Spire.com, the Boston-based social networking site for the affluent—not be confused with Bedford, MA-based photovoltaic equipment maker Spire Corporation—said this week that it has raised $9 million in Series A venture financing, in a round led by Hearst Interactive Media, Trident Capital, TL Ventures and private investors. The company, whose network is aimed at high-net-worth … Continue reading “Spire Aspires to Greater Things with $9 Million Infusion”
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
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DimDim Raises $6 Million
DimDim, a Boston startup that has created a free, open-source, Web-based multimedia conferencing system as an alternative to paid services such as WebEx, said today that it has raised $6 million in Series B venture financing. Existing investors Index Ventures, Nexus India Capital, and Draper Richards led the round, which expands on a $2.4 million … Continue reading “DimDim Raises $6 Million”
The Camera is Watching You: VideoIQ Puts Smarts into Surveillance
Even before events like 9/11, the Madrid train bombings, and the London Underground bombings, governments and corporations were busy blanketing outdoor and indoor spaces with networked cameras, reasoning that video surveillance can help security professionals spot criminal activity in progress, or at least get it on tape. But there’s one big problem with the blanket … Continue reading “The Camera is Watching You: VideoIQ Puts Smarts into Surveillance”
Rising Above the Virtualization Drumbeat
TiE-Boston’s Software SIG sponsors an evening debate on the potential and pitfalls of virtualization. From the event website: “Network World rates Virtualization as the hottest technology for 2008. Even after the recent market collapse, VMWare boasts a market cap of $25B with projected 2008 sales of $2B. Citrix acquired XenSource last year for over $500M … Continue reading “Rising Above the Virtualization Drumbeat”
Highland Backs Custom Jewelry Maker
Boston-based Paragon Lake, a two-year-old customized jewelry maker that emerged from the Summer@Highland incubator program at Lexington, MA-based Highland Capital Partners, said today that it has raised $5.8 million in Series A funding from Highland and Westport, CT-based Canaan Partners. The startup’s Web-based platform helps jewelers create CAD specifications for custom rings, earrings, and pendants … Continue reading “Highland Backs Custom Jewelry Maker”
EMC Cloud Chief Takes CEO Reins at VMware; Investors Spooked
In a surprise announcement this morning, Palo Alto, CA-based virtualization software maker VMware (NYSE: [[ticker:VMW]]) said that president and CEO Diane Greene has stepped down, and that Paul Maritz, formerly the director of the nascent cloud computing division at VMware’s parent company, Hopkinton, MA-based EMC (NYSE: [[ticker:EMC]]), has been appointed to replace her. The company … Continue reading “EMC Cloud Chief Takes CEO Reins at VMware; Investors Spooked”
PermissionTV Gives Video Publishers Permission to Get Creative
Interactive video is finally being reborn. In the mid-1990s, multimedia artists publishing on CD-ROMs developed a huge catalog of techniques for letting viewers interact with digital video. But as I noted in a column a couple of months go, all of that wisdom seemed to go out the window around 2000, when the broadband Web … Continue reading “PermissionTV Gives Video Publishers Permission to Get Creative”
Totspot, WebNotes, Zeer Get Top Billing at Next Web Inno
If you’re feeling like it’s been a long time since the last Web Innovators Group gathering in Cambridge, you’re right. The series has been on hiatus since the last meeting on April 2. The main reason: organizer David Beisel, a vice president at venture firm Venrock, got married and went honeymooning. (Congratulations, David!) If you’ve … Continue reading “Totspot, WebNotes, Zeer Get Top Billing at Next Web Inno”
Zink’s Mobile Photo Printer Hits Stores This Weekend
Back in January we profiled Zink Imaging, a Bedford, MA, startup breathing new life into an inkless photo printing technology first developed (pardon the pun) at Polaroid before that company’s bankruptcy and dismantlement. This weekend, the first commercial printer based on Zink’s technology will reach consumers—and ironically, it bears the Polaroid brand. The Polaroid PoGo … Continue reading “Zink’s Mobile Photo Printer Hits Stores This Weekend”
Buzzwire Adds 22 New Mobile Content Channels
Buzzwire, the Bedford, MA, startup that revealed just a couple of weeks ago that it had reached a deal with AT&T to make its streaming media service available to AT&T cellular subscribers, announced today that it has added 22 new content partners to that service. The new Internet audio and video providers whose content will … Continue reading “Buzzwire Adds 22 New Mobile Content Channels”
Social Media Lead Generation: The Business of Using Blogs, Podcasts, Message Boards and Facebook
