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/

As Facebook Redefines the Social Web, Platform Manager Dave Morin Talks About the Coolest Facebook Apps From Boston and Seattle

It’s September in Boston, and that can only mean one thing—conferences, conferences, conferences. Xconomy’s own life sciences event was on Tuesday, and I spent most of the day yesterday at EmTech 08, the big annual tech-fest put on by MIT’s Technology Review magazine. One highlight was a lively panel led by Robert Scoble, renowned technology … Continue reading “As Facebook Redefines the Social Web, Platform Manager Dave Morin Talks About the Coolest Facebook Apps From Boston and Seattle”

LaughNetwork Joins Pangea

Pangea Media, a Watertown, MA company that operates a network of casual gaming sites including QuizRocket.com and Quibblo.com, said yesterday that it has acquired LaughNetwork, a Kentucky startup whose network of entertainment sites attracts more than 1 million page views per day. Pangea didn’t say how much it paid in the deal.

Don’t Put That DVD In the Mail: Wistia Helps Companies Share Video Over the Internet

We’re always on the lookout for companies to add to our periodic “industry cluster” overviews, which so far include the Boston Music and Technology Cluster, the Boston Internet Video Cluster, the Greater Boston Robotics Cluster, the Boston Health 2.0 Cluster, and the Greater Seattle Gaming Cluster. And recently I came across a new addition for … Continue reading “Don’t Put That DVD In the Mail: Wistia Helps Companies Share Video Over the Internet”

Safeguard Gives Swaptree $3.35 Million

Swaptree, a Boston-based Web startup that helps people trade used books, CDs, DVDs, and video games, has obtained $3.35 million in Series C funding from Wayne, PA-based Safeguard Scientifics, according to a release today from Safeguard. The company’s advertising-supported Swaptree.com site matches up people who want to swap media items and helps them print out … Continue reading “Safeguard Gives Swaptree $3.35 Million”

CityVoter Raises $2.6 Million

Cambridge, MA-based CityVoter, which provides local and national online publishers with city-specific content such as restaurant, event, and business recommendations, announced yesterday that it has closed a $2.6 million Series B financing round. The round was led by Allen & Company and by return investor Dace Ventures.

SiCortex: High Performance Computing Without the High Electric Bills

The Assabet River these days rushes through Maynard, MA, without lending any of its liquid muscle to local industry. But for more than a century, the river supplied power to the Assabet Woolen Mill, a vast brick complex that, in its heyday, was the largest source of wool for U.S. military uniforms. I went to … Continue reading “SiCortex: High Performance Computing Without the High Electric Bills”

“The Best Place in the World” for Interdisciplinary Research: A Talk with Microsoft’s Jennifer Chayes

After publishing my story yesterday about the opening of Microsoft’s newest research lab in Cambridge, MA—where social scientists and computer scientists will work side by side to understand technology-mediated phenomena such as social networking—I attended a Microsoft-sponsored launch symposium at MIT and had the opportunity to meet with the lab’s director, Jennifer Chayes. Though Bob … Continue reading ““The Best Place in the World” for Interdisciplinary Research: A Talk with Microsoft’s Jennifer Chayes”

Oak Leads $30M Investment in GreenVolts

Westport, CT-based Oak Investment Partners is the sole investor in a $30 million Series B venture round for San Francisco cleantech startup Greenvolts, the company announced today. Greenvolts is developing solar energy farms in which vast arrays of reflectors concentrate the sun’s rays on high-efficiency photovoltaic cells.

