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<title>Haaze.com / chdresource / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[In the lab, designing the ultimate biofuel bug]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-the-lab-designing-the-ultimate-biofuel-bug</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-the-lab-designing-the-ultimate-biofuel-bug</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:10:37 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-the-lab-designing-the-ultimate-biofuel-bug</guid>
<description><![CDATA[CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--To reinvent the fuel business, engineers at biofuel start-up Joule Unlimited tinker with tiny life forms all day.The four-year-old start-up is on the front lines of a branch of biotechnology that taps into the wealth of knowledge from genome sequencing and powerful computer tools to start from scratch and ask: if you wanted the ideal fuel, how would you make it The answer they've come up with is a diesel secreted by a genetically engineered microbe in flat plastic bioreactors. The only inputs for its &quot;biofactory&quot; organism are sunlight, pumped-in carbon dioxide, and some nutrients. Building a microscopic biofuel factory (photos)  Joule Unlimited has a long way to go before it's a commercial home run. But a look at its business strategy and labs here demonstrate the possibilities of biotechnology in reshaping the liquid fuels industry. After disappointing progress in making ethanol from agriculture wastes or grasses, much of the public attention has turned to plug-in electric vehicles to make transportation greener. But replacing petrofuels and chemicals with plant-based sources is still very much part of the picture. Joule Unlimited was co-founded by venture capitalists at Flagship Ventures who took a &quot;blue sky&quot; approach to making biofuels at scale after investing in two other biofuels start-ups also using techniques from synthetic biology--Mascoma and LS9.Rather than use algae or shuffle the genes of industrial workhorses, such as e.coli bacteria, Joule is doing metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, which is thought to have evolved 2.9 billion years ago and is the granddaddy of all water-splitting photosynthetic organisms.During a meeting at the company's offices, in what Cambridge calls &quot;Life Sciences Square,&quot; Joule Unlimited's senior vice president of biological services (and the company's first employee), Dan Robertson, shows me a thick Department of Energy report that identifies a number of barriers to making fuel with algae.The bio-engineers at Joule set out to address all of those barriers, Robertson said. Instead of growing biomass and then extracting the fuel from it, Joule and others want to make fuels secreted directly from micro-organisms. Instead of feeding sugar--typically from sugar cane--to e.coli and then fermenting the solution to brew alcohol-based fuel, Joule has designed a system of continuous fuel production. Algae wasn't pursued because so much water needs to be removed and it's harder to engineer.&quot;In one place, the light is being absorbed and the carbon dioxide taken up where you can get carbon molecules to ultimately make your product,&quot; Robertson explained. The cyanobacteria in bioreactors produce hydrocarbons, which are siphoned off from the green-colored water solution. There's no feedstock to procure and ship or even biomass to gather and then process. The company is running a pilot facility in Texas, where it is trucking in carbon dioxide for testing purposes. For future sites, it intends to get CO2 from an industrial partner. Emissions from a coal-fired power plant could be fed to the cyanobacteria after normal scrubbing of mercury and arsenic, Robertson said.Bug controlBreeding specific organisms, such as e.coli, for specific purposes has been going on for decades. But advances in biotech are allowing biologists to manipulate organisms with far finer control and speed.In Joule's case, biologists are optimizing the metabolism of cyanobacteria for their purposes. Instead of taking food and sunlight to make more of themselves, the natural pathways of Joule's genetically modified organisms have been altered to produce alkanes, a hydrocarbon to be mixed with diesel fuel. They have even been programmed with a &quot;carbon switch&quot; to shift their metabolisms from making more of themselves to making fuel. Joule envisions starting up production of its microbes in its bioreactors and, once they reach a certain density in water, operators will add ingredients to get the organism's metabolism to start pumping out alkanes.&quot;You essentially co-opt the carbon that would be used for something else (to make fuel) and make the organism feel that it's OK,&quot; said Robertson. &quot;It's all very controlling.&quot;In the lab, engineers re-create real-world conditions to isolate different strains by tweaking carbon dioxide, sunlight, and nitrogen levels. For example, one specialized machine allows an engineer to simulate the sunlight conditions for a whole day, representing different seasons and changing temperatures. With each test, engineers get closer to the optimal gene combinations for different conditions. Since the bioreactors would be placed in different locations, the company has settled on somewhere between 10 and 20 strains, after constructing some 4,000 strains, according to Robertson.Biologists spend more of their time designing tests or isolating DNA on gene databases, rather than actually performing lab tests, Robertson said. &quot;Because so much genome sequencing has already taken place, there's an immense database available arranged by the chemistry that they do,&quot; he said. &quot;There are lots of tools at our disposal, so we can rapidly test things.