Allied Minds bolsters its boardroom roster again

TECH innovation group Allied Minds yesterday appointed venture capital veteran Joe Pignato as chief financial officer, the latest in a series of boardroom hires at the firm.

Pignato joins from US payments data processor Swipely, where he has been CFO since 2010.

Allied Minds chief executive Chris Silva said Pignato offered a “robust track record of managing and fostering early stage companies into financial stability and growth”.

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Solar-Sharing Start-up Shines

A new Boston company that’s being touted as the Airbnb of solar energy is providing the first solar-sharing network in the United States.

Yeloha allows anyone to go solar — even people who rent apartments, or own condos or homes with shady roofs. And unlike community-shared solar projects that use large, ground-mounted solar farms, Yeloha uses existing roofs, instead of taking over large, open spaces.

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PAX Prime 2015: Infinite Scuba Offers Realistic Scuba Diving Experience

Cascade Game Foundry (CGF) is excited to be exhibiting their Infinite Scuba simulation game at PAX Prime in Seattle on August 28-31, 2015. They are also thrilled to announce that they are one of 25 exhibitors at Seattle Indies Expo (SIX) @PAX on Sunday, August 30th at the Melrose Market Studios.

Infinite Scuba, a diving game that offers players a unique and relaxing experience of exploring real international dive sites, will be exhibiting at PAX with 7 additional game studios including Archive Entertainment, PlayEveryWare, Ludo Land, Escape Fuel, Stumbling Cat, Fat Loot Games, and Air Kingdoms, as well as the Washington Interactive Network.

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The race for the unbreakable password is almost over

What Ashley Madison needed was quantum cryptography.

The same could be said for the U.S. Office of Professional Management, Home Depot and Anthem Health Insurance, and any number of hacker targets in recent years…even PBS.

Quantum cryptography is the use of physics, specifically quantum mechanics, to build secret codes. It is so secure, so difficult to intercept, some call it unhackable. Banking, medical, business and government records around the world could be made secure from outside intruders.

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Caring Causes: Infinite Scuba/Mission Blue

Infinite Scuba is a family-friendly video game that enables players to experience the thrills, mysteries and beauty of diving in the Earth's oceans from their own home. It’s Indiana-Jones-meets-Jacques Cousteau: wildly fun, mysterious, and enlightening.

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Web's random numbers are too weak, researchers warn

The data scrambling systems used by millions of web servers could be much weaker than they ought to be, say researchers.

A study found shortcomings in the generation of the random numbers used to scramble or encrypt data. The hard-to-guess numbers are vital to many security measures that prevent data theft. But the sources of data that some computers call on to generate these numbers often run dry.

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Money-Saving Mondays: Solar Power

These days across New England, lots of people want solar energy, but don’t have the right roofs for it. And a lot of people with the right roofs for it don’t want to cost and hassle of buying, installing, and owning it.

Enter Boston-based Yeloha, a startup with a new vision for how to solve both problems –- by creating what they call a “solar sharing network’’ that connects people like Jasmine Leitzel of Boston and Jason Slater of Dedham, Mass.

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With This Airbnb For Energy, Now You Can Buy Solar Power From Your Neighbor

In the last six years, the price of solar power has fallen by at least 50%. And yet, for most Americans, that fact hardly matters, because they're not able to take advantage. Either their roof is facing the wrong way, there's too much shading from trees or other buildings, or they're renters rather than owners, so the decision isn't for them to make.

In the future, though, you may not need your own panel to participate in the solar boom. Instead, you might work out a relationship with someone else who has solar, using a sharing platform like Yeloha. A new site matching people with solar and people without solar, Yeloha is like Airbnb, except the excess capacity on offer isn't a room in someone's house, but spare cells on their roof.

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Fairfield Mercedes dealership hosts Mass. tech school students

Mercedes-Benz of Fairfield and the Universal Technical Institute in Norwood, Massachusetts, teamed up to host Future Tech Day. The event brought about 50 students and their parents to get an inside look at potential future careers and learn about working as a technician.

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Vinal Student from Durham Wins $10k Scholarship

Automotive students on team from Vinal Technology High School were awarded $20,000 in scholarships from Universal Technical Institute for winning first place in the Connecticut Ford/AAA Auto Skills state finals competition, an event designed to encourage young people to pursue careers as automotive service technicians.

