Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/

Powerhouse Dynamics Raising $2 Million for Home Energy Monitoring, Report Says

When utility customers can see exactly how much energy they’re consuming, and how, they can be far smarter about using it. That’s the argument made by Powerhouse Dynamics, a Newton, MA, startup developing energy-management software that lets users observe and control the flow of power through their homes. To fund the effort, the company is … Continue reading “Powerhouse Dynamics Raising $2 Million for Home Energy Monitoring, Report Says”

Clean Energy Council, Ignite Prizes Honor Boston-Area Energy Innovators

It must be Clean Energy Week in Boston, judging from all of the trophies, plaques, and award checks being handed out to the region’s energy and cleantech innovation leaders. We wanted to tell you about the winners in two of this week’s biggest events: the MIT Enterprise Forum’s Ignite Clean Energy Prize business plan competition … Continue reading “Clean Energy Council, Ignite Prizes Honor Boston-Area Energy Innovators”

Boston’s Faneuil Hall Is a Finalist for Google Street View Visit—Vote Now, Then Meet Trike Builder Dan Ratner

Being journalists, we here at Xconomy try to refrain from bald political statements or endorsements. We’d never ask you to “vote early and often” for any candidate for office. But this week we can cheerfully recommend that you subvert the democratic process by going to www.google.com/trike and voting as many times as you can for … Continue reading “Boston’s Faneuil Hall Is a Finalist for Google Street View Visit—Vote Now, Then Meet Trike Builder Dan Ratner”

Xconomy Auction for Charity—Autographed Collector’s Edition of Turbine’s Lord of the Rings: Mines of Moria

Do you love fantasy role-playing games? Do you enjoy collecting one-of-a-kind autographed artifacts? Do you like supporting good causes? Then this is your lucky week. Through the generosity of the good folks at Turbine, the Westwood, MA-based publisher of online fantasy games, Xconomy has obtained an amazing Collector’s Edition boxed set of Turbine’s most popular … Continue reading “Xconomy Auction for Charity—Autographed Collector’s Edition of Turbine’s Lord of the Rings: Mines of Moria”

Hamilton Thorne Raises $2.2M

Beverly, MA-based Hamilton Thorne, which makes laser equipment used in stem-cell research labs and fertility clinics, has raised $2.2 million in a private stock placement and debt conversion deal, according to an announcement released last week. A the same time, the company, which recently completed a merger with Ottawa, Ontario-based Calotto Capital, will soon be … Continue reading “Hamilton Thorne Raises $2.2M”

Founder Collective Debuts with $40M

The new Somerville, MA-based venture fund Founder Collective made a public debut today in a blog post by founder Chris Dixon, the CEO and co-founder of New York-based Hunch. Joining Dixon in the collective are serial entrepreneurs Eric Paley (Brontes Technologies), Dave Frankel (Internet Solutions), Mark Gerson (Gerson Lehrman Group), Zach Klein (Vimeo), Bill Trenchard … Continue reading “Founder Collective Debuts with $40M”

Boston’s Mobile Startups React to Google’s $750M AdMob Purchase

I was at the offices of uLocate, a Boston startup with a suite of location-aware information services for mobile phones, when I heard today’s news about Google’s $750 million acquisition of San Mateo, CA-based AdMob, which runs one of the largest mobile advertising networks. “It’s a very good thing,” commented Walt Doyle, uLocate’s CEO, who … Continue reading “Boston’s Mobile Startups React to Google’s $750M AdMob Purchase”

Litl Webbook Ships Today

The Litl Webbook, a new home media computer unveiled by Boston-based Litl last week, officially ships to buyers starting today. The $699 device, which is available from Amazon and directly from Litl’s website, has already attracted a wide range of reactions, from Netbook Choice‘s “intriguing” to Engadget‘s “unbelievably overpriced.” Xconomy was the first to cover … Continue reading “Litl Webbook Ships Today”

