NewsBusiness
-
Where Has All the E-Waste Gone?
BusinessEnvironmentNews Oct 06, 2010, by Danny Wool
Silicon Valley firms are teaming up with a local politician to curb the export of e-waste to developing countries, especially China. Over 300 million tons of old computer hardware, mobile phones, TV sets, and other electronic waste ended up being shipped out of the country in 2007 alone, but these contained rare earth metals, vital for the continued operation of Silicon Valley’s electronics industry.
→ Read More -
Get Ready for Google TV
BusinessNews Oct 05, 2010, by Danny Wool
Over the next few weeks, Google will be launching Google TV, complete with apps to make TV viewing an interactive experience. Soon fans will be able to Twitter about Glee and blog about baseball, live, for the world to see. As it prepares for launch, Google is lining up content partnerships with Amazon, Netflix, Napster, and Twitter, but also with independent content providers, such as HBO, NBC Universal, the NBA, and Turner Broadcasting.
→ Read More -
Zuckerberg a Star This Weekend
Business Oct 04, 2010, by Danny Wool“The Social Network” topped the box office charts with 2.3 million viewers in its opening weekend, and revenues of $23 million. The film is expected to gross as much as $100 million. Prior to its release, Zuckerberg’s biggest media success was during a cameo appearance on the Simpsons. “The Social Network” depicts Zuckerberg’s turbulent Harvard days. On “The Simpsons” he advises Nelson to drop out of school and “get the best kind of degree—honorary, baby!”
→ Read More -
Pest Threatens Local Wine Industry
BusinessEnvironmentNews Sep 30, 2010, by Danny Wool 1 CommentsGrape-growers in Santa Clara County are facing a new pest this season—Lobesia botrana, the European grapevine moth. They are believed to infect a 94-square mile area in Santa Clara County, and agricultural officials are taking drastic measures to ensure that they do not spread. Pest control agents are removing all the grapes from backyard vineyards in the affected areas.
→ Read More -
Sports Versus Owls at Google
BusinessEnvironmentSports Sep 29, 2010, by Danny WoolGoogle planned on turning one of its Mountain View properties into a recreational area, complete with a soccer field, basketball court, disc golf area, and horseshoes and bocce ball pitches. The problem is that the area is home to the burrowing owl. After some consideration, the city has decided that a $20,000 donation to preserve the rare bird could mitigate the problem.
→ Read More -
Google Announces Top Five Plans to Make the World a Better Place
BusinessNews Sep 29, 2010, by Danny Wool
What can we do to make the world a better place? That was a question asked by Google, who took their motto of “Do no evil,” and expanded it to “Do good instead.” They asked for ideas to improve government, education, transportation, the environment, and offered to provide seed money to “the most innovative approaches to solving some very pressing problems.”
→ Read More -
Local Businesses Wary of Energy Efficiency Grant Expiring
BusinessEnvironment Sep 27, 2010, by Danny WoolCompanies across Silicon Valley have been taking advantage of an Energy Department grant program that refunds up to 30 percent of the cost of transitioning to greater energy efficiency. The funding has helped companies acquire pricey solar panels, wind turbines, and Bloom boxes to generate energy. The grant is set to expire this year.
→ Read More -
Philippine President Stops by Silicon Valley
BusinessNews Sep 27, 2010, by Danny WoolPresident Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines stopped by Silicon Valley on his way home from the United Nations Summit in New York. While here, he addressed a gathering of Filipino Americans with the Philippine Development Forum at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. The event was sponsored by the Ayala Foundation. Aquino also met with local business leaders and toured HP headquarters in Palo Alto.
→ Read More -
Angel Investor Slams Angelgate VCs
Business Sep 24, 2010, by Danny WoolAngelgate takes a new turn as prominent super-angel Ron Conway writes a scathing email to the participants in a secret VC meeting. The scandal, which broke earlier this week, suggests that prominent angel investors in Silicon Valley are “colluding” to lower startup valuations and keep new and traditional investors out of the market. Conway slammed the participant, writing that, ““Your motives are driven by self serving factors around ego satisfaction and ‘making a buck.’”
→ Read More -
Storing Data, an Atom at a Time
BusinessNews Sep 24, 2010, by Danny WoolResearchers in San Jose have been spending twelve years studying the behavior atoms. Using a highly refined scanning tunneling microscope he IBM team has been able to unravel how long information remains in a single atom. This, they believe, will be the key to developing even more refined ways of storing data, smaller than anything we can possibly imagine. Their size will be measured in atoms.
→ Read More