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Solar power without solar panels? Yeloha thinks it has an answer

Airbnb has made it fashionable to rent a room in a total stranger’s house. A Boston startup thinks it might be able to get people to do something similar with solar panels.

Yeloha, which opens its virtual doors to the public today, wants to pair up property owners in relatively sunny areas with consumers who are looking to buy renewable energy, but can’t get solar panels on their own roofs.

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Former Amgen CEO named to this tech development company's board

Boston-based Allied Minds, a U.S. science and technology development and commercialization company, announced Friday the appointment of Kevin Sharer, the former chairman and chief executive officer of California-based Amgen, to its board of directors.

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5 Solar Innovations that are Revolutionizing the World

In her article for EcoWatch, writer Lorraine Chow highlights some of the newest companies to propose truly innovative ideas in the next phase of solar technology. She mentions Yeloha, a peer-to-peer solar sharing company, offering solar power to those who don’t even own solar panels. They have the opportunity to share energy with those who do, with both parties seeing a significant cost decrease.

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The AirBnB of Solar? Israeli Transplant Launches Solar Sharing Network

Boston-based Yeloha has launched a shared solar network business model that will open up the solar energy industry to everyone, including renters and others who don’t own or have access to solar panel space.

Yeloha’s model includes sun hosts, who will receive free PV panel installation, matched to sun partners, who will share in the energy produced by the sun hosts’ panels. Both parties will benefit from a cost savings. Sun hosts will also see a cost savings in their electric bill, ranging from 25 to 30 percent of the energy produced.

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Virtual Sunrise: Entrepreneurs See New Business Opportunities in Shared Solar

In her feature article, freelance writer Nora Caley discusses virtual net metering, the newest concept in solar energy, which includes all customers being able to take advantage of solar energy, and share the expense.

Caley references Boston-based Yeloha fitting into this model with their concept of solar sharing, bringing together people who can have solar panels installed, and those who cannot (due to space, cost, etc.) Sun hosts get free solar panel installation, and a 25% credit for all renewable energy generated by the system, while the sun partners will match with a sun host, sharing the energy and the cost.

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Cyber Technology Transitions from the Lab to the Street

Whitewood Encryption Systems has licensed the Quantum Secured Communications (QSC), a quantum cryptography program, to further market and develop the quantum random number generator and quantum key management system.

This quantum encryption technology, offering speedier and more cost-effective cryptographic services with longer-term security, will be available to government and commercial clients by this summer.

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Tolland student Dodd wins $20k diesel mechanic scholarship

The Universal Technical Institute (UTI) Grave Digger Scholarship worth $20,000 (covering about half of the UTI diesel certification program tuition) was awarded to Tyler Dodd, 18. Dodd plans to use the award to gain certification and improve his education, while also possibly opening his own business someday.

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How the Collaborative Economy is Impacting the Energy Sector

In his blog post, Jeremiah Owyang describes the phenomenon of a collaborative economy, in which technology provides the means by where people get what they need from each other. In particular, he discusses how this collaboration impacts solar energy, creation, storing and sharing. One of the examples he cites is Yeloha, a new network that encompasses solar energy sharing between sun hosts and sun partners, creating a link between neighbors – those that have solar panels, and those that cannot, for a variety of reasons.

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Allied Minds’ SciFluor banks $30M to get into the clinic

SciFluor Life Sciences, a Cambridge-based division of Allied Minds, has raised $30 million in funding to get its fluorine-based candidates into the clinical trial phase. The top two drugs are SF0166 (designed to combat age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema) and SF0034 (small-molecule therapy to treat epilepsy). The funding comes from the generosity of Invesco, Woodford Investment Management and Allied Minds.

SciFluor has also tapped William Koster to serve as chairman. Koster is the former Neurogen CEO and Bristol-Myers Squibb executive, who will work to lead SciFluor in the next stage of the company’s evolution.

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1366 Technologies, Yeloha Making Progress in Solar Energy

Yeloha, a Boston-based startup, has just launched in Massachusetts, its first domestic presence. Part of Generaytor, an Israeli-based solar company, Yeloha is working to create a “solar-sharing network” in which those unable to install their own solar power can borrow from those who do, with both parties benefiting from the cost savings. Carmel Ventures, an Israeli VC firm, led the round of funding for the US rollout, which includes a $3.5 million Series A round.

