[Updated 1/11/12 5:15 pm. See below.] “Sermo has been my baby, my blood and tears,” its former CEO Daniel Palestrant told me in a phone call last week.

So it was pretty shocking last week when news surfaced that the founder of the Cambridge, MA-based online community for doctors was moving onto a new Web startup, along with Sermo chief medical officer Adam Sharp. It wasn’t always going to be that way, Palestrant said, but more on that later.

Par8o, the new startup, began as a research project within Sermo. Drawing on the insights of its large online physician community (more than 130,000 people strong now), Sermo had formed the opinion a few years ago that the healthcare bill would not achieve its goals of improving patient care and lowering costs, Palestrant said. Among other things, the community thought the bill (signed into law March 2010) needed greater reform to medical malpractice policy and ways to improve patient engagement.

The research team at Sermo hypothesized that to achieve these goals, what’s needed is “the introduction of Pareto dynamics,” where efficiency is created through better matching supply and demand, said Palestrant. The idea comes from the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto.

So what exactly does that look like and how can a new health Web startup help? Palestrant explains that in Par8o’s case, it’s about improving the patient referral process. Referrals, he said, are “a critical moment in a patient’s healthcare journey, either a change in diagnosis or an escalation in care.”

Often, this means the general practitioner sees a new health problem in a patient and needs to bring in a specialist to really tackle it, said Palestrant. That should work fine, right? Not exactly, according to Palestrant. Of the tens of millions of patient referrals per year, somewhere between 20 percent and 40 percent never actually result in another appointment or handoff to a new doctor. “The patient never … Next Page »

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Lexington, MA-based FirstFuel Software is among a crop of experimental energy projects picked to help the Department of Defense curb its energy output across military installations, the company announced yesterday. The startup was one of 27 teams selected as part of the DoD’s Installation Energy Test Bed initiative, a program designed to help emerging energy technologies get to market quicker while also slicing the roughly $4 billion a year the department spends on energy across its 300,000 sites.

FirstFuel’s software enables customers to measure building energy output—and target effective efficiency upgrades—without ever setting foot on site. The technology uses a building’s address, a year’s worth of energy meter readings, satellite imaging, and weather patterns to conduct the audit remotely. CEO Swapnil Shah has previously stated that his company is targeting utilities and government agencies as customers because of their massive reach and their need to cut the costs of pricey on-site audits, which can run between $5,000 and $30,000 a pop. In this case, the FirstFuel technology will be tested out in a pilot of about 100 DoD buildings and then evaluated for use in more sites, said Shah.

The Installation Energy Test Bed program, founded in 2009 as part of the DoD’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, has selected other technologies in the building management, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and energy storage arenas. Through the program, the government aims to take on some of the risk as one of the first users to validate the new technology, and “for those technologies that prove effective, DoD can go on to serve as an early customer, thereby helping create a market, as it did with aircraft, electronics, and the internet,” the Installation Energy Test Bed’s website explains. FirstFuel seems to be alongside some heavy hitters for the 2012 pool, which includes projects from 3M, Raytheon, Autodesk, and Honeywell.

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Hey intern hopefuls, have you been on the hunt for a sweet media gig for the new semester? You’re in luck. Xconomy is looking for a rockstar intern to help out with a mix of editorial, social media, and event-related projects we’re initiating in the new year.

On top of gaining professional Web and news production experience in a lively startup setting, and free attendance at Xconomy events, the intern will also get the choice to work either from home or join us in our sunny Cambridge digs. Interested, or know someone who might be? Please send cover letters and resumes to Erin Kutz at ekutz@xconomy.com.

We’re looking for: 
—Familiarity with video editing software such as iMovie
—Strong working knowledge of social media platforms
—Some experience hand-coding HTML preferred
—Experience with and knowledge of WordPress or other content management systems

You can expect to:
—Help curate and update event calendars on Xconomy.com
—Assist with editing and producing graphics
—Edit photos and compile slideshows
—Edit event footage and one-on-one interviews
—Measure social media analytics

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Boston has a pretty well-known cluster of tech companies—young and old—that are focused on aspects of travel like booking flights and hotels. Kayak, TripAdvisor, and ITA Software (now part of Google), just to name a few, fit that mold. But there’s another area player that’s helping customers to experience a city once they get there, via an interesting marketing proposition.

