Thursday, February 14, 2013

Study: Long-term benefits trump cost of health insurance for all U.S. children - Boston Business Journal:

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“Providing health insurance to all childremn in America will yield substantialeconomic benefits,” wrote Vivian Ho, chair in health economics at Rice University and co-autho of the report. Researchers at the Baker Institute said childrenh who receive health care coverage go on to becomwe moreproductive adults. The cost incurre by insuring the children is offset by the increases value of the additional life years and quality of life gained bymedical coverage, the report stated.
“Thd up-front incremental costs of universal health insurance coverage for childrem arerelatively modest, and they will be offset by the valur of increased health capital gained in the long the report stated. The research was based on studiews published in scholarly journals examining the economic impactt of failing toinsure U.S. Researchers estimate that nearly eight million children inthe U.S. are and the nation ranks third among the 30 industrializefd members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in percentagde ofuninsured citizens.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Noribachi gives solar products an appearance worth envying - Phoenix Business Journal:

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Rather, the school will retrofit it’s nearly 100 outdoor lighr poleswith light-emitting diodes that are solar-powered and wired with smarft technology to shut on and off automatically. In addition, the school will decorate its campu s with sculptures made by internationally acclaimed Santa Fe artist Tom Joyce that also includde photovoltaic LED technology tolight walkways, building entrances and otherf areas.
The new products were developedd byNoribachi LLC, an Albuquerque venturew accelerator established in 2007 to adapt solar and othefr clean technology to every day consumer products, said Andreqw Wooden, head of the Bosque School and a membefr of Noribachi’s board of advisors. “Noribachi is inventing technologiees that are not only usefukl to the school but that can be studied by our studentx as part of our efforts to teach environmental sciencew andenergy conservation,” Wooden said. “The solar-powere d LED lighting uses less than 10 percent of the energg that our currentlighting consumes, and it’s just a simples retrofit for what we already have.
The sculpturex also demonstrate how clean energy can beaestheticallg pleasing.” Finding new, every day applicationws for existing clean technologies like PV while makint products that are artistic, accessible and useful to consumersd are the central goals of Noribachi, said company co-foundet Rhonda Dibachi. “We’re using solar technology in ways other than just PV sittingy on a roof and looking ugly,” Dibachi said. “We’re looking at smallet and more distributed Dibachi said solar power is in its much the way computer processing technology was fourdecades ago.
And, like the computere industry, solar and other cleajn technologies will become more affordable and much more widely used when innovatords make simple products available on amass scale. “It’x about the ‘democratization’ of solar Dibachi said. “Information technology started big andbecam distributed, and we thinj clean tech is in that same stage.” Dibachki founded the company with her husband, Farzafd Dibachi. Both are engineers from the Silicon Valley withstartup experience. They co-founded Niku Corp., an information technolog y firm in California that went public in 2000 and was acquire byin 2003.
Farzad also helped found Diba a software firm sold toin 1997. They movefd to New Mexico in 2006 and formed Noribachi to tap the emerging market for innovativs solarand clean-tech products. The companyt now has about a dozen patents in the Dibachi said. “Solar technology is so new that there’se a huge amount of spacwe forpatented innovation,” she “For us, it’s like picking up Noribachi employs 12 people at a 20,000-square-foot facilitu in north Albuquerque to develop new technologh and conduct light assembly.
It spins new producte out throughstartup companies, such as the Santa Fe firm Qnuru (pronounceed kuh-NO-roo) that is designing and marketing the PV-LEr sculptures the Bosque School plans to buy. which comes from the Swahili word for light combined with the lettert Qfor quality, opened on Aprikl 7 with five employees and has received $100,009 in orders for its lighting sculptures, said artist Tom “With Qnuru, we’re working on the creative edge of marrying technology, science and Joyce said. “It brings all threee together in a seamless way to offed a solarlighting solution.
” Noribachi is now forming an Albuquerque-base solar engineering services and solar retrofitting firm. It also launchede California-based Green By Design, a Web site for environmentallu aware consumers thatoffersd information, education and ratings for green Dibachi said the company is mostly self-funded, but it has 10 investorw as limited partners in Noribachi’se venture acceleration fund, which finances research and developmenr and provides capital for startups. Joe dean of the ’s Schoolp of Engineering and a memberof Noribachi’ss advisory board, said the company is fillin a market niche.
“They’re making solar power more accessiblr and usable by targeting consumer applications,” Cecchi said. “I don’t know if anybody else is doinb that.”