&quot;Long road to pipelinesJoule Unlimited is just one of many companies in the race for a better biofuel technology. The Department of Energy's ARPA-E agency is funding many research efforts in &quot;electrofuels,&quot; which make fuels directly from electricity, sunlight, and water. There are dozens of other companies pursuing completely different approaches, such as thermochemical processes. Analysts at Lux Research call synthetic biology is the &quot;flashiest&quot; technology vying for the lead. Joule Unlimited has high potential, but it still has to prove that it can move from a small-scale operation to commercial scale, Lux Research said. Specifically, it lacks partners and it will require a lot of capital and land to reach cost parity with today's petrofuels, it said in a recent report.The company's next step is to build a 10-acre demonstration plant located at an industrial facility, such as a power plant or waste water facility, which it expects to do by mid-2012. Then it plans to start construction of a facility larger than 1,000 acres at the end of 2013 that would be able to make 12,000 gallons of fuel per acre per year. When fully scaled up, it would make 15 million gallons a year of fuel.The cyanobacteria need nutrients, including nitrogen and trace amounts of minerals, to be fed into its bioreactors. And to be commercially successful, its bioreactors need to be engineered for low operational costs and maximum production. Next door to its labs, engineers are designing the actual hardware for growing the fuel, another key part to whether the company will be able to scale up.Although Joule's employees clearly see the power of metabolic engineering, they are very cognizant of concerns over genetically modified organisms, said Robertson. Its bioreactors will run for six to eight weeks' then the solution is flushed out, the actual organisms are burned, the bioreactors are sterilized, and a fresh medium is put in, he said.Even with Joule's impressive technical achievement and three patents, it still has a ways to go before it will make a dent in reducing fossil fuel use and pollution. But if the biotechnology techniques it and others are pursuing bear fruit, the face of fuels in the future may well be a petri dish, rather than an oil well. Updated at 1:15 p.m. PT with corrections. The bioreactors will be made from plastic, not glass, and Joule's demo facility is using trucked-in CO2.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[FDA approves 60-second HIV test]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fda-approves-60-second-hiv-test</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fda-approves-60-second-hiv-test</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Dec 2010 08:10:50 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=fda-approves-60-second-hiv-test</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Canadian firm BioLytical received FDA approval this week for the sale of its Insti HIV Rapid Antibody Test in the United States.The test, which, at 60 seconds, will be the fastest-working on the U.S. market (others tend to take between 10 minutes and 20 minutes) is already available in more than 50 countries. In Canada's Ontario province, the kits have been available since they were first commercialized in 2006, and in British Columbia, where BioLytical is based, health authorities plan to use them for the new $48 million pilot project called Seek and Treat for the prevention of HIV and AIDS.The Insti kit requires pricking a finger to draw a blood sample, then mixing the sample with a reagent and color developer. One blue &quot;control spot&quot; reveals the absence of HIV antibodies (nonreactive results), two spots reveal the presence of such antibodies (reactive), and the absence of a spot indicates that the results are invalid.Because this is a first-line test, all reactive (HIV-positive) results must be confirmed by a second testing system, the company advises, and all invalid tests should be conducted again with a new blood sample.&quot;Insti represents a significant improvement for point-of-care rapid HIV testing,&quot; Julie Scofield, executive director of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, said in a statement. &quot;By eliminating the 15- to 30-minute wait for results, Insti streamlines the testing process. It allows for increased flexibility, as providers can conduct the test in whatever manner best suits their work flow.&quot;Breaking into the U.S. market wasn't easy' Rick Galli, chief technical officer at BioLytical, told the Vancouver Sun that &quot;we affectionately call [market approval in the U.S.] the holy grail for this particular product.&quot;He added that the Insti device has been endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and that the timing is ideal, as U.S. medical officials have recently been shifting from lab tests to rapid point-of-care tests.