Doors Open at Microsoft Research New England

Microsoft is celebrating the official opening of its newest research lab in Cambridge, MA, today with a day-long symposium at MIT on the intersection of computer science and the social sciences. That’s also where the lab itself —the company’s fifth research outpost outside its Redmond, WA, home base—will focus its efforts, at least initially, says … Continue reading “Doors Open at Microsoft Research New England”

Soteira Collects $12 Million

PE Week Wire reports today, based on a regulatory filing, that stealth-mode medical device startup Soteira has closed a Series B financing round amounting to $12 million. Investors include Delphi Ventures, Federated Kaufman Fund, HLM Venture Partners, Partech International, and Prism VentureWorks, according to the report. Soteira, which is listed as having offices in either … Continue reading “Soteira Collects $12 Million”

Global Insight Gobbled Up by IHS

Lexington, MA-based economic forecasting firm Global Insight said yesterday that it will be acquired by IHS (NYSE: [[ticker:IHS]]) of Englewood, CO. Global Insight’s 700 employees, including 325 analysts, provide business analyses and risk assessments for regions around the world to industrial, financial, and government clients, while IHS specializes in analysis energy, security, environemental, and product … Continue reading “Global Insight Gobbled Up by IHS”

GPS Treasure Hunting with Your iPhone 3G

If you had to name the companies that stand to lose the most from Apple’s latest smartphone, released July 11, you might say Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, or Verizon. But I have a different list: Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom. That’s because new third-party apps available for the iPhone 3G make it into a wholly credible … Continue reading “GPS Treasure Hunting with Your iPhone 3G”

Back into the Cauldron: Patent Suit Renews Bitter Dispute Between Gasification Rivals Quantum Catalytics and Ze-gen

Boston clean-energy startup Ze-gen is building a pilot plant where waste materials are vaporized in a giant vat of molten iron, producing “syngas” that can then be burned to make electricity. When a federal judge in Texas dismissed a patent-infringement lawsuit against the company last month, Ze-gen had cause to hope that its recent legal … Continue reading “Back into the Cauldron: Patent Suit Renews Bitter Dispute Between Gasification Rivals Quantum Catalytics and Ze-gen”

GenBand Buys NextPoint

Billerica, MA-based NextPoint Networks, the telecommunications equipment maker just formed last December from the merger of Billerica’s Reef Point Systems and Gaithersburg, MD-based NexTone Communications, has been acquired by Plano, TX-based GenBand, the company announced yesterday. GenBand, which is paying an undisclosed sum for NextPoint, makes devices called session border controllers (SBCs) that are used … Continue reading “GenBand Buys NextPoint”

Bain Pours $7M Into Rapid7’s Security Software

Watching the financial markets during a week like this one might make putting your money into “vulnerability management” technology sound pretty attractive. At least that seems to be the thinking at a few local investment firms. Yesterday, we reported that Greylock Partners and Commonweath Capital Ventures have provided $7.5 million in expansion capital for Waltham, … Continue reading “Bain Pours $7M Into Rapid7’s Security Software”

Bessemer Leads $30M Recharge for PowerGenix

Bessemer Venture Partners, which has offices in Wellesley Hills, MA, is the leader in a $30 million Series D financing round announced today for PowerGenix. The San Diego company makes rechargeable nickel-zinc batteries, which are lighter, smaller, and less toxic than batteries using competing chemistries, such as lithium ion and nickel-metal-hydride. Existing investors Advent International, … Continue reading “Bessemer Leads $30M Recharge for PowerGenix”

IBM Opens Social Software Research Center in Cambridge

The personal and professional connections that people make over computer networks can be at least as important to business as the actual work they do using those networks. To capitalize on that fact, IBM is setting up a new Center for Social Software in Cambridge, MA, where researchers and product developers from inside and outside … Continue reading “IBM Opens Social Software Research Center in Cambridge”

Ounce Labs Raises A Ton of New Funding

Waltham, MA-based Ounce Labs, whose software automatically scans the source code of enterprise applications for security flaws, said today that it has raised $7.5 million in Series D financing. A group led by Greylock Partners and Commonweath Capital Ventures, which both have offices in Waltham, contributed the funds, which will be used mainly to “accelerate … Continue reading “Ounce Labs Raises A Ton of New Funding”

