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<title>Haaze.com / stephen001 / Published News</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:48 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
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<title><![CDATA[Coal-to-natural gas outfit Ciris Energy funded]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=coal-to-natural-gas-outfit-ciris-energy-funded</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=coal-to-natural-gas-outfit-ciris-energy-funded</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Jan 2011 08:10:48 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=coal-to-natural-gas-outfit-ciris-energy-funded</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Ciris Energy today said it raised a series B round to build its first commercial plant for converting underground coal to natural gas.(Credit:Ciris Energy)Khosla Ventures led the funding, which also brought in existing investors Braemer Ventures, Rho Ventures, and GE Energy Financial Services. An SEC document from last week showed that Ciris raised $23.9 million, out of a planned $63.9 million.Ciris has developed a process to biologically convert underground coal into methane, the main ingredient of natural gas. The company has said that its technology is less expensive than conventional natural gas production and other gasification processes. As an energy source, natural gas has become one of the favorite options in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. The U.S. has large reserves, including relatively recent finds in shale rock. Natural gas also emits about half of the carbon dioxide as burning coal and has fewer other air pollutants. The process of converting underground coal to natural gas--called coal bed methane extraction--is being pursued by other companies, including Luca Technologies. Luca plans to do it by injecting a nutrient-rich solution into coal beds to stimulate growth of bacteria that digest coal to make methane. The methane is then captured and pumped into natural gas pipelines. In addition to producing a cleaner-burning fuel, methane can be extracted from coal seams that are no longer productive enough for mining.In a statement, the Centennial, Colo.-based company said the series B round will allow it to deploy its technology in the field.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Nissan's Leaf featuring automatic gaming system]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissans-leaf-featuring-automatic-gaming-system</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissans-leaf-featuring-automatic-gaming-system</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=nissans-leaf-featuring-automatic-gaming-system</guid>
<description><![CDATA[200 more points and I get promoted from Captain Planet to Major Planet!(Credit:MyNissanLeaf.com, forum poster 'gudy')A few weeks ago we wrote about Phylo, a Flash-based puzzle game that uses addictive gameplay to help scientists map human genetic code. It's part of the trend of making otherwise mundane things fun by adding gaming elements, especiallyXbox-like achievements. Another good example is Foursquare, which awards users &quot;badges&quot; for checking in a certain venues. The idea is to give users reasons to use a service by providing bragging rights to those who achieve the most. And now Nissan is adding the concept to its new electriccar, the Leaf.It's been known for awhile that the Leaf has a seven-inch display that gives real-time information, such as how much CO2 the driver is keeping out of the atmosphere, as well as daily, weekly, and monthly reports to drivers. It's called CARWING, which would be a great name for a Decepticon.And it unexpectedly also includes achievements, averaging a driver's usage with others, assigning rankings, both regionally and globally. There's a notion that electric car drivers tend to be smug, and this allows them to measure that smugness. It's a fun idea, and contributes to the gamification trend, something that we expect to see show up everywhere in the next year.What's unknown is if there will be an official prize system. Will the greenest drivers get discounts on insurance Blinged-out rim upgrades for free A Fiji water cup holder<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Black Friday shopping: iPhone apps of the week]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=black-friday-shopping-iphone-apps-of-the-week</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=black-friday-shopping-iphone-apps-of-the-week</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=black-friday-shopping-iphone-apps-of-the-week</guid>