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Going once, going twice...$161,600 for that Apple Computer]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=going-once-going-twice---161600-for-that-apple-computer</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=going-once-going-twice---161600-for-that-apple-computer</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=going-once-going-twice---161600-for-that-apple-computer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Apple 1(Credit:Christie&amp;39's)If you're a gadget geek with some spare change--make that a lot of spare change--here's a golden opportunity to indulge. Later this month the first Apple computer--including a letter signed by none other than Apple co-founder CEO Steve Jobs to the original owner--will go on sale at a famous London auction house.The Christie's brochure describes the computer as a &quot;historic relic,&quot; and judging by current technological standards, I suppose that's an accurate description. Just in case you can't remember, the Apple-1, introduced in 1976, came without a casing, power supply, keyboard, or monitor. Still, it was enough to turn Apple into a household name as it also was the first personal computer sold with a fully assembled motherboard. Back during those rollicking days of the early personal computer era, most personal computers got sold as self-assembly kits. Based on the standards of that era, this was consumer-friendliness with an underscore.Jobs and his co-founder, Steve Wozniak, priced the first Apple-1 computers at $666.66. The machines were shipped to customers from Jobs' parents' house. Christie's says that all of the components are still in their original box. The machine will get put on the auction block November 23. Bidding is set to begin at $161,600.Read more of &quot;Going once, going twice...$161,600 for that Apple Computer&quot; at CBSNews.com.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[New browser RockMelt oozes into beta]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-browser-rockmelt-oozes-into-beta</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-browser-rockmelt-oozes-into-beta</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 07:10:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=new-browser-rockmelt-oozes-into-beta</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A look at social sharing on the new RockMelt browser.(Credit:RockMelt)Little has been known about stealth start-up RockMelt except that it's a browser, specifically (and yet ambiguously) a &quot;Facebook browser,&quot; and it's backed by browser godfather Marc Andreessen. Well, now RockMelt has crept out of the woodwork into a limited beta forMac and Windows, and the world can get a peek at it.RockMelt is indeed a &quot;Facebook browser,&quot; if only because Facebook is the social-media service that's best integrated into it at launch. It's clear that ultimately the browser's team plans to make it more customizable with other services. The ultimate goal, you could say, is revamping the traditional browser many of the Web-browsing behaviors that have popped up in the past few years--social-media sharing, Twitter clients, RSS alerts, and speedier search--and works them into an interface that aims for convenience rather than confusion. While it may still have too many bells and whistles for the average Web user, it's likely to attract some curiosity from hardcore social-media users, obsessive multitaskers, and efficiency geeks who see an opportunity to cut down on the number of browser tabs and desktop applications that they may have open.&quot;We're reinventing the browser for how people user the Web today, which is dramatically different from how people were using the Web only a few short years ago,&quot; RockMelt co-founder Tim Howes told CNET.First of all, you log in with Facebook Connect upon launching RockMelt. There's a left sidebar of easy Facebook access, including a row of &quot;top friends&quot; that you can select, and you can drag or drop content from the main browser (like links or videos) to immediately share it with one of them in Facebook Chat. (Unfortunately, there is not yet support for other instant-messaging clients.)Then, on the right side bar, is a customizable list of favorite sites and services, with yellow indicators to tell you when there's new content from a blog you read or the people you follow on Twitter. There's a browser button to share content on Facebook or Twitter (and more services to come)' the company even has its own URL shortener, http://me.lt.The search box at the top is also different than your average browser's. It loads up a list of results in a drop-down menu, and begins &quot;preloading&quot; all of them so that you can flip back and forth between individual results at maximum speed.