IRobot, (NASDAQ: [[ticker:IRBT]]) of Bedford, MA, announced today that the Army has ordered 220 of its PackBot 510 robots, worth a total of $17.5 million. The bots allow soldiers to detect and investigate explosive devices and other hazards while keeping a safe distance. The new order is the fourth that the Army has made under … Continue reading “IRobot to Send Army another $17.5 Million Worth of PackBots Under Its Hard-Won XBot Contract”
Category: National
Gaming the Industry: Defining, Pitching, and Monetizing Casual Games at Casual Connect
What exactly is “casual” gaming? My impression was that it’s a term to describe short video games that are usually played online with a minimum of software downloads and time commitment—things like solitaire and various brainteaser games. As opposed to “core” gaming, which spans the role-playing, virtual-world, and shoot-em-up market segments, traditionally played on consoles. … Continue reading “Gaming the Industry: Defining, Pitching, and Monetizing Casual Games at Casual Connect”
Light Sciences Oncology, Led by CEO on the Go, Prepares for Its Big Day
Llew Keltner flies about 600,000 miles a year. The CEO of Light Sciences Oncology insists he can’t imagine doing his job any other way. There are doctors in about 30 countries testing his company’s experimental drug/device combo treatment in clinical trials of cancer patients. He meets the physicians in person, twice a year, to talk … Continue reading “Light Sciences Oncology, Led by CEO on the Go, Prepares for Its Big Day”
Cisco To Buy Pure Networks for $120 Million
Nobody’s going public these days, but the acquisitions market is certainly heating up. A day after Boeing announced its purchase of Bingen, WA-based Insitu, Cisco (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CSCO]]) is getting into the act. The San Jose, CA-based networking giant announced it is buying Pure Networks, a privately held company based in Seattle. The deal is worth … Continue reading “Cisco To Buy Pure Networks for $120 Million”
Daily TIPs: Where to Stick Carbon, Bandwidth Trading, 100 Miles per Gallon, & More
Concrete Solution Would Lock Up Carbon Making all the concrete that goes into buildings and sidewalks accounts for more than 5 percent of annual carbon dioxide emissions, because of the intense heat that needs to be generated during the production of cement. But Technology Review tells us of one company that has a plan to … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Where to Stick Carbon, Bandwidth Trading, 100 Miles per Gallon, & More”
Good Data Gets $2 Million for Cloud-Based Business Intelligence
Cambridge, MA-based Good Data wants to do for business intelligence software what Salesforce has done for customer relationship management: put it on the Web and make it easier to use. In theory, that will give more people in an organization the ability to spot business trends and make informed decisions. Today, the 30-person Web 2.0 … Continue reading “Good Data Gets $2 Million for Cloud-Based Business Intelligence”
Genzyme Pursues Multiple Sclerosis Market, Biogen Reports Progress in Same, BG Medicine Swallows $40 Million Cash Bolus, & More Life Sciences News
Lots of news from the bigger players (think Genzyme and Biogen Idec) in the Boston-area life sciences arena last week, plus a peep here and there from the startups. —Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ALNY]]), a developer of RNAi-based drugs in Cambridge, MA, extended its collaboration with pharma giant Novartis (NYSE: [[ticker:NVS]]) through October 2009; the deal … Continue reading “Genzyme Pursues Multiple Sclerosis Market, Biogen Reports Progress in Same, BG Medicine Swallows $40 Million Cash Bolus, & More Life Sciences News”
Quick Hits with Venture Capitalist Bill Bryant, Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Bill Bryant is one of the best-known venture capitalists on the local scene. As a tech entrepreneur and angel investor, he’s been involved with startups in the Seattle area for 20 years. In the early 1990s, he was the founding vice president of sales and marketing for Visio, now part of Microsoft. Last October, he … Continue reading “Quick Hits with Venture Capitalist Bill Bryant, Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson”
