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<title>Haaze.com / riaterwinqw / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Sun, 20 Mar 2011 07:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[787 Dreamliner touch-and-go's thrill 747-8 crowd]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=787-dreamliner-touch-and-gos-thrill-747-8-crowd</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=787-dreamliner-touch-and-gos-thrill-747-8-crowd</comments>
<pubDate>Sun, 20 Mar 2011 07:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Gaming</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=787-dreamliner-touch-and-gos-thrill-747-8-crowd</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A Boeing 787 Dreamliner, doing touch-and-go tests at Paine Field in Everett, Washington on Sunday.(Credit:Daniel Terdiman/CNET)EVERETT, Wash.--For an airplane plane geek like me, today was a very good day.Ostensibly, I was up here in this town about 30 minutes north of Seattle for the maiden flight of Boeing's all-new 747-8 Intercontinental, which took air for the first time at 9:58 a.m. PDT. 787 Dreamliner takeoff and landing tests (photos) But while dozens of other reporters and I were waiting for the new 747 to take off, we got the chance to see something else that got the shutters working overtime: a 787 Dreamliner doing touch-and-go tests.By now, the Dreamliner is, if not old news, then at least mature news. The plane made its first flight on December 15, 2009, and is slated for first customer delivery some time later this year. But there's still something thrilling about seeing one of the next-generation planes doing tests like this up close.Still, today's mainly about the new 747. Please stay tuned for all of CNET's coverage of the first flight of the Intercontinental and its first landing.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Samsung responds to claims of holding back Vibrant's Froyo update]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-responds-to-claims-of-holding-back-vibrants-froyo-update</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-responds-to-claims-of-holding-back-vibrants-froyo-update</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:10:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=samsung-responds-to-claims-of-holding-back-vibrants-froyo-update</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Samsung Vibrant(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)This post was updated at 5:27 p.m., PT with comment from T-Mobile.There's a story circulating the Web today that's causing an uproar among Samsung Vibrant owners and putting Samsung in the hot seat. According to AndroidSpin, they received a tip from a reliable source that claims that Samsung is preventing T-Mobile from releasing the Android 2.2 Froyo update to Vibrant users in order to push the next-gen Vibrant 4G.The tipster, who appears to be from within the T-Mobile organization, writes:Some disturbing things have happened the last week or so concerning our &quot;Vibrant.&quot; Samsung has NOT allowed us to push the update OTA for 2.2 because they feel it will decrease the value of the upcoming Vibrant4G +. While from a marketing aspect I totally understand, as the Vibrant 4G is what the original Vibrant should have been in the 1st place. But to shun off and bold face lie to customers is NOT what T-Mobile is about.The source goes on to say that the Samsung Vibrant 4G is largely similar to the current model, except it adds a front-facing camera, and new movie and 4G capabilities. We reached out to Samsung for comment and a company spokesperson sent CNET the following response:Samsung Mobile does not comment on rumors or speculation. With regard to the Froyo update, we recently issued the following statement: &quot;Samsung feels it is important to make the Android 2.2/Froyo upgrade available only after we feel that we can give the millions of U.S. Galaxy S owners a simple and reliable upgrade experience. Due to the complexity and unique functionality of each Galaxy S device, we are performing additional testing and are working to make the Android 2.2/Froyo upgrade available to all U.S. Galaxy S owners, including the Samsung Vibrant, as soon as possible.The noncommittal answer surely isn't satisfactory to Vibrant owners, but what I'm more concerned about here is Samsung's general delay in releasing a Froyo update to all of its Galaxy S smartphones here in the States. When the Galaxy series of Android phones was unveiled in late June, Samsung said that the entire portfolio would be upgraded to Android 2.2. Though it never promised a delivery date, some of the models have been out for about seven months now with no sign of an update. Meanwhile, other handsets, including the Motorola Droid X and HTC Evo 4G, have received the Android 2.2 update.It's all a little too reminiscent of the Samsung Behold II fiasco, where Samsung stopped pushing updates after Android OS 1.6. Though the company never officially said it, we suspected the TouchWiz interface was to blame, which is why we were concerned when we saw an even more customized TouchWiz UI on the Galaxy phones, but at the time, Samsung assured us updates would not be a problem. We appreciate the thoroughness in testing, but this doesn't help Samsung's cause. I really hope for its sake that all Galaxy owners get a helping of Froyo soon. When asked for comment, T-Mobile referred us to Samsung's official statement shown above.        