ge

GE Healthcare on Monday announced the commercial release of a new, smartphone-size imaging tool that lets physicians carry ultrasound technology in their pockets.

The group says its Vscan imaging device is now commercially available after receiving clearance by the FDA in the U.S. and getting the CE Mark from the European Union and the Medical Device License from Health Canada.

Specifically, Vscan is cleared as a prescription device for ultrasound imaging, measurement, and analysis in the clinical applications of abdominal, cardiac (adult and pediatric), urological, fetal/OB, pediatric, and thoracic/pleural motion and fluid detection.

Early trial user Dr. Anthony N. DeMaria … Read more

The potential merger between Comcast and NBC Universal will be under the regulatory microscope of the Justice Department.

The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed Wednesday that it would be the agency to spearhead a review of the $30 billion deal that would give Comcast majority ownership of NBC, Universal Studios, and a host of cable TV franchises. Both the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission typically look into mergers that involve potential antitrust issues, but DOJ is taking the lead on this one. Ultimately, the Federal Communications Commission will also need to examine the deal.

First revealed last October, … Read more

Author Gregory Mone is not the only one touting would-be Santa technology this year.

General Electric has released its own theory of how the legendary Santa Claus could make his yearly trip while communicating with Mrs. Claus and the elves back at HQ. This version, however, showcases real-world technology with a green bent under development at GE labs. While the Santa hook is child's play, the technology presented has useful applications in the adult world.

For example, the company is developing "icephobic" coatings that prevent ice and water from sticking to a vehicle even when driving through … Read more

Power company Caithness Energy has given General Electric a $1.4 billion contract to supply wind turbines and 10 years' worth of maintenance for an Oregon wind farm, GE announced Thursday.

The massive 845-megawatt wind farm, Shepherds Flat, will be located near Arlington, Oregon, but span approximately 30 square miles and cover parts of Oregon's Gilliam and Morrow Counties.

GE estimates that it will supply 338 of its 2.5-megawatt wind turbine models to be installed between 2011 and 2012. Although they have been used in Europe and Asia, the company says the Shepherds Flat project will include the … Read more

Turns out Dell says it never deleted complaints from its forums about throttled processors, and it is working hard to fix the issues with updated BIOS. Donald suggests that the folks who claimed they were deleted by Dell probably lost a lot of street cred. We also speculate on the meaning of the Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal. Will "Heroes" become more Comcastic?

Comcast gets NBC from G.E. in deal that reshapes TV http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/business/media/04nbc.html … Read more

Open source is now mainstream and routinely used in mission-critical applications. For 99.999 percent of the people reading that statement, it's so obvious as to induce global yawning. But for Peter Gyorgy, chief information officer of GE's Consumer and Industrial division in Europe, it's apparently heresy.

Gyorgy is quoted by eWeek as follows:

I think open source is great for own internal playground type of things, but if it's running vital mission critical applications--networks running on open source for example--then that is a huge, huge risk to the organisation....

We are not here to be … Read more

Comcast is on a roll this week. On Tuesday it began its public pilot of a bandwidth monitoring system for its customers to figure out exactly how much they're downloading each month. This comes a little more than a year after the company announced it would be capping users at 250GB per month.

More importantly, reports say that General Electric and Vivendi have reached a tentative agreement that helps pave the way for Comcast to buy NBC Universal. If, or rather when, that deal is sealed, Comcast would expand its media reach outside of its service roots into being … Read more

General Electric on Tuesday said that it has reached an agreement to deploy its coal gasification technology in China, a move the company says will advance underground storage of carbon dioxide.

The energy giant announced a set of agreements in a ceremony in Beijing, including deals for GE's high-speed rail and hybrid locomotive engines. The activity comes the same day that China and the U.S. announced a number of energy-related research initiatives in coal, electric vehicles, and smart-grid technologies.

GE and coal power plant operator Shenhua Group signed a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture to … Read more

One major obstacle seems to have been settled in Comcast's quest to buy NBC Universal from General Electric--how much to pay for it.

Both companies have reportedly agreed on a price of $30 billion for GE's movie and TV unit, according to sources cited Monday by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal (subscription required for full story).

The agreement on the worth of NBC Universal (NBCU) is a major step toward paving the way to create a new, privately held company that would combine NBC's TV stations and Universal Studios with Comcast's TV and cable stations. … Read more