Archive for May, 2009
Friday, May 29th, 2009
TOKYO (AP)- Google has long been the king of search, dominating rivals including Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. But it increasingly sees social networks such as Facebook as challengers to its search engine, a Google official said.
As people search out advice online for everyday, personal decisions, the standard list of links served up by Google is not seen as intimate or trustworthy, Google Group Product Manager Ken Tokusei said.
For decisions such as choosing a restaurant or a day care provider, social networking sites or known review sites have an advantage, he said.
Such sites offer information from friends or acquaintances, and Tokusei said users tend to trust that information more. This puts Google’s results at a disadvantage.
“We haven’t gotten to the point where results are seen as if they come from someone you know,” he said.
The search giant has begun to offer tools for users to rate results and delete unrelated links, but it still has work to do, he said.
As Internet users gain savvy and experience, they also expect better-honed answers to queries. Sites such as WolframAlpha, launched earlier this month, comb the Internet for data, and analyze it to provide specific answers to queries, rather than a list of sites.
Google Inc. does something similar for some searches, providing price quotes for “Sony stock” or an answer for “Tunisia capital.” But it also provides the familiar list of sites to dig further, a strategy it is unlikely to change.
“It’s a matter of determining what kind of information the user is looking for. But we will always serve some links to pages with our results,” said Tokusei.
He spoke to reporters at Google’s Japanese headquarters in Tokyo, where he gave an overview of the company’s basic search tools.
Google has developed a host of expanding tools and services, from a mobile operating system to an online word processor, but it devotes 70 percent of its employees and resources to search.
The company still faces fresh competition from its traditional rivals, which are regrouping in an attempt to take back market share.
Microsoft has failed to make much headway in repeated Internet ventures. But the deep-pocketed company, which has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into improving its search engine, continues to develop a new search technology, part of which is called “Kumo” internally.
Yahoo, which has seen its share of total online searches conducted plummet to Google, is tweaking its search results, cutting out some links and emphasizing images and video.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said he is still interested in buying part of Yahoo after a proposed deal was turned down last year.
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, MD—Pixelligent Technologies, a company developing nanotechnology applications in optical lithography and nanocomposites for the semiconductor and microelectronics markets, has raised a $2 million round from angel investors, a West Coast entrepreneur, and the company’s management team.
“We were one of the first to recognize the potential of using nanotechnology in critical optical lithography applications for the semiconductor industry and we are now expanding this technology into other related fields,” said Greg Cooper, PhD, President of Pixelligent.
“This funding, in combination with the support we have received from federal grant programs, has enabled us to support our world class nanotechnology team and move our technology closer to the market.”
The company says its technologies extend the use of current chip manufacturing technology, promising improved performance and cost savings for chip makers.
Its Reversible Contrast Enhancement Layer is a liquid-based lithographic solution which contains dispersed nanocrystals that act to focus light. This improves the resolution of lithography, enabling more transistors to be printed on each chip.
It also developed a process to enhance phtoelectrochemical hydrogen production while increasing the reliability of the process. This breakthrough could result in significantly cheaper fuel that could be used in many applications including, powering vehicles.
Founded in 2000, Pixelligent was named Maryland Incubator Company of the year in 2005. It has won millions of federal grant funding dollars from the National Institute of Standards, the National Science Foundation and the Small Business Innovation Research program.
Headquarted in the University of Maryland incubator building, Pixelligent has a team of ten PHD experts in nanotechnology who have published more than 200 peer reviewed papers and articles.
Online: www.pixelligent.com
Posted in Hardware, Maryland, Money, Nanotech | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
OAKBROOK TERRACE, ILL – CompTIA, the leading trade association for the world’s information technology (IT) industry,has named the finalists for the third annual CompTIA SoftwareCEO Software Innovation Awards.
Southeastern companies in the running include:
Most Innovative Enterprise Software: Zenoss Inc., Annapolis, MD; ClickFox, Atlanta.
Most Innovative General Business Software: Contextware Inc., Annandale, VA.
Most Innovative Software Idea: Yukon Learning, Richmond, VA.
