Bike Seats For Men, Man-made Photosynthesis, Nanotubes or The Hulk?, Dr. Video-Master, This Week in the End of the World, Beer Goggled, and an interview w/ Dr. Sean Carroll about the physics of time. Less

Daily TIPs, energy, Cybersecurity Neil Savage wrote: Virus-Built Battery Nothing to Sneeze At A new type of microbattery could power implantable drug delivery devices or run tiny labs-on-a-chip, thanks to a technique that uses a virus to build the battery’s components. Nature News reports that scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used a genetically engineered virus as part of a template that gathered cobalt ions into a series of nanostructures that formed an electrode. The researchers say this is a quick and simple way to build much smaller batteries than have been possible. Experts Warn of Coming Cyber Attacks Last week’s military incursion into Georgia by Russian troops was preceded by an attack on government computers, and the same thing could happen here, experts warn. According to CNN, computer security experts say no one has devised a way to protect against online attacks on government systems. The fact that the U.S. is so dependent on the Internet makes us all the more vulnerable, they say. Menstrual Blood May be Valuable Source of Stem Cells Stem cells harvested from human menstrual blood have helped heal damaged limbs in mice, say scientists from MediStem Laboratories, of San Diego, CA. The researchers published a study showing that mice with low blood flow to their legs had those legs protected from withering if they were injected with the stem cells. The scientists say the stem cells come from the lining of the uterus, which is shed during menstruation, New Scientist reports. Biometrics May Lower Identity Theft More powerful and inexpensive microprocessors are leading to increased use of biometrics—the use of individual physical characteristics as identifiers. Scientific American says that fingerprinting, face recognition, and iris scans are becoming more popular methods to fight identity theft, because it’s not as easy to fake an eye scan as it is to steal a PIN. One issue, though, is that the error rates in some systems are still too high. A Look at the Tools of Cyber Crooks The Internet makes a lot of things easier, including crime. At the Security Fix blog of the Washington Post, writer Brian Krebs takes a look at some of the trends and tools popular with cyber crooks. First up, programs that mask your Internet address. Google Digs In to Geothermal Energy The investment arm of Google, which has been putting money into green energy companies, now has invested nearly $11 million in the development of enhanced geothermal systems to extract energy from the heat of the Earth’s crust. Tech Crunch reports the company is giving $6.25 million to AltaRock Energy of Sausalito, CA; $4 million to Potter Drilling, of Redwood City, CA; and $500,000 to a geothermal lab at Southern Methodist University. Hitting the Road for Low-Cost Energy Why spend money on new solar energy systems when we’ve already installed millions of miles of low-cost solar collectors across the country? That’s the question from researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, who want to use water-filled pipes to collect the heat energy collected by the asphalt on roadways and parking lots, according to CNET News. The hot water could be used in nearby buildings, or thermoelectrics could convert it to electricity. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less

Roundup, deals, startups Rebecca Zacks wrote: Last week was a quiet one for New England tech and life sciences firms, but there was a steady stream of small deals nonetheless. —Boston-based Follica, which is developing a treatment for baldness, raised $11 million in a Series B round led by new investor Polaris Venture Partners and joined by existing investors Interwest Partners and PureTech Ventures. —Waltham, MA-based wireless network provider Colubris Networks accepted a buyout offer from Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) of Palo Alto, CA. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. —PatientKeeper of Newton, MA—a 12-year-old software firm whose products let doctors view patient health records, prescribe drugs, and so forth from mobile and desktop computers—closed a Series F funding round worth $7.5 million from Frazier Healthcare Ventures and New Enterprise Associates. —Quincy, MA-based investment firm Allied Minds invested an undisclosed amount of seed funding in Seattle’s AXI, formerly known as Voltan Biofuel. The startup is aiming to commercialize technology, developed at the University of Washington, for using algae to produce oil for biofuels. —Information-security firm NitroSecurity of Portsmouth, NH, secured $10 million in venture financing. The deal was led by NewSpring Ventures of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. —Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) acquired the government business unit of Woburn, MA-based Nantero, a startup developing NRAM, a carbon-nanotube-based form of computer memory. —Bedford, NH-based Segway has reportedly raised $5 million toward a $14 million Series D round. Segway closed the final tranche of a $35 million Series C round in the second quarter. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS Less

