Monthly Archives: February 2010
IDC Energy Insights Analyst Sam Jaffe: Nothing “Unique About” Bloom Energy’s Fuel Cell Technology
IDC Energy Insights Senior Research Analyst Sam Jaffe said that the fuel cell technology created by Bloom Energy has a lot of money spent on research and development around it, but it is not necessarily “unique.” “They have clearly spent a lot of money on research and developing this product, but there’s nothing that I can see that is that unique about it,” said Jaffe as reported by CNET. Bloom Energy introduced a fuel cell that is designed to have small blocks housed in a unit that is the size of a refrigerator and can be sold as an electricity alternative. 100kW units of the technology is selling for about $700,000-$800,000 each. These “Bloom boxes” are being used by major corporations including Google and eBay.
“Any high-temperature fuel cell should be able to do that. The fact that it’s solid oxide and it’s primarily ceramic opens up the possibility of making it much more cheaply, but every start-up in the energy field has an expensive product that they claim one day will be cheap. There is no reason to believe that Bloom has the ability to make it that much more cheaply. I’m pretty pessimistic about it,” added Jaffe. [CNET]
Categories Bloom Energy, IDC Energy Insights, Sam Jaffe
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Google Launches Person Finder For Chile Earthquake
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) launched a tool called Person Finder that helps people locate those who were affected by the earthquake that took place in Chile. The 8.8 magnitude earthquake happened yesterday and there are over 30,000 records of people on Google Person Finder. To learn more about how you can donate, we have a list of places here [Link].
Categories Google
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Microsoft Counsel David Heiner Points Out Eric Schmidt’s Previous Involvement With European Commission Complaints
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Counsel David Heiner wrote a memo about the situation that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is involved in with the European Commission. Google pointed out on a blog that Microsoft has ties to two of the companies involved with the complaint. Heiner directly responded with the following note:
“Complaints in competition law cases usually come from competitors. (Believe me, I know: I’ve been chief competition counsel at Microsoft since 1994, so I’ve seen plenty of competitor complaints. Novell, when current Google CEO Eric Schmidt was at the helm, was never hesitant about complaining to regulators about Microsoft. Google hasn’t been shy about raising antitrust concerns about Microsoft in the last few years, either.) This is the way that competition law agencies function: They look to competitors in the first instance to understand how particular markets operate, the practices of dominant firms and the competitive significance of those practices.”
Do you think that Eric Schmidt is getting a taste of his own medicine here? Or do you think Microsoft is bringing up the past in the wrong context here? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Categories David Heiner, Eric Schmidt, Google, Microsoft Corporation
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Google Street View Launches A User-Generated Content Service
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) launched a new service that involves their Street View service. Google Street View now accepts user-generated photos to build a pseudo-3D panorama. This service is similar to Photosynth, a service launched by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in 2008. By allowing users to submit photos to Street View, it could give an additional perspective to different places. [GigaOM]
Categories Google, Google Street View
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How To Donate To Chile Online. Videos and TwitPics Of The Damage Being Shared On The Web.
This past week there was a major earthquake in Chile and a major warning about a tsunami in Hawaii. The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile yesterday caused buildings to collapse and has taken the lives of hundreds of people. There was a loss of electricity in Santiago and the airport was shut down. Below are some resources from the web that are related to the event. This includes donations resources, pictures, and videos.
Donations
There are numerous ways to donate money to the people of Chile that were victims of the earthquake [Mashable].
