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/

WonderGlen Comedy Portal Designed to Plumb Internet’s Unreality, Says Karlin

I outed Ben Karlin. Not that way: he’s straight, at least judging from his mom’s foreword to Things I’ve Learned from Women Who’ve Dumped Me, the 2008 essay collection Karlin edited. I mean I outed him as the creator of WonderGlen, a painfully funny comedy website that appeared out of nowhere last October. Purporting to … Continue reading “WonderGlen Comedy Portal Designed to Plumb Internet’s Unreality, Says Karlin”

Carbonite CEO Apologizes for Planted Amazon Reviews, But Bristles at Critics

Boston-based Carbonite, whose online backup service is the main competitor for Decho’s Mozy, has gotten some good publicity over the last few months for its tongue-in-cheek promotions on Jimmy Kimmel Live and other TV and radio programs. But the company is taking a public relations hit this week over a recently uncovered case of reviews … Continue reading “Carbonite CEO Apologizes for Planted Amazon Reviews, But Bristles at Critics”

Big New Contracts at Lionbridge

Lionbridge Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:LIOX]]), the Waltham, MA-based translation services company whose financial performance we questioned in a profile last May, announced yesterday that it has obtained several new multi-year contracts that should shore up revenues by $25 to $30 million a year. The company said it had won contracts with a provider of power services … Continue reading “Big New Contracts at Lionbridge”

140 Layoffs at Analogic

Peabody, MA-based medical imaging and airport security company Analogic (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALOG]]) said today that it will reduce its global workforce by 140 positions, or about 9 percent, in response to declining demand for capital equipment among healthcare organizations. The company said the cuts would save $9.6 million annually. We will update the Boston Tech Layoff … Continue reading “140 Layoffs at Analogic”

WordStream Launches Low-Cost Search Engine Marketing Tool, Raises $4 Million

Yesterday Bruce wrote about Covario, a San Diego-based search engine marketing (SEM) company whose clients pay $100,000 to $200,000 a year for help making sure that sponsored links to their websites appear in the right places on Google and other search engines. Here in Boston, an SEM company is launching today at the opposite end … Continue reading “WordStream Launches Low-Cost Search Engine Marketing Tool, Raises $4 Million”

Renewable Energy Blog Launches

Smith Energy, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of wind, solar, and energy storage projects, today launched a news and opinion blog called Build Baby Build. The blog is focused mainly on helping community members organize distributed generation projects such as wind farms. “Time and time again, important renewable energy projects fail because of a small but … Continue reading “Renewable Energy Blog Launches”

Innovative Spinal Technologies Jilted, Now Bankrupt, Source Says

Last night we reported that Mansfield, MA-based Innovative Spinal Technologies, a maker of implants to correct degenerative spinal disorders, had gone dark—the company’s website was down and phone calls were going unanswered. A former employee who recently left the company now tells Xconomy that IST shut its doors on Friday, filed for bankruptcy protection, and … Continue reading “Innovative Spinal Technologies Jilted, Now Bankrupt, Source Says”

MoneyAisle Passes $100 Million in Deposits

MoneyAisle, the online marketplace for banking products that we profiled shortly after its launch last June, said today that users have now put more than $100 million into certificates of deposit and high-yield savings accounts via the company’s reverse-auction system, in which banks submit competing bids for potential customers’ business. MoneyAisle CEO Mukesh Chatter said … Continue reading “MoneyAisle Passes $100 Million in Deposits”

Sloan School Students Survey Boston Startup Scene

In early January, students from MIT’s Sloan School of Management fanned out to companies in Boston, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Seattle on the school’s annual Tech Trek. The student-organized job-prospecting event puts budding business moguls soon to receive their MBAs into the same conference rooms with technology entrepreneurs for a download on each company’s … Continue reading “Sloan School Students Survey Boston Startup Scene”

What’s Up at Innovative Spinal Technologies? Everything Seems Down

When nobody answers a company’s phones and its website turns into a big fat 404 error, it can’t be a good sign. That seems to be the situation at Innovative Spinal Technologies, a Mansfield, MA, medical device company that, according to our calculations, had raised some $63 million in venture and private equity funding to … Continue reading “What’s Up at Innovative Spinal Technologies? Everything Seems Down”

Beacon Power, National Grid Ink Deal

Beacon Power (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BCON]]), a Tyngsboro, MA, company developing flywheel-based energy storage systems that help electrical grid operators smooth out the supply of power, announced today that it has signed an information-sharing agreement with National Grid (NYSE: [[ticker:NGG]]), the UK-based utility that supplies power to much of the Northeastern United States. Under the agreement, National … Continue reading “Beacon Power, National Grid Ink Deal”