Daily TIPs, Internet, energy Neil Savage wrote: McCain Would Attack Internet Piracy, Cut Taxes Republican presidential candidate John McCain recently issued a policy statement on various technology-related issues. He focuses on tax cuts, preventing new taxes on the Internet, and offering credits for research and development, according to a summary of the statement on Ars Technica. He’d also go after Internet piracy, work on improving the patent system, and prevent children from seeing online content he considers harmful. Does the Internet Change How We Think? With information easily available on the Internet and stored on devices like cells phones, could that be causing humans to devote less effort to remembering things? That’s what an essayist at Salon wonders. He jumps off an essay from a University of Chicago sociologist writing about whether the Internet changes how people think, which itself follows on an Atlantic Monthly piece entitled, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” New Method Could Convert Natural Gas to Gasoline Synfuels International, of Dallas, TX, says it has developed a cheaper, cleaner method to convert natural gas into gasoline. Technology Review reports that the company says its technology will allow the U.S. to tap smaller reserves of natural gas that hadn’t been considered economical before. The process relies on high temperatures and a catalyst. Google Your Own Solar Energy A new Internet tool called RoofRay can help homeowners figure out if their roofs would produce enough power to make adding solar panels worthwhile. The tool works with Google Maps, and bases its estimates on the area and slope of your roof, past weather conditions, and your monthly power bills. CNET News calls it “one of the smarter mashups we’ve seen.” California Goes Solar in a Big Way The California utility Pacific Gas & Electric has signed contracts to buy electricity from a pair of huge solar power plants to be built in Central California. The Associated Press says the two plants will produce more electricity than all of the solar-electric panels installed in the U.S. last year. PG&E plans to buy 800 megawatts of electricity, enough to provide a year’s worth of power to 239,000 homes. Wind Power to Soar by 2020 Expect to be getting a lot of your electricity out of thin air by the year 2020. A report from the research firm Emerging Energy Research projects that wind will produce 150 gigawatts of power by then. Earth2Tech points out that, to meet the goal of 20 percent of all electricity from wind power that’s been proposed by oil magnate T. Boone Pickens, wind power would need to produce double that amount, 300 gigawatts. Carmakers Focus on More Fuel Efficiency Detroit is looking to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, as well as electric vehicles, to help pull it out of its current sales slump, Reuters reports. Chrysler, for instance, is launching a new car-based SUV, modeled after the Jeep Cherokee. Ford says it expects strong growth as it focuses on smaller cars that the company had not been pushing. Volt Almost Ready to Roll, GM Says General Motors has “essentially finished” the design of its first plug-in hybrid and expects to have prototypes ready for production within 10 days, the New York Times reports. GM is scheduled to start selling the Volt in 2010, and before then will have to significantly improve the batteries that store its power, as well as improve other technology. But the carmaker says completing the design is a milestone in its move toward greener automobiles. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS Less

VC, deals, energy Robert Buderi wrote: On the heels of closing the final tranche of a $35 million financing round that ranked as the fifth-largest New England venture deal of the second quarter, Segway is reportedly back on the financing circuit looking for $14 million more for a Series D round, according to PE Hub, which cites a regulatory filing. The report says the Bedford, NH-based company has raised $5 million toward the new round, and that the Masdar Clean Tech Fund was part of it. We haven’t yet gotten anyone at Segway to confirm the new round, but note that gas prices are soaring, and the buzz around more environmentally friendly transportation is high—so the climate might be right for the lithium-ion-battery-powered Segway (which costs around $6,000). All told the company makes seven models, tailored to different uses such as golf, off-road adventuring, commuting, and even cargo carrying. Segway has previously raised a total of $171 million from such firms as Masdar, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity, and DAG Ventures, according to PE Hub. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS Less

Today on The Lunch, Rob and Will cover the new Obama bio (it's not flattering), McCain's response to Georgia v. Russia (he's not happy), and they debut a new Wednesday feature: The Problem with Politics! Less

