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How the Experts Quantify Sports

March 11th 2009 20:44

From identifying raw talent to measuring team chemistry, experts discuss the statistical side of sports.

This year's Sports Analytics Conference, held by MIT's Sloan School of Management, drew a great crowd (as it did last year), and not just because Ray Allen, the Boston Celtics All Star guard, and Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, were present. Front-office executives stole the show as they discussed potential strategies for gathering and analyzing data on such things as a player's passion, defense skills, and team chemistry, as well as on the fan experience.

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By Brittany Sauser

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Your Web 2.0 Beneficiary

March 11th 2009 20:29

A startup promises to manage your login information after you die.

In late February, Stephanie Bemister, sister of deceased journalist William Bemister, contacted consumer-rights blog the Consumerist with a problem: she wanted to remove her brother's profile from Facebook, but the social-networking site would not remove it because its policy is to maintain the profile as a memorial. After a letter from Bemister was posted on the Consumerist, however, Facebook agreed to let her take down the profile.

Welcome to the new reality of managing the online data of loved ones after they die. Unsurprisingly, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are already answering the call. Legacy Locker, whose site is launching today, is a startup that offers an online repository for usernames and passwords that is released to a beneficiary in the event of a person's death.

To be sure, there's nothing new about storing login information online. Password managers like Passpack, clipperz, and others have done this for years. But the founders of Legacy Locker believe that they've hit on a specific need: the release of login information to trusted people as well as specific instructions for beneficiaries. For instance, in the event of your death, you could leave a note for your partner or children to send out to the contacts in your social networks.

The service isn't aimed at a younger Facebook or Twitter demographic, explains cofounder David Speiser. It costs $29.99 a year or a one-time fee of $299, and is targeting the demographic that is already in the process of drafting wills.

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By Kate Greene

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New Material Breaks Surface-Area Record

March 11th 2009 20:27

One gram of a new hydrogen-storing nanomaterial has the surface area of a football field.

A new material breaks surface-area records because of the way it's structured. Pictured are several views of the material, which is made up of hydrocarbons that link together zinc compounds (figure a). These smaller structures form the three types of cage-like structures pictured in figures c (i-iii). The cages come together in the high-surface-area superstructure pictured in b. Credit: JACS

A new nanoporous material has a surface area higher than was thought to be physically possible. A few years ago researchers had calculated that 3,000 square meters per gram was the upper limit, but soon after, materials got up to about 4,000 square meters per gram. The record-breaking material, developed by materials scientists at the University of Michigan, has 5,200 square meters per gram. (A National Football League regulation field measures about 5,351 square meters.)

High-surface-area materials are important for catalysis, water filtration, fuel cleaning, and hydrogen storage. The new material is what's called a metal-organic framework. It consists of a network of zinc oxide groups held together by hydrocarbon struts. It's a higher surface-area version of previously developed material that's very good at storing hydrogen. But the boost to surface area didn't boost hydrogen storage, suggesting that other factors need to be investigated. This work, led by University of Michigan chemistry professor Adam Matzger, is described online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

By Katherine Bourzac
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Why Electric Vehicles Will Be a Long Time Coming

March 11th 2009 20:24

Automakers tout EVs but also believe that conventional cars will dominate for decades.

Don't be fooled by all the electric-vehicle announcements in recent months: these vehicles won't be taking over the roads by 2050, according to three-quarters of a four-person panel at last weekend's MIT Energy Conference (a panel that included a representative from Ford Motor Company, no less). The fourth person, and sole dissenter, was a representative from Better Place, a company that's helping Israel, and a number of other countries, as well as cities, end its dependence on gasoline by building infrastructure for electric vehicles. He thinks EVs will take over completely by 2050.
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EBay CEO was paid $22.5M in 2008, much in options

March 11th 2009 20:21

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe received compensation valued at $22.5 million in 2008, according to a Monday regulatory filing, but a large part of his pay package consisted of equity awards that are currently of little value in the wake of a sharp decline in the company's stock price.

Donahoe, 48, took over as head of the San Jose, Calif.-based online auction site operator after Meg Whitman retired at the end of March 2008. He had previously been eBay's head of marketplaces.
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Report: Genentech, Roche near $95-per-share deal

March 11th 2009 20:18

NEW YORK (AP) -- Genentech's board of directors is close to striking a $95-per-share sale to cancer drug partner Roche, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Neither South San Francisco, Calif.-based Genentech nor Basel, Switzerland-based Roche would comment on the report, which cites unidentified sources familiar with the matter. The report follows Friday's increased hostile tender offer from the Swiss drugmaker.
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Creating Cell Parts from Scratch

March 11th 2009 20:14

A newly made synthetic ribosome is an important step in the quest to create artificial life forms.

Protein factory: Shown here is the structure of a ribosome, the cellular structure that produces proteins. Scientists have now created a ribosome from scratch. Credit: NY State Deparment of Health

Researchers at Harvard University have built a functional ribosome--the cell's protein-making machine--from scratch, molecule by molecule. The creation represents a significant step toward making artificial life, and it could ultimately fill a major gap in our understanding of the origins of life. But the scientists who made the ribosome are most interested in its industrial applications. They plan to genetically tinker with the molecular machinery so that it can make proteins more efficiently, as well as proteins that are the mirror image of those ordinarily found in nature. Both improvements could be a major advantage in the pharmaceutical industry, among others.
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Tissues that Build Themselves

March 11th 2009 20:09

Specially engineered cells arrange themselves into three-dimensional microtissues.

Double trouble: Two clusters have joined together to form a larger, more structurally complex microtissue. By tweaking variables and adding cells in successive iterations, the researchers hope to generate increasingly sophisticated assemblies. Credit: Bertozzi Lab

Cells coated with sticky bits of DNA can self-assemble into functional three-dimensional microstructures. This bottom-up approach to tissue engineering, developed by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, provides a new solution to one of field's biggest problems: the creation of multicellular tissues with defined structures. Unlike top-down methods, in which scientists build cell structures on scaffolds, the new technique allows tissue engineers to dictate the precise geometric interactions of individual cells.
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Crash Course Video

March 11th 2009 20:06

Thanks to my friends at Kendall Media Group, here is the video of my recent Venture Capital Crash Course at the Silicon Flatirons.

I give a 25 minute presentation and then hold an hour town-hall question and answer session. Great questions were asked, so if you are interested in what goes through a VC's head, take a gander.
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Making Robots Give the Right Glances

March 11th 2009 20:01

By mimicking nonverbal actions, robots could become better assistants.

Talking to me?: This robot, called Robovie, uses gaze cues to manage a conversation involving more than one person. Credit: Bilge Mutlu

If robots are to become a common sight in homes and public spaces, they will need to respond more intuitively to human actions and behave in ways that are easier for humans to understand. This week, at the 2009 IEEE Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) conference, in La Jolla, CA, researchers will present recent progress toward these twin goals.
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