Corevel Technology: google

Showing posts with label google. Show all posts

Friday, 17 January 2014

Facebook acquires social media startup Branch, to build conversation group

Facebook acquires social networking startup Branch Media to focus on online forms.

Facebook has acquired New York based start up Branch Media to develop Facebook's conversations group. The financial details about the deal have not been disclosed yet but according to sources the deal is estimated to be worth about $ 15 million.

The social networking start-up was launched two years ago with backing from The Obvious Corporation, a firm backed by Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams. According to the deal New York City-based startup's twin social networks, Branch and Potluck, will continue to operate independently and work on Facebook conversations for helping people connect based on their interests.

Josh Miller, Branch's co-founder announced the acquisition in a Facebook post. "After two years building Branch and Potluck, I am thrilled to announce that we will be continuing our mission at Facebook," said Miller.

"We will be forming Facebook's Conversations group, based in New York City, with the goal of helping people connect with others around their interests. Their pitch to us was: "Build Branch at Facebook scale," he added.

Miller said that he is "incredibly bullish on Facebook". He added, "At the end of the day, social networks are valuable for the size and density of their network (of people)—not the volume of photos shared or messages sent," Miller wrote in a blog post. "In that regard, Facebook still reigns supreme, by far."

Facebook has recently acquired its first Indian start-up Little Eye labs that monitors building tools and performance analysis of mobile app developers. The acquisition is aimed to enhance the social networking giants revenue from its mobile business. The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed yet, but according to media reports the price was approximately $ 15 Million.

Friday, 6 December 2013

With focus on 3G markets, Idea launches Dual-SIM, Android smartphone Aurus 4 for Rs 8,999

With focus on 3G markets, Idea launches Dual-SIM, Android smartphone Aurus 4 for Rs 8,999
TT Correspondent \| \| 06 Dec 2013

With an eye on the emerging 3G markets. Idea Cellular, India’s 3rd largest mobile operator launched the Aurus 4, a dual-sim, 3G smartphone in India. The smartphone is priced at Rs 8,999. Idea said that it plans to sell the new Aurus 4 through its own retail and service outlets across major 3G markets, Gujarat, Maharashtra & Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Kerala, UP West & East, Haryana, J&K and HP. Idea Aurus 4 features a 11.4 cms (4.5”) TFT display with 16 m colors. It runs on Android Jelly Bean (4.2) and is powered by a 1.3 GHz dual-core processor.It sports a 5MP primary camera along with video calling facility and 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It packs in 1800 mah battery and also offers long hours of talk and idle time. It comes with 4GB of inbuilt storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card and 512MB of RAM. Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said, “The young and savvy youth of India has a huge appetite for content on mobile, but is deterred due to highly priced smartphones in India. Idea is bridging this gap by offering 3G smartphones packed with high-end features at relat4ely low price. Idea Aurus 4 is the latest addition to our growing portfolio of 3G devices which is enabling a large base of Idea users experience 3G for the first time in India.” Aimed at the youth the Aurus 4 is the latest addition in Idea’s popular Aurus series of 3G smartphones which the company said are rich in features and smart on price. Idea in the past launched number of 3G phones including ULTRA, the company’s first smartphone in the 12 cms (5”) category. It said that it sold over 6 lakh devices from a dozen models in the 8.89 cm (3.5”), 10.16 cm (4”) and 11.43 cm (4.5”) categories, in the Indian market. Idea Aurus 4 key specifications Android 4.2 Jelly Bean 4.5-inch TFT display with 480x854 pixels resolution 1.3GHz dual-core processor 512MB of RAM 4GB of inbuilt storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card 5-megapixel rear camera 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera Dual-SIM device (GSM+GSM) 1800mAh battery

Google pumps $12M into African solar energy project

By Jolie O'Dell | VentureBeat.com, Published: May 31, 2013

In is bajillionth green energy investment, Google has targeted the Jasper Power Project, a South African solar plant.

The investment totals $12 million and marks the search company’s first investment in Africa. This sum is part of a larger $260 million round including investors such as SolarReserve, a U.S. solar power developer; Intikon Energy, a South African renewable energy developer; and the Kensani Group, a South African empowerment investment firm.

The Jasper Power Project will be an advanced photovoltaic plant capable of generating 96 MW of clean energy for residents of South Africa. The project is designed not only to meet the country’s renewable energy goals but also to create long-term jobs and economic opportunity.

“Back in 2008, South Africa experienced a severe energy shortage, which resulted in blackouts throughout the country and slowed down economic growth,” writes Google energy and sustainability director Rick Needham today on the company blog.

“Since then the South African government has been actively supporting the growth of new sources of electricity to power the nation. … Given South Africa’s position as an economic powerhouse in Africa, a greener grid in South Africa can set an example for the whole continent.”

Previously, Google has made big investments in solar projects around the world. There’s a $168 million investment in a Mojave Desert power tower, a $94 million investment in photovoltaic projects throughout California, a smaller $5 million round for a plant in Germany, and a $280 million deal for SolarCity, which went public the following year.