The Mobile Giving Foundation set up a micro donation fund. The text message campaign can be donated by:
1. Text the word “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 on behalf of the Habitat for Humanity
2. Text the word “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 on behalf of World Vision
3. Text the word “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 on behalf of the Salvation Army
4. Text the word “CHILE” to 90999 to donate $10 on behalf of the American Red Cross
You can also donate through the web:
American Red Cross
Americares
ChileDisasterRelief.com
Doctors Without Borders
GlobalGiving.org/chile-earthquake
Google Crisis Response
Samiratan’s Purse
World Vision Disaster Response Fund
TwitPics of Hawaii
Abandoned Ala Moana Beach in front of #hawaii #tsunami by What_Boundaries
Idiot in water in Hilo Hawaii #NoPity you’ve been warned by CoachDeb
Hawaii bracing for Tsunami,Beaches are empty by HawaiiParcel
#tsunami warning in #Hawaii: how the evacuation will take place by mirkocorli
Mass exodus of boats frm Ala Wai Harbor in front of #Hawaii #tsunami by What_Boundaries
This is pic in the Hawaii Tribune herald The Island is called Moku Ola by Hilomikey
TwitPics of Chile
#terremotochile Catedral, Santiago #chile by ConyCampos
Madrugada Caleta el piojo Niebla valdivia horas despues del terremoto en conce by EomerElessar
#terremotochile muro cae sobre bencinera en Maipú/Mapocho (Stgo Centro) by MrMobictec
Valparaiso, Independencia c/n Las Heras.#terremoto #terremotochile by EGMiranda
This is the pic of the moment here in Chile. That’s out flag. We can get through this by Aloemilk
Área inundada en Pelluhue, Chile -APTN by edowoo
Video Streams
UStream announced today that they hit about 4.35 million streams related to the events [Mashable]. Many people are uploading videos on YouTube that are related to the event.
Twitter Ads May Appear In Search Results
Twitter may integrate a new advertising system that involves contextual links within their search results. For example if you search for car on Twitter’s search engine, an ad might appear for Ford, Toyota, or GM. The ads would also show up in 140 characters or less, the same restriction imposed on all Twitter users. This way it would not interfere with the way that Twitter publishes tweets on the homepage of all users. [AllThingsD]
Categories Twitter
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Steve Jobs Gives Surprise Call To 10 Billionth iTunes Song Customer Louie Sulcer
This past week Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold their 10 billionth song on iTunes. The 10 billionth customer was Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia. Given the milestone, Steve Jobs decided to reach out to Sulcer through a phone call. “He called me and said, ‘This is Steve Jobs from Apple.’ I said, ‘Yeah right,’ ” said Sulcer in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I have a son that loves to play tricks and he does that every now and then — calls me and imitates somebody.”
Sulcer’s caller ID said Apple on it and he had no idea that there was a contest taking place on iTunes. The 10 billionth customer would be given a $10,000 iTunes gift card. The 10 billionth song to be downloaded was “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash. [Rolling Stone]
Categories Apple Inc., Apple iTunes, iTunes, Johnny Cash, Louie Sulcer, Steve Jobs
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European Union Orders Google To Delete Street View [LAME!]
The European government recently brought an anti-trust case against Google and now they want them to delete the Google Street View service in Europe. Google Street View went live in the U.K. last year and allows map users to zoom in to the street level. One of the problems that people have with Street View is that some of the images that are captured by Street View may be incriminating.
Apparently the European Union believes that this is a “data-protection” issue. “I expect that all companies play according to the rules of the game,” stated EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.
What I like best about Google Street View is that the service has captured some of the funniest pictures that I’ve ever seen. Last month I put together a top 100 list of some of the best Google Street View pictures. Check ‘em out here.
[ComputerWorld]
Categories European Union, Google, Google Street View, Viviane Reding
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European Investment Bank Provides Jaguar Land Rover A $458 Million Loan
Jaguar Land Rover has made their first quarterly since they were bought by Tata in June 2008, but the company is taking a major loan from the European Investment Bank. Jaguar Land Rover will be taking a $458 million loan from the EIB to develop micro-hybrid and full-hybrid drivetrains to increase fuel efficiency. This means that sometime in the not-so-distant future, we could be driving around hybrid Range Rovers and hybrid Jaguars.
[Liverpool Echo and TTAC]
Categories Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Group, Tata Motors
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Raytheon Gets An $886 Million GPS Contract
Raytheon has won an $886 million contract to develop an improved Global Positioning System (GPS). The contact was provided by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at the L.A. Air Base. The advanced control segment (OCX) development by Raytheon would improve security and reliability of GPS systems. Raytheon’s partners on this project includes Boeing, Braxton Technologies, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Braxton Technologies. [InformationWeek]
Categories Raytheon
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