Author: Serkadis

You probably don’t realize it, but nearly all the “blueberries” used in cereals, bagels, pancake mixes and other foods aren’t really blueberries. They’re actually chemical concoctions made with propylene glycol, artificial blue colors and high-fructose corn syrup laced…

All those who promote the addition of fluoride into municipal water supplies are conscious liars. They know that the so-called “flouride” pumped into the water is actually a deadly chemical used as an insecticide, often imported from China. It’s called hydrofluosilicic…

In an interview with ABC News April 2, Gen. James Thurman, the top U.S. commander in South Korea, said the current tense situation on the peninsula is the worst it’s been since he assumed command of the 28,500 U.S. forces there two years ago. Describing the state…

Drug companies are not in the business of health. They are in the business of marketing disease then offering their patented, overpriced chemical medications as a “treatment” for disease. But their treatments never cure the disease. They only “manage” it, leading…

Non-organic cosmetics and personal care products are loaded with “scientifically-formulated” chemical ingredients that cause cancer, liver damage, kidney damage, neurological disorders and even skin diseases. A typical “skin lotion” or cosmetic base is made with a…

Many modern-day chemotherapy chemicals are derivatives of mustard gas chemical weapons used in World War I. The Nazis got their hands on the technology, and through chemical / pharma companies such as Bayer (whose co-director was convicted of crimes against humanity…

I recently purchased a Chromebook Pixel with LTE, but it hasn’t yet arrived. When it does, I plan to do some casual video gaming on the new hardware. No, I’m not talking about web apps; I mean native, third party video games. How’s that? I’ve shared part of the secret before: Simply run a script to install Linux so it runs side-by-side with Chrome OS. I can instantly jump over to it as needed. The rest of the solution is Steam, the video game distribution service that now supports Linux.

So far, I’ve found two minor issues with this set up. One: I can’t yet get a game controller working with the Linux on the Pixel. Second, games running at full screen get a little choppy. I don’t think that’s completely related to the hardware; instead, I suspect that the video drivers being used aren’t optimized for the Pixel’s 2560 x 1700 display.

Other than that, the only limit is the number of Linux games you can find on Steam. There are certainly fewer for Linux than for the Windows or Mac platforms, but there are enough titles for occasional gaming on the Pixel. I’m not suggesting that the Pixel with Linux will provide a vast, rich gaming experience, of course. However, this does add a little more value to the $1,449 I spent on “just a browser.”

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Podcast: Mobile winners and losers in 2012 and what to expect in 2013
• Analyzing the wearable computing market
• Tablet market to hit over 377 million units by 2016

Former Obama administration energy policy maker Cathy Zoi has joined Tom Siebel’s energy software startup C3 as Chief Strategy Officer, following a stint as an investor at Silver Lake Kraftwerk, Silver Lake’s clean energy growth fund. Zoi is now listed on C3′s website, is no longer listed on Silver Lake Kraftwerk’s site, and her bio on C3 says most recently she was a partner with the fund.

C3 is a four-year-old startup that develops data grid analytics tools for utilities like PG&E, and is the software behind GE’s Grid IQ Insight product. The company was founded and is led by Siebel System’s Tom Siebel, and had been largely in stealth mode until earlier this year when it talked a bit about its smart grid plans at the DistribuTECH event in February. Previously C3 had focused more on collecting data about corporations’ carbon emissions and energy, but has seemed to veer away from that in recent years.

C3′s current big data software platform collects disparate data about buildings, energy generation and energy consumption from a variety of places like publicly-available data scraped from the web, utilities’ energy use info from its customers, and weather data from weather information companies. For PG&E, C3 aggregated at least 8 terabytes of data, which C3 normalized and loaded at 5 million records an hour. The data product helped PG&E do a year’s worth of energy audits on the commercial and industrial buildings in its footprint, said Siebel at DistribuTECH.