Punchbowl Spiked With an Extra $2.1 Million

Punchbowl Software, the Framingham, MA, startup that runs the Web 2.0 party planning service MyPunchbowl (profiled here last October), has obtained its first major round of venture financing. The company raised $2.1 million from a group of investors including New York-based Contour Venture Partners and seed-round participants Intel Capital and eCoast Angels. MyPunchbowl is designed … Continue reading “Punchbowl Spiked With an Extra $2.1 Million”

Netezza Finds Its Way with Spatial Data

Marlborough, MA-based Netezza (NYSE: [[ticker:NZ]]) will today unveil a feature for which users of its data warehouse appliances have long been clamoring: location. The firm raised more than $100 million in a July 2007 IPO, based largely on the perceived strength of its appliances, which are designed to speed up the complex queries that business … Continue reading “Netezza Finds Its Way with Spatial Data”

Mobile Monday Boston

The theme of this month’s student-oriented Mobile Monday Boston event is “Boston’s Most Successful Mobile Entrepreneurs.” On deck is a panel of founder-entrepreneurs including m-Qube founder and CTO Eswar Priyadarshan, Enpocket founder and CEO Jeremy Wright, and VoiceSignal founder and CEO Dan Roth, with moderator Shikhar Ghosh, founder and CEO of Appex and OpenMarket. Entrepreneurship-focused … Continue reading “Mobile Monday Boston”

.406 Invests in Ambient Devices

Boston’s .406 Ventures said today that it has “entered into an equity partnership” with Cambridge, MA-based Ambient Devices, known for its Ambient Orb, Ambient Umbrella, and other wireless displays designed to convey useful information at a glance. The two companies did not disclose the size of the investment (which is Ambient’s first from an institutional … Continue reading “.406 Invests in Ambient Devices”

GateRocket Blasts Off with $3 Million Series A Round

Bedford, MA-based GateRocket, which makes testing, verification, and debugging equipment for specialized microprocessors called field-programmable gate arrays or FPGAs, said today that it has closed a $3 million Series A financing round led by New Atlantic Ventures of Cambridge, MA and Reston, VA, the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (MTDC) of Boston, and Long River Ventures, … Continue reading “GateRocket Blasts Off with $3 Million Series A Round”

Skyhook, Centrix Collaborate on New Mac Software

Boston-based Skyhook Wireless and Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Centrix.ca announced today that Skyhook’s Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), which allows wireless devices to determine their geographic location based on the identities of nearby Wi-Fi networks, has been incorporated into the latest version of Centrix’s popular NetworkLocation software. The program automatically adjusts user settings on a Macintosh computer—for instance, … Continue reading “Skyhook, Centrix Collaborate on New Mac Software”

Swedish Cleantech Venture Day

The Swedish-American Chambers of Commerce, New England, sponsors a full-day event featuring presentations by Swedish cleantech entrepreneurs seeking international venture funding, along with networking opportunities and educational sessions about the cleantech industry in Sweden. Keynote speakers include Swedish Ambassador and Consul General to New York Ulf Hjertonsson and Flagship Ventures general partner Jim Matheson. $300 … Continue reading “Swedish Cleantech Venture Day”

Verdasys Says it Has A Better Way to Protect Web Transactions Against Malware

It may sound strange, but there’s a computer security company just outside Boston where the engineers have declared that the conventional battle against viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other forms of computer malware is already lost. Norton, McAfee, and other anti-virus companies may still make millions selling consumers software that promises to keep computers malware-free. … Continue reading “Verdasys Says it Has A Better Way to Protect Web Transactions Against Malware”

ZvBox’s Unhappy Marriage of PC and HDTV

I really wish that I could write a positive review of the ZvBox—the appliance from Littleton, MA-based ZeeVee that taps into your house’s TV cables, allowing you to watch videos playing on your Windows PC from any high-definition TV in your house. When I first profiled ZeeVee back in May, I had high hopes for … Continue reading “ZvBox’s Unhappy Marriage of PC and HDTV”

