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<title>Haaze.com / 98dollarseo / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[SpaceX building low-cost heavy-lift booster]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spacex-building-low-cost-heavy-lift-booster</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spacex-building-low-cost-heavy-lift-booster</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:11:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=spacex-building-low-cost-heavy-lift-booster</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, plans to build a commercial heavy-lift rocket that will carry more than twice the payload of existing large rockets at one-third the cost. That would lower the price of delivering cargo to low-Earth orbit to the long-sought, and so far mythical, $1,000-per-pound range, the company's founder and chief designer announced today.Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the Falcon Heavy--made up of three Falcon 9 core stages powered by 27 upgraded Merlin engines and generating a combined 3.8 million pounds of thrust--will be ready for its initial test flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., late next year or early 2013.An artist&amp;39's impression of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket climbing toward orbit. SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon Heavy on a test flight in late 2012 or early 2013.(Credit:SpaceX)It will be the most powerful U.S. launcher since NASA's Saturn 5 moon rocket. NASA is exploring options for an even more powerful, congressionally mandated &quot;super heavy-lift rocket&quot; for use in deep space exploration, but it's not yet clear when that vehicle will fly or what its mission will be.Musk said he expects initial demand to reach 10 Falcon Heavy launches a year if the test flight and subsequent launches go well. Potential customers include commercial satellite operators, NASA, and the military. Musk added that the military currently plans to spend some $1.74 billion on four Air Force launches in 2012 at an average cost of $435 million per flight.SpaceX's single-core Falcon 9 rocket is available commercially for between $50 million and $60 million, the company said in a statement, while the new Falcon Heavy will cost between $80 million and $125 million, depending on requirements.&quot;Falcon Heavy represents a huge economic advantage,&quot; Musk said. &quot;Falcon Heavy costs about a third as much per flight as a Delta 4 Heavy, but carries twice as much payload to orbit. So it's effectively a six-fold improvement in the cost per pound to orbit. In fact, Falcon Heavy sets a new world record for the cost per pound to orbit of around about $1,000. That's a pretty huge leap in capability.&quot;The Delta 4 family of rockets is built and marketed by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that also builds Atlas 5 rockets. The Delta 4 Heavy, used primarily to launch large military satellites, is the most powerful unmanned rocket currently built in the United States.Musk said competitors claim SpaceX cannot deliver reliable rockets at the company's advertised prices, but he called that &quot;a lot of wishful thinking.&quot;&quot;I think we're unique in the launch business in publishing our prices on our Web site whereas other launch providers sort of treat it like a rug bazaar, they'll charge you what they think you can afford,&quot; Musk said. &quot;We believe in sort of everyday low prices. We've stuck to our guns on that. The Falcon 9 costs $50 million, it's been that way for a while, and the Falcon Heavy is, on average, about $100 million. We're very, very confident of being able to maintain those prices. I say let history be the judge. Here I am saying it, we'll see if that remains true.&quot;SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to provide 12 Falcon 9 cargo flights to the International Space Station for delivery of more than 44,000 pounds of equipment and supplies after the space shuttle is retired. The contract may be expanded to cover additional flights, boosting its value to some $3.1 billion.Three Falcon 9 test flights are planned under a separate contract valued at up to $278 million. The first of those flights was successfully conducted last December. The company is lobbying NASA to combine the second and third test flights into a single mission that would deliver cargo to the space station.The 227-foot-tall, 3.1-million-pound Falcon Heavy will be made up of three Falcon 9 rockets strapped side to side. Musk said the vehicle is designed to NASA's exacting human spaceflight standards, capable of withstanding 40 percent higher loads, or forces, than would be expected in a normal flight. Triple-redundant avionics systems are planned and the rocket will be able to achieve orbit even if multiple engines fail or shut down prematurely.Using upgraded Merlin 1D engines, each one generating 140,000 pounds of thrust at sea level, the Falcon Heavy will be capable of boosting 117,000 pounds of payload into a 120-mile-high orbit tilted 28.5 degrees to the equator.