It’s a holiday for us here at Xconomy, as we join banks, schools, state and federal offices, and the rest of the nation in commemorating those who’ve served in the military. We’ll be back on Wednesday with a new bundle of stories.
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/
MicroLogic Sold to Alanco
Lowell, MA-based MicroLogic, which developed the wireless technology behind the LoJack theft recovery system for vehicles and has recently focused on wireless tracking of heavy construction equipment, will be acquired by the StarTrak Systems division of Alanco Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALAN]]), the Scottsdale, AZ-based company announced today. StarTrak makes cellular- and satellite-based systems that track “cold … Continue reading “MicroLogic Sold to Alanco”
Conde Nast Picks Brightcove
Brightcove, the Cambridge, MA, Internet video hosting company, announced today that Conde Nast Publications has hired it to launch new advertising-supported video channels “across the company’s websites.” The magazine publishing company is already using the new Brightcove 3 platform to power video sections at Wired.com, Portfolio.com, Glamour.com, Parade.com, and Self.com, and plans to launch video … Continue reading “Conde Nast Picks Brightcove”
Three Boston Startups Finalists in Amazon’s $100K Web Services Challenge
Conditions today in Boston: increasing clouds. Cloud-computing startups, that is. Out of the seven companies named Friday as finalists in Amazon’s latest AWS Start-Up Challenge—designed to reward the most innovative companies using the cloud-based Amazon Web Services infrastructure to deliver their products or services—three are based right here in the Boston area. (Sorry, Seattle.) Each … Continue reading “Three Boston Startups Finalists in Amazon’s $100K Web Services Challenge”
Boeing Completes Tapestry Acquisition
Chicago-based aerospace giant Boeing said today that it has finalized the purchase, for an undisclosed sum, of San Diego’s Tapestry Solutions, a 350-employee company that specializes in command-and-control, modeling, and simulation software for military and security organizations. The acquisition was first announced September 26.
In the World of Total Information Awareness, “The Last Enemy” Is Us; A TV Show Good Enough to Inspire a Political Rant
If you thought the notorious Total Information Awareness program went away when Congress eliminated funding for the Pentagon’s mass-surveillance experiment in 2003, you were misled. The program itself may have been dismantled, but as an investigation by the Wall Street Journal detailed in March, many pieces of it were simply transferred to other federal agencies, … Continue reading “In the World of Total Information Awareness, “The Last Enemy” Is Us; A TV Show Good Enough to Inspire a Political Rant”
SiCortex Introduces “Green Computing Index” to Rank Big Computers on Energy Efficiency
There’s no such thing as a free flop. A “flop,” or floating-point operation, is a calculation involving a decimal number; engineers often measure the performance of computers in terms of the number of “gigaflop/s” (billions of floating-point operations per second) they can sustain. In the supercomputing community, it’s a longstanding ritual to compare various machines’ … Continue reading “SiCortex Introduces “Green Computing Index” to Rank Big Computers on Energy Efficiency”
Historic Obama Win Also Sets Web Traffic Records
At 11:00 pm Eastern time last night—when the polls closed on the U.S. West Coast and most TV news outlets called the election in favor of the new President-elect, Barack Obama—Internet users streamed to news websites in unprecedented numbers, according to Cambridge, MA-based Akamai. The company, which has been measuring Internet traffic to news, retail, … Continue reading “Historic Obama Win Also Sets Web Traffic Records”
Atlas Venture Raising Half a Billion
Waltham, MA-based Atlas Venture has embarked on fundraising for a new venture capital fund, and hopes to raise $500 million, according to reports today in VentureWire and PE Hub. It’s the eighth fund the firm has raised since its founding in 1980; the seventh fund, closed in 2006, totaled $385 million.
