Category: National

Washington Biotechies Showing Off the Green (Trees) at BIO Conference

Washington state doesn’t do much Texas-style boasting, and the state’s economic development promoters have never tossed around big bucks to crow about the biotechnology cluster here. Case in point: how many of you know that the world’s top-selling biotechnology drug, and fifth-biggest pharmaceutical product in 2007 (Amgen and Wyeth’s Enbrel) was developed in Seattle? As … Continue reading “Washington Biotechies Showing Off the Green (Trees) at BIO Conference”

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”

LipoSonix Agrees to $150M Takeover by Medicis Pharma

LipoSonix, rest in peace. The developer of ultrasound technology for busting up unwanted fat, said today it has agreed to be acquired by Arizona-based Medicis Pharmaceutical for $150 million. The sale marks the end for the privately-held company in Bothell, WA, which probably has more potential for Oprah-style mass market appeal than any medical technology … Continue reading “LipoSonix Agrees to $150M Takeover by Medicis Pharma”

Gov. Patrick Travels West to Plug Massachusetts’ Life Sciences Initiative At BIO

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick stole the show at last year’s gathering of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. In front of a crowd of 20,000 global biotechies meeting on home turf in Boston, he broke news that he planned to invest $1 billion over 10 years to strengthen the state’s position as a leading hub for life … Continue reading “Gov. Patrick Travels West to Plug Massachusetts’ Life Sciences Initiative At BIO”

Hello, Seattle: Xconomy Comes to Town To Cover Innovation Community

Just a quick follow-up to Bob’s post. Yes, today marks the start of Xconomy’s coverage of the Seattle and Pacific Northwest tech-business scene. Our goal is to bring you “hyperlocal” reporting on the most compelling innovation news—the deals, entrepreneurs, investors, companies, and technology—on the ground as it happens. We want to help grow a community … Continue reading “Hello, Seattle: Xconomy Comes to Town To Cover Innovation Community”

Xconomy Launches in Seattle

Good morning Boston. Good morning Seattle. And good morning world. Today marks the public debut of the Xconomy network, as we launch both a Seattle website that will serve as a sister to our original Boston/Kendall Square site and a national overview site designed to be a gateway to both cities. (This means some changes … Continue reading “Xconomy Launches in Seattle”

Making Personal Health Networking as Easy as a Book Club: Former Amazon Exec Launches Online Healthcare Site

For Keith Schorsch, it all started with a tick. In the summer of 2004, the former senior executive at Amazon was on the East Coast for a family reunion when (unbeknownst to him) he was bitten. Back in Seattle, he came down with a bull’s-eye rash and flu-like symptoms. Then one night, at a Mariners … Continue reading “Making Personal Health Networking as Easy as a Book Club: Former Amazon Exec Launches Online Healthcare Site”

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”

Pacific Health Summit Vies to Make Seattle the “Davos” of Global Health

Everybody can relax. Bono and Angelina Jolie won’t be here. At least not this year. But some of the biggest names in science, global health, and business will gather in Seattle today for the Pacific Health Summit, to brainstorm about the world’s thorniest emerging health problems. Key decision makers from the Bill & Melinda Gates … Continue reading “Pacific Health Summit Vies to Make Seattle the “Davos” of Global Health”

Accelerator Backs New Biotech Startup in Goddard Lab at Caltech

Accelerator has given birth to its newest company. Investors in the Seattle-based biotech startup machine, affiliated with Leroy Hood’s Institute for Systems Biology, have sunk $200,000 into a company emerging from the lab of Bill Goddard, a renowned chemist at the California Institute of Technology. The company, called GPC-Rx, is developing a computational technique to … Continue reading “Accelerator Backs New Biotech Startup in Goddard Lab at Caltech”

Varolii Shelves IPO: Seattle Software Maker Founded by MIT Grads Has Boston Operations… and Shareholders

Seattle software maker Varolii, which makes tools that help businesses communicate over multiple channels—voice, SMS, Web, fax, pager, e-mail—said on Friday it would not proceed with its IPO plans “due to the difficult market conditions for initial public offerings.” The offering, which was expected to raise up to $86 million, affects both Seattle and the … Continue reading “Varolii Shelves IPO: Seattle Software Maker Founded by MIT Grads Has Boston Operations… and Shareholders”

