start

Green-tech incubator seeks 'fast' start-ups

Clean-tech start-ups that think they can be nimble and quick to market may be interested in a new incubator from San Francisco.

Greenstart, whose team includes former executives from the Jumpstart Automotive Media Group, is looking to act as an accelerator for start-ups that can essentially be up-and-running in about six months.

Akin to what Y Combinator did for Web and mobile start-ups, Greenstart is looking to offer the same type of services for green-tech start-ups.

The company says it wants to find "fast cleantech" companies, but its application of that term is pretty broad.

"We define … Read more

Start-up called Hipster offers new recruits $10K, beer

I'm told that when you're attractive, it can go to your head.

You believe everyone is interested in you and it's therefore hard to decide who deserves more than a glance and a sneer from your perfect visage.

A start-up called Hipster has decided that it knows how to make attractive job seekers believe it should be their first and only date.

Unfortunately, we're only talking engineers here. So Hipster is offering some touchingly precise inducements to show its intentions are good: $10,000 and beer, for example. Yes, a year's supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

It doesn't stop there. Hipster's Web site adds that new recruits will get a bike, a pair of Buddy Holly glasses, a pair of authentic skinny jeans, a pinstriped bow tie, mustache-grooming services, and a pair of (worn, brown) boots.

Hipster is, so it says, "building a fun way to uncover the vast amount of information about real-world locations." Which sounds like a sort of local question and answer thingy on the go.

Doug Ludlow, one of the founders of Hipster, told the New York Times: "As you know, recruiting is insanely competitive right now, so we wanted to do something that would break through the noise, and get the attention of the people we're trying to reach."

Hipster is reportedly proud that this sort of incentivizing is far more effective than the hundreds of thousands the company would have to pay those slightly leechlike little middle people known as recruiters.… Read more

How to start your own wiki

Wikis are great sites dedicated to either a specific topic or collection of topics. Sometimes you may come across that your niche hobby or interest isn't well-represented in the wiki community. Fortunately, you can remedy this by creating your own, and then let other users across the Web edit the wiki to help you out. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Open a Web browser to Wikia.com.

2. Near the top there will be a Create Wiki button, click on it.

3. Pick a name for your wiki, followed by a Web address. The Web address cannot … Read more

Soluto update socializes solving crashes

Crashes and their potential to harm productivity and personal data are the bane of many computer users, but the ability to diagnose and prevent them has arrived in the latest version of Soluto (download), available exclusively today from CNET Download.com. Soluto 1.12.113 beta sees two major new features, crash protection and browser add-on management, form a tripartite attack on problematic computer performance with the program's original feature, boot time management.

Called "Heal Crashes" within the program's main interface, the crash prevention feature takes information that Windows logs but ignores, and uses it to … Read more

Start menu organizer

Start Menu enhancements are numerous, but most complaints about the Windows Start Menu boil down to this: there's too much stuff in it, and you have to click through folders to get to your programs. ChemTable Software's Handy Start Menu addresses these two issues by grouping Start Menu items together by category and by replacing folders with shortcuts that open the application in question with a single click. You can quickly toggle back to the regular Start Menu, too. Better still, it's free.

Clicking Handy Start Menu's desktop icon opens a dialog with an About section … Read more

Michelin Smart Jumper cables for easier jump-starts

We've already shown you how to jump-start your car with standard jumper cables, but if you don't trust yourself to remember all six steps in our guide, Michelin may be able to help with its new Smart Jumper cables. This set of jumpers features inline electronics that take most--but not all--of the guesswork and danger out of jump-starting a car.

There are two physical differences that seasoned automotive enthusiasts will notice between the Smart Jumper cables and, well, dumb jumpers. The first is that where standard jumpers have red and black clamps on each end, marking the positive and negative connections, all four of the Smart Jumper's connections are the same electric blue. So, how do you know what's positive and what's negative? As it turns out, it doesn't matter.… Read more

How to jump-start a car

We've all been there at least once: you've left your headlights on overnight or spent too much time listening to music in your car and when you go to start 'er up, you get nothing. What you need is a jump-start. So, call a friend or flag down a neighbor, because I'm going to show you how to do it.

What you'll need:

your disabled car with a drained battery a donor car with a charged battery jumper cables insulating gloves (optional) eye protection (optional)

Step 1: Note the orientation of the cars' batteries in the … Read more

Hearst launching Manilla for paperless bills

Manilla, a new company focused on the digital management of household bills and accounts, was unveiled Monday at the Demo conference--though it's not the type that usually shows up at the annual launch-and-pitch conference.

For one, Manilla was created within publishing conglomerate Hearst and is currently not backed by any other investors; second, the crowd of tech-industry regulars may find Manilla disappointingly basic.

That's the point. Manilla is geared not toward the bleeding edge of technology enthusiasts, but toward the average American head of household, the person responsible for corralling the home's cable and phone bills, bank … Read more

GM's eAssist 'mild hybrid' to juice Buick mileage

General Motors today said it will bring hybrid technology to Buick models that will improve fuel efficiency by about 25 percent using what GM calls "light electrification."

The powertrain, called eAssist, uses a lithium ion battery with high power but relatively little storage capacity. Like a traditional hybrid, the battery will help propel the car with up to 11 kilowatts of power from a stopped position and store energy from braking.

The battery also runs the electrical systems when the car is idle, allowing the gas engine to turn off, and provides a boost during cruising to avoid … Read more