Wiggio Offers Free Groupware for Harried College Students

When I was in college in the late 1980s, the apex of communications technology was the answering machine. Nobody had a mobile phone. Nobody even had an e-mail account, aside from a few computer-science majors. (And since there was no data connectivity in the dorms, even the geeks had to go to the computer room … Continue reading “Wiggio Offers Free Groupware for Harried College Students”

Echo Nest Launches Musical Brain, Raises Capital

Somerville, MA-based Echo Nest, a startup focused on Web-based software for music search, personalization, and interactivity, made its public debut Monday at the Demo Fall 08 conference in San Diego. The company’s “Musical Brain” software, developed by MIT Media Lab graduates and company co-founders Brian Whitman and Tristan Jehan, automatically “listens” to and classifies digitally-stored … Continue reading “Echo Nest Launches Musical Brain, Raises Capital”

EmergInvest Emerges, UpDown Raises More Dough, Geezeo Grows—Is Boston a New Hub for Finance and Investing Sites?

Here at Xconomy, there are a lot of mornings when we have to decide whether to publish a bunch of brief stories, or lump the related ones together into what we call “roundups” or trend stories. Today was a pretty clear roundup/trend day, as news piled up from several Boston-area websites that help customers manage … Continue reading “EmergInvest Emerges, UpDown Raises More Dough, Geezeo Grows—Is Boston a New Hub for Finance and Investing Sites?”

The Infinite Canvas: An Interview with Scott McCloud, the Google Chrome Comic Guy

Over the last week, I’ve had several people tell me that the most interesting thing about Google Chrome isn’t the browser itself, but the way Google chose to present it to the world: via a comic book. Indeed, for at least a day or two, Scott McCloud’s Google Chrome comic—which was accidentally leaked to journalists … Continue reading “The Infinite Canvas: An Interview with Scott McCloud, the Google Chrome Comic Guy”

Parametric Seeks a Buyer

Needham, MA-based Parametric Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PMTC]]), which makes software for computer-aided design and product lifecycle management, has hired Goldman Sachs to recruit potential buyers willing to consider a price tag in the neighborhood of $2 billion, according to a report this week in the Financial Times of London. The report said Goldman Sachs has sent … Continue reading “Parametric Seeks a Buyer”

New York Times Looks Under VMware’s Hood

If EMC CEO Joe Tucci’s dismissal this summer of VMware founder Diane Greene was intended to shore up investor confidence in the Hopkinton, MA, company’s once high-flying virtualization subsidiary, it backfired: VMware’s stock has been trading this week at roughly $35 per share, down about 33 percent from its price before Greene’s firing was announced … Continue reading “New York Times Looks Under VMware’s Hood”

If You Want a Faster Internet Connection, Move to Delaware, Akamai Report Says

The global network of 34,000 content distribution servers built by Cambridge, MA-based Akamai allows the company to gather massive amounts of data on Internet usage—information that it distilled and published for the first time back in May. Now the company has published its second quarterly “State of the Internet” report, detailing trends such as the … Continue reading “If You Want a Faster Internet Connection, Move to Delaware, Akamai Report Says”

Ignite Boston 4

O’Reilly Media sponsors its fourth Boston-area event featuring a dozen or more “lighting talks” by local technology entrepreneurs and personalities. This time, the keynote speaker is none other than Tim O’Reilly, who’s joined by Rails developer Dan Chak. More information here; RSVP to [email protected].

