“The ETF is super-charging the research environment in our state and propelling us to the forefront of technology innovation by harnessing amazing ideas and encouraging greater efforts to inquire, innovate and invest,” Gov. Perry said. “This investment in Animal Innovations will not only improve existing animal healthcare practices, but it will also have a significant impact on agriculture in our state and around the world.”

Animal Innovations’ technology allows the safe and efficient administration of drugs to animals through its patented, back filling syringe. The system’s accurate measuring system can fill a syringe up to 10 milliliters in 10 seconds, ensuring that animals are not over or under medicated. The system also protects the quality of the medication by shielding it from heat and other external elements.

The company is partnering with Texas A&M University and Ten X Technology to commercialize the product. Projected use of the technology currently focuses on feedlots and preconditioning lots, eventually adding cattle ranches. The technology also has significant implications for defending livestock and other animals against agro-terrorism.

The ETF is a $200 million initiative created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 at the governor’s request, and was reauthorized in 2007 and again this session with $203.5 million for the 2010-2011 biennium. A 17-member advisory committee of high-tech leaders, entrepreneurs and research experts reviews potential projects and recommends funding allocations to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House. To date, the ETF has allocated more than $91 million in funds to 73 early stage companies.

For more information on the ETF, please visit http://www.emergingtechfund.com.

No related posts.

A new program, Adeona, was announced last month that is similar to the Laptop LoJack system (software that tracks your laptop in the event it is stolen, much like the LoJack system for automobiles) that stores are pushing so aggressively on customers who purchase new laptops these days, but with a few critical differences.

First of all, LoJack costs $40-$60/year; Adeona is free. LoJack sends the data about your laptop’s location to a commercial enterprise that maintains a three page long “privacy” policy that outlines what they can choose to do with your personal information. Adeona obscures the data about your laptop’s location in such a way that only you (or a person you share your key with) can access it.

Basically, you install Adeona (which is a product of the University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering program) on your laptop (or even desktop computer, since those are stolen, too, unfortunately). You follow the steps the installer outlines – the most important step is to remember your password and to copy the file that contains the key to unlock your laptop’s location data to a USB thumbdrive or other location that you would have access if your laptop is stolen. Once it’s installed, Adeona runs in the background and encrypts and transmits data about your laptop’s location at random intervals.

The data it transmits includes the IP address of your computer, the name of the wireless network it’s connected to, if any, and information about the network it is connected to. It’s all fairly technical information, but when reviewed by law enforcement or someone with a networking or technical background, it gives you as much or more information than what would be available to the Laptop LoJack service provider if you were using that software.

It works with Linux, Windows and Mac OS X; on Apple computers with a built-in webcam, it can actually take photos of the thief as they use your laptop! It’s completely free, you can download Adeona from the University of Washington website. I’m going to make it a habit to install it on any PC I purchase, and recommend my friends and family do the same. It won’t help if a thief wipes the contents of your laptop’s hard drive before using it, but many thieves keep your data intact in the hopes of obtaining information relating to your identity or financial accounts, so in those cases, having Adeona installed just might lead to the successful recovery of your laptop!

And, for your own safety, heed this warning that is repeated several times on the Adeona website and during the installation process:

The retrieval results are for informational, research and evaluation purposes only. Do not attempt to recover your lost or stolen laptop yourself. If you believe your laptop has been stolen, contact the appropriate law enforcement agency.

No related posts.