&quot;This is a rocket of truly huge scale,&quot; Musk said. &quot;The 117,000 pounds is more than a fully loaded Boeing 737 with 136 passengers, luggage and fuel. In orbit. So that is really humongous. It's more payload capability than any vehicle in history apart from the Saturn 5. And so, it opens up a range of possibilities for government and commercial customers that simply aren't present with current capacity.&quot;Along with launching large payloads to low-Earth orbit, Musk said the Falcon Heavy also could be used for eventual manned missions to the moon and other deep space targets, although multiple launches might be required.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[ecoATM kiosk scans used gadget, pays owner]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ecoatm-kiosk-scans-used-gadget-pays-owner</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ecoatm-kiosk-scans-used-gadget-pays-owner</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:10:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=ecoatm-kiosk-scans-used-gadget-pays-owner</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Following a financing deal for ecoATM, you may be able to clear out the digital skeletons in your closet on a trip to the mall.San Diego-based ecoATM, which makes a kiosk for taking back used electronics, today said it raised $14.4 million in equity and debt to launch its product in more places. One of the investors is Coinstar, which makes automated retail products, including coin collection machines for supermarkets and other stores.ecoATM was started about two years ago by former wireless industry executives to build an automatic system for trading in electronic gadgets no longer in use, such as mobile phones. With so many new gadgets coming out, e-waste is the fastest-growing category of waste and it's estimated there are 3 billion electronic devices in the U.S., many of which are not used but are still working.The consumer uses the ecoATM by putting a device, such as a phone, into a tray in the kiosk. It scans the device until it's recognized. The machine then releases a power cord to check the electrical system. Once it's fully checked out, it tells the owner how much it's worth, which can be redeemed for cash, a gift card, or a donation.The company put in a prototype kiosk in a furniture store in Nebraska in fall 2009 and has since collected tens of thousands of phones, music players, game systems, game DVDs and cartridges, digital cameras, GPS devices, and laptop PCs, according to the company.The company says that it complies with state e-waste recycling laws and generates environmental reports for retailers. ecoATM also announced today that it has received a National Science Foundation grant and its first patent for its recycling kiosk.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Skype for iPhone adds two-way video calling]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-for-iphone-adds-two-way-video-calling</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-for-iphone-adds-two-way-video-calling</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:10:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skype-for-iphone-adds-two-way-video-calling</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Two-way video chatting: it&amp;39's here.(Credit:Skype)The word you're looking for is &quot;finally.&quot; As in, &quot;Oh look, Skype has finally stepped up to the competition by adding two-way video chatting to its VoIPiPhone app!&quot; Indeed, this anticipated addition is one for which Skype-watchers and users have been thirsting since Fring's two-way video calling app nosed into the iPhone app store this past July, following Apple's introduction of its own Face Time video chatting software. But more on that later.What iPhone users worldwide first need to know is that starting today, an update to the free Skype for iPhone will start being seen in the App Store. The global roll-out may take some time, so be patient if you don't find it immediately.The app contains many of the features you'd expect. You can use either 3G or Wi-Fi to place two-way video calls, and the technology works in both portrait and landscape modes. You can mute a call, place or answer a call with just audio or with audio and video, and swap between the front-facing or rear-facing cameras. The Skype for iPhone app retains its auxiliary features as well, like instant messenger and SMS to chat with friends before, after, or during a call' and status message updates. There's also a history tab for reviewing recent communications with members