Wilson Solarpower seeks to dodge clean energy funding woes with new licensing deal

In a move aiming to adapt to the tough financing environment for cleantech ventures, Woburn firm Wilson Solarpower said it is licensing some of its technology to Praxair Inc.? ? Praxair Inc. Latest from The Business Journals MEMC CFO Murphy resigns, Wuebbels named successor MEMC CFO Murphy resigns, Wuebbels named successorMade in Western New York Follow this company (NYSE: PX).

The terms of the licensing deal weren't disclosed, but the company said the ceramic heat exchanger technology does not compete with its core concentrated solar power technology, and will provide the firm with capital to pursue the primary mission.

"In times when major portions of the clean energy business are under financing pressure, this is a method that should be closely examined by other clean energy companies," Wilson Solarpower CEO Doug Zingale said in an email.

Wilson has received $9.5 million in private investment, from backers including unnamed corporations and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The firm also received a U.S. Department of Energy grant of $3.7 million to develop the solar energy technology in 2010.

The company's concentrated solar power system uses mirrors to concentrate the sun?s energy and captures the energy as heat in a "power tower." The air heated through the process then drives a turbine to produce electricity.

VC & Startups

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93% Marvel's The Avengers

All Critics (271) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (252) | Rotten (19) | DVD (3)

Never underestimate the entertainment value of the Hulk Smash.

If you are a Marvel fan, then The Avengers will feel like Christmas. Thanks to the merry doings of the director, Joss Whedon, all your favorite characters are here, as shiny and as tempting as presents under the tree.

Ultimately, it all comes back to Whedon: His clear vision for each character and how they might be profitably intermingled; his unexpected knack for action choreography; his funny, tender, immaculately constructed script.

A spectacle in the grandest sense of the word ...

Whedon, a pop-genre magician best known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is a master of viewer manipulation - because he never gives up his own seat in the crowd.

The performances are so well-pitched in The Avengers, meshing with such vividness and ease, that it's tempting to overpraise the good but not great movie that surrounds them.

It's the humor that's The Avengers' strength.

Whedon's clear fanboy glee is irresistibly contagious to the audience, whether the heroes and villains go at it with fisticuffs or sharp, witty dialogue.

Comic-book movie delivers the goods

By the time the utterly routine (and decidedly endless) finale rolls around, Marvel's The Avengers has unquestionably squandered the potential of its premise and its cast...

Delivers big time with everything longtime fans and newcomers alike could possibly want in a summer blockbuster that definitely surpasses the hype.

This too-long adventure is a sensory overload --- complete with loud, protracted battle scenes and hunky super heroes who provide the necessary eye candy. It's also very funny, and highly entertaining.

There is much humor laced throughout the film, giving it an air of not taking itself too seriously -- which is as it should be in a film of this genre.

The Avengers lives up to every last ounce of hype.

It's a blockbuster that manages to please with intelligence and fun. Whedon makes it look easy.

It's all very smoothly done but comes without a hint of surprise or revelation.

The Main Event is pretty much what you'd expect ? noisy, overlong, wall-to-wall CG effects and arcane superhero lore ... Yes, it's all fairly formulaic, but on a Wow! scale never before experienced.

If you only see one movie this year over and over again, it'll probably be this one.

I have a feeling that this will be a comfort film for myself and many other film geeks for years to come, just like the Indiana Jones or Star Wars movies.

Whedon delivers a thoroughly entertaining compilation of the best of these heroes while never hiding either his giddy love for the characters or the wry wit that has formed the bedrock of his career.

The Avengers will surely rank among the best superhero movies, if not summer blockbusters, of all time.

The Avengers is a fun time at the movies. That's as important as anything.

Whedon gives balance even to relative minnows Hawkeye and the Black Widow by giving each their moment to shine.

The real hero of The Avengers is not Iron Man, Thor or even Nick Fury. It's Joss Whedon.

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Photos: A roundup of today's best pictures

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The battleship USS Iowa, a storied vessel that served during World War Two and the Cold War, made a brief final voyage on Saturday to its permanent berth at the Port of Los Angeles, where it will open as a naval museum next month. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and U.S. Navy veterans who??

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Spain goes from boom to bailout in a decade

A man begs in front of a fruit market in Barcelona, Spain, Friday June 8, 2012. Spain faces rising pressure to find a financial lifeline for its deeply troubled banks ? likely from the eurozone's rescue fund since Madrid's borrowing costs on markets have risen sharply. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A man begs in front of a fruit market in Barcelona, Spain, Friday June 8, 2012. Spain faces rising pressure to find a financial lifeline for its deeply troubled banks ? likely from the eurozone's rescue fund since Madrid's borrowing costs on markets have risen sharply. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A woman hits a pot and shout slogans against bankers as a man gets money in a ATM machine, left, during a demonstration outside a Caixa bank branch in Barcelona, Spain, Friday June 8, 2012. Spain faces rising pressure to find a financial lifeline for its deeply troubled banks ? likely from the eurozone's rescue fund since Madrid's borrowing costs on markets have risen sharply. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Demonstrators shout slogans against bankers during a demonstration outside a Bankia bank branch in Barcelona, Spain, Friday June 8, 2012. Spain faces rising pressure to find a financial lifeline for its deeply troubled banks ? likely from the eurozone's rescue fund since Madrid's borrowing costs on markets have risen sharply. The banner in Spanish reads "No banks dictatorship". (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Two people hold up their hands as they walk towards civil guards in full riot gear during a confrontation with miners in Aller, Spain Friday June 8, 2012. The civil guard used tear gas and fired rubber bullets against the miners who fired slingshots. Strikes and road blockades continue as mineworkers in northern Spain continue their protests against government action to cut coal subsidies. (AP Photo/Javier Bauluz, Periodismo Humano)

MADRID (AP) ? Spain's economic fortunes have gone from boom to deep financial crisis over the past decade. Here are the main developments:

BIRTH OF THE EURO

?Spain is one of 12 countries that joined the single European currency in 1999. Following the euro's launch in 2002, the euro is now shared by 17 countries. Spain's membership in this powerful bloc gave it access to lower interest rate loans than it would have got on its own.

