oceans

Helio's next Ocean smartphone revealed?

It looks like a few details have slipped about Helio's probable successor to the Ocean, currently dubbed the Ocean 2. From Engadget Mobile, the Helio Ocean 2 is purported to have a 3-megapixel camera, a dual-slider design like the first Ocean, 1GB internal storage, Flash support in the browser, 30fps video recording, a touch-sensitive pad, a microSD card slot, plus PC sync capability. Obviously, this is still strictly in vaporware/rumor stage, but it's exciting to see if Helio can pull this one off; perhaps even before the iPhone release?

Brit sets off again to row solo across Pacific

Over the long weekend, some of us were slouching down in plush movie theater seats (flanked by a 24-ounce Icee and a tub o' popcorn ) and enjoying the latest adventures of Indiana Jones. Others, however, were setting off on an actual adventure.

British rower Roz Savage pushed away from San Francisco and set off under the Golden Gate Bridge just before midnight Saturday, in her second attempt to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. Last summer, Savage set off only to be foiled by bad weather some two weeks into the trip. She was rescued by the Coast Guard … Read more

FIRe start-ups: Fish farming, battery overhaul, studio magic

Correction, May 25, 12:15 PM PDT: This post initially misreported the number of tuna that Hawaii Oceanic Technology aims to produce and the depth at which its Aquaspheres would be located. It has now been corrected.

Every year at the Future in Review conference, organizer Mark Anderson and his staff pick 10 start-up companies as "FIRestarters," companies that are tackling problems in line with the conference's theme, but still require some kindling. Here's a look at three of them.

Hawaii Oceanic Technology

The pitch: Fish farming gets a bad rap from most seafood connoisseurs, but … Read more

Gadgettes 85: The things that glow episode

Glowing things can be somewhat morbid. They can be somewhat toolie. But sometimes, if you're lucky, they can be totally and completely PRETTTTTY. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 85

The Hanged Man Lamp: Ever so slightly morbid? http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/the_hanged_man.html

Mood Clock + USB Hub = Twice as much fun http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/usb_moody_clock.html

Glowing flower pot for the trippy garden owner http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2008/04/glowing_flower.html

Enjoy nighttime bocce ball with LED Bocce http://dvice.com/archives/2008/04/enjoy_nighttime.php

Light-up tweezers enable precision plucking … Read more

Internet, consumer patents rule at auction

SAN FRANCISCO--Jonathan Bari didn't seem too nervous until the $725,000 glitch.

A woman, taking commands from someone at the other end of her cell phone, had bid $750,000 on the patent portfolio he was selling at the Ocean Tomo IP Auction last week in San Francisco. The patents covered an online authentication system for consumers devised by his old company Catavault.

The panic came because auctioneer Charles Ross registered the bid at $725,000.

"She said $750,000," he said to me. (We were sitting next to each other.) He became absolutely still. His anxiety … Read more

Opera Mini officially surfs Helio's Ocean

For mobile service Helio, it's a sure sign you're doing something wrong if the most popular app among your user community is a hack. For Opera Software, the fact that it's your app is a sure sign you're doing something right.

Since last August, users at the Helio community site Heliocity have been peddling a re-engineered version of the Opera Mini browser that was specially hacked with the Ocean smartphone in mind. Seven months later, Rod Hamlin, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Opera Software, got on the phone to confirm that starting Wednesday, … Read more

Ocean fertilization firm Climos gains financial backing

Climos, a start-up that plans to mitigate climate change by stimulating plankton growth, said on Wednesday that it has raised a series A venture capital round of $3.5 million.

Braemar Energy Ventures led the round, which also included participation from investor Elon Musk, now chairman of Tesla Motors.

As previously reported, the funding will be used to develop and test Climos' ocean iron fertilization technique, in which an iron compound is put into the sea to stimulate the growth of plankton.

As the plankton grow, they take the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Over time, some … Read more

No tech cure for oceans 'damned' by plastic

Plastic contamination in the world's oceans is worse than previously imagined and no amount of technology can clean it up, according to Charles Moore. The oceanographer returned February 23 from a five-week odyssey in the Pacific Ocean with samples showing 48 parts plastic for every part of plankton.

"We are damned to a future of pollution by plastic," said Moore, who has spent more than a decade investigating Pacific plastic pollution. "There's no evidence it will end in a millennium."

A plastic "graveyard" double the size of Texas swirls in the Pacific … Read more

Plankton grower Climos gathers funds for climate mitigation

Only a few weeks after ocean iron fertilization venture Planktos folded, rival Climos is set to announce a first round of venture funding totaling $4 million.

Climos CEO and founder Dan Whaley said Thursday that the company will announce funding early next week.

The idea behind Climos is to grow large amounts of plankton by pouring iron into the ocean.

Iron stimulates the growth of plankton, which consumes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Once the plankton sinks several hundred meters, it is considered sequestered from the atmosphere.

The practice of ocean iron fertilization, which has been experimented with since the … Read more