Hasta La Gadget!

Move over, software: the London and Cambridge, U.K.-based accelerator, Springboard, is launching a dedicated program for hardware startups, focusing on the Internet of Things. The new three-month accelerator bootcamp — called Springboard Internet of Things — is backed by program partners ARM, Unilever, Neul and Raspberry Pi, who will play an active role in supporting Springboard founders and providing senior mentors to participants.

Here’s how Springboard describes the new accelerator, which will be based in Cambridge

Springboard Internet of Things (“IoT”) is an accelerator program that accepts the ten best teams in any area of IoT technology — from bright idea to Series A funding.  Participating founders receive more than $150,000 of free services, seed capital and mentoring from more than 100 industry leaders around the world, in an intensive three-month bootcamp.

Springboard founder Jon Bradford said he believes the time is right for a dedicated hardware accelerator, with the rise of Internet of Things projects on crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter (now accepting U.K.-based projects), and a general sense of growing momentum and energy in the maker community. He also points to Chris Anderson’s new book Makers, which talks of a new industrial revolution powered by garage tinkerers and enthusiasts, and references a recent post by YC co-founder Paul Graham on why hardware is ‘having a moment’.

“We believe that there is a massive untapped opportunity with low power device technology — which has been demonstrated by the maker and Kickstarter community,” Bradford added in a statement.

Eben Upton, CEO and Founder of the low cost mini computer Raspberry Pi, said in a statement: “To date, the Internet of Things has been largely the playground of corporates. Dramatically falling hardware costs are shifting innovation toward smaller teams in a similar manner to how web technologies have evolved over the last 10 years.”

Springboard IoT will sit alongside Springboard’s other programs — as a supplement to the London-based Springboard web and the Springboard Mobile accelerators. Mentors for IoT include Hermann Hauser (Amadeus), Sherry Coutu, Niall Murphy (Evrythng & The Cloud), Usman Haque (Cosm & Pachube), Pilgrim Beart (AlertMe) and Brad Feld (Foundry Group & FitBit).

Entrepreneurs wanting to bag a place on the Springboard IoT program have until January 6, 2013 to compete for one of ten available slots. To apply for a place on Springboard IoT visit www.springboard.com.

LOS ANGELES — A woman who California lottery officials believe purchased a ticket worth $23 million has less than a month to claim the jackpot.

The winning ticket from Michael’s Market & Liquor in Palmdale is believed to have been sold to a dark-haired woman in a blue or purple top on May 30, spokesman Alex Traverso said Wednesday.

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Mac fans not keen on picking up a new iMac to get that best-of-all-worlds Fusion Drive might not have to consider a full-on system swap if they’re brave enough. Knowing how Apple’s approach unites an SSD and a spinning hard drive in a single logical volume, developer Patrick Stein has used command line code to do just that inside his Mac Pro and prove that it works. His series of experiments with organized data shows the effect on storage speeds and that the pseudo-Fusion should even work with less common ZFS formatting. The publicly available instructions could well be tempting to Mac fans who want speed and storage all at once, although we might personally take a pass — there’s more than a fair share of risk in using an unofficial hack to recreate a storage technique that Apple hasn’t even shipped.

Filed under: Storage, Apple

Mac Pro owner crafts an example Fusion Drive, shows the fearless how it’s done originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 05:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MacRumors, TechCrunch  |  Patrick Stein (1), (2), (3)  | Email this | Comments

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While the Nexus 4 might be Google’s most powerful Nexus handset to date, the lack of 4G LTE can be thought of as somewhat disappointing, but we guess it might not matter to some. Now it seems that if you were to get your hands on the T-Mobile version of the Nexus 4, you might be interested to learn (via TmoNews) that your phone will not support WiFi calling. We’re not sure why WiFi calling will not be supported, but if you were planning on dropping $200 for the Nexus 4 on contract with T-Mobile, it seems that paying $349 for the unlocked handset via Google Play might be a better option.

For those wondering what WiFi calling is, it basically allows T-Mobile subscribers to make phone calls using WiFi networks instead of cellular networks. This is particularly handy when your minutes are running out, since it does not bill you for those minutes used (only if you’re on the unlimited plan), plus it can also be useful in areas in which cellular reception is not particularly strong or erratic. It may or may not be a huge deal to some, but knowing that T-Mobile subscribers won’t have access to one of the carrier’s services could be something of a turn off.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: AT&T and T-Mobile offering free roaming in New York and New Jersey following Hurricane Sandy, Nexus 4 could run into launch problems in South Korea due to carriers request for customization,

Sony trimmed its losses and saw a slight uptick in sales for its Q2 2012 financial period, though still faces more drastic restructuring and a drop in revenue for full-year figures. Losses amounted to $198m in the three month period – better than Q1′s $312m loss – while sales and operating revenue crept up slightly to $20.5bn [pdf link], a rise of 1.9-percent year-on-year. Sony credits its Mobile Products & Communications (MP&C) division for that success, thanks to a little company wrangling, though it was offset by continued dreary performance in LCD TV sales.

In fact, it’s a mixed bag overall across Sony’s various lines, as the consumer electronics industry as a whole shuffles and evolves. Bringing Sony Mobile under the MP&C umbrella helped that division’s sales increase 112.1-percent year-on-year, but in many ways its no huge victory since, the company admits, had it been fully consolidated a year ago, “sales would have been essentially flat.” PC sales, however, were “significantly lower” and the division’s operating loss hit $296m.

Similarly underwhelming was Sony’s camera business, with sales diving 16.7-percent year-on-year to $2.34bn; Sony blames the rise of smartphone cameras eating into standalone compact camera sales. However, the firm saw an uptick in image sensors from external customers, though overall the Devices division – semiconductors, and components such as batteries – saw sales drop 16.6-percent year-on-year, to $3.2bn.

Falling PS3 and PSP sales had an impact on Sony’s gaming division, with a 15.8-percent drop in sales to $1.9bn, though the PS Vita was apparently a minor glimmer. Sony Pictures and Sony Music also saw decreases in income, despite The Amazing Spider-Man‘s box office success.

Sony has been slashing all around its business, recently closing down a camera component plant, as it sheds around 10,000 jobs to save operating costs. The company is also attempting to diversify, launching a collaboration with Olympus to expand into medical camera technology.

Sony trims Q2 2012 losses with Mobile revenue mirage is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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