Seattle Genetics Gunning for the Market With “Empowered Antibody” For Cancer

The last time the phone rang this much at Seattle Genetics, the company parlayed enthusiasm about one of its drug candidates into a partnership with Genentech potentially worth more than $800 million. This time, after 10 years in business, the Bothell, WA-based company thinks it may have the first drug it can take all the … Continue reading “Seattle Genetics Gunning for the Market With “Empowered Antibody” For Cancer”

As iRobot and University of Washington Team Up, Robotic-Sub Competition Heats Up

This week, iRobot made a splash with the news that it has signed a sole licensing agreement with the University of Washington in Seattle to commercialize UW’s “Seaglider” underwater robot. The specific terms of the deal with UW TechTransfer were not disclosed, but the announcement marks the Bedford, MA-based robotics company’s first foray into the … Continue reading “As iRobot and University of Washington Team Up, Robotic-Sub Competition Heats Up”

You Say Staccato, I Say Sfumato: A Reply to Nicholas Carr

One of my prized possessions is an enormous book called Leonardo da Vinci: The Complete Drawings and Paintings. You know how a lot of old art or history books have a few glossy color plates bound into the center? Well, this book has 695 of them, each one measuring about 12×18 inches, and together they … Continue reading “You Say Staccato, I Say Sfumato: A Reply to Nicholas Carr”

Biogen Directors Win Backing From Third Advisory Firm, Icahn Could Be Heading For Defeat

Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BIIB]]) pulled off a trifecta today as the third major advisory firm for corporate elections, Proxy Governance, recommended shareholders vote in favor of the biotech’s own slate of directors instead of those nominated by activist investor Carl Icahn. Earlier in the week, RiskMetrics Group/ISS Governance Services and Glass, Lewis & Co. also … Continue reading “Biogen Directors Win Backing From Third Advisory Firm, Icahn Could Be Heading For Defeat”

Delve Networks Un-Pluggd; Startup Relaunched as Video Search Provider, To Compete With Cambridge Companies

Seattle-based audio and video search company Pluggd rebranded itself yesterday as Delve Networks and launched a video hosting and search technology that seems designed to compete directly with services from Cambridge, MA-based EveryZing. The development’s bicoastal impact was particularly interesting to us, given Xconomy’s impending expansion to Seattle (for more on that, watch this space … Continue reading “Delve Networks Un-Pluggd; Startup Relaunched as Video Search Provider, To Compete With Cambridge Companies”

Vertex Moves Hepatitis Drug Forward, Merrimack Rakes in $60M, Biogen and Icahn Trade Barbs, & More Life Sciences News

Much of the week’s life sciences news was dominated by the bickering of Biogen Idec and billionaire investor Carl Icahn. A few other interesting things happened, though. Those first: —Merrimack Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, MA, revealed it had raised a tidy $60 million in a Series F round from Credit Suisse First Boston Next Fund, Crocker … Continue reading “Vertex Moves Hepatitis Drug Forward, Merrimack Rakes in $60M, Biogen and Icahn Trade Barbs, & More Life Sciences News”

PeopleAhead Has Forward-Looking Take on the Online Job Board

The Web has been around for long enough that many online businesses that once seemed revolutionary have begun to look routine, tired, even fundamentally flawed. In many industries, there is an emerging second generation of Web businesses that hope to supplant their pioneering predecessors. Look at online comparison shopping in the financial industry, for example. … Continue reading “PeopleAhead Has Forward-Looking Take on the Online Job Board”

Biogen Idec’s Nominees Win Support from Shareholder Advisory Firms

Biogen Idec got a boost today in its proxy battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Two big firms that advise institutional investors and mutual funds on how to vote in corporate elections—RiskMetrics Group/ISS Governance Services and Glass, Lewis & Co.—recommended that shareholders vote for the Cambridge, MA-based biotech company’s slate and reject Icahn’s three nominees. … Continue reading “Biogen Idec’s Nominees Win Support from Shareholder Advisory Firms”

Do Takeover Efforts (Like Icahn’s Move on Biogen Idec) Harm Innovation?