<description><![CDATA[(Credit:CNET)This week's post is a special edition of theiPhone apps of the week. Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, and though I can't help you beat the lines or navigate through the crowds, I've rounded up a couple of apps that might make your holiday shopping a bit easier. These apps are made for price-checking on the go, so you can make sure you're getting the lowest price for the item in front of you.Amazon Mobile needs little in the way of introduction as the mobile companion to the popular shopping site, with a huge database of products so you can compare prices on the go. But I would also like to introduce you to TheFind, a new iPhone app with a unique set of shopping tools that help you get the most bang for your buck by working in tandem with TheFind.com. With these apps in your arsenal and a little luck, you might get exactly what you're looking for at prices that won't break the bank.This week's apps are both tools for holiday shopping. Get quick access to a huge database of products and prices along with some helpful shopping tools to make your shopping experience easier.Browse products, check user reviews, and view best prices for products, just like the Web site.(Credit:Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)Amazon Mobile (free) is a great one-stop shopping and price-checking app on the iPhone and will be a familiar and intuitive solution for many because it closely resembles the popular shopping destination on the Web. With Amazon's vast database of merchandise, you'll be able to easily find just about anything the retail giant sells. Deals, recommendations, and other tools you find at the online site have also made it into this app, and you can log in to see your wish lists and shopping cart if you have an account with Amazon. Best of all, you can buy products with a tap--especially useful if your credit card information is already on file at the Amazon Web site.Apart from the usual searching and browsing, Amazon has given its app special mobile powers that make the most of the iPhone's features. In addition to taking photos of items for later reference and purchasing, you can also search for items by scanning the bar code. Like other apps in this category, Amazon Mobile uses the iPhone camera to perform this task, then matches the results to its database. A feature that would be useful to me would be a history of scanned items, but hopefully that feature will arrive in future updates. Overall, if you're out and about shopping for the holidays, Amazon Mobile is a familiar companion to have for quick price-checking and scanning for better deals.Use the tabs near the top for prices from Web sites, nearby stores, and favorite shopping locations.(Credit:Screenshot by Jason Parker/CNET)TheFind (free) is a new app that lets you scan bar codes or search for products like the Amazon Mobile app, but offers a number of other features that will be especially useful to holiday shoppers. Start with a quick scan of the product's bar code or enter a text search, and TheFind will return a list of prices from the Web. TheFind uses the technology used in RedLaser, an amazingly accurate scanning app that I found to be very effective in an earlier post. Once your product is scanned you have the option to browse tabs at the top that sort by Web sites, stores near your location, or from a list of stores you prefer that can be added by hitting a small plus sign graphic next to each listing. You also get a nice description of each item without ever having to leave the app.Beyond its price checking capabilities, TheFind gives you added extras to make your shopping experience more affordable and convenient. Once you're registered at TheFind Web site, you can use the site to find deals while at home, add them to your favorites on the site, then access all your shopping deals on your iPhone while in the trenches on Black Friday. As an added bonus, TheFind will even let you view a map to each store, so you'll be able to locate the store, brave the lines, find your deals, and get out of there all with the help of one shopping app.What's your favorite shopping app for iPhone Does Amazon Mobile make it easier to find the right price What do you think of TheFind as a shopping companion Let me know in the comments!Don't forget to check out our free CNET Reviews app to get the rundown on products from CNET Reviews.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Rock with VentureBeat/DEMO at holiday party in SF tomorrow]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rock-with-venturebeatdemo-at-holiday-party-in-sf-tomorrow</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rock-with-venturebeatdemo-at-holiday-party-in-sf-tomorrow</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=rock-with-venturebeatdemo-at-holiday-party-in-sf-tomorrow</guid>
