beacon

A federal appeals court ruled today that $9.5 million is enough to settle a lawsuit that accused Facebook of violating privacy laws with its now defunct advertising program Beacon, Bloomberg reported.

The original class-action lawsuit, filed in 2008, targeted the social network's alleged failure to provide adequate information and privacy controls when it came to the Beacon. The program shared information about users' activity on other Web sites in Facebook news feeds.

Users were upset because Facebook launched the service to automatically include everyone, instead of as an opt-in. Eventually, the service was switched to opt-in.

The social … Read more

Beacon Power, which had received a government loan and then went bankrupt, has found a buyer, in a deal that will recoup some of the loaned money.

The flywheel energy storage company today said it has reached a deal with private equity firm Rockland Capital to buy most of its assets for $30.5 million. That includes Beacon Power's intellectual property around flywheel grid storage and a New York energy storage project partially financed by a Department of Energy loan guarantee.

If the deal is finalized, the Energy Department stands to recover 70 percent of the loan, according to … Read more

U.S. government-backed battery supplier Ener1 has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the third U.S.-backed energy company to file in as many months.

Ener1 posted a notice today stating that it "has reached agreement with its primary investors and lenders on a restructuring plan that will significantly reduce its debt." This action will pave the way for up to $81 million for recapitalization, the company said.

A "pre-packaged" Chapter 11 case was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. Ener1 is planning to complete the restructuring process within … Read more

CNET's newest TV editor, Ty Pendlebury, joins us on today's episode for a short lesson in Australian holidays and colloquialisms!

Today we're talking about another billionaire bitten by the space travel bug, even though Jeff seems reluctant to travel in outer space.

We'll also bug Ty to tell us why the FCC doesn't care about eardrums, and he'll join us throughout the second half where we'll premiere a new geek speed-dating show on TLC.

Also, be sure to tune in tomorrow to hear us announce the winners of Target's video voice mail competition. Two winners will get their choice of an Xbox 360/Kinect Bundle or an iPad 2!… Read more

Beacon Power, the energy storage company that received a federal loan and later declared bankruptcy, said it intends to sell off its assets to repay the loan.

The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company said yesterday it reached an agreement with the Department of Energy where it will sell the Stephentown, N.Y., flywheel storage facility financed by a DOE loan guarantee. The sale of that facility need to be before January 30 next year.

Beacon Power owes $39.1 million on a $43 million loan guarantee it secured to build a 20-megawatt power plant that uses spinning flywheels to supply quick … Read more

Microsoft is planning a major revamp of its Xbox.com gaming site this week to boost its social-networking features and give certain areas a new Metro-based paint job.

As detailed in an Xbox blog post last night, Microsoft is replacing the current "My Xbox" section on the site with a new area simply called "Social." The new Social section will let gamers see what their friends are doing and tap into a new Beacons feature that will be available in the next update to the Xbox 360 dashboard. Beacons will allow people to mark the games … Read more

The CEO of Beacon Power, a government-backed energy storage company that has filed for bankruptcy protection, said today that the company could still survive.

Bill Capp released a statement (click for PDF) taking issue with comparisons to Solyndra, a solar collector maker that received a $535 million loan guarantee, then abruptly shut down at the end of August, declaring bankruptcy.

Beacon Power, which makes a flywheel storage system for steadying the grid's frequency, on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Both Solyndra and Beacon Power received loans through the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee program, which immediately … Read more

The bankruptcies of Solyndra and now Beacon Power show that green-technology startups are still struggling to find ways to cross the dreaded "Valley of Death" into mass commercialization.

Flywheel storage company Beacon Power filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday after running out of options to raise money and fund operations. "The current economic and political climate, the financing terms mandated by DOE, and Beacon's recent delisting notice from Nasdaq have together severely restricted Beacon's access to additional investments through the equity markets," CEO William Capp said in bankruptcy papers, according to reports.

There are significant … Read more

Beacon Power, which secured a $43 million federal loan guarantee to install a flywheel grid storage system, has declared bankruptcy in a case that will likely draw more complaints about government loans to small clean-energy companies.

The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company yesterday filed for Chapter 11 protection in bankruptcy court because it was unable to raise money through the stock market. Beacon Power has never been profitable and earlier this month received a Nasdaq delisting notice after its stock had been under $1 for more than 30 days.

"The current economic and political climate, the financing terms mandated by … Read more