American money + Swedish greentech (CNET News.com)

My article on Michael Wood's visit and the meeting between Fredrik Reinfeldt and George Bush was posted on the 14th May, day before the meeting.

An example of how Swedish innovations in renewable energy gets U.S. attention.




U.S. Ambassador in Sweden, Michael Wood

Article: http://news.com.com/Matching+American+money+with+Swedish+green+tech/2100-11395_3-6183700.html?tag=item

Using the sun to cross the Atlantic

Many things that happens in New York are very business oriented. One thing that recently happened was not only business oriented, but could be categorized in many different beats. If there existed an innovation news feed, this thing would clearly belong there.

The 14 meter long catamaran Sun21 just arrived to New York. It is the world's first boat to cross the Atlantic, by just using solar power. The people behind Sun21 showed that it is not only possible, but also a pretty good idea, to make more use of the sun while on the sea.

The business aspect of this is that a sun powered boat does not need any traditional fuel. The political aspect is that this is an eye-opener for environmental issues. There is even a slight sport aspect, since both sailing and motor boating are considered as sports.

However, to make the article interesting for Spectrum's web readers, I narrowed it down to focus on the technology aboard:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may07/comments/1823

Innovative projects

In beginning of May, I went to the Interactive Telecommunications Program's spring show, arranged at New York University. There, some student artists and innovators (yes, that's how they described themselves) were showing interesting projects. It was fun to see how they mixed old stuff with new technology, even though I would categorize most of the projects as innovative, rather than as innovations.

In terms of covering the event for Spectrum, I realized that a slideshow with some captions would be one of the best ways to cover it. Innovative journalism for innovative stuff; An innovation journalism approach is probably more suitable for other articles.

Article:
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may07/comments/1824

Chinese invasion

Two more Chinese solar power companies filed for initial public offerings. So far there are five Chinese solar firms being traded in Nasdaq, and investors have just loved them. We'll see what happens to LDK and Yingli.

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22259&hed=Chinese+Solar+Firms+File+IPOs

EnerNOC made its debut on Nasdaq, and it was also well received by investors.

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22333&hed=EnerNOC+Jumps+in+Nasdaq+Debut

Girls of Engineering: Smart is Sexy

Everyday, I go to the gym with two of my colleagues at Spectrum. Everyday, we discuss article ideas and how to improve the magazine. And we are especially interested in increasing the hit rate for the online version of Spectrum. What do many people search for on Internet? Nudity! What can a magazine for engineers do about that to attract readers, but still be considered as proper by readers and advertisers? How about an investigative behind-the-scene article about the photo calendar Girls of Engineering 2007?! My gym buddy Philip E. Ross did some interesting findings, enough for him to produce the most questionable article IEEE Spectrum has published for quite a while:

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may07/5099

Ergonomic computer mouse

Who would pay $ 200 for a computer mouse? Since problems with carpal tunnel syndrome are on the rise, maybe people will be willing to pay more for an ergonomic mouse that hopefully both can prevent and heal the much-dreaded syndrome. That's at least what Napa Valley entrepreneur Mike Sjoblom (yes, he's Swedish) is hoping with his new pointing device Trackbar Emotion. He says that $ 200 isn't that much if the alternative is long sick leaves and loss of production.
In today's San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/14/BUGFQPP7V91.DTL&hw=hermansson&sn=001&sc=1000

Cleantech boom-and-bust and weird cars

Wait a minute, did you just put all your savings in cleantech companies? Oh no, you should have read Red Herring first. Poor you.

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22146&hed=Energy+Tech%e2%80%99s+Bubble+Warning

And while the Air Car still lives in Injo fellows' hearts - and only there, not in reality - it might be fun to read a bit more about peculiar cars. After the article linked below was published, one of the Feel Good Cars' shareholders contacted me and said he's worried about the company's EEStor deal. He said there are major errors in EEStor patented technology, and the energy storage won't work. He had informed the company president about this with no response.

