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Sure, the Sidetrack table turns your home into a near-police state, with monitors in every room. But how else are you going to get an exact chart of your ADD wanderings? It’s also… woooooaaah SHINY! More »

A few simple tips will help make your videos more like Ronin and less like the Gone in 60 Seconds remake.

1. Tweak the exposure.
If your camera has programmable settings, make sure they’re optimized for what you’re doing. Shooting outdoors in the daylight almost always works well. Inside a car, however, the contrast between a dark interior and the bright light coming through the windows can foul up a camera’s automatic exposure settings. Spot metering, which determines the exposure based on a small section in the center of the image, can compensate, as long as the camera is cued in on the driver.

Keep Reading: How To: Make the Most of Your Onboard Videos – Gear Box DIY

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Classics, Government/Legal, Technology, GM

Back in November, General Motors unveiled a new crate motor at the SEMA show. Dubbed the “E-ROD,” it was designed to meet the needs of the modern hot-rodder. It offered an out-of-the-box performance option for people who wanted to build a project vehicle, but who didn’t want to worry about legal hassles that can come with using older engines. The E-ROD engine isn’t really new… it’s basically the base Corvette powerplant, adapted for mounting in just about anything. It’s a 6.2-liter LS3 rated at 430 horsepower and 424 pound-feet of torque, and pointedly, it’s also fully emissions compliant, which is the main draw.

Rather than just display the engine on a stand at SEMA, though, GM decided to install an E-ROD in a beautifully restored ’55 Chevy, one that we recently had the opportunity to see up close again. It’s a stunning show car in a fairly understated wrapper. The interior is particularly impressive, with its tri-tone fabrics and retro dash and gauge cluster that hides secret “Check Engine” lights. A fun project, no doubt, but there was one slight flaw – the E-ROD ’55 Chevy was running an automatic tranny. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the real shame was that the engine wasn’t available with a manual transmission option.

Today, GM announced that they’ve remedied that situation. The Bow-Tie boys and girls have just released part number 19256487, a new E-ROD LS3 calibrated for manual transmissions. The only real difference compared to the automatic version is in the electronic control module’s programming. The new version is available as of today for $9,375 – the same as the automatic version. So if you have a hot rod project that could use modern Corvette power, give them a call. More info in the presser after the jump, and a gallery of the E-ROD ’55 Chevy and a Superformance Cobra MK III roadster (gasp!) with the E-ROD installed.

[Source: General Motors]
Photos by Frank Filipponio/Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading GM E-Rod crate motor no longer just for the shiftless

GM E-Rod crate motor no longer just for the shiftless originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The World Bank announced Sunday at the end of its Spring Meetings its intent to seek more than $86 billion for a general capital increase from its donor countries with additional funds going toward new strategic priorities following the global recession.

With the Bank having granted internal approval for the increase, the additional funding will now need to be approved by the finance ministries of the World Bank’s individual donor countries. (Funding from the United States is proposed by the U.S. Treasury and submitted to the U.S. Congress for approval.)

While in its announcement the Bank included climate change among its areas for strategic focus, it did not address NGOs' call to condition capital increases in sustainable energy financing.

In a statement released Sunday and distributed to finance ministries around the world, nearly 90 international organizations, including Environmental Defense Fund and development, environment, faith-based, science, women's, and indigenous groups, called for international financial institutions to stop using public resources to subsidize the fossil fuel industry.

While World Bank funding is limited and the need for electricity for economic development is critical, funding should be directed towards renewable and sustainable energy sources.

Until policies phasing out carbon-intensive infrastructure are approved, the statement says,

countries should direct funds requested by the Bank and other institutions for general capital increases to other financing mechanisms for supporting sustainable development, poverty reduction and clean energy.

EDF strongly encourages the U.S. Congress and Treasury to help shift World Bank resources and strategy towards a fundamental rethinking of development policies to favor strictly low- or no-carbon energy sources, both by providing sufficient funding for the Bank’s dedicated Clean Investment Funds and by reorienting the Bank’s overall lending portfolio toward low-carbon development.

Along with several in the industry, I think the BlackBerry Pearl 3G will sell quite well, provided that they keep the price point below $50.  To that end, Telus announced the device today, and it is slated to launch in May (next month) for CAD $29.99 on a three-year contract.  Telus plans to offer the 20-key “condensed QWERTY” version in black, but they’re also picking up the pink color as a Telus exclusive (within Canada, most likely).  Canadian users, does the price point (and device itself, of course) appeal to you?