All that is augmented by other investments in green energy, particularly wind farms.

Apple is planning a solar panel farm for its data center in Reno

By Katie Fehrenbacher | GigaOM.com, Published: July 2

Apple, working with Nevada utility NV Energy, is planning to build another solar panel farm next to a data center, and this time it’s for its new data center in Reno, Nevada. Apple has already been building two solar panel farms next to its data center in North Carolina, and this latest solar farm in Reno, called the “Ft. Churchill Solar Array,” shows Apple’s growing commitment to clean power at its new facilities.

Apple’s solar farm in Reno will be able to provide between 18 to 20 MW worth of power, which is about the same size as its two solar plants in North Carolina, which are both 20 MW in size. For an independent company (not a utility) — particular an internet company — 18 to 20 MW is a very large solar system.

But for the Reno solar farm, Apple is actually planning to use a new type of technology for the solar system, which includes both solar panels and also mirrors that concentrate the sun’s rays up to seven times onto the panels. That process increases the amount of power generated.

Apple is working with solar company SunPower on the engineering and construction, as well as the tracker technology that will be used with the solar panels. Apple also worked with SunPower for its North Carolina solar farms.

Apple’s partnership with utility NV Energy also shows how Apple is looking to work closely with utilities in states to create clean power options for its data centers. Apple is one of the first companies to take advantage of a new green tariff approved by Nevada’s utility commission that will enable Apple to pay for the cost of building the solar panel farm.

Since Apple will assume the incremental building costs throughout the project, the rates of NV Energy’s other customers doesn’t have to go up. Duke Energy and Google are working on a similar (though slightly different) proposal in North Carolina.

In the Nevada green tariff proposal, NV Energy can also pay Apple to use or even eventually buy the solar farm and include it in its energy generating assets. The Nevada state utility commission approved the green tariff on June 12. Apple has an option to expand the solar farm as well.

Because building the solar farm might take awhile, Apple plans to also use local geothermal power (the Galena 3 geothermal facility), which is widely available in the Reno area. Part of the reason that Apple chose to build its next data center in Reno, Nevada was because of the abundant clean power there.

The Apple Reno solar farm could create 100 jobs during the construction period.

Apple addressed the project in a statement:

All of Apple’s data centers use 100 percent renewable energy, and we are on track to meet that goal in our new Reno data center using the latest in high-efficiency concentrating solar panels. This project will not only supply renewable energy for our data center but also provide clean energy to the local power grid, through a first-of-its-kind partnership with NV Energy. When completed, the 137 acre solar array will generate approximately 43.5 million kilowatt hours of clean energy, equivalent to taking 6,400 passenger vehicles off the road per year.

NV Energy CEO Michael Yackira said in a statement:

We’re excited to be in partnership with Apple on a new solar energy project, the first project under our new Green Energy Program. This program allows customers such as Apple to choose to have a greater proportion of their energy coming from renewables than the law requires, without having a cost impact on our other customers.

Apple is looking to eventually use 100 percent clean power for its data centers through a combination of direct clean power generation, buying renewable energy credits and buying clean power from providers.

Suvolta’s energy-saving tech cuts an ARM chip’s power consumption in half

Chip startup Suvolta has developed a process that when used in manufacturing chips helps them conserve power, and it has shown off the results in a test with ARM. In that test, anARM microcontroller core consumed 50 percent less power than it previously would have running at 350 MHz. While these microcontroller cores aren’t the chips inside phones or servers, the Cortex M cores are ARM’s bet for the internet of things.

And if you think reducing power consumption on mobile devices is important, imagine having to plug in 40 or 50 sensors in order for your smart home to function. Those connected door locks or thermostats need power too.

Yet, that’s not all that’s packed into the news about Suvolta’s ARM partnership. Jeff Lewis, SVP business development and marketing with Suvolta, notes that what happens with the Cortex M core could be duplicated in the higher-level A-15 and other ARM cores that are used in mobile phones. So while the Suvolta technology isn’t designed into those or used for manufacturing ARM’s cores today, an ARM licensee could easily bring the power-saving tech to the upper tiers of ARM cores if it chose.

The technology works best for systems on a chip — multiple cores combined together onto one chip. SoCs, as they are called, are becoming more important as companies integrate more functions on one chip.

Suvolta on Tuesday also announced apartnership with UMC, a semiconductor manufacturing plant, where UMC can make chips using the Suvolta Deeply Depleted Channel process at sizes down to 28 nanometers. The chip-making process aims to cram as many transistors on a chip as possible, and the lower that process number is, the more advanced (and energy efficient) the chip is. The ARM core tested was manufactured at 65 nanometers.

I’ve been amped up about Suvolta for a few years now, and am excited that its technology is gaining ground with big name companies such as ARM. We’re placing computing in more places, but without new breakthroughs in battery life, those computers will have to have wires or compromise compute for battery life. With Suvolta, they can double their run-time without time-consuming architecture changes or expensive manufacturing techniques.