A consumer tech company has scored one of the bigger equity financing rounds in the Portland area this fall. Beaverton, OR-based Avnera, a fabless semiconductor company that makes chips for wireless audio applications, has raised about $8 million in equity financing out of a total offering of $10 million, according to a regulatory filing with the SEC. The investors in the current round were not specified, and e-mails seeking confirmation of the deal sent to Avnera and previous investors were not immediately returned.

Before the latest round, Avnera had raised about $42 million in funding. Its original investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Jafco Ventures. Other investors joined in later rounds, including Intel Capital, DAG Ventures, Altien Limited, Panasonic Ventures, Polycom, and BestBuy. Most recently, Avnera raised a $14.7 million Series C round in September 2007.

The current filing lists as company directors Rob Chandra and Umesh Padval of Bessemer, John Walecka of Redpoint, and John Miner, formerly of Intel Capital (now with Pivotal Investments).

Avnera was founded in 2004, and is led by CEO, chairman, and co-founder Manpreet Khaira. Its technology involves advanced circuit design techniques to put things like radio frequency electronics, power management systems, audio data converters, and programmable signal processors onto a single silicon chip. That can help make audio accessories cheaper and have better sound quality in computers, iPods, home entertainment systems, and mobile devices. Avnera’s customers include Logitech, Creative, Panasonic, Vizio, and Sanyo.

Back in June, Eric Rosenfeld of Capybara Ventures and the Oregon Angel Fund told Xconomy that Avnera was one of the leading lights in Portland’s semiconductor scene. “They’re doing very well,” he said at the time. “Hopefully they’ll be the one that revives people’s confidence locally.”

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They are the deals that slip through the cracks unnoticed. They are worth less than $1 million, but at least $100,000. Though small in size, these investments need to be included along with the bigger deals that get more press, if you want a more complete picture of the funding landscape in the innovation community. And there were at least 16 of these deals in the Northwest in September (see table below), according to ChubbyBrain, a New York-based information services company tracking VC, angel, and other investments in private companies.

It’s probably too soon to talk about trends, because this is the first month we’ve had access to ChubbyBrain’s data on these smaller deals, which were compiled from regulatory filings, user submissions, and other sources. But here are some quick observations.

About two-thirds of the deals (11 of 16) were equity investments, while one-third (5 of 16) were debt financings. Half the investments (8) were in software companies, while about a quarter each were in biotech/medical (4) and cleantech (3) firms. The majority of the deals were in the Seattle area (10), but a significant number were near Portland or in Oregon (6). Anecdotally, all those breakdowns seem consistent with the deal flow we’ve been seeing and reporting on in the Northwest for the past year or so. The data didn’t include the investors or the stage of the investments.

Without further ado, here are the 16 “under the radar” deals from last month:

Vantos (Seattle)                                            Equity        $873,487
Investigation software

InEnTec (Bend, OR)                                     Equity        $800,000
Cleantech fuels

WA 32609 (Redmond, WA)                           Equity         $800,000
Biotech

Inson Medical Systems (Bellevue, WA)      Equity         $642,536
Biomedical drug delivery

Napera Networks (Mercer Island, WA)         Debt           $600,000
Networking software

Acucela (Bothell, WA)                                    Equity         $439,603
Biotech drugs

Adometry (Kirkland, WA)                               Equity         $400,000
Analytics software

Smilebox (Redmond, WA)                              Equity         $399,999
Consumer software

Asemblon (Redmond, WA)                             Debt            $386,000
Cleantech/materials

Ohio River Clean Fuels / Baard Energy (Vancouver, WA)    Debt            $245,000
Cleantech fuels

Safetec Compliance Systems (Vancouver, WA)                    Debt            $235,000
Software for chemical compliance

Second Porch (Portland, OR)                          Equity         $225,000
Social software

SynapticMash (Seattle)                                    Equity         $200,000
Educational software

