The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced wholesale rates for the renewable energy yesterday, with the tariffs expected to take effect in one week. The private sector is being encouraged to deploy new equipment to produce renewable energy …

Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Budget, Performance, Hyundai, South Korea

Would this, could this be the new Hyundai Veloster? A little background is in order. Way back in 2007, we first saw the oddly named, smartly proportioned Veloster concept at the Seoul Auto Show. No one was quite sure what to make of the funky, chunky little front-wheel drive coupe. A Tiburon replacement? Something else entirely? Who knew? Then word came down that the Velostar was just a concept and that was seemingly the end of it.

Fast-forward two years to February of this year. Hyundai has successfully launched both the Genesis Coupe and sedan. Rumors begin circulating that the Veloster is anything but dead. Not only that, but Hyundai is claiming that it will arrive as a 2012 model in 2011. Fast forward a little more to earlier this month, and during the state of the company address at the new Tucson launch, affable president and CEO John Krafcik tells us that Hyundai is working a new 24/7 plan – seven new models in the next twenty-four months.

Rewind a bit (sorry) to July, 2009 and Krafcik told Inside Line that not only will the Velostar be coming to a dealer near you in 2011, but that the production car will look “70-80 percent” like the concept. More importantly, he advised that the new car can be thought of as a “four-passenger CRX,” a car “you can take out and wring its neck and still get good mileage. Fun and economical, with a great power-to-weight ratio.” We love the sound of that. And the more competition there is for Honda’s upcoming CR-Z, the better.

All that said, while we’re not sure where these shots were snapped, we’re pretty sure that this is indeed the new sporty Hyundai. Power will probably come from a 2.0-liter version of Hyundai’s new Theta II GDI (Gas Direct Injection) engine, though we doubt it will make 198 horses like the upcoming Sonata. But hey, maybe. More likely power will be in the 150-160 horse range. Also, let’s not forget that the Theta II GDI will soon come with a turbo. Can you imagine? A pint-sized, two-door MazdaSpeed3 fighter from Hyundai? We shudder to think. As for the name Veloster, we hope they call it the Tiburon, too. Hat tip to Danny P!

[Source: Bobaedream.co.kr]

Spy Shots: First look at 2012 Hyundai Veloster? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Malas noticias nos llegan para uno de los compactos que más fama han acumulado durante este año 2009. Se acaba de confirmar que el Tata Nano esta comenzando a perder las reservas que ya tenia realizadas.

A día de hoy, el 15% de los últimos pedidos recibidos han sido retirados debido a las interminables listas de espera que tiene dicho modelo. Estos clientes que han cancelado su reserva han optado por adquirir otros modelos un poco más caros pero por los que no tienen que esperar tanto tiempo.

Desde la propia Tata, han sufrido diversos problemas de producción que les ha obligado a reducir el ritmo de fabricación de su modelo lo cuál se ha traducido en esta bajada de reservas.

Related posts:

1. Tata Nano Europa, nuevos detalles
2. El Tata Nano europeo sufre modificaciones
3. Tata Nano costará como máximo 4.000€

I’ve previously talked about AlumiFuel in 2006 and 2007 as an environmentally friendly, on demand method to produce hydrogen. After a couple more years of intense R&D, AlumiFuel is finally starting production on its first commercial hydrogen generator.

The AlumiFuel system uses aluminum, water, and some proprietary chemical catalysts to create hydrogen on-demand and of course, onsite. AlumiFuel Power used to be owned by Hydrogen Power Inc. (HPI) until May 2009.

HPI converted a 2005 Ford Ranger XL to run on their AlumiFuel product and demonstrated the vehicle at the 2007 International Auto Show in Seattle, Washington.

According to their press release, “API’s PBIS-1000 relies on the robust chemical reaction among aluminum, water, and proprietary additives. Operation of the generator is simple: two 32-oz. ‘aluminum can’ cartridges containing aluminum powder and the proprietary additives, are loaded into the reactor vessels. Water from practically any source, including salt or brackish water, is poured into the water tank, and a hand pump is then used to inject water into the cartridges, generating 1,000 liters of hydrogen in 20 minutes.”

The AlumiFuel product is non-toxic and recyclable. It can be disposed of safety in a municipal dump or recharged to be used again and again.

But, what this really means is that this product may be used as a shortcut in building out a hydrogen infrastructure. Compressed hydrogen gas will not have to be piped or hauled by truck, tanker or train as it can be created onsite and on-demand.