PROPERTY GOLDRUSH

?Cheap money triggered a real estate boom as property developers and families borrowed heavily. This fueled an unprecedented economic expansion known as the "Spanish fiesta". The country's then-muscular economy, the fourth-largest in the eurozone, rode out the 2008 financial crisis as its main lenders ? and savings banks called cajas ? were widely viewed by investors as sound.

FROM BOOM TO BUST

?Unemployment started rising. The jobless rate, which stood at 8.3 percent in 2007, jumped to 18 percent in 2009. It is now almost 25 percent. The huge numbers of unsold properties in Spain caused prices to plummet.

CAUGHT UP IN EUROZONE'S DEBT CRISIS

?As the eurozone's debt crisis worsened with problems in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, so Spain's problems became more acute. By 2009, the financial sector was sitting on ?445 billion ($553.49 billion) worth of property-related loans. Regional governments also turned out to be deep in debt as income linked to new construction licenses and taxes dried up.

ZAPATERO ACTS

?In 2010, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero introduced controversial hikes in the retirement age, from 65 to 67, and in sales taxes to get a handle on the size of government debt and appease markets. Zapatero's measures failed to halt the country's slide into recession and he was forced to call early elections in 2011.

CHANGE AT THE TOP

?The conservative Popular Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, took office in December 2011. Rajoy moved quickly on reforms and austerity measures, triggering massive demonstrations by people worried about their future. Many protesters were young ? the jobless rate for those between 16 and 24 has reached 52 percent.

DRAGGED ALONG BY THE TIDE

?Rajoy has had to nationalize eight lenders facing bankruptcy as Spain fell into a double-dip recession. But investors and markets have continued to focus on the financial sector's ?180 billion in toxic real estate assets and the financial health of the wider eurozone. This has sent Spain's borrowing costs on the international debt markets to worryingly high levels.

EATING YOUR WORDS

? Rajoy and his team have been adamant that the Spanish banking sector would not need a bailout. On May 28, he said: "There will be no rescue of the Spanish banking sector." On Saturday, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said Spain will ask for a bailout after European finance ministers authorized a rescue amount of up to ?100 billion ($125 billion). Asked why Rajoy didn't make the announcement, de Guindos replied that he did because he is the representative to the European Union's group of finance ministers. De Guindos dodged a question on whether Rajoy still planned to head to Poland on Sunday to see Spain take on Italy in the Euro 2012 football competition. But Rajoy's Poland trip had been removed from his official agenda on his presidential website.

Associated Press

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U.S. to act firmly on Somalis who hinder roadmap

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Samsung, Qualcomm start up Alliance for Wireless Power to take on Qi

Wireless power has until now been closely associated with the Wireless Power Consortium's Qi standard. There's now a second proposed common ground in the Alliance for Wireless Power, or A4WP. Samsung and Qualcomm, along with some help from Powermat, SK Telecom, Ever Win Industries, Gill Industries and Peiker Acustic, are making an alternative that allows for "spatial freedom" between your gadget and the charging source, although whether or not that's better than the 1.6-inch distance of the updated Qi spec is left to the imagination. The strategy doesn't just let your device avoid French kissing the charger: it lets you power up through a material besides a metal plate, and it reduces the cost by eliminating repeaters. A4WP should power everything from low-power headsets through to smartphones and tablets, although with partnership talk just getting started at CTIA Wireless 2012, we wouldn't hold off on buying wired-power gadgets in the near future.

Continue reading Samsung, Qualcomm start up Alliance for Wireless Power to take on Qi

Samsung, Qualcomm start up Alliance for Wireless Power to take on Qi originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 May 2012 04:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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George Lindsey, Goober From Andy Griffith Show, Dies at 83

George Lindsey, who played the memorable character of Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show, died early yesterday morning at the age of 83.

Lindsey, who later was a regular on the long-running country music comedy show Hee Haw, passed on at a healthcare center in Nashville, Tenn.

"George Lindsey was my friend," Andy Griffith said in a statement released on Sunday. "I had great respect for his talent and his human spirit."

Noting that they last spoke a few days ago, Griffith said: "I'm happy to say that as we found ourselves in our 80s, we were not afraid to say, 'I love you.' That was the last thing George and I had to say to each other. 'I love you.' "

The Andy Griffith Show, the classic 1960s sitcom starring Griffith as the kindly sheriff of Mayberry, N.C., was in its fourth season in 1964 when Lindsey appeared as the cousin of naive gas station attendant Gomer Pyle, played by Jim Nabors.

Lindsey's character became more prominent after Nabors left the show to star in the spin-off series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. in 1964. R.I.P.

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