Via Engadget Mobile

by Agence France-Presse

Senate Majority Leader Harry ReidWASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday he was determined to pass sweeping bills to overhaul immigration and to battle climate change this year despite stiff opposition to both measures.

“Immigration and energy are equally vital to our economic and national security. And we’ve ignored both of them for far too long. I’m committed to doing both this session of Congress,” Reid told reporters.

Reid pledged to act first on legislation to combat global warming, noting that the bill was “much further down the road as far as a product” and stressing that “if you have a bill that’s ready to go, that’s the one I’m going to go to.”

His comments came after a key Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), abruptly pulled out of efforts to push forward on a compromise energy and climate bill, citing Democratic plans to move first on immigration.

Graham, Democratic Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), and Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conon.) had been set to unveil their bill on Monday, but the Republican’s abrupt about-face scuttled the plan.

Kerry said Tuesday that he was poised to send the legislation to the Environmental Protection Agency for a formal assessment of its likely impact on the U.S. economy and on emissions of greenhouse gases. “We are sending the bill to be modeled, now, with Lindsey Graham’s consent and agreement,” said Kerry. “So we’re full speed ahead, folks, notwithstanding this moment of public stall, and we hope the issue can be resolved soon.”

The House of Representatives passed its climate and energy bill last year, and Democratic leaders there say action on immigration will depend on the Senate.

Senate Democrats and their two independent allies control 59 seats and will need at least one Republican to join them on both bills in order to rally the 60 votes needed to ensure passage over any delaying tactics.

Related Links:

14 buildings compete to be the Biggest Loser (of energy waste)

Engineers plan underwater dome to contain Gulf oil spill

The upside of the Senate climate bill’s troubles

State senators unanimously supported a bill Tuesday that would require anyone seeking a motorcycle license endorsement to take a $200 novice training course.

Currently, only licensed drivers under 18 are required to take the class.

The mandate would apply to all new endorsement applicants and to motorcyclists who let their endorsements lapse for at least two years. It would not apply to those who already have an endorsement in Connecticut or in another state.

A motorcycle endorsement is designated by the letter “M” on a driver’s license. Anyone wishing to drive a motorcycle must have a valid driver’s license and a valid motorcycle endorsement or permit.

If a person successfully completes a motorcycle training course, the Department of Motor Vehicles, by law, can waive the on-road portion of the “endorsement” application process.

Rep. Timothy Larson, D-East Hartford, proposed the motorcycle training bill after talking with East Hartford resident, Stephanie Pelletier. Pelletier’s 19-year-old son, Nicholas Cohen, died in a 2008 motorcycle accident.

“For me, this is Nick’s bill,” said Sen. Gary LeBeau, D-East Hartford.

A few lawmakers had concerns about how the state would pay for an increase in demand for the Department of Transportation’s Connecticut Rider Education Program. The Office of Fiscal Analysis says the bill, which would go into effect Oct. 1, would result in a $100,000 cost to the DOT. The legislature’s budget office says the initial costs would be covered by a federal grant, but lawmakers say they are worried about future costs.

Tuesday, the bill was amended. The mandatory motorcycle training would now be contingent on the availability of federal funding. The amendment eased some fears, but Republican lawmakers reminded their colleagues that relying on federal funding is always a risky endeavor.

The Washington Post has adopted many strategies to stave off its collapsing circulation.  It has, for instance, gone tabloid, repeatedly publishing falsehood-filled op-eds by Sarah Palin, including one on climate science!

It also strains to print an unconventional “contrarian” analysis ever week in its “5 Myths” series, which is supposedly “a challenge to everything you think you know.”  Of course, lots of what you know is true, and that means the Post has to print lots of stuff that isn’t.

In its 5 Myths about China’s economic power piece two weeks ago, “Myth” 4 was “China’s hunger for resources is sucking the world dry and making major contributions to global warming.”  You may notice something about that myth — it isn’t one.  China is making major contributions to global warming.  One would have to categorize that as a fact.  China  is now actually the world’s biggest emitter, which must qualify as a “major” contribution even to the Post.