of your buddy list.As with the recently-released ooVoo Mobile (for Android,) Skype for iPhone will work for anyone on Skype's network, be they desktop or mobile users. While you can only broadcast video on on Apple devices with rear-facing or front-facing cameras--namely the iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4, and iPhone 3GS, you can also receive incoming video broadcasts on theiPad and third-generationiPod Touch. As an extra bonus, desktop Skype users (Windows|Mac) can share a view of their computer screen with Skype users on iPhone. Skype's video calling on iPhone (photos)  While many have hammered Skype for being slow to develop this feature (us, included,) Skype's timing is certainly salient. Its two-way video calling app is rolling out in time for cross-continental New Year's Eve calls, but before the relentless noise of next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This gives Skype a head start on news that otherwise may have been swallowed up in the flood of flashy gadgets. Nevertheless, Skype does have a press conference schedules for CES, during which time we may see Skype's two-way video calling come to select Android phones--we'll guess the Samsung Epic 4G and HTC Evo for a start, along with any other Android phones that may come out of the show. We've been waiting for Skype to release mobile video chat for a long time. One of the founding members of VoIP video calls should have also been the leader in bringing the technology to mobile phones. However, since the first murmurs of this type began, Skype has pointed to technical challenges in getting acceptable video quality to work over 3G to its millions of global users (124 million per month, according to the company). Since Skype certainly wasn't the first non-Apple player' it'll have to win market share by being the best. Or at least by being better than Fring, ooVoo Mobile, Qik, and others. We'll soon follow up with a hands-on review of Skype's to see just how well Skype has tackled these issues with two-way video calling. In the meantime, here's one last word from the sponsor. Skype is claiming frame rates of 12 frames per second when sending a video stream and 15 frames per second to receive a video' all while over 3G. If you get a chance to download and use Skype's two-way video calling on iPhone, tell us what you think. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Details emerge of Microsoft's failed Facebook buy]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=details-emerge-of-microsofts-failed-facebook-buy</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=details-emerge-of-microsofts-failed-facebook-buy</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=details-emerge-of-microsofts-failed-facebook-buy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[While the dollar figure and partnership details of Microsoft's investment in Facebook back in 2007 were made public, one detail that had not been discussed by either company was that Microsoft had made a valiant effort to acquire the social network outright.That much was confirmed this morning at the Le Web conference in Paris by Fritz Lanman, Microsoft's senior director or corporate strategy and acquisitions, TechCrunch reports. Speaking to Le Web conference organizer Loic Le Meur as part of a panel on &quot;how to get acquired,&quot; Lanman shared details on how the deal had gotten away from Microsoft--from the point of Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer trying to buy Facebook outright for $15 billion, to what ended up being the landmark $240 million investment.According to Lanman, when Ballmer had suggested that initial $15 billion figure, which had been derived from a recent valuation, Facebook's co-founder Mark Zuckerberg shot it down because he didn't want to lose control. &quot;Ballmer took this reply as sort of challenge,&quot; Lanman said. &quot;He went back to Microsoft's headquarters and concocted a plan intended to acquire Facebook in stages over a period of years to enable Zuckerberg to keep calling the shots.&quot;Lanman said that plan ended up falling through, and lead to what became the very public ad investment that went down near the end of 2007.Facebook was an acquisition target for a number of companies back in 2007. Other suiters at that time also included Yahoo and Google, the later of which has a notorious history of grabbing deals away from Microsoft at the last moment, as detailed in David Kirkpatrick's The Facebook Effect. The fact that it remains its own company continues to be attributed to Zuckerberg's need to be in the driver's seat.Since the deal, Microsoft and Facebook have collaborated on a number of new features together, including social search results in Bing, and Docs.com, a Web-based word processor that can be used within Facebook. The two companies' most recent partnership rolled out as part of Facebook's chat and e-mail overhaul, which lets users open upMicrosoft Office and PDF attachments using Microsoft's Office.com document viewer.