Silere Medical Technology (Kirkland, WA)      Debt            $120,000
Medical devices

BallLogic (Portland, OR)                                   Equity         $100,000
Consumer devices

Site 9 (Portland, OR)                                          Equity         $100,000
Web development software

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In a joint announcement, Austin, TX-based Freescale Semiconductor and Cambridge, MA-based E Ink–which makes the “electronic ink” displays used in the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader, and other e-book devices—said today they will work together to integrate the electronics that control E Ink’s displays with Freescale’s MX processors to create a single “system on a chip” for future e-reading devices. The collaboration “will enable several new markets, including e-newspapers and e-textbooks,” E Ink vice president of marketing Sriram Peruvemba said in the announcement.

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The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) announced today it is joining forces with TechAmerica, the advocacy organization, to become a unified tech entity in Washington state.

The move broadens WTIA’s membership to include more companies in hardware, electronics, and devices, which complements the trade association’s strengths in software, digital media, and telecom, says Ken Myer, WTIA’s president and chief executive. WTIA is now TechAmerica’s exclusive management and marketing partner in the state.

Under the terms of the partnership, WTIA will support TechAmerica members and programs locally and market joint membership in TechAmerica and WTIA to tech companies across the state. WTIA will also deliver TechAmerica’s business programs and policy (together with WTIA’s usual offerings). In turn, TechAmerica is transferring its Washington state council programs and staff to the WTIA. Current TechAmerica members based in Washington state (about 100) will automatically become members of WTIA.

There have been various name changes involved in these longstanding organizations. TechAmerica was previously called the American Electronics Association, which was founded in 1956. As the organization enrolled more software companies, it became the AeA, while WTIA was previously named Washington Software Association and was founded in 1984.

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For some reason, it has been even harder than usual to keep up with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) this month. Here’s a quick roundup of the week’s most interesting news regarding the Internet giant’s place in the e-book and retail world.

—Every day, it seems like a new e-book reader comes on the market to compete with Amazon’s Kindle—and further complicate the options and proprietary format issues for consumers. A New York Times piece this week examines Amazon’s strategy of pushing its own Kindle format while also acquiring Mobipocket and Lexcycle, companies that sell e-books and reader software for smartphones. The piece quotes Neelan Choksi, Lexcycle’s co-founder who’s now based in Seattle, about giving e-book consumers options.

—Last week, TechFlash published a graphic entitled “E-Book Universe,” which maps out the role of the various players in reader devices, content providers, mobile applications, and wireless carriers, and how they all relate to one another. It’s not a comprehensive chart, but it gives you an immediate sense of how convoluted the industry has become.

—Amazon has always been about more than just books (digital or not). Last weekend, the company launched its own line of electronics accessories, called Amazon Basics, as reported by The Wall Street Journal and other outlets. For now, the product line will focus on inexpensive items like blank DVDs and audio-video cables. “We saw an opportunity to create a line of consumer electronics basics that combine quality and low prices for an overall focus on value,” said Paul Ryder, Amazon’s vice president of consumer electronics, in a statement.

—In a feature published last Sunday, The New York Times asks whether the company will become the “Wal-Mart of the Web.” The article points out that Amazon threatens to put big retailers out of business the same way it has outcompeted independent booksellers and other stores. The Times notes that in the quarter ending in June, Amazon’s worldwide sales of books, music, videos, and other media grew 1 percent, to $2.4 billion, while its sales of everything else (electronics and general merchandise) grew by 35 percent to $2.07 billion, and are projected to take the lead later this year.

As Xconomy has reported previously, large retailers like Target, Borders, and Toys ‘R’ Us have ended their Web partnerships with Amazon in an effort to better compete with the Internet giant, which is now in the process of integrating its biggest acquisition to date—online clothing and shoe store Zappos.