And the ‘debunking’ asserts, “unlike the United States, China has recognized that it cannot let its fossil-fuel appetite grow forever and is working hard to improve efficiency.”  China, like the United States under Obama Administration, is working to improve efficiency, but right now China looks like it plans to keep building one or two coal plants a week for the foreseeable future — whereas U.S. fossil fuel consumption may well have peaked a few years ago and in any case will see little net growth from 2005 through 2020 and probably well beyond that.  Indeed, but for a handful of Senators, we’d be on a path to an 80% reduction by 2050.

This Sunday, the Post published its most nonsensical piece in the series, “5 Myths about green energy.“  They farmed out the task to the right wing Manhattan Institute, which, surprise, surprise, has received $800,000 from the big-time polluters at Koch Industries in recent years, on top of money from ExxonMobil.  It’s no surprise Big Oil and polluters fund right-wing disinformation.   And I suppose it’s no longer a surprise that the Post reprint their misinformation as fact.

I don’t have the time to debunk the entire piece.  Fortunately, Matt Wasson  Director of Programs for Appalachian Voices, dismantled the first one thoroughly at HuffPost, which I excerpt below:

Readers of the Washington Post were served up some jaw-dropping whoppers yesterday about why renewable energy — and wind in particular — supposedly doesn’t reduce CO2 emissions, increase our national security, or create jobs in the US. The author of the op-ed is climate change denier and long time fossil fuel cheerleader Robert Bryce….

While challenging everything you think you know is generally a good idea, it’s not a good idea to replace what you know with what Bryce thinks he knows because, as it turns out, he doesn’t know much about renewable energy. Relying on bad science like the Nature Conservancy’s “Energy Sprawl” study and thoroughly discredited white papers like “The Case of Denmark” from Bjorn Lomborg’s Institute for Energy Studies, Bryce deftly turns logic and common sense on its head to convince his readers that burning more fossil fuels is really the best path to a green energy future.

… I’ll just focus on Bryce’s “Myth 1: Solar and wind power are the greenest of them all.”

Bryce begins his argument with what has become the new favorite talking point of renewable energy detractors and climate change deniers: “solar and wind technologies require huge amounts of land to deliver relatively small amounts of energy, disrupting natural habitats.”

As I have written extensively about in a previous post, the authors of the “Energy Sprawl” committed the cardinal sin of ecological modeling by comparing apples to oranges (more like watermelons to grapes). In the study, wind power was presumed to impact an area as much as 300-400 times greater than the actual footprint of the turbines on the land while the impacts of coal power, for instance, were assumed to go no farther than the footprint of mine permits, leaving aside any consideration of habitat fragmentation and wildlife disturbance that increased wind’s alleged sprawl factor by 300 to 400 times. Nor did the “Energy Sprawl” study include the acreage consumed by actual coal-fired power plants, the infrastructure for processing coal and disposing of processing wastes, the rail and barge infrastructure for transporting coal to power plants, or the fills and impoundments used for disposing of coal combustion waste.

While it should strain the credulity of even the most entrenched climate change denier that a single wind turbine would impact more than 100 football fields worth of land, at least TNC’s paper makes clear that only 2-5% of the area is cleared for access roads and a buffer around each turbine. Bryce makes it sound like they’re referring to the actual footprint of the turbine, which is about 1/3rd of an acre for a 2MW turbine (or about 1/300th of the land impact estimate cited by Bryce). If a fair comparison were made, wind would produce 10 to 20 times as many watts per square meter as Bryce’s hypothetical natural gas well.

But where Bryce really goes off the deep end is when he states:

“Nor does wind energy substantially reduce CO2 emissions. Since the wind doesn’t always blow, utilities must use gas or coal-fired generators to offset wind’s unreliability. The result is minimal — or no — carbon dioxide reduction.”

First off, while supporters of increased reliance on fossil fuels love to conflate the issues of intermittency (which is manageable) with unreliability (which is not), countries such as Spain and Denmark have managed to integrate large amounts of wind power into their grids without power outages or other problems that an “unreliable” power source might create.

That said, it’s true that there is not necessarily a one-to-one relationship when it comes to displacement of coal or natural gas by wind. Because of its intermittency, wind requires a certain level of “firming” with conventional or other renewable technologies like biomass and hydro to ensure there is sufficient electricity supply when wind resources are low. That’s an issue that could be intelligently discussed and built into energy plans were it not for people like Bryce that use it as an opportunity to confuse the public and mislead them into believing intermittency makes wind an unreliable source of power.