550 Layoffs at Brooks Automation

Chelmsford, MA-based Brooks Automation (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BRKS]]), which makes robotic equipment used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, storage media, and flat panel displays, said today that a restructuring plan initiated as a response to deteriorating sales resulted in about 200 layoffs in the final quarter of 2008, and will lead to another 350 layoffs in the … Continue reading “550 Layoffs at Brooks Automation”

Xkoto Raises $3 Million More

Waltham, MA-based Xkoto, a database virtualization company that relocated from Ontario, Canada, to Massachusetts in 2007, announced today that it has raised $3 million from existing investors GrandBanks Capital and GrowthWorks Canadian Fund. The infusion brings the four-year-old company’s total venture pot to $13 million. Xkoto was named InformationWeek’s “Startup of the Year” in 2008 … Continue reading “Xkoto Raises $3 Million More”

Lumigent Raises $6 Million

Acton, MA-based Lumigent, a nine-year-old company long handicapped by a dwindling market for its database auditing software, said today that it has secured $6 million in new funding from Waltham, MA-based North Bridge Venture Partners to help with its new mission of helping companies lower the cost of complying with financial regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley. … Continue reading “Lumigent Raises $6 Million”

Centive Acquired by Xactly

Lowell, MA-based Centive, whose software helps managers track and calculate commission-based compensation for sales representatives, has been purchased by San Jose, CA-based Xactly for an undisclosed sum, the companies said last week. Centive, founded in 1997, had raised more than $92 million in venture funding from the likes of Key Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, … Continue reading “Centive Acquired by Xactly”

GlassHouse Adds Security Consulting with Acquisition of Former Motorola Team

GlassHouse Technologies, the Framingham, MA, firm whose IT consulting services are used by almost half of the Fortune 100 companies, said today that it has acquired Chicago-based CSSG, a fledgling security consulting firm whose key members are recent emigrants from Schaumberg, IL-based Motorola. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. GlassHouse is mainly known for … Continue reading “GlassHouse Adds Security Consulting with Acquisition of Former Motorola Team”

Virtual Computer Secures $15 Million, Makes Real Friends with Citrix

Virtual Computer, a Westford, MA, PC virtualization startup that has been gradually decloaking since last fall, today announced that it’s raised a Series B funding round totaling $15 million. The surprisingly large round was led by Highland Capital Partners of Lexington, MA, and Flybridge Capital Partners of Boston, the same investors who put up the … Continue reading “Virtual Computer Secures $15 Million, Makes Real Friends with Citrix”

Anomopoly, Dirty Truckers Snatch Top Prizes in Band Battle; Thanks to All Our Sponsors

One of the big reasons we launched Xconomy in 2007 was to remind the incredibly talented, enthusiastic people who make up Boston’s innovation community that what they do is not just important and (hopefully) profitable, but fun. And from watching so many tech-biz folks happily getting down and chatting each other up at last night’s … Continue reading “Anomopoly, Dirty Truckers Snatch Top Prizes in Band Battle; Thanks to All Our Sponsors”

E-Book Readers on the iPhone? They’re Not Quite Kindle Slayers Yet

Well, this is the first time I’ve written my weekly column while wearing a tuxedo. No, I’m not on my way home from an inauguration ball, or campaigning for higher style standards among reporters. As I write this, I’m getting ready to emcee Xconomy’s Battle of the Tech Bands 2. Our preparations for the event … Continue reading “E-Book Readers on the iPhone? They’re Not Quite Kindle Slayers Yet”

Web Innovators Group 21

The 21st iteration in this increasingly popular and well-attended series hosted by Venrock’s David Beisel, featuring presentations by pre-venture-funded startups. Main dish and side dish presentations to be announced. Free registration here.

Ember’s Wireless Chips Power Smart-Energy Efforts

If you’re a glass-half-empty person, you might say the mesh networking technology pioneered by Boston’s Ember Corporation is a solution in search of a problem. If you’re a glass-half-full person, you’d probably call the company’s eight-year history a case study in flexible thinking. Regardless, after years of market struggles, Ember seems to have found a … Continue reading “Ember’s Wireless Chips Power Smart-Energy Efforts”

Mazu Acquired by Riverbed

Cambridge, MA-based Mazu Networks, which makes software for optimizing the performance of enterprise applications over networks, will become a unit of San Francisco-based Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: [[ticker:RVBD]]), according to an announcement yesterday. Riverbed, which focuses on wide-area-network optimization, will pay $25 million up front for Mazu plus up to $22 million in performance-based payments over … Continue reading “Mazu Acquired by Riverbed”

