FotoNation, based in Burlingame, Calif., has 80 employees. Its software is used in more than two-thirds of digital cameras sold today, the company said.

The companies announced the deal Thursday during the Photo Marketing Association trade show here.

Tessera, a San Jose, Calif.-based electronics miniaturization company, will pay $29 million in net cash and another $10 million if specific milestones within the next year are met.

“That’s the biggest difference,” Schmidt said. “Not only the Chinese government, but other governments as well have been looking at the asymmetric warfare space–and it’s not only in the kinetic environment, but in the cyber(environment) as well. If you can blind the enemy by hitting their communications, then you have effective control.”

It is unclear if these intrusions were conducted by, or with the endorsement of, the PLA or other elements of the PRC government. Developing capabilities for cyberwarfare is consistent with authoritative PLA writings on this subject.

(Credit:
Pentagon)

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, Uncle Sam has kept cyberdefense on the back burner for quite a while. If we’re still sitting ducks, who’s really to blame? In the post-September 11 era, there’s been no shortage of commentary urging the U.S. to fix network holes that have existed for years. Schmidt quite correctly pointed out in our conversation that these remaining vulnerabilities offer a tempting target for outsiders to steal data.

Looking more than a decade over the horizon, the Pentagon expects China to try to gain expertise that would allow it to strike foreign communications and logistics nodes, as well as financial infrastructure and information operations, in case of a conflict.

Hardware today, software tomorrow?

What’s more, French and German government officials in the past year have accused the Chinese of sponsoring computer network intrusions. The director-general of Britain’s MI5 security service also weighed in with a warning to 300 financial institutions that the People’s Republic of China was targeting their computer networks.

I needed a reality check, so I called up Howard Schmidt, a security consultant who was the White House’s second cybersecurity czar. After reading the paper, he said the one aspect that differed from years past is the amount of time the Pentagon devoted to the topic.

“That’s what we should focus on,” Schmidt said. “Here’s the bigger issue: we need to focus to make sure that we don’t have vulnerabilities that would otherwise give people these opportunities. It’s a given that people will do these things–whether they be state-sponsored or the acts of an individual. We have to close the holes.”

Sooner, rather than later? I wouldn’t hold my breath.

But now Uncle Sam is really starting to fret. A new Pentagon report to Congress on the state of China’s military (PDF) describes the People’s Liberation Army as being on a march to acquire a more potent information technology-fighting capacity.

Here’s a headline you could have found crossing the news wires any time in the last decade: “Pentagon worried, China upgrading cyberwarfare capabilities.”

Now I know what you’re thinking — “Sony BMG said it would try to form partnerships with other music distributors, so it wouldn’t just be a Sony service!” Please. Anyone who believes that the rest of the major labels will jump on board and allow one of their major rivals the opportunity to make some cash on their songs should reevaluate their opinion.

Although this may sound nice on paper — after all, Sony BMG is a major record label with major songs — it makes no sense. Sure, Schmidt-Holtz went on to say that Sony BMG is in discussions with other major music distributors, but if you take a logical look at what’s really going on here, the other labels will never jump on the bandwagon and Sony BMG’s service will die before it even gets started.

First and foremost, record labels have no business creating music downloading services. Let’s face it — ever since music downloading became a popular commercial enterprise, it wasn’t Apple that tried to stop us from doing what we wanted, how we wanted with our music, it was the record labels.

And here’s why:

In a surprising announcement out of Sony BMG today, the company’s chief said his company is exploring the possibility of developing its own music downloading service. And while he may believe that it makes sense, I think it’s one of the dumbest things I’ve heard from one of the record labels in a long while.

Knowing this, how exactly would this service work? Would there be DRM? Sony BMG didn’t comment on that, but considering the fact that songs can be played on most major players, I would think not. Then again, the labels are still major DRM proponents, so you never really know what they come up with.

If there’s no DRM, at least the service would have a leg up on iTunes. But why would anyone even use it if you can only download the handful of worthy songs on the Sony BMG label? Does it make any sense to pay $10 per month for a service that you’ll probably only use once per month and download a handful of songs at a time? I doubt it.

