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Yesterday, dbrand, makers of vinyl accessories for mobile devices, launched their dbrand skins for the BlackBerry Z10. The skins are made from textured 3M vinyl and are very affordable at $20 each. Interestingly enough, the BlackBerry Z10, which comes in both White and Black, actually has a size variance between the two models. According to the CEO of dbrand, “the most challenging aspect to skinning the Z10 was when we completed the template using a black device, then realized that the white and black devices had micro-millimeter differences in size.” Rather than compromise quality, the company chose to create two completely separate skins to make sure the fit was just right. Check out the pics and link below.

Check out the BlackBerry Z10 skins from dbrand at this link.

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.”

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• 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

The computer industry would be much different if it wasn’t for Alan Kay. Not only did the computer pioneer’s work creating graphical user interfaces at Xerox PARC lead to future Apple (AAPL) products such as the Lisa and the Mac, but his approach to computer design also inspired Steve Jobs, especially his belief that software developers should build their own hardware instead of relying on third-party OEMs. Despite his inspiration on Apple, however, Kay recently expressed his deep disappointment with the company in an interview with Time. He pointed out that with the iPad and iPhone users are locked into Apple’s ecosystem and said that this “could not be farther from the original intentions of the entire ARPA-IPTO/PARC community in the ’60s and ’70s.”

Continue reading…

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.

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

There are many places in the U.S. associated with the illegal drug trade, but the state of Connecticut isn’t usually mentioned as one of those places. However, U.S. officials demonstrated this week the the U.S. war on drugs extends to the Northeast as well.

Reuters is reporting that around 100 people were arrested today in connection with heroin and cocaine trafficking. Authorities claim those arrested were part of two “gangs” that imported the drugs to Southeastern Connecticut from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

The arrests took place in four different New England states (Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts), as well as in Puerto Rico. Those arrested will be tried in the U.S. District Court in New Haven.

The arrests came after a 15-month investigation led by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to the Reuters report, the investigation included “more than a dozen law-enforcement agencies.” In addition to the arrests, police claim that they seized money, weapons, and drugs during the bust.

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.

Pasteurization Technology Group said it raised $5 million in Series A financing in a deal led by existing investor EIC Ventures and was joined by Kennington. The company is generating a system for wastewater disinfection that generates renewable energy.

PRESS RELEASE

Pasteurization Technology Group (PTG) Raises $5 Million Series A Round to Accelerate Sales Growth and Expansion

Growth capital enables pioneer of wastewater disinfection with renewable energy to expand team to service customers and manage growing sales backlog in commercial and industrial sectors

SAN LEANDRO, Calif., March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — Pasteurization Technology Group (PTG), innovator of the only wastewater disinfection process that creates renewable energy, announced it closed $5 million in Series A financing. EIC Ventures, a previous investor in PTG, led the round and was joined by Kennington. EIC Ventures is led by David Dubé, CEO of Canada-based Concorde Group and current board member of PTG. Lance Tendler , CEO of Kennington, will join PTG’s board of directors.

The growth capital will be used to expand PTG’s sales and field engineering operations to address the substantial and growing customer demand for its technology with customers in the agricultural, food, and beverage sectors.

“This additional investment enables us to accelerate our plans for market expansion,” said Greg Ryan , co-founder and CEO of Pasteurization Technology Group. “In an era of increasing water and energy costs, our technology is in high demand from customers who want to significantly reduce their water and energy costs while meeting their goals for sustainability.”

“We are excited by PTG’s strong development over the last 15 months and impressed by the traction they have gained in the marketplace for their patented IP,” said David Dube , managing director of EIC Ventures and CEO of Concorde Group. “We believe that PTG’s technology offers the most efficient and cost-effective solution to industrial and municipal customers globally.  As experienced VC investors across many industries, we continue to be impressed by PTG’s proven, capital-efficient business model.”

“Kennington is eager to invest in Pasteurization Technology Group because of its critical role in providing sustainable wastewater treatment while generating renewable energy,” said Lance Tendler , CEO of Kennington. “As experienced water industry investors, we see PTG’s accelerating business momentum is a direct result of the significant market opportunity that PTG addresses.”

PTG’s robust technology is a timely wastewater treatment solution for cities and businesses, many of which are wrestling with aging infrastructure that is operating at, or even above, capacity. Wastewater treatment is facing increasingly stringent water-quality regulations and rising energy costs, driving demand for cost-effective and sustainable solutions that enable the recycling of water.