Data Warehousing Startup Dataupia Expands B Round by $10 Million

Cambridge, MA-based Dataupia, which makes server appliances designed to handle large volumes of business-intelligence queries, said yesterday that it recently closed a “Series B-1” financing round building on its $16 million B round in October 2007. The company didn’t say how much extra money it had raised, but a report today in Private Equity Hub, … Continue reading “Data Warehousing Startup Dataupia Expands B Round by $10 Million”

City of Boston Joins EnerNOC’s Demand Response Network

EnerNOC (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ENOC]]), the Boston-based company that pays factory operators, store owners, and local governments for the right to dial back their electricity usage during times of peak demand, announced today that the City of Boston is finally diving into the local “demand response” pool. Under a new agreement negotiated with the office of Mayor … Continue reading “City of Boston Joins EnerNOC’s Demand Response Network”

Obama Inauguration Breaks Streaming-Media Records

This morning, we gave you a guide to online outlets with live streaming video of President Obama’s swearing-in. This afternoon, we can report that record-breaking audiences accessed these streams, at least as far as Cambridge, MA-based networking leader Akamai was able to measure. At the height of Internet traffic at approximately 12:15 p.m. Eastern time … Continue reading “Obama Inauguration Breaks Streaming-Media Records”

Extreme Reach Wants to Extend Advertisers’ Cross-Media Reach

Video ads are showing up in so many places now—on the Web, on mobile devices, as part of on-demand programming, and of course on regular network TV—that managing all those video files, in all their various formats, is getting to be a bit of a nightmare for advertisers and their agencies. Extreme Reach, a new … Continue reading “Extreme Reach Wants to Extend Advertisers’ Cross-Media Reach”

Stuck at Work? Watch the Inauguration Online

Let’s face it, the country is not going to get much work done today between, oh, 11:14 a.m. (when the Obama family will be seated on the Capitol platform) and 12:36 p.m. (when by-then-former-President Bush’s helicopter lifts off). But if you’re at the office and you can’t catch history being made in Washington on network … Continue reading “Stuck at Work? Watch the Inauguration Online”

Assured Labor Launches Trust-Driven Job Marketplace

If you’re a busy, Web-savvy professional and you need a dog walker, a house cleaner, or someone to plow your driveway, your first thought is probably to search Craigslist. And indeed, there are thousands of people offering such services on the 14-year-old free classifieds site. But the problem with Craigslist, according to David Reich, a … Continue reading “Assured Labor Launches Trust-Driven Job Marketplace”

Don’t Truck Your Waste to a Landfill: Truck A Gasification Plant To Your Waste

For most of the “clean energy” startups Xconomy covers, the big question is whether the company’s prototype—be it a wind turbine, a wood-chips-to-ethanol reactor, or an anaerobic cow-manure digester—will still work efficiently when scaled up to industrial proportions. But for IST Energy in Waltham, MA, the question was how to scale down a waste gasification … Continue reading “Don’t Truck Your Waste to a Landfill: Truck A Gasification Plant To Your Waste”

Nuance Gets IBM Speech Technology

Burlington, MA-based Nuance Communications, shortly after announcing yesterday that it will raise $175 million in a stock sale to private equity firm Warburg Pincus, revealed that it has reached a deal with IBM to incorporate the computing giant’s speech technology into Nuance products. Nuance said it “expects the first integrated speech innovations combining Nuance and … Continue reading “Nuance Gets IBM Speech Technology”

Have Xtra Fun Making Movies with Xtranormal

This week’s column comes partly in the form of a digital cartoon. Click on the play button below to watch it. (Or if you’re reading this story via an RSS feed or e-mail newsletter, click this link to view the video—then come back here). Clever, eh? Of course, it’s just fiction. I still have a … Continue reading “Have Xtra Fun Making Movies with Xtranormal”

ThinkEngine Files for Bankruptcy

Marlborough, MA-based ThinkEngine Networks, a telecommunications company whose media servers unify traditional circuit-switched and Internet-based voice signals, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in U.S. bankruptcy court in Worcester, MA, according to reports today in the Boston Business Journal and the Boston Herald. The American Stock Exchange delisted the company last March due to … Continue reading “ThinkEngine Files for Bankruptcy”

Roombas and Rock Bands and Zunes, Oh My! Queue Up for Fabulous Door Prizes at Xconomy’s Battle of the Tech Bands 2

Here at 10 Rogers Street we’re bending considerable energy toward final preparations for the Battle of the Tech Bands 2, a week from today (January 22) at the Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub in Central Square, Cambridge. Reserve tickets now for $20 apiece and you’ll be benefiting the two local non-profits, Science Club for Girls … Continue reading “Roombas and Rock Bands and Zunes, Oh My! Queue Up for Fabulous Door Prizes at Xconomy’s Battle of the Tech Bands 2”