Broadband Video’s Disruptive Impact
Newton, MA-based Internet video new site VideoNuze, in association with that Cable & Television Association for Marketing (which is holding its annual conference in Boston next week), hosts a breakfast on how companies can profit from the rise of broadband video. Panelists will offer their diverse perspectives and practical insights on what the broadband future … Continue reading “Broadband Video’s Disruptive Impact”
Announcing the Battle of the Tech Bands 2
Xconomy’s first Battle of the Tech Bands last January was such a huge success—with close to 350 people gathering to hear six local groups, from the pop/dub/electronica hipsters Deadbeat Darling to the sonically massive Souled Out Superband to the proudly cheesy indie pop rock band MacAlister Drive—that we’ve decided to do it again. Same place … Continue reading “Announcing the Battle of the Tech Bands 2”
Adobe Fixes Software Flaw Exposed by Core Security
Boston’s Core Security, a provider of automated penetration software and computer security consulting services, published details today of a flaw in some versions of the widely used program Adobe Reader that could leave users’ computers vulnerable to takeover by hackers. Shortly after the company published details of the vulnerability, Adobe announced a software update designed … Continue reading “Adobe Fixes Software Flaw Exposed by Core Security”
Obama Voters Text Support to LocaModa Display in Times Square
Okay, it’s an election-day stunt, but it’s one of the more imaginative ones we’ve seen. Cambridge, MA-based outdoor-communications startup LocaModa, working with a grassroots group of Barack Obama fundraisers called An Obama Minute, is providing the software behind a system that will display text messages in support of the Presidential candidates on a Times Square … Continue reading “Obama Voters Text Support to LocaModa Display in Times Square”
Brightcove Drops Free Service
Cambridge, MA-based Brightcove, which rolled out an overhauled version of its Internet video publishing platform last month, notified users in an e-mail and blog post yesterday that it will shut down the Brightcove Network, a free advertising-supported version the platform, on December 17. Launched in 2006, the Brightcove Network and its showcase site Brightcove.tv were … Continue reading “Brightcove Drops Free Service”
Egenera Lays Off 87
Egenera, a Marlborough, MA-based, maker of data center management software, told employees yesterday that it will respond to a global sales slowdown by cutting 87 people from its staff, including 30 to 35 employees in Marlborough, according to a report in the Boston Globe. The company said its sales staff would shrink by 40 percent … Continue reading “Egenera Lays Off 87”
ZeeVee Launches Free, Browser-based Version of Zviewer Video Portal
There’s a new development in the saga of ZeeVee, the Littleton, MA, startup that makes a “localcasting” PC-to-HDTV appliance called the ZvBox. It’s taking the best part of its appliance—an elegant user interface that aggregates video from across the Internet—and making it available to all Windows computer users over the Web. The newly liberated “ZViewer” … Continue reading “ZeeVee Launches Free, Browser-based Version of Zviewer Video Portal”
Tatara Sells Mobile Broadband Assets
Acton, MA-based Tatara Systems, a mobile communications software company, said last week that it has sold its broadband mobile product line to Smith Micro Software for an undisclosed sum. The company said the sale would allow it to focus on systems that let corporate users to access voice-over-Internet telephony services on their cell phones.
Youth Marketing Mashup East
YPulse hosts a two-day conference on From the conference website: “Teens, college students and early twenty-somethings use technology in every aspect of their lives, from studying, to socializing, to entering the workforce, to consuming media…Today’s youth marketers not only have to stay current with youth culture, but they also have to leverage technology to engage … Continue reading “Youth Marketing Mashup East”
Where’s the Money for Energy Entrepreneurs? Our Podcast Previewing the Conference on Clean Energy Has Some Hints
Last week the organizers of the Fourth Conference on Clean Energy, coming up November 18 and 19 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, asked me to host a panel discussion on the funding climate for new clean-energy ventures. In a teleconference recorded October 28, I asked four leaders from the local venture capital and … Continue reading “Where’s the Money for Energy Entrepreneurs? Our Podcast Previewing the Conference on Clean Energy Has Some Hints”
In Google Book Search Settlement, Readers Lose
The biggest development in the digital media world this week, by far, was the settlement of a pair of class-action copyright-infringement lawsuits brought against Google in 2005 by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and several publishing houses. The compromise agreement, which was announced October 28 and now awaits approval by the federal … Continue reading “In Google Book Search Settlement, Readers Lose”
Boston-Power Expands Lithium Ion R&D Lab, Sets Eyes on Batteries for Transportation
Boston-Power, which makes advanced lithium-ion battery packs for notebook computers, is planning a ribbon-cutting ceremony today for its newly expanded research and development facilities in Westborough, MA. I caught up with CEO Christina Lampe-Onnerud by phone this morning as she prepared for the event, where a number of local business leaders and state officials plan … Continue reading “Boston-Power Expands Lithium Ion R&D Lab, Sets Eyes on Batteries for Transportation”
Can The Echo Nest Stay Aloft in the Turbulent Music-Recommendation Industry?