Online: www.comptia.org
Posted in Events, Georgia, IT, Maryland, Virginia | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
HERNDON, VA – Deltek Inc. (NASDAQ: PROJ), a provider of enterprise applications software for project-focused businesses, has raised $60 million through a common stock rights offering fully subscribed by its stockholders.
As a result of the rights offering, the Company will issue 20,000,000 new shares of common stock at a price of $3.00 per share.
The company’s largest stockholders, affiliates of New Mountain Capital, fully participated in the rights offering.
Kevin Parker, president and CEO of Deltek, said, “The proceeds from the rights offering, together with our existing cash balance, give us approximately $100 million in cash and provide us with significant additional financial and operating flexibility.”
Online: www.deltek.com
Posted in IT, Money, Virginia | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
TIMONIUM, MD – Massachusetts-based 38 Studios has acquired Big Huge Games, a computer game developer.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
38 Studios develops online entertainment products. It was founded by former Red Socks pitcher Curt Schilling.
Big Huge Games employees will remain based in its Maryland offices.
Online: www.38studios.com; www.bighugegames.com
Posted in Acquisitions, Internet/New Media, IT, Maryland | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
HERNDON, VA – GTSI, a company selling IT infrastructure and services to the U.S. government, has secured a new $135 million credit facility from Castle Pines Capital of Colorado.
The two-facility will provide inventory financing and working capital, the company says.
It replaces it existing revolving credit facility, which would have matured in 2010.
“The additional liquidity and the longer term of the facility will allow for GTSI to meet its strategic objectives of pursuing growth opportunities,” said CEO Jim Leto.
Online: wwww.gtsi.com
Posted in IT, Money, Virginia, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
Article Body
May 27, 2009
BIRMNGHAM, AL – An experimental drug derived from cottonseeds shows promise in treating the recurrence of glioblastoma multiforme, widely considered the most lethal brain cancer, said researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
The new results are from a Phase II clinical trial of AT-101, a pill manufactured from a potent compound in cottonseeds that overcomes the abnormal growth patterns of tumor cells. This cottonseed-based agent must be properly dosed and monitored by physicians.
In clinical tests, AT-101 halted the cancer’s progression in many of the 56 patients, said John Fiveash, M.D., an associate professor in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology and the lead researcher on the new study.
Despite undergoing other treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, the trial patients’ brain cancer had begun to grow again prior to starting AT-101 treatments.
Glioblastomas are more common in adults and are considered fast-growing brain tumors that are very difficult to treat, Fiveash said.
“After getting this drug some of these patients went many months without any new growth in their tumors,” Fiveash said. “We are able to do that with a well-tolerated oral medication, and that is a major benefit.” His initial results will be presented May 30 during the poster discussion of central nervous system tumors at the American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Fiveash said the drug would likely work best in combination with radiation and chemotherapy to boost the cancer-fighting properties of those treatments. Also, investigators are trying to learn which patients are most likely to benefit from AT-101.
Posted in Alabama, Biotech, Healthcare, Pharma, University Tech | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
DURHAM, N.C. — Restricting carbohydrates, regardless of weight loss, appears to slow the growth of prostate tumors, according to an animal study being published this week by researchers in the Duke Prostate Center.
“Previous work here and elsewhere has shown that a diet light in carbohydrates could slow tumor growth, but the animals in those studies also lost weight, and because we know that weight loss can restrict the amount of energy feeding tumors, we weren’t able to tell just how big an impact the pure carbohydrate restriction was having, until now,” said Stephen Freedland, M.D., a urologist in the Duke Prostate Center and lead investigator on this study.
The researchers believe that insulin and insulin-like growth factor contribute to the growth and proliferation of prostate cancer, and that a diet devoid of carbohydrates lowers serum insulin levels in the bodies of the mice, thereby slowing tumor growth, Freedland said.
The findings appear in the May 26, 2009 online edition of the journal Cancer Prevention Research. Funding was provided by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program; the American Urological Association/ Foundation Astellas Rising Star in Urology Award, and the Robert C. Atkins Foundation.