Bonnie Cha     Full Profile E-mail Bonnie Cha   E-mail Bonnie Cha If you have a question or comment for Bonnie Cha, you can submit it here. However, because our editors and writers receive hundreds of requests, we cannot tell you when you may receive a response.   Submit your question or comment here: 0 of 1500 characters       Bonnie Cha is a senior editor for CNET, covering smartphones. When she's not testing the latest gadgets, you can find her chasing after her crazy lab or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.  <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[UK government plans East London tech cluster, Startup Visa, review of IP law, 200 million in finance. What]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=uk-government-plans-east-london-tech-cluster-startup-visa-review-of-ip-law-£200-million-in-finance--what</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=uk-government-plans-east-london-tech-cluster-startup-visa-review-of-ip-law-£200-million-in-finance--what</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=uk-government-plans-east-london-tech-cluster-startup-visa-review-of-ip-law-£200-million-in-finance--what</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The British Prime Minister is expected to announce today that the East of London, which in the last three years has seen a 700% growth in tech companies starting up there, is to become an officially sanctioned startup &amp;8216'hub&amp;' for the UK. Although he will make a speech saying that London will be transformed into a &amp;''world-leading technology city to rival Silicon Valley&amp;'' &amp;8211' a worthy but rather over-optimistic claim &amp;8211' there is some meat here. The government appears to have secured several commitments from companies including Google, Facebook, Intel and McKinsey &amp;038' Co to invest in the long-term future of the area.As is the way with PMs&amp;' speeches, the media has been circulated an advanced copy. So among other things he is expected to say:&amp;''We are firmly on the side of the high-growth, highly innovative companies of the future. Dona4a4t doubt our ambition. Right now, Silicon Valley is the leading place in the world for high-tech growth and innovation. But therea4a4s no reason why it has to be so predominant. Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make East London one of the worlda4a4s great technology centres. I want to show you how we can get there.&amp;''For the past few weeks I know for a fact that they have been laying the groundwork for this, meeting companies in the area and VCs in London about what it takes to create a high tech cluster. I know because I&amp;'ve been in one of those meetings with the PM&amp;'s researchers when they visited the area, specifically TechHub, a co-working space for tech people which, in my spare time, I&amp;'ve cofounded with Elizabeth Varley, which happens to be just off the Old Street roundabout where a lot of tech companies already are. So what has come to be known as the Silicon Roundabout area, the government is now calling &amp;''East London Tech City&amp;'' a4&quot; a tech cluster that they hope will stretch from Shoreditch and Old Street to the Olympic Park.&amp;''This is what local businesses are saying they need. What part can you play in making it happena4 I have to say: the response has been overwhelming,a4 is what the PM is previewed as saying.There is further meat to the announcement.There will be a4s200 million of equity finance for businesses with high growth potential and a4s200 million for new Technology and Innovation Centres a4&quot; one of which could be in the Olympic Park.They will also be an opening up of government procurement budgets to small and medium-sized firms (already announced).But most significantly the UK government says it plans to introduce a new Entrepreneur Visa. So entrepreneurs with &amp;''serious investment from a leading investor&amp;'' could get a fastrack visa to the UK.Secondly, and more significantly, the PM is expected to say the government will be &amp;''reviewing our IP laws, to see if we can make them fit for the internet age,&amp;'' looking at introducing more a4fair-usea4a4 provisions to the laws governing intellectual property, the like of which allowed Google to develop in the US. Furthermore he&amp;'s expected to say that:a4a4sThe Olympic Legacy Company has agreed to create an a4Aacceleratora4 space in the Olympic Park, providing office space for companies that grow out of East London and beyond. a4a4sIntel will establish a new research lab in East London, focusing on performance computing and new energy efficiency technologies. a4a4sGoogle will create an Innovation Hub in East London, a creative space for their researchers to come together with developers