MITX sponsors a morning seminar on using social media tools for marketing. From the MITX event listing: “In a world where attention is scarce, where traditional marketing and sales efforts are not as effective as the past, social media tools are suddenly being taken seriously as effective ways to drive awareness, build relationships, and build … Continue reading “Social Media Lead Generation: The Business of Using Blogs, Podcasts, Message Boards and Facebook”
Progress Acquires Mindreef
Bedford, MA-based Progress Software, which makes software that allows companies to tie legacy business applications together into so-called service oriented architectures (SOA), said yesterday that it has acquired smaller competitor Mindreef. The Hollis, NH-based company, which makes software for building, testing, and maintaining SOA systems, had raised $4 million in a 2003 venture funding round … Continue reading “Progress Acquires Mindreef”
At Mascoma, Taxpayers Foot Much of the Biofuel Bill
As part of a strategy to accelerate development of its biomass-to-ethanol technology, Cambridge, MA-based Mascoma appears to be sparking a little competition between state governments anxious to host the facilities that will bring the technology to market first. On Friday, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm announced an agreement between Mascoma, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, forestry … Continue reading “At Mascoma, Taxpayers Foot Much of the Biofuel Bill”
Who’s Afraid of an IPO? Everybody, At the Moment
There are two main doors that a venture-backed company can go through to provide a payday for its early investors: go public, or get acquired. And for the time being, the first door has slammed shut. In the second quarter of 2008, which ended yesterday, there were no initial public offerings by venture-backed companies in … Continue reading “Who’s Afraid of an IPO? Everybody, At the Moment”
.406 Ventures Leads Kaltura Series B Round
Boston-based venture firm .406 Ventures is the lead investor in a Series B funding round for Kaltura, a Brooklyn, NY-based startup that makes an open-source Internet video platform used by Wikipedia and other publications. The size of the round was not disclosed, but CNET reported that the company said it was “significantly larger” than the … Continue reading “.406 Ventures Leads Kaltura Series B Round”
Build Guild
From the Build Guild website: “Created by two Salem web geeks, Marc Amos & Angelo Simeoni, the Build Guild is a monthly event (Starting in July 2008, and occurring every 2nd Tuesday of the month) where folks in the web industry—designers, coders, project managers, hobbyists, etc.—can get together to talk web, debate industry topics, share … Continue reading “Build Guild”
Tech Tuesdays: Gadgets & Gatherings
Join your fellow geeks, tech savvy professionals, DIY-ers, press, and other industry luminaries for an informal gathering hosted by the Mass Technology Leadership Council at The Skellig in Waltham. Bring your laptops, robots, OLPC XO’s, Amazon Kindles, new cell phones, gadgets, and other new-fangled devices. LCD projector and wi-fi will be available for ad hoc … Continue reading “Tech Tuesdays: Gadgets & Gatherings”
Business of Software 2008
Top speakers from around have been invited to speak at the Business of Software 2008, a “Joel on Software” conference being held in Boston, September 3rd – 4th. Confirmed speakers include: * Joel Spolsky, founder of Fog Creek software, author of several books and the man behind the joelonsoftware blog * Seth Godin, Business Week’s … Continue reading “Business of Software 2008”
Mobile Internet World
From the conference website: “Mobile Internet World attracts attendees from the entire mobile Internet ecosystem. Executives from around the globe attend to learn about the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice of the mobile Internet, what role they can play and how they can profit from its opportunities…The first day, October 21 is the pre-conference day, which includes … Continue reading “Mobile Internet World”
Skyhook Blends GPS, Cellular into Wi-Fi Location-Finding System
Imagine if Microsoft admitted that people might like to run the Macintosh operating system on their Windows computers. Or if Apple made it possible to run Windows alongside Mac OS X. (Oh wait, they already did that.) Well, that’s a little bit like what Boston’s Skyhook Wireless is announcing this week. After spending five years … Continue reading “Skyhook Blends GPS, Cellular into Wi-Fi Location-Finding System”
Jingle Jumps Back to Bay State—From Silicon Valley
Jingle Networks, the company behind the advertising-supported directory assistance service 1-800-FREE411, is returning to its Massachusetts roots. The venture-funded startup, which was founded in Burlington, MA, in 2005, announced yesterday that it’s moving its corporate headquarters to Bedford, MA, after several years in Menlo Park, CA. The move coincides with a change in leadership at … Continue reading “Jingle Jumps Back to Bay State—From Silicon Valley”
Moon Madness: Multimedia Treasures from the Apollo Era
Last October marked the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. And next month, Sputnik’s American offspring, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will also hit its 50th birthday. The milestone has occasioned the biggest flurry of media retrospectives on the space program since Ron Howard’s 1995 film … Continue reading “Moon Madness: Multimedia Treasures from the Apollo Era”