According to Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, Sony’s online subscription service would allow customers to download an unlimited number of Sony BMG tunes for about $9 to $12 per month. All downloads would also be compatible with every major player on the market, including
Apple’s iPod.

Most importantly, I just don’t see how the recording industry could somehow become a major player in the music downloading business. It’s not because there isn’t enough cash — they can thank the artists for that — and the recording industry’s inability to make a dent in the downloading business probably has nothing to do with integration. More than anything else, I simply don’t see how or why consumers would gladly use Sony BMG’s service.

Record labels have no business offering music downloading services and the way I see it, they’ll never work. And let’s thank goodness for that.

If Sony BMG’s service ever gets off the ground, I’ll be surprised if it has anymore than one record label on its side. The only way for a real major label service to develop is if all parties hold the same vested interest in seeing it do well. And the way it looks, that simply won’t be happening with Sony BMG’s idea.

The RIAA is easily one of the most hated organizations in the world. On top of that, it represents the record labels that are trying to do all they can to get in on the music downloading action. Why would someone use the service of a group of companies they simply can’t stand if they can get the same music elsewhere on an a la carte basis? It just doesn’t make sense.

Ever tried Restaurant.com? Me neither, but I’ve heard good things. Basically, you search for a participating restaurant in your area, then buy a gift certificate on the cheap: $3 for a $10 certificate, for example, or $10 for $25. There are requirements, of course, usually in the form of a minimum food and/or drink purchase. But it’s not like you have to order three bottles of wine or anything. And you can print the coupon right on your own printer: It’s immediately ready for use.

(Credit:
Restaurant.com)

To make an already good deal even better, Restaurant.com is offering 50 percent off $10 certificates (which, once again, are good for $25′ worth of food). Just enter coupon code ENJOY at the checkout after you’ve chosen your restaurant. This deal expires April 13.

Find more deals, coupon codes, and bargains on CNET’s Shopper.com.

(Via Deals2Buy)

A ballon that makes electricty.

Cool Earth Solar on Thursday said it has raised at least $21 million to further develop a solar generator that you could mistake for a shiny kiddie pool.

Concentrating solar photovoltaic arrays are also being tried for industrial-scale solar power, but unlike Cool Earth Solar’s, these use sophisticated mounting systems that track the sun and expensive solar cells.

Because its design uses relatively cheap and readily available components, these solar concentrators can generate electricity at a cost comparable to that of natural-gas plants. The inflated solar collectors can withstand 100 mile-per-hour wind.

(Credit:
Cool Earth Solar)

The plastic solar collectors are mounted.

Although most people envision rooftop panels when they think of solar electricity, many new solar technologies are being developed for power plants.

It plans to manufacture plastic balloons, which will be suspended on metal and wire structures. These round balloons reflect light onto a solar cell to generate electricity.

The Livermore, Calif.-based company said the Series A round, from undisclosed investors, could be augmented by other investors in 60 days.

(Credit:
Cool Earth Solar) The setup can also be unfurled globally, rather than only in places with available funding for expensive energy projects. The company said it is negotiating with utilities to sell electricity from its solar farms. From the company’s release: Our goal from the very start was to find a clean-energy generation solution that could address the global scale of the carbon problem. We discarded everything that couldn’t scale, relied on rare components, or had some other critical bottleneck. Ultimately, we developed a novel technology which radically reduces the amount of material in our system and balances labor and capital costs.

Utilities in some states, notably California, need to comply with renewable-energy mandates. And certain regions, such as the Southwest U.S. desert and parts of Spain, are well-suited for solar-thermal power plants.

There’s another new feature with unrealized potential: Photographic Memory. You can now send pictures to your account from a Picasa Web account. That’s kind of cool, but it’d be more useful, I think, if you could send camera-phone images to your account. For example, if you had a nice bottle of wine at a restaurant that you wanted to add to your shopping list, it’d be useful if you could record it via photo. The upcoming Evernote version may allow you to do just that, and with OCR of the label to boot.

ReQall’s sexiest feature is still its speech-to-text capability. You call up the ReQall service and speak your reminder, and it adds it to your flow of notes. I’m still a bit freaked out that the service is human-assisted: If the automated speech-to-text engine doesn’t work perfectly, someone might listen to your recording to transcribe it to your account. ReQall’s Sunil Vemuri assures me that the transcribers don’t get user account information alongside the audio they work with. However, you’d still be wise to remember that actual people might be hearing your words, and that clearly illegal voice notes will bubble up and get attention you don’t want.