Viridity Points to Greener, and Cheaper, Data Centers

Any company that owns or manages a data center, even a small one, knows how power-hungry they can be. It’s not unusual for operators of large data centers—say, 50,000 square feet—to pay $10 million a year or more for electricity. Under those circumstances, companies have every incentive to look to virtualization and other technologies that … Continue reading “Viridity Points to Greener, and Cheaper, Data Centers”

LogMeIn Stockholders To Cash In

Woburn, MA-based remote control software company LogMeIn (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LOGM]]), which went public in July, said today that early investors plan to sell 2.9 million of their shares in a secondary public offering. At this afternoon’s share price of around $19.35, that would bring the stockholders some $56.1 million. Venture backers Prism VentureWorks and Polaris Venture … Continue reading “LogMeIn Stockholders To Cash In”

Bitwave Raises $1.3M of $6M Round

Bitwave Semiconductor of Chelmsford, MA, has raised $1.33 million out of a planned $6 million Series C equity funding round, according to regulatory documents. The company makes radio-frequency integrated circuits for portable devices. Bitwave collected $10 million in Series B funding from Apex Venture Partners, TVM Capital, and ECentury Capital Partners in August, 2008.

Is it Real or Is It High Dynamic Range? How Software Is Changing the Way We Look at Photographs

You know how listening to music on a friend’s pricey Bose headphones makes it harder to tolerate your tinny little speakers at home, or watching your favorite show on a high-definition screen spoils you for regular TV? I’m at a moment like that in the way I look at photographs. For the last few weeks, … Continue reading “Is it Real or Is It High Dynamic Range? How Software Is Changing the Way We Look at Photographs”

Game Over for Zeemote

Zeemote, a Chelmsford, MA-based startup that developed a handheld game controller for use with games on mobile handsets, has closed its doors and is putting its assets up for sale, according to a story today in Mass High Tech. Founded in 2005 by Boston-area entrepreneur Beth Marcus, the company worked with handset manufacturers Nokia, Samsung, … Continue reading “Game Over for Zeemote”

Six Easy Pieces: Google CEO Eric Schmidt Talks with Boston Journalists

There must be some new force pulling West Coast tech CEOs to visit Boston. Last month, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was in town; yesterday it was Google CEO Eric Schmidt. To mark the unusual occasion, Google invited a raft of journalists to its offices in Cambridge for an open, on-the-record roundtable discussion with Schmidt. Google’s … Continue reading “Six Easy Pieces: Google CEO Eric Schmidt Talks with Boston Journalists”

Microsoft Dumps Don Dodge

Don Dodge, admired by many technology entrepreneurs as Microsoft’s enthusiastic ambassador to the startup world, is one of those swept up in today’s big round of layoffs at the software giant. Dodge was director of business development for the Emerging Business Team, working from Microsoft’s offices in Cambridge, MA. Dodge revealed the news in a … Continue reading “Microsoft Dumps Don Dodge”

Xconomy Podcast Previews the Fifth Conference on Clean Energy

The Fifth Conference on Clean Energy, one of the biggest events of the year for New England energy and cleantech entrepreneurs, is coming up November 12 and 13 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. For the second year in a row, I worked with the organizers of the conference—the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center and … Continue reading “Xconomy Podcast Previews the Fifth Conference on Clean Energy”

The Litl Computer That Could? Boston Startup Tries a New Take on the Home Internet Appliance

Somebody forgot to tell John Chuang that it’s impossible to create a new kind of home computer these days. Either that, or he didn’t listen. Because Chuang, a serial entrepreneur who made his first fortune in the staffing industry with Boston-based Aquent, has built a gadget that looks deceptively like a laptop but works nothing … Continue reading “The Litl Computer That Could? Boston Startup Tries a New Take on the Home Internet Appliance”

In Wondertouch Acquisition, GenArts Adds Fizz to its FX

GenArts, the Cambridge, MA-based visual special effects startup, has added sparkles to its glints. Which is to say, it has acquired a small St. Louis, MO-based company called Wondertouch that specializes in software that generates so-called “particle-based” special effects—think fireworks, explosions, smoke, clouds, comets, and pixie dust. Executives at GenArts say the technology nicely complements … Continue reading “In Wondertouch Acquisition, GenArts Adds Fizz to its FX”