Hangout Lets It All Hang Out, Wants to Become a 3-D, Interactive MySpace

A Boston startup transposing MySpace-style teen social networking into a 3-D virtual environment is one of the companies making its public debut at this week’s TechCrunch50 conference in San Francisco. Executives from Hangout Industries, which has raised $6 million in venture funding from Polaris Ventures and Highland Capital Partners, went onstage at the conference today … Continue reading “Hangout Lets It All Hang Out, Wants to Become a 3-D, Interactive MySpace”

Carbonite Puts Its Online Backup Software on Lenovo Computers, Raises $20 Million

Automatic Internet-based backup services—the first form of “cloud computing” to hit the mainstream market—have been making news lately. Last Wednesday, the Mozy division of Hopkinton, MA-based EMC (NYSE: [[ticker:EMC]]) announced that its software will power an online backup service available to buyers of Thinkpad SL notebook computers, the newest line of business laptops from Lenovo. … Continue reading “Carbonite Puts Its Online Backup Software on Lenovo Computers, Raises $20 Million”

Simon and the Google Chrome Logo: Separated at Birth?

Has anyone else noticed the resemblance between Google’s logo for its new Web browser, Chrome, and the electronic game Simon, launched by Milton Bradley in 1978? Scroll down for a side-by-side comparison. Simon and its cousin Merlin were two of my favorite toys as a kid. Knowing how Googlers also love their games, I’m betting … Continue reading “Simon and the Google Chrome Logo: Separated at Birth?”

Phase Forward Buys Clarix

Phase Forward (NASDAQ: [[ticker:PFWD]]), a Waltham, MA-based company whose software is used by large pharmaceutical companies and research institutions to manage the huge amounts of data generated by clinical drug trials, said today that it has acquired Clarix of Radnor, PA, for $40 million in cash. Clarix makes hybrid phone- and Web-based interactive voice response … Continue reading “Phase Forward Buys Clarix”

Amazon to Manage XO Laptop Giveaway Program

The “Give One, Get One” program introduced last holiday season by the Cambridge, MA-based One Laptop Per Child Foundation—which gave consumers in the United States and Canada the opportunity to buy two of the foundation’s XO laptops for $400, and have one sent to a child in a developing nation—was a success in several respects. … Continue reading “Amazon to Manage XO Laptop Giveaway Program”

What Web Journalists Can Learn from Comics

While the tech-blog world is exhausting itself testing and writing about Google Chrome, the new open-source Web browser released by the search giant on Tuesday, I’m still just having fun paging back and forth through the 38-page Scott McCloud Web comic that Google commissioned to explain the whole project. A lot of Silicon Valley companies, … Continue reading “What Web Journalists Can Learn from Comics”

Sarah Lacy’s User-Generated Book Tour

Sarah Lacy—award-winning Web 2.0 journalist, BusinessWeek’s “Valley Girl” columnist, co-host of Yahoo! Finance’s Tech Ticker, and author of the new book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0—will be at Boston’s Good Life bar meeting with the local Web 2.0 community as part of her … Continue reading “Sarah Lacy’s User-Generated Book Tour”

Ze-gen Hit by Patent Suit

Fall River, MA-based Quantum Catalytics and an affiliated Houston company called Texas Syngas have filed a patent infringement suit against Boston-based waste gasification startup Ze-gen in federal district court in Boston, the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA, first reported on Tuesday. The suit alleges that Ze-gen’s gasification technology is based on trade secrets obtained through … Continue reading “Ze-gen Hit by Patent Suit”

Virtual Computer Exits Stealth Mode—Sort Of

A Westford, MA, startup called Virtual Computer threw off its contentless stealth name on Tuesday (it had been called “Old Road Computing Corporation,” which wasn’t even an allusion to its address, on LAN Drive) and revealed that it’s working on virtualization technology for corporate PCs. But that’s about as far as the company went. For … Continue reading “Virtual Computer Exits Stealth Mode—Sort Of”

New Roomba Vacuums Tackle Pet-Hair Woes

Sadly, my old Roomba Red robot vacuum cleaner is now collecting dust—and not in the way it’s supposed to. Its rechargeable battery no longer recharges, and iRobot charges $70 for a replacement. I figure that’s money I might as well put toward a newer model. And now I’m sorely tempted: today Bedford, MA-based iRobot launched … Continue reading “New Roomba Vacuums Tackle Pet-Hair Woes”