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10 start-ups that show promise for '08

If it's done nothing else, the Internet has turned countless piles of straw into gold.

The latest Rumpelstiltskin-eque ideas include a site that will use your DNA to tell you which diseases and other health risks you face, a GPS device that gathers info from you such as traffic problems and beams the data to other users, a social-networking site for businesspeople and other professionals, and a site that lets you find out what the Internet reveals about you.

These start-ups and six others are the ones that Wired expects to break into the Internet's spotlight next year. … Read more

Spaceport America reports a successful launch

It's a small step for mankind, but a giant step for Spaceport America.

According to a release from the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, UP Aerospace ("Space is 62 miles away, Getting there is just a phone call away") successfully launched a "test flight vehicle" on Wednesday.

The Spaceport, which is near Las Cruces, N.M., is the future home of Virgin Galactic, as well as the XPrize Cup.

UP Aerospace, according to its Web site, is in the business of selling cargo space on launch vehicles.

The release said that the Wednesday launch was private, … Read more

Slogging it out Silicon Valley style

Today's WSJ (login required) has a great article about Voltage Security and the less glorious side of founding and running a startup--the fact that you have to keep slogging away regardless of what's going on around you.

Every industry has its superstars and its sloggers, of course. But the tech industry of the late 1990s and earlier this decade has seen an unusual number of two-year cycles end with a lucrative sale or initial public offering. When that doesn't happen, the process can get so grueling and protracted that some VCs say they have to get creative … Read more

Entrepreneurs, the time is now!

Reading about the demise of Edgeio over on Techcrunch made me think a bit about being an entrepreneur and wonder what's happened to the valley. Having been through the tech downturn here in SF and watching two companies I worked for go public only to flame out I should be last person who felt the desire to start a company. But, what's the point of living in the bay area if you can't seize the opportunity for technology greatness?

There seem to be less startups lately and I'm starting to wonder if would-be founders are taking … Read more

Today in freaky start-ups: RentYourSoul.com

Pierre Ayotte, noted in a press release to be a "friendly upcoming Internet opportunist"--i.e. not The Devil Himself, just to be clear--would like to rent your soul for 10 bucks a week.

It's a new twist on an old nonprofit business model. He's gambling that the soul-leasing business will earn enough to keep him afloat from the charities that pay weekly to advertise on his site, RentYourSoul.com.

Ayotte swears he's not working for Beelzebub. He'll pay you $10--via PayPal, check, or bank note--and also donate $10 to the charity of your … Read more

Volkswagen plans four new bases for cars

Volkswagen has four new car architectures planned as part of its revamp, according to reports.

In mid-November Volkswagen announced it would be investing 28.9 billion euros in its automotive division over the next three years. The company said the changes would focus on completely new vehicles as well "successor models and derivatives" for all of its product classes. The investment will include new powertrain technologies and updates to manufacturing plants.

Today it's been reported this will entail the introduction of four completely new base architectures from which Volkswagen will build its new models and updates, according … Read more

MS Office Killer or yet another crappy clone? (Hint: it's probably the latter)

The guy who created Hotmail is back with a new set of applications that are a direct clone of MS Office delivered through a browser. My initial reaction: Who cares? We already have at least 10 companies doing the same thing, including Google who have the biggest footprint...but read on:

Live Documents is similar to Google Apps, launched in February and used by companies including Proctor & Gamble, General Electric and Capgemini as a cheaper alternative to Microsoft. However, Mr Bhatia claims that his product is superior to Google?s in its range and quality, most crucially because it … Read more

Paglo: A Web 2.0 approach to IT

The Web 2.0 style IT management tool, Paglo launched in beta on Monday.

Paglo is essentially an IT search engine that indexes a ton of information about the network you are managing. For example, if you are concerned about how many copies of Microsoft Office are installed on computers at your company and want to make sure that you are complying with your license, Paglo allows you to view that statistic in real time.

There are three key elements to Paglo: the Crawler, Search Index, and UI. If you are a network administrator, for example, you install the Paglo … Read more

Photos: VW Space Up Blue

Volkswagen is getting as much mileage as it can from its Up! concept microvan. After appearances at both the Frankfurt and Tokyo auto shows in recent months, the model made another appearance at this year's Los Angeles show in the form of the Space Up Blue concept. In contrast to the previous variants, the four-door Space Up Blue came with some drive-train details: it is powered by an energy network of a lithium-ion battery pack, a high-temperature hydrogen fuel cell, and a solar panel. Check out our slide show of the blue sky Blue here.