C3 plans to launch another five projects like this in 2013 and another five in 2014, and its other customers include Entergy, Northeast Utilities, Constellation Energy, NYSEG, Integrys Energy Group, Southern California Edison, ComEd, Rochester Gas & Electric, and DTE Energy.

Silver Lake Kraftwerk is private equity firm Silver Lake Kraftwerk’s clean energy growth fund, and it has a thesis to invest in later stage growing clean energy, waste and other types of cleantech companies. The fund, which also is looking to invest aggressively internationally, has raised at least $350 million, though I’ve heard the fund is closer to having raised $600 million at this point. Silver Lake Kraftwerk has invested in a later round in SolarCity (before it went public) and German recycled plastics processing and manufacturing company Friedola Tech.

Zoi spoke at our Green:Net event back in 2011. She also joined the Board of Makani Power, the high altitude wind power startup in Alameda, Calif.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
• Cleantech and investment in 2013
• Ups and downs for cleantech in Q1

Last month, Google announced new ValueTrack parameters for Enhanced Campaigns for advertisers using keyword level URLs. Today, the company announced that they’re now live and ready to be applied to campaigns.

“These features will help you achieve your conversion and ROI goals, and make the upgrade to enhanced campaigns easier by directing users to a device-specific landing page at the keyword level [and aligning performance reporting with device groupings used in enhanced campaigns,” says AdWords senior product manager Karen Yao.

Specifically, Google has added the {ifnotmobile:[value]} parameter, which lets you replace [value] with the text that will show up in your URL when the user clicks the ad from a computer or tablet. They’re changing the parameter {ifmobile:[value]}, which will now insert the specified value into the URL only when the user clicks from a mobile device.

Google shares some examples for using these parameters in a blog post here.

If you still need to learn more about upgrading to Enhanced Campaigns, Google has a guide available here.

Jeffry Stevenson, a Laboratory Fellow at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been elected a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society.

A leader in energy materials research, Stevenson has focused his research at PNNL on the development, characterization and fabrication of electrical ceramic materials and devices. A large body of research and professional leadership has established Stevenson as an international expert on the emerging applied science of solid oxide fuel cells — a highly efficient and clean technology for electric power generation.

Over a 35-year career, he has authored or co-authored more than 135 technical papers and two book chapters, and he has received nine U.S. patents.

Election to American Ceramic Society Fellow is a peer recognition that requires the nomination by at least seven ACerS members. Society Fellows are selected for contributions to the ceramic sciences, either through broad and productive scholarship in ceramic science and technology, by achievement in ceramic industry or by outstanding service to the Society. New Fellows will be recognized at the ACerS 115th Annual Meeting on Oct. 28, 2013 in Montréal, Canada. 

Stevenson earned a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering in 1977 from Missouri University of Science and Technology and a doctorate in ceramic engineering in 1991 from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

---

Founded in 1898, the American Ceramic Society is the professional membership organization for international ceramics and materials scientists, engineers, researchers, manufacturers, plant personnel, educators and students. Drawing members from 60 countries, ACerS serves the informational, educational and professional needs of its 6,000 members and provides them with access to periodicals and books, meetings and expositions, and technical information. ACerS also maintain an extensive materials science website that provides online access to its journals, publications, science and career forums and specialized technical knowledge centers.

…we estimate 3.74 million (3.7%) US TV subscribers cut their TV subscriptions 2008-12 to rely solely on Netflix, Over the Air, Online, etc, 1.08 million (1.1%) in 2012 alone. We forecast US TV cord cutter households will reach 4.7 million (4.7%) by year-end 2013….

Cord Cutters are a growing tribe, according to research from The Convergence Consulting Group. I cut the cord in 2008 and five years later have relied solely on non-linear video for my video fix.

PS:  Here is a link to our coverage of cord cutting trend. We also host a video podcast that focuses on cord-cutting trends, technologies and gizmos.