More apalling, however, is Bryce’s extraordinary claim that wind power results in little or no CO2 reduction. As evidence, he cites the 2007 annual environmental report from Energinet.dk, the largest operator of Denmark’s electricity grids. The online version on the Washington Post website even includes a link to that report, which should prove quite useful for Bryce, as he doesn’t appear to have read it. According to the report:

“… some of Denmark’s thermal generation will be displaced by the commissioning of new wind turbine capacity. Extra wind capacity will also contribute to displacing thermal generation outside Denmark.”

The purported evidence from the report that Bryce uses to support is based on his tortured and selective presentation of CO2 emissions data. According to Bryce, the Energinet.dk report shows that:

“…carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation in 2007 were at about the same level as they were back in 1990, before the country began its frenzied construction of turbines.”

Contrast that with what the report actually stated:

“CO2 emissions vary considerably from year to year, depending on electricity trading. Adjusting for imports and exports resulted in an overall emissions reduction of 23% in the 1990-2007 period. The primary reason is a conversion of Danish electricity and heat generation to less CO2 intensive fuels such as natural gas, coupled with increased use of renewable energy sources”

So what’s the disconnect between Bryce’s analysis and reality? As with many small European countries, Denmark’s electric grid is integrated into larger grids of neighboring countries – in Denmark’s case those are the grids in Germany, Norway and Sweden. In general, Denmark exports a lot of electricity to the German grid while importing power from Sweden and Norway, which have large (and cheap) surpluses of hydropower, particularly in wet years. What Bryce has done is compare 1990, a year when Denmark imported a huge proportion of its electricity from other Scandanavian countries, with 2007, a year it was a net exporter of electricity. The graph below from the Energinet.dk report tells the story – the red bars are the in-country emissions, while the grey line shows emissions adjusted for imports and exports of electricity:

Bryce clearly draws his analysis from a 2009 white paper entitled “The Case of Denmark” produced by the Institute for Energy Studies. That institute is run by notorious climate change denier Bjorn Lomborg and the analysis has been thoroughly debunked by numerous analysts. Essentially, the analysis in The Case of Denmark is based on the bizarre assumption that wind-generated electricity exported to Germany simply disappears from the grid, rather than viewing Denmarks’s energy production in the context of a multi-nation integrated grid.

But the point where Bryce’s analysis goes from misleading (or ignorant) to downright dishonest is when he attributes Denmark’s success in controlling CO2 emissions to a low population growth rate, while touting the United States’ success in decreasing per capita emissions by 2.5% between 1980 and 2006. Keeping with the 1990-2008 time frame from the most recent Energinet.dk report, the US has done somewhat better than that, decreasing per-capita CO2 emissions by about 4.5%. But over that same time period, the Danes have decreased their per capita CO2 emissions by 21%.

A final piece of distorted analysis provided by Bryce is when he states:

“… Through 2017, the Danes foresee no decrease in carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation.”

On the surface, that is true, the Danes project no decrease in carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation over the next decade, but that is because they plan to replace inefficient old oil heaters with heat pumps and transition to far more efficient electric vehicles. The net effect will be an enormous decrease in overall CO2 emissions over that time period. The remarkable thing is that the projected 1.2% annual increases in electricity demand resulting mostly from transitioning to more efficient electric vehicles (10% by 2020) and heat pumps will be met entirely with renewable energy sources, primarily wind. In fact, increasing wind generation up to 20% of their electricity generation has been such a success that the Danes plan to expand their wind generation up to 36% of their electricity mix by 2020.

On a final note, Bryce ignored the many other environmental benefits Denmark has enjoyed from its rapid transition to renewable energy sources. For instance, sulfur dioxide emissions, which decreased in the US by about 50% between 1990 and 2008, were reduced by 94% in Denmark over the same period. Here’s a graph of sulfur dioxide emissions from the Energinet.dk report:

It’s particularly notable that sulfur dioxide emissions are the primary cause of acid rain which, back in the early 90s, was found to be responsible for massive reproductive failure in some species of birds nesting in Northern European forests. The benefits of these reductions for bird populations absolutely dwarfs the impacts of the small number of birds killed by wind turbines.

