In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news, reports say Twitter is in talks to acquire Flipboard; Novozymes to start operations of new $11M waste-to-energy system; Charlotte holding extended Google I/O event.
Twitter has been in talks to buy article sharing site Flipboard since the beginning of the year, reports Kara Swisher at Re/Code. She cites unnamed sources.
Palo Alto-based Flipboard, which launched in 2010, raised more than $160 million. Investors include Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Index Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, and Rizvi Traverse Management.
The company claims it has 50 million users and that they have created 15 million public magazines for sharing content. Reports say the deal could help Twitter capitalize on making some bucks through publisher partnerships, while it would also expose Flipboard to the Twitter audience.
Twitter also just made its live video streaming app Periscope available for Android devices.
Charlotte plans extended Google I/O event
Charlotte is holding a free extended Google I/O event at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts+Culture at the Levine Center for the Arts May 28.
It runs from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., with a reception following until 7 p.m.
Google’s Worldwide I/O conference (https://events.google.com/io2015/) is sold out. It is two-days of developer focused talks on what’s next in tech and mobile.
I/O Extended events include live streamed sessions, local developer demos, code labs and more. See: https://events.google.com/io2015/offsite.
The Charlotte event includes an entrepreneurial panel from 3 p.m. until 4 p.m. featuring James Stewart of Detailed Block, Jordan Cary of Hacker Space, Paul Wetenhall of Ventureprise, James Huston of Red Ventures and Dr. Valerie Truesdale, CIO, Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.
To Register: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cq9c38fatfu9rt9foc2dducbeas?e=-RedirectToSandbox&authkey=CMKcxajd2oe-2QE
Novozymes firing up $11M wastewater to energy plant
Novozymes will light a flare to inaugurate the start of operations of its new $11 million waste-to-energy system at its Novozymes North America location in Franklinton May 29.
The system is believed to be the first of its kind for a life science company in the Triangle Region and will generate the energy equivalent of 570 homes each year by processing 20 tons of organic matter per day from the plant’s wastewater system and converting it into methane (or biogas.)
The biogas will then be used to generate steam to power the overall plant as well as the pretreatment system itself. The system includes a 89-foot tall tower with capacity of 237,000 gallons where the wastewater conversion occurs. This is the fourth such system in operations at Novozymes globally.