After emerging from stealth mode at the beginning of 2012, PTG experienced a year of noteworthy successes. Highlights of the year included:

•    Securing a contract with the California town of Graton to replace its chlorine-based wastewater treatment system with PTG’s patented wastewater disinfection system. The new system can process more than 500,000 gallons per day while reducing the plant’s energy costs by over 50 percent. The PTG system is planned for delivery in the first half of 2013.
•    Completing a successful evaluation phase with Ventura Water. Located in Southern California, Ventura Water is the City of Ventura’s water department. Ventura Water plans to transition its existing wastewater treatment plant to PTG’s safe, non-toxic, sustainable technology, replacing the chlorine-based disinfection process currently in use at the Ventura Water Reclamation Facility.
•    Receiving technical validation at the highest level by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its influential Guidelines for Water Reuse.
•    Being recognized by leading water technology and sustainability organizations: Katerva Award winner (the “Nobel Prize of Sustainability”), Artemis Top 50 Water Company, and American Water Intelligence Technology Project of The Year Finalist, among others.
•    Expanded capacity and headcount. PTG moved to larger headquarters space in San Leandro in the San Francisco Bay Area, and hired key staff in engineering and sales to service increasing customer orders.

About PTG’s eco-friendly system for wastewater disinfection and renewable energy

PTG’s patented technology is the first and only technology to combine wastewater disinfection with the generation of renewable energy. PTG’s integrated systems can use available waste by-products (such as biogas or biomass), or natural gas, to power a turbine or engine that generates electricity. The turbine’s hot exhaust air (which is typically wasted) is passed through a waste-heat recovery unit that increases the temperature to disinfect the wastewater. PTG’s intelligent software efficiently optimizes energy and water flow throughout the integrated system. PTG’s systems are significantly more cost-effective and energy-efficient than other disinfection methods. And, unlike other wastewater disinfection approaches, PTG’s technology is sustainable since it does not require toxic chemicals such as chlorine, or costly electrical power and expensive UV lamps. As a result, PTG’s systems fit a broad range of applications in both the municipal and industrial market sectors.

About Pasteurization Technology Group

California-based Pasteurization Technology Group (PTG) is a rapidly growing, venture capital-backed company that is revolutionizing the disinfection of wastewater. PTG’s systems feature its patented “two-for-one” technology that combines eco-friendly wastewater disinfection with the generation of renewable energy. PTG’s process is one of only a handful of technologies to pass the stringent standards of Title 22 in the state of California for the disinfection of water for reuse. PTG’s technology has also been officially recognized in the EPA’s influential Guidelines for Water Reuse. By channeling the typically wasted exhaust heat from a turbine or engine to disinfect wastewater, PTG’s process is able to deliver the most energy-efficient and lowest-cost solution on the market. PTG has won numerous awards including the Katerva Award, the Artemis Top 50 Water Tech award, and the Popular Science “Best of What’s New” award. For more information, see http://www.pastechgroup.com, and follow @PastechGroup on Twitter and Facebook facebook.com/PasteurizationTechnologyGroup.

The post Pasteurization Technology Raises $5M From EIC, Kennington appeared first on peHUB.

Google is shipping an update to Gmail that should make it easier to locate that email that you just searched for the other day.

Starting today, Google begins the global rollout of new autocomplete predictions for your past Gmail searches.

“If you’ve searched your email for ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ or other lengthy phrases, it just got easier to find what you’re looking for. Autocomplete predictions in Gmail may now include your past Gmail searches,” says Google.

Also rolling out – contact thumbnails in Gmail search:

Google says that the global rollout of both of these features will take a few days and it even includes Google Apps for Business customers.

We think that these updates will probably go over a little better than the last update to hit Gmail. Last week, Google began pushing the new compose box to all users and there was a audible groan from a good portion of the Gmail-usiing population.

As part of BlackBerry’s Keep Moving Project, the company has partnered with filmmaker Robert Rodriguez to make a short film called Two Scoops. The film follows two monster hunters that take on the persona of ice cream vendors during the day.

In the first episode, Rodriguez had called on amateur actors to submit audition tapes for the role of the hunters’ boss. The actor would be added in post production, and now Rodriguez is looking for submissions for a weapon that the monster hunters will use in the second act of the film.

Unlike the first act, those interested in creating a weapon for the film will only have to tweet their weapon idea to Rodriguez with the #keepmoving hashtag. The winning idea will be designed by Rodriguez’ team of prop designers, and inserted into the final film.

If you’re interested in the creative process behind the film, check out this short featuring Rodriguez talking about his approach to filmmaking.

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.

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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.

As if the internet deserved this monumental gifts, acclaimed science illustrators AsapSCIENCE have heard your requests and have just released a video of need-to-know cat facts. Yep, everything from catnip to landing on their feet to invitations to smell their asses. It’s all here.