and academicsa4a4sFacebook will create a permanent home in East London for their Developer Garage programme (currently the FDGL meets at TechHub, but interesting they are contemplating something &amp;8216'permanent&amp;' whatever that means)a4a4sCisco will establish an Innovation Centre in the Olympic Parka4a4sBritish Telecom will bring forward the roll-out of superfast broadband in Shoreditch and Old Street (woot)a4a4sSilicon Valley Bank, a West Coast institution, will become a fully fledged bank in the UK, and provide financing for technology companies (this has actually already happened)a4a4sBarclays will create a new facility in East London to provide specialist banking services to high growth technology companies in the area.a4a4sMcKinsey and Company, one of the world&amp;'s leading strategic consultancy firms, has agreed to share its expertise in helping start-up companies and establishing technology clusters.a4a4sQualcomm will provide expert advice to East London start-ups on intellectual property matters, helping them to protect and commercialise their technologies.a4a4sImperial Innovations, the venture capital arm of Imperial College London, will advise the Olympic Legacy Company to ensure that the accelerator space is attractive to spinout companies from academia and beyond.a4a4sUniversity College London will work with the Olympic Legacy Company to build a student presence in the Olympic Park, with a particular focus on student entrepreneurship and accommodation.a4a4sLoughborough University will work with the Olympic Legacy Company to develop plans for an Institute of Sport for Health in the Olympic Park, which will bring together business and sports science, and help to create new spinout companies in this field.Well, there you go. From the stirrings of an organic hub, the whole tech world now appears to be poised to descend on East London. It never rains but it pours, it would seem.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Medical ed site Orbis lands $8M to ease nursing shortage]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=medical-ed-site-orbis-lands-8m-to-ease-nursing-shortage</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=medical-ed-site-orbis-lands-8m-to-ease-nursing-shortage</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Science</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=medical-ed-site-orbis-lands-8m-to-ease-nursing-shortage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[VCs have, for the most part, steered clear of education startups, save for a few areas where consumers are willing to open their wallets a4&quot; things like standardized test prep and language learning. However, Lightspeed Venture Partners thinks ita4a4s found a goldmine in nurse training. Today, the firm announced an $8 million round for IL-based Orbis Education, which helps universities web-enable their nursing programs, reduce their per-student costs and meet the countrya4a4s growing need for medical professionals.As Congress hashes out a plan to expand medical coverage, the country&amp;'s demand for nurses is skyrocketing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by the year 2016, nearly 600,000 new nursing positions need to be created. That means schools must graduate 90% more nurses per year. However, universities are poorly incentivized to increase their nursing graduation rates, since such programs are 2 to 3 times as costly as other subjects, but universities can&amp;'t charge that kind of multiple for tuition. Restrictions on the student-to-instructor ratio can be as stringent as 8 to 1 for clinical programs. That, in part, is why 100,000-150,000 qualified applicants are turned away from nursing schools every year, despite the shortage, according to Orbis CEO Dan Briggs.To help schools reduce costs and accept more applicants, Orbis replaces the brick-and-mortar classroom with the laptop. Theory courses are taught by university faculty via interactive online classes that include threaded discussions, real-time webcasts, projects, assignments and proctored exams. Students can complete the online courses according their own schedules, and hands-on clinical preparation is taught by appointed university faculty assigned to work directly with students.So far, Orbis has partnered with San Diego State University, the University of Oklahoma, Marian University, Sharp HealthCare, St. Vincent Health, and Glendale Adventist Medical Center. The company plans to use the investment to expand into states with the most acute nursing shortages. California, where Orbis already operates, is in the worst shape' other targets include Texas, Florida, and Arizona.Lightspeed Principal Andrew Chung, who led the investment, said that most other education verticals are already saturated &amp;8212' disciplines where classroom instruction constitutes the bulk of the educational experience (history, psychology, math) are covered by the University of Pheonix and similar online schools. However, programs that require large amounts of hands-on time a4Ain-the-fielda4 need the technology it takes to integrate apprentice-style education with