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22161&hed=Life+in+the+Fast+Lane%3f+

IM generation is taking over (CNET News.com)

At the OnHollywood conference founder of AlwaysOn and media entrepreneur Tony Perkins introduced the theme of the year (second time the conference was held in Hollywood):

Web 3.0. 2007 is the year when Web 2.0 will be professionalized and mobilized. In the same sentence he said that the next generation is driving innovation. The IM (instant messaging) generation.

"Adopt or die as a company, said Tony Perkins. "Offer interactive content on every platform: PC, cell phone and TV".

Thursday at the conference a panel of younger professionals talked about the power of the IM generation. It resulted in a blog on www.news.com:

http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9716046-7.html?tag=bl

Digging down Kevin Rose from Digg.com in Hollywood

Last week I attended the OnHollywood conference by AlwaysOn. In one of the panels (on Wednesday) was Kevin Rose, co-founder of the blog Digg.com. They had problems with the blog the day before (Tuesday night) because of users putting up postings with illegal HD-TV codes. Kevin Rose and other founder Jay Adelson with staff, decided to take the postings off the site. Then the readers and creators of content revolted against them. They then decided to put the postings back up.

Everyone including NY Times and Fortune wanted to talk to Kevin or Jay, but couldn't get through the PR-people. I did. After the panel I ran up to the stage, cornered him, introduced myself, gave him my cell phone and got him to talk to one of our reporters who was writing a story. It ended up in the only interview Digg.com founders gave that day and the days to follow.

Caroline McCarthy's article:
http://news.com.com/Digg+in+tough+spot+with+DMCA+debacle/2100-1025_3-6180998.html?tag=item

Seems like Wired had a hard time getting hold of the Digg people:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/05/digg_battening_.html

On the Thursday Caroline (who is based in NY) happened to meet Jay Adelson at an event in NY. Part of her e-mail to the CNET Newsroom:

"Of note re: Kevin Rose not talking to anyone but us...
Randomly saw Jay Adelson at a tech thing tonight (yeah, I know, random, had no idea why he was in NYC) and he said, "Yeah, we're going to keep Kevin indoors for a while," and then added that K-Ro is "getting better" with media stuff by the day, which (according to Adelson) is surprising for a guy who was in TV before he was a Web guy. Basically, he confirmed that they are concerned about him verbally screwing up..."

Wireless – hot spot for innovation – again

Seven years ago Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer named Stockholm "mobilevalley". As many other big IT-companies, the software giant hadopened a software development center in Stockholm for mobile internetapplications. A lot of money was poured into mobile internet labs andstartups in the Swedish capital.But as for many emerging technologies, it took more time thanexpected for this young industry to emerge.Even today, a minority of mobile phone users actually use and pay fora mobile data plan.But money and optimism is certainly back. At the Venturewire WirelessInnovation Conference in Redwood City last week, 64 startupspresented their ideas. Themes are very much the same as seven yearsback including mobile internet, mobile e-mail and positioningservices.Even if the time might be right this time, these young companies havemany hurdles to cross.My report from the conference has been published at redherring.comand will also appear in the next printed issue of the magazine:http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=22124&hed=Parking+Cash+on+Wireless+

Marie Alpman

Swedish Clean Tech meets Silicon Valley

So I finally managed to edit the small video-piece on US-ambassador Michael Wood and his presentation on Swedish clean tech to venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. Its now up on PodTech's homepage, check it out here.

TV + internet = true

Todays post on PodTechs blog on the future of online video also touches the innovation-perspective on a large scale - although it was wrapped up rather fast and more has the character of an op-ed. Spending more time with the subject would make an interesting story in my opinion. Here it is.

The revolution at Digg.com

Yesterdays quick summary on the Digg-revolt that I wrote for PodTechs blog touches upon several areas of innovation-journalism in my opinion. It's about a rather new product/site dealing with legal policies that could have economic consequences. They probably did not expect a user-revolution... Read it here.