[AsapSCIENCE, Image via Moyan_Brenn, Flickr]

Digital Realty keeps the acquisitions going, acquiring a data center in Dallas and a future development site in Phoenix, Arizona, targeting two very hot markets showing incredible growth right now. The Dallas acquisition continues the trend of buying fully leased properties in attractive markets, while Phoenix adds future inventory to a market experiencing a lot of demand.

The Dallas Texas facility is an operating, 61,750 square foot data center and was acquired for $8.5 million. It’s a single tenant facility leased on a long term basis to an undisclosed provider of business, information technology and communications solutions, so this is another acquisition of a fully leased property following the one earlier this week in Minnesota. The facility is approximately 3.5 miles from Digital Realty’s Digital Dallas Datacenter Campus. Dallas is, of course, a major hosting hub and has long been a hotbed of data center activity.

“The acquisition of the Dallas facility is a continuation of our strategy of adding income-producing data center facilities to our global portfolio that offer attractive returns for our shareholders,” said Scott Peterson, Chief Acquisitions Officer of Digital Realty.

The second property acquired is in Phoenix, Arizona, and consists of 3 buildings totaling around 227,000 square feet that sold for $24 million. The first 109,000 square foot building is going into Digital’s inventory of space held for development. Subject to market conditions, it’s capable of supporting 7.2 megawatts of IT capacity. The seller of this property and current tenant occupies the remaining two office buildings in the deal on a short-term lease basis.

Phoenix has been home to a lot of recent data center activity (check out the Phoenix Region on DCK), so it’s definitely an area where Digital wants to get its ducks in a row. “The acquisition of the Phoenix site adds future inventory to a market where we have experienced significant absorption at our existing facilities coupled with continued strong demand from enterprise customers,” said Peterson.

“Both acquisitions expand our footprint in markets where we see positive demand from customers for our flexible data center solution offerings,” concludes Peterson.

It’s been over four years since The Behemoth released Castle Crashes on Xbox Live Arcade. During that time, the team has been busy porting its co-op beat-em-up to other platforms, and working on a new game called Battleblock Theater. Now its new game is finally ready to be unleashed upon the world.

Starting today, Xbox 360 owners can download Battleblock Theater from Xbox Live Arcade. The competitive/co-op platformer throws players into the role of a fully customized character that fights against other players for supremacy, and for the amusement of the cat overlords.

Battleblock Theater is available today on Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points, or $14.99. As for other platforms, it’ll probably be a while before we see it make the jump to the PC or PS3.

…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.

Kids. They grow up so fast. It seems like just yesterday that my Android phone finally became a member of the Instagram generation, only just “slightly” behind all of those iPhones out there. Now the social photo sharing service is celebrating its one year anniversary on the Google-based mobile operating system.

Philip McAllister, of the Instagram Android team, announces that “One year ago today we launched Instagram for Android. In less than a day, over a million people downloaded the app, and now nearly half of all Instagrammers use the Android app to share photos with friends, family and the world”.

Since then the service has been used around the world to capture images ranging from spectacular photography to natural disasters and epic world events. McAllister explains that “Major events such as Brazil’s Círio de Nazaré festival, the 85th birthday of Thailand’s King Bhumibol, and a streak of severe thunderstorms throughout Malaysia have been captured by Android Instagrammers”.

While I use the app less often than I should, it has been handy for capturing and sharing many pictures in the time I have had it, including one image that I even used right here on BetaNews last holiday season when the service saw a record 226 images uploaded per second on Thanksgiving day. With the financial backing of Facebook now behind it, there is no telling how far Instagram can go.

An image of Jesus that has hung in a Jackson, Ohio middle school for over 60 years and was recently moved to a Jackson high school has now been taken down.

According to an Associated Press report, the Jackson City School district has agreed to take the picture down amid first amendment concerns.

The picture was hung in Jackson Middle School in 1947. It is owned by the school’s Christian Hi-Y Club, which took the picture down on Wednesday.

The decision to take the picture down came after a student and two parents, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio and the Freedom from Religion Foundation, had sued the school district. The lawsuit claimed the picture was unconstitutional, as it promoted a particular set of religious beliefs.

Superintendent Phil Howard told the AP that the decision was based on the high cost that battling the lawsuit would cost. The school board had initially voted to keep the picture up, arguing that removing it would violate the Hi-Y Club students’ free speech rights.

Census will Guide and Improve Water Sustainability Efforts

WASHINGTON, DC – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released a report to Congress on the progress of the National Water Census, which is being developed at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to help the nation address its critical water needs.