Kraft Group Backs Online Talk-Radio Platform
The Kraft Group in Foxborough, MA—which not only owns the New England Patriots but invests heavily in technology ventures such as the Matchmine recommendation engine and the Patriots’ own media-rich website—is the lead investor in a $4.6 million Series A funding round announced yesterday for New York-based social media site BlogTalkRadio. BlogTalkRadio’s Web-based software allows … Continue reading “Kraft Group Backs Online Talk-Radio Platform”
The Cloud Crowd: Photos from Xconomy’s June 24 Cloud Computing Forum
Bob just finished a writeup of our June 24 forum, “The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing,” which was held at Akamai Headquarters in Kendall Square and was a huge success, with over 150 people in attendance. But we also wanted to offer you a few photos from the event, which had a stellar lineup … Continue reading “The Cloud Crowd: Photos from Xconomy’s June 24 Cloud Computing Forum”
The Cloud Crowd: The Slide Show
For your enjoyment, a selection of pictures from Xconomy’s June 24 forum, “The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing.” All photos by Erik Mellgren. Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Boston, Seattle Investors Pony Up for Twitter
Twitter, whose hybrid text messaging/social networking/microblogging service has made missives of 140 characters or less into the hottest new form of Internet communication, announced yesterday that it’s finally accepted a major venture funding round. The news couldn’t have come early enough for Twitter addicts, who have been increasingly frantic lately about the service’s frequent outages. … Continue reading “Boston, Seattle Investors Pony Up for Twitter”
Vlingo’s Latest App Gives Blackberrying Thumbs a Rest
Cambridge, MA, startup Vlingo announced back in February that it had built its speech recognition software into Yahoo’s oneSearch mobile search portal. Thanks to that collaboration, users of Blackberry smartphones could speak search terms into their devices rather than having to type them using the keypad. It worked great in our tests. And now Vlingo’s … Continue reading “Vlingo’s Latest App Gives Blackberrying Thumbs a Rest”
Security Innovation Raises $7.1 Million
Wilmington, MA-based Security Innovation, which consults with Fortune 500 companies on the security of their software applications, said today it has raised $7.1 million in Series A funding in a round led by Brook Venture Partners of Wakefield, MA. Founded in 2002 by software quality expert James Whittaker, the company hasn’t taken any venture investment … Continue reading “Security Innovation Raises $7.1 Million”
North Bridge, General Catalyst Help rPath Raise $10 Million Series C Round
Boston-based North Bridge Venture Partners and Cambridge, MA-based General Catalyst Partners have contributed to a $10 million series C funding round for rPath, a Raleigh, NC, company marketing itself as a cloud computing vendor. The company’s software helps application developers turn their own software into “virtual appliances” that can run in virtualized environments such as … Continue reading “North Bridge, General Catalyst Help rPath Raise $10 Million Series C Round”
InnovationRx: Getting Patients to Take Their Own Medicine, Literally
It’s one of the paradoxes of modern medicine in the United States. At the doctor’s office and the drugstore, we say we want prescription drugs. In fact, we spend more than $200 billion on them every year. Between 1994 and 2005, a period in which the U.S. population increased by only 9 percent, the number … Continue reading “InnovationRx: Getting Patients to Take Their Own Medicine, Literally”
Technology Transfer Center Backs Teams from BU, MIT, MGH, Harvard
The Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center announced its latest round of Technology Investigation Awards for Massachusetts researchers today. The awards of $40,000 each went to seven teams of researchers working on projects they hope to develop into commercial products. According to MTTC, the center’s awards have helped to launch more than 20 companies since 2004 based … Continue reading “Technology Transfer Center Backs Teams from BU, MIT, MGH, Harvard”
Checkpoint Gobbles Up OATSystems
“Shrink management” may sound like an HMO for psychologists, but it’s actually the retail industry’s euphemism for measures that reduce product loss due to shoplifting, employee theft, and expired perishables. One of the leading shrink management companies makes its home in the Boston area—RFID software maker OATSystems of Waltham, MA—and lately it’s been expanding fast … Continue reading “Checkpoint Gobbles Up OATSystems”
Wireless Sensor Networks: Promises and Challenges
The New England Chinese Information Networking Association (NECINA) sponsors presentations by professor Yannis Paschalidis, Co-Director, Center for Information and System Engineering, Boston University, and Meng Cao, Solutions Architect and Practice Manager, Lionbridge Technologies. Registration free; information here.