theory courses. &amp;''This might be one of the last frontiers,&amp;'' Chung said, but he did add that adjacent verticals like medtech and x-ray training are still ripe for investment.Orbis is headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind.Next Story: Why do entrepreneurs flock to loudmouths as mentors Previous Story: SwitchGames builds a big market for used gamesPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: OrbisCompanies: Lightspeed Venture Partners          Tags: OrbisCompanies: Lightspeed Venture PartnersVentureBeat 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[Googler Accuses Twitter Engineer Of Sexual Assault, Trial By Twitter&nbsp'Commences]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googler-accuses-twitter-engineer-of-sexual-assault-trial-by-twitternbspcommences</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googler-accuses-twitter-engineer-of-sexual-assault-trial-by-twitternbspcommences</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=googler-accuses-twitter-engineer-of-sexual-assault-trial-by-twitternbspcommences</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Google technical writer Noirin Shirley wrote a post on her personal bloga4searlier this evening entitled &amp;''A hell of a time,&amp;'' describing her experiences last night at ApacheCon in Atlanta. Shirley recounts a drunken post-conference party she organized in her hotel room and describes a rather disturbing (if true) a4sinteraction with Twitter engineer Florian Leibert:&amp;''He brought me in to the snug, and sat up on a stool. He grabbed me, pulled me in to him, and kissed me. I tried to push him off, and told him I wasna4a4t interested (I may have been less eloquent, but I dona4a4t think I was less clear). He responded by jamming his hand into my underwear and fumbling.&amp;'' With such incendiary subject matter it is no surprise that the post rose to the top of Hacker News in a matter of hours. What&amp;'s even more interesting is that the accusations have reverberated ona4sQuora and Twitter with people @ replying both Leibert and Shirley with Shirley&amp;'s post.&amp;''Ita4a4s not the first time something like this has happened to me, at all. Ita4a4s not the first time ita4a4s happened to me at a tech conference. But it is the first time Ia4a4ve spoken out about it in this way, because Ia4a4m tired of the sense that some idiot can ruin my day and never have to answer for it.&amp;''It is notable that the allegations of wrongdoing now have a realtime venue to play out, primarily because the players in the drama have tech community prominence and are both on Twitter.a4sNeither Leibert or Shirley have tweeted anything since Shirley sent out her blog post about the incident.I have contacted Leibert for his side of the story and will update this post when he responds.a4sShirley makes no indication she has filed any formal complaint.CrunchBase InformationTwitterGoogleInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Take that, Facebook: MTV signs up for Janrain&'s social tools]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=take-that-facebook-mtv-signs-up-for-janrainrsquos-social-tools</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=take-that-facebook-mtv-signs-up-for-janrainrsquos-social-tools</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=take-that-facebook-mtv-signs-up-for-janrainrsquos-social-tools</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Companies like Facebook and LinkedIn have been extending their reach with website login and sharing tools. But social login startup Janrain said it&amp;'s holding its own &amp;8212' in fact, it just announced a deal to handle logins across MTV&amp;'s network of sites.That&amp;'s a particularly big win because MTV is actually ripping out Facebook Connect and replacing it with Janrain Engage, the company&amp;'s social sign-on product. Why go from a big name like Facebook to a relative unknown Janrain chief executive Larry Drebes said that one big reason is to reduce the technical headache. When a publisher signs up, they don&amp;'t have to worry about maintaining their social network integration anymore, because Janrain takes over. Users can login and share content not just with Facebook, but also with sites like Twitter, Yahoo, and MySpace.&amp;''We see this as a natural trend where publishers realize that this is not core to their competence,&amp;'' Drebes said.He added that Janrain is now used across 300,000 websites. It will be rolled out gradually across MTV&amp;'s network, but it&amp;'s already live on TheDailyShow.com, ColbertNation.com, VH1.com and others.With Drebes&amp;' emphasis on being a one-stop show for publisher&amp;'s social login needs, I asked whether he&amp;'s interested in adding some kind of website check in feature like the one offered by Meebo.&amp;''Probably not as much as people who are focusing just on that,&amp;'' Drebes said.  &amp;''We&amp;'re more focused  on user management infrastructure. That&amp;'s the heavy lifting that we bring, though there are additional social niches we could expand into.