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[No Kinect sex yet, but the potential is there]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=no-kinect-sex-yet-but-the-potential-is-there</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=no-kinect-sex-yet-but-the-potential-is-there</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:10:41 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=no-kinect-sex-yet-but-the-potential-is-there</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Kinect, from Microsoft, has a wide range of uses. But Microsoft may not have imagined the motion-controller as a sex toy. Others have.(Credit:Josh Lowensohn/CNET)You knew it was coming. It was inevitable. And, yes, I'm talking about Kinect sex.With almost any hot new tech toy, especially one with a heavy degree of interactivity--which Microsoft's motion-sensitive controller has in spades--someone is going to try to hack it and try to make it X-rated. The Kinect is no exception. To date, there are no overtly sexual Kinect games on the market, though the folks who put together Kinect MotionSwinger (pretty NSFW) would like you to believe--for a moment at least--otherwise. But that's nothing more than a joke concept for a Kinect sex game put together with some imagery from Second Life.Still, when it comes to finding ways to utilize new technology for, shall we say, lewd purposes, there are few people more qualified thank Kyle (qDot) Machulis, the dean of the underground sex-tech genre known as teledildonics.In a Sunday blog post titled &quot;Kinect Sex--Because you knew I'd make this post sooner or later,&quot; Machulis finally brings his trained eye to the project that countless millions were surely waiting for him to get around to and evaluates the kink potential of the device Microsoft is hoping may breathe new life into itsXbox 360 video game console.The question, as Machulis delicately puts it, is &quot;How can I [have sex]&quot; using KinectAs he quickly points out, Kinect most likely wasn't designed for such a purpose, and though the device was made to recognize even minute movements by a person's body, it's geared to look for our larger limbs, like arms and legs.&quot;Microsoft put a ton of work into making the Kinect track the human body as a whole, so you can play games by jumping and running and generally acting the...fool and feel like you're in the game instead of just sad,&quot; Machulis wrote. &quot;Genitalia, for the most part, are not a major geometric feature of the human body when taken in perspective of physical size....Neither are they normally used in the control of video games, be they rated [for all] or [for adults only].&quot;Machulis said he experimented by waving a sex toy in front of a Kinect, and then by wagging his tongue around in front of it, and concluded that the graphics quality isn't very good, though the device was capable of picking up both the toy and his tongue. &quot;In short, porn is about sex, but for many customers, it's also about being able to see the sex in a way that doesn't make you think, 'Wait, why does her arm detach completely when her [breast] is in front of it,'&quot; Machulis wrote. &quot;The pattern the Kinect uses to get depth data is made for picking up full bodies to control video games, and therefore isn't quite so good at picking up minutiae about those bodies.&quot;Yet, Machulis also points out that because the Kinect is both very good at picking up hand-based gestures and capable of identifying discrete body parts like &quot;manbreasts&quot; (see video below), there is the distinct possibility that the device could be used to digitize--albeit with less than ideal graphics quality--simulated sexual motions. Kinect Titty Tracker from Dan Wilcox on Vimeo.&quot;The Kinect alleviates the need for having hardware, because now as long as we have a shot of the 'action,' as it were, we can use that 'gesture' as a control,&quot; Machulis wrote. &quot;Not only that, the gesture itself is the toy. Or you could employ a toy under the gesture.&quot;There are limits, of course. Without being too graphic, it seems that though presenting good quality imagery based on some hand-gesture-oriented sexual activity may currently be &quot;out of the Kinect's normal operating procedure,&quot; Machulis suggested that &quot;I'm sure we'll figure something out.&quot;More to the point, it appears Machulis is hoping that others who are into mashing up technology and sexuality will &quot;prove me a sexual Luddite once again. At least I hope they will.&quot;<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[The Crunchies are back: Nominate your favorite startups!]