Category: Tech news

Brightkite has always been an interesting startup. They were in the location game early (a 2007 TechStars launch) — perhaps a bit too early, as the true hype in the space has only really began in the past year or so. Nevertheless, they were able to get an exit (well, sort of a merger/exit) in 2009. And they’ve been able to accumulate over 2 million users. And they’re still plugging away at location — but going forward, they’ll be doing that without two founders, Brady Becker and Martin May.

May actually left a couple months ago, as Brightkite noted with a farewell post. But Becker has also left, we’re hearing. And his bio page seems to confirm this. And while they may be out of Brightkite, they’re not out of the location game, we’re also hearing.

We’re told that Becker and May have started a new stealth startup called Forkly. The service’s website gives no clue as to what it is beyond the phrase “we are forkly.” But the Twitter account indicates that both Becker and May are working on it (those are the only two accounts it follows), and states that “We’re a new, stealthy startup in Denver.”

Becker’s LinkedIn also says that he’s currently the founder of Forkly.com (and YouAreHere), but gives no more info. May’s bio doesn’t say anything about Forkly, but he is the mayor of its headquarters in Denver (which apparently used to be a restaurant).

But a source tells us that Forkly is definitely a new startup in the location space. This obviously makes sense given both Becker’s and May’s experience and areas of expertise. Aside from Brightkite, the two were also the driving force behind Check.in, the multiple check-in web app being run under the Brightkite banner. (The two of them actually demoed it for us at SXSW this past year.)

We’ll try to dig up more about Forkly. Stay tuned.

Update: I’ve just confirmed with Becker that he did recently leave Brightkite and that yes, Forkly is his new startup. He declined to give more information about it at this time.

Looks like IBM and HP have just been hit with patent infringement lawsuits. According to a release, BackWeb Technologies has filed separate lawsuits in the United States District Court in San Francisco, California against IBM and HP, alleging patent infringement.

The patents seems to deal with technology for transmitting information between a remote network and a local computer and distributed client-based data caching systems. BackWeb alleges that IBM’s Tivoli Provisioning Manager and IBM’s recently acquired BigFix products infringe four U.S. patents owned by BackWeb. BackWeb also alleges that HP’s Client Automation product infringes three U.S. patents owned by BackWeb covering methods for transmitting information between a remote network and a local computer.

BackWeb’s has created a “push” communications technology, specialized for the connecting mobile workforces. The technology is deployed to sales forces, field employees, mobile managers and remote operations. Typical applications include enterprise sales force automation, CRM, e-learning and training.

BackWeb could have some grounding in this; the company recently settled a patent lawsuit with Microsoft, where BackWeb ended up licensing its technology to the company. It’s unclear what the financial terms of the agreement were in June. BackWeb has also sued Symantec, and Sybase (which was settled).

Just about a year ago, Twitter revealed a project called The Fledgling Initiative. No, it wasn’t some new secret Twitter feature, instead it was a project that would see Twitter make its own wine. Yes, wine. But for a good cause — Room to Read, the non-profit that’s all about extending literacy and the education of children around the world. But at the time, Twitter warned it would be quite a while before the wine was ready to sell. Well, a year later, it finally is.

In a post today on their blog, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone notes that this weekend the wine will be available. People who pre-ordered should get their shipments shortly. Meanwhile, there are still bottles and cases to be bought here.

The wine, which is called Fledgling wine, is available in two varieties: a white (chardonnay) and a red (pinot noir). Each 750ml bott is $25, or you can buy a whole case (12 bottles) for $300. Both are 2009 vintage that Stone says “are being made using some of the best vineyards in California by the acclaimed winemaking team at Crushpad.” “Incidentally, 2009 appears to be an excellent vintage in California, potentially one of the best of the decade,” he continues.

Specifically, these bottles being sold will help promote literacy in Uttarakhand, India.

Twitter will also apparently have a Fledgling wine launch event tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I asked Twitter if we can expect to see the wine in stores anytime soon. “Just the web site for now. But we’d love to see it in stores and other places!,” a representative told me.

