Netizen

Solar Makes Sense

solar-powered solar system 19/365 (Photo credit: Faisty.com)

It is like tapping into nuclear energy minus any of the radiation: the Sun is at a safe distance. But the trick has been to make business sense out of it.

The Dog Days of Solar

The solar industry has done a spectacular job lowering costs in the past three years, slashing per-watt costs in half.... The challenge isn't lack of innovation or financing ..... smaller players face the powerful headwinds of competing against giant incumbent providers with access to large amounts of cheap capital, all while needing to work out the kinks of a new production process at scale ..... Many upstart solar companies did the right thing by betting on new technologies to bring the cost of solar power closer to that of fossil fuels. In the end, though, market woes may trump their technical advances.

This Blog On Google News?

Image representing Google News as depicted in ...

Image via CrunchBase

Don't tell me this blog got featured on the Google News page. And if it did, why is not there an avalanche of traffic?

Monkey Business

Raw Peanut pods ... Trái đậu Phộng tươi . (Photo credit: Vietnam Plants & America plants)

Is this a good idea?

Scientists Control Monkeys' Brains with Light

optogenetics—a technique by which genetically modified neurons are made to fire with light. ..... These brain circuits control behaviors such as movement and emotion and, when faulty, can lead to diseases ranging from depression to Parkinson's.

Hello Samsung, Hi Apple

The official online color is: #A4C639 . 한국어: 공식 온라인 색은: #A4C639 . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This shakes the Android ecosystem. No matter which way it goes.

The Apple-Samsung Trial: What Apple Will Attempt to Prove

Samsung’s infringing sales have enabled Samsung to overtake Apple as the largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world. Samsung has reaped billions of dollars in profits ..... Samsung also flagrantly breached . . . commitments to [license to Apple its standards-essential patents on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms"]. Samsung made a general FRAND commitment on December 14, 1998 and specific FRAND commitments for the two asserted declared-essential patents on May 16, 2006 and August 7, 2007, respectively. Samsung has breached its FRAND commitments by seeking to enjoin Apple from selling products that support the UMTS standard and by refusing to offer Apple a license to declared-essential patents on FRAND terms.

Zuck: Innovator?

Image representing Mark Zuckerberg as depicted...

Image via CrunchBase

This account of rejections is amusing.

Mark Zuckerberg Finally Wins Approval of First Patent Application

The patent office wasn’t impressed with the invention at first, handing Messrs. Zuckerberg and Kelly a series of rejections over the years that complained of vagueness and the obvious nature of the invention. .... The young CEO has been named as an inventor on eight different U.S. patents .... as it wades further into the dangerous world of high-tech patent disputes. .... Facebook said it had 774 U.S. patents and 546 applications as of March.

Mark Penn is a familiar name. The guy was a pollster during the 2008 election. He was on the other side! His new assignment makes sense to me. Politics is war by other means. Business is politics by other means.

Mark Penn, Microsoft’s New Strategist, Hopes to Boost Bing

a new corporate strategy role reporting directly to Steve Ballmer ...... is assembling a “SWAT team” to work on thorny strategy questions ..... corporate vice president of strategic and special projects. ..... politics and technology have been my two passions since I was about 12 .... the Microsoft boss was intrigued with Mr. Penn’s comparison of the marketing challenge of Bing to pitching a political candidate ..... Penn said more consumers need to be convinced to use Bing. .... “Diehard habits can be questioned, just in the same way that people drank Coke and then realized Pepsi was just as good if not better” .... Mr. Penn said he will continue to work from Washington, D.C., though he plans to spend time in Redmond