The Boston Health 2.0 Cluster
For the better part of a decade, advocates of computing in healthcare have fixated on the dream of paperless medicine—a new era in which every patient’s medical records would be stored digitally and every hospital, physician’s practice, pharmacy, and insurer would have access to these records, reducing paperwork costs and medical errors. But for all … Continue reading “The Boston Health 2.0 Cluster”
Space Needle Envy: A Bostonian’s Ode to Seattle
“Only one is a wanderer. Two, together, are always going somewhere.” It’s one of my favorite lines from my favorite movie—Hitchcock’s Vertigo—and now it’s true of Xconomy. By introducing our Seattle site this week, we’ve become a real network. Adding Seattle to our original Boston presence gives us the chance to show that the original … Continue reading “Space Needle Envy: A Bostonian’s Ode to Seattle”
Google, Microsoft, Akamai Join Powerhouse Speaker Lineup For Xconomy’s June 24 Cloud Computing Forum: Time’s Running Out to Register
In just a few days, Xconomy will hold its first public event of the summer, our forum on “The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing.” Tickets for the June 24 event, which runs from 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm at Akamai headquarters at Eight Cambridge Center in Kendall Square, are going fast. But you can … Continue reading “Google, Microsoft, Akamai Join Powerhouse Speaker Lineup For Xconomy’s June 24 Cloud Computing Forum: Time’s Running Out to Register”
Vlingo’s CEO Fires Back at Nuance Over Patent Lawsuit—Says “When they Couldn’t Win Yahoo’s Business, This Was Their Reaction”
As soon as news broke Tuesday that Burlington, MA-based Nuance Communications was suing Harvard Square startup Vlingo for allegedly infringing one of Nuance’s speech-recognition patents, I requested an interview with Dave Grannan, Vlingo’s CEO. Grannan, who came to Vlingo from Nokia last year, has spent quite a bit of time with Xconomy in the past, … Continue reading “Vlingo’s CEO Fires Back at Nuance Over Patent Lawsuit—Says “When they Couldn’t Win Yahoo’s Business, This Was Their Reaction””
American Well Partners with Microsoft, Lands Hawaii Health Plan as First Major Customer
When I wrote my post yesterday about the launch of American Well, the Boston-based startup that plans to let patients visit with doctors via a multimedia Web interface, I couldn’t tell you the whole story. That post was tied to the company’s formal debut at the AHIP Institute 2008 meeting in San Francisco Wednesday morning–which, … Continue reading “American Well Partners with Microsoft, Lands Hawaii Health Plan as First Major Customer”
Zango to Jettison a Third of Staff
Zango, the Bellevue, WA-based adware maker that has also been known at various times as ePIPO, 180solutions, and Hotbar, plans to lay off 68 employees, or about one-third of its staff, according to reports in Online Media Daily and other publications. Frequently criticized for distributing software that causes unwanted pop-up ads to appear on PC … Continue reading “Zango to Jettison a Third of Staff”
Microsoft Buys Navic Networks, Deliverer of Targeted TV Ads
Microsoft said yesterday that it’s buying Waltham, MA-based Navic Networks for an undisclosed sum. Navic, founded in 2001, makes software for set-top boxes that TV advertisers can use to target ads at specific digital cable subscribers and measure their responses. Its software can also be used to add interactive features such as voting and polls—for … Continue reading “Microsoft Buys Navic Networks, Deliverer of Targeted TV Ads”
The Doctor Will See You Online: American Well Launches Web-Based Medical Consultations
Boston startup American Well lifted the veil on its ambitious and long-awaited online health care marketplace today. With its 24/7 online network—where people with medical concerns can log on and be matched within minutes with a physician who will provide a live medical consultation—the company hopes to disrupt business-as-usual in the healthcare industry, and potentially … Continue reading “The Doctor Will See You Online: American Well Launches Web-Based Medical Consultations”
Nuance Suit Against Vlingo Could Shut Down Yahoo’s Voice-Driven Mobile Search Service