<description><![CDATA[If youa4a4re an entrepreneur or other technology professional, come to our DEMO/VentureBeat holiday party in San Francisco tomorrow, Dec. 7.Wea4a4re going to network and otherwise rock out at the Mighty Bar (119 Utah Street @ 15th). It will go from 7pm until late.We&amp;'ve already got 450 people signed up before even posting this, but we have a few places left, so sign up soon to reserve your spot. You&amp;'ll have to be on our list to get in.We&amp;'ve planned some brief content earlier on at the event, but music will get louder later.We&amp;'re delighted that CoverFlow, Silicon Valley&amp;'s coolest entrepreneur boy band, will be jammin&amp;' during the event. Many venture capitalists can be boring, but Coverflow proves there are exceptions: Its members include Mayfield Fund&amp;'sRaj Kapoor (center in the picture, in the glossy pants, and vocals for the band' you can see him in action in the video below) as well as Norwest Venture Partners&amp;'Tim Chang (second from right, and bass).The band also includes, Philip Kaplan, the valley&amp;'s favorite bad-boy entrepreneur (he launched FuckedCompany.com during the Web 1.0 bust, and more recently Blippy, which exposes credit card purchases' he does drums for the band), and Facebooka4a4s respected engineer Ethan Beard (guitar) and another Facebook executive Parshant Fuloria (guitar).Added benefit: Drinks on the house for the folks who come early.We do have some space for last-minute sponsors, for those of you who would like to support the party. Sponsors should contact Neal Silverman. It will be a great opportunity to get in front of the valley&amp;'s mover &amp;amp' shaker entrepreneur crowd.The party is part of a wider effort to meet up with entrepreneurs. DEMO, which VentureBeat co-produces, is arguably the leading event where technology companies launch their products, and we&amp;'re busy trying to meet the best companies out there. We&amp;'ll be fresh from meeting top candidates earlier Tuesday at informal meetings at Sequoia Capital, and may even have a few companies present at the party to say a few words. The next DEMO, by the way, takes place February 27 &amp;8211' March 1 in Palm Springs, Calif. So this is a sort of a4Apre-party.a4Ia4a4ve been traveling around the world looking for the very best entrepreneurs interested in launching' but therea4a4s probably no better place to kick off than in S.F., home to some of the most bubbly innovative tech companies around right now.We&amp;'ll also have some DEMO alumni on hand. The list of DEMO alum include Salesforce, TiVo, Palm, Microsoft, WebEx, Sun, ETrade, Adobe, Google and Symantec.Hope to see you there!Next Story: Natural gas looks to oust coal and win over oil companies Previous Story: The Crunchies are back: Nominate your favorite startups!PrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Coverflow, DEMO, DEMO Spring 2011          Tags: Coverflow, DEMO, DEMO Spring 2011Matt Marshall is editor and CEO of VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter at @mmarshall, 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[DEMO does San Francisco (photos)]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-does-san-francisco-photos</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-does-san-francisco-photos</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=demo-does-san-francisco-photos</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Didn&amp;'t make it to the DEMO party tonight a Mighty Really Even though it featured entrepreneur boy band Cover Flow  Well, it was sold out, so I guess I can let it go this time. But to give you a taste of what you missed, we have a collection of images that will be constantly updated through the night and tomorrow.The party is part of a wider effort to meet with entrepreneurs. DEMO, which VentureBeat co-produces, is arguably the leading event where technology companies launch their products, and wea4a4re trying to meet the best companies out there. The next DEMO takes place February 27 a4&quot; March 1 in Palm Springs, Calif.Next Story: Amazon debuts Kindle for the Web on heels of Google eBooks Previous Story: Panzura scores $12M to make cloud apps better, faster, more productivePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: DEMO          Tags: DEMOVentureBeat 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[Online Video In 2011: Connected TVs, Social Recommendations, And Standards&nbsp'Wars]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-video-in-2011-connected-tvs-social-recommendations-and-standardsnbspwars</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-video-in-2011-connected-tvs-social-recommendations-and-standardsnbspwars</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=online-video-in-2011-connected-tvs-social-recommendations-and-standardsnbspwars</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Editor&amp;'s note: Online video is going through many changes as people begin to connect their TVs to the Internet and social sharing over Facebook and Twitter influence what people watch as much as search.  In this guest post, Jeremy Allaire, founder and CEO of online video platform Brightcove, gives his view of where online video is going next year.  Allaire&amp;'s last guest post for us was on the standards war in mobile video formats.Web video is just getting started, and 2011 promises to be yet another year of transformation in the online video landscape. The stage is set for mainstream connected TVs, Over-the-top adoption, and even more videos watched directly streamed from website.  Here are the five biggest trends in online video that will play out in significant ways for end-users and publishers alike. 1. Connected TV Platform WarsThe past year saw the definitive emergence of platform wars in the handheld computing landscape.  