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-crunchies-are-back-nominate-your-favorite-startups</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-crunchies-are-back-nominate-your-favorite-startups</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=the-crunchies-are-back-nominate-your-favorite-startups</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Crunchies, the annual awards that honor the coolest startups and entrepreneurs, will be back on Jan. 21, and VentureBeat will be hosting again with our friends at TechCrunch and GigaOm.The first batch of tickets won&amp;'t go on sale until Dec. 15, but we&amp;'re opening the doors to nominations today. You can submit one nomination per category per day between now and Dec. 24 at the Crunchies nomination website. Here are the award categories:We&amp;'ll announce the finalists on Jan. 4.Next Story: Rock with VentureBeat/DEMO at holiday party in SF tomorrow Previous Story: AdMob investor backs mobile ad startup MoPubPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: crunchies          Tags: crunchiesAnthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.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[Solve Media makes Captchas easier on your eyes with video ads]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solve-media-makes-captchas-easier-on-your-eyes-with-video-ads</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solve-media-makes-captchas-easier-on-your-eyes-with-video-ads</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solve-media-makes-captchas-easier-on-your-eyes-with-video-ads</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Even if you don&amp;'t know what they were called, you&amp;'ve probably been annoyed by Captchas &amp;8212' the often distorted letters and numbers that websites sometimes ask you to enter. Well, a startup called Solve Media wants to make that process a little less painful, while also creating a new moneymaking opportunity for websites &amp;8212' and it just announced a new ad format.Captchas help sites ensure that the person creating an account or purchasing an item is a human being and not some kind of automated program. The problem is that programs have become more sophisticated about scanning Captchas and picking out the codes, so the Captchas have to do more and more to distort them. The end result Codes where I have to keep squinting and wondering, &amp;''Is that an &amp;8216'I&amp;' Or a &amp;8216'1&amp;8242' Or an &amp;8216'L&amp;'&amp;''Solve Media, which is headquartered in New York City, solves that problem by replacing regular Captchas with ads. Instead of forcing users to decode arcane codes, you just enter an easy-to-understand brand message or slogan.Advertisers, meanwhile, get a captive, engaged audience &amp;8212' you have to look at the ad, and not only do you have to read the message, you have to type it in. And websites suddenly have some extra ad space.Today, Solve Media made a new format available to advertisers, 15-second videos. Solve already ran a campaign for Universal Pictures&amp;' movie Devil, where users watched a short commercial for the film and entered the text message that&amp;'s played during the video. You can watch the ad here.That&amp;'s right, the advertisers can now play a video that you really can&amp;'t ignore &amp;8212' at least if you want to accomplish your goal. From a user&amp;'s perspective, I might even call it brilliantly evil, except that I&amp;'d rather watch a short ad than squint at another Captcha.Solve Media is backed by First Round Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, AOL Ventures and various angel investors.Previous Story: LTE 4G phones for Verizon on the horizon from HTC, Samsung, MotorolaPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Captchas, DevilCompanies: Solve Media, Universal Pictures          Tags: Captchas, DevilCompanies: Solve Media, Universal PicturesAnthony is a senior editor at VentureBeat, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining the site in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.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[VentureBeat&'s best and worst of cleantech in 2010]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=venturebeatrsquos-best-and-worst-of-cleantech-in-2010</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=venturebeatrsquos-best-and-worst-of-cleantech-in-2010</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>98dollarseo</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=venturebeatrsquos-best-and-worst-of-cleantech-in-2010</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It&amp;'s been quite a year for energy-related investments and other ventures looking to make some green from green. Here&amp;'s a look back on the biggest successes and flops of 2010.Best of cleantech in 2010:Bloom Energy &amp;8212' The fuel cell maker made