All of the analysis in this post is based on just one of five “myths” about renewable energy that Bryce addresses in his op-ed. His treatment of the other four is equally misleading, but hopefully this post will provide an indication of the depths to which Bryce is willing to sink to make his case for a greater reliance on fossil fuels.

The analysis of these “myths” is presumably drawn from Bryce’s new book, Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future….  If his piece in the Washington Post is indeed indicative of what’s in his book, it should provide excellent fodder for a variety of debunkers seeking an honest debate about the various paths the US could take in moving to a 21st century energy policy.

The startup Formspring.me was just four months old when it closed a $2.5 million angel round of funding last month from 10 name-brand investors, among them angel funds, individual entrepreneurs — even a venture capital firm. Formspring’s premise is a kind of blogging in reverse; users set up a profile and invite anyone to ask them questions. And it’s seen rapid adoption, to the tune of 50 million uniques a month and more than 300 million questions answered to date.

But premise and adoption numbers aside, such a long list of investors putting money into a jumbo-seed round so early on is not uncommon these days. Don’t blame it on too few investments driving up demand, however; on the contrary, there are many young companies taking lots of money from lots of investors. We find ourselves reporting on another early-stage funding round for an Internet or mobile startup every day. Whereas a year ago…nada.

There isn’t much in the way of comprehensive statistics on angel investing, but the numbers that are available back this trend. U.S. angel investment deal flow was up 33 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2010, according to CB Insights. And angel investors themselves cite a return to frothiness. I interviewed a passel of them about when it started, why — and what it means for the future of today’s crop of companies.

‘Trigger-happy, But Not Irrational’

“I haven’t seen this level of startup activity (and angel investing) in SV since ’98,” PayPal and Slide founder Max Levchin tweeted back in March, an observation he reiterated during a recent discussion. “I’ve probably made more investments in the last month than in the previous year,” he told me. “I’m suddenly trigger-happy. And I am not irrational.”

Early-stage investors agree that things started picking up in the fourth quarter of 2009, and were going full steam ahead by the first quarter of 2010. Levchin’s PayPal and Slide compatriot Keith Rabois reports having invested in five companies this January, compared to none in the fourth quarter of ’09. The first Google employee to go angel, Ayden Senkut, told me he’s made double the amount of investments this quarter as he did during the previous three-month period. And there are no signs of a slowdown.

All of which has had an impact on valuations. From a price perspective, “There are no longer deals to be had,” said Jeremy Liew, managing director at Lightspeed Venture Partners and an investor in companies such as Flixster and RockYou. Indeed, multiple angels said that entrepreneurs now open angel rounds at $750,000, whereas 18 months ago it was unusual to see anything above $500,000.

Investor Posse(s)

The larger rounds are often provided by a larger number of investors. And there do seem to be more total investors in the angel market. Jessica Livingston of Y Combinator, the pioneering three-month intensive startup program, said that investor attendance at its latest Demo Day in March was up 50 percent from the previous session, held in August 2009.

The startups presenting at Demo Day were swarmed — but in fact there was so much advance interest that a quarter of them already had money in the bank before the day even kicked off, according to Livingston. Whether it be former Googlers, former PayPal peeps, or just folks with some money who’d like to be tapped into what’s hot, there are a lot of people these days willing to cut checks for tens of thousands of dollars.

“When I first started doing this I was the only ex-Google angel, and today there are anywhere between 20 and 40, and that’s just Google,” said Senkut, whose Felicis Ventures has about 50 active investments. There’s even one angel team, Mixin Capital, that was started by the Y Combinator alums who sold Zenter to Google and invests almost exclusively in Y Combinator startups.

So many investors on the hunt lead to what Rabois called a “dogs and cats round, with everyone piling on.” Formspring’s round of 10 named investors is just one example. Though Rabois, who serves as EVP of strategy for Slide, said he was “dubious” as to whether that was a good thing. “When there’s lots of people involved, nobody’s accountable,” he noted, never mind how many patrons an entrepreneur then has to please.

There’s also increasing collaboration between angels, through organizations like AngelList and the Angel Forum as well as Y Combinator and the many startup camp copycats it’s inspired. (Increased knowledge sharing might also be partly to blame for the mini-swarms of me-too companies we see these days. There’s a reason they call it groupthink.)

