Maxwell Stakes its Claim in a $2.7 Billion Niche Market

Last Wednesday Maxwell Technologies (MXWL) announced the launch of a new ultracapacitor product that insures reliable engine starting for commercial trucks and other heavy vehicles. According to the Energy Information Administration, the existing US fleet includes 4.2 million heavy-duty diesel trucks. All of these vehicles are subject to strict anti-idling laws and regulations that strain their battery systems and increase the risk that the engine won't be able to start when it needs to. While a dead battery is a pain for the average consumer, it can cause a world of problems for a commercial truck that has to stay on schedule and can't afford the lost time or the out-of-pocket costs associated with a roadside service call.

The Maxwell solution is simple, but effective. They've packed twelve of their 3,000 Farad BoostCap ultracapacitors into a standard Group 31 battery case along with the necessary control electronics. Since heavy trucks frequently use four or more lead-acid batteries to power starting, lighting and accessories, the ultracapacitor pack is swapped for one of conventional batteries, wired directly to the starter and then connected to the rest of the electrical system. The installation is simple and can be done in less than an hour. Once the ultracapacitor pack is installed, it will assure trouble-free starting for the life of the truck even if the batteries get severely depleted. With an expected retail price of $1,299, the product should pay for itself in a couple of years by reducing the frequency of battery replacements, avoiding service calls that can cost up to $600 each and reducing downtime costs including late deliveries and spoilage of perishable products.

While Maxwell has not released specifics on its expected revenue per ultracapacitor pack, I'd have to guess that something on the order of half the retail price should flow back to Maxwell. With a national fleet of 4.2 million trucks and a revenue potential of $650 per vehicle, the addressable market works out to $2.7 billion. It's a niche market, but a very attractive opportunity in a transportation sector that truly needs a better energy storage solution for starter systems.

Maxwell was kind enough to share their preliminary marketing presentation with me and it clearly lays out the advantages. The ultracapacitor pack draws its energy from the other lead-acid batteries with a trickle charge that takes about 15 minutes and draws about 36 watt-hours of energy from batteries that have a combined capacity of roughly 3,000 watt-hours. When it's fully charged the ultracapacitor pack can deliver up to 1,900 amps of starting current and support up to three cold cranking events per charge. Since the system is ultracapacitor based, temperatures as low as -40° F will not impact performance.

While the product is an important milestone for Maxwell, it's also a great object lesson in how economies of scale work. The ultracapacitors Maxwell will use in the system are part of its K2 series. These are the same basic devices that Maxwell uses for its hybrid bus and wind turbine products. Each of the 12 ultracapacitors is roughly the size of a soda can, which makes integration into a compact starter pack relatively straightforward. The biggest reason Maxwell could afford to develop this product for the trucking industry is that it's already making millions of the basic ultracapacitor every year and the new starter solution is simply another use for a proven product that's already being manufactured at scale. As a result Maxwell was able to develop the product in-house and plans to take it directly to end-user and OEM markets without bringing in another manufacturer as a partner. It should enjoy a significant first mover advantage, retain a higher degree of control over its own destiny and enjoy higher long-term margins than it would if the product had been developed in cooperation with somebody else.

Last fall Maxwell's stock price ran from $12 to $17 in response to an automotive design win that will involve the installation of $50 BoostCap modules in up to a million new passenger cars over the next three years. When I compare the relative value of the two products and the fundamental end-user benefits of the two solutions, I have to believe the starter solution for heavy trucks will be an order of magnitude more important to Maxwell's top and bottom lines over the next few years.

This is a very important product announcement that the market seems to have missed.






Sources: AltenergyStocks.Com

Computer Failure Delays United Flights Nationwide

Passengers were stranded at airports across the country Friday night after a failure in United Airlines’ computer system, the airline said.

The disruption set off widespread delays at airports in San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, with many passengers left sitting in terminals or stuck on planes that were grounded.

United said in a statement that the problems began at 8:15 p.m. New York time, when the computer failure knocked out its flight departures, airport processing and reservations systems. The statement did not address the nationwide delays, and a spokesman did not return a phone call seeking comment.

It was not clear what had set off the computer failure, but United said in its statement that it had a technology team in place that was struggling to restore the system.

“We apologize for the disruption being caused to travelers at affected airports, and we are seeking to resume operations as quickly as possible,” the airline said.

Passengers at San Francisco International Airport reported a chaotic scene at the United terminal, while others waiting for flights at various airports around the country took to Twitter as they sat in limbo.

“Sitting on the plane in Chicago wanting to go home so badly but the whole computer system at United Airlines has shut down,” wrote @RonRhoads. “Delayed!”

