Roundup, Venture Capital, Innovation Economy
VCs Making Smaller Investments, V-Vehicle Restarting Under New CEO, Qualcomm Buys iSkoot, & More San Diego BizTech News
Bruce V. Bigelow 10/18/10
A common theme in last week’s technology news is how companies and entire industries continually remake their businesses, whether it’s the venture capital community, startup carmakers, or a San Diego company that specializes in data storage technology. Read on to see what I mean.
—As the venture capital survey data comes in from the three months that ended September 30, we’re seeing a nationwide rebound in first-time financings for startups. Data from CB Insights, the New York financial information firm, shows seed-stage deals increasing from 1 percent of the deals in the third quarter of 2009 to 11 percent of all deals during the third quarter.
—Venture capital surveys from CB Insights and the MoneyTree Report both show an increasing deal count, but a decline in the total amount of invested. In a year-over-year comparison, the MoneyTree Report showed a 7 percent decline in capital invested with a 9 percent increase in deal count during the third quarter, when venture firms invested $4.8 billion in 780 deals nationwide.
—V-Vehicle, the San Diego startup automaker, changed its name to Next Autoworks. The company, which has raised $87 million from investors that include Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, and T. Boone Pickens, also hired industry veteran Kathleen Ligocki as CEO.
—Overland Storage (NASDAQ: OVRL), the San Diego data storage technology specialist, acquired Sunnyvale, CA-based MaxiScale, which provides data protection and data management technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
—San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) acquired San Francisco-based mobile social networks software developer iSkoot Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
—Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder and the San Francisco-based company’s creative director, told The San Diego Union-Tribune last week that a new-and-improved version of the micro-blogging service should improve service worldwide. “It was re-architected to actually be snappier, faster – to deal with information faster,” said Stone, who was in San Diego to speak at the 2010 Tijuana Innovadora conference on innovation across the border.
—Predixion Software, based just across the Orange County line in Aliso Viejo, CA, said it had closed on $5 million in Series A financing, led by DFJ Frontier. Predixion, which specializes in low-cost, self-service in the cloud predictive analytics software, said it will use the funds to expand product development,increase sales and marketing initiatives, and expand its sales channel programs and strategic partnership activities.
Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call 858-202-0492
The Army’s remote-controlled, bomb-finding robots aren’t finding enough bombs in Afghanistan. So the military is toying with a new notion: Let the robot drive itself; and make it bigger, like the size of a golf cart.
In a recent solicitation for small businesses, the Army expresses interest in a remote-controlled vehicle that’s bigger than most robots but (way) smaller than its fleet of tactical vehicles. Really, it’s a software system outfitted with sensors for detecting a variety of bombs — “pressure activated devices and command detonated explosive devices” alike — that can turn an existing “mid-sized” vehicle into a self-driving or remotely-controlled car. The so-called “Intelligent Behavior Engine” has to support “skid steer hydraulic arm attachments” — Doctor Octopus-like robot arms, to defuse the bombs it finds. And it’s got to weigh between 500 and 3000 pounds (the size of a golf cart, Smart car, or John Deere Gator), making it hypothetically “capable of traversing long distances on narrow, rugged paths.”
It was just two months ago that the Army announced it would buy dozens of radar add-ones for armored Husky vehicles to spot and stop improvised explosive devices, a $106.5 million push. But the solicitation says the bulky Husky isn’t right for Afghanistan, since it “cannot traverse the rugged terrain and narrow paths” that pass for the country’s bomb-infested roads.
That exact same concern led the Army to put out a call last month for new bomb-detecting robots that can traverse “rough terrain, 45 degree hills, rocks, holes, culverts and other obstacles.” Only there, the Army wanted to move in the opposite direction, shrinking robots down from several hundred pounds, not bulking them up to car-like sizes and marching them for up to 30 miles at a time. Still, in a vote of no-confidence in the robot fleet, the solicitation laments that “currently fielded technologies have limited utility for defeat of IEDs on narrow unimproved routes during deep insertions into rugged terrain.”
Ideally, the Intelligent Behavior Engine will have “off-board, ‘back-seat driving’ capabilities” — controls that let troops on patrol operate the car remotely, using it for “scanning, digging and emplacing explosive charges” when it senses a bomb nearby. The Army doesn’t have either a software or a vehicle design in mind, but it says that it’ll favor “intelligent, adaptive software behaviors that provide standoff operation in terms of navigation, detection and neutralization.” In other words, when the car finds an improvised explosive device, it should know how to safely avoid, defuse or detonate it.