That would be Boston-based Smart Destinations, which is looking to provide a Disney World-esque experience to hitting tourist and historical sites in 12 cities such as Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. It’s not a new idea, as you’ll see, but it has a modern twist.

For Boston, adult travelers can buy a three-day “Go Card” from Smart Destinations for $109, and gain admission to more than 70 attractions, like the New England Aquarium, Salem Witch Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and even Cape Cod activities like whale watching. That price can be adjusted in wintertime (when people don’t want to be out on a boat), and, naturally, a kids’ Go Card costs less. The card also enables users to skip lines at tourist attractions, says CEO and founder Kevin McLaughlin. That, and the one-stop-shopping aspect give it the amusement park pass feel.

“It makes it really easy for families to go to big cities,” he says.

McLaughlin recognizes that not every customer may be looking for a 72-hour-straight, nonstop tourist-attraction-hopping vacation, though. Smart Destinations also offers a Go Select pass, with which consumers can pick certain spots they’d like to see. For each attraction they add to the pass, the amount of the discount at each individual spot grows.

McLaughlin started the company with travel industry veteran Cecilia Dahl in 2003. The inspiration came from a Paris tourist service, which sells a card giving visitors access to all of the city’s museums. This is McLaughlin’s sixth tech startup. His past ventures include Delphi Internet (acquired by News Corporation), Netspoke (acquired by Premiere Conferencing), and exchange.com (acquired by Amazon). Smart Destinations is now up to around 32 employees, and has raised three rounds of funding from investors such as North Hill Ventures.

Smart Destinations is now making a bigger push into the mobile sphere, says McLaughlin.The company started by selling physical cards with a smart chip through its website. Consumers can get still get that card via snail mail or participating kiosks in their destination cities, or they can access it via their mobile phones. Starting first quarter of this year, consumers can also create, purchase, and customize the Go Select pass right from their phones, adding tourist destinations and racking up discounts as they make their way through a city. A small … Next Page »

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Anyone who says cleantech companies are having a tough time raising money should take a look at Boston-Power. The Westborough, MA-based advanced lithium-ion battery maker is announcing today that it’s taken in $30 million in equity funding, just three months after announcing a massive $125 million Series F funding round. The company has now attracted more than $346 million in financing since its founding in 2005.

Of course, that recent money has come with some strings attached. The newest investment was led by Beijing-based GSR Ventures, a firm that led Boston-Power’s $125 million Series F round and is focused on building companies in China. Along with the September financing, Boston-Power announced that it was moving the majority of its operations to China to chase the electric vehicle market, and said it was reducing its 80-person Bay State workforce by about 35 percent.

Boston-Power, which also sells its batteries to customers like Hewlett-Packard for portable electronics, plans to add between 600 and 800 jobs in China across manufacturing and engineering roles. The company has begun construction of a manufacturing facility near Shanghai in Liyang and has established a temporary R&D site in Beijing, which will focus on customer applications of its battery technology. Both sites are expected to be complete in 2012, said founder and international chairman Christina Lampe-Onnerud.

Boston-Power also has an executive search underway, in China, to fill positions like CEO, said Lampe-Onnerud, an Xconomist. In September, Boston-Power’s Westborough-based CEO, CFO, and vice president of marketing left as part of the shift to China. Lampe-Onnerud said the pool of CEO candidates the company is considering is mixed, comprising both engineers earlier in the careers and more senior managers.

For her part, Lampe-Onnerud says she is excited to think about what she’ll do next. Alongside the September financing, Lampe-Onnerud committed to remaining with Boston-Power for at least another year, in the role of international chairman, and is helping to oversee the shift in operations.

“This opens up opportunities for me to do what I love to do, which is executable innovation,” she says of when this one-year commitment period ends. “I’ll have a chance to look at other problems that need attention.”

She says she’s interested in staying in high-tech or cleantech, and that water-related energy and transportation are areas of particular interest. We’ll have to keep our eye on her.

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The FDA has cleared the first commercial product from San Diego’s Tandem Diabetes Care, a wearable insulin pump, according to a statement today from the medical device startup. Tandem Diabetes says its “t:slim” insulin pump represents an advance in terms of practicality and ease of use for managing type 1 diabetes—particularly for people who manage their diabetes with multiple daily injections.