When shareholder activists like Carl Icahn start banging on a company’s front door, threatening to rally investors to help them take over the company, it naturally gives management headaches. But what effect does it have on a company’s ability to innovate? It’s a good question in general, and it’s moving front and center next week … Continue reading “Do Takeover Efforts (Like Icahn’s Move on Biogen Idec) Harm Innovation?”

As iPhone 3G Launch Nears, Boston Developers Ready Their Apps

The last time Steve Jobs got up on stage and talked about the iPhone, at January’s MacWorld expo, he had a big piece of Boston-related news: local firm Skyhook Wireless had been tapped to provide the Wi-Fi-based location finding feature for the iPhone’s newly upgraded map application. As it turned out, Boston didn’t have a … Continue reading “As iPhone 3G Launch Nears, Boston Developers Ready Their Apps”

Icahn Has Ideas For Biogen. Starting With More R&D Spending

Biogen Idec has accused Carl Icahn of having no ideas on how to improve the company, so today the billionaire shareholder activist fired back. Icahn wants to boost spending on research and development, improve employee morale, mend relations with partners, and possibly cut expenses outside research, according to a memo to shareholders filed today with … Continue reading “Icahn Has Ideas For Biogen. Starting With More R&D Spending”

Let the Games Begin: Akamai To Speed Olympic Video Downloads

Having tackled the Super Bowl, Akamai Technologies is setting its sights on a more global stage—the summer Olympics in Beijing. Back in January, we reported that the Cambridge, MA-based company, which specializes in online content distribution and networking, was helping the New England Patriots and the NFL get ready for the biggest game of the … Continue reading “Let the Games Begin: Akamai To Speed Olympic Video Downloads”

MoneyAisle Lets Banks Bid Against Each Other for Customers

The Web has brought comparison shopping to nearly every corner of commerce, including banking. In fact, thanks to years of advertising, LendingTree’s tagline—“When Banks Compete, You Win”—is one of the most familiar on the Internet. But now a startup in Burlington, MA, is arguing that the “competition” on LendingTree and similar financial-industry websites is often … Continue reading “MoneyAisle Lets Banks Bid Against Each Other for Customers”

Turbine Confirms $40M Round, Nuance Prices Secondary Offering, Sirtris Completes GSK Deal, & More Deals News

New England software firms had a busy week, it seems, and there were a couple of key biotech deals too. Here’s the rundown: —Boston-based OpenAir, a provider of Web-based services automation software for business groups, was acquired by Silicon Valley’s NetSuite for $26 million. —Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]) sold the rights to its royalty stream … Continue reading “Turbine Confirms $40M Round, Nuance Prices Secondary Offering, Sirtris Completes GSK Deal, & More Deals News”

The Conscientious Consumer’s Cell Phone Guide to Shopping

If you’re concerned about global warming, what breakfast cereal should you buy to support the company with the best record on greenhouse gas emissions? Soon, you might be able to make informed decisions on issues like that right in the supermarket aisle. “All you’ll have to do is to take out your cell phone, scan … Continue reading “The Conscientious Consumer’s Cell Phone Guide to Shopping”

Megapixels, Shmegapixels: How to Make Great GIGAPIXEL Images With Your Humble Digital Camera

Size matters, at least when it comes to the resolution of digital photos. As much as I love my iPhone, its built-in 1200×1600-pixel camera just doesn’t work for serious photography. Problem is, it’s been my only camera for almost a year, ever since my previous digicam croaked during a cross-country road trip. But a couple … Continue reading “Megapixels, Shmegapixels: How to Make Great GIGAPIXEL Images With Your Humble Digital Camera”

Vertex Cashes Out HIV Drugs, FDA Smiles on Infinity and Frowns on Indevus, Alnylam Makes Cross-Border Investment, & More Life Sciences News

Boston-area life sciences firms had mixed success navigating regulatory waters this week. Here’s the skinny on that and the rest of the week’s biomedical news. —Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VRTX]]) sold the rights to its royalty stream on two HIV drugs for $160 million; the Cambridge, MA-based firm plans to use the cash to help bring … Continue reading “Vertex Cashes Out HIV Drugs, FDA Smiles on Infinity and Frowns on Indevus, Alnylam Makes Cross-Border Investment, & More Life Sciences News”