Zynga’s quest for world domination continues today, as the social gaming giant acquires the assets of German game engine developer Dextrose AG. Zynga has been growing fast and on an acquisition tear this year, buying up XPD in Beijing, Unoh Games in Tokyo, Conduit Labs in Boston, and Challenge Games in Austin.

Dextrose AG develops a commercial game engine for pluginless browser games. Called “Aves Engine,” the game engine technology allows developers to build any type of web based 2D or 2.5D game using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Similar to the nature of the company’s previous acquisitions, the Dextrose AG team will become Zynga Germany (based in Frankfurt). This will be the company’s first engineering presence in Europe (the company has an operational office in Dublin). Joining Zynga from Dextrose AG is co-founder Paul Bakaus, who will become CTO of Zynga Germany. Bakaus is a jQuery core team member, and helped create the user interface framework jQuery UI. Fellow Dextrose founder Rocco Di Leo will become Country Manager at Zynga Germany, responsible for all processes and organization involved in the development of future browser game technology.

Of course, with big profits and armed with a massive war chest (which recently got $150 million larger thanks to Softbank Capital), Zynga has more than enough cash to make these acquisitions. And the company is expanding through a number of high-profile partnerships, including deals with Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

Google’s Project 10^100 — an initiative that began two years ago today as a call for ideas that would help improve the lives of people around the world, some of which Google would fund — is finally ready for its grand finale. Google has just announced that it’s given a total of $10 million to five different organizations, after culling through over 150,000 ideas.

Here are brief summaries of the five programs Google is donating to, from Google’s blog post:

Idea: Make educational content available online for free
Project funded: The Khan Academy is a non-profit educational organization that provides high-quality, free education to anyone, anywhere via an online library of more than 1,600 teaching videos. We are providing $2 million to support the creation of more courses and to enable the Khan Academy to translate their core library into the world’s most widely spoken languages.

Idea: Enhance science and engineering education
Project funded: FIRST is a non-profit organization that promotes science and math education around the world through team competition. Its mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by giving them real world experience working with professional engineers and scientists. We are providing $3 million to develop and jump start new student-driven robotics team fundraising programs that will empower more student teams to participate in FIRST.

Idea: Make government more transparent
Project funded: Public.Resource.Org is a non-profit organization focused on enabling online access to public government documents in the United States. We are providing $2 million to Public.Resource.Org to support the Law.Gov initiative, which aims to make all primary legal materials in the United States available to all.

Idea: Drive innovation in public transport
Project funded: Shweeb is a concept for short to medium distance, urban personal transport, using human-powered vehicles on a monorail. We are providing $1 million to fund research and development to test Shweeb’s technology for an urban setting.

Idea: Provide quality education to African students
Project funded: The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a center for math and science education and research in Cape Town, South Africa. AIMS’ primary focus is a one-year bridge program for recent university graduates that helps build skills and knowledge prior to master’s and Ph.D. study. We are providing $2 million to fund the opening of additional AIMS centers to promote graduate level math and science study in Africa.

This is an awesome move by Google, but it’s worth recapping the lengthy road it took to get here. Two years ago, in honor of the company’s tenth birthday, Google announced the initiative, with plans to hold a vote on incoming submissions a few months later. But Google was mostly silent about the program for exactly one year (we’d occasionally get pinged asking what was going on), until it revealed that it had been overwhelmed by the number of submissions and decided to have the community vote on which 16 broad themes it should be exploring most. After that there was another lengthy one year wait (and more tips from our readers asking if Google had killed the project).

Thankfully the wait is over and the money is being put to great use.

As more and more geolocation apps hit the market, there is an enormous amount of data from these applications that can be mashed up to provide greater use to consumers. Location-based advertising and marketing service Placecast is hoping to help developers sort through all this data with the debut of LocalBox, an ‘all things location-based’ data funnel that allows carriers, handset manufacturers, and app developer communities to add location-based information from any source into a mobile operating system or software development kit (SDK) at scale.

LocalBox, which is in private beta, sources data about location in real time from a number of different open API’s, such as those for Foursquare, Citysearch and more, and then reconciles them all to a specific place. In addition to pulling in point of interest data from many different sources, LocalBox cleans up this data for duplicates, erroneous listings, and different expressions of a location, and then normalize them all to a single, correct location in real-time.