From Garbage to Ethanol: InEnTec’s Method At Heart of $120 Million Refinery
Who needs corn to make ethanol, when we already have plenty of garbage? InEnTec, a small company created by scientists from MIT and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA, has taken that idea of creating ethanol from garbage and pushed it for 13 years, to the point where it is now at the … Continue reading “From Garbage to Ethanol: InEnTec’s Method At Heart of $120 Million Refinery”
Stever Robbins on How to Be A Happy Entrepreneur—One Tip, Never Trust a VC
Last Saturday I attended Podcamp Boston 3, a social media conference held at Harvard Medical School’s plush Joseph Martin Conference Center. Podcamp is hard to describe because it’s more like a Web 2.0 meetup or flash mob than like a real conference. The attendees themselves make up the agenda and lead the sessions, the audience … Continue reading “Stever Robbins on How to Be A Happy Entrepreneur—One Tip, Never Trust a VC”
Around the World with Nathan Myhrvold (and His Camera)
This week Nathan Myhrvold published some of the most stunning pictures I’ve seen in a long time. They’re compiled in a photo essay, entitled “Panoramas and Photo Technology from Iceland and Greenland,” on John Brockman’s Edge.org site. Besides the gorgeous scenery, what I found interesting was the technology behind creating these pictures, particularly the panoramic … Continue reading “Around the World with Nathan Myhrvold (and His Camera)”
Biotech Lab Building Boom in Massachusetts
A huge new biotech lab complex is being planned for Burlington, MA, according to a report in the Boston Globe. The proposed $2 billion development is the brainchild of developer Patriot Partners, which is already building out the nearby 96-acre Lexington Technology Park at the site of the old Raytheon headquarters. If realized, the Burlington … Continue reading “Biotech Lab Building Boom in Massachusetts”
Daily TIPs: Open Net, Mapping Soil, Socket to Me, & More
ISPs Should Not Control Net Traffic, FCC Hears Internet users don’t want broadband providers to slow down peer-to-peer traffic or track what users are doing online, people speaking at a public hearing in Pittsburgh told the Federal Communications Commission. PC World reports that speakers at the hearing want the FCC to take action against providers … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Open Net, Mapping Soil, Socket to Me, & More”
GT Solar Set to Break IPO Drought
The long-delayed initial public offering for Merrimack, NH-based GT Solar International is scheduled to go forward on Thursday—and so many investors are interested in the company that the offering is already oversubscribed, according to Ben Holmes, publisher at research firm Morningnotes. The stock will trade on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol SOLR. According … Continue reading “GT Solar Set to Break IPO Drought”
MobileSphere Exec Says Slydial “Combats Technology with Technology”
After I published my piece this morning on Slydial—the new service that lets you leave voicemail messages for mobile phone users without making their phone ring—I had a chance to talk briefly with Gavin Macomber, executive vice president of marketing and business development at MobileSphere, the Boston-based startup behind the service. I’m pretty incredulous about … Continue reading “MobileSphere Exec Says Slydial “Combats Technology with Technology””
Epix Unveiling Full Alzheimer’s Results at Medical Meeting, No More Surprises
Epix Pharmaceuticals is having a wild year with its Alzheimer’s drug development program. Shares in the Lexington, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EPIX]]) shot up 35 percent in one day in December after it said its drug produced one of the best improvements ever in memory and thinking skills for Alzheimer’s patients in a clinical trial. One … Continue reading “Epix Unveiling Full Alzheimer’s Results at Medical Meeting, No More Surprises”
Google Forging Connections with University of Washington
Last week, the University of Washington’s Computer Science and Engineering department hosted a special workshop sponsored by Google and the National Science Foundation. The goal of the three-day program was to instruct professors on how to teach Google-style computing—which includes harnessing huge amounts of digital data and doing “cluster computing” over large-scale, networked servers. The … Continue reading “Google Forging Connections with University of Washington”