This year will see those wars expand into new territory, the Connected TV platform market.  Input 1 on the TV is the new homepage or start screen. We should expect that the battles will look incredibly similar to the market that emerged for smartphones over the past several years, but with some other entrenched players. Google vs. Apple vs. the dominant TV brands.  In fact, these platforms will largely be based on a similar architecture, offering app and content publishers a common model for creating device-oriented applications and Web experiences.Apple will ship an iOS-based Apple TV display and will open up Apple TV to third-party apps beyond Netflix. Developers will have a common model for building apps across the phone, tablet and TV, as well as a suite of new APIs for phone and tablet apps to interact with TV apps (think remote control type activities, gestures for games, etc.).  Its platform will also support HTML5 with a set of design standards for TV Web 10-foot experiences.Google, which has already put forward its first rendition of the same, will expand on this and create models that integrate Android apps across all devices.In addition, the largest of the TV CE manufacturers (e.g. Samsung and LG), will put their best foot forward with TV App SDKs, App Stores and TV Web standards based on HTML5, looking to leverage their massive volumes and strong position in the living room to fend off Apple and Google from owning the consumer experience and app distribution relationships.Expect by the end of the year a frenzy of publisher and developer interest in creating TV Apps and TV Web experiences as the volumes of products shipping by the end of 2011 will be in the tens of millions and very attractive as a target platform.2. Over-The-Top TV Subscriptions will emerge, but largely failThe long coveted idea of Over-The-Top (or OTT) TV distribution (through services such as Google TV, Apple TV, or Boxee), which would lead in turn to tens of millions of consumers a4Acutting the corda4 with their cable provider will further take hold in 2011, but will largely disappoint consumers.While library video on-demand subscriptions through services like Netflix, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Amazon VoD offer users great and broad libraries of content, they dona4a4t yet offer a compelling substitute to a cable subscription.  In 2011, wea4a4ll see the first wave of attempts to create more rich TV subscription bundles that are available over the Internet.  Expect Netflix to start paying for more recent and popular TV shows, and for Apple to potentially offer a low-priced ($25/month) TV subscription product with a collection of recent hit TV shows.  But most major broadcasters and studios wona4a4t bite or participate in a meaningful way, leaving consumers still feeling like these products dona4a4t offer enough. The absence of a broad offering of live sports will be a major factor keeping cords from being cut. At the same time, your existing cable subscription will start to offer a greater range of content over the Web, and likely top-tier cable companies such as Comcast / Xfinity will make their online video products available through open devices and apps, blurring the lines even further.Wea4a4ll have to wait until 2012 when the scale of Connected TV adoption is large enough that online TV subscription providers will be willing to write big enough checks to get the best available programming.3. Facebook and Twitter will become larger sources of video traffic than Google searchIn a recent jointly published study by Brighcove and TubeMogul, we reported that the fastest growing source of traffic to videos on publisher websites were social platforms Facebook and Twitter.  This growth is accelerating and the role of these platforms as primary content discovery and viewing environments will reach a point by the end of the year that they will soon be as large and important as Google search.Increasingly, online video publishers will treat Facebook.com as a Web publishing platform that is as important as their own Web domains.  Facebook will welcome and embrace using its site as a media distribution end-point, offering rich tools and a business model that doesna4a4t require that it share in advertising revenue generated from impressions on its site.  This will be highly attractive to publishers and wea4a4ll see more and more VOD type applications launched concurrently on publisher sites and Facebook.com.4. Video Ubiquitya4&quot;Every Company is a Media CompanyWhile a bit of a clich, wea4a4re seeing this happen at an accelerating pace.  In 2011, if you are a professional institution, organization or business of any size, you will have an online video strategy.  Video is becoming such a central part of how one communicates, markets, educates and informs online that every pro website will be publishing some form of online video.  