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OptioLabs Acquires Small Cybersecurity Firm Oculis Labs

OptioLabs, a mobile security and productivity company based out of Nashville, has purchased Maryland-based Oculis Labs, adding their security software products and intellectual products and patents to their offerings. The Oculis development team will also be incorporated, led by Dr. Bill Anderson, Oculis’ CEO, who will become the chief product officer at Optio.

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Optio Labs acquires small cybersecurity firm Oculis Labs

In an effort to expand their data security product offerings, cybersecuity firm Optio Labs has acquired Oculis Labs, a data privacy software company specializing in internal network threat protection. Optio CEO Gregg Smith said a desire to purchase Oculis Labs came from “its highly skilled employees and its security tools, which will complement Optio’s products”.

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Newton’s Dr. Scott Goldberg joins Professional Ambulance

Dr. Scott Goldberg joins Professional Ambulance and Pro EMS Center for Medics as Associate Medical Director

Dr. Goldberg brings a considerable amount of EMS experience to his new role, working directly with paramedic students, as well as assisting Dr. Todd Thompsen, Medical Director. Dr. Goldberg also serves as the EMS Director at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Emergency Department.

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For video game designer Kathie Flood, no thongs, no gore

Infinite Scuba game designer Kathie Flood has created a world of history, marine life and dive science, all with a female avatar. In doing so, she hopes to present a positive female role model that inspires women to get involved in the gaming industry.

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New Dive Site for Infinite Scuba

Two additions now available for Infinite Scuba: a new Belize dive site and avatar Dr. Sylvia Earle, ocean explorer and conservationist

Cascade Game Foundry (CGF) Managing Director and Co-Founder Kathie Flood selected Dr. Earle as the next avatar based on her work as an ocean explorer and conservationist. Dr. Earle herself chose the new dive site in Belize, Glover’s Reef, a part of the Mesoamerican Reef.

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Tierney delivers UTI graduation speech

UTI-Norwood instructor and US Marine Corps veteran Ryan Tierney delivered the commencement speech at UTI-Norwood’s graduation ceremony on November 11, 2014.

Tierney has been an instructor at UTI since 2010, teaching five courses: electronic diagnostics, automotive brakes, automotive undercar, professional service writing, and power and performance. He also serves as Technical Team Leader (TTL) for the electronics diagnostics course.

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Universal Technical Institute’s Service Advisor Training focuses on ‘concern, cause and correction’

Universal Technical Institute (UTI) of Norwood, MA has added a new program to their automotive trade repertoire: service advisor training. In this program, students will learn effective and professional communication skills when dealing with customers.

The main principle is the three C’s: concern, cause and correction, says Chris O’Meara, instructor. The goal is to perpetuate a positive experience for the customer, which starts with the employee at the frontlines of the service department, dealing directly with the customer: the service advisor.

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Duty Calls; Afghanistan war veteran does double duty

Marine veteran Christopher Frazer is a student in the automotive mechanic training program at UTI in Norwood, MA. Frazer worked in aircraft rescue and firefighting during his four-year enlistment, serving in Afghanistan in 2011.

Frazer originally enlisted to become a mechanic, and pursued this interest after his honorable discharge, in addition to an elective nine-week Nissan automotive technician training. He also works part-time in the Freedom Trail Lounge, UTI’s new venture to work with student veterans on navigating VA benefits and scholarships, as well as helping with general personal issues.

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Iowa game developer has tips for startups

Game developer Kathie Flood has started her own gaming company, Cascade Game Foundry, producing the undersea adventure game Infinite Scuba. The desire came after establishing a career in gaming at Microsoft in the early 90’s. In the article, Flood details the challenges of starting her own company, and the “huge learning curve” she and her associates encountered when learning the ins and outs of running your own company.

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How a New Coating Could Enable Tinier Electronics in the Body

Ann Arbor, MI based Biotectix has developed Amplicoat, a new, more resilient conductive polymer electrode coating. This groundbreaking new technology will allow for the development of smaller, implantable medical devices.

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Conductive Coating for Medical Devices

Biotectix, LLC, a developer of medical device conductive coatings, has worked with SurModics Inc. to develop Amplicoat, a new conductive coating designed to enhance communication at the interface between human tissue and a medical device’s electrode. Amplicoat enables device electrode miniaturization, offering higher numbers of electrodes for a given-sized lead or device and providing greater tissue-sensing resolution as well as more localized stimulation control. The coating enables higher signal fidelity lower power requirements and reduced stimulation thresholds.

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