MassTLC, MassNetComms To Merge

The leaders of two of the biggest associations representing the information technology industry in Massachusetts—the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, better known as MassTLC, and the Massachusetts Network Communications Council, or MassNetComms—said today that the organizations are joining forces under the banner of MassTLC, the larger and more well recognized of the two. “We can do … Continue reading “MassTLC, MassNetComms To Merge”

Flybridge Leads 10gen B Round

10gen, a New York-based startup developing the open-source database MongoDB, has raised $3.4 million in Series B venture backing from Boston’s Flybridge Capital Partners and returning investor Union Square Ventures, Flybridge said yesterday. MongoDB is similar to Google’s BigTable and is considered one of the leading examples of non-relational or “NoSQL” database, designed to be … Continue reading “Flybridge Leads 10gen B Round”

EnvIO Releases iPhone App

Andover, MA-based envIO Networks has spent several years developing a recommendation technology called “Social Genome” that helps mobile phone owners find applications they’ll like based on the preferences of their friends and acquaintances. Today envIO introduced software called Chorus that applies the Social Genome technology to the 100,000-plus apps in the Apple iTunes App Store. … Continue reading “EnvIO Releases iPhone App”

E Ink, Marvell Create a Chip for Cheaper E-Book Devices

If you thought the e-reader market was already confusing—with Sony, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble all offering their own unique versions of e-book devices based on the same underlying electronic paper display technology from Cambridge, MA-based E Ink—get ready for a new level of chaos. Companies like Interead in England and Irex in the Netherlands … Continue reading “E Ink, Marvell Create a Chip for Cheaper E-Book Devices”

Negroponte Outlines the Future of OLPC—Hints at Paperlike Design for Third Generation Laptop

[Updated 11/2/09 with additional details about 3rd-generation laptop design, see page 2] After the October 24 announcement that the Internet Archive is about to make 1.6 million e-books available free to children with XO Laptops from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, we decided it was time to catch up with OLPC’s founder and chairman, … Continue reading “Negroponte Outlines the Future of OLPC—Hints at Paperlike Design for Third Generation Laptop”

RunMyErrand Picks Up $1 Million from West Coast Venture Firms

RunMyErrand, the Boston-based online clearinghouse where busy people can recruit temporary helpers to complete tasks around town, doesn’t have a branch in the San Francisco Bay Area (yet). But if it did, founder and CEO Leah Busque might be using it to pick up checks from Baseline Ventures and Maples Investments this week. Baseline, in … Continue reading “RunMyErrand Picks Up $1 Million from West Coast Venture Firms”

Sony, Google Point the Way Toward a More Open Future for E-Books

In a presentation at the Boston Book Festival last weekend, Jon Orwant, a Google engineer involved in the company’s Book Search project, made a memorable and, I thought, quite perceptive remark about the e-book business. “Think about the books you have at home and how you organize them,” Orwant said. “Some of you may not … Continue reading “Sony, Google Point the Way Toward a More Open Future for E-Books”

Xconomy Hosts Investing Legend Peter Brooke: The Photo Gallery

Last Wednesday, October 21, it was our privilege at Xconomy to provide a stage for a conversation between two legends of the investing world. The guest of honor was Peter Brooke, the founder of Advent International and TA Associates and the man most widely credited with spreading the idea of venture capital and private equity … Continue reading “Xconomy Hosts Investing Legend Peter Brooke: The Photo Gallery”

R.I.P. Orange Labs Cambridge (2002-2009): A Story of Opportunities Missed

[Corrected and updated, 10/28/09, 12:40 p.m.; see page 4.] Back in 2002, it must have sounded like a good idea for Orange, a fast-growing European wireless provider known more for the simplicity of its services than for their sophistication, to open an R&D center in Boston, where it could hire a troop of brainy engineers, … Continue reading “R.I.P. Orange Labs Cambridge (2002-2009): A Story of Opportunities Missed”

Pennsylvania Firm Buys Rue La La, Smart Bargains for As Much As $350 Million; Throws Open Doors to Invitation-Only Retail Site

GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GSIC]]), an e-commerce company that powers the online stores for dozens of prominent consumer brands, announced yesterday that it will purchase Boston-based Retail Convergence Incorporated (RCI) for $180 million in cash and stock and up to $170 million in follow-on payments, depending on RCI’s performance. RCI owns both Rue La La, a … Continue reading “Pennsylvania Firm Buys Rue La La, Smart Bargains for As Much As $350 Million; Throws Open Doors to Invitation-Only Retail Site”

A Physics Rebel Shakes Up the Video Game World, Literally

What’s the connection between hardcore, chest-pounding video game action and Niels Bohr’s interpretation of wave-particle duality? It’s an Iranian-American physicist-turned-entrepreneur named Shahriar Afshar. Five years after Afshar announced the results of one of the most controversial experiments in the recent history of physics—one suggesting that it is possible, contrary to Bohr’s long-accepted theory, to observe … Continue reading “A Physics Rebel Shakes Up the Video Game World, Literally”

Boston-Bred Geothermal Innovator, Foro Energy, Wins Biggest ARPA-E Energy Grant

The list of 37 companies named by the Department of Energy today as grant recipients in the federal government’s first-ever ARPA-E competition contained many local companies, but was topped by a name that virtually no one has heard: Foro Energy. The Littleton, CO, startup is developing a “hybrid thermal/mechanical drilling technology” that could make it … Continue reading “Boston-Bred Geothermal Innovator, Foro Energy, Wins Biggest ARPA-E Energy Grant”

Layoffs at GamerDNA

GamerDNA, the Cambridge, MA-based startup building an online community where avid gamers can find recommendations for new games, has cut its staff nearly in half, shrinking from 13 employees to seven, according to a story today in Mass High Tech. Jon Radoff, the company’s founder and CEO, confirmed the layoffs in an e-mail to Xconomy, … Continue reading “Layoffs at GamerDNA”

Axeda Adds $9M from JMI, MMV

Axeda, the Waltham, MA-based startup that makes a cloud-based system for wireless tracking of company assets, announced today that it has completed a $5 million Series B funding round led by JMI Equity of San Diego and Baltimore. At the same time, the company raised $4 million in venture debt from MMV Financial of Toronto.

American Well Goes to Well for $10M

American Well, the Boston-based company that provides a Web-based system in use by several large health plans to let their members consult with doctors over the Internet, has raised $10 million in new equity funding, according to a regulatory filing today. The documents don’t name the funders in the round, continuing the company’s track record … Continue reading “American Well Goes to Well for $10M”

FloDesign, Five Other Local Organizations Win Multimillion-Dollar ARPA-E Awards

The Department of Energy this morning announced that FloDesign Wind Turbine of Wilbraham, MA, and five other Massachusetts startups and laboratories are among the 37 companies and organizations awarded research and development grants under the department’s new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program. FloDesign has tentatively been awarded $8,325,400 to advance its research on radical … Continue reading “FloDesign, Five Other Local Organizations Win Multimillion-Dollar ARPA-E Awards”

NetProspex Nets $2 Million

NetProspex, a three-year-old Waltham, MA-based startup that provides marketers with sales leads using contact information contributed by users, has completed a new equity financing round led by American City Business Journals of North Carolina, the startup announced on Friday. Mass High Tech—which, along with the Boston Business Journal, is part of the American City Business … Continue reading “NetProspex Nets $2 Million”

Internet Archive Opens 1.6 Million E-Books to Kids with OLPC Laptops

[Updated 10/24/09 5:30 p.m. with additional interview material] All 1.6 million books digitized so far by the Internet Archive, the San Francisco-based non-profit dedicated to the universal sharing of knowledge, will be available free to children around the world who have laptops built by the Cambridge, MA-based One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC), Internet Archive … Continue reading “Internet Archive Opens 1.6 Million E-Books to Kids with OLPC Laptops”