And new incubators and seed funds are popping up all over the place. For instance, the video embedded above is from a tour I took of Kicklabs, a soon-to-open space in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood set up by Transmedia Capital in partnership with the building owner. They’re planning to give startups free rent and access to advisers and resources (and a pretty sweet in-office slide) in exchange for the equivalent of a $25,000 share of each company.

Shortest. Recession. Ever.

So why now? Why are there so many companies deemed worthy of receiving money and so many investors willing to give it to them? The simplest reason is that the overall economy, after cratering in the fall of ’08, is showing signs of recovery. Even if the market isn’t righted again, investors’ public company stocks are moving in the right direction.

Call it the shortest recession ever, as I discuss in the video embedded below with SoftTech VC‘s Jeff Clavier, who himself has made 75 consumer Internet investments in the last six years, 48 of them in the last two and a half. He had four exits in 2009: Mint to Intuit, Mixer Labs to Twitter, Ohloh to SourceForge and DanceJam to Grind Networks.

Clavier came by our office studio to talk about the state of angel investing. “There was a handful of us six years ago and now there’s a legion,” he said. One of the factors that prompted Clavier to start investing was how much cheaper it had become to start companies, given web infrastructure and monetization tools. And that’s only more true today.

Another factor is that starting a company has a cool factor — especially these days. “You see people from Wharton coming out to Silicon Valley now” is how Rabois put it, whereas a few years ago, “a lot of those people would have been at investment banks.”

The Race to Get in Early

To be fair, the economy is not out of trouble yet, and neither are later-stage Internet companies. VC funding numbers are still depressed, with first-quarter stats for Internet-specific U.S. investments showing a 14 percent quarter-on-quarter decrease in dollars and a 19 percent decrease in the number of deals, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers and the NVCA.

Still, there are some notable larger and highly sought-after venture funding rounds — like the yet-to-be-closed but widely reported bidding war for Foursquare, and competitive deals closed by former Facebook employees’ companies Asana and Quora.

Asana and Quora are both pre-launch — aka, the kind of companies that would normally be getting angel funding. “Because of the excitement around microcap and seed investing, venture capital firms are being more active in the space as well,” said Senkut. “The valuations are going up too fast. They feel like they may need to have a better grasp on the seed stage.”

And after a long IPO drought, there appear to be some viable exits approaching IPO-style valuations available to startup shareholders. Google, after not buying a single company for nearly a year, has acquired nearly 15 since last August. And there’s an active secondary market for employee and early investor shares, led by Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies, which has made deals to buy common stock in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon. Those companies are part of a small pack that see active secondary market trading, both privately and facilitated by sites like SecondMarket and SharesPost.

Nature or Nurture?

Are today’s web and mobile startups any different or better than those of the past? Investors contend that they are, for a few reasons. First of all, there’s a working theory that companies borne out of the hardship of a bust cycle are better grounded, if only because they’re not swept up in the hype of a boom. Secondly, many of today’s early startups actually have revenue before they seek funding, whether from commerce, subscriptions or coupons. Or, like Formspring, they have incredibly viral and mainstream adoption that seems to promise long-term value.

And thirdly, as Max Levchin put it, “Every decade or so you see enough of a buildup in technology capabilities to enable things that change the world in fundamental enough ways that incumbents can’t take advantage of and startups can.” That’s why he invested in the social payments startup WePay, which he hopes will take on PayPal. The behaviors the company is trying to address are fundamentally different than those of 10 years ago because broadband Internet has become a much more significant part of our life since then.

But there are downsides to so much money being spread around. More funding buys an entrepreneur a bigger runway, but also increased oversight and higher expectations. The result will be that many similar companies will have trouble co-existing, and the most crowded segments will see consolidation. There’s no way all these companies will succeed.

Lastly, increased excitement around early-stage companies is also responsible for an imbalance in the tech job market. “I do not have a single company that is not hiring, and I do not have a single company that is not finding it difficult,” said Senkut. “Anyone worth being hired as an employee is starting their own company.”

For some, this kind of frenzied, frothy atmosphere will be all-too-reminiscent of the dot-com bubble 10 years ago. At this accelerated pace, it’s possible that the shortest recession ever could be followed by the shortest boom.

Crashing wave image courtesy Flickr user jenny downing.

The iPhone just got a whole lot better. Kmobs/persianowns from teamdouche, Cyanogen’s squad of coding misfits and they are awesome, has just confirmed CM5 is running on the iPhone 3G.

