We’ve heard much about the possibility of a quantum internet which uses single photons to encode and send information protected by the emerging technology of quantum cryptography. 

Paolo Dionisi Vici’s life’s work is preserving aging art made from wood. He gets misty-eyed encountering rare artifacts from his hometown in Tuscany. He looks strikingly like Frank Zappa.

The workspace at Liquid Metal Battery’s small basement headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, looks more like a machine shop than a high-tech lab you might expect from a spin-off from MIT.

Information technology is transforming cars faster than anyone expected, and it can do more than let drivers update their statuses on Facebook. It could also save them a lot of fuel.

Microsoft has released version 1.0 of Skype for Windows Phone, thus fulfilling a promise the company made at Mobile World Congress to move the app out of beta by April.

The new version includes a new feature that lets you search your contacts and add them on Skype. Other improvements include the ability to call landline phone numbers, a quicker boot time, and other bug fixes. It also includes all the Skype basics such as audio and video calls over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi, and group messaging.

However, you still can’t receive Skype calls while the app isn’t running on your phone. Apparently this is because of limitations within the Windows Phone OS and Skype, according to Microsoft. Hopefully this will change with the release of Windows Phone 8. This kind of functionality could really be a key selling point for Microsoft to gain some footing over Android phones.

You can download the latest version of Skype for Windows Phone on the official site. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Via The Verge

Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat

Samsung has started teasing the Galaxy S III, the next version of the company’s popular Android-based Galaxy S line of smartphones.

This morning the company’s mobile division tweeted a two-word message “Destination: tgeltaayehxnx” — an anagram for “The Next Galaxy.” The Verge discovered that tgeltaayehxnx.com actually points to a website that features a countdown clock that teases that “You can take the next step in…” about 16 hours , or Monday morning.

Other than the May 3 event Samsung has scheduled in London, we don’t know a lot about the new Galaxy phone. It’s doubtful that the company will reveal the full specifications for the device on Monday, but we might get the first shots of the phone as well as a short video teaser.

A leaked video of what could be the Galaxy S III indicates that the device will feature a dual-core 1.4 gigahertz processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, a 4.6-inch screen with a 1184 by 720 resolution, an 8 megapixel camera, and  a massive 2,050 mAh battery,  as VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar reported last week.

Check back with us on Monday for full coverage of Samsung’s teaser announcement.

Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat

Just in time for Earth Day, Dutch electronics company Philips is unveiling a new super energy-efficient light bulb today with a shelf life that should last about 25 years.

The catch? It costs about $60, but Philips is said to have forged deals with some stores to bring that cost down to about $20, according to the BBC. Still, that price might be too high for consumers, as VentureBeat has previously pointed out.

The new bulbs are made of light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are more energy-efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs, and have same color quality as standard bulbs. LEDs are typically found in TVs, computers, and car headlights.

Philip’s new bulb won the Bright Tomorrow competition last year from the U.S. Department of Energy, which asked companies to create an affordable energy-efficient alternative to the standard 60-watt incandescent light bulb. Philip was an easy winner, as the only entrant in the competition.

Even at the cheaper $20 price, the new LED lights face heavy competition from the much cheaper  compact fluorescent bulbs.

The new bulbs hit retail store shelves today.

Photo via Philips

Filed under: green, VentureBeat

“Most buildings don’t have a good way to look at all their systems holistically,” Bartlett told me. “It’s like buying a car without a dashboard to tell you when the oil is running low or the engine is running too hot.” Buildings account for 42 percent of the worlds energy use and emit more carbon dioxide than cars.

With the availability of cheap, wireless sensors, it’s now possible to measure nearly every facet of a building’s energy use. And what Barlett found in L.A. was striking. “You had one air unit that was blowing full on hot air, and another that was blowing full on cold air, working against each other, in the same building.”

Data, data everywhere, now let’s stop and think. That’s the big data model that Bartlett is hoping IBM can impart. “For a public company, an upfront investment in energy improvement can be a hard sell. It may have a long term benefits, but they answer to the market every quarter.”

Bartlett’s message is simple. “We’re not asking you to rebuild anything. Let’s look at what you’re working with and see how we can save money through efficiency. We are no longer held back by tech. Most buildings are drowning in data.” Energy typically accounts for 30 percent of a buildings annual costs, so savings through sustainability can have a big impact on a company’s bottom line.

The average consumer might relate to Bartlett’s work by thinking of a product like the Nest learning thermostat. IBM is working with big corporate clients, but the same principles apply. Visualizing data, layering on machine learning that tracks user behavior, and making an intuitive interface that non-technical experts can grasp when dealing with heating or cooling their homes or offices.

Bartlett specializes in what he calls miniature cities, like Tulan University, which is being completely rebuilt after the flooding of Hurricane Katrina, is working with Bartlett to create smart systems from the beginning that will lay a foundation for a more efficient, environmentally friendly campus.

But computers are only part of the story. “We always looking for ways to get people involved,” says Bartlett. At the LA School Dsitrict, IBM created a smartphone app that lets students and teachers photograph, geotag and report things like cracked windows or broken air conditioners. “Crowdsourcing is a powerful way to augment our data. I always say, when it comes to new gathering information, humans are the smartest sensors.”

Photo by Ben Popper

Filed under: enterprise, green, VentureBeat

With an intro like that, you can’t not watch this clip:

Check out all the companies in detail and learn who won the semi-annual startup competition at the official home of all things DEMO Spring 2012.

Filed under: video

Morality in Media is calling for a nation-wide boycott of daily deal site, Groupon.com, for what it claims are tours of a “torture porn” facility.

“Employees lead 90-minute tours for guests aged 18 & older through five floors of historic armory & elaborate adult-film sets,” reads the Groupon listing for the SF Armory tour. “A menagerie of ornate and functional fetish film sets detailed by the San Francisco Examiner includes a plush lounge and dungeon environments, complete with props forged in an on-site metal shop. Depending on their timing, groups may also glimpse a live filming in progress, though the staff requests that patrons refrain from ogling the working boom mikes.”

This is the second time the San Francisco-based deal has been promoted, with the first selling over 1,000 tickets in January. Dawn Hawkins from Morality in Media and Porn Harms explains why her organization is calling for a boycott in the video below:

“We only started the boycott after hearing back from Groupon that they found Kink to be a ‘responsible member of their community’ and dismissed our concerns,” Hawkins told VentureBeat. A copy of the email from Groupon was posted on the boycott page, and Hawkins also claims over 10,000 emails have been sent to Groupon executives (whose contact information was also posted on the War on Illegal Pornography site).

A spokesperson for Groupon told VentureBeat that this was the first they had heard of the boycott and therefore could not comment on it.

Filed under: deals, VentureBeat