This is an energy storage startup you need to know about, and more for Monday, February 16, 2015

This is an energy storage startup you need to know about Ucilia Wang Feb 16 2015, 5:00am PDT Inside a sunlit, cramped office near San Francisco’s financial district, entrepreneur and former political operative Susan Kennedy has been leading a team that is at the forefront of the emerging market for energy storage. The company, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, was in stealth mode until it became […] Read More » 9 frustrations I’d like to see Apple fix in iOS 9 Mark Crump Feb 15 2015, 12:00pm PDT Recently, 9-to-5 Mac reported that iOS 9 will likely be a stability release. If true, this is welcome news. I’ve become very frustrated with that the pace Apple has been introducing new features has come at a stability cost. Snow Leopard is often lauded as a […] Read More » Three tips for young startup founders from a guy who’s been there Geoffrey Woo, Nootrobox Feb 15 2015, 10:30am PDT A lot of startup founders today are launching companies fresh out of college (if not earlier). That’s what I did a little more than three years ago when I launched Glassmap, a mobile, location-based social network. I subsequently saw the full lifecycle of incorporating, going through […] Read More » Disrupting reality: Silicon Valley is busy ignoring the real world Janko Roettgers Feb 15 2015, 8:00am PDT Don’t feel like talking to anyone ever again? Don’t worry, there’s an app for that. Earlier this week, San Francisco-based Melian Labs launched its MyTime app on Android, promising to take the hassle out of making appointments by letting you book services from local businesses directly […] Read More » The time is right for a Chromebook Pixel 2 Kevin C. Tofel Feb 15 2015, 7:08am PDT Although my original Chromebook Pixel still works well, the device is a few generations behind when it comes to the chips inside. Laptops using newer chips get noticeably more battery life on a single charge thanks to reduced power requirements and optimizations. The original Pixel, for example, […] Read More » The Internet of Things has a new home on Gigaom Research Cormac Foster Feb 15 2015, 6:00am PDT For years, Gigaom Research has covered the Internet of Things, from smart cities to smart homes to a smart and connected supply chain. During that time, our IoT content has been part of our existing research coverage areas. But over the past 18 months, the IoT […] Read More » A year later, is the huge Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal doomed? Stacey Higginbotham Feb 14 2015, 12:00pm PDT One year ago, Comcast, the largest cable provider in the country announced it would buy Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second largest cable provider, in a deal valued at $45 billion. Not since AT&T tried to scoop up T-Mobile had a communications deal rallied consumers and […] Read More » Why deep learning is at least inspired by biology, if not the brain Derrick Harris Feb 14 2015, 10:58am PDT As deep learning continues gathering steam among researchers, entrepreneurs and the press, there’s a loud-and-getting-louder debate about whether its algorithms actually operate like the human brain does. The comparison might not make much of a difference to developers who just want to build applications that can identify objects […] Read More » Why your things need the cloud Nathaniel Borenstein, Mimecast Feb 14 2015, 10:30am PDT Every few years there is a new “next big thing” in the fast-changing computing industry. Sometimes these “next big things” have proven to be fads or simply repackaged versions of what has come before. But sometimes the latest craze is worth paying attention to because it signals a […] Read More » Why this Apple TV fan has come to prefer Amazon’s Fire TV Geoffrey Goetz Feb 14 2015, 9:00am PDT While many anxiously await Apple’s new groundbreaking iWatch, Amazon’s Fire TV sets its sights on replacing Apple’s hobby device. Even for the most devout Apple addicts that cant live without their Apple TVs will find the Fire TV to be a worthwhile replacement. Read More » How tech trials force a choice between bad people and bad law Jeff John Roberts Feb 14 2015, 8:00am PDT Of course Ross Ulbricht was guilty. Despite his far-fetched claims of mistaken identity, a New York jury confirmed the obvious: that Ulbricht (aka Dread Pirate Roberts) was the criminal mastermind who took on a villain’s name, and became rich by running an online marketplace that sold any drug imaginable. All the same, protestors on the […] Read More » Mobile recap: Windows 10 phone peek; Android Wear shipments Kevin C. Tofel Feb 14 2015, 5:56am PDT This was the week where mere mortals could get their first look at Windows 10 on a smartphone and I took advantage it. Using a loaner Lumia 830, I ran through the installation process, which requires a Windows Insider account; you can get one here, which […] Read More » If Pinterest hadn’t gone after affiliate marketers, the FTC might have Carmel DeAmicis Feb 13 2015, 3:53pm PDT On Friday, Pinterest banned affiliate links on its site, claiming that they cluttered up people’s feeds with spam. Most media companies called foul, saying that Pinterest was putting its own financial interest above its users, some of whom would lose big streams of revenue without affiliate links. […] Read More » Report: Apple might challenge Tesla with an electric minivan Signe Brewster Feb 13 2015, 3:24pm PDT Hundreds of Apple employees are working on an electric car that resembles a minivan, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. It’s possible the car will never make it to market, but the WSJ’s sources said the company has been meeting with manufacturers in […] Read More » Why it matters that the federal government will accept Apple Pay Kif Leswing Feb 13 2015, 1:31pm PDT Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke before President Barack Obama at a cybersecurity summit at Stanford University on Friday, and he was able to slip a few major Apple Pay announcements into his talk reiterating his commitment to privacy. There were two big Apple Pay developments from today’s […] Read More » Microsoft’s next mobile move may be apps pre-installed on Galaxy S6 Kevin C. Tofel Feb 13 2015, 1:09pm PDT That Galaxy S6 phone Samsung is expected to introduce on March 1 could have one big trick up its sleeve: Microsoft apps pre-installed. That’s the word from SamMobile’s sources, which previously reported that Samsung’s own TouchWiz apps were likely to be unbundled from the new Galaxy […] Read More » Report: Google following Facebook down the zero-rate rabbit hole Kevin Fitchard Feb 13 2015, 12:38pm PDT Google wants to make Android apps free to use overseas, giving more people access to mobile data services in developing markets, according to a new report in The Information. This kind of zero rating, as it is known, is exactly what Facebook does in several countries […] Read More » Wi-Fi industry is worried about mobile invading its airwaves Kevin Fitchard Feb 13 2015, 11:49am PDT There’s a new technology buzzing around mobile carrier circles called License Assisted Access that promises to make our 4G networks faster by dipping into unlicensed airwaves. Most people have never heard of it, but the Wi-Fi industry sure has and it’s raising some red flags. LAA, also […] Read More » Microsoft says its new computer vision system can outperform humans Derrick Harris Feb 13 2015, 11:17am PDT Microsoft researchers claim in a recently published paper that they have developed the first computer system capable of outperforming humans on a popular benchmark. While it’s estimated that humans can classify images in the ImageNet dataset with an error rate of 5.1 percent, Microsoft’s team said its deep-learning-based […] Read More » MIT uses patent from 1997 to sue Apple over chips Jeff John Roberts Feb 13 2015, 10:38am PDT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a patent lawsuit against Apple and its suppliers this week, claiming that semiconductor wafers found in the company’s computers and mobile devices infringe on a patent obtained by two academics more than 15 years ago. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Boston federal […] Read More »