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Bloom Electrons' pay-what-you-consume service thinks outside the Box
Bloom Energy's aptly-titled Bloom Box made a splash last year with much hooplah, bringing the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Colin Powell to its unveiling. But while the promise of efficient fuel cell technology is great for the eco-minded and even the long-term penny-pincher, the mid-to-high six-figure upfront cost limits the potential customer base to only the upper echelon of the environmentally conscious. Cue Bloom Electrons -- instead of paying for the Bloom Boxes and owning them outright, you can lease a 2MW installation for no money down and pay only for the electrons you use. A 10-year contract is required, which yes does put your smartphone commitment to shame, but Bloom hopes this Credit Suisse / Silicon Valley Bank-backed plan opens the door for educational institutions and non-profits to join in on the fun. Press release after the break.
Apple visited the iPhone 4G's finder before the police did
With all of the chaos going on around the lost iPhone case, everyone has more or less assumed that Apple is behind the police department's actions in searching Gizmodo Editor Jason Chen's house late last week. Of course, no one believes that the sheriff is working for Apple, but most people seem to be under the impression that Apple wants to get to the bottom of the case, and that the company is pulling strings in law enforcement to try and do that. However, some new information discovered by Wired suggests that the story may be more complicated than that. They have heard claims from an anonymous source that Apple already knew the identity of the person who found the iPhone, and allegedly sold it to Gizmodo. Someone identifying themselves as being affiliated with Apple apparently arrived at the finder's house in Silicon Valley last week, looking for the finder (and possibly the phone) but finding only a roommate, who didn't let them in. Wired's source also says that the person who found the phone never tried to keep it a secret and even contacted Apple and searched Facebook for someone to return the phone to. When money finally changed hands (from Gizmodo), Wired's source says it was "for exclusivity," and not for a sale of the actual device. Of course, this is all a mix of hearsay and conjecture, spoken by an anonymous source who may or may not know about the case. The bottom line at this point is that the police investigation is underway. If they find evidence that makes them believe a crime was committed, then we'll see them take action. Until then, though, it's unclear exactly what happened with the iPhone's finder and whether the "sale" was illegal or not. [via Business Journal]
Kateeva wants to print OLED displays, says they'll be cheaper that way
Along with affordable solid state drives, OLED panels are among the most universally desired bits of tech today. It's therefore a good idea to prick up our ears and listen when new California startup Kateeva promises to make OLEDs bigger and cheaper with its large-area printing technology. Advised by our old friend Vladimir Bulovic of MIT, the company has gone official with word of its prototype OLED printer, which can produce displays on a scale of 1.8 by 1.5 meters (about six by five feet) at a cost roughly equal to 60 percent of the manufacturing costs of current LCD technology. We say can, what we really mean is that it has shown itself capable of achieving those numbers -- it's still in the prototype stage and won't be sent out to display manufacturers for testing until next year but it's something to look forward to, nonetheless. We advise checking out the Technology Review article for all the gory production details along with a neat video interview with Kateeva co-founder Conor Madigan.
Space Observer to innocently watch you at San Jose's airport
It's every child's dream to one day walk through a trio of space robot legs as entering Silicon Valley, and if a proposed art project goes through, said dream will become a reality for budding tech superstars who land in Mineta San Jose International Airport. The $300,000 initiative would see a so-called Space Observer built and showcased prominently in the venue, allowing patrons to walk underneath its two-story-tall body and emit all sorts of "oohs" and "ahhs." The monolithic space robot would sport three legs and propeller-tipped kinetic camera arms, the latter of which would collect live video to be displayed on embedded monitors within its body. San Jose Public Art Director Barbara Goldstein has already stated that "it won't follow you anywhere," but it's not like she really has the power to control what this obviously sentient creature does / doesn't do.
Comcast zipping Extreme 50Mbps internet to Bay Area
Another week, another round of DOCSIS 3.0 implementations from Comcast. This time, we've learned that two new higher-speed internet tier options will be made available in Silicon Valley, Tri-Valley and Monterey, with rollouts continuing to San Francisco, Oakland and the rest of the Bay Area later this year. Needless to say, that means Extreme 50Mbps and Ultra 22Mbps packages are within reach, and better still, Comcast will be doubling the speed of existing connections for most users at no extra cost. The full list of available neighborhoods is tucked away in the read link, but before you go hunting, you should know that Extreme 50 will run you $139.95 per month while Ultra 22 will set you back $62.95. Oh, and both of 'em just help you reach your 250GB cap that much faster each month.
Covad rejuvenates Silicon Valley muni-WiFi project
We know, you're already rolling your eyes, but this time it's really for real. At least that's what Covad Communications wants us to believe. Reportedly, said outfit is jump-starting a gigantic municipal WiFi project to blanket Silicon Valley that fell apart after upstart Azulstar failed to garner funding to kick things off in 2007. Covad is hoping to cover one square mile of downtown San Carlos, California for three months, and during the test period it will gauge just how lucrative such an initiative is. If successful, it may expand into surrounding locales, but at the moment, such an endeavor is "too much to dive into." Best of luck, Covad -- history says you'll need it.
Fujitsu installs hydrogen fuel cell on Sunnyvale campus
Always down for a little self-glorification, Fujitsu has just announced that it has become the "first Silicon Valley company to install hydrogen fuel cell power." The firm reportedly "dedicated a hydrogen fuel cell on its Sunnyvale campus," which aims to provide "clean, efficient power for the campus data center and other operations" and substantially curb carbon dioxide emissions. The UTC Power PureCell Model 200 system will provide half of the energy necessary to cool the campus data center and labs, and Fujitsu claims that it will have a payback "of about 3.5 years and a lifespan of closer to 15 years."