Today on The Lunch, Rob and Will cover the new Obama bio (it's not flattering), McCain's response to Georgia v. Russia (he's not happy), and they debut a new Wednesday feature: The Problem with Politics! Less

cleantech, startups, deals Gregory T. Huang wrote: I first heard of a Seattle startup called Voltan Biofuel two months ago, when I talked to Jim Roberts, head of business development at UW Tech Transfer’s LaunchPad, a program to promote university spinoffs. Voltan was a LaunchPad company that won $5,000 for “best cleantech idea” in UW’s 2008 CIE Business Plan competition. Yesterday the company announced its official launch under a new name, AXI, with seed funding from Allied Minds, an investment firm based in Quincy, MA. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Allied Minds typically invests a few hundred thousand dollars in each of its companies. As we’ve written about previously, Allied’s strategy is to fund very early-stage technology startups fresh out of academic labs—which VCs often avoid because such ventures are unproven. “What ends at the university is still too early for most investors,” says Roberts. “[Allied] fills a void there for us.” I caught up with Roberts to hear more about the deal. More than a year ago, Roberts says, he first visited the lab of UW biology professor Rose Ann Cattolico. She was experimenting with new strains of algae that can produce large amounts of oil for biofuels. Not by genetic modification, but rather by using natural evolutionary processes that could potentially be scaled up to large operations. Given the skyrocketing interest in alternative fuels, Roberts immediately grasped the opportunity. “As soon as I saw it, I knew,” he says. Through LaunchPad, Cattolico partnered with two UW M.B.A.s, Eric Gertsman and Carrie Stearns, and together they entered the business-plan competition. Although they didn’t win the grand prize, they placed well and learned a lot. Having filed a patent for the technology and formed the team, both through the university, the next step was to get an investor interested. It turns out Allied Minds has a vice president based in Seattle. Erick Rabins has been involved with the local innovation community for years as an entrepreneur and now an investor. Roberts knew him, so he introduced Rabins to Cattolico. It proved a good fit. With Roberts negotiating the terms of the technology license and other parts of the agreement, the deal was done quickly. It’s the first between UW and Allied Minds, but probably not the last. “We hope to do business with them again,” says Roberts. Roberts says AXI will be based in Washington and will grow oil-producing algae, though its exact business model is still to be determined. “Once we do the deal, we step out of the way,” he says. “But we’ll keep in touch, we’re very interested in how it’s doing… We’re very, very confident. The technology is very, very promising.” Still, AXI will have plenty of competition in the algae-biofuel space, what with the likes of South San Francisco-based Solazyme, Cambridge, MA-based Greenfuel Technologies, and Naples, FL-based Algenol Biofuels, to name a few. But to Roberts, this is a good thing, as well as a challenge. “There’s real demand and real need,” he says. “The market is definitely there.” Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS Less

Roundup, deals, IPOs Rebecca Zacks wrote: New England tech firms ended last week right where the Beijing Olympics began—with a much-anticipated event timed to the lucky number eight. That, and the rest of the week’s biz-tech dealings below. —Observers have been waiting for some time now for A123 Systems—the Watertown, MA-based maker of advanced batteries whose customers include GM and Black & Decker—to take to the public markets. And on August 8, 2008, the firm made its move, filing for an IPO worth up to $175 million. We guessed that the timing was not a coincidence; eight is considered lucky in China because it is similar to the Mandarin word for wealth. —Biofuel maker Verenium (NASDAQ: VRNM) of Cambridge, MA, forged a strategic partnership worth up to $90 million with BP, the United States’ largest oil and gas producer. Under the terms of the agreement, BP will pay Verenium $45 million in three installments over the next year, plus $2.5 million per month over the next 18 months, for access to the Massachusetts firm’s technology for converting high-cellulose materials such as sugar cane, elephant grass, and wood chips into ethanol. —Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY) of Cambridge, MA, inked licensing deals with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the University of California, San Francisco, and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, giving it exclusive access to technology for boosting the activity of targeted genes. This new technique, dubbed RNAa, essentially does the opposite of RNAi, the gene-silencing technique around which Alnylam was originally built. —Stamford, CT-based software maker InstallFree raised $8.5 million in a Series B financing round from Ignition Partners and Trilogy Equity Partners. The startup’s software helps deliver virtualized applications to Windows desktops. —DynaTrace Software of Waltham, MA, which makes tools to spot performance problems in large enterprise systems, raised $12.9 million in a Series B round from the likes of Bay Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. —Epix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: EPIX) of Lexington, MA, announced it will raise as much as $50 million over the next three years in a sale of up to 8.3 million new shares shares to Kingsbridge Capital. —Newton, MA-based diagnostics maker Clinical Data (NASDAQ: CLDA) acquired Charlottesville, VA-based Adenosine Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $66 million, depending on regulatory and commercial milestones. —Antibiotic developer Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals of Watertown, MA, closed a $15 million second tranche of its $25 million Series A financing. Mediphase Venture Partners, CMEA Ventures, Fidelity Biosciences, Flagship Ventures, and Skyline Ventures participated in the deal. Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less