This will not only bode well for hydrogen fueling stations, but could also mean home hydrogen fueling stations will be able to use this product as well.

theChive has great taste.

(theChive)

Email this story Print this post Add your comments Critics of Oregon’s generous renewable energy incentives are pointing to how corporate giants are profiting at the expense of taxpayers. For instance, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. last year paid $22.6 …

Bourne has been awarded funds for three renewable energy projects from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust for a project that furthers the Commonwealth’s clean energy goals. Bourne will receive: $4,657 to purchase one Big Belly Solar Trash …

Published Dec. 29, 2009
By Ben Reynolds, Tri-City Herald

PASCO — Lane Schumacher is not overly excited that his team is 3-9. He is also not that disappointed either.

In spite of a lackluster preseason record, the coach of the Columbia Basin College men’s basketball team is holding out hope that the first 12 games will serve as a learning experience for his young team.

“I would love to have a better record,” said Schumacher, now in his eighth season, “but hopefully we’ll learn something from those losses.”

Mixed in those nine losses — the most in the NWAACC this season — are two that the Hawks could have won and one more they should have.

CBC had a chance to knock off Mount Hood, only to get beat on a shot at the buzzer. Two days later, the Hawks led second-ranked Clackamas early, but a second half of cold shooting resulted in an eight-point loss.

Then on Dec. 19, CBC missed two free throws in the closing seconds of regulation against Clark that would have iced the game. Instead, the Hawks fell by three in overtime.

“I just chalk it up to being young,” Schumacher said.

And that’s an argument that won’t face much resistance at this point.

The Hawks have just one sophomore — Drew Church, who averaged 1.4 points per game in just over a minute of playing time last season.

That is the extent of Hawks’ experience.

Church, so far, has used that limited experience to become one of team’s leaders. In 12 games, he is averaging a team-best 15.1 points per game and ranks in the top 20 in the NWAACC with 7.5 rebounds per game.

The Hawks are also getting a nice contribution from freshman Mark Wilson. The former Liberty Christian star ranks second on team, scoring 14.9 points per game, and has emerged as a consistent 3-point shooter for the Hawks.

“He’s been playing great the last couple of weeks,” Schumacher said.

But, like the rest of his teammates, he has had plenty of time to cool off.

The Hawks wrapped up their preseason schedule with a loss to Whatcom on Dec. 20. CBC does not play again until Jan. 9 at Walla Walla to open East Region play.

That gives CBC an extended break Schumacher hopes will revive his team and provide his players with a fresh start.

“We just need to settle down a little bit,” Schumacher said. “We just need to stop talking about doing it and start doing it.”

Additional news stories can be accessed online at the Tri-City Herald.

No clue who this chick is, but my god.

(Hollywood Tuna)

La nueva escudería USF1 acaba de presentar un vídeo en el que nos muestran sus últimos progresos en el desarrollo del monoplaza que utilizarán en la temporada 2010 de la Fórmula 1.

En este vídeo podemos ver  algunos de los pasos que toman en la fábrica de Charlotte (Estados Unidos), para fabricar los monoplazas que hará uso de los motores Cosworth. La preparación de las instalaciones, la llegada de las maquinas informatizadas de mecanizado, diseño de los conjuntos mecánicos por ordenador e incluso la fabricación de algunas de las piezas.

Por último, nos muestran el morro del monoplaza recien salido del horno en el que se le da forma a la fibra de carbono. Poco más podemos destacar, sin duda se agradece este material ya que a día de hoy poco conociamos de esta recien creada escudería.

Related posts:

1. Nuevo vídeo del BMW Serie 5 GT
2. BMW-Sauber se despide de la Fórmula 1 con un emotivo vídeo
3. Jose María López ya ha firmado por USF1

Solar and wind have some great qualities as energy sources: they’re low carbon, non-fossil, and they’re renewable. But they also have one huge drawback : they are intermittent, which means they’re not nearly as reliable as the coal-fired power plant …

What a dumbass.

(The Superficial)

Gov Gab was created as part of an effort to communicate with the public using web 2.0 applications. We love getting your comments and responses and letting you know about the many ways you are able to get in touch with Uncle Sam.

Now more than ever people are using all sorts of web 2.0 platforms to talk to their government, and get results.