&quot;It changes the way you search because it makes it so much faster and so much lighter-weight,&quot; co-founder Eric Vishria explained.The term &quot;social browser&quot; has been thrown about before, namely three years ago with the launch of Flock, aFirefox-based browser loaded with a dizzying number of social features. RockMelt certainly looks a lot cleaner. Built on Chromium, the foundation of Google Chrome, it aims to be fast, too.Will people actually switch over to it Vishria raised a statistic that in the past three years, 500 million people have switched browsers, so that getting them to switch again may be less difficult than it sounds.RockMelt employs about 30 people, has been in the works for two years, and has raised about $10 million in funding from the Andreessen Horowitz venture firm as well as other investors like Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital and ubiquitous angel investor Ron Conway.And its odd, vaguely geology-evoking name It &quot;came out of a three-week brainstorming sesion where we had a million different names,&quot; Howes said. Added Vishria: &quot;Easy to spell, easy to remember, and the domain was available.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple adds calendars back to iPhoto]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-adds-calendars-back-to-iphoto</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-adds-calendars-back-to-iphoto</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:10:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-adds-calendars-back-to-iphoto</guid>
<description><![CDATA[For those of you befuddled as to why Apple didn't support calendars in the latest version of iPhoto, wonder no more.Apple just today sent us a note saying that it has pushed a software update that adds calendars to iPhoto '11. There's no explanation as to why they were missing in the first place, but it's a safe bet that it just wasn't ready when Apple introduced the latest version of the photo software along with iLife '11 and two new versions of the MacBook Air on October 20.In addition to the calendar option, there are now a dozen more letterpress card design options--a feature new to iPhoto '11--including (of course) holiday themes.For a comprehensive review of the entire iLife '11 software suite, don't miss CNET's review.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Facebook Alternative Diaspora Launches Their Private Alpha With Some Bet&nbsp'Hedging]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-alternative-diaspora-launches-their-private-alpha-with-some-betnbsphedging</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-alternative-diaspora-launches-their-private-alpha-with-some-betnbsphedging</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=facebook-alternative-diaspora-launches-their-private-alpha-with-some-betnbsphedging</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We&amp;'ve been tracking the progress of Diaspora, the open-source Facebook alternative, since before the project even started. That&amp;'s because the idea got so much buzz on the crowdsourced micro-funding site Kickstarter, that they were able to turn a goal of raising $10,000 in 39 days into $200,000 from 6,500 backers in the same timeframe. But with such high expectations, you have to deliver. And many expressed doubts that the small team of college students could do that.After the money came in, the team sequestered themselves for the Summer to work on the project. Despite some hiccups, they were able to unveil the source of the project in September to mixed reviews. Meanwhile, a user-facing alpha launch was promised for October. That came and went, and they pushed the launch to Thanksgiving. Well, we&amp;'re two days away from turkey day, and Diaspora has delivered this time.As the company notes on their blog, the first batch of private alpha invites are going out today. They note that each week they&amp;'ll be adding more people to the test, starting with those who contributed to the service&amp;'s funding.Says the team:We are proud of where Diaspora is right now. In less than five months, wea4a4ve gone from nothing to a great starting point from which the community can keep working. Wea4a4ve spent a lot of time thinking about how people can share in a private way, and still do all the things people love to do on social networks. We hope youa4a4ll find it fun to use and a great way to keep in touch with all the people in your life.Interestinglya4senough, it sounds as if Diaspora is heavily predicated on lists, which they call &amp;''aspects&amp;''. This is interesting because Facebook is going in the opposite direction, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that people on their service don&amp;'t want to make lists. In fact, their entire new Groups project is a way to make it so you don&amp;'t have to make lists. &amp;''We think that aspects are a simple, straightforward, lightweight way to make it really clear who is receiving your posts and who you are receiving posts from,&amp;'' writes Diaspora.But the service is also quick to hedge their bets. &amp;''It isna4a4t perfect, but the best way to improve is to get it into your hands and listen closely to your response,&amp;'' they note about the aspects idea. They then go on to list five things they know they could do better, including: security, better APIs, better documentation, easier upgrades, and cleaner code. Yeah, that&amp;'s quite a few major things.&amp;''Our work is nowhere close to done. To us, that is the best part. There are always more things to improve, more tricks to learn, and more awesome features to add,&amp;'' they conclude.As you can see in the alpha site graphic below, they&amp;'re smartly playing towards some of the things people complain about the most with regard to Facebook: choice, ownership, simplicity.CrunchBase InformationDiasporaFacebookInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Bit.ly Bundles Multiple Links Into One Short&nbsp'URL]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bit-ly-bundles-multiple-links-into-one-shortnbspurl</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bit-ly-bundles-multiple-links-into-one-shortnbspurl</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=bit-ly-bundles-multiple-links-into-one-shortnbspurl</guid>