Slydial Voicemail Service Offers “The Illusion of Communication”
Sartre said “Hell is other people.” A local startup seems to be banking on that sentiment. Here’s the paradox that Boston-based MobileSphere is exploiting: We all want to own a cell phone. But a lot of the time, we don’t actually want to talk with our friends, family, co-workers, and all of those other people … Continue reading “Slydial Voicemail Service Offers “The Illusion of Communication””
Northwest Biotech Startups Can Get Talent and Venture Bucks, But UW Could Use Some Culture Shock, CEOs Say
Tom Ranken is the first to admit he can get a bit ornery on the subject of venture capital in the Northwest. “It used to make me foam at the mouth when VCs would say there’s plenty of money out there and all the good ideas get funded,” he says. But now Ranken, the former … Continue reading “Northwest Biotech Startups Can Get Talent and Venture Bucks, But UW Could Use Some Culture Shock, CEOs Say”
Biogen Idec Isn’t Sweating Possible Sale of Genentech to Roche
Big biotech news came yesterday from Basel, Switzerland, where pharmaceutical giant Roche announced an unsolicited $43.7 billion bid to buy the rest of South San Francisco-based Genentech (NYSE: [[ticker:DNA]]) that it doesn’t already own. The news has a ripple effect in Massachusetts for smaller biotechs that have partnerships with Genentech, the industry’s pioneering company. That … Continue reading “Biogen Idec Isn’t Sweating Possible Sale of Genentech to Roche”
EMC’s Flagship Document Software Wakes Up to Web 2.0
The news today out of Hopkinton, MA-based EMC (NYSE: [[ticker:EMC]]) is that Documentum, the company’s massive software suite for managing business content from e-mail to HR forms to press releases, is getting the beginnings of a Web 2.0 facelift, with new features such as tagging, ranking, groups, Twitter-like messaging, and a vastly improved user interface … Continue reading “EMC’s Flagship Document Software Wakes Up to Web 2.0”
Daily TIPs: Broadband Head Fake?, Hackable Passports, Windy Texas, & More
World Needs Environmental New Deal, Group Says The world needs a clean energy version of Franklin Roosevelt, says “A New Green Deal,” a report issued by the New Economics Foundation. Reuters reports that the foundation is calling for world leaders to emulate “the scale, boldness, and vision” of Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression. The … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Broadband Head Fake?, Hackable Passports, Windy Texas, & More”
Philips Electronics to Move U.S. Headquarters to Massachusetts
The giant Dutch company Philips Electronics will move its North American headquarters from New York City to Andover, MA, according to reports in Andover’s Eagle Tribune and the Boston Globe. The move is expected to be announced at a press conference with representatives from Philips and governor Deval Patrick tomorrow. Philips’ healthcare division has had … Continue reading “Philips Electronics to Move U.S. Headquarters to Massachusetts”
30 Startup Ideas from Y Combinator
Fresh out of ideas for your next technology startup? No worries—investor/programmer/Web guru Paul Graham, founder of the Cambridge, MA, and Mountain View, CA-based Y Combinator startup incubator, published a handy list this weekend of 30 niches waiting to be filled by clever entrepreneurs. Graham says he published the list because the ideas represent the kind … Continue reading “30 Startup Ideas from Y Combinator”
Venture Activity in Washington State Picks Up in Second Quarter, Surpasses 2007 Levels
Pacific Northwest venture deals are making a comeback of sorts. Second-quarter investment numbers for Washington are up compared with the same period last year, according to data released over the weekend by Dow Jones VentureSource. In the second quarter of 2008, there were 25 venture deals in Washington worth a total of $302 million—an 8.7 … Continue reading “Venture Activity in Washington State Picks Up in Second Quarter, Surpasses 2007 Levels”
New England Venture Activity Picks Up Slightly in Second Quarter, but Still Nowhere Near 2007 Levels