Much like the earlier robot solicitation, the bomb-stopping robot car is a dream for now. The Army isn’t releasing money for it right now, opting to first see what industry can dream up. Solicitations are due December 13. But the Army’s judgment about the usefulness of the current robot fleet is already clear to see. What will the incoming director of the Pentagon’s bomb squad think of a sure-to-be-expensive push for new robots?
Photo: U.S. Air Force
See Also:
- Army Tells Biz: We Need Better Bomb-Finding Bots
- Military Gears Up for Bomb-Bot 2.0
- Why Bomb-Proofing Robots Might Be a Bad Idea (Updated)
- Army’s WALL-E Robo-Scout Patrols D.C. Confab
- Armored Vehicle Woes Endangering British Troops
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Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak.
<b>News</b> - Tixdaq
Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fox <b>News</b> Contributors Mock <b>...</b>
On the video, Miller, Trotter, Scott, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican and Fox News contributor James Pinkerton are seen preparing to go on the air when Miller says, "Oh, I do have something to say about Palin. I even prepared it. ...
benchcraft company scam
Roundup, Venture Capital, Innovation Economy
VCs Making Smaller Investments, V-Vehicle Restarting Under New CEO, Qualcomm Buys iSkoot, & More San Diego BizTech News
Bruce V. Bigelow 10/18/10
A common theme in last week’s technology news is how companies and entire industries continually remake their businesses, whether it’s the venture capital community, startup carmakers, or a San Diego company that specializes in data storage technology. Read on to see what I mean.
—As the venture capital survey data comes in from the three months that ended September 30, we’re seeing a nationwide rebound in first-time financings for startups. Data from CB Insights, the New York financial information firm, shows seed-stage deals increasing from 1 percent of the deals in the third quarter of 2009 to 11 percent of all deals during the third quarter.
—Venture capital surveys from CB Insights and the MoneyTree Report both show an increasing deal count, but a decline in the total amount of invested. In a year-over-year comparison, the MoneyTree Report showed a 7 percent decline in capital invested with a 9 percent increase in deal count during the third quarter, when venture firms invested $4.8 billion in 780 deals nationwide.
—V-Vehicle, the San Diego startup automaker, changed its name to Next Autoworks. The company, which has raised $87 million from investors that include Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, and T. Boone Pickens, also hired industry veteran Kathleen Ligocki as CEO.
—Overland Storage (NASDAQ: OVRL), the San Diego data storage technology specialist, acquired Sunnyvale, CA-based MaxiScale, which provides data protection and data management technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
—San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) acquired San Francisco-based mobile social networks software developer iSkoot Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
—Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder and the San Francisco-based company’s creative director, told The San Diego Union-Tribune last week that a new-and-improved version of the micro-blogging service should improve service worldwide. “It was re-architected to actually be snappier, faster – to deal with information faster,” said Stone, who was in San Diego to speak at the 2010 Tijuana Innovadora conference on innovation across the border.
—Predixion Software, based just across the Orange County line in Aliso Viejo, CA, said it had closed on $5 million in Series A financing, led by DFJ Frontier. Predixion, which specializes in low-cost, self-service in the cloud predictive analytics software, said it will use the funds to expand product development,increase sales and marketing initiatives, and expand its sales channel programs and strategic partnership activities.
Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call 858-202-0492
The Army’s remote-controlled, bomb-finding robots aren’t finding enough bombs in Afghanistan. So the military is toying with a new notion: Let the robot drive itself; and make it bigger, like the size of a golf cart.
In a recent solicitation for small businesses, the Army expresses interest in a remote-controlled vehicle that’s bigger than most robots but (way) smaller than its fleet of tactical vehicles. Really, it’s a software system outfitted with sensors for detecting a variety of bombs — “pressure activated devices and command detonated explosive devices” alike — that can turn an existing “mid-sized” vehicle into a self-driving or remotely-controlled car. The so-called “Intelligent Behavior Engine” has to support “skid steer hydraulic arm attachments” — Doctor Octopus-like robot arms, to defuse the bombs it finds. And it’s got to weigh between 500 and 3000 pounds (the size of a golf cart, Smart car, or John Deere Gator), making it hypothetically “capable of traversing long distances on narrow, rugged paths.”
It was just two months ago that the Army announced it would buy dozens of radar add-ones for armored Husky vehicles to spot and stop improvised explosive devices, a $106.5 million push. But the solicitation says the bulky Husky isn’t right for Afghanistan, since it “cannot traverse the rugged terrain and narrow paths” that pass for the country’s bomb-infested roads.
