A Boston startup that makes energy auditing software for the commercial buildings industry, Retroficiency, raised $800,000 in a seed round led by energy management services firm World Energy Solutions (NASDAQ: XWES), and joined by a number of angel investors including Jean Hammond and Jill Preotle (both early investors in ZipCar) the companies announced today.
Facility managers, auditors or engineers who need to improve the energy efficiency of an aging building input whatever basic information they know about that building into Retroficiency’s system. The software uses the available details, and a comprehensive set of data about tens of thousands of other buildings with similar traits, then uses predictive analytics to generate an energy model for that building… → Read More
As TechCrunch readers know by now, I speak my mind and don’t shy away from controversy. I am even more provocative when I talk to students. My goal is to make them think outside the box. I encourage students not only to challenge authority, but also to challenge me. I tell them that with my research on globalization, entrepreneurship, and U.S. competitiveness, I am learning as I go; no one has all the answers; I could be wrong. In some talks, I present the available data; in others I just discuss what I have learned.
Over the last ten days, I have lectured at four universities: Columbia, Emory, MIT, and UC-Berkeley. The discussions were all lively, and I received very positive feedback from students.
But my talk at MIT, last Monday, seems to have set off a firestorm. → Read More
No one disputes that Silicon Valley is the global capital of the tech world. But this wasn’t always so. It is the Valley’s dynamism and networks which have given it an unassailable advantage. Silicon Valley has simply left rivals like Boston’s Route 128 in the dust.
I mentioned a little bit about my first Columbus Day in California in a previous column. But I didn’t tell you the whole story. I was invited to three amazing events on the night of October 12. Venture capital firm Alsop-Louie—known as one of the wackier and unconventional VC firms—invited me to their legendary Columbus Day party. On that same evening I had an invite from Henry Chesbrough, Executive Director of the Center for Open Innovation at the University of California-Berkeley to attend a dinner party for his forum. Down in Silicon Valley I also had an invite to speak at an event with India’s former Minister of Disinvestment, Arun Shorie—the guy who was once in charge of privatizing the country’s moribund nationalized firms and who is as close as you can get to financial royalty in India.
It was a really hard decision which one to pick. And I found myself wondering, where else in the world would I have to face such a decision? The answer is nowhere. Silicon Valley, which has expanded to embrace the entire Bay Area as an engine of entrepreneurship and innovation, is a unique place of powerful and concurrent overlapping networks. As a new arrival to Silicon Valley and San Francisco, I had read about this and did believe it. But it was hard to understand to what degree these types of concentric circles of connections were pervasive in the Valley. I am now studying how some of these networks develop and their influence on success rates in entrepreneurship. → Read More
Doug Aamoth reporting from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. Today in the B terminal I saw some good-looking New England Patriots cheerleaders, a good-looking Maria Menounos, and then everything went all haywire when two guys in bumblebee tutus showed up followed by Richard Branson dressed like a patriotic psychiatrist’s wet dream. → Read More
Virgin America, my favorite domestic airline, is launching service to and from Boston today with three daily routes from LA and two daily routes from San Francisco. This is important for those traveling between Boston and California because all flights to and from Boston are equipped with Aircell’s Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi service.
Update: We’ve got a list of all Wi-Fi-enabled VA flights after the jump. → Read More
http://cdn.episodic.com/player/EpisodicPlayer.swf?config=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.episodic.com%2Fshows%2F21%2F164%2F10%2Fconfig.xml Star Simpson arrived at the Boston’s Logan airport wearing a wonky-looking LED sweatshirt and holding a clay flower. Putting two and two together, the state police patrolling the airport decided she was a suicide bomber and tackled, arrested, and shackled her immediately, essentially starting a huge, juicy news cycle and plenty of security theater for the sheep-like masses. Congratulations, us. Massachusetts eventually dropped the hoax device card and called her a “disorderly person,” forcing her to take 50 hours of community service. The best part is that they would have shot her dead had she not complied with the immediate search and seizure. via BB → Read More
From the hordes of rabid Mac fans to the cheering employees to the famous musicians and professional athletes, here are fifty photos from today’s Apple Store opening. → Read More
Mike Oh owns a store called Tech Superpowers. Guess where it happens to be located? Right across the alley from the new Apple Store. You may or may not have heard about the New York Yankees organization digging up a Boston Red Sox jersey that a construction worker buried under Yankee Stadium, but while that was making headlines, Oh slipped over to where construction workers were about to pour cement for the new Apple Store and buried one of his company’s work uniforms. The whole story is here in the Boston Globe and explained in further detail on the Tech Superpowers web site. I ran into Mike outside of the big opening today and talked him into showing me where he buried the shirt. Good stuff. The Ortiz Caper, Explained [TechSuperpowers.com] → Read More