There’s still no visible monetization scheme for ReQall. In the future, premium accounts may get more access to voice transcription services.

There are other to-do list products (such as RememberTheMilk) and even others that parse English (IWantSandy). What makes ReQall different is that it allows multiple inputs–not just text–and outputs for your lists. You can speak your items to the ReQall phone number, put them on the Web site or widget, or connect via text message or instant message (that’s new). The service acts as both a storehouse for your items and as a reminder service. It will remind you via an IM or e-mail on items you need to remember. There’s also a pretty new
iPhone interface.

In my test of the beta, I found ReQall 2.0 easy to use but limited in its understanding of English. You have to know what keywords will set off its automatic categorizing and time-slotting. For example, when I entered the text, “Remind me in 10 minutes to prep” it did not seem to recognize what I was asking for.

ReQall makes it easy to keep daily reminder lists.

I really like all the super-clean, super-simple reminder products like ReQall–in theory. I have yet to adopt one, being a slave to my own hack of a method that involves index cards and OneNote. None of the services I’ve used so far blend both the quick-and-dirty, access-from-anywhere reminder service we all need, with a good system for recording long-form notes. Evernote may do that, but it’s still in closed beta. We’ll have a look at it shortly.

He said that its Stirling engine dish can generate electricity 20 percent to 30 percent cheaper than traditional photovoltaic panels.

Infinia on Monday said that it raised $50 million to commercialize a large mirrored dish that turns out three kilowatts of solar power.

Solar power plant developers are also investing in solar troughs or towers, which also use heat to make electricity. Another approach is concentrated solar photovoltaics, where light is amplified onto high-efficiency solar cells to make electricity. Stirling Energy Systems has been contracted to build a facility that uses arrays of very large dishes.

The company is negotiating with project developers who intend to use hundreds of the dishes in solar power plants in Spain and the southwestern United States, according to Infinia president J.D. Sitton.

The company does not intend to build a separate plant but will instead contract with existing manufacturers which already supply auto parts and other industries.

The $50 million investment is another large bet on solar electricity, one of the hottest areas in the overall clean-tech business. Many of the larger deals have gone toward developing alternative solar cell manufacturing technology or to finance solar power plants.

Infinia is somewhat unique in its technology approach. Its 21-foot-high dishes concentrate sunlight to make heat, which drives a mechanical power generator. It’s based on 19th century Stirling engine design, which uses differences in gas temperature to turn a piston.

With the money, Infinia will be able to bring its Infinia Solar System to market late in 2008.

The dishes can be set up on hillsides or even within urban areas, where construction of transmission lines wouldn’t be necessary, he said. Because it’s a modular design–334 units generate a megawatt of power–power plant developers can incrementally construct a, say, 10-megawatt facility.

The series B round was led by hedge fund GLG Partners and private equity firm Wexford Capital, and included prior investors Vulcan Capital, Khosla Ventures, EQUUS Total Return, Idealab, and Power Play Energy.

“We think various technologies will migrate to their places in the world where their performance is the best and where they have the lowest cost and best risk profile,” Sitton said. “The way we win is by dramatically expanding the number of sites available.”

The evening also spawned a new blogging endeavor, hatched by Katie Baker and launched by Blakeley: the White People Trying To Look Serious photo blog. A takeoff on the wildly popular Stuff White People Like (”white people” is a moniker for Gen-X-and-Y yuppies who worship Target and microbrews, not the Caucasian race), the blog promises to showcase plenty of photos of pasty urbanites giving the camera their best Blue Steel.

Lolcats were getting old, anyway.

In the tech world at large, Gawker Media video producer Richard Blakeley is better known for getting kicked out of events than organizing them himself–he’s the guy who was served a lifetime ban from the Consumer Electronics Show after running around shutting off displays.