The new platform aggregates a number of different types of data for partners including, maps and listings data; venue pages (which include hours of operation, Flickr photos and more); check-ins and tweets; coupons, discount codes, and in-app location notifications from retailers; and transit and weather information.

For example, a yellow page listings provider who wants to a combination of real-time social media updates, venue information, and forms of monetization (location-relevant banner ads, coupons, discounts etc.) can do so using LocalBox.

Alistair Goodman, CEO of Placecast, says that one of the virtues of the service is that all information is updated in realtime. So as new venues, reviews, tweets, coupons and check-ins are constantly being updated, LocalBox will deliver this data as it is being released. Goodman says that LocalBox also solves the problem of the ‘location data crosswalk,’ which is the issue of duplicate locations, erroneous data or different expressions of a single place. LocalBox claims to reconcile this problem by taking on the task of cleaning up the data for partners.

Placecast has been working with a number of partners (who the company declined to name) to use LocalBox for their applications, and Goodman claims that these companies are pleased with the platform’s capabilities. In terms of monetization, Placecast charges a one time fee to use LocalBox, and then issues a licensing charge to users.

Placecast also offers developers a free Match API that takes take duplicate listings for a venue and combine them into one listing. The startup, which recently raised $3 million in funding, also markets its technology, called ShopAlerts, that allows retailers to bring people into their stores by sending them text messages when they get near their retail outlets.

Target will soon be able to fulfill all your iPad needs. October 3rd is the date that the Apple iPad should hit Target stores throughout the US. Best of all, Target credit card holders can get the iPad for a bit cheaper.

Target’s retail plan includes all six models of the iPad along with a full range of accessories and add-ons. The retailer will honor the suggested manufacturer price starting at $499 for the 16GB WiFi version.

Product: Endless Winter

Manufacturer: Roundup:

Wired Rating: 0

Summer is for dilettantes. Surfing is increasingly becoming a winter sport, since the cold-month storms bring bigger and better waves. We tested four new cold-weather suits to see which would keep you shredding, not shivering.

1. O’Neill Psychofreak

The designs of wet suit pioneer Jack O’Neill have been soaking the competition ever since the early ’50s. The Psychofreak offers a number of subtle refinements to the standard design: sealed wrist and neck openings, premium closed-cell neoprene, a (mostly) watertight zipper, and a plush lining. The result is one of the warmest unpowered suits on the market.

WIRED Easy on and off. Patented zipper-bib will funnel interior water away from the body. More details than a Wes Anderson flick: abrasion-proof neck closure, small leg pocket for car key, and polyurethane sealant on every seam.

TIRED Design complexity can backfire: Easy to put a leg through that patented bib while suiting up—especially in the groggy darkness of an early-morning dawn patrol. Not that we did this.

$530, oneill.com

2. XCEL Infiniti Drylock

Made of plump, air-pocketed neoprene with a comfy inner liner, the XCEL was the warmest unpowered suit in our test. It was also harder to get into and out of than a 20-foot shore break. The supertight “drylock” neck and wrist closures more than live up to their name, keeping water out but also completely locking you into the suit. We love surfing too, but come on—you’ve gotta leave the beach eventually.

WIRED Layer of fuzzy bamboo fabric bonded to the inside works just as well as the wool that other suits use, without the scratchiness.

TIRED Poking your noggin through the collar can be particularly vexing. Lining can conspire against you—it’s almost impossible to get the thing on if you’re the slightest bit wet.

$440, xcelwetsuits.com

3. Matuse Tumo

Matuse is a boutique outfit that focuses on build quality and materials: Its suits are cut from the highest-quality nitrogen-blown, titanium-coated, limestone-based geoprene instead of what it calls “mouse-pad rubber.” OK, sure. We loved the way it fit—others have a suit-of-armor feel, but the Matuse makes you feel like you’ve been dipped in plastic. After a long, cold morning, though, we were longing for mouse-pad rubber.

WIRED Won’t waterlog, making it much lighter than a standard suit when wet. Exceptional cut and fit. Easiest to paddle and pop up in—like not wearing a wet suit at all.