Animals in the study were fed one of three diets: a very high fat/ no carbohydrate diet; a low-fat/ high carbohydrate diet; and a high fat/ moderate-carbohydrate diet, which is most similar to the “Western” diet most Americans eat, Freedland said. They were then injected with prostate tumors at the same time.
“The mice that were fed a no-carbohydrate diet experienced a 40 to 50 percent prolonged survival over the other mice,” Freedland said.
Mice on the no-carbohydrate diet consumed more calories in order to keep body weights consistent with mice on the other study arms.
“We found that carbohydrate restriction without energy restriction – or weight loss – does indeed result in tumor growth delay,” he said.
The researchers plan to begin recruiting patients at two sites – Duke and the University of California – Los Angeles – for a clinical trial to determine if restricting carbohydrate intake in patients with prostate cancer can similarly slow tumor growth. The trial should begin within a few weeks.
“It’s very exciting – this is a potential new mechanism to fight prostate cancer growth and help patients live longer with their disease,” Freedland said.
Posted in Biotech, North Carolina, University Tech | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
NASHVILLE, TN—New Day Pharmacy, a technology-driven medication distributor, has raised a $10.2 million A round led by Council Ventures, with Clayton Associates, a strategic investor affiliated with Council, and its operating partners James M. Usdan and Linwood A. Lacy Jr.
Council Ventures Co‐Founder and Managing General Partner Dennis C. Bottorff said, “New Day Pharmacy’s business model provides a superior value proposition over its competition that is already resonating in the market. The New Day system saves customers money, is safer for patients and is easier for nurses to use. In short, it is on the ‘right side of change’ in healthcare.”
New Day Pharmacy, founded in 2004, is a technology‐enabled institutional pharmacy providing centralized just‐in‐time distribution of medication to long‐term care facilities throughout the United States. New Day’s systems also provide caregivers with actionable information and reports that allow them to better manage patient care and control costs.
It is currently serving skilled nursing facilities in Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee from its single point of distribution in Nashville.
It combines central pharmacy automation systems, local on‐site dispensing systems, and integrated internal and web‐based software systems to provide a higher level of service.
It saves customers money through a reduction in drug waste while improving safety with a combination of packaging, bar coding, and local on‐site dispensing systems that are integrated with the central pharmacy systems for 24/7 pharmacist availability and order processing.
Online: www.newdaypharmacy.com
Posted in Healthcare, IT, Pharma, Tennessee | Comments Off
Friday, May 29th, 2009
By Allan Maurer
OWNINGS MILL RUN CIRCLE, MD—Mind Over Machines, a 20-year-old IT strategy and application design firm, has raised more than $100,000 from longtime employees and principals in the company.
The company revealed the new funding in a regulatory filing.
Founded in 1989 by Thomas Loveland, CEO, says the company works mostly with larger organizations such as the government and commercial firms such as the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins, and ITF.
It designs Web applications tailored to its clients needs. It does a lot of database application and business intelligence work, “Trying to get real meaning out of data,” says Loveland, such as helping a client pinpoint who its best prospects are from data.
“It helped them grow from a startup to third in the nation in ten years,” Loveland says in a video interview on the University of Baltimore MBA site.
Loveland tells TechJournal South the company raised the money from longtime employees. “We’re allowing a few more principals into the party,” he says.
Loveland sits on the board of the Greater Baltimore Technology Council and other civic organizations. He is a graduate of Leadership Maryland and was a co-Chair of The B’MORE Fund, a giving circle, and of MoshPit!, a statewide, university-level business plan competition.
Mind Over Machines is transitioning to an employee-owned model. In a video interview, Loveland notes that “On the statistical side, employee owned companies do better, but that’s not why I wanted to do it.”
He adds that an adviser told him not to do it, but his own feelings led him to conclude it was the right thing to do.
“Folks like to be part of something and want to contribute to something in a meaningful way rather than just being a cog.” He says people want to “Own the solution to a problem figuratively” and it’s even better if they “Own it literally as well.”
For a series of short video interviews with Loveland about Mind over Machines see: http://tiny.pl/3tgm
Online: www.mindovermachines.com
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Maryland, Money | Comments Off
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