Earlier, the radio and camera was confirmed to be working on the iPhone. Kmobs promised screenshots of CM running on the iPhone so expect those shortly. This is shaping up to be an epic day for Android and shameful day for Steve Jobs. Can you imagine how he would feel when more than half of iPhone users are running CM instead of being locked down by Apple. It’s going to happen, it’s just matter of time.

[Thanks Artem Russakovskii for the tip]

The company Lighting Science Group Corporation has just won an allocation of almost $19 million in federal stimulus bonds to expand its operations to develop and manufacture energy efficient LED lighting in Florida, with the potential to create 832 new green jobs.  The boost for clean, sustainable, job-creating technology is in stark contrast to last week’s Gulf Coast oil rig disaster, which killed 11 workers and created an oil slick that is currently the size of Rhode Island, to say nothing of the recent Massey coal mine disaster that killed 29 workers.

In this regard, the massive clean energy rally in Washington earlier this week was as much a demonstration of support for a greener workforce as it is for action on greenhouse gas emissions.  Producers estimate that more than 150,000 people attended, even though the event received minimal buildup compared to the giant PR  push for the tea bag party rallies.

(more…)

I love pie, so when I had the opportunity to become a judge at the Crisco 2010 National Pie Championships at the American Pie Council’s Great American Pie Festival, I jumped at it. This is the biggest pie contest in the country, with categories for commercial pies – such as those you find at grocery store bakeries and in restaurant bakeries, like Kroger and Baker’s Square – amateur pies made by home bakers, junior pies made by kids and professional pies made by bakers. So, I flew out to Kissimee, Florida this past weekend to try some pie.

I ended up being one of about 100 judges judging the amateur pie division on Saturday. This is a popular division, with about 400 entries of just about any flavor you can imagine. It was broken up into 15 categories, ranging from Peanut Butter to Apple to Cherry to Chocolate Cream. There were 6 or 7 judges for each category, all seated around a circular table. The judging was fun, but there were a lot of points that we had to hit as we looked at each pie. We judged overall appearance, sliced appearance, overall flavor, filling, crust and creativity. The scores were tallied up by officials in another room, so while we did discuss the pies we liked best at our tables, we didn’t have to come to a consensus about a winner ourselves.

(more…)

“The energy bill is much further down the road…. Common sense dictates that if you have a bill that’s ready to go, that’s the one I’m going to go to,” Reid told reporters at his weekly press conference this afternoon, according to Kate Shepard at Mother Jones Network.

Reid had already signaled this reminder of how the Senate prioritizes legislation to the media over the weekend. He laid it out even more unequivocally today.

“The energy bill is ready and we’ll move that more quickly than the bill we don’t have. I don’t have an immigration bill,” he said. (more…)

MTV has kicked off the 2010 awards season by unveiling the first host promo for this year’s 19th annual MTV Movie Awards, airing LIVE from Los Angeles on Sunday, June 6.

Watch as Parks & Recreation star/standup comedian Aziz Ansari gets endorsements from a few of his celebrity friends — including Zac Efron, Diddy, and Kristen Bell.

(What a cute baby!)

Louisiana’s oil spill is releasing 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, sure to threaten wildlife and resources.

It’s not hard to wonder why people are seemingly apathetic when it comes to environmental issues when there isn’t more focus going towards environmental emergencies that could cause severe degradation to natural resources and wildlife. Did you know that right now approximately 42,000 gallons of oil per day is pouring into the water just 36 miles from the Louisiana coast? You may have if you’ve known where to look, but sadly this environmental emergency of epic proportions isn’t receiving the media attention that it should be.

(more…)

This “Recalled Baby Products 2009-2010” graphic from the website hugamonkey is massive, and it shows how many types of products were recalled over the past 16 months. You can use it as a reference tool to see if there’s anything in your home on the list, or to remind yourself why you’d rather have a houseplant.

“Baby Gear Recalls: Are Your Baby Products Safe?” [Hugamonkey] (Thanks to Tamar!)

Someone is excited to be launching their first Android device. U.S. Cellular announced last week they would be selling the HTC Desire and now they shared a release time frame. Potential customers should circle July if they are interested in picking up the phone.