Think of the stuff that bugs you on a regular basis…potholes, graffiti, damaged street signs- it used to be a struggle to report these kinds of things, so most people wouldn’t bother, and the government never knew about it in the first place to take care of it.

This is no longer the case.

Take to the web to get action! Many cities like San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York are encouraging citizens to post pictures of troubled spots on their twitter accounts to make city governments aware of problems. All it takes is a click of a cell phone.

People are also independently creating downloadable applications using publicly posted information and statistics. Some use GPS technology- making you able to see where local city busses are so you can avoid waiting outside in the cold. Others report crime statistics so you can avoid unsafe neighborhoods while moving about.

What kind of web 2.0 do you use to talk to the government? What would you like to see made available to report problems and issues?

Looking for a new way to connect with people in the New Year that isn’t Twitter or Facebook and participate in internet history? Earthtunnel is a virtual project aimed at the creation of a 3D tunnel that goes the distance of  35,500 km the approximate distance of one trip around the world. The tunnel is constructed thanks to images embedded in its walls. Entering the Earthtunnel experience is completely free. Once the Earthtunnel reaches its 35,500 km journey the tunnel will be closed. Talk about an impressive New Years resolution for 2010! Better than any dopey weight loss plan.

A-DATA is looking to the future with the N002. The flash drive kicks it with both USB 3.0 and SATA II interfaces, which means that it must be fast. And it is, friends. A-DATA is claiming it’s really fast.

The drive utilizes 8-channel architecture to deliver 200 MB/s read and 170 MB/s write speeds. Of course if you don’t have USB 3.0 yet, the interface is backwards compatible with 2.0 devices although don’t expect the breakneck speeds. The price and availability haven’t been announced, but expect the model to be available in 64Gb, 128GB, and 256GB flavors.

Taipei, Taiwan – December 30, 2009 – A-DATA Technology, the world leader in DRAM modules and flash memory products, launched the industry first ever combo flash drive N002 that features the dual interface of USB 3.0 and SATA II, designed to maximize data transfer speed to the ultimate. Adopting the industry-leading 8-channel architecture, N002 is able to boost transfer speed tenfold compared to ordinary flash drives with USB 2.0 interface by delivering up to ultra-fast 200 MB/s and 170 MB/s in sequential read/write performance respectively.

Ready to hit the market by January, 2010, N002 makes USB 3.0 a reality. It supports all latest platforms that come with USB 3.0 ports, while also being backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports at a lower speed performance. Available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB, N002 is ideal for users who are thirsty for super-sized storage capacities with unrivaled speed via the innovative USB 3.0 and SATA II dual interface. A combination of speed, storage and portability altogether into one device, N002 is by all means the most effective solution to access and transfer large amount of data, including high-resolution images, multimedia files and whole lot more, at an instant and on the go.

Users can also take full advantage of A-DATA’s free-download value-add software UFDtoGO and the latest Norton Internet Security™ 2010 (60-day trial) to enhance both mobility and security of their A-DATA USB flash drives with just few easy mouse clicks away.

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Studies say you are watching more TV than ever, even as you slurp up increasing amounts of Web video. Which means you must be spending less time on something else. Like reading, perhaps?

Nope. At least not according to a new study out of the University of San Diego, which says reading tripled from 1980 to 2008, “because it is the overwhelmingly preferred way to receive words on the Internet”:

From Wired’s summary:

Americans consumed 3.6 billion terabytes of information last year, averaging 11.8 hours of information consumption per day. Video and videogames constituted 55 percent of those bytes, but on average, Americans read 36 percent of the 100,500 words they consume each day, according to the San Diego study, which analyzed more than 20 data sources. The study doesn’t cover writing, but a simple glance at Facebook feeds reveals that we’re almost certainly writing more than we used to, as well.

Obligatory “to be sure” graph: To be sure, the study’s definition of “reading” is as broad as possible. So it’s not just talking about grappling with Pynchon, but many less demanding forms of “receiving words” as well. Like skimming this text. Or a text message. Or a Tweet. Etc.

Also, there’s a good chance that you’re “reading” while you’re watching TV, and maybe watching some Web video at the same time. The San Diego study allows for lots of multitasking.

Still, this isn’t bad news, right? As long as you’re reading, you’re reading. And the more you read, the better the chances are that we’ll avoid an “Idiocracy“-like dystopia.