a big splash entrance with a 60 Minutes segment in February. Itsaid its Bloom Boxes, which cost around $800,000, can each power up to 100 American homes. The company has installed the devices &amp;8212' essentially big fuel cells which can both store and produce energy &amp;8212' at high-profile companies like Google, FedEx, Wal-Mart and eBay. In September, it made its biggest installation yet of 12 boxes at Adobe&amp;'s San Jose campus.Tesla IPO &amp;8211' Silicon Valley&amp;'s electric-car wonder, the maker of the Roadster (pictured, right) and the upcoming 2012 Model S sedan had a blockbuster IPO in June. Shares started at $17 andjumped 40.5 percent in the first day of trading in the midst of a lackluster cleantech IPO season. Though Tesla has its share of skeptics and its stock dropped this week on anticipation of new shares flooding the market, its debut was undoubtedly a success story in cleantech. The company&amp;'s future now rests on whether it can successfully execute the manufacturing and delivery of the 2012 Model S, which it is assembling in its new Fremont factory &amp;8212' built, in another triumph, on the site of a former Toyota-GM joint venture which it bought for a song.BrightSource Energy &amp;8212' The company&amp;'s 392-megawatt Ivanpah solar thermal project in California&amp;'s Mojave Desert won a $1.37 billion loan guarantee from the DOE. When finished, it is expected to generate enough energy to power 140,000 homes. The project nabbed a $300 million investment from power plant heavyweight NRG Energy and BrightSource is rumored to be pursuing an IPO in 2011. BrightSource&amp;'s technology (pictured, right) uses a field of mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a central tower, which uses the heat to boil water to generate steam that turns electric turbines.Abound Solar &amp;8211' The company closed on $510 million in funding this month to expand production of its thin-film solar modules. Thin-film operations like Abound&amp;'s are a beacon of hope for U.S. cleantech manufacturing and an answer to China&amp;'s cheap manufacturing of polysilicon solar modules, DOE loan chief Jonathan Silver predicts. Solar analyst Nathaniel Bullard of Bloomberg New Energy Finance tells me that after the ramp-up, the next test for the company will be to secure a large supply contract with &amp;''a large, traditionally conservative procurer &amp;8212' a Wal-Mart or American Electric Power or Tenaska Resources &amp;8212' to prove the commercial mettle and not just technical capabilities of the product.&amp;''LEDs show some spark &amp;8212' The market for these energy-efficientlights is poised to surge next year, according to analysts, and there are a bevy of lighting systems and LED makers lining up to jump on the market opportunity there, which, like electric trucks, can pitch their wares to businesses on the basis of generating big savings. Bridgelux opened a manufacturing plant in California' Taiwan LED parts manufacturer SemiLED had a successful IPO this month, raising the question: Can American LED makers keep upElectric cars roll out en masse &amp;8212' The all-electric Nissan Leaf and partially electric Chevrolet Volt (pictured, left)are on the roads as of December 2010, marking the official start of the wave of electric cars for the mass market. And more on the way: Electric sedan made by startup Coda and the Ford Focus Electric are slated for limited release next year. Public charging station projects are racing to meet them, but some skeptics of electric cars say sales will be stunted in the near term due to lack of widespread charging infrastructure. (The flip side, advocates say, is that the vast majority of charging will be done in car owners&amp;' homes.)Smith Electric/electric trucks catch on &amp;8212' The likes of Frito Lay, UPS, Coca-Cola and FedEx have adopted electric and hybrid trucks, putting the all-electric vehicles on the roads ahead of mass market EVs. One company grabbing those sales and buzz is Smith Electric, whose CEO Brian Hansel told me the company&amp;'s trucks are back-ordered until the second quarter of next year. The trucks demonstrate the potential money-saving benefits of electrified vehicles for commercial entities, using cold, hard cash to allure versus the you&amp;'ll-save-the-polar-bears pitch of mass market consumer cars.Opower &amp;8212' Energy efficiency company Opower just raised $50 million in a round led by Kleiner Perkins and Accel. The company has managed to sign on utilities to energy efficiency and engage customers with the innovative use of behavioral science.Hara &amp;8212' Energy efficiency software companyHara has done well lately &amp;8212' the company has nabbed high profile customers out the gate (Hasbro, Coca-Cola, News Corp.) and recently introduced its biggest software product to date, a modulethat helps search out