BALTIMORE, Md., October 15, 2010--ChoiceBatter’s® transformation from a federal laboratory bench technology to a grocery shelf product is among topics that will be discussed here today by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials and other participants attending the 17th annual conference of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF).

ChoiceBatter®, the brand name for a line of low oil-uptake batters marketed by CrispTek, LLC, of Columbia, Md., is based on a rice-flour formulation created by Fred Shih and Kim Daigle, chemists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA’s principal intramural scientific research agency.

Across the world, two in ten households have access to the internet at home, according to a justreleased Gallup survey. In 2009, internet access at home was far greater in more economically advanced countries like New Zealand, where nearly eight in ten people (75 percent) have access to the net at home.

Perhaps surprisingly, New Zealand is among the top 25 performers. Zip-a-dee-doodah. Kiwi broadband may be narrower than in other places, but it conveys data to many homes nevertheless. Domestic dialup will soon be a dim memory.

Squirrel vs. Slinky. The smart squirrel eventually wins, as always. (Thanks, Antinous!)

By now you’ve doubtless heard about the ongoing rescue of 33 Chilean miners, who have been tragically trapped 2,000 feet underground since August 5. After months of waiting, the miners are being rescued one by one (as of this writing three are still below ground), and media organizations are broadcasting the footage of the recue effort live to a reported 1 billion people.  That massive worldwide audience has led to some new records for live-streaming service Ustream, which has been broadcasting feeds from media organizations around the world.

Ustream says that it has served 5.3 million streams over the course of the rescue, tallying figures between 4AM October 11 until 4AM this morning (given the fact that the rescue is still going on, the final count will be significantly higher). In contrast, the two previous record holders — Michael Jackson’s memorial and President Obama’s inauguration — drew 4.6 million and 3.8 million total streams, respectively, which makes this Ustream’s most-watched event ever. To be fair though, the mining rescue operation has spanned a longer period of time than those events, so this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison.

Anaheim, Calif.—A silly question? Maybe. But the analogy, made by a speaker at the Educause conference here today, reflects a recurring theme at this year’s event: Do our university bureaucracies still make sense in the era of networks?

In a session called “The University as an Agile Organization,” David J. Staley laid out the findings of a focus group he conducted asking educators what a college would look like if it ran like Wikipedia.

First, it wouldn’t have formal admissions, said Mr. Staley, director of the Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching at Ohio State University. People could enter and exit as they wished. It would consist of voluntary and self-organizing associations of teachers and students “not unlike the original idea for the university, in the Middle Ages,” he said. Its curriculum would be intellectually fluid.

Cuts aimed at reducing Spain’s budget deficit from 11 per cent to 6 per cent of GDP by 2011 have hit science funding, with one estimate saying spending on R&D as a whole will fall by 8.37 per cent in 2011, compared to 2010.

The austerity measures announced this week translate into a 1.65 per cent cut in the budget of the Science and Innovation Ministry (MICINN). When R&D loans for companies are excluded from this, the cut in direct funding for scientific programmes and grants goes up to 4 per cent.

But all ministries are facing severe cuts, ranging from 8.2 per cent in health, to 30 per cent in public works. Since many ministries also fund R&D activities, Spain’s R&D expenditure will see an 8.37 per cent drop, according an analysis by the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies (Confederación de Sociedades Científicas Españolas -COSCE).

Norway’s Research Council is celebrating a boost for basic research after years of little or no growth, with a proposed increase of NOK60 million (€7.42 million) for the open competition element of the Independent Projects programme (FRIPRO).

“It is very positive indeed that the government has recognised the need to strengthen this funding instrument, which boosts working conditions and adds volume to the activities of Norway’s top researchers, regardless of what their research focuses on,” says Anders Hanneborg, Executive Director at the Research Council.

Over the past few years the Research Council has assigned priority to enhancing the open competitive arena for high-quality research in its input to the national budget. In its budget proposal for 2011, the Council recommended an increase of NOK150 million (€18.55 million) for funding of independent projects.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- One billion new middle class consumers enter the global economy from emerging markets. Health and wellness becomes the single-largest expenditure for the world's consumers. Cloud computing brings the end of the brick-and-mortar office. That's a vision of the world in 2020, described in a new report that looks into demographic, social, economic and technology shifts shaping the next decade.

The Intuit 2020 Report, prepared by Emergent Research in partnership with Intuit Inc.(INTU 47.58, +0.66, +1.41%), explores trends that will affect consumers and small businesses, and those who serve them.

"Intuit is looking toward tomorrow to find new ways to help our customers today," said Kris Halvorsen, chief innovation officer of Intuit. "We are already seeing fundamental shifts that are changing the way we all live and operate, but rarely do you see so many trends directly affecting the global economy and community in such a short time."

Having spent more than 20 years as an entrepreneur, I’ve seen a lot of theories, philosophies and truisms come and go. Success in the startup world starts long before your company is underway, though. It begins when you’re making the decision on whether the entrepreneurial life is for you.