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Mentor Graphics, a Wilsonville, OR-based electronic design automation developer, announced today it has purchased Embedded Alley Solutions, based in San Jose, CA. Financial details were not released. Embedded Alley creates programs to develop software for mobile devices and has made systems for Linux and the Google Android. Mentor (NASDAQ: MENT) said it plans to augment its own Nucleus real-time operating system with Embedded Alley’s technology.

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Boise, ID-based M2E Power, an energy startup funded by OVP Venture Partners, has been acquired by fellow Idaho firm Motionetics for an undisclosed price, according to VatorNews. OVP said it is not disclosing details at this time. The Kirkland, WA-based venture firm led an $8 million Series A investment in M2E in 2007.

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Seattle-based Verdiem has some encouraging news today from around the country—and its own backyard. The maker of energy-saving software for personal computers is announcing results from trials performed by the city governments of Seattle, Chicago, and Honolulu. These customers have been using Verdiem’s product over a period of months to a year, in an effort to make their PCs smarter about shutting down when they’re not being used, while also allowing the computers to do things like turn back on when software patches need to be installed.

Verdiem’s PC software package, called Surveyor, now includes a dashboard feature, also announced today, which lets corporate and government customers monitor PC energy costs and carbon emission savings more effectively through the use of charts and graphs.

Energy costs and emissions from PCs are surprisingly high, mainly because there are so many of them (about a billion worldwide). According to a 2008 report from the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, PCs account for more than 30 percent of all IT energy costs—more than servers, data centers, or printers. What’s more, companies, organizations, and individuals waste some $4 billion a year by leaving PCs, laptops, and monitors on when they’re not being used.

All three cities involved with the Verdiem announcement reported significant PC energy savings:

—The City of Seattle has deployed Verdiem’s software on more than 8,000 PCs across 30-plus city departments, and reduced PC energy consumption by some 35 percent. “The results we are achieving with Seattle-based Verdiem in reducing the City’s PC energy consumption demonstrate, in a very tangible way, how we can collectively save on energy costs and protect our planet,” said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels in a statement.

—The City of Chicago started using Verdiem’s software in February of this year, and says it has reduced its PC energy consumption by 37 percent and has eliminated more than 350,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

—The City of Honolulu deployed the software on 1,700 PCs starting in July 2008, and saved the city $30 per PC per year, reducing PC energy costs by more than 30 percent. Honolulu has the highest energy rates in the country (30 cents per kilowatt-hour), so its city government has extra incentive to reduce its electricity consumption.

Verdiem was founded in 2001 and is backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and NCD Investors, among others. It appears to be moving full steam ahead under new leadership: the company announced its incoming CEO, Jeremy Jaech, six months ago. Jaech was the co-founder of software giants Aldus and Visio, and was also involved with Trumba, a Seattle startup. When he took the helm of Verdiem back in December, he told me that big companies and other organizations are where the real energy and emissions savings are—and where Verdiem’s biggest opportunities lie. “It’s a simple concept with a quick ROI,” Jaech said. “Companies are starting to get really interested.”

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Any venture firm named after a rodent, especially the world’s biggest rodent (100 pounds), is OK in my book. But I did have to ask co-founder Eric Rosenfeld where the name Capybara Ventures comes from.

Rosenfeld explained that the capybara is a “majestic, noble, inspiring rodent.” It’s also a “category leader,” he added, and “spends most of its time beating the bushes” for food. It’s much like how he and fellow Capybara co-founder Bob Ward beat the bushes of Oregon looking for the next great company to fund.

Earlier this week, I dropped in on Rosenfeld at his office in Portland, OR, for a wide-ranging chat about his investment philosophy, the Portland tech scene, and the state of venture and angel capital in Oregon. Rosenfeld is a managing partner at Capybara Ventures, and is also a co-founder of the Oregon Angel Fund (which has seeded Portland companies like Elemental Technologies and RNA Networks). In April, he and Ward were also named venture partners with DFJ Frontier, a branch of Menlo