The latest from TechCrunch
- Need More Proof Quora Is "Blowing Up"? Meet The Quora Button
- J.P. Morgan: Global E-Commerce Revenue To Grow By 19 Percent In 2011 To $680B
- Solar Power Technologies Raises $6.08 Million To Optimize Commercial Solar Arrays, Wirelessly
| Need More Proof Quora Is "Blowing Up"? Meet The Quora Button | Top |
| While co-founders Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever are famously quiet about Quora’s user and traffic numbers, blogger Semil Shah has discovered something even more indicative of the site’s entrance into A-List status — A Quora button right along side that off Facebook and Twitter on startup BankSimple ‘s website. A sign of an impending Twitter moment ? Says Shah, “As much as older brands may resist, the rising tide behind Quora’s popularity will reward those businesses who choose to embrace this trend rather than learn lessons the hard way, too late.” If you’re on Quora and have signed up for email alerts, you probably noticed a massive influx of “follow” emails over the past two weeks, including some unlikely ones from top brands . This userbase expanision is hard to ignore, culminating in Quora surpassing 25K daily unique visitors during the last week of December, according to Google Trends. Some tech pundits are blaming the notorious Scoble Effect for the explosive growth, but Quora has seen this kind of spike again this year (sans Scoble) right around Thanksgiving, when just like Christmas, people have more free time to futz around on the Internet. While Cheever admitted in a Quora thread that “a number of things going on at the same time, including these blog posts” are responsible for the growth, D’Angelo tells TechCrunch that the Google Trends numbers are “off” and that this oft-referenced user chart is also inaccurate. Perhaps the existence of bootleg “Follow me on Quora” buttons are more evidence than any analytics of the site’s having hit already mainstream? When asked whether if they plan on making official Quora buttons or adding even more social “Tweet this question” type features anytime soon, D’Angelo stated, “We haven’t prioritized that use case yet. we have our hands full just keeping up with growth.” Just like in the case of the Quora Chrome extension , hardcore Quora fans have come to the rescue. Quora uers who want to stay ahead of the curve, can download an unofficial button here. CrunchBase Information Quora Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| J.P. Morgan: Global E-Commerce Revenue To Grow By 19 Percent In 2011 To $680B | Top |
| With e-commerce spending performing well over the past holiday season, retailers are hoping this trend will continue into 2011. J.P. Morgan senior analyst Imran Kahn has released his annual report forecasting trends for the New Year that includes a number of positive projections for the e-commerce industry. The report forecasts that e-commerce revenue will grow to $680 billion worldwide up 18.9 percent from 2010 revenue. Online retail commerce in the U.S. alone will grow 13.2 percent to $187 billion. J.P. Morgan anticipates that global e-commerce revenue will hit a whopping $963 billion by 2013. The number of people who shop online keeps increasing, with 38 percent buying at least once per month. And the percentage of people who don’t shop online declined to 12 percent in 2010 from 20 percent in 2007. Higher income consumers shop online the most often, with 34 percent of those making $100,000 or more shopping online at least three times per month. While e-commerce spending may be growing, Kahn reports that the pace at which retail is moving online is less rapid than the online advertising space (See chart below). As of 2009, e-commerce was only 3.9 percent of all U.S. retail, however; online advertising represented 13.7 percent of all U.S. advertising. The report also highlights other unsurprising trends. For example, Amazon continues to gain market share, as smaller players have trouble competing with the e-commerce giant. Kahn writes that the growth in mobile commerce could negatively effect brick and mortar stores and that one potential weakness in e-retail growth is the possibility of an internet sales tax. | |
| Solar Power Technologies Raises $6.08 Million To Optimize Commercial Solar Arrays, Wirelessly | Top |
| Today, an SEC filing revealed that Solar Power Technologies raised $6.08 million for technology that helps wirelessly measure, manage and optimize the performance of large, solar power generating systems. Investors included Austin Ventures and Oxantium Ventures , the filing said. The company claims its technology enables commercial solar arrays to harvest 15 to 20 per cent more total power over a 20 year lifespan than they would otherwise. The system works, Burgess explained, by alleviating something called the “christmas tree light problem,” where panels in a solar array only harvest and output as much power as the weakest one in the chain. SPT’s Clarity system includes the installation of small controllers behind panels within the array. The controllers identify a weakened panel or any other constraint or restriction in the system, then boost up the outputs of capable panels around it. As Todd Woody noted today in a piece for Sustainable Industries: one large solar power plant can cost more than $2 billion to build in the U.S. making productivity-spiking technology (like SPT promises) sound at the very least attractive for companies that laid out so much cash to go solar, and want to get every last watt of renewable power that they can for their money. The company’s chief executive, Ray Burgess, reported Monday that SPT will advance to a commercial launch by mid-year. The startup is currently working on field trials of its Clarity-brand monitoring and optimizing system with potential customers, namely utilities based in the southwestern United States. Burgess said: “We have the ability to give [customers] insight into how [their] large-scale solar arrays perform, and help them harvest and put out more power under all conditions. There are some estimated 200 million solar photovoltaic panels installed around the world right now. Probably 20-30% of the power they could be generating now is lost before it ever gets to the grid. Maintenance of all that equipment is a challenge. These are huge financial matters if nothing else for utilities and for commercial renewable energy.” SPT plans to use its new-found capital to: complete its field tests; attain various safety and environmental certifications; ramp up its production; hire personnel to expand its sales footprint to Europe and Asia by the end of 2011; and to develop technology that works beyond crystalline solar panel arrays with CIGS, thin-film and concentrated photovoltaics. Utilities may use each of these technologies in the field, SPT anticipates, depending on everything from costs to improvements in efficiency conversion rates. CrunchBase Information Austin Ventures Oxantium Ventures Information provided by CrunchBase | |
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