Rockport Capital Launches World’s Largest Cleantech Fund

Boston-based venture firm Rockport Capital is upping the ante on cleantech investing. The six-partner firm, which has focused since its founding eight years ago on cleaner and more efficient energy and production technologies, announced today that it has finished raising its third fund. It’s Rockport’s largest fund by a long shot, weighing in at a … Continue reading “Rockport Capital Launches World’s Largest Cleantech Fund”

Look Out, Comcast and Verizon: Bicoastal Startups Are Bringing Free Wi-Fi to Harvard Square (and Elsewhere Soon, We Hope)

Why isn’t there free Wi-Fi everywhere? I ask this as I sit in an Espresso Vivace in Seattle, typing away and enjoying free wireless (and a truly terrific latte—easily an 8.5 on the Huang scale). Being new to the city and still in the process of setting up connectivity, I’m acutely aware of any and … Continue reading “Look Out, Comcast and Verizon: Bicoastal Startups Are Bringing Free Wi-Fi to Harvard Square (and Elsewhere Soon, We Hope)”

Oh Friendly Day: Boston VCs Launch National Network for Renewable-Energy Entrepreneurs

As I wrote last year in a piece entitled “Go East, Young Man,” cleantech investors Rob Day and Andrew Friendly both left California around the same time in early 2007—Day to become a principal at Wilmington, MA-based @Ventures and Friendly to become a senior associate at Waltham, MA-based Advanced Technology Ventures. The two men already … Continue reading “Oh Friendly Day: Boston VCs Launch National Network for Renewable-Energy Entrepreneurs”

W3C Launches eGovernment Forum, Encourages Public-Private Mashups

Citizens depend on their governments for documents and information ranging from driver’s licenses to tax forms to maps. And the more of this information is stored on the Web using open formatting standards such XML, the more people will be able to access it and re-use it for the public good. At least, that’s the … Continue reading “W3C Launches eGovernment Forum, Encourages Public-Private Mashups”

Liberal VCs, (More) Conservative CEOs: A Who’s Who of Presidential Campaign Donors in the Boston Innovation Community

Leading partners from top Boston venture firms have given more than three times as much money to Democratic presidential candidates (3.3 times as much to be more precise) as they have to Republican candidates. That’s even more lopsided than the roughly 2.3-to-1 ratio for notoriously liberal Massachusetts residents as a whole, according to Federal Election … Continue reading “Liberal VCs, (More) Conservative CEOs: A Who’s Who of Presidential Campaign Donors in the Boston Innovation Community”

U.S. Faces Competition in Wireless, Internet, and Biopharma, Says 2008 Venture Capital Survey (and One Local Investor)

Let’s take a global view of innovation. The Boston and San Francisco clusters may anchor the U.S.’s dominance in biotech, but Europe is gaining ground—and in areas like telecom and clean energy, there is already strong competition from both Europe and Asia. That’s the news today from the 2008 Global Venture Capital Survey, conducted by … Continue reading “U.S. Faces Competition in Wireless, Internet, and Biopharma, Says 2008 Venture Capital Survey (and One Local Investor)”

Abiomed Wins FDA Approval of Heart Pump

Abiomed got a healthy boost this morning. The FDA cleared the company’s new heart pump for sale in the U.S., enabling it to potentially reach a market of about 14,000 interventional cardiologists. Shares of the Danvers, MA-based company (NASDAQ: [[ticker:ABMD]]) shot up 13 percent to $16.75 at 12:14 p.m. Eastern Standard time. The Impella 2.5 … Continue reading “Abiomed Wins FDA Approval of Heart Pump”

Will Web 2.0 Go Pop? A Guest Post from Microsoft’s Don Dodge

Is Web 2.0 headed for Bubble 2.0? That was the subject of a debate at the TiECON East Conference on Friday. Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures), Nabeel Hyatt (Conduit Labs), Brian Balfour (Viximo), and I had a lively discussion and arrived at some very different conclusions. Xconomy asked me to write them up, and I’m … Continue reading “Will Web 2.0 Go Pop? A Guest Post from Microsoft’s Don Dodge”

Explosion Leads to a Little Down Time for Xconomy (and Thousands of Other Sites)

Houston, you have a problem. Saturday afternoon, a transformer explosion blew out three walls of the electrical equipment room at The Planet‘s primary data center in Houston. The Planet is the Web hosting provider for thousands of online businesses, including Xconomy. The explosion knocked out power to the entire facility, which houses some 9,000 servers … Continue reading “Explosion Leads to a Little Down Time for Xconomy (and Thousands of Other Sites)”

Nonprofit Startups a Nonstarter? Non True.

