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Google Means Business with Analytics

Google announced that it is rolling out enterprise-class features for its Google Analytics Web service. The search giant is going after Microsoft’s key enterprise markets (Microsoft’s adCenter Analytics and its Analysis Services) in a big way. The Analytics service comes with richer data visualization capabilities, an API, better reporting and navigation screens, integration with Google AdSense, and Motion Charts, which provide multidimensional analysis. The API is certainly a sign that Google is aggressively looking to penetrate the business intelligence market. Ultimately, however, the success of the service will depend on what the community creates with the API.—Mario Morejon

TECHNORIDE www.technoride.com

In-Car Computer Hits the Outback

Westwell and Azentek announced the world’s fi rst fully integrated in-car PCs, the Azentek CPC-1200 and CPC-1100 in-dash car computer systems, in Australia. The PCs act as high-end car stereos, and also offer GPS navigation, mobile-phone integration via Bluetooth, multimedia playback, and automobile diagnostics. The CPC-1200 is a complete Microsoft Vistabased PC with a 1.66-GHz Intel Core Duo T2300 processor and 1GB of RAM. It plays DVDs, music and Internet radio, offers GPS functionality with a touch screen, can make and receive mobile calls, and offers voice-enabled e-mail. Pricing is still undetermined.—Jamie Lendino GOODCLEANTECH www.goodcleantech .com

Cali Upstart Brings Solar Power to Main Street

Want to go green and reduce energy costs, but can’t afford photovoltaic solar panels? Luckily, California’s SolarCity, a solar market innovator we fi rst mentioned last year, has come up with a way to make solar energy affordable. Rather than selling costly PV equipment at face value, the company decided to lease solar panels to homeowners for a monthly payment. How much? A typical 2.8-kilowatt system yielding roughly 10 to 15 percent in monthly savings costs $125 per month. And here’s the best part: All installation work is included, and a minimum level of power production is guaranteed.—Steven Volynets GEARLOG www.gearlog.com

On: Audio Bone Headphones

Japan-based company Goldendance has released the Audio Bone ($189): bone-conduction headphones that sit in front of your ears and amplify your music by vibrating your skull. Bone conduction has a number of advantages over traditional headphones, such as being less likely to contribute to hearing loss because they bypass the ear drum. When I tested the Audio Bone, I found that the sensation isn’t off-putting at all. The sound quality, however, is not so great.—Brian Heater

Hacking Hardware Design

Daring entrepreneurs are bringing the idea of open sourcing to PC components.

Say you just designed a new piece of hardware. In the past, your next step would be to patent the design and secure the intellectual property rights. Then, you’d fi nd a manufacturer and start selling your widget. A new model, patterned after the open-source software movement, is to release the hardware design into the wild. That way, anyone can order the materials and make the product without hiring attorneys, buying design specifi cations, arranging complex licensing agreements, and competing with other commercial vendors.

The idea of open-source hardware is gaining traction, according to MIT professor Eric Von Hippel, because the design work is not tied to the manufacturing process. “Open-source software and open-source hardware are precisely the same thing at the design stage,” says Von Hippel.

Companies such as Bug Labs, Rowetel, Neuros, Arduino, and Openmoko are exploring open-source hardware as a viable business model, releasing their designs in the hope that companies will use them for their own products and credit the original designer. Today, open-source software developers often make money by

doing consultant work on their freely released creations. With hardware, the designers have similar aspirations, but some just want to get noticed. “Open-source hardware grew out of places where people are not hiding behind intellectual property,” says Tom Igoe, a professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts who also works with Arduino. “It has an art school vibe.” In many ways, open-source hardware is a reaction to the closed design process at large compaOPENED UP The Arduino Nano nies such as Apple and HP, who control every dot open-source microcontroller. and twiddle of the fi nal product spec. With open source, community support often leads to innovation, but not necessarily to a steady income. “This seems to me to be the big question around open hardware: Does it enable a sustainable business model or is it just a fun hacker sideline?” says Steve Tomlin, CEO of Chumby Industries, a company that has found a good balance: closed hardware but open software. According to Bob Waldie, CEO of network switch company Opengear, the answer lies in building the developer community. That, he says, is the long-term golden ticket.—John Brandon

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