New trend in New York media: White People Trying To Look Serious. Clockwise from left: Gawker Media's Nick McGlynn, Richard Blakeley, Dealbreaker.com's John Carney, budding Tumblr trendsetter Katie Baker

(Credit:
Nick McGlynn/Randomnightout.com)

“I sent an invite to nearly all of my 150 (Facebook) friends. About 20-30 replied and I thought, ‘Awesome, cool.’ But then something happened,” Blakeley continued. “It started popping up in people’s News Feeds and then each day, 10 people would sign up… (Each time) I saw that fewer and fewer people had any common Facebook friends with me. That turned out to be the best thing. What I feared would be a bunch of PR d***wads crashing my party was actually bringing old media and new media together.”

The funny thing is that, considering the odds, Fake Nick Denton was likely in the room. Real Nick Denton actually was. I have a theory that they’re one and the same.

The end result was that dozens of folks from every clique of New York’s tech and media community showed up, from newspapers to blogs to tech start-ups. That basically means that there was an extremely high concentration in the room of Tumblr bloggers, Muxtape listeners, and people who know what Hell Square is. (Here’s Dan Frommer’s take from the Silicon Alley Insider.)

“Tech people really only hang out with other tech people,” Blakeley related to me on Friday when I asked him why he started Media Meshing, “and that’s a shame because the male-to-female ratio on that is totally wacky.” Whether or not his assertion about the insideriness of the city’s Web 2.0 set was accurate, Blakeley decided to do something about it: throw a party, invite his friends from tech and media, whether they knew each other or not, and put up an open invitation on Facebook.

Indeed, one of the most prolific discussion topics of the evening was something entirely too insidery for its own good: the identity of the blogger behind Nick Denton’s Brain Droppings (warning: content probably not work-safe), an anonymous Tumblr blog purporting to be written by the Gawker Media czar. Unlike his predecessor Fake Steve Jobs, Fake Nick doesn’t write about celebrities. He writes both made-up and probably-not-made-up stuff (almost all of it extremely crass) about mundane Gawker employees and other New York bloggers, implying that the writer behind Fake Nick is extremely familiar with the intricacies of the local new-media culture, perhaps a little too much so. From what it seems like, more than a few people might be uncomfortable with just how much the guy knows and how much he’d be willing to say about, oh, extramarital affairs.

Yong Su Kim, CEO of Askpedia, which describes itself as “a knowledge marketplace for questions and answers” and awards cash prizes to the best answers, said that his small start-up has about 100,000 registered users. He sent an e-mail to CNET News.com in which he speculated that “our guess is that their lawyers have nothing better to do.”

A deadline of 10 days was provided, meaning that IAC would presumably seek legal action after Sunday, March 23.

Just how much does Ask.com own the word “Ask?” Enough to have a problem with a question-and-answer site called “Askpedia,” apparently. Representatives from the start-up Askpedia.com told CNET News.com that the search engine’s parent company, InterActiveCorp, sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this month, citing intellectual property violations in the name “Askpedia.”

Kim continued, “Either that or they’re working on a Wikipedia-like service and want the domain name and trademark.”

Ask.com’s trademark on the name was first filed April 28, 1999, when the company was still known as Ask Jeeves and had not yet been acquired by the Barry Diller-helmed IAC in 2005. These days, the search engine has been undergoing a restructuring process in order to handle its tepid market share.

IAC representatives were contacted to verify the contents of the cease-and-desist letter, but were not immediately available for comment.

The letter, signed by Edward T. Ferguson, IAC senior vice president and general counsel, and provided to CNET News.com by Askpedia representatives, goes on to request that Askpedia “cease and desist from all use of Ask’s trademarks and other intellectual property, including without limitation in the name ‘Askpedia’ or any similar formation using the word ‘ask,’” and agree not to do so in the future.

But if it even makes one person think twice, or even once, about the consequences, then any amount of graphic content is to be applauded. There is surely nothing gratuitous about trying to save a life.

It has already been discussed on NBC’s “Today Show.”

But the police department of Gwent, Wales, felt it had to do something to highlight the realities of texting and driving, so together with filmmaker Peter Watkins-Hughes, it made a public service announcement.

It has apparently enjoyed more than 1 million views on YouTube. And it has already aroused cries that it is too graphic, too shocking, too much to watch.

The film shows a teenage girl driving some friends in her
car.
Engrossed in her texting, she is involved first in one crash before her car is then broadsided by another.