It is nice to see that a nonprofit like Diagnostics For All (DFA) can actually garner attention and interest from both the MIT and Harvard communities by winning the MIT’s 100K competition and Harvard Business School’s Business Plan Contest. Just a year ago George Whitesides and I were repeatedly told that if we stuck to … Continue reading “Nonprofit Startups a Nonstarter? Non True.”

Announcing Xconomy’s June 24 Forum: The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing

Yes, “cloud computing” is a trendy buzzword. But it’s also a real technology serving as the platform for a growing number of innovative businesses. And within a few years, it seems certain, big chunks of the everyday computing done by large enterprises and average consumers will be handled in the cloud. Here’s what a few … Continue reading “Announcing Xconomy’s June 24 Forum: The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing”

Goodbye Amazon, Hello Cambridge: Powered by Local Firms, Borders’ Online Store Is the New Face of E-Commerce

I love Borders. Independent bookshops aside, it’s my favorite place to kill an hour or two while browsing the latest books and enjoying a nice cup of coffee. (The original Borders chai was the best, but it’s hard to argue with a latte from Seattle’s Best—more on that coming soon). So when I heard about … Continue reading “Goodbye Amazon, Hello Cambridge: Powered by Local Firms, Borders’ Online Store Is the New Face of E-Commerce”

BioVex Viral Treatment Shrinks Melanoma Tumors in Trial

BioVex has created a virus with kick. The privately held biotech company based in Woburn, MA, said today its genetically modified virus was able to completely eliminate or partially shrink tumors for more than one-fourth of patients with a deadly type of skin cancer in a clinical trial. The study of 43 patients with terminal, … Continue reading “BioVex Viral Treatment Shrinks Melanoma Tumors in Trial”

Gazing Through Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope

I was 13 years old when Carl Sagan’s 13-part PBS miniseries Cosmos appeared in 1980. I was so hypnotized by the combination of Sagan’s storytelling, Jon Lomberg’s space art, and Vangelis’s music that I decided to become an astronomer. I saved up to buy a telescope—an Edmund Scientific Astroscan, a fantastic beginner’s instrument that is … Continue reading “Gazing Through Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope”

Akamai Details Winners, Losers in Broadband Race

About one-fifth of all Internet traffic passes through an Akamai server on the way to its destination—and even the four-fifths that doesn’t leaves ripples in the network that the Cambridge, MA-based content distribution network can easily detect. Indeed, with 34,000 servers monitoring traffic within and between 950 networks in 70 countries, Akamai may have the … Continue reading “Akamai Details Winners, Losers in Broadband Race”

The Next Big Thing in Energy Innovation and Investing? Let’s Talk Water

Energy innovation and investing are exploding right now. Technological breakthroughs are seen as perhaps the greatest hope to solving our dire energy challenge. However, what is often overlooked is the link between finding or creating new sources of energy and the effects on food and water. Indeed, if you think of energy as a coin, … Continue reading “The Next Big Thing in Energy Innovation and Investing? Let’s Talk Water”

OLPC Teams With Microsoft, Wired Bonds with Ars Technica, Greenfuel Gets More Green, & More Deals News

There was a steady flow of Boston-area deals last week—not to mention a couple of nice ones for our fellow tech-media companies. —The One Laptop Per Child Foundation forged an agreement with Microsoft to make versions of the foundation’s XO laptop that run Windows XP (even as former OLPC president of software and content Walter … Continue reading “OLPC Teams With Microsoft, Wired Bonds with Ars Technica, Greenfuel Gets More Green, & More Deals News”