It will first feel a lot like the brochureware era of the first generation Internet, with a lot of poorly-conceived and poorly-executed content. But a new era of Web video production businesses will emerge much as the Web development industry of the mid-90a4a4s emerged, and organizations will start to iterate and experiment with how to best accomplish their online objectives using video.5. Battle Over Video Delivery Standards Heats UpGooglea4a4s recent announcement that they are acquiring Widevine adds fuel to what is already an important platform war over how video is consumed, secured and delivered both on PCs and increasingly on non-PC devices.Several alternative stacks are emerging for encrypting / securing and then, in turn, delivering video in a high-quality and reliable manner to all platforms and devices.  Apple offers Apple HTTP Streaming which both secures video and provides for adaptive delivery to both HTML5 and iOS Apps, but is proprietary to Applea4a4s devices and software.Adobe offers its own DRM services and HTTP streaming standards, both of which are proprietary but are designed to work across client and device platforms that support the Flash runtime.And now Google will get in the mix with Widevinea4a4s technology, which also provides a method to encrypt and secure video files and deliver them to nearly any device or operating system using adaptive bitrate HTTP streaming.  We should expect that, like with On2a4a4s video codecs which were open-sourced as the WebM video standard, Google will open source and freely distribute the Widevine technology, as well as bundle it as a standard part of the infrastructure in Chrome, Chrome OS and Android browsers and operating systems.It all adds up to more Web videos on more devices and points to a day when we won&amp;'t be able to tell the difference between the Web and TV.CrunchBase InformationJeremy AllaireInformation provided by CrunchBase<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Groupon&'s non-IPO raises $500 million, with $450 million to go]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=grouponrsquos-non-ipo-raises-500-million-with-450-million-to-go</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=grouponrsquos-non-ipo-raises-500-million-with-450-million-to-go</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>stephen001</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=grouponrsquos-non-ipo-raises-500-million-with-450-million-to-go</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Welcome to the age of the stealth IPO.Groupon, the fast-growing purveyor of online discounts from local businesses, has confirmed through afiling with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it has authorized a new $950 million financing round. (Groupon&amp;'s plans first came to light earlier this week through a related filing in the state of Delaware, where Groupon is incorporated, discovered and analyzed by VC Experts.)Of the $950 million, $500 million has already been raised from new and existing investors. New investors, Fortune reports include, T. Rowe Price, Morgan Stanley, and Fidelity Investments &amp;8212' all players one would expect to see involved in an initial public offering.The funds involved are staggering, ranking among the largest venture-capital financings ever. And an estimated $345 million is going to cash out insiders. It&amp;'s important to note that that&amp;'s an estimate: Groupon is reportedly making a tender offer to buy back up to 15 percent of current investors&amp;' shareholdings. That estimated $345 million could represent the maximum if CEO Andrew Mason (pictured here, in a thoroughly fictional Photoshop), Lightbank&amp;'s Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky, Accel Partners and other prominent shareholders sold a full 15 percent of their holdings.But it&amp;'s still notable that Groupon is raising a massive warchest and offering to cash out insiders, all without the usual mechanism of an initial public offering.Here&amp;'s my take: Groupon is satisfying restive shareholders who may wish it had taken Google&amp;'s $6 billion offer, at the same time that it&amp;'s gathering an intimidatingly large cash pile to buy up overseas knockoffs of its daily-deal site and scare off domestic competitors like LivingSocial and BuyWithMe out of the market. Meanwhile, it&amp;'s building a sales force to reach more and more cities and beefing up its technology to personalize offers and satisfy demand from businesses.And this stealth IPO has one more advantage: There&amp;'s nothing preventing Groupon from doing a real IPO in 2011. If anything, the reassuring cash pile makes it a more attractive investment.Previous Story: Amazon turns on Kindle ebook lendingPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: daily deals, e commerce, IPO, social buying, social shoppingCompanies: Fidelity Investments, Groupon, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe PricePeople: Andrew Mason, Brad Keywell, Eric Lefkofsky          Tags: daily deals, e commerce, IPO, social buying, social shoppingCompanies: Fidelity Investments, Groupon, Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe PricePeople: Andrew Mason, Brad Keywell, Eric LefkofskyOwen Thomas is the executive editor of 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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