As I reported in August, when Tandem Diabetes raised $12 million in venture funding, the company applied for FDA clearance under 510(k), a section of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that allows the regulatory agency to determine if a medical device is equivalent to existing technology already cleared for use.

Tandem Diabetes says its insulin pump enables patients to get insulin continuously throughout the day using a catheter, instead of giving themselves periodic injections. In a seeming homage to Apple’s simplicity of design, the San Diego company also emphasizes the t:slim’s thin design—”the smallest insulin pump system currently available,” user-oriented features, and “vivid color touch screen.” The device also features an “eco-friendly rechargeable battery” and can be connected via a USB port to a Web application so users can upload as much as 90 days of insulin pump data or blood glucose meter data.

In its statement, the company says, “Of approximately 1.5 million people in the U.S. with type 1 diabetes, industry estimates indicate that only 20 to 30 percent use an insulin pump, despite clinical evidence that pump use can improve glycemic control and quality of life.”

A Tandem Diabetes spokeswoman declined to say how much venture capital the company has raised since it was founded in 2006. By my reckoning, it is at least $77.3 million. The company’s investors include Delphi Ventures, Domain Associates, HLM Venture Partners, Second Technology Capital Investors, and TPG Biotech.

Tandem Diabetes is entering a market where many insulin pump makers already are established, including Minneapolis-based Medtronic; Bedford, MA-based Insulet; Switzerland’s Roche; New Brunswick, NJ-based Johnson & Johnson; South Korea’s Sooil; and Japan’s Nipro.

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On August 4, Lansing, MI- and Burlington, ON-based renewable chemical company EcoSynthetix announced it had closed its initial public offering priced at $9 per share in Canadian dollars, for proceeds totaling $100.35 million. The common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “ECO.”

EcoSynthetix is the inaugural portfolio company of the InvestMichigan! Growth Capital Fund, part of the 2008 economic initiative created by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Growth capital investments are made across a broad range of sectors in companies that have enterprise values of less than $200 million and are located in Michigan, have their corporate headquarters in Michigan, have a significant number of employees based in Michigan, or are in the process of planning an expansion and/or relocation to Michigan. The fund is managed by Beringea and Credit Suisse’s Customized Fund Investment Group.

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This week was dominated by financing news from younger, privately held New England drug developers and diagnostics and devices firms.

—Waltham, MA-based Proteon Therapeutics inked a $15.2 million equity- and options-based investment. The firm is developing drugs for kidney and vascular diseases.

—Fluidnet, an Amesbury, MA-based developer of electronic infusion pumps for administering IV fluids, raised $19.8 million of an equity offering that could total $25 million.

—Sudbury, MA- and Shreveport, LA-based Embera NeuroTherapeutics took in $4.5 million in Series A funding to put toward advancing its treatment for addictions, EMB-001, through a safety study and subsequent clinical trials. The money came from existing backers Louisiana Ventures, Louisiana Fund I, and Themelios Ventures, as well as other private investors.

—Lexington, MA-based lung disease drug developer Pulmatrix announced it raised $14 million in Series B financing and revealed its plans to advance its lead compound, PUR118, as a new treatment for cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The funding came from all of Pulmatrix’s existing investors, which includes Polaris Venture Partners, 5AM Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, and Novartis Venture Fund.

—Healthcare companies in Massachusetts collectively raised $134 million in July, according to data from CB Insights‘ FundingFlash, a daily roundup of companies receiving venture capital, angel investment, and growth equity funding. Cambridge, MA-based obesity drug developer Zafgen led the way last month with $33 million.

—SEC documents revealed a couple of life sciences-related financings in the middle of this week: Cambridge-based Daktari Diagnostics ($1.17 million in debt-based funding), and Lebanon, NH-based PharmaSecure ($2.5 million of a $6 million equity offering). The companies are working on HIV diagnostic systems and medicine counterfeiting prevention, respectively.