[Image credit: suchitra prints]

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A quick update on the Nexus One, the Android phone Google (GOOG) will likely uncrate at the January 5 media event it announced yesterday. According to documents leaked to Gizmodo, Google plans to sell an unlocked and unsubsidized version of the device for $530, or with a two-year T-Mobile contract for $179.99.

If these documents are legitimate, they would appear to confirm that Google does indeed hope to rebalance the wireless market power structure, disintermediating carriers by selling the Nexus one directly to users who are then able to pick the wireless provider of their choice. But that $530 pricepoint is a bit daunting and it seems unlikely that many customers will be eager to pay it up front — even if they’re given a post-purchase carrier subsidy once they select a provider and a wireless contract. So while the Nexus One might shake the current wireless market model up a bit, it’s probably not going to upend it as it might have if Google sold the device at cost or subsidized it with online advertising. It may, however, set the bar for how an Android phone should be done and set the stage for some much-improved second generation Android devices.

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Filed under: iPhone

Things started off looking grim for the iPhone when it went on sale in China in October of this year with sales of only 5000 phones in the first week. Forty days after the initial launch however, China Unicom reported they sold 100,000 iPhones. Now, just twenty days after that 100,000 mark, Dan Butterfield over at iPhonAsia.com is reporting a surge of iPhone sales equaling 200,000 in the last three weeks. That brings China Unicom’s iPhone sales to 300,000. in just two months.

This really isn’t surprising considering the massive popularity of the iPhone with some of China’s neighbors and another pretty big country.

It also looks like China Unicom is putting their money where their mouth is when they said “iPhone will become China’s best-selling smartphone.” This week they’ve kicked off a 46-city roadshow tour to promote the iPhone to prospective buyers across the country.

TUAWChina Unicom has now sold 300,000 iPhones originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are more than 117,000 apps on the iPhone, including more than 22,000 games. So it’s a quixotic task to try to figure out the best games of the year. But with some recommendations from readers, we’ve taken a look at some of the best and here are the most addictive games we found. We did this list last year, and I think you’ll agree that many of these new games are leaps and bounds better than last year’s titles.

1. Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style Games, $2.99). There aren’t many games where you get to play spider. In this one, you are a spider that discovers a spooky abandoned house. The art work is well done and it shows you what the world looks like to a spider. You explore it to figure out what happened to the family that lived there. You can walk, jump, or spin webs. You spin silk to make webs by making a triangle or other shapes. Some places like the bathtub and tools are so smooth that you can’t spin webs on them or crawl on them. Then you can catch flies in the webs. If you use all of your silk, you have to find food to regenerate your silk or you die. In other words, you have to plan your meals. If you eat enough, you then have to look for a portal and get to the next level. There are 38 levels in the game, from the weathervane at the top to the basement. It’s a wonderfully creative game.

2. F.A.S.T. (SGN, free). This is another next-generation iPhone game that showed off the great 3-D graphics that are possible on the platform. It’s a hardcore modern combat flight sim, but it’s pretty simple to learn the basics. You tilt the iPhone to steer your plane in a 3-D dogfight. When you lock on an enemy plane, you can fire guns or guided missiles by tapping on the screen. If someone is on your tail, you shake the iPhone to release flares as decoys to draw away the heat-seeking missiles. Getting to the point where you can actually shoot down enemy planes is a challenge, and you may look foolish playing this game on the bus as you wildly tilt your iPhone in all directions. As you proceed through the exercises, you can unlock more planes. It has cool multiplayer options as well.

3. Flight Control (Firemint, 99 cents). This game is a time waster perfect for a long car ride or a lazy day. You are an air traffic controller, guiding planes to their runways from an overhead view of an airport. You have to touch and drag planes to form a route and avoid head-on collisions with other planes and helicopters. The two-dimensional graphics aren’t all that exciting, but the game play is genuinely addictive. After a few minutes of this, you’ll find out why being an air traffic controller is such a stressful job. The game could use more variety in terms of level-ups and maps. It has inspired copycat games as well, some of which are pretty good, such as Harbor Havoc 3-D, which has 3-D effects that make the routing of ships through a harbor even more difficult.