TIRED Like not wearing a wet suit at all: Warmth-for-mobility trade-off worth it only for exceptionally hardy, performance-oriented surfers.

$475, matuse.com

4. Rip Curl H-Bomb

The H-Bomb represents the wave of the future: powered wet suits. Twin, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in the lumbar pouch provide enough juice to stay warm in frigid waters for up to two and a half hours. The heating element is localized on your back, and the theory is that the heater will warm the water sloshing around inside the suit. If you’re surfing in Arctic waters, keeping your torso warm is vital to staving off hypothermia. But otherwise, you might feel like a total dork walking around with a bunch of electronics stuffed down your swim jumper.

WIRED Batteries pump out an incredible amount of warmth—up to 124 degrees Fahrenheit.

TIRED In practice, it can feel like someone is ironing your spine.

$1,000, ripcurl.com

Product: EnduraLED

Manufacturer: Philips

Wired Rating: 0

LEDs have long been hyped as guilt-free, supergreen successors to squiggly compact fluorescents. One problem: They usually suck, casting a dim bluish light. Not anymore. The glow from the Philips EnduraLED is as comforting as Mom’s cooking, thanks to a special phosphor coating that absorbs the blue glare and transforms the light into a warm, golden hue—2,700 degrees on the Kelvin scale. And using just 12 watts, the lamp matches the brightness of a 60-watt incandescent. Yet putting out all that shine exposes the LED’s kryptonite: heat. If diodes get too toasty, they’ll go supernova. So the Endura features cast-aluminum heat sinks to dissipate thermal energy from the LED panels. The result is a bulb that can screw into any socket, turn on instantly, and last 25 times longer than an equivalent incandescent, all while using 80 percent less power. Brilliant!

Product: Track Stars

Manufacturer: Roundup:

Wired Rating: 0

There aren’t enough drugs in the world to make you Jimi Hendrix, but don’t let that stop you from trying. With one of these portable digital studios, cutting a good demo has never been easier.

1. BOSS BR-800

A streamlined interface makes recording on the BR-800 as easy as microwaving popcorn—but with about as many options for tweaking the results. As the big EZ REC button implies, laying down tracks is a cinch: Hit the button, select a predefined setting (say, Electric Guitar), then pick a sound effect, tempo, and drum beat. Shred. Rock. Repeat.

WIRED Limited editing options make it ultrasimple to use. Glorious sound. Dedicated guitar input on front is as plug-and-play as it gets. Included drum patterns are instant Bonham.

TIRED Limited editing options. Finicky touch-sensitive buttons. Bundled software required to convert recordings to usable audio files. Fine-tuning effects and drum patterns is a pain in the ax.

$449, bossus.com

2. Zoom R24

The Zoom R24 is wider, pricier, and has a lot more features than the rest of this band. But don’t let that intimidate you: It’s a logical, sophisticated tool crammed into a lightweight package. After a little setup, the R24 records and exports gorgeous audio. You can also use it as an audio interface for software apps like Cubase when recording to your computer.

WIRED Rocking combination of simple recording functions and advanced mixing tools. Simultaneous 8-track recording; play back up to 24. Excellent built-in sampler and drum machine. Saves tracks as easy-to-play WAV files.

TIRED Much too complicated for the average user. Hunching over to squint at the tiny buttons and displays is a total headache.

$499, zoom.co.jp

3. Tascam DP-008

We’re conflicted: The DP-008 is tiny and talented, but it frustrated the hell out of us. It delivers brilliant recordings and was the most compact workstation in our test. The built-in condenser mics are excellent, and using the external microphone jack resulted in clean, clear sound. But the interface is a hot mess: Most of the DP-008’s face is devoted to a ridiculous number of pan and reverb knobs—we kept hitting them by accident while fumbling for the recording-level controls.

WIRED Great sound at a great price. Small enough to tote around all day. Easy file export is a slam dunk.

TIRED No drum machine. Barely audible metronome. Sucks down batteries faster than Amy Winehouse chugs vodka.