That exact same concern led the Army to put out a call last month for new bomb-detecting robots that can traverse “rough terrain, 45 degree hills, rocks, holes, culverts and other obstacles.” Only there, the Army wanted to move in the opposite direction, shrinking robots down from several hundred pounds, not bulking them up to car-like sizes and marching them for up to 30 miles at a time. Still, in a vote of no-confidence in the robot fleet, the solicitation laments that “currently fielded technologies have limited utility for defeat of IEDs on narrow unimproved routes during deep insertions into rugged terrain.”
Ideally, the Intelligent Behavior Engine will have “off-board, ‘back-seat driving’ capabilities” — controls that let troops on patrol operate the car remotely, using it for “scanning, digging and emplacing explosive charges” when it senses a bomb nearby. The Army doesn’t have either a software or a vehicle design in mind, but it says that it’ll favor “intelligent, adaptive software behaviors that provide standoff operation in terms of navigation, detection and neutralization.” In other words, when the car finds an improvised explosive device, it should know how to safely avoid, defuse or detonate it.
Much like the earlier robot solicitation, the bomb-stopping robot car is a dream for now. The Army isn’t releasing money for it right now, opting to first see what industry can dream up. Solicitations are due December 13. But the Army’s judgment about the usefulness of the current robot fleet is already clear to see. What will the incoming director of the Pentagon’s bomb squad think of a sure-to-be-expensive push for new robots?
Photo: U.S. Air Force
See Also:
- Army Tells Biz: We Need Better Bomb-Finding Bots
- Military Gears Up for Bomb-Bot 2.0
- Why Bomb-Proofing Robots Might Be a Bad Idea (Updated)
- Army’s WALL-E Robo-Scout Patrols D.C. Confab
- Armored Vehicle Woes Endangering British Troops
bench craft company scam
Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak.
<b>News</b> - Tixdaq
Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fox <b>News</b> Contributors Mock <b>...</b>
On the video, Miller, Trotter, Scott, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican and Fox News contributor James Pinkerton are seen preparing to go on the air when Miller says, "Oh, I do have something to say about Palin. I even prepared it. ...
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benchcraft company scam
bench craft company scam
Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak.
<b>News</b> - Tixdaq
Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fox <b>News</b> Contributors Mock <b>...</b>
On the video, Miller, Trotter, Scott, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican and Fox News contributor James Pinkerton are seen preparing to go on the air when Miller says, "Oh, I do have something to say about Palin. I even prepared it. ...
bench craft company scam
Roundup, Venture Capital, Innovation Economy
VCs Making Smaller Investments, V-Vehicle Restarting Under New CEO, Qualcomm Buys iSkoot, & More San Diego BizTech News
Bruce V. Bigelow 10/18/10
A common theme in last week’s technology news is how companies and entire industries continually remake their businesses, whether it’s the venture capital community, startup carmakers, or a San Diego company that specializes in data storage technology. Read on to see what I mean.
—As the venture capital survey data comes in from the three months that ended September 30, we’re seeing a nationwide rebound in first-time financings for startups. Data from CB Insights, the New York financial information firm, shows seed-stage deals increasing from 1 percent of the deals in the third quarter of 2009 to 11 percent of all deals during the third quarter.
—Venture capital surveys from CB Insights and the MoneyTree Report both show an increasing deal count, but a decline in the total amount of invested. In a year-over-year comparison, the MoneyTree Report showed a 7 percent decline in capital invested with a 9 percent increase in deal count during the third quarter, when venture firms invested $4.8 billion in 780 deals nationwide.
—V-Vehicle, the San Diego startup automaker, changed its name to Next Autoworks. The company, which has raised $87 million from investors that include Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, and T. Boone Pickens, also hired industry veteran Kathleen Ligocki as CEO.
—Overland Storage (NASDAQ: OVRL), the San Diego data storage technology specialist, acquired Sunnyvale, CA-based MaxiScale, which provides data protection and data management technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
—San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) acquired San Francisco-based mobile social networks software developer iSkoot Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
—Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder and the San Francisco-based company’s creative director, told The San Diego Union-Tribune last week that a new-and-improved version of the micro-blogging service should improve service worldwide. “It was re-architected to actually be snappier, faster – to deal with information faster,” said Stone, who was in San Diego to speak at the 2010 Tijuana Innovadora conference on innovation across the border.
—Predixion Software, based just across the Orange County line in Aliso Viejo, CA, said it had closed on $5 million in Series A financing, led by DFJ Frontier. Predixion, which specializes in low-cost, self-service in the cloud predictive analytics software, said it will use the funds to expand product development,increase sales and marketing initiatives, and expand its sales channel programs and strategic partnership activities.
Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call 858-202-0492
The Army’s remote-controlled, bomb-finding robots aren’t finding enough bombs in Afghanistan. So the military is toying with a new notion: Let the robot drive itself; and make it bigger, like the size of a golf cart.
In a recent solicitation for small businesses, the Army expresses interest in a remote-controlled vehicle that’s bigger than most robots but (way) smaller than its fleet of tactical vehicles. Really, it’s a software system outfitted with sensors for detecting a variety of bombs — “pressure activated devices and command detonated explosive devices” alike — that can turn an existing “mid-sized” vehicle into a self-driving or remotely-controlled car. The so-called “Intelligent Behavior Engine” has to support “skid steer hydraulic arm attachments” — Doctor Octopus-like robot arms, to defuse the bombs it finds. And it’s got to weigh between 500 and 3000 pounds (the size of a golf cart, Smart car, or John Deere Gator), making it hypothetically “capable of traversing long distances on narrow, rugged paths.”
It was just two months ago that the Army announced it would buy dozens of radar add-ones for armored Husky vehicles to spot and stop improvised explosive devices, a $106.5 million push. But the solicitation says the bulky Husky isn’t right for Afghanistan, since it “cannot traverse the rugged terrain and narrow paths” that pass for the country’s bomb-infested roads.
That exact same concern led the Army to put out a call last month for new bomb-detecting robots that can traverse “rough terrain, 45 degree hills, rocks, holes, culverts and other obstacles.” Only there, the Army wanted to move in the opposite direction, shrinking robots down from several hundred pounds, not bulking them up to car-like sizes and marching them for up to 30 miles at a time. Still, in a vote of no-confidence in the robot fleet, the solicitation laments that “currently fielded technologies have limited utility for defeat of IEDs on narrow unimproved routes during deep insertions into rugged terrain.”
Ideally, the Intelligent Behavior Engine will have “off-board, ‘back-seat driving’ capabilities” — controls that let troops on patrol operate the car remotely, using it for “scanning, digging and emplacing explosive charges” when it senses a bomb nearby. The Army doesn’t have either a software or a vehicle design in mind, but it says that it’ll favor “intelligent, adaptive software behaviors that provide standoff operation in terms of navigation, detection and neutralization.” In other words, when the car finds an improvised explosive device, it should know how to safely avoid, defuse or detonate it.
Much like the earlier robot solicitation, the bomb-stopping robot car is a dream for now. The Army isn’t releasing money for it right now, opting to first see what industry can dream up. Solicitations are due December 13. But the Army’s judgment about the usefulness of the current robot fleet is already clear to see. What will the incoming director of the Pentagon’s bomb squad think of a sure-to-be-expensive push for new robots?
Photo: U.S. Air Force
See Also:
- Army Tells Biz: We Need Better Bomb-Finding Bots
- Military Gears Up for Bomb-Bot 2.0
- Why Bomb-Proofing Robots Might Be a Bad Idea (Updated)
- Army’s WALL-E Robo-Scout Patrols D.C. Confab
- Armored Vehicle Woes Endangering British Troops
bench craft company scam
benchcraft company scam
Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak.
<b>News</b> - Tixdaq
Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fox <b>News</b> Contributors Mock <b>...</b>
On the video, Miller, Trotter, Scott, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican and Fox News contributor James Pinkerton are seen preparing to go on the air when Miller says, "Oh, I do have something to say about Palin. I even prepared it. ...
benchcraft company scam
benchcraft company scam
Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak.
<b>News</b> - Tixdaq
Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fox <b>News</b> Contributors Mock <b>...</b>
On the video, Miller, Trotter, Scott, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican and Fox News contributor James Pinkerton are seen preparing to go on the air when Miller says, "Oh, I do have something to say about Palin. I even prepared it. ...
bench craft company scam
Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak.
<b>News</b> - Tixdaq
Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fox <b>News</b> Contributors Mock <b>...</b>
On the video, Miller, Trotter, Scott, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican and Fox News contributor James Pinkerton are seen preparing to go on the air when Miller says, "Oh, I do have something to say about Palin. I even prepared it. ...
benchcraft company scam
Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak Wii <b>News</b> - Page 1 <b>...</b>
Read our Wii news of Nintendo hasn't discontinued Wii Speak.
<b>News</b> - Tixdaq
Foo Fighters have been confirmed to headline the final night at Isle Of Wight festival 2011.
The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Fox <b>News</b> Contributors Mock <b>...</b>
On the video, Miller, Trotter, Scott, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican and Fox News contributor James Pinkerton are seen preparing to go on the air when Miller says, "Oh, I do have something to say about Palin. I even prepared it. ...
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