4. Star Defense (Ngmoco, 99 cents). Tower defense games have been a staple genre among casual gamers since the debut of Desktop Tower Defense in 2007. Ngmoco created its own sci-fi version of this game with Star Defense for the iPhone. The game landscape is a 3-D planet with a trail running through it. You set up your defenses along the trail and try to stop a bunch of aliens from breaking through to your base. As you stop each wave, you get more points to set up more defenses. You can beef up your gun turrets or buy towers that can disable the electronic shields of attackers or fire flames. You can use your fingers to zoom in on the action or spin the world to view a hot spot. If you haven’t thought your defense through, nothing will save you from defeat. If 10 aliens get through, you’re toast. It’s a tough game and can hold your attention for a long time.

5. N.O.V.A. Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance (Gameloft, $6.99). Just a year ago, I would have thought that a game like N.O.V.A. would be impossible to do on an iPhone. But this first-person shooter works wonderfully well. You play a retired space marine who is dragooned into service to find out what’s gone wrong on an incommunicado marine spacecraft. When you get there, you find it has been infested with aliens and it’s your job to shoot them all. Your weapons include shotguns, grenades and machine guns; there are 13 levels in a variety of environments. Unlike some other early shooting games on the iPhone, this one has controls that are simple to use. You can control movement with one finger moving around in the lower left of the screen, and you can target enemies with a swipe on the multitouch screen and by tapping the lower right corner. The graphics are as close to mezmerizing as you can get on an iPhone. You can play multiplayer over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections.

6. Cartoon Wars (Blue, 99 cents). This game takes place in a two-dimensional cartoon world where the black-and-white cartoons are fighting against color cartoons. For thousands of years, the black-and-white cartoon tribe was enslaved by the color cartoon tribe. Now they’re in a revolt. You have to lead the black-and-white stick figures to take the enemy’s castle. You can aim your weapons at the castle and produce combat units as you attack. The action takes place in real time. There are dozens of unit types and lots of levels to upgrade. You bow will automatically fire from atop your castle, taking out some of the enemies. You also send your stick figures out to attack the enemies head-on. Your units are expendable and the battles are bloody messes. As you go on the offensive, you can reduce the enemy castle to rubble. The sequel, Cartoon Wars Gunner is also a lot of fun.

7. Jet Car Stunts (True Axis, $1.99). This game is more like a flying game than a racing game. That’s because you spend a lot of time rocketing between platforms, jumping from one place to another suspended in the clouds. Your vehicle is half jet, half car. You can steer the cars on the land, or make them drift through the air. You hurtle through the air and do spins before landing. You race through loops, jumps and other obstacles. You have to race against the clock to get to the next checkpoint. You can try to beat your own times and post the top times to leaderboards. The experience is a lot more like a quirky arcade game than a racing simulation. The game has 36 zany tracks.

8. Doom Resurrection (idSoftware/Escalation Studios, $1.99) This game showed that hardcore games with cool 3-D graphics are quite doable on the iPhone. The story and art are borrowed from Doom 3, a 2004 game with groundbreaking graphics on the PC. The game is set on rails, meaning you have limited control of the movement, sort of like riding through an attraction at Disney to land. You have to fight off the demon hordes from Hell who have taken over a research facility on Mars. You use everything from chain guns to shotguns to dispatch the monsters, and then the game shifts you to another location. The game is a lot of fun and the sounds are great, but it’s on the short side for a hardcore game. You can stop and admire the graphics, but don’t forget to keep shooting while you’re doing it.

9. Need for Speed Shift (Electronic Arts/Iron Monkey, $6.99). This version of EA’s classic racing franchise exploits the better graphics of the iPhone 3GS model that launched this summer. It also runs on the older iPhones. It looks better than EA’s earlier Need for Speed Undercover game that debuted earlier this year. (The game capitalizes on Open GL ES 2.0, which allows for better graphics like shadows and lighting effects). The Shift brand is more of a driving simulaltion, while the Undercover games play more like arcade games. But this Shift game can be played by dummies. You control the car by tilting the iPhone, or tapping its screen for brakes. You can play it in multiple modes: rookie, pro or expert. I raced in rookie mode and it’s almost impossible to crash. You try to follow the green line on a street race map. Shifting is automatic, you get help braking around turns, and thus it’s more accessible to casual players. If you play at a higher level, you get less help. You can work your way through a career with 28 different races. And you can play multiplayer via Bluetooth or 3G networking. The game has 20 cars licensed from real automakers.