—Xconomy Seattle and national biotech editor Luke Timmerman profiled Tony Coles as part of our new Xconomist of the Week feature. Coles, now the CEO of South San Francisco-based Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ONXX), spent his residency training in cardiology and internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He got his master’s degree in public health from Harvard University and held a research fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

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IT companies dominated New England deals this week, with word of acquisitions, financings, and potential IPOs.

—M/A-COM Technology Solutions, a Lowell, MA-based wireless chip maker, said in an SEC filing that it hopes to raise up to $230 million in an initial public offering. The firm is now owned by semiconductor-focused private equity fund Gaas Labs.

—TechStars Boston 2011 alum Kinvey, a mobile software developer, took in $2 million in seed funding, led by Atlas Venture. The financing also included Avalon Ventures, and Boston angel investors Chris Lynch, Mike Baker, Jennifer Lum, Ty Danco, and Joe Caruso.

—Waltham, MA-based Tantaline, a developer of corrosion-resistant surface alloys for use in the oil and gas, chemical processing, energy, pharmaceuticals, and mining industries, said it snagged a $3.6 million Series B investment. The money came from Harvard, MA-based Berwind Private Equity, and Danish firms Vaekstfonden and CC Holdings.

—My colleague Greg rounded up news about a couple of Boston-area VC firms that are raising money: Kepha Partners and General Catalyst Partners.

—Burlington, MA-based IT virtualization firm DynamicOps wrapped up $5 million in equity-based funding, an SEC filing showed.

—Lumenpulse, LED lighting fixtures manufacturer with U.S. headquarters in Boston, nabbed $16 million in a mixed Series A offering of equity and debt. The funding comes from a group of investors including the company’s management and board, and Silicon Valley Bank.

—Burlington-based Bluesocket was acquired by wireless and communications equipment-maker ADTRAN (NASDAQ: ADTN) for an undisclosed sum. Bluesocket, a maker of wireless networking and security products, will be rolled into ADTRAN’s enterprise networks unit.

—Avalon Ventures led a $3 million Series A financing for Boston-based Nanigans, a provider of a real-time bidding advertising platform for Facebook. The deal also included some Boston-area angel investors.

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Conferences and other business events offer the chance to make new professional contacts, but wading through the masses of attendees can be a nightmare. Marching around with a guest list does not make it much easier. Enter seven-month-old Qrious, a New York startup working on an app that lets smartphones sift through contacts people make in-person.

“Our goal is to help business people meet more of the folks they want to connect with,” says Qrious co-founder John Federico. The app is still in beta but has already been put to work at events hosted by the MIT Enterprise Forum, Pace University, BarCamp NYC, and the Chicago Clean Energy Alliance.

The Qrious app is still in its embryonic stage of development, but here’s how it’s basically supposed to work. Users of Qrious create profiles activated through their LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter accounts that let them share contact information with other event attendees. Qrious users can search profiles at the events based on industry, area of expertise, or other criteria. Event planners can also print name badges, through Qrious, with quick response (QR) barcodes that provide contact details for the respective attendees. Qrious users can scan the barcodes with their smartphones to swap information, Federico says. Exhibitors at events can also use the Qrious codes at their booths for attendees to check-in to receive incentives.

Qrious is developing a feature to notify users when anyone with a profile that matches their search criteria enters the room they are in, Federico says. Future uses of the feature include breaking the ice between … Next Page »

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Intervention Insights of Grand Rapids, MI has raised $7.2 million in venture capital to help commercialize software that helps doctors identify the proper drugs to treat a patient’s specific cancer.

Beringea, the private equity/venture capital firm based in Farmington Hills, and Chrysalis Ventures in Louisville, KY, led the startup’s Series B round, which also includes previous investors Hopen Life Sciences and Michigan Accelerator Fund I.

“It’s a really strong syndicate,” Beringea managing director Michael Gross told Xconomy. Gross, along with Chrysalis Ventures managing director Koleman Karleski, are joining Intervention’s board.

Founded in 2009 with technology from the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, the startup is at the forefront of an emerging field called pharmacogenomics or “tumor profiling,” in which scientists can map out the genetic makeup of cancer cells found in a particular patient. Intervention has developed software that can help doctors to quickly match the most appropriate drug therapy to that specific patient’s cancer.