Second-quarter venture activity in the New England region recovered somewhat after a tepid first quarter—but was still down significantly compared to the same period a year ago, according to data released over the weekend by Dow Jones VentureSource. Private equity investments by New England venture firms totaled $714 million for the quarter, a 16 percent … Continue reading “New England Venture Activity Picks Up Slightly in Second Quarter, but Still Nowhere Near 2007 Levels”
U.S. Venture Financing Down Slightly in Second Quarter; Solar Energy is One Bright Spot
Reflecting the general economic slowdown, venture investment in U.S. companies decreased moderately in the second quarter of 2008, according to reports released over the weekend by Dow Jones VentureSource, a unit of the financial news giant’s enterprise media group, and by the MoneyTree division of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Total funds shelled out by venture firms in the … Continue reading “U.S. Venture Financing Down Slightly in Second Quarter; Solar Energy is One Bright Spot”
Pathway Wins FDA Approval To Sell Blocked-Artery Buster
Christmas has come in July for Pathway Medical Technologies. The privately-held maker of medical devices in Kirkland, WA, has won FDA approval to market its first product in the U.S., a drill that cuts and vacuums out blockages in leg arteries. CEO Tom Clement had an antsy look on his face last Wednesday, like a … Continue reading “Pathway Wins FDA Approval To Sell Blocked-Artery Buster”
Massachusetts Global Warming Legislation: Economic Drag or Stimulant?
In case anyone didn’t get the memo, energy prices are going up. This trend will most likely continue for two very simple reasons: Worldwide energy demand is rising, and global fossil fuel supplies are tightening. Add to this the need for critical action on the part of all nations to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) … Continue reading “Massachusetts Global Warming Legislation: Economic Drag or Stimulant?”
WTIA’s Summer Social: Busy Times, Hating Starbucks, and an Offer I Can’t Refuse
“The only tall blonde women in Seattle are recruiters.” This and other astute observations from Aviel Ginzburg—by day, a mild-mannered developer at Seattle-based Appature, and by night, head of the underground startup Timelope. Looking around at the tech-networking crowd, I had to say he was right so far. While Luke was hobnobbing at the WBBA … Continue reading “WTIA’s Summer Social: Busy Times, Hating Starbucks, and an Offer I Can’t Refuse”
It’s Easy Being Green: Seattle Is Greenest City, Oregon Is Greenest State; Massachusetts and Washington #2 and #4
In terms of eco-friendliness, the Pacific Northwest and New England—Xconomy’s two homes—are both sitting pretty. In terms of education, however, one of them is not. That’s according to the 2008 Business Facilities rankings report, released this week. The annual survey, which compares different business environments around the country, ranks cities and states based on everything … Continue reading “It’s Easy Being Green: Seattle Is Greenest City, Oregon Is Greenest State; Massachusetts and Washington #2 and #4”
Daily TIPs: Hydrogen an Airy Dream, Is Al Gore Nuts?, Google Bad for Science, & More
Study Predicts Few Hydrogen Cars Before 2023 It will be at least 15 years until hydrogen becomes a competitive fuel, and then only with substantial government and private investment, says a study from the National Research Council. According to Science News, the study found that cars driven by hydrogen fuel cells could be commercially available … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Hydrogen an Airy Dream, Is Al Gore Nuts?, Google Bad for Science, & More”
Socializing at WBBA: Tom Ranken’s Surprise, Insilicos Goes In Vivo, and Cleantechs to Watch in the Tri-Cities
Last night I rode my bike down from our First Hill office to Lake Union Park to mingle with some biotechies. This year, the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association’s annual Summer Social was tucked inside the Naval Reserve Building, although the way the West-facing windows let in so much early evening sunlight, it was almost … Continue reading “Socializing at WBBA: Tom Ranken’s Surprise, Insilicos Goes In Vivo, and Cleantechs to Watch in the Tri-Cities”
Can Evernote Make You into a Digital Leonardo?