10. Paper Toss (Backflip Studios, free). Paper Toss is a great game to play when you need a mindless distraction. You flick your finger across the screen to toss paper into a garbage can. You have to change aim often because a fan blows the paper sideways. You can start out easy and then move up to medium and hard levels, where you have to make shots from farther and farther away. It’s simple and addictive. The game has been downloaded more than 12 million times and has been copycatted a lot. You hear applause from your office coworkers when you make a tough shot or “oohs” when you have a heartbreaker miss. It’s refreshing to see a game about wasting time, and it’s just about as fun as the real thing. If only it had a great story to go with it, then the video game industry could make a whole series of games and then make a movie based on it. Just kidding.

There are a lot of honorable mentions. Among the titles that have also gotten a lot of applause this year are: Orbital, Real Racing, Myst, Mecho Wars, Peggle, Bejeweled Blitz, Jelly Cart 2, Skee-Ball, Bejeweled 2, Tap Tap Revenge 3, Zen Bound, Edge, Ragdoll Blaster, Blimp, Glyder 2, Gears, TouchGrind, Circuit Strike, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, Skies of Glory, Civilization Revolution, Canabalt, the Sims 3, Rolando 2,  Doom, Drop 7, and Spore Creatures.

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[This is confirmed: Spinvox just announced a sale to Nuance in a blog post, and in a press release. The price is $102.5 million, comprising $66 million in cash and $36.5 million in common stock..]

Spinvox, the London company that lets you translate your voice into text messages, could announce its sale today, according to a VentureBeat source close to the company who requested anonymity.

We’ve called Spinvox for official comment. We reached Simon Crowfoot, the company’s strategic business development director, but he said he was unaware of any details, and referred us to the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Christina Domecq, who has not yet responded.

[Update: Here’s what the company says in its statement confirming the acquisition by Nuance: “SpinVox already services nearly 100 million users worldwide. With that in mind, Nuance will leverage SpinVox’s carrier-grade voice-to-text infrastructure, network product portfolio, multi-language support and experienced UK-based development teams to further drive and accelerate adoption of voice-to-text around the world.”]

The rumored sale comes at a time when the company is struggling for survival, and as a chorus of competitors surround it.

Rumors of Spinvox sale first arose earlier this month — when it leaked that the company was in negotiations with the Burlington, Mass., based speech-recognition giant Nuance Communications. Spinvox needs to find some sort of exit of its financial predicament: It owes $47 million (£30 million) in debt to one of its investors, which was due to be paid back earlier this month. The company got a reprieve on that commitment until the end of January, and earlier rumors had suggested the company was trying to announce a sale by Christmas.

In its story two weeks ago, London’s Sunday Times had said the company was looking to sell to Nuance for about $150 million (or £92m). But it’s possible that Nuance has dragged out the talks, in order to push for a lower price. After all, that’s a high price to pay for a company that is still losing money (it reportedly lost about $70 million in 2007, is reportedly projected to make only $10 million (£7 million) in revenue, and has run out of cash reserves. BBC reported that Nuance is interested in the Spinvox’s contracts with a international telecoms operators, such as Telefonica in South America and Telstra of Australia.

However, it’s not clear how much negotiating power Spinvox has, considering the proliferation of companies that do very much the same thing as it can. Nuance already has similar technology, having recently bolstered its offerings with the acquisition of another company that does speech-to-text, Jott.

Spinvox also drew criticism when it was revealed that much of its translation relies on humans, not on automated technology, raising questions of its competitive viability. The recent emergence of Google Voice, which offers much the same service, but which does not rely on humans and instead uses technology and machine learning from a huge base of users, poses a significant threat. Then there’s a host of other smaller players, including Simulscribe (which recently struck a big deal with Ditech), Yap (which focuses on mobile) Promptu (which recently released a voice-to-text iPhone app), vlingo, and reQall.

The six-year-old company also drew negative attention in July, when it asked its staff to take some of its pay in the form of stock options. It still managed to raise $25 million more in cash from investors in August, and also demonstrated its technology at that time to assuage critics that it wasn’t wholly reliant on humans for its translation efforts.

The company has raised about $200 million, which include GLG Partners, Goldman Sachs, BlueMountain and Toscafund Asset Management, Martin Hughes, Carphone Warehouse, ABN Amro, Gartmore and Allen, and several private backers.

In September, the company got hit again with negative publicity, when one of its smaller investors, Invesco, said it was writing down the value of its £759,000 investment in the company by 90 percent, valuing its .71 stake at just £76,000. That effectively values the company at only about £10 million ($15.8 million). Invesco also revealed its report to shareholders that Spinvox had been put up for sale.

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