&amp;''The Portland, Ore. company is backed by DFJ Frontier, RPM Ventures, and Anthem Venture Partners.Next Story: Oodle&amp;'s upgraded marketplace is all about friends Previous Story: Google makes Android Voice Search smarter by learning how you speakPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: social authentication, social loginsCompanies: Facebook, Janrain, MTVPeople: Larry Drebes          Tags: social authentication, social loginsCompanies: Facebook, Janrain, MTVPeople: Larry DrebesAnthony 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[Up close with Razer Hydra motion controls for Valve&'s Portal 2 game (video)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=up-close-with-razer-hydra-motion-controls-for-valversquos-portal-2-game-video</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=up-close-with-razer-hydra-motion-controls-for-valversquos-portal-2-game-video</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=up-close-with-razer-hydra-motion-controls-for-valversquos-portal-2-game-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Microsoft&amp;'s Kinect motion control technology has proven a big success, but a competing technology called Sixense boasting some advantages over Kinect will hit the market via its partners in April.The Sixense TrueMotion technology, under development for some time, uses a magnetic field to detect your movements as you wave wireless controllers around the air to control a game. That lets it detect any of your movements, and it doesn&amp;'t have to rely on line-of-sight from cameras, giving it a leg up on the Kinect technology in this regard.The TrueMotion technology, made by Sixense Entertainment, will be used within a licensed product, the Razer Hydra, and  packaged with Valve&amp;'s Portal 2 game in a special bundle due in April.The system has a base magnet that connects to your game PC and a couple of handheld controllers that you use to maneuver through the game. The net result is that it gives a player a4Asix degrees of freedoma4 for controlling a game. In that sense, it&amp;'s a lot like Sony&amp;'s Move controllers for the PlayStation 3. The price of the Hydra is expected to be under $100 but isn&amp;'t final yet.Jeff Bellinghausen, chief technology officer at Sixense, demonstrated the wireless version of the system with Intel executive Mooly Eden at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. (See the first video below). The Hydra comes off the heels of Microsoft&amp;'s success with the Kinect motion control system for the Xbox 360, which has shipped 8 million units to retailers in its first 60 days on the market, much of that selling through to consumers.Meanwhile, I also caught up with Sixense&amp;'s demo guy Josh Bays at the Samsung booth, where he gave me a demo of a tricky level of Portal 2. In that level (in the second video below), Josh used the wired version of the Razer Hydra (which is perceived to be faster by gamers) to pick up items such as a box and stretch them, using hand gestures.Other companies are capturing motion using  3-D webcams. With its magnet technology, though, Sixense has taken a different route. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based company led by Amir Rubin, uses a regular magnet, not an electromagnet, so it wona4a4t wipe out the hard disk on your Tivo video recorder. But it can detect movement in a 12-foot radius around a base gadget. A 3-D webcam, such as what Microsoft will use in its Kinect gesture control system for the Xbox 360, can capture any movement it sees. It can capture your whole body movement, but it wona4a4t capture anything that is obscured by an object. So if you put your hand behind your back, the Natal cameras wona4a4t detect that movement. Also, you dona4a4t have to calibrate a Sixense controller, whereas you do with  the Wii, which uses accelerometers and infrared detectors to determine its position.The Sixense control system can only detect what youa4a4re holding in your hand, but it can accurately track whatever you do with that controller, even if it passes out of the line of sight. The Sixense  controllers also have analog pads that you can move in lieu of twisting your wrist. So if youa4a4re turning around in a game, you dona4a4t have to  turn your wrist at odd angles.The controllers can be tuned to handle any type of  gesture or game. For instance, when you are moving slowly and pointing  at something on the screen, the controller will filter out the shaking  of your hand so that the pointing will be steady. When you are holding a  katana (sword) in your hand, there is no filtering because it needs to  capture your movement at high speed.  In a shooting game, you could do  blind fire, meaning you could point your gun around a corner and shoot  wildly without exposing yourself.Next Story: Motion-control startup Omek is bringing gesture controls to the PC (video) Previous Story: Up close with Microsoft&amp;'s next-generation Surface touchscreen tables (video)PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Hydra, motion controller, Razer Hydra, Sony PlayStation MoveCompanies: Intel, Razer, Sixense, ValvePeople: Amir Rubin, Jeff Bellinghausen          Tags: Hydra, motion controller, Razer Hydra, Sony PlayStation MoveCompanies: Intel, Razer, Sixense, ValvePeople: Amir Rubin, Jeff BellinghausenDean 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[SoloPower wins $197 million loan guarantee for solar panel factory]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solopower-wins-197-million-loan-guarantee-for-solar-panel-factory</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solopower-wins-197-million-loan-guarantee-for-solar-panel-factory</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>riaterwinqw</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=solopower-wins-197-million-loan-guarantee-for-solar-panel-factory</guid>