Historians believe that Leonardo da Vinci—one of my biggest heroes, if you hadn’t already guessed by reading my columns—filled about 30,000 notebook pages with his drawings, diagrams, discourses, and doodles. Only about 6,000 of those pages survive today, but what wondrous pages they are. Martin Kemp, a leading Leonardo biographer and visual historian at Oxford … Continue reading “Can Evernote Make You into a Digital Leonardo?”
RXi Takes a Untraditional Route to the Public Market, Now Working To Get Pharma to Pay The Bills
Tod Woolf’s company, RXi Pharmaceuticals, has a lot of things going for it. The CEO’s old Harvard classmate—and Nobel Prize winner—Craig Mello leads his scientific advisory board, and the company has technology, RNA interference, that big drugmakers are paying big bucks for. So could this startup make it through a traditional initial public offering in … Continue reading “RXi Takes a Untraditional Route to the Public Market, Now Working To Get Pharma to Pay The Bills”
Elementary, My Dear Video: Elemental Technologies Raises $7.1 Million, Goes After Media Conversion Market
Everyone knows that Internet video is taking off. With the popularity of YouTube, online TV shows, and other video sites, the market seems to be ready. But now there are plenty of new problems to be solved on the technology and business side, from content delivery and coding to search and advertising. And the companies … Continue reading “Elementary, My Dear Video: Elemental Technologies Raises $7.1 Million, Goes After Media Conversion Market”
Daily TIPs: Bartering Goes High-Tech, Obama Touts Cyber Czar, Global Warming Questioned, & More
Government Considers X Prizes for Nanotech Big prizes for technological innovation are becoming all the rage in Washington. Ars Technica tells us that Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon have introduced a bill to fund prizes for advancements in nanotechnology. They’re hoping the fund will attract money from … Continue reading “Daily TIPs: Bartering Goes High-Tech, Obama Touts Cyber Czar, Global Warming Questioned, & More”
ACT, R.I.P?
I don’t know the folks at Advanced Cell Technology, a company famous for making sensational claims about cloning the embryos of humans and animals alike, and it sounds like I may never get the chance. Today’s Boston Globe has a story about how ACT, which has been long on promise and low on cash for … Continue reading “ACT, R.I.P?”
Tyco Secures Surveillance-Video-Analysis Firm Intellivid
Tyco International, the Bermuda-based conglomerate focused on safety and security technologies, said today that it has acquired Intellivid, a venture-backed startup in Cambridge, MA, that makes software for analyzing digital video from in-store security cameras. As a result of the acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, Intellivid will be folded into Tyco’s American … Continue reading “Tyco Secures Surveillance-Video-Analysis Firm Intellivid”
Genzyme, PTC Therapeutics Form Collaboration on Drug For Genetic Diseases
Genzyme has struck another big drug development partnership, this time with PTC Therapeutics, a privately-held biotech in South Plainfield, NJ. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GENZ]]), the world’s largest maker of drugs for rare genetic disorders, is paying $100 million in upfront cash, plus milestone payments and royalties for the right to co-develop and co-market … Continue reading “Genzyme, PTC Therapeutics Form Collaboration on Drug For Genetic Diseases”
Genzyme Reaching For a Slice From Biogen’s Breadbasket, Multiple Sclerosis Drugs
If Genzyme gets its way, it will be eating Biogen Idec’s lunch in a few more years. The two Cambridge, MA-based companies, the largest independent biotechs in the state, could be duking it out with competing multiple sclerosis treatments, in a market worth an estimated $8 billion to $9 billion annually by 2011. It would … Continue reading “Genzyme Reaching For a Slice From Biogen’s Breadbasket, Multiple Sclerosis Drugs”
Bluefin Sells Sub to Horizon Marine, Competes with iRobot for Big Navy Contract
Greg told you last month about Bedford, MA-based iRobot’s collaboration with the University of Washington to turn its Seaglider undersea robot into a commercial product. Not to be outdone, Cambridge, MA-based Bluefin Robotics announced this week that it has received its first commercial contract for a similar autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), the Spray Glider. And … Continue reading “Bluefin Sells Sub to Horizon Marine, Competes with iRobot for Big Navy Contract”
