naval

Oorah! Marines to get hybrid power generators for the field

U.S. Marines may have a reputation for persevering in primitive conditions and dealing with whatever comes their way, but they like their electricity just like everyone else.

Yet bringing fuel-guzzling generators with them when on forward deployment is inefficient work, requiring carting around heavy loads of diesel and taking a toll on the local environment.

But not for much longer. Today, the Office of Naval Research awarded Raytheon a contract to develop a hybrid power generator for the Marines, a system that when completed should help Marines in the field consume as much as 40 percent less fuel than … Read more

AngelList attacks another startup pain point: Legal fees

AngelList -- a booming site where angel investors find tech startups to back -- is rolling out a product today that should please a lot of would-be Mark Zuckerbergs and, in theory, worry a lot of lawyers.

Ultimately, it could help both.

The site, founded in early 2010 by entrepreneurs/angel investors Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi, is now offering standardized online documents that will make it faster and cheaper for any of the thousands of startups on AngelList to close their first round of funding.

AngelList Docs, as it's called, breaks down the money-raising paperwork process in a … Read more

AngelList launches talent recruiting portal

Are you a tech startup desperate to hire the best talent around and looking for a central repository of skilled engineers? Or a kick-butt coder trying to get in on the ground floor of a hot new venture? AngelList may have just the place to go.

This evening, AngelList, a service whose alumni companies have raised more than $1.1 billion in funding, launched a new talent portal, a one-stop shop where startups can search for qualified tech talent, and where skilled engineers and others can seek out the best new companies.

"We noticed that people were using AngelList … Read more

Navy's new ship sails the seas on half the gas

SAN DIEGO -- The U.S. Navy spends a fortune every year on energy, so for a ship to complete a deployment having burned through just half the cash it had available for fuel is a very good sign of things to come.

For some time, the Navy has been saying many of the right things about its plans to go green, starting with a major biofuels initiative. And though a recent Wired report claims that the servicewide efforts have lost steam, the performance of the USS Makin Island could well be a bright spot.

As part of Road Trip 2012, … Read more

Drone dogfights by 2015? U.S. Navy preps for futuristic combat

MONTEREY, Calif.--Imagine an aerial dogfight of epic proportions: Fifty aircraft on a side, each prowling the sky for advantage over dozens of adversaries.

If Timothy Chung has his way, such a battle could take place over Southern California by 2015. But before you worry that war is coming to American soil, you should know that Chung's vision is really about a high-tech game of Capture the Flag played by as many as a hundred small, lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles playing their role in a grand challenge of an experiment.

Chung is an assistant professor in the Systems Engineering … Read more

Navy robocopters to size up pirate ships

Using 3D imagery and robotic helicopters, the Navy plans to scan the seas for pirates.

The Office of Naval Research last week detailed a system that uses high-definition cameras and sensors with laser-radar (LADAR) technology, also called LIDAR, to better identify small boats.

The plan is to equip a drone helicopter, called Fire Scout, with the cameras and the LADAR sensor in a system the Navy calls Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS).

Once images are collected, software can sift through the data, comparing collected images to images of reference vessels, to help narrow in on potential problems. Without some sort of … Read more

CNET's live event: A good time to start a business? (video)

We hosted a panel last week at CNET's San Francisco headquarters with three top investors who shared their take on booming tech startup world and, more importantly, what they're looking for among the throngs of people trying to create next big thing.

So is the opportunity big now for budding entrepreneurs?

"Hell, yeah," said the Dave McClure of 500 Startups (beginning around 1:45).

George Zachary, with the VC firm Charles River Partners, said the "tension in the air is definitely higher" as his inbox is filling up faster and faster with eager pitches … Read more

Another sign Facebook IPO's getting close

Facebook's upcoming monster-size IPO has led to plenty of speculation -- about demand for the stock, about what it will mean for Facebook, about how it might drive up the valuations of the zillions of startups hoping to ride the Facebook exuberance wave.

And, more to the point, about just when exactly it will happen.

For all you tea-leaf readers out there, clues abound, and I'm here to offer up some fresh ones. Check out the video clip below from a panel I hosted here at CNET headquarters last night with three big startup investors: Dave McClure of … Read more

Check out tonight's CNET panel with top Silicon Valley investors

Our live stream is over. Thanks for watching. Check CNET tomorrow for clips from the live event.

Join me tonight as I talk tech startups with three of Silicon Valley's most respected investors and overall startup advocates -- Dave McClure of 500 Startups, Naval Ravikant of AngelList, and George Zachary of Charles River partners

You can read more about the event here. If you want to understand who gets funded and why, come back to this post tonight at 7 p.m. PT, where we'll be streaming it all live.

And if you are in San Francisco, we … Read more

Join top Silicon Valley investors, hear their fund-raising secrets

See that giant building above? That's the headquarters of CBS Interactive, home to CNET, in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood. And if you've ever wondered what's inside--keep reading out-of-towners, this is for you too--now's your chance to find out.

On Thursday, March 29 at 6 p.m. PT, CNET will host three of the biggest names in venture investing to talk about how you--yes, you, guy with the messenger bag walking past our office--can fund your entrepreneurial dreams.

In addition to the staples--wine, beer, and light grub--we'll have three longtime Valley players--Dave McClure of … Read more