BLOCKBUSTER Total Access click to activate coupon for $10 off your first month. Free Information on EVault 1-866-928-0735 Invisible Cost of IP Law Revised PC History Bigger and Cheaper Solar Cells SDR News is a Daily (M-F) Technology Podcast with Tech News Highlights from Slashdot, Digg and Reddit Click Here to Sign Up for the SDR Newsletter Prefer a Direct Download ? (mp3) Download today’s show. SDR News Links If a news item has disappeared from the Del.icio.us list above, try the full list here. Thumbnail Views: Via Thumblicio.us SEARCH ANY STORY YOU HEAR ON THE PODCAST Mix and Match Alternate Energy by Andrew McCaskey Here’s why favoring one form of alternative energy over another is bad science and worse policy: YMMV. Your mileage may vary. and when, what and how will certainly vary. Therein is the problem when governments try to encourage or subsidize one form of alternate energy over another. Two articles today point this out: The study in the UK that roof mounted wind turbines are virtually useless as a source of energy in urban environments - from an efficiency standpoint - and the advances in production of solar cells that could approach the magic crossover point of $1 per watt. The reason for poor performance of the roof-top turbines is the disruption of airflow by buildings, billboards and other urban structures that disrupt the regular wind flow, as compared with installations in rural areas without trees - the stereotypical windswept plains. Conversely, these same rooftops in most areas of the world offer an excellent mounting point and distribution for solar photo-voltaic conversion, especially in either concentrator form or using large arrays of very low cost cells, even if they are not particularly efficient - such as those being produced in Ohio, Germany, and Arizona featured in the IEEE article. It looks to me that in addition to net neutrality as policy we need some public policy that includes ‘alternate energy neutrality’ in subsidization and support. Else we end up with something like the ‘ethanol from corn’ handout that starves appropriate technology at the expense of the politically connected. Contact Us CES 2008 Coverage for Tech Podcast Network Stroke Patient Examination by WebCam Watch Today’s Video Episode Click to view videos submitted or recommended by other SDR podcast listeners. . . If you find a YouTube video that pertains to one of our news items, or have produced an item that would be of interest to SDR listeners, please send us the link slashdotreview{at}gmail.com Save $10 on any order of $50 or more at GoDaddy.com! Be sure to sign up for our upcoming roundtable. We will be using GoToMeeting. Also, be sure to check out GoToMeeting. Why? Because you can hold meetings right over the Net — from anywhere. Plus, you can hold all the meetings you want for one flat rate. To get your free 30-day trial , visit www.gotomeeting.com/techroundtable. Take 10% off any order at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH Take $5 off any $30 order at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH2 .com Domains $6.95 at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH3 More blogs about SlashdotReview… Slashdot Review by Email - Sign up here: Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz Less