“We’ve been monitoring the molecular diagnostic space for a while now,” Gross says. “Physicians today have much more useful information than in the past to treat and diagnose cancer. [Intervention's technology] will allow physicians to have [even] better information. It will make healthcare more efficient.”

Gross says Intervention will use the money to expand sales and to help win reimbursement from third party payers.

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News links in the social era get swapped much like baseball cards of old. Readers repost and Like topics they expect their friends to share an interest in. New York startup Outbrain is not out to become your Facebook buddy—but the company will steer you to stories it believes you want to see.

Outbrain has created a recommendation engine that notes what stories are holding readers’ attention and presents other stories of comparable flavor. Gilad de Vries, vice president of brands and agencies with Outbrain, says the four-year-old company operates somewhat behind the scenes, running its widget on websites for content sources such as Slate, TMZ.com, USA Today, and Chicago Tribune. “We’re installed on 80 percent of [the websites for] the top 200 publishers in the U.S.,” he says.

Outbrain’s widget presents links to stories on third-party sites that are also part of the network, not just related stories from the original outlet. That gives readers multiple sources to choose from if they want to see new angles on a topic. Moreover, it increases publishers’ exposure, which in turn gives their advertisers more chances to connect with potential customers. “You read an article on CNN and get a recommendation to continue reading on Chicago Tribune or vice versa,” de Vries says.

Outbrain’s widget has already impressed investors, who have pumped … Next Page »

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[Corrected 7/12/11, 4:05 pm.See below.]Margarita Barry is throwing a party.

Who: Entrepreneurial, creative people in their 20s or 30s

Where: Detroit

When: Now

RSVP: www.iamyoungdetroit.com

Barry, 26, is the founder of I am Young Detroit, a web site [An earlier version mistakenly described the website as a social networking site. We regret the error.]that offers news, blogs, and videos about local professionals and artists under the age of 40 in the Motor City.

What began as a blog to counter negative media coverage of Detroit has morphed into a rallying cry for twenty and thirty-somethings across the country to revitalize the city. Launched in 2010, the site has attracted the notice of national media publications like the New York Times.

“The original goal with the site is to attract and retain young talent here,” she says.

“The second goal is wanting people to look from outside the region, and discover the opportunities that the city has to has to offer,” she says. “We have a lot of great talent and resources here.”

Barry certainly practices what she preaches. A graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, Barry launched her first venture, a multicultural print and web magazine called Tint, when she was 18. She’s been hooked ever since.

“In the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘how can I positively impact the community and also create something that is potentially profitable?’” she says. “Being an entrepreneur, that’s something that’s always been a part of me.”

“Margarita always had lots of really good ideas,” says Delphia Simmons, a friend and former business partner.

The two met a few years ago when they both attended the same class at Bizdom U, a Detroit-based program that trains and assists entrepreneurs so they can launch successful businesses in the city. The two were working on creating an eBay-like site designed for children when Barry told Simmons about an idea she had for a blog geared to young Detroiters.

“The problem was that in the incubator they want you to come up with something scalable that can make … Next Page »

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High-octane action movies and sci-fi thrillers are not the only images best viewed in 3D.

Just ask Laura Schrader, a onetime medical device consultant who recently joined 3D Biomatrix as its new CEO.

The Ann Arbor, MI-based startup, which spun off last year from the University of Michigan, is developing ways for drug researchers to test their therapies on cells with three dimensions. Scientists can better screen drug candidates on cells that offer a more realistic human response to potential therapies, Schrader says.

“Our cells exist in a 3D space, not in a 2D petri dish,” says Schrader, a former college basketball star and a member of the College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Explaining why she took the job, Schrader says 3D Biomatrix “seemed like it has the best legs to be successful for a while, to make the leap from spinout to a commercial entity. It’s a very exciting point in the company’s growth, moving out of the lab into the market.”

3D Biomatrix is the brainchild of founder Nicholas Kotov, a U-M chemistry professor who now serves as the company’s chief technical officer.

Kotov had created the world’s first artificial bone morrow that could grow stem cells. In his research, Kotov noted cells that exist in the pores of bone marrow needed to communicate with each other, which could only happen if they existed in three-dimensional space. That discovery also could explain why scientists have so far failed to grow stem cells in petri dishes.