Reactions to President Obama’s Energy Speech from Boston Technology Leaders

Xconomy didn’t score a ticket to President Obama’s speech on clean energy at MIT today, so we can’t bring you a first-hand report. But we’ve got something that’s arguably even better: perspectives from a range of local community members who were inside MIT’s Kresge Auditorium for the speech, which took place at about 12:45 p.m. … Continue reading “Reactions to President Obama’s Energy Speech from Boston Technology Leaders”

Wind Power Holdings Aims to Raise $45M

[Corrected 3:35 p.m 10/23/09] Wind Power Holdings, the parent company of Barre, VT-based wind turbine developer Northern Power Systems, intends to raise $45 million in a new private equity offering, according to regulatory documents filed October 21. [A previous version of this news brief stated that the company had already raised the funds; in fact … Continue reading “Wind Power Holdings Aims to Raise $45M”

Tim Berners-Lee Joins Twitter

The inventor of the World Wide Web has arrived, somewhat belatedly, in the Twitterverse. Tim Berners-Lee, head of the Cambridge, MA-based World Wide Web Consortium, set up a Twitter account shortly before making an appearance at O’Reilly Media’s Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco yesterday. Normally it wouldn’t be news when Twitter gains a new … Continue reading “Tim Berners-Lee Joins Twitter”

President Obama Speaks on Clean Energy Today at MIT; Here’s How to Watch

[Update, 12:05 p.m., 10/23/09: The time for President Obama’s speech has been pushed back to 12:25 p.m., according to the White House. It appears that MIT’s video servers are being overwhelmed by traffic; if you want to watch the speech online, we recommend trying the White House’s own live video stream.] When Air Force One … Continue reading “President Obama Speaks on Clean Energy Today at MIT; Here’s How to Watch”

Patrick Details Plans for Holyoke Computing Center

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick traveled to Holyoke, MA, yesterday to talk about the next steps for the planned Holyoke High Performance Computing Center, a massive project designed to advance the state of the art in “green computing” for life sciences, cleantech, and other applications, while also bolstering business development in economically depressed western Massachusetts. Construction … Continue reading “Patrick Details Plans for Holyoke Computing Center”

Luminus Devices: Finding Its Way Toward the Light With High-Efficiency LEDs

Luminus Devices in Billerica, MA, may hold the record among Massachusetts technology companies for the shortest time between conception and launch. But the journey since then has been anything but straightforward. One summer day in 2002, recent MIT PhD graduate Alexei Erchak and his former advisor, physicist John Joannopolous, were meeting to talk about whether … Continue reading “Luminus Devices: Finding Its Way Toward the Light With High-Efficiency LEDs”

Rapid7 Absorbs Metasploit

Rapid7, the Boston- and El Segundo, CA-based startup that makes software to protect corporate networks, databases, and Web applications from hostile outsiders, said today that it has acquired the Metasploit Project, which has developed an open-source penetration testing system as well as a large public database of tested exploits against computer systems. HD Moore, the … Continue reading “Rapid7 Absorbs Metasploit”

Cleantech Incubator Opens in Lynn

North Shore Innoventures, a Beverly, MA-based network of technology incubators, announced today that it has opened a new “Cleantech Innoventure Center” in Lynn, MA. Established with funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and sponsorship from the Lynn Economic Development and Industrial Corporation, the new incubator space is located at 20 Wheeler Street in Lynn, and … Continue reading “Cleantech Incubator Opens in Lynn”

Arbor Networks Reports on the Rise of the Internet “Hyper Giants”

For 15 years now, we’ve all thought of the World Wide Web as a near-literal web of connections between millions of servers in different locations, with each machine hosting just a tiny slice of the Web’s overall content. But that’s not the new shape of the Web, according to Arbor Networks of Chelmsford, MA. Today, … Continue reading “Arbor Networks Reports on the Rise of the Internet “Hyper Giants””

E Ink Partners with Freescale

In a joint announcement, Austin, TX-based Freescale Semiconductor and Cambridge, MA-based E Ink–which makes the “electronic ink” displays used in the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, and other e-book devices—said today they will work together to integrate the electronics that control E Ink’s displays with Freescale’s MX processors to create a single “system on a … Continue reading “E Ink Partners with Freescale”