<description><![CDATA[There is a simple rule on the Internet when it comes to  passing links around: the easier it is to share links, the more links will be shared.  Bit.ly and other URL shorteners proved this with their billions of links repackaged for a 140-character world.  Later today or tomorrow, bit.ly will be introducing a new feature called bit,ly bundles which lets you shorten a bunch of links into one single bit.ly link.  Don&amp;'t pretend like this isn&amp;'t your dream come true.The company created the Xtranormal promo video above, which features a tech nerd who is really excited about the bundles trying to explain what they are to a cute girl:GuyL It is the newest thing in the Internet, it will change your life.Girl: Go away. . .Guy: I am looking forward to sharing my bundles with you.Girl: Hold still while I get my mace out.The bundle link will take you to a preview page with headlines, excerpts, photos, and videos pulled from the underlying websites.  Each bundle page also has stats on how many times it&amp;'s been viewed, and a list of the original links.  It is basically a way to create thematic collections and share them.  Here is a screenshot:CrunchBase Informationbit.lyInformation provided by CrunchBaseTipTweet<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[In danger of being an also-ran, Atari names a new CEO]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-danger-of-being-an-also-ran-atari-names-a-new-ceo</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-danger-of-being-an-also-ran-atari-names-a-new-ceo</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=in-danger-of-being-an-also-ran-atari-names-a-new-ceo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Atari has named a new chief executive today, promoting Jim Wilson from within to the top job as part of a plan to resuscitate the company&amp;'s struggling video game business.Atari is the oldest brand in video games, but it has not been the most successful. The company has changed hands a few times and is now based in Paris, France. Wilson, who was deputy CEO, replaces Jeff Lapin, who is leaving the company.For the first half of the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the company reported revenues of $38 million, down 57 percent from $89.9 million a year ago. The company reported a net loss of $12 million, compared to a loss of $37.9 million a year earlier. That&amp;'s pretty sad for a company with a brand that goes back to the beginning of video games. Atari&amp;'s Pong ignited the video game revolution in 1972.Wilson joined Atari&amp;'s U.S. division as CEO in 2008. He helped turn around that business and has been focused on getting things right in Europe. The company has shifted more emphasis to its digital, online, and mobile businesses. But it suffered a huge setback when Star Trek Online, made by the Cryptic Studios division of Atari, was poorly received. Atari has taken the Cryptic resources and focused them on social casual online games. Smaller games such as Faeries vs. Darklings (pictured) are the focus for the future.a4AJim has the boarda4a4s full support as he continues to drive new goals of growth and success. At the end of Jeffa4a4s mandates, Atari is better positioned as we enter the next strategic phase of our plan,a4 said Frank Dangeard, Atari chairman, in a statement.But Atari is a small fish in a pond full of piranhas. Rivals such as Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft are far bigger and have proven more adept at making hit games. Wilson will run the company&amp;'s operations from Los Angeles.Next Story: Skype CEO offers update on outage that affected tens of millions Previous Story: Secret Santa success caps banner year for RedditPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Faeries vs. Darklings, PongCompanies: AtariPeople: Jeff Lapin, Jim Wilson, Thom Kozik          Tags: Faeries vs. Darklings, PongCompanies: AtariPeople: Jeff Lapin, Jim Wilson, Thom KozikDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[NudgeMail gains momentum after teaming up with Google Calendar]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nudgemail-gains-momentum-after-teaming-up-with-google-calendar</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nudgemail-gains-momentum-after-teaming-up-with-google-calendar</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nudgemail-gains-momentum-after-teaming-up-with-google-calendar</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Inbox &amp;''un-clutterer&amp;'' NudgeMail now has tens of thousands of users within the first three months of its launch, with a significant gain this week that CEO Jeremy Toeman told VentureBeat is likely due to the startup&amp;'s recently announced integration with Google&amp;'s much-used Google Calendar.&amp;''We&amp;'re really excited about the gCal integration, as it was one of the most-requested features from our users,&amp;'' Toeman told me. &amp;''With NudgeMail on gCal not only do existing NudgeMail users get an easy way to see all their reminders in one place, but it also makes the service more compelling to even more people.