Oh, hello there. I’m patiently waiting for the new Boylston Street Apple Store to open here in Boston. Did I need to show up four hours early? Probably not, but I just can’t resist sitting in an outdoor food court while pigeons buzz within inches of my fragile body. Seems nobody told them about the food chain and how humans are atop said food chain. Anyhoo, you might be interested to know that the line for the grand opening of the Apple Store stretches a country mile! Four city blocks to be precise. A few randomly snapped photos after the jump. → Read More
Originally thought to be opening on Friday, May 16th at 6:00, it appears that the Boylston Street Apple Store will actually be opening a day earlier on Thursday, May 15th at 6:00. Apple will be “giving away limited edition T-shirts and other surprises,” too, so you can look forward to some potentially free loot. More details at Apple.com. The store is located at 815 Boylston Street between Fairfield and Gloucester if you live in the Boston area and are planning to attend. → Read More
The Apple Store on Boylston Street in Boston has gotten a firm opening date and time; Friday, May 16th at 6:00 PM. I betcha a buck that I’ll be there to cover it, since I, in fact, am CrunchGear’s Boston office. It’s a nice office. We have free soda in the break room (If by “break room” you mean “my fridge” and by “free” you mean “I bought it but you can have some”). Anyway, I’ll be there in a Squid Vicious costume with an air cannon that shoots CrunchGear T-shirts out to the hordes of anxious Apple fanatics. Something like that. via MacNN → Read More
http://progressive.playstream.com/playstream/progressive/flashplayers/FLVPlayer.swf Here’s a quick first look at the Comcast + TiVo interface that’s recently become available in the Boston area. Pros: Way better than the alternative Comcast DVR interface from 1982, it’s TiVo, dual tuner + HD for about what you’d pay per month for TiVo except you don’t have to shell out $299 up front for the TiVo HD box, Comcast OnDemand feature is intact. Cons: It’s way slower than “real” TiVo, no home networking or Internet features We also found out from sources that the required technician visit is a temporary measure to make sure installations go smoothly. In the near future, it’ll be a software push upon request. You’ll just need to pick up a new TiVo remote at your local office. Actually, you don’t need to pick one up because the regular Comcast remote works. Also, the networking features will be here in a later software update, except for things that would otherwise cut into Comcast’s revenue, like downloading Amazon Unbox movies and things like that. So you’ll be able to share videos and photos across the network and maybe view Internet video, but you’ll not be able to purchase videos or movies from anywhere besides Comcast. If anyone has any questions, please let me know and I’ll try to dig up the answers. → Read More
Comcast is busy installing TiVo-equipped boxes here in the Boston area today. I’ve been waiting patiently since 11:30. It’s now a little after 1:30 and this screen’s been up for the past hour with no end in sight. Come on, TiVo! You can do it, buddy! → Read More
One of InSite’s cellular repeaters. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are now offering cellular reception in T tunnels in downtown Boston, ensuring that your once-quiet ride will be interrupted by the loud, nasal squawking of a died-in-the-wool Southie or the charming, JFK-esque inflection of a member of the New England gentry. A company called InSite installed and will maintain the antennas and is paying the MTA $4 million over 15 years (!!) to supply a few stations. The price should go up as other stations go online. Students at Northeastern proceeded to tip over cars and burn the Verizon guy in effigy upon hearing the news. ‘I M ON THE T’: Tunnels ready for cellphones [Boston] → Read More
I found this here. I do not know what it is and I am very scared. Nobody likes cable companies, but now you have a reason to loathe Comcast a little less. New England Comcast customers can pay $2.95 a month to get the TiVo interface in their cable box in addition to the normal $16.94 a month charge for a DVR, ratcheting the cost up to about $19.89. This is a good move for Comcast because it makes them look less like backwards Neanderthals and it’s a good move for TiVo because now their R&D team can eat again and build up some energy to produce an HD product that people actually will buy. It’s just not win-win for that $2.95 burning a hole in your pocket every month, but you don’t count. Comcast to Charge $2.95 Extra for TiVo DVR Service [Mulitchannel] → Read More
Wacky Boston has an idea for stopping crime and guess what!? You’re a part of it! The next time you get mugged or see someone racketeering, you can be a NARC and text the Crimestoppers tipline the city has recently just set up. This new tipline will allow residents to send Boston police an anonymous (yeah, right) text message when a crime is being committed. While this seems like a great idea, it also could infringe upon people’s rights. For instance, what if a couple of 18-year-olds are drinking beer on a porch and some old broad has the audacity to get angry and sends a text to Crimestoppers? Oh wait, old people can’t text. So the next time you get kicked out of that frat party for nearly starting a fight, remember to narc the party out for underage drinking with Crimestoppers. Boston launches anonymous SMS “Crime Stoppers” hotline [Textually] → Read More
Boston Acoustics and Denon Electronics today announced a collaborative contest that will give one extremely lucky person an extreme home theater makeover featuring electronics, furniture and installation worth more than $17,000. The criteria of the contest are thus: → Read More
Nothing like saying “F$*%$%* You” to the man. Nice work Craig. Homemade LED shirt [MAKE] → Read More
San Francisco, CA