Monday, February 4, 2013

Facebook, VCs give 18 developers seed money - Boston Business Journal:

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The companies were chosen from more than 400 developeres and entrepreneurs from around the world who applie in a competition sponsoredby Facebook, and . The two venturde funds will invest morethan $500,000 into the companiesd in exchange for equity. Two non-profitas that will not get fundinf were also chosen to participate in theincubator program, which will be run by Dave McClure of Founders Fund. The incubator program will operatee out of oneof Facebook’s Palo Alto officesw from mid-June to the end of at which point all of the startups will presentt to Silicon Valley angel and venturew capital investors.
According to Facebook's Web site, the companiew and nonprofits selected include: : Find friends of friends to date...ofr play matchmaker! If you'rer single, you can search your friends' friendsx and ask for intros. If you're taken, you can set friendse up. Friends of friends are the best peoplewto date. It's social dating via friendly : Funji is an avatar-base d social networking app for the iPhone andiPod touch, satisfyin users' desire to express themselves and communicats with others in a fun, creative way. The team has more than five yearas of experience in the mobile markeg in both South Korea andthe US.
: Gameyols is a distribution and monetization platform for casualFlashu games. Flash games currently monetize poorly, but Gameyola solves this problem by providingv Flash developers tools to sell virtual goods and to acquire users throughsocial channels. (private beta): From keepinvg track of your kids to protectingg your identity and getting back yourlost stuff, Life360 is the place you go to keep your family secure, and prepared for daily : Churches create their own socialk networks on MyChurch.org. They extend theit community between Sundays with tools to connect and engagetheirt members. Over 30,000 church congregationse are representedon MyChurch.org.
Navify: Navify is a visuapl encyclopedia that combines Wikipedia articlewwith images, videos, and It is the only general encyclopediqa that allows you to listemn to music videos, watch movie trailers, and browsew news and celebrity photo galleries. : Simplift the way you manage Facebook and othersociall networks. NutshellMail consolidates activity from all your accounts into a singl email digest delivered onyour Don't let email alerts clutter your inbox. Get informed, not interrupted. Get the Nut! : Bring your blog to Facebook, and Faceboolk to your blog.
Pull your Feed to your profild andbusiness pages, add widgets to promote your and read the news from blogw you follow on the largest community of bloggers and blog loverzs on Facebook. : Paradise Paintball is the first game developesdon Cmune's next-generation social gaming platform. It is the firsyt casual, 3D multiplayer FPS game on Facebook, Apple and Mac and PC. Play with up to eight friendse and buy virtual items to enhancsthe gameplay. : Photos I Like is a digital medi sharing and discovery site emphasizing lightweightgsocial content, self-expression, and communities. : Combineas the success of resident referral programs with the power ofsociap networks.
Residents refer their community to friends through sociall networkslike Facebook, and emaiol to earn rewards and live with friends. : RUNmyERRAN is a social networking inspired web and mobile marketplacs that provides people and businesses an easy and trustes way to get everyday tasks done in their ownhyperlocapl community. : RunThere is a social-networkinvg service for runners and Users can map and measure theire favoriteroutes (no GPS required), keep a running/bikinfg log, and find athletes and routes nearbhy Sortuv: Sortuv lets you start with something you and discover more.
Instead of searching for a "greag restaurant" just say what you mean: "Find me a place sortuv like Spag oin Seattle". Check them out , , and . / : Travelk Brain by GeckoGo helpe youtrack (and show your travels, share experiences with others, and discovere new places to visit. Learn from the knowledgre of over 600,000 travelers, and get experf guide info from theirr Bradt TravelGuides partnership. Weardrobe (private Weardrobe is a fashion-focused communit for discovering different ways to wear Weardrobe provides a platform for people to sharre reviews of theirown clothing, post photos of their looks, catalog their closet and searcg for style inspiration.
: Workstir is a communitt that connects users with trustworthy locaoservice providers. Anyone can post a job and choose a provider with confidencd by browsing theirpast reviews. For businesses, Workstid provides a wealth of jobs in their area of WorldlyDevelopments (private beta): Worldly Developmentws is building online services that will help you connecf with the people, places and event in your local community. Its firstr product makes it a snapto plan, and communicate around group activities. : Sama is Sanskrit for "equal" – Samasource finds and trainds reliable QA professionals to test Facebookm apps witha user-friendly interface that liveds on Facebook Platform.
With Samasource, developers lower costs, reducew poverty, and improve their Vittana: Vittana enables you to lend directlyh to students in thedeveloping world, $25 at a Their mission is to bring student loans to the developinbg world through the power of person-to-persojn microlending.