Allen Institute Releases First Data for Spinal Cord Researchers, Unveils New Financing Model
Paul Allen gave researchers a map of the mouse brain first, and now comes the spinal cord. The Allen Institute for Brain Science, a Seattle-based nonprofit backed by the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, said today it is releasing a cellular map on its website that shows 2,000 genes at work in the mouse spinal cord … Continue reading “Allen Institute Releases First Data for Spinal Cord Researchers, Unveils New Financing Model”
Networking at nPost: The Seattle Freeze, the Google Divide, and a House to Rival Bill Gates’s
Last night I took the bus down to South Seattle for nPost’s networking event at the Columbia City Theater (not to be confused with the Columbia City Cinema just up the street). It was hosted by nPost founder Nathan Kaiser, whose resource site for tech entrepreneurs is getting ready to launch a biotech job site … Continue reading “Networking at nPost: The Seattle Freeze, the Google Divide, and a House to Rival Bill Gates’s”
Wakonda Raises $9.5 Million for New Solar Cell Technology, Relocates to Medford
Rochester Institute of Technology spinoff Wakonda Technologies will use a $9.5 million Series A venture round announced today to pursue a new technique for manufacturing photovoltaic cells that are more efficient but cost less than mass-market solar cells. Backers for the startup, which is moving from New York state to Medford, MA, include Advanced Technology … Continue reading “Wakonda Raises $9.5 Million for New Solar Cell Technology, Relocates to Medford”
Daily TIPs, Cyber-Sopranos, Republican Spiders, Broadband Goes Nuclear, & More
Online Crime Gets More Organized Cybercrime, once the province of unaffiliated hackers, is coalescing into to a more organized structure that resembles the Mafia, according to a report from the web security company Finjan, of San Jose, CA. As described by Ars Technica, Finjan found that cybercriminals are often organized into a system with a … Continue reading “Daily TIPs, Cyber-Sopranos, Republican Spiders, Broadband Goes Nuclear, & More”
Art Technology Group Co-Founder Jeet Singh Releases Third Album
Everybody running a startup must wonder from time to time what it would be like to leave it all behind and live on a balmy Caribbean island. And if you want to know what it sounds like, check out Supersaturated, the just-released third album from Jeet “Miki” Singh, co-founder of Art Technology Group (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ARTG]]). … Continue reading “Art Technology Group Co-Founder Jeet Singh Releases Third Album”
Get Off the Couch, Build a Startup, and Control Your Own Destiny, Says Founder of TeachStreet
I had a good chat yesterday with Dave Schappell, the founder and CEO of Seattle-based TeachStreet. I’ve been hearing more and more about his website, which launched in April as an online community of teachers and students. The basic idea is if you want to learn any skill, from boxing to basket weaving, the site … Continue reading “Get Off the Couch, Build a Startup, and Control Your Own Destiny, Says Founder of TeachStreet”
Cortria Hires CEO Grau To Develop Heart Drugs That Won’t Make You Red in the Face
Cortria thinks it has discovered a way to get the heart benefits of niacin drugs without the embarrassing side effect of making patients red in the face. If it’s right, the Boston-based company might have a drug that can be taken alongside statins, the multi-billion dollar cholesterol-lowering drugs taken by millions of people in the … Continue reading “Cortria Hires CEO Grau To Develop Heart Drugs That Won’t Make You Red in the Face”
Congress Overrides Bush Veto on Medicare Bill, Cell Therapeutics’ Zevalin Reimbursement Survives
Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics won a victory yesterday in the standoff between Congress and President Bush over a new Medicare bill. Congress voted to overrule Bush’s veto, which would have killed a provision that extended the current reimbursement rate for doctors who prescribe Zevalin, the company’s sole marketed product for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As we wrote about … Continue reading “Congress Overrides Bush Veto on Medicare Bill, Cell Therapeutics’ Zevalin Reimbursement Survives”