Out of Kotov’s work came 3D Biomatrix’s first product, the Perfecta3D scaffolds, a network of artificial hydrogel spherical cavities scientists can use to grow stem cells.

But for now, Schrader says the startup’s best shot at generating revenue lies with its Perfecta Hanging Drop Plates, … Next Page »

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During my brief time here in Michigan, I’ve heard a familiar prediction: The state is poised to become a cleantech powerhouse because of its expertise in manufacturing and automobile engineering.

So far, that’s mostly been talk. Danotek Motion Technologies, however, is walking the walk.

The Canton, MI-based startup has unique technology and Silicon Valley investors, but importantly, the company is making and selling real stuff to real wind power customers and creating jobs in return. In essence, Danotek is practicing what Michigan often preaches.

Danotek “has done an incredible job in building a sales pipeline,” Rachel Sheinbein, a principal in San Francisco-based CMEA Capital and Danotek board member, tells Xconomy. “We’re excited about the prospects.”

Using permanent magnet technology, Danotek is helping wind turbine makers build smaller, less costly, more efficient generators that can produce up to 3.2 megawatts of electricity.

Danotek has come a long way. In 2009, the company generated $450,000 in sales. As of the first quarter in 2011, Danotek boasts a $50 million backlog in orders from customers like General Electric, Clipper, DeWind (a unit of Daewoo), and WinWinD in Finland. Last year, the startup hired 58 employees from 13 countries, bringing its workforce to nearly 100 strong.

Unlike most high tech startups, Danotek successfully transitioned from a research and development firm to a full-fledged manufacturer thanks to one fateful decision, savvy investors, and an experienced CEO.

Danotek was founded in 2001 by a group of former GE engineers, including Daniel Gizaw, who also worked at Cummins Power Generation, General Motors, and Ford Motor. The company was interested in the idea of generating a constant magnetic field, which in turn, could produce a stable, continuous flow of electricity.

But in reality, “they didn’t have a clue of what this was going to be,” says CEO Don Naab. … Next Page »

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The biofuels industry is still a difficult business to crack, but fortunately for startups like Detroit-based NextCAT, the government continues to believe in the technology.

NextCAT Founder Charles Salley tells Xconomy that the company will likely win a $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant this month. The Wayne State University spinout, based at the TechTown Research Park, is developing new ways to cheaply and efficiently convert a wide range of oil feedstocks into biodiesel fuel.

The company has already received $600,000 from groups like the NSF, Michigan Microloan Fund, and New Economy Initiative’s First Step Fund.

Conspicuously missing from this list are venture capitalists. Fundraising has been a tough slog for NextCAT—so tough that the company can’t afford a CEO, which is why it lists Salley as the interim top executive.

“We hoped to move a little bit faster,” Salley says. “But we have money in the bank. We are not in a panic to raise money in the short term.”

And in a big boost to the company, NextCAT just signed a joint development agreement with a major biodiesel processing equipment maker, which Salley declined to name. But the company will hopefully install NextCAT’s technology at one of its plants, which will go a long way to validating the startup. If all goes well, NextCAT’s partner just might be its first customer, Salley says.

NextCAT also boasts another powerful ally: Uncle Sam. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency released Renewable Fuel Standards II, which requires the country to use a billion gallons of biomass-based diesel in 2012.

Biofuels continues to receive strong support on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Tom Carper (D-Delaware), and Michael Bennett (D-Colorado) introduced legislation that they say will help break America’s dependence on foreign oil by providing tax breaks—including an investment tax credit—to develop alternative energy sources like biofuels.

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Moda Operandi, a New York-based online luxury apparel retailer, said Monday it raised $10 million in series B financing in a round led by venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. Previous investor New Atlantic Ventures also invested in the round. Moda Operandi users can pre-order apparel from designers such as Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, and Missoni immediately after runway fashion shows. The company, which launched in February, said the new funding will support its growth and expansion.

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The patent litigation between Burlington, MA-based Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN) and Cambridge, MA-based Vlingo is nothing new.

A false advertising lawsuit is, though. Earlier this week, Nuance filed such a lawsuit against Vlingo in Suffolk County Superior Court. The suit asserts that Vlingo, on its website and elsewhere, “makes numerous false and misleading representations of fact to induce consumers to purchase or use Vlingo products and services,” according to court documents provided to Xconomy by Vlingo.

