power

The CEO of Beacon Power, a government-backed energy storage company that has filed for bankruptcy protection, said today that the company could still survive.

Bill Capp released a statement (click for PDF) taking issue with comparisons to Solyndra, a solar collector maker that received a $535 million loan guarantee, then abruptly shut down at the end of August, declaring bankruptcy.

Beacon Power, which makes a flywheel storage system for steadying the grid's frequency, on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Both Solyndra and Beacon Power received loans through the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee program, which immediately … Read more

AT&T gets its first LTE smartphones this weekend, Google Reader is integrated with Google Plus, and we learn more about the death of Microsoft's Courier tablet project.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

The bankruptcies of Solyndra and now Beacon Power show that green-technology startups are still struggling to find ways to cross the dreaded "Valley of Death" into mass commercialization.

Flywheel storage company Beacon Power filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday after running out of options to raise money and fund operations. "The current economic and political climate, the financing terms mandated by DOE, and Beacon's recent delisting notice from Nasdaq have together severely restricted Beacon's access to additional investments through the equity markets," CEO William Capp said in bankruptcy papers, according to reports.

There are significant … Read more

Beacon Power, which secured a $43 million federal loan guarantee to install a flywheel grid storage system, has declared bankruptcy in a case that will likely draw more complaints about government loans to small clean-energy companies.

The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company yesterday filed for Chapter 11 protection in bankruptcy court because it was unable to raise money through the stock market. Beacon Power has never been profitable and earlier this month received a Nasdaq delisting notice after its stock had been under $1 for more than 30 days.

"The current economic and political climate, the financing terms mandated by … Read more

The Paradigm Shift A2 speaker can be used alone or in stereo pairs with iPods and other music players, desktop computers, home DJ decks, and game consoles.

The A2 is bi-amped, with one amp for the 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter, and another amp for the 5-inch, satin-anodized aluminum woofer. There are a total of 100 watts of power per speaker. Connectivity is a little unusual in that each speaker has stereo RCA and 3.5-mm minijack inputs and outputs. It is also compatible with AirPort Express. The speaker doesn't have a bass port; it's a sealed (acoustic suspension) … Read more

Still don't have a Halloween costume? Check out Superpunch's list of downloadable masks--just print and cut them out, add a string or a Popsicle stick if you're extra lazy, and off you go. Happy Halloween!

Vampire power, also known as standby power, is a reference to some electronics sucking up juice even when they're turned off, but it also works for our ongoing Halloween show title theme! Check out this article on the Learning Thermostat to see what Nest Labs is doing to kill vampire power.

The iPhone Dev-Team is already close to finishing a preliminary jailbreak on the iPhone 4S that will eventually work with the iPad 2 as well, but what happened to good old analog piracy? As it happens, Activision Blizzard is knee-deep in pirates already circulating bootleg copies of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.… Read more

Harnessing energy from the oceans involves a lot more than putting a generator in the water.

IBM Research today announced a project to monitor the impact of noise on marine ecosystems from a wave energy generator in Ireland. Done in conjunction with the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, its part of an ongoing SmartBay project to monitor the environment of Galway Bay with sensors and telemetry to advance ocean energy.

To monitor the acoustic impact of wave power, a generator from OceanEnergy in Ireland is equipped with audio sensors. Data from the sensors is fed continuously to IBM's data centers … Read more

D-Link today announced its three new power-line solutions, the PowerLine AV Mini Adapter (model DHP-310AV), PowerLine AV Mini Adapter Kit (DHP-311AV), and PowerLine AV 4-port Switch Mini Adapter Starter Kit (DHP-348AV).

All of these new devices come in a compact design that's much smaller than similar products of the same standard. Unfortunately, they offer throughput speeds of only up to 200Mbps. Other power-line products on the market, such as the Netgear XAV5501 or even the D-Link AV 500 switch, support the faster 500Mbps power-line standard.

Nonetheless, the new adapters will make a great wireless alternative for the far corners that a Wi-Fi signal can't get to.… Read more

A Space Shooter brings whimsy and comic-book-style graphics to the crowded touch-driven shoot-'em-up category. You play as Commander P. Jefferson, a Buzz Lightyear-like character whose sole purpose is to protect the galaxy. With your double-barrel spacecraft, you get to hunt down aliens, destroy asteroids, and tangle with enemy ships. While the game's story may be somewhat confusing and disjointed, it doesn't take any of the fun out of the straightforward missions.

A Space Shooter's interface is as simple as it gets. Just touch the screen and drag in the direction you want your ship to fly. … Read more