As I walked through a windy, chilly Somerville on my way to visit music-discovery startup The Echo Nest yesterday, last weekend’s sudden shutdown at Matchmine weighed on my mind. After all, The Echo Nest is in the same general business as the now-defunct Needham, MA, company: building software that helps digital media companies provide Web … Continue reading “Can The Echo Nest Stay Aloft in the Turbulent Music-Recommendation Industry?”
Vlingo Upgrades Blackberry App
Cambridge, MA, startup Vlingo today launched a drastically improved version of its voice command and speech-to-text interface for RIM Blackberry smartphones, first released in June. The free vlingo 2.0 software, which works on Blackberry Pearl, Curve, and 8800 series phones, not only allows users to compose text messages and e-mails by speaking into their phones, … Continue reading “Vlingo Upgrades Blackberry App”
Roam the Web with Your Weblin Avatar
Allegedly, surfing the Web is a leisure activity for a growing number of people. I wouldn’t know—my job as a technology blogger obliges me to surf the Web all day at work, so if I have to use the Web from home, it’s usually because I’m taking care of some task like paying bills, uploading … Continue reading “Roam the Web with Your Weblin Avatar”
Microsoft, Akamai Partner on “Smooth HD” Video; Alternative to Brightcove
So, are Akamai and Brightcove—digital media companies located just a block apart in Cambridge’s Kendall Square—partners, rivals, or both? The confusion grew today as Akamai said in a joint announcement with Microsoft that it will supply the network infrastructure behind a new “adaptive” system that streams high-definition video over the Internet at varying resolutions depending … Continue reading “Microsoft, Akamai Partner on “Smooth HD” Video; Alternative to Brightcove”
Brightcove Snags AOL, NYT
Cambridge, MA-based Brightcove, which rolled out a massively overhauled version of its video hosting service just two weeks ago, announced today that AOL will manage all of its online video using the new Brightcove 3 platform starting in early 2009. It was the second big customer win in as many weeks—last week the New York … Continue reading “Brightcove Snags AOL, NYT”
Matchmine CEO Comments on Shutdown—Company Was “Collateral Damage” of Financial Crisis
After publishing my report last night about the death of Needham, MA-based Matchmine, I wrote to CEO Mike Troiano, whom I’ve interviewed a couple of times over the past year, seeking his comments about the sudden shutdown, which he announced yesterday in the company’s blog. Troiano wrote back this morning. He explains that Matchmine—which had … Continue reading “Matchmine CEO Comments on Shutdown—Company Was “Collateral Damage” of Financial Crisis”
Fairhaven Capital Raises $250 Million for Early-Stage Technologies and Theme-Driven Investing Philosophy
Fairhaven Capital Partners announced today that it has closed its second investing fund—and its first since TD Capital spun out the firm in June 2007. Known for their earlier investments in companies with successful exits, including Third Screen Media, Softricity, and EqualLogic, the seven partners at Cambridge, MA-based Fairhaven say they’ll use the $250 million … Continue reading “Fairhaven Capital Raises $250 Million for Early-Stage Technologies and Theme-Driven Investing Philosophy”
Helium Raises $17M, Fires 18
Helium, the Andover, MA-based online marketplace for writers, recently finished raising a $17 million Series A financing round and almost simultaneously cut its staff by 18 people, or about 30 percent, according to a story today in TechCrunch. The company, where freelance writers can submit articles, vote for the best material uploaded by other writers, … Continue reading “Helium Raises $17M, Fires 18”
Matchmine Flames Out Suddenly
[10:00 a.m. 10/28/08: Update and clarification included below.] In an entry cross-posted on the company blog and his personal blog this afternoon, Mike Troiano, CEO of Needham, MA-based recommendation technology startup Matchmine, said the company is shutting down, effective immediately. The failure of the company, which raised $10 million in venture financing just last year, … Continue reading “Matchmine Flames Out Suddenly”
Neuroscience Drug Discovery and Development: The Route to Disease-Modifying Therapies
The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge hosts a discussion on drug discovery in neuropharmacology. From the event website: “Disorders of the brain, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia and depression, pose some of the hardest challenges for the biopharmaceutical industry. The disease burden from brain disorders … Continue reading “Neuroscience Drug Discovery and Development: The Route to Disease-Modifying Therapies”
The Rise of Advertising Networks: Aggregating & Selling Audiences
The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge sponsors a panel discussion on Web-based advertising. From the event site: “The Web is becoming increasingly distributed across proliferating publishers, leaving advertisers with the challenge of reaching a fragmented audience. Enter the advertising networks, which have recently re-emerged to take a growing portion of these online ad dollars. Join … Continue reading “The Rise of Advertising Networks: Aggregating & Selling Audiences”
Eons’ Jeff Taylor at the Vilna Shul
The Speaker Series at Vilna Shul Boston’s Center for Jewish Culture features a “fireside chat” with Jeff Taylor, CEO of Boston-based social networking site Eons (profiled here). More information here.