[Disclosure: the brother-in-law of Xconomy Boston editor Greg Huang is a co-founder of Vlingo. Mr. Huang was not involved in the planning, directing, reporting, or editing of this story.]

These allegedly false and misleading claims include the statement that Vlingo’s technology achieves unprecedented accuracy, that it applies “automatic adaptation” to pronunciation and vocabulary, that it learns for example, “over time that a particular user tends to ask for Mexican food,” and that the adaptation process is “new technology.” Nuance calls these claims unfair and deceptive—for instance, at one point the suit says “Vlingo claims that certain technology is ‘new’ when in fact it is not”—and has sought unspecified monetary damages for the harm Vlingo has caused it as a result. Nuance also states that the claims “harm the consuming public and are contrary to the public interest.”

A representative from Nuance said that the company does not comment on matters of litigation.

Here is the PDF of Nuance’s false advertising complaint against Vlingo and supporting documents.

Nuance says in its suit that it became aware of the false advertising as part of the discovery process—specifically when it deposed key Vlingo employees—in one of the pending patent infringement cases. Nuance says a protective order issued in that case prevents it from using at least some of the information in the new false advertising suit at this time, but that it is seeking ways to do so.

“To me it looks like a real sign of desperation,” Vlingo CEO Dave Grannan told me on a call Thursday. “It’s just a measure of the fact that they’re trying to increase our legal expenses and create some sense of uncertainty and doubt against our customer base.

“It’s continued to be part of the Nuance strategy to compete in the courtroom rather than in the market,” he says.

Vlingo offers a mobile app that consumers can buy themselves and also powers voice recognition features for device makers like Samsung. Grannan says his company has recently inked some big customer deals —which he didn’t name—in which it went head to head with Nuance. “Every time we have a market victory, they sue us again,” he says.

The false advertising lawsuit is the latest step in the three-year legal wranglings between the two software companies. Earlier this month, Nuance hit Vlingo with … Next Page »

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Lilliputian Systems, a Wilmington, MA-based developer of fuel cells small enough to power mobile phones and laptops, has brought in $11.1 million of a potential $21 million offering of equity and options, an SEC filing shows. The money comes from 14 investors. Lilliputian raised $25 million in 2009, from Stata Venture Partners, Altira Group, Atlas Venture, Fairhaven Capital, Rockport Capital, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

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Plan B it is.

When Xconomy first profiled InPore Technologies last year, the Michigan State University spinout was trying to woo wind turbine makers with a new nanomaterial they could use to build light-weight, scratch resistant blades.

But faced with deteriorating turbine sales, the company, based in East Lansing, MI, has reversed course and is now targeting the broader global market for flame retardant additives used on plastics and other polymers.

“As we really dug into [wind turbines], we thought there would be challenges with that,” CEO Gerald Roston told Xconomy. “We had a hard time getting the word out to the industry. And in 2010, the industry fell off the cliff. Moving out of the market turned out to be fortuitous.”

I’d say. InPore recently signed a letter of intent with a Fortune 50 company to develop and market the flame retardant technology. The partnership could lead to that company acquiring InPore, Roston says, though he declined to name the potential suitor.

Founded in 1996, InPore employs nanotechnology to manipulate the surface porosity (empty spaces) and chemistry of certain particles in a way that creates strong, heat and scratch resistant materials. The company says its Silapore particles can absorb harmful substances during an environmental cleanup and serve as a catalyst for petroleum refining and biofuel production.

But for now, InPore has its eye set on the $4.2 billion global market for flame retardant substances manufacturers use to fireproof highly flammable polymers like plastics. With the U.S. and other countries trying to phase out toxic flame retardant agents like decaBDE, the time is right for InPore’s Silapore particles, which Roston claims are non-hazardous.

The company is seeking $1.5 million to $2 million from institutional investors, Roston says InPore has already secured angel money but declined to disclose the amount. However, the company said it recently closed a $560,000 angel round, according to materials submitted to the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium.

Unlike wind turbine makers, potential customers are now seeking out InPore instead of the other way around, Roston says.

“Our struggle now is to supply sufficient samples,” he says. “People are asking for it.”

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