Massive WiFi network to cover 37 cities in Silicon Valley
Granted, we've seen some sizable WiFi networks in our day, and while an entire country has claimed to have nationwide internet on the brain, the largest we've seen implemented here in the states span a city or so at most. Reportedly, a group of firms (including IBM and Cisco) are looking to build a $85- to $150-million outdoor WiFi network that could connect up 37 cities in Silicon Valley. The initiative will not only provide basic, free internet to those willing to deal with the ad-supported service, but it will also dish out subscriber-based signals to residents, high-speed service to businesses, and uber-secure communications to police / firefighters. As of now, the companies plan to erect test networks in Palo Alto and San Carlos later this year, with constructions of the final network to potentially begin in 2008. Just make sure Utah doesn't get a whiff of it, capiche?[Thanks, Charlie]
PureDepth creation gives morphing abilities to slot machines
It looks like the glory days of walking into a casino, hacking a slot machine, and leaving a wealthy individual is over, as not only are "software glitches" leading to rewards being revoked, but now you'll have devious dutiful system administrators watching (and potentially controlling, you never know) everything that happens to your machine. PureDepth, Inc. has inked a deal with International Game Technology to provide a "realistic digital video display" to add a new level of control to vanilla slot machines. On the nifty side, programmers can change the typical cherries and numbers to baseball bats, for instance, if they know the Red Sox are taking a field trip to their casino, but on the disappointing end, you can now rest assured that folks behind the scenes now have complete control over "cost, payout, and nearly every other aspect of the game." Darn, looks like we're stuck with ATM-jacking from here on out, eh?
Apple founders film released as DRM-free download
TUAW reader Steve pointed us to this article about "In Search of Silicon Valley". It's a film about a trio (Steve O'Hear, Fleeta Siegel and Selwyn George) who travels from London to Silicon Valley, tracks down Apple pioneers Woz, Hertzfeld, Raskin, and Kawasaki as well as other net luminaries like Tim O'Reilly and Dan Kottke, and talks with them. The film takes place over the period of a month and the discussions range all over the place. You can read reviews at TechCrunch and Kirkville. After a limited DVD distribution, they've decided to release the film via Streamburst, a site that allows consumers to buy video without DRM. The download will set you back a very reasonable #3.99 (about $8 in US currency), though I'm not sure if the online version will include the DVD extras (about 30 more minutes of interviews on top of the 55 minute film). You can view the trailer at their storefront. Other Streamburst films include "Long Way Round", a TV series with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman that I've been meaning to watch for forever, and Race to Dakar about the 2006 Dakar Rally.
Silicon Valley to become one ginormous WiFi hotspot
Silicon Valley can't be shown up by, say, Singapore, now can it? That's why the Wireless Silicon Valley Task Force has selected the Silicon Valley Metro Connect, a tech consortium that includes IBM and Cisco to build a giant WiFi network for the region. When built, this massive WiFi hotspot will span 1500 square miles (nearly 3900 sq. km), from the city of South San Francisco to Santa Cruz, a distance of over 60 linear miles (96 km). The plan, for now is to have free access for local residents via advertising, but higher bandwidth applications like VoIP or streaming video would cost extra, reports The Associated Press. No word on how GoogleFi fits into all of this, given that Mountain View is part of this territory. Perhaps Google will use its other stronghold in San Francisco to make a power play for the rest of the Peninsula -- creating one giant battleground of free wireless internet access. Still, WiFi for the SiVi is superfly.
Company has tech to compensate for crappy cameras
The latest piece of technology originally intended for military / security applications to be rebranded for peaceful, consumer purposes comes from a Silicon Valley startup called MotionDSP, which has licensed technology from a military research project that can enhance low-resolution video and improve the output of phone cameras, webcams, and other low quality feeds. The technology, which will go into a consumer beta later this year, compares multiple frames in a video to replace lost pixels in any given frame without an increase in file size. Eventually the company plans to offer an online service where consumers can enhance their pixelated creations for free, although the company also wants to make deals with current online video services. Until that day comes, we'll continue to suffer through our daily fix of YouTube in all its aliased and pixelated glory.
Apple buys data center for ~$50 million
With all the hub-bub about the fabled special event, we just got around to posting the news that Apple recently bought a giant data center in Newark, California for an estimated $45 to $50 million dollars. This 107,000 foot center was originally intended for MCI Worldcom back in 2001, but was never occupied. The report of the sale in the San Jose Business Journal indicates that the facility is "impressively equipped," and that data centers like this usually house "computing, data-storage and networking equipment assisting in Web-based services and transactions. The most elaborate 'Tier IV' centers, such as the Newark facility, have the highest levels of redundancy and security. . ."Far be it for me to show any interest in rumors. (I can be as stoic as Scott.) But if you're interested, the rumor sites are speculating about what Apple plans to do with this juicy acquisition. . . .
HDTVs in every room @ Four Seasons Silicon Valley
And a chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage. Well, at least one of those things is true. We'll be sure to have the Four Seasons Silicon Valley on our list for the next HD Beat retreat, but not because of the floor to ceiling windows with a view of the bay, rooftop pool or spa. The WiFi is nice but that's not it either. 42-inch plasma HDTVs (hopefully they really are HDTVs) in every room however, are just the right addition.