We initially thought the HTC Desire might land on more U.S. carriers, but that has not been the case so far. U.S. Cellular runs a CDMA network, but I don’t think we will see the Desire on the other large CDMA carriers like Sprint or Verizon. However, I have a feeling Cellular South might pick up some more Android phones and the Desire would be a nice addition to their lineup.

Hungry for more Android info? How about a peek at some specs for the gorgeous HTC Desire including a 3.7″ AMOLED touchscreen display, 5 MP camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi, GPS, Android Market and an 8 GB microSD card. How about news of a launch date around July? We’ll need to make sure our rigorous testing is complete before you can get your hands on this sweet phone. Stay tuned here for more exclusive Android updates!U.S. Cellularvia Facebook

Make sure to follow U.S. Cellular on Facebook to keep up with all the latest details.

[Thank you dmatthews for the tip]

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Filed under: Technology, Volkswagen

Volkswagen is taking a page from the Apple playbook by inviting software developers to help shape the face of the automaker’s infotainment systems. The German manufacturer is holding an “App My Ride” contest where anyone can submit an application that they think would work well in future VW products. The ultimate goal is to put a little more control into the hands of the company’s customers in order to create an infotainment system that’s functional and easy to use, but there’s also around $18,600 worth of prizes on the table for the best apps.

On May 3rd, VW will launch a new web site where users can upload their apps and submit ideas. Volkswagen is hoping that a collaborative community will spring from the project where developers can discuss apps the company currently uses as well as hone their concepts.

In order to jump into the fray, you’ll need to come up with an idea for your very own app, a graphic design of the user interface and the appropriate programming in Adobe Flash or Flex. As part of the contest, VW is offering winning students a unique opportunity to study with the Volkswagen Research Group in Tokyo, Shanghai, California or Wolfsburg.

Winners will be picked by the “App My Ride” community and a panel of VW execs. One lucky developer will get to take part in a special vehicle unveil with their flight and hotel on the Volkswagen tab on top of cash prizes. Make the jump for the full press release.

[Source: VW]

Continue reading Volkswagen asks developers to design next-gen. infotainment systems

Volkswagen asks developers to design next-gen. infotainment systems originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists from the University of South Florida have discovered the water purifying power of the prickly pear cactus.  An extract from the desert-dweller is very effective at removing sediment and bacteria from dirty H2O and, even better, it grows all around the world.

The scientists aren’t the first to realize this plant’s ability.  Nineteenth-century Mexican communities used the cactus as a water purifier. The thick gum in the cactus that stores water is responsible for the purification.  The scientists extracted the gum and then added it to water that had been dirtied up with sediment and bacteria.

The gum caused the sediment and bacteria to combine and settle to the bottom, filtering 98 percent of the bacteria from the water.  The next phase is to test it on natural water.

The scientists see communities in developing countries using the cactus on daily basis.  They could boil a slice of it to release the gum and then add it to water just like the scientists did.  But there are hurdles to overcome.  What resources would be necessary for widespread growth of the cactus for this purpose and how can people ensure the “treated” water is truly bacteria free?  If these problems can be solved, cheap, clean water could be accessible for millions who are currently without.

via New Scientists

Governor M. Jodi Rell said that she will appeal the Obama administration’s denial Tuesday of her request for individual aid to homeowners, renters and employers hurt by last month’s heavy storms and flooding.

“The storms that battered our state last month left a trail of astonishing devastation in their wake – crushed cars, homes struck by trees, week-long power outages and staggering flooding,” Rell said. “This decision is not only disappointing – it’s wrong, and I will appeal it.”

President Obama Friday approved Rell’s request for a “major disaster declaration” allowing financial aid to the state and municipal governments in Fairfield, Middlesex and New London counties.

But Rell also had made a broader request covering New Haven and Windham counties in addition to the other three. She sought federal aid for individuals in those five counties, in which her office said 1,315 homes and 116 business suffered estimated damages of $10.6 million.

The broader request was denied Tuesday. A Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator told Rell in a letter that preliminary assessments in the five counties “revealed that the damage to the private sector was not of the severity and magnitude to warrant the designation of individual assistance under the major disaster declaration. … This denial may be appealed within 30 days.”

That’s what Rell will do. “I have directed our state emergency management officials to immediately gather whatever information may be needed to further support our application for assistance,” Rell said. “I will also work with our Congressional delegation and with [FEMA] to continue pursuing this matter until all avenues for aid are exhausted.”