Mass High Tech All-Star Awards
Mass High Tech, published by American City Business Journals, honors its 2008 All-Stars, “influential and dynamic leaders from across New England’s innovation economy.” This year’s all-star pics include: Telecom: Justin Aborn, Chief Scientist, General Compression Education: Abigail A. Barrow, Director MA Technology Transfer Center, University of Massachusetts Social Media: Chris Brogan, VP Strategy & Technology, … Continue reading “Mass High Tech All-Star Awards”
The Building Blocks of Social Media
MITX hosts a morning panel discussion on marketing technology in the social media age. From the event web page: “Social networking and community-driven web initiatives continue to be a top priority for organizations looking to engage customers and prospects online. The technology that drives these initiatives is rapidly evolving, creating a dizzying array of options … Continue reading “The Building Blocks of Social Media”
Battery Leads $17M ZeroG Round
Waltham, MA-based Battery Ventures is the lead funder in a $17 million Series B round for ZeroG Wireless, a Sunnyvale, CA-based developing low-power Wi-Fi chips, the company announced today. Existing investors Morgenthaler Ventures, which has offices in Boston, and Greylock Partners, which has offices in Waltham, also joined the round. Though ZeroG has not announced … Continue reading “Battery Leads $17M ZeroG Round”
At Employee Fair, EMC Calls for Innovation from the Bottom Up
How does a giant company like EMC build an image as an innovator when it employs only a handful of full-time researchers, has a reputation for acquiring rather than inventing new technologies, and sells some of the unsexiest boxes in the IT back room—file servers, disk arrays, and other backup systems that, if they’re working … Continue reading “At Employee Fair, EMC Calls for Innovation from the Bottom Up”
The Encyclopedia of Life: Can You Build A Wikipedia for Biology Without the Weirdos, Windbags, and Whoppers?
After 16 months in business, Xconomy has published about 3,400 pages of articles. At this pace, we’ll get to 1.8 million pages in about 700 years. But the Encyclopedia of Life—a new scientific and educational website that will have one page for every species on the planet—intends to hit that number in just 10 years. … Continue reading “The Encyclopedia of Life: Can You Build A Wikipedia for Biology Without the Weirdos, Windbags, and Whoppers?”