FirstDocs’ Series A Round: $3M

FirstDocs, a Westwood, MA, startup whose software automates the way law firms and corporate legal departments create, share, store, and retrieve legal documents, disclosed on January 9 that it had garnered an unspecified amount of Series A funding from Boulder, CO-based Foundry Group. Today, Private Equity Hub reports based on regulatory filings that the amount … Continue reading “FirstDocs’ Series A Round: $3M”

FitnessKeeper Is Making Its $10 iPhone App Free…For One Day

Here’s an interesting little story about a local mobile software developer and the vagaries of working with Apple. At several recent events around town, I’ve run into a fellow named Jason Jacobs. He’s the founder of FitnessKeeper, a Boston startup that released a fitness app for the iPhone back in August. Called RunKeeper, the app … Continue reading “FitnessKeeper Is Making Its $10 iPhone App Free…For One Day”

Boston-area Software Firms Hitch Their Wagons to Salesforce; Say Ride Can Be Rough But Profitable

“Platform” is such an overused buzzword in the software world that my ears start oozing cerebrospinal fluid every time I hear it. But my reaction notwithstanding, history does include a few genuine examples of devices or programs developed by one company that became critical platforms for new products from a host of others. The Windows … Continue reading “Boston-area Software Firms Hitch Their Wagons to Salesforce; Say Ride Can Be Rough But Profitable”

Boston Journalists Launch GlobalPost.com, Alternative to Traditional Media’s Shrinking International Coverage

Declaring that “quality journalism in America is threatened more profoundly today than at any time in our history” by the accelerating death throes of the traditional newspaper and TV news businesses, two veteran Boston-area journalists yesterday launched GlobalPost, an online-only source for on-the-ground international news of the sort that’s increasingly scarce in the mainstream media. … Continue reading “Boston Journalists Launch GlobalPost.com, Alternative to Traditional Media’s Shrinking International Coverage”

Bill to End Non-Compete Agreements Filed on Beacon Hill

Massachusetts Representative Will Brownsberger filed a bill today calling on the state legislature to outlaw the non-compete agreements that prevent many Massachusetts residents who leave their employers from finding work at similar companies. The brief bill, entitled “An Act to Prohibit Restrictive Employment Covenents,” would amend Section 19 of Chapter 149 of the General Laws … Continue reading “Bill to End Non-Compete Agreements Filed on Beacon Hill”

Boston Company Adorns Basketball Stadium, Sees Bright Future in Giant LED Displays

A Boston startup called A2aMedia announced today that it has been selected by the Miami Heat basketball team to install a giant LED video display, some 3,400 square feet in area, on the side of the team’s arena in Miami. Consisting of a new kind of see-through, woven metal mesh invented by German architectural supply … Continue reading “Boston Company Adorns Basketball Stadium, Sees Bright Future in Giant LED Displays”

Boston-Area Mobile Investment Surged Past Half-Billion Mark in 2008

In most New England technology sectors, mid-2008 marked the start of a steep downward tumble in venture, IPO, and M&A activity. But not so for mobile technology. According to a report released today by Mobile Monday Boston, the local mobile industry boomed in 2008, with the total amount of money raised shooting past the $500 … Continue reading “Boston-Area Mobile Investment Surged Past Half-Billion Mark in 2008”

nTag Enters Bankruptcy

Boston’s nTag Interactive, a maker of wearable, wireless electronic badges handed out to attendees at business conferences so that they can exchange contact information and vote in interactive polls, filed for bankruptcy in Boston federal court on December 26, according to a report today in the Boston Business Journal. The seven-year-old company, an MIT Media … Continue reading “nTag Enters Bankruptcy”

StreamBase Closes $6M Series D

StreamBase Systems, a Lexington, MA, startup whose “complex event processing” software helps business and government customers act on real-time streaming data, has closed a $6.24 million Series D funding round, according to a regulatory filing cited by Private Equity Hub. Existing investors Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Highland Capital Partners, and In-Q-Tel were in on … Continue reading “StreamBase Closes $6M Series D”

$6M for SimpleTuition

SimpleTuition, a Newton, MA-based startup that helps students and their parents search for the best student loans, has closed a $6 million Series C funding round, according to Private Equity Hub, which cited a regulatory filing. Atlas Venture, Flybridge Capital Partners and North Hill Ventures were among the backers.

Alnylam, Cubist Will Cooperate on RNAi Drug for Lung Infections

Cambridge, MA-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Lexington, MA-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals announced a major deal today in which Cubist will pay Alnylam $20 million immediately, and up to $82.5 million in milestone-based payments down the road, in return for the right to market RNAi-based drugs that Alnylam is developing to treat the deadly respiratory syncytial virus, or … Continue reading “Alnylam, Cubist Will Cooperate on RNAi Drug for Lung Infections”