$300, tascam.com

4. Fostex MR-8 MkII

This unit was clearly designed for guitar players who fancy themselves producers. Jack in your strat and choose from a number of simulated amplifier sounds. But that’s where the fun ends. This 3.5-pound monster is the bulkiest unit we reviewed—more like a permanent fixture than a portable. And whether you use the built-in mic or plug in an external, expect uniformly bad results. At least it’s cheap; keep it around as a blunt object to toss at your drummer.

WIRED Inexpensive. Easily exports tracks with the push of a button.

TIRED Complex menus hard to navigate. Too many buttons, too few functions. Piercingly high-pitched metronome may drive you to Townshendian acts of destruction.

$250, fostex.com

Product: Kitchen Aids

Manufacturer: Roundup:

Wired Rating: 0

Still whipping cream by hand? Fool. These high tech cooking tools will froth your whites faster than you can say “smoke-infused carbonated mango slices.”

1. BernzOmatic Pencil Torch Set

Why pay $50 for a puny kitchen torch when this industrial propane burner will brûlée your crème to shattery, glassy goodness in seconds.

WIRED Powerful yet exacting. Menacing: Even if the food tastes bad, you’ll look boss incinerating it.

TIRED Jet is either screaming hot or barely warm. No built-in igniter available.

$40, bernzomatic.com

2. Max Burton ProChef 1800 Induction Cooktop

Induction cooking is way more efficient than gas flames and electric coils. Magnetic waves transfer energy directly to the (conductive) pot, heating up your food, not your house.

WIRED Boils a gallon of water nearly twice as fast as a standard home range. Pinpoint temperature control.

TIRED Touchscreen buttons somewhat unresponsive.

$398, athenabrands.com

3. Masanobu VG-10 Damascus Santoku

Forged from hand-finished VG-10 cobalt steel, this blade combines modern metallurgy with the elegance of a samurai sword.

WIRED Multilayer steel holds amazing edge. Gorgeous Damascus layering. Perfect balance; feels like part of your hand.

TIRED Demands pampering; no electric sharpeners allowed.

$298, korin.com

4. PolyScience Smoking Gun

This indoor smoker cures everything from cherry tomatoes to pork butts by turning any container into a cold smoker. No more building fire pits in the backyard.

WIRED Delivers smoke monsters from puny piles of wood chips.

TIRED Smoke tends to escape during the lighting and extinguishing process.

$100, cuisinetechnology.com

5. iSi Gourmet Whip Plus

Cool Whip is not food; it’s foodlike. But whisking real cream leaves your wrists licked. Let laughing gas do the work to make light-as-air foams fast.

WIRED N₂O canisters turn pretty much anything, even cocktails, into Ferran Adria-worthy foam. Swap in CO₂ to create flavored sodas.

TIRED Small capacity means frequent refills of expensive chargers.

$140, isinorthamerica.com

6. Taylor Waterproof Dual Thermocouple and Infrared Thermometer

Whether you’re checking a pizza stone or a prime rib, this digital thermometer is an indispensable kitchen tool.

WIRED Speedy sensor far more accurate than traditional models. Range of -67 to 572 degrees Fahrenheit.

TIRED Lousy for extremely precise work, like sous vide. Slightly hard to aim.

$100, taylorusa.com

7. Benriner Mandoline Slicer

A mandoline is the easiest way to shred like the pros. This supersharp blade slices through everything from hard celery root to ripe tomatoes without crushing or bruising.

WIRED Chef-style julienne in a single stroke. Half the price of professional mandolines.

TIRED Blade is a pain to sharpen. Not durable enough for everyday use.

$40, benriner.com

Product: Lenovo IdeaCentre B305

Manufacturer: Lenovo

Wired Rating: 8

Want ThinkPad quality and design but don’t need the portability part of the equation? Check out an IdeaCentre all-in-one PC instead.

The B305 is an updated PC design from the company, and it’s difficult to believe that you won’t even shell out a grand for a computer this large and lovely: Featuring a 21.5-inch touchscreen, gargantuan 640-GB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM, and a 2.2-GHz Athlon II X4 CPU buttressed by ATI Radeon HD 5450 graphics. There’s Wi-Fi, Firewire, six USB ports and even an integrated TV tuner. This is a computer that will work just about anywhere: in your office, your living room or your kitchen.