[Story Updated 4:40 p.m. 6/18/06; see below] If a Texas district court grants an injunction sought by Burlington, MA-based Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: [[ticker:NUAN]]), it could force Yahoo to shut down the voice-enabled version of its mobile search platform. The search tool is powered by software from Vlingo, a Cambridge, MA-based startup Nuance sued yesterday for … Continue reading “Nuance Suit Against Vlingo Could Shut Down Yahoo’s Voice-Driven Mobile Search Service”
AT&T Offers Buzzwire’s Streaming Media Content on Mobile Phones
It’s a big week for Boston-area mobile software companies looking to leverage the reach of national telecommunications firms. Yesterday Waltham, MA-based Quattro Wireless announced that Cox Newspapers has hired it to produce mobile-friendly versions of the websites for 19 Cox newspapers. Today, AT&T announced that its wireless subscribers can access a library of video, audio, … Continue reading “AT&T Offers Buzzwire’s Streaming Media Content on Mobile Phones”
Cox Hires Quattro Wireless to Mobilize Newspaper Websites
Quattro Wireless, the Waltham, MA, mobile-marketing company we profiled last September after it completed a $12.3 million Series B funding round, revealed today that Cox Newspapers is using its automated platform to produce mobile-friendly versions of 19 regional Cox papers, including the Austin Statesman, the Palm Beach Post, the Dayton Daily News, and the Waco … Continue reading “Cox Hires Quattro Wireless to Mobilize Newspaper Websites”
Demandware Scoops Up N2N’s Assets
Woburn, MA-based Demandware, which offers an on-demand e-commerce platform for online retailers, has acquired all of the remaining assets of N2N, a competing e-commerce startup formerly based in Cambridge, MA, that shut down at the end of 2007 after raising $30 million in venture funding from General Catalyst Partners and other investors. Demandware won the … Continue reading “Demandware Scoops Up N2N’s Assets”
WMUR, WJAR Test Interactive TV System from Backchannelmedia
Backchannelmedia, the Boston interactive-TV startup we profiled in November 2007 and again this April, said today that it’s signed up two new partners to test its system for bookmarking web addresses promoted on live TV. Rhode Island NBC affiliate WJAR-TV and and Manchester, NH ABC affiliate WMUR-TV will both insert signals into their over-the-air broadcasts … Continue reading “WMUR, WJAR Test Interactive TV System from Backchannelmedia”
Acceleron Doubles Lab Space, Ramps Up Hiring
Last October Acceleron Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA, said it had completed a $31 million Series C funding round, bringing the bone-and-muscle-growth company’s total venture funding to an impressive $86 million over three rounds. Now we know what the company’s been spending the money on: Acceleron announced today that it’s increased head count by 40 percent … Continue reading “Acceleron Doubles Lab Space, Ramps Up Hiring”
Combating the “CSI Effect”: Boston’s Salient Stills Extracts Evidence from Grainy Surveillance Video
Generally, I’m a big fan of the CSI shows (CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and of course, the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), because the heroes are scientists. Who would have expected a trio of dramas about a bunch of wonky forensics experts to stay atop the ratings for years? But I do have a pet … Continue reading “Combating the “CSI Effect”: Boston’s Salient Stills Extracts Evidence from Grainy Surveillance Video”
BizJam Seattle 08
BizJam Seattle 08 focuses on “Social Media Essentials for Small Businesses.” Savvy business owners know that social media such as blogs, social networks and online communities are effective, inexpensive ways to promote your business. Learn how to fully tap their potential at BizJam, where 30 expert speakers will host dozens of workshops. You’ll leave with … Continue reading “BizJam Seattle 08”
NWEN Pub Night
Pub Night, a members-only event for Northwest Entrepreneur Network members, is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to get together and share ideas, build networks and have a great time at a well-known Northwest brew-pub. Pub Night will allow five NWEN members to be in the limelight for three minutes each to talk about what they do … Continue reading “NWEN Pub Night”