Bloomberg Subscribers Get Access to Sermo Physician Forum
It seems that Sermo, the exclusive online community for physicians, is finding new ways to monetize its population of members almost as quickly as that population is growing. Last year, the password-protected site, where some 90,000 practicing physicians consult with one another on medical cases and other issues via a system of comments and polls, … Continue reading “Bloomberg Subscribers Get Access to Sermo Physician Forum”
Ze-gen Fires Back in Patent Dispute; Calls Quantum Catalytics’ Infringement Allegations “Fraudulent”
Boston-based Ze-gen has struck back at Quantum Catalytics. Ze-gen, in documents filed yesterday in federal District Court in Boston, says the patent infringement claims Quantum filed against it in August are “transparently fraudulent” and “so oblique as to be unfathomable.” Many of the patents at stake in the lawsuit have expired, Ze-gen pointed out in … Continue reading “Ze-gen Fires Back in Patent Dispute; Calls Quantum Catalytics’ Infringement Allegations “Fraudulent””
New EveryZing Video Player Helps Publishers Cash In on Viral Video Distribution
Google’s YouTube makes it incredibly easy to share cool videos with your friends or embed them in your blog or website. The site’s friendliness toward viral distribution is probably why almost every video on the Internet ends up on YouTube sooner or later. But if big companies that publish a lot of Web video leave … Continue reading “New EveryZing Video Player Helps Publishers Cash In on Viral Video Distribution”
VMware Unafraid of MSFT, CEO Says
Seattle Tech Report, a blog published by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reports that Paul Maritz, CEO of EMC (NYSE: [[ticker:EMC]]) virtualization subsidiary VMware (NYSE: [[ticker:VMW]]), dismissed Microsoft’s virtualization efforts as a competitive threat in a conference call with analysts yesterday. The company hasn’t seen major losses to Microsoft’s server virtualization products and “we don’t see them … Continue reading “VMware Unafraid of MSFT, CEO Says”
Building New Life Science Companies: The Bob Langer–Terry McGuire Show on Video
One highlight of Xconomy’s September 23 forum, “How to Build a Life Sciences Company,” was my closing chat with MIT Institute Professor and Xconomist Robert Langer and Polaris Venture Partners managing partner Terry McGuire, who have teamed on a long list of local biotech startups. Now, courtesy of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, which … Continue reading “Building New Life Science Companies: The Bob Langer–Terry McGuire Show on Video”
Symbian OS Gets Skyhook Location System
Back in January, Boston’s Skyhook Wireless scored a huge win by getting its Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS)—which helps cellphones and laptops determine their locations by listening for nearby wireless hotspots—into the Apple iPhone. And every few weeks since then I’ve gotten another note from Skyhook, saying that WPS or its hybrid GPS/Wi-Fi/cellular-based cousin, XPS, has … Continue reading “Symbian OS Gets Skyhook Location System”
Akamai Buys Acerno, Adds Targeted Advertising Capability
Akamai, the Cambridge, MA-based operator of Internet content distribution networks, today released news that it will acquire Acerno, a New York- and San Francisco-based targeted-advertising company, for $95 million in cash. The move gets Akamai (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AKAM]]) into the increasingly popular game of “behavioral targeting,” or serving specific ads to online shoppers based on their … Continue reading “Akamai Buys Acerno, Adds Targeted Advertising Capability”
CheapFlights Founders Launch Retro Deals Site CheapToday
At a time of dwindling portfolios, mass layoffs, impending recession, and general financial queasiness, Web entrepreneurs should to go back to basics, focusing on services that help customers save money, say startup gurus like Paul Graham. That’s exactly what CheapToday did last week, launching a website and an e-mail newsletter that highlight the best deals … Continue reading “CheapFlights Founders Launch Retro Deals Site CheapToday”
$66M Army Order at BAE Systems
Lexington, MA-based defense and aerospace giant BAE Systems said today that the U.S. Army has placed a $66 million order for thermal weapon sights used on rifles, machine guns, and mounted weapons. BAE’s thermal sights include sophisticated electronic infrared sensors that allow soldiers to spot targets even if they’re obscured by darkness, foliage, or camouflage. … Continue reading “$66M Army Order at BAE Systems”
Novomer, Maker of Plastic from CO2, Moves HQ to Boston
Last November I told you about Novomer, an Ithaca, NY-based startup using proprietary zinc- and cobalt-based catalysts to make plastic from carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Today the company, which is funded by Cambridge, MA-based Flagship Ventures, announced that it’s moving to Boston and gaining a new CEO, former Surface Logix CEO Jim Mahoney. Novomer’s … Continue reading “Novomer, Maker of Plastic from CO2, Moves HQ to Boston”
Altitude Makes Heroic Guitar
Somerville, MA-based product design firm Altitude has introduced a full-scale, wooden guitar controller to replace the goofy plastic one that comes with the cult-hit video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band, according to a report this week in Wicked Local. The $180 controller, designed to work with the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles, provides … Continue reading “Altitude Makes Heroic Guitar”
Big Solar Contracts for Evergreen, GT Solar
In separate announcements yesterday, New England solar equipment suppliers Evergreen Solar and GT Solar said they’d won big contracts from companies in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. Marlborough, MA-based Evergreen (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ESLR]]), which manufactures silicon solar panels using a proprietary “string ribbon” process, said that it had signed one contract with North American solar … Continue reading “Big Solar Contracts for Evergreen, GT Solar”