&amp;''NudgeMail announced its partnership with Google Calendar on Wednesday. It had originally launched in November to minimal fanfare.Created to help users reach that much-coveted &amp;''inbox zero,&amp;'' NudgeMail helps people manage their time and emails by synchronizing their important upcoming events.Without leaving their inbox, a user can set a reminder far ahead of time, simply by sending an email to NudgeMail about a major event.So, if a user wanted to remember an important date &amp;8212' say, an anniversary &amp;8212' they send an email to may 15@nudgemail.com, subject line &amp;''anniversary,&amp;'' and the date is automatically added to their Google or other device-related calendar.The platform&amp;'s &amp;''vocabulary&amp;'' also understands a huge number of &amp;''commands,&amp;'' including typos. For example, if a user emails &amp;''Tusday&amp;'' instead of &amp;''Tuesday,&amp;'' NudgeMail understands it.After that, the company sends the email back to the user, along with a few enhancements, such as a snooze bar. The entire system is secure and encrypted.The company says it doesn&amp;'t have any comparable competitors, because it does not require plugins, downloads or new software. That simplicity is what&amp;'s already bringing the service significant traction, said Toeman.It also works across multiple devices including office desktops, home laptops, iPad and smartphones.The company was founded by Toeman last year. He remains the founder and managing partner of Stage Two, a marketing and media relations firm, and was previously vice president of product development at Sling Media. Toeman is also known for co-founding digital media networking software company Mediabolic.NudgeMail currently has no external funding.UPDATE: Toeman offers some additional clarification in the comments.Next Story: On the GreenBeat: GE, NRG and ConocoPhilips create $300 million venture fund, Volt expands nationwide Previous Story: RIM begins limited production of BlackBerry PlayBook tabletPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: emailCompanies: Google, iPad, nudgemailPeople: jeremy toeman          Tags: emailCompanies: Google, iPad, nudgemailPeople: jeremy toemanRiley McDermid is a contributing reporter to VentureBeat. She was previously the online editor at institutional investing and trading forum Markets Media, which she joined in 2008 from Dow Jones/MarketWatch in New York. Her work has appeared in the The New York Times, the Associated Press, Portfolio Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Barrona4a4s. She has won awards from the American Society of Business Publishers and Editors, the Magazine Association of the Southeast, the Mississippi Press Association and the Atlanta Press Club, and was a finalist for the Pacemaker Prize for excellence in news reporting. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Ngmoco to take hit iPhone game Pocket God to Android and Windows Phone 7]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ngmoco-to-take-hit-iphone-game-pocket-god-to-android-and-windows-phone-7</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ngmoco-to-take-hit-iphone-game-pocket-god-to-android-and-windows-phone-7</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>chdresource</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ngmoco-to-take-hit-iphone-game-pocket-god-to-android-and-windows-phone-7</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Game maker Ngmoco will make its debut on two new mobile operating systems by taking its hit iPhone game Pocket God to Android and Windows Phone 7.Pocket God launched in 2009 and has sold more than 3 million copies. It was the indie hit of 2009, made by two developers at Bolt Creative. Now Bolt has finally farmed out the rights to take Pocket God to other platforms. Ngmoco usually does iPhone games, but it&amp;'s taking a crack at new platforms by developing these new versions of Pocket God. Both Android and Windows Phone 7 are now viewed as viable alternatives to market leader iPhone.In the game, you play a god who can treat subjects known as Pygmies in a cruel or nice fashion. You can, for instance, feed them to the sharks. The sick humor came from the mind of creators Dave Castelnuovo and Allan Dye. They have now published more than 30 free updates for the game. The success of Pocket God can be compared to Angry Birds, which has become a runaway hit on both the iPhone and Android platforms.Pocket God has also spawned its own comic book. Castelnuovo has said in the past that he doesn&amp;'t want to build Bolt Creative into a huge company, mainly because he wants to stay close to the process of making games. By getting Ngmoco to do the adaptations to other platforms, Bolt Creative can continue to focus on what it wants to build.Next Story: The TSA has become God&amp;'s gift to YouTube Previous Story: How much are new TV episodes worth to Netflix Try $100KPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Pocket GodCompanies: Bolt Creative, NgmocoPeople: Allan Dye, Dave Castelnuovo          Tags: Pocket GodCompanies: Bolt Creative, NgmocoPeople: Allan Dye, Dave CastelnuovoDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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