<description><![CDATA[UpdatedThe Department of Energy has granted a $197 million loan guarantee to SoloPower for the building of a thin-film solar panel manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, Ore.This marks a big win for SoloPower, which is coming off several weeks of progress related to the plant. In January, the company raised $51 million in a fourth round of funding, then announced the Oregon Department of Energy granted it a $20 million loan. It also shows the potential for future successes in CIGS technology, named for its ingredients of copper, indium, gallium and selenide. One of SoloPower&amp;'s flexible CIGS panels is shown below.The funds will go towards retrofitting an existing building and purchasing equipment for a $340 million facility with an annual capacity of 400 megawatts, according to the announcement today. However, a SoloPower statement last month said the plant would have a capacity of 300 megawatts &amp;8212' we&amp;'ve contacted SoloPower&amp;'s representatives to clear up the discrepancy and will update the story once we hear back.&amp;nbsp'(Update: From company spokeswoman Julie Lydon: &amp;''The 400 megawatt number is correct. &amp;nbsp'Before, we were being conservative.&amp;nbsp' Wea4a4re building four 75-megawatt lines in the facility and we have efficiencies that will enable us to produce 100 megawatts off of each line.&amp;'')Currently, the most common solar photovoltaic technology is crystalline silicon, but Chinese companies have recently taken an edge in that area, driving prices down across the board. Thin-film solar companies have lower efficiency rates and seemed to struggle last year in some high-profile ways, like the closure of Solyndra&amp;'s first facility and the shutdown of Applied Materials and Suntech&amp;'s thin-film solar lines. The one exception is industry leader First Solar, a well-respected behemoth maker of cadmium telluride thin-film panels at low costs.However, thin-film panels have seen a resurgence lately, with SoloPower, Stion and AQT all announcing plans for new factories, and CIGS technology in particular looks promising. Its efficiency rates are in the mid- to high teens &amp;8212' nearing 20 percent &amp;8212' which make them more comparable to crystalline silicon (20 to 25 percent) than other thin film technologies, which have efficiency rates around 11 &amp;nbsp'percent.&amp;''CIGS are the real up and comer,&amp;'' says Matt Feinstein, an analyst for Lux Research. &amp;''Their costs are going to fall very dramatically. We&amp;'re starting to see them get more mature.&amp;''They also have the potential to be sputtered onto flexible materials and even integrated into buildings. SoloPower will be one of the first companies to test developers&amp;' appetites for flexible CIGS, and whether customers be willing to consider paying a premium for flexible CIGS panels. While CIGS technology is generally considered bankable, the technology is still new compared to crystalline silicon, so companies will have to demonstrate bankability of their panels and prove they can last for about 25 years in real-world conditions.SoloPower says its secret sauce is a low-cost, highly efficient electroplating manufacturing process. Its manufacturing process works by depositing&amp;nbsp'copper, indium, gallium and selenide on rolls of flexible stainless steel materials and transforms them into flexible modules. According to the DOE, that allows the company to improve module size and weight, ease of installation, and reduces mounting hardware.The SoloPower plant&amp;'s first phase of construction will cover a 75-megawatt manufacturing line and create 170 jobs, the company said. The final facility will produce 500 permanent jobs.[Top image via Flickr/Roberto Verzo]Next Story: Calling all gamers! U.S. video games sales dip 5 percent in January Previous Story: Is Google&amp;'s Facebook competitor almost readyPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: cigs, Solar, thin film solar, thin-filmCompanies: Applied Materials, AQT Solar, DOE, First Solar, solopower, Solyndra, Stion, Suntech          Tags: cigs, Solar, thin film solar, thin-filmCompanies: Applied Materials, AQT Solar, DOE, First Solar, solopower, Solyndra, Stion, SuntechIris 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). 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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