If you’re a fan of American Psycho, Huey Lewis and/or Weird Al, than this video is for you. Funny or Die put out this pretty great parody of the film’s iconic Huey Lewis scene, cleverly putting Huey in the Patrick Bateman role, discussing the film’s context and Christian Bale’s performance in the manner that Bale discussed Huey and his work. Weird Al does a fine job in the Paul Allen role as well.

American Psycho with Huey Lewis and Weird Al from Huey Lewis

Microsoft continues to match development pace with Google, releasing today yet another app update. SkyDrive 3.0 for iOS follows many other recent releases, including Outlook.com Calendar (this week), Windows 8/RT Mail, Calendar and People apps (last week) and SkyDrive (mid-March), among others.

In my news analysis about the new Windows 8/RT core apps, I asserted: “It’s a new Microsoft”, explaining how the company has greatly picked up the pace of new product development — something also seen in Windows Blue, which I expect to ship less than a year after the great 8. A day following my analysis, Frank Shaw, Microsoft corporate communications chief, said that “continuous development cycle is the new normal across Microsoft”, which is consistent with reinvention as the “devices and services” company that CEO Steve Ballmer described last year.

The new SkyDrive for iOS version is one more part of a process every Microsoft customer should get used to. Expect more-frequent updates and stronger support for more platforms — yes, Android and iOS. Mike Torres, Microsoft group product manager ticks through the improvements:

• Support for iPhone 5 and iPad Mini
• Updated app icons and user experience
• Works better with your photos:
  • Download full resolution photos to your iPhone or iPad
  • Control the size of photos you upload and download
  • Photo metadata is retained when you upload to SkyDrive
• Opening and saving files to SkyDrive works better with other apps on your iOS devices
• Many other small changes, bug fixes and performance improvements

SkyDrive 3.0 requires iOS 5 or later and supports iPhone and iPad. Expect ongoing updates to truly be Microsoft’s “new normal” — and too long coming.

Photo Credit:  Krivosheev Vitaly/Shutterstock

Cisco just announced yet another acquisition. The company announced its intent to acquire privately held Ubiquisys for $310 million in cash and employee retention incentives.

Ubiquisys provides 3G and LTE small-cell technologies, and Cisco says the pick-up will further reinforce its commitment to service providers and strengthen its mobility capabilities. In a blog post, Cisco’s Hilton Romanski writes:

The acquisition of Ubiquisys exemplifies Cisco’s innovation framework based on a build, buy and partner approach. The Ubiquisys acquisition also complements Cisco’s mobility strategy along with the recent acquisitions of BroadHop and Intucell, reinforcing in-house research and development, such as service provider Wi-Fi and licensed radio. These technologies will tie together the mobility architecture that leverages the intelligence of the network from the wireless edge of the network into the wired core.

As carriers around the world increase cellular data capacity to serve the rapidly growing population of smartphone and tablet users, adding small cells is one of the most cost-effective ways to multiply data capacity and make better use of scarce spectrum assets. Ubiquisys’ indoor small cells expertise and its focus on intelligent software for licensed 3G and LTE spectrum, coupled with Cisco’s mobility portfolio and its Wi-Fi expertise, will enable a comprehensive small cell solution to service providers that supports the transition to next generation radio access networks.

“Cisco is ‘doubling down’ on its small cell business to accelerate strong momentum and growth in the mobility market,” said Kelly Ahuja, SVP and GM of Cisco Mobility Business Group. “By acquiring Ubiquisys, we are expanding on our current mobility leadership and our end-to-end product portfolio, which includes integrated, licensed and unlicensed small cell solutions that are tightly coupled with SON, backhaul, and the mobile packet core. For service providers, Ubiquisys supports cost effective coverage and capacity that delivers a differentiated customer experience.”

The Ubiquisys team and portfolio will be integrated into Cisco’s Small Cell Technology Group, led by Partho Mishra. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco’s fiscal year 2013.

Other recently announced acquisitions for Cisco include: Intucell, Cognitive Security, SolveDirect, and BroadHop.

