs. Yet numbers SolFocus just released for its newest product line suggest that PV makers may have reason to worry. As I guessed a couple weeks ago when the company announced a $100 million deal for its panels, the newest generation of SolFocus ...Contribute comment
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Solix Biofuels raises $10.5M for algae pilot plant (2)
onShared by nicolas.boullosa (241) trevoro (89)
- trevoro said: I'm concerned that the weak market will make alternative fuels not as attractive. Its important to remember that one day alternative fuels will just be fuels.
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Alice.com may be a Netflix for your household supplies » VentureBeat (2)
onAh, the age of the Internet, when nobody needs to leave their house for anything. Right? OK, so Webvan went bust, but some think there’s still potential in the home delivery model. New startup Alice.com is one of those, having just taken $4.3 million for a company that plans to deliver non-perishable household supplies. The pitch is that between real-world big box stores and online alternatives like Drugstore.com, there aren’t enough pure distribution platforms for ...Shared by Gerald (122) Rebecca Thorman (22)Contribute comment
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Worst startup name ever (3)
onSocial activism startup Virgance is no slow mover. The San Francisco startup, which last month took the wraps off two projects aiming to change the behavior of corporations through consumer buying power and help intelligently distribute philanthropic wealth, has acquired a solar-power cooperative effort called 1 Block Off the Grid (or 1BOG) that will give homeowners in 20 cities leverage to go green. Like Virgance’s other efforts, 1BOG is all about community effort toward a ...Contribute comment
- PeerApp takes $8M for peer-to-peer traffic policing (1)
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Google falls short for research — instead, meet DeepDyve (6)
onDespite an endless succession of startups claiming to “beat” Google and Yahoo, there’s not, strictly speaking, any need to do so. For the average consumer search has been solved, with most searches ending satisfactorily. DeepDyve wants to tap another group of users: Students, researchers and other “information workers” who need to quickly find expert-level data. What makes DeepDyve, formerly called Infovell, unusual is that it uses a technology fairly similar to Google’s statistics-based search. While ...Contribute comment
- Indian renewables startup Kotak Urja raises $8M from Kleiner Perkins, Sherpalo (1)
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Evolution Robotics rolling toward an automated world (2)
onBanking on the idea that helper robots will be as ubiquitous in homes and offices as they are today in factories, Evolution Robotics has raised almost $14 million to continue developing both software and hardware for a variety of self-directed machines. Evolution, an Idealab startup founded by renowned entrepreneur Bill Gross, hit the stage in 2002 with the ER1, a “personal robot system” that was essentially just a laptop mounted in four wheels. Equipped with ...Shared by Jawad Shuaib (100) Rex (668)Contribute comment
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Here are the 2008 California Cleantech Open winners (3)
onThe California Cleantech Open (CCTO), a yearly competition to identify some of the hottest new startups in green technology, has wrapped up its 2008 session with six winners, each in its own business sector. The six were chosen from 43 finalists, who were in turn drawn from a larger pool. The CCTO has grown to be a significant event, in part because its sponsors read like a Who’s Who of good contacts to have (Google ...Contribute comment