Concerned about that AMD chip’s performance? Don’t be. The B305 shines under the gun, turning in numbers right in line with Intel’s mid-range Core i3 chip. It’s perfectly capable, though hardly a record-setter, with games as well, and on the whole the machine feels snappy and responsive in use.

As is often the case with retrofits like this—Lenovo’s last-generation all-in-one had a traditional LCD —the touchscreen feels like a bit of an afterthought on the B305. Touch accuracy is middling to poor and the ability to poke at the display just doesn’t add anything to the experience—in fact Lenovo’s included VeriTouch software widget is limited to locking and restarting the computer, something which is far more quickly accomplished with the mouse. Next to something like HP’s touch-centric TouchSmart PC series, the IdeaCentre offers virtually nothing for your fingertips except to nab a few extra bills from your wallet.

That said, at $949, the B305 marks a $200 price cut from its predecessor, with some impressive upgrades where they really count. We remain impressed.

WIRED More than capable, with eyebrow-arching performance. Sophisticated design and a full passel of features. Even includes the TV remote.

TIRED Touchscreen tech has taken its toll on screen brightness. No real touchscreen features built in. Concerns about tipping over (forward).

Sharp is to acquire 100% of Recurrent Energy, a San Francisco-based independent power producer and developer of distributed solar projects, for up to $350 million in cash.

The acquisition is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, provided authorities approve the transaction.

Sharp, Japan’s largest solar-panel maker, says it expects demand in the North American photovoltaic market to rise significantly due to an increase in the number of projects for power companies, hence the move.

Recurrent holds an approx. 2 GW project pipeline of solar power generation plants located in the U.S. and Canada, and is also developing business in other areas, including Europe.

With Recurrent, Sharp aims to become a total solution company in the photovoltaic field, extending from developing and producing solar cells and modules to developing and marketing power generation plants.

Recurrent Energy raised $75 million from PE firm Hudson Clean Energy Partners back in July 2008. Mohr Davidow Ventures is another investor.

Whatever MySpace has up its sleeve for it’s upcoming mid-October relaunch apparently isn’t enough to keep all the remaining execs at the company. Vice President of Communications Tracy Akselrud has resigned from MySpace and has joined Brew Media Relations.

Akselrud joined MySpace in 2006 and was second in command in the communications group until SVP Dani Dudeck left the company earlier this year to run corporate communications for Zynga. Akselrud ran the communications group until the company hired SVP Rosabel Tao.

To some extent Akselrud will be getting the band back together with Dudeck, as Brew is one of the firms Zynga uses for PR help. Akselrud said she’s excited to be working with Dudeck again.

For more information on departing MySpace execs, see the second paragraph here.

TripIt, the site that creates customized travel itineraries from travel confirmation emails, is upgrading its premium version today to be even more useful. Now TripIt Pro will track any pro member’s flight itinerary so they are notified of a price drop that could trigger a potential airline refund.

TripIt Pro members will now be alerted by email and text message when they may be eligible for an airline credit or voucher. Any eligible flight within TripIt Pro is automatically monitored for post-purchase price drops. Consumers simply contact the airline via phone to obtain their credit, armed with the information TripIt Pro provides in its alerts.

The startup has activated the feature for a select number of beta testers and users have been receiving credits or vouchers ranging in value from $20-$600. It’s a no-brainer; and travelers have nothing to lose.

TripIt Pro now also features new benefits from partners; enrolled members will received a complimentary membership to Hertz #1 Club Gold and Regus Businessworld Gold (which is a $660 value). And the yearly fee for TripIt Pro has dropped from $69 to $49 (coincidentally this is about the same amount has you would pay to check-in two bags on most airlines).

TripIt Pro’s existing features include a notification via text or email when there is a flight delay, cancellation or gate change. If there is a need to reschedule, TripIt Pro finds alternate flights, including flight status and open seats. The service also tracks frequent traveler points all in one place and allows travelers to designate an inner circle of people with whom to share all their trips. And the premium service works on the startup’s mobile apps.