Facebook (FB) will finally put an end to the rumors and speculation on Thursday as it prepares to show the world its “new home on Android” during a special press conference, and BGR will be reporting live from the event. Some pundits have said that Facebook will finally unveil an own-brand smartphone — the much rumored “Facebook Phone” — but more solid reports suggest the company will instead debut a new Android app that offers deep integration with a variety of Facebook services. The app is expected to be showcased on the new “HTC First” smartphone, which should launch as one of the first handsets to feature the new Android software. Will Facebook also have a few surprises in store? Be sure to tune into our live coverage to catch all the action as it unfolds.

Bookmark this link, which will go live shortly before the event begins tomorrow, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of Facebook’s press conference! Coverage will begin just before 1:00 p.m. EDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Google announced that it has added the ability to upload full-size photos from the desktop on Google+. This follows a similar feature previously launched on Android.

Google’s Jon Emerson discusses the update in a Google+ post:

Given Google+’s standing appeal among many photographers (and wannabe photographers), the feature is surely a welcome one.

[via CNET]

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars revitalizing downtown Las Vegas into a tech, startup and culture hub. And now the head of the online shoe retailer is ushering in an ambitious urban transportation project called Project 100. It could make downtown Las Vegas free of personal cars, using a combination of on-demand Tesla Model S cars (100 of them), shared bikes (100 or those), shared neighborhood electric vehicles (yes, 100 of those, too) and buses (you can guess it, 100 shuttle stops).

Sound ambitious? That’s because it is. Members of Hsieh’s Downtown Project are being asked to get rid of their personal cars and start using the Project 100 transportation mobility system app when it becomes available later this year or next. They’re starting an invite-only beta program in the coming months, and when the transportation system is fully deployed it’s supposed to hit all those 100 numbers.

Here’s how it works. A Project 100 member opens the mobile app and is offered a number of choices based on their location and the location of the nearest transportation option. A member could see:

• 1). An on-demand Tesla Model S that can be driven to you and pick you up. Like an Uber but with a subscription and a Model S.
• 2). A bike parked near you that you can unlock and pedal to an appointment that’s several blocks away.
• 3). A bus shuttle stop near you for longer trips.
• 4). A neighborhood (slow and low range) electric vehicle that you can unlock and drive and park at your desired location.

Details are scarce about how much this would cost to build or how much the monthly subscription would cost users. The customer pricing will be based on zones in Vegas and tiered plans.

The Downtown Project calls its plan “the ultimate in collaborative consumption,” and the FAQ says that the team looked at currently available options like Uber, Zipcar, and public transportation, but wanted to build an entirely new option. That’s in keeping with the spirit of the Downtown Project, which is using the clean slate of downtown Vegas to create a new type of community and urban living system.

Project 100 is working with a startup called Local Motion, which is out of Stanford and is building the software and hardware to share the bikes and cars and manage the reservation system. Local Motion is also working with Google for fleet sharing on its campus. Originally Local Motion was developing the electric vehicles that fleets would share (in addition to the software) but it looks like the company has moved more away from that model.

Isolated and defined communities are the optimal places to try new, outside-the-box, and just plain wacky new forms of urban transportation. San Francisco has actually been a pretty good place to launch an alternative transportation startup in recent years, due to the city’s early adopters and lack of parking and good public transportation. Scoot Networks has been building an electric scooter sharing network here, and Ridepal has been developing Google-style commuter buses for companies (both Greenstart companies).

Better Place has focused on Israel for its electric car sharing and battery swapping network, and found mixed success (to put it politely). Masdar City has built electric public transportation pods, though I’ve also heard that not many people use these. New transportation doesn’t always catch on. Downtown Vegas and Project 100 could be an interesting option, though success will be based on how attractive the service is for the customers and how much the network ultimately costs.

Check out our coverage of the tech revitalization of downtown Vegas:

• An inside look at the high-tech awakening in Las Vegas
• For startups, Las Vegas is a beautifully clean slate
• 5 Las Vegas startups you need to know

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech
• Cleantech and investment in 2013
• Cleantech third-quarter 2012