Can you create enough sources of funding? – Startups cost money – and odds are you don’t have enough in your bank account. You may not need a lot of cash on day one, but you need to start planning for it from the outset. In some cases, trustworthy friends and/or family members might be willing to lend you money or take an equity stake in your business. But if not, you’ll need to get access to angel investors and actively build a relationship with them or personally get to know the loan and/or branch manager at your bank.

Other options (perhaps less likely) include arranging an introduction to an outstanding venture capitalist or building up a relationship with clients that are willing to fund some of growth without requiring an equity stake.

7 Degrees, which develops a business-partner recommendation service
called PeopleMaps, announced today that it has raised $6.8 million in
its second round of funding from Rho Ventures, vSpring Capital and Parkview Ventures.

PeopleMaps gives users a visual representation of what kind of
connection they have with other potential business partners based on the
people they know. The idea is to provide enterprise users with a way to
get a warm introduction from someone they know to a potential recruit
or business partner.

It’s similar to LinkedIn, but PeopleMaps calculates the ten “best”
routes to a potential business partner. The routes are computed through a
series of algorithms that include whether the two individuals are
connected on Facebook and LinkedIn connections, as well as information
from ZoomInfo, Thomson Reuters and other databases to determine a
connection’s strength.

Tesla is officially no longer dependent on the success of its niche electric sports cars and sedans. The perennial startup first announced plans in July for an agreement with Toyota to develop an electric version of the RAV4 featuring a Tesla powertrain. Now it's in writing. Tesla filed a form with the Unites States Securities and Exchange commission on Wednesday disclosing its $60 million agreement with Toyota.

The filing reads:

On October 6, 2010, Tesla Motors, Inc. entered into a Phase 1 Contract Services Agreement with Toyota Motor Corporation  for the development of a validated powertrain system, including a battery, power electronics module, motor, gearbox and associated software, which will be integrated into an electric vehicle version of the RAV4. Pursuant to the Agreement, based on preliminary specifications, TMC will pay Tesla approximately $60 million for the development services to be provided by Tesla.

Web giant AOL and a number of venture capital firms – including Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group – have made signals they are interested in teaming up to acquire web portal Yahoo!, it has emerged.

As well as Silver Lake and Blackstone at least two or three other venture capital firms are interested in participating in a formal buyout.

Since CEO Carol Bartz was appointed in 2009 Yahoo! has been under pressure to improve its performance. Bartz too has come under criticism, particularly for her handling of relationships in Asia with e-commerce firm Alibaba Group in which Yahoo! has a 40pc stake as well as the high turnover of Yahoo! senior executives lately.

Download the PDF

I'm no cartographer, so I can't comment on its accuracy—but this alternative visualization of the size of the African continent compared to various world nations is thought-provoking. No, Africa's not a country, but it's interesting to compare the land mass to countries perceived as more powerful.

As BB commenter jetfx notes, "A pity the creator of this image doesn't list what projection he used, because without knowing that, we don't know what hidden distortions are in his map."

Are you having a mental block? Maybe it's not you, it's the city you're in.

Innovation analysts at 2thinknow released a list of the most innovative cities in the world. They evaluated 289 cities based on three factors: cultural assets, human infrastructure, and networked markets. 

Cities were ranked on a one to ten scale in each category for a total possible index score of 30. Once index numbers were determined, cities were given the label of "node," "nexus," or "hub."

Hatching a good idea for a company is the easy bit. Negotiating the legal and funding maze to bring it to life is the real challenge. Entrepreneurs need to keep in mind that for every angel investor there is also a vulture.

Here is an interesting presentation from Google Creative Labs. They collected the most recent inspirational ideas and web projects in this document (119 pages). It gathers a lot of different topics (advertising, history, politics, sport, art.. ) under one main roof; creativity.

WHEELING - The spirit of innovation is running wild in Wheeling, as the 2010 Create West Virginia conference is set to go at different locations throughout the city next week.

"The new economy is about research, technology, arts and culture, and innovation," said Create Chairman Jeff James. "We are teaching local communities how to use tried and true strategies to build that new economy."

The conference - which James said should draw 250-275 people from all over West Virginia and the United States - begins at noon Sunday at Oglebay Park.

Bangalore: India to spend $2.3 trillion to boost its energy sector by 2030, which includes a substantial burden for expanding the country's energy basket to include green sources such as solar, wind and nuclear power.

It indents to improve energy efficiency and using clean technology to help Asia's third largest economy balance growth and environmental aims. B.K. Chaturvedi, a member of Planning Commission that charts India's growth path, recently said that being the world's third-worst carbon emitter it is essential for the country to shift to a greener economy.


Last year the country set a goal for slowing the growth of its emissions, saying it will try to rein in its 'carbon intensity' the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of GDP by between 20 and 25 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.