energy, IPOs, A123 Systems Robert Buderi wrote: August 8, 2008. The Olympics Games begins in Beijing. A123 Systems, the Watertown, MA-based advanced battery maker with big operations in China, files for an IPO. Coincidence? Maybe not. The number 8 is considered lucky in China because it is similar to the Mandarin word for “wealth.” That’s why the opening ceremony for the Olympics began at 8/8/08 at 8 pm in Beijing. Just a guess, but perhaps the folks at A123 are also banking on lucky number 8. In any case, in a filing today with the SEC, the seven-year-old maker of high-power lithium-ion batteries for applications like GM’s planned Volt electric vehicles and Black & Decker cordless power tools, revealed its plans to sell up to $175 million worth of stock in an initial public offering. It’s a long-anticipated filing for A123, which has taken in some $132 million in venture funding from the likes of General Electric, MIT, North Bridge Venture Partners, Procter and Gamble, Motorola, Qualcomm, and Sequoia Capital, among others. I profiled the saga of A123, how it was formed around one idea that didn’t really pan out but switched gears to become one of the world’s leaders in advanced lithium ion batteries, back in January. At my last count, the company had six manufacturing plants in China, 1,100 employees, and the largest lithium-ion R&D team in North America. According to today’s filing, the company has seen sales grow from $34.3 million in 2006 to $41.3 million last year—and it reports $10.3 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2008, up from $8.1 million a year earlier. A123 had a net loss of $30.2 million last year, according to its prospectus. The filing paints a vivid picture of the potential for A123’s business going forward. Among the statistics it cites: —The market for advanced batteries for electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids is currently $700 million, on its way to some $5 billion by 2012. —The market for batteries and other energy storage technologies for electric grid services, another A123 focus, was $2.4 billion in 2007 and is expected to surpass $3 billion by 2015. —The market for lithium ion batteries for portable power tools (A123 makes such batteries for Black & Decker’s DeWalt line) was $411 million in 2007 and is expected to grow to $1.1 billion by 2012. The company says in its filing that it intends to use the net proceeds from its IPO “for capital expenditures, working capital and other general corporate purposes, including the expansion of manufacturing facilities, repayment of approximately $2.5 million in debt, research and development and sales and marketing expansion.” It might also use some of the funds for acquisitions and other means of growing its business, according to the filing. A123’s top shareholders include: North Bridge Venture Partners — 7.8 million shares (13.6 percent) Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande — 7.3 million shares (12.7 percent) General Electric — 6.0 million shares (10.4 percent) Qualcomm — 5.0 million shares (8.8 percent) Motorola — 4.8 million shares (8.5 percent) Comments | Permalink | Share |  E-mail Less

BLOCKBUSTER Total Access click to activate coupon for $10 off your first month. Free Information on EVault 1-866-928-0735 e-Passport Cloned in Minutes BP Invests in Cellulosic Ethanol US Military to be 30% Robotic by 2020 SDR News is a Daily (M-F) Technology Podcast with Tech News Highlights from Slashdot, Digg and Reddit Click Here to Sign Up for the SDR Newsletter Prefer a Direct Download ? (mp3) Download today’s show. SDR News Links If a news item has disappeared from the Del.icio.us list above, try the full list here. Thumbnail Views: Via Thumblicio.us SEARCH ANY STORY YOU HEAR ON THE PODCAST BP Invests a Few Minutes by Andrew McCaskey The item on Verenium’s infusion of $90Million in capital from BP Oil makes a fine news story, and there is a very well done web site at the company. However, I have to wonder how serious all this is - or if it is just a little window dressing PR to try and buy down some of the negative publicity from recent earnings statements on the oil industry. I am not sure how BP is doing, but Exxon-Mobil’s earnings were something like $500,000 in profit during the time that it took to fill my gas tank. US News reports that it’s around half a day’s profits for Exxon Mobil - so I don’t imagine that BP takes much longer to ring up enough cash to spread some around. Let’s just hope that it does some good, and that Verenium has something else besides a flashy web site. Contact Us CES 2008 Coverage for Tech Podcast Network Buzz Aldrin and White Knight Watch Today’s Video Episode Click to view videos submitted or recommended by other SDR podcast listeners. . . If you find a YouTube video that pertains to one of our news items, or have produced an item that would be of interest to SDR listeners, please send us the link slashdotreview{at}gmail.com Save $10 on any order of $50 or more at GoDaddy.com! Be sure to sign up for our upcoming roundtable. We will be using GoToMeeting. Also, be sure to check out GoToMeeting. Why? Because you can hold meetings right over the Net — from anywhere. Plus, you can hold all the meetings you want for one flat rate. To get your free 30-day trial , visit www.gotomeeting.com/techroundtable. Take 10% off any order at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH Take $5 off any $30 order at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH2 .com Domains $6.95 at GoDaddy.com! Code SLASH3 More blogs about SlashdotReview… Slashdot Review by Email - Sign up here: Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz Less

Unaware Steve disovers that there's something devious lurking around the PCs at Quakecon... BAWLS!!!!! Less