Another stranded passenger, @mettlinger, posted from Dulles International Airport, or IAD: “Latest announcement at IAD: ‘Every computer system United Airlines has is down ... Our computers are paperweights.’ ”

Sources: The NewYork Times

Nia Long Pregnant With Second Child!

One of our favorite Clutchettes, Nia Long, is expecting her second baby later this year.

The 40-year-old actress is expecting her first child with her pro basketball beau Ime Udoka. Udoka, who is seven years Long’s junior, is said to be excited about the birth of his first child.

Long, who has a 10-year-old son from a previous relationship, told People Magazine that the couple is elated over their new baby.

“This is the most exciting time in our lives,” Long and Udoka tell PEOPLE in a statement. “Words can’t explain how thrilled we are by the new addition to our family. We feel truly blessed and appreciate all the well wishes and prayers.”

Sources : ClutchMagonline.Com

Red Hot Chili Peppers European Tour List of concerts confirmed

Red Hot Chili Peppers are set to return to Europe later this year after announcing a series of concerts.

They're back. One of the biggest rock bands on the planet, Red Hot Chili Peppers recently ended a five year hiatus by confirming the release of their new studio album.

Recorded earlier this year, 'I'm With You' ends a five year silence. Due to be released later this summer, pre-orders for the album are already being snapped up by fans desperate to hear new material.

Now Red Hot Chili Peppers have sprung another surprise. The American group announced this morning (June 17th) that they are set to play a lengthy series of European concerts this Autumn.

Beginning in Germany on October 7th, the shows contain some mammoth arenas. Red Hot Chili Peppers will play two shows in Germany before moving to Sweden, Denmark, Holland and more.

Travelling around the continent, the current itinerary leaves plenty of spaces to be filled. No news on British shows as yet, but given the gaps it should be a matter of time before Red Hot Chili Peppers put us all out of our misery...

Ending in Spain on December 17th, ticket sales are staggered. German tickets go on sale on June 25th, with different countries having different on sale dates.

Fans who pre-order 'I'm With You' will be given first access to tickets. Order the album HERE to be sent an exclusive code.

Red Hot Chili Peppers have confirmed the following shows:

October

7 Cologne Lanxess Arena (Tickets on sale June 25th)

9 Hamburg O2 World (Tickets on sale June 25th)

11 Stockholm Ericcson Globe Arena (Tickets on sale June 21st)

12 Stockholm Ericcson Globe Arena (Tickets on sale June 21st)

14 Herning Boxen Arena (Tickets on sale June 22nd)

16 Rotterdam Ahoy (Tickets on sale June 23rd)

18 Paris Bercy (Tickets on sale June 27th)

21 Frankfurt Festhalle (Tickets on sale June 25th)

December

4 Berlin O2 World (Tickets on sale June 25th)

5 Munich Olympiahalle (Tickets on sale June 25th)

7 Vienna Stadhalle (Tickets on sale June 25th)

10 Torino Palalimpico (Tickets on sale July 4th)

11 Milan Forum (Tickets on sale July 4th)

13 Zurich Hallenstadion (Tickets on sale June 23rd)

15 Barcelona Palau Sant Jordi (Tickets on sale June 30th)

17 Madrid Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad (Tickets on sale June 30th)

Sources : ClashMusic.Com

Road Trip | Go to see 'Van Gogh'

The 1890 painting “Undergrowth with Two Figures” by Vincent Van Gogh. Courtesy Cincinnati Art Museum. / Cincinnati Art Museum/Cincinnati Art Museum

The Cincinnati Art Museum is giving visitors the chance to check out how its 1890 Van Gogh painting “Undergrowth with Two Figures” is being restored by having its chief conservator, Per Knutas, carry out his detailed work in public view through October.

One of Vincent van Gogh's last masterpieces, the painting had wax applied to it in the 1970s to protect the canvas and secure the paint. But Knutas said some of the wax seeped to the front surface. To remove it and reveal original vibrant colors and textures of the work, Knutas is using a powerful microscope connected to a 42-inch flat screen monitor, as well as special tools and solvents.

Knutas is working on the painting from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and the first and last Saturdays of the month through the summer. For more information, call (513) 639-2995 or visit www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org.

Sources : Courier-Journal.Com

Superhero saga 'Green Lantern' fails to shine

Have you ever had one of those days when you’re leaving your nephew’s birthday party and a big neon-green bubble swallows you up and takes you to the site where a magenta-skinned extraterrestrial crashed his spaceship while he was looking for the perfect human to anoint as the next savior of the universe?