energy-saving opportunities along companies&amp;' supply chains.Honorable mention &amp;8212' For next year, keep an eye on the promisingbuilding controls and demand response sectors as well.Worst of cleantech in 2010:Applied Materials &amp;8211' The semiconductor company shut down its thin-film solar business in July and laid of 500 workers, an event that signalled tough times for thin-film solar makers. Fast Company recently chronicled the crash, saying the company bungled $1.5 billion in product orders,continually missed production deadlines, then saw two of its biggest customers go bankrupt.Tessera Solar &amp;8212' One almost hates to kick a company when it&amp;'s down, but there&amp;'s no doubt NTR&amp;'s Tessera has suffered a rough bout of setbacks as of late. Today, power developer K Road announced it has bought Tessera&amp;'s Calico solar project in California, once planned to be the proving ground and showcase for Tessera&amp;'s Suncatcher solar technology (pictured, right). Just a few days ago, Southern California Edison cancelled its power purchase agreement for Calico. Overall, a disappointing end for a solar project that has been several years in the making.The company has also reportedly laid of half its staff, lost executives at its sister company Stirling Energy and suffered a court-ordered delay on construction for its Imperial Valley solar project. .Solyndra &amp;8211' The company yanked its IPO in June, then closed its first factory. Not exactly a dream scenario a startup that has reportedly raised around $1 billion, got a visit from President Obama and won the DOE&amp;'s flagship loan guarantee of $535 million. On the other hand, at least one venture capitalist thinks Solyndra could make a turnaround and re-pitch its IPO hopes in 2011, and DOE loan chief Jonathan Silver argues that the first factory was always intended to close because it wasn&amp;'t as efficient as the second factory will be. For the sake of U.S. solar startups, keep your fingers crossed.A123 -- The battery maker and MIT spinoff IPO&amp;'d in September 2009, rising 50 percent to $20.29 from an offering price of $13.50 on its first day of trading. But the price has since come down, now trading at $9.80. It has struggled since the IPO. In August, the company posted lackluster earnings and lost out on two high-profile bids for Chrysler and to build battery packs for the Chevrolet Volt &amp;8212' deals that would have positioned the company as a formidable presence in the industry.PetroAlgae &amp;8212' This biofuels company is pitching a massive $200 million IPO despite having no history of revenues, ever. Analysts expect it to withdraw or flop, and which could potentially harm the burgeoning sector of algae fuels.Proposition 23 &amp;8212' Voters said no to the measure, so technically this was a good thing for green energy &amp;8212' but we&amp;'re naming it as a &amp;''worst&amp;'' for being on the ballot at all. This was afailed measure was backed by oil companies like Valero and Tesero and aimed to suspend California&amp;'s AB 32 law, which requires the state to roll back greenhouse emissions to its 1990 levels by 2020. Had it passed, there almost certainly would have been ugly aftereffects for the country&amp;'s clean energy innovation stronghold, California.[Top image via Flickr/ Eustaquio Santimano]Next Story: Early iPad magazine numbers are uninspiring Previous Story: Android trojan horse Geinimi spotted stealing user data in the wildPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: algae, algal fuel, batteries, biofuels, Bloom Box, concentrated solar, electric cars, electric trucks, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, Focus Electric, fuel cells, hybrids, Leaf, LEDs, lighting systems, proposition 23, Solar, solar thermal, Suncatcher, SunFab, thin film solar, VoltCompanies: A123, Abound, Applied Materials, Bloom Energy, BridgeLux, BrightSource, BrightSource Energy, Chevrolet, Coda, ford, Hara, Nissan, OPOWER, PetroAlgae, SemiLED, Smith Electric, Solyndra, Tesla, Tessera, Tessera SolarPeople: Jonathan Silver, Nathaniel Bullard          Tags: algae, algal fuel, batteries, biofuels, Bloom Box, concentrated solar, electric cars, electric trucks, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, Focus Electric, fuel cells, hybrids, Leaf, LEDs, lighting systems, proposition 23, Solar, solar thermal, Suncatcher, SunFab, thin film solar, VoltCompanies: A123, Abound, Applied Materials, Bloom Energy, BridgeLux, BrightSource, BrightSource Energy, Chevrolet, Coda, ford, Hara, Nissan, OPOWER, PetroAlgae, SemiLED, Smith Electric, Solyndra, Tesla, Tessera, Tessera SolarPeople: Jonathan Silver, Nathaniel BullardIris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you  pronounce her last name).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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