It happens to jet pilot Hal “Highball” Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) in “Green Lantern,” and he’s not entirely sure how to handle his new role. Director Martin Campbell and screenwriters Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldberg are equally uncertain

Although Campbell is the man who made the world take James Bond seriously again in the 2006 smash “Casino Royale,” he and his team can’t decide whether to pay tribute to Green Lantern or poke fun at him. So the film flip-flops furiously between straight-faced science-fiction and the kind of glossy goofiness found in Joel Schumacher’s notorious “Batman and Robin” or the “Fantastic Four” movies; the art of weaving together humor, adventure and romance — which director Kenneth Branagh seemed to do quite easily in “Thor” — overwhelms Campbell and, as a result, “Lantern” is often on the blink.

The movie’s patchy plot and awkward tonal shifts make it all too evident this project was put together by committee. Hal is a daredevil determined to honor the memory of his dad, a flyer who went up in flames and nearly took eyewitness Hal with him.

That’s some of the serious stuff. But Hal also has a fiercely flirtatious relationship with fellow jet jockey Carol (Blake Lively), who quickly catches on to his true identity, even when he’s encased in an iridescent emerald-colored body suit and matching mask.

“I’ve known you all my life — I’ve seen you naked!” she squawks. “You think I wouldn’t recognize you because I can’t see your cheekbones?”

This is the allegedly funny portion of the program.

Then there’s the mythology of the Green Lantern Corps, which is sloppily served up with plenty of video-game-y visual effects and multiple trips to the realm of the Guardians, a circle of gray, bubble-headed immortals perched on mile-high thrones, apparently designed so that the gnomes could show off their scarlet robes that are longer than Lindsay Lohan’s rap sheet.

The Guardians and the Green Lantern warriors are up in arms about Parallax, an evil force that has escaped the prison planet of Ryut and is threatening to devour the universe. The Parallax fuels itself with the fear it absorbs from its enemies, but Hal resolves to overcome his own trepidations to save Earth and turn Parallax into cosmic calamari.

While Reynolds is a natural comedian and a sharp dramatic actor, the role of a superhero doesn’t fit him quite as well as his costume does, mostly because the writers have weighed him down with a surplus of lame dialogue. Lively also gets stuck with a go-nowhere role that’s not much more than a tough but tenderhearted potential damsel in distress.

Outstanding actors such as Angela Bassett and Tim Robbins are brought in, given a few moments of screen time and then turned into human projectiles for the special effects crew to smack into walls, smash against windows and hurl across floors.

The only one managing to hold his ground against the barrage of CGI razzle-dazzle is Peter Sarsgaard as Dr. Hector Hammond, a milquetoast who turns into a maniac after an alien autopsy goes awry. As Hector deteriorates, disappearing under multiple layers of increasingly grotesque makeup, Sarsgaard keeps raising the stakes, twisting his lines into sinister spirals. 
In a movie full of explosions and pyrotechnics, Sarsgaard turns out to be the only real firepower.

Although a brief stinger midway through the end credits opens the door for another installment, the prospects for a “Green Lantern” sequel don’t look terribly bright.

Sources: MLIVE.COM

BlackBerry (RIMM) Headed Towards Irrelevance

While to some people, like Bill Simmons, BlackBerrys are the only phones out there and started this SmartPhone revolution we now find ourselves in, Apple and Google through Android have taken the game to a new level and BlackBerry and its manufacturer Research In Motion have been left in the dust. Sure BlackBerries are far from gone but the RIMM stock has degraded substantially recently as more and more people are leaving their brand known for user difficulty for the easiness of Apple's iOS and Google's Anroid operating systems. 

It has become a $30 stock after being valued at $140 three years ago. That's a pretty substantial decline even in this economy. Revenue has sunk to $4.91 billion, down from estimates easily over $5 billion. While earnings were slightly higher than expected at $1.33, that's still nothing compared to what the stock was just a few years ago. Revenue is down almost 20% from a year ago in an arguably worse economy. That's far from good in case you couldn't tell.

Just a couple of years ago, everyone out there was looking to get a BlackBerry but now nobody is. Apple and Android phones are booming in this SmartPhone revolution but what we've got now is an aging brand in BlackBerry that is going nowhere fast. They're stuck in a 2007 climate while Apple and Google continue to up the ante. Sure Research In Motion is still more popular than Windows Mobile Phones but what is that saying?

They're far from last in market share or earnings but compared to what they were, things aren't good. It's not out of the realm of possibility to see them sink into complete irrelevance. They've got to find a way to catch up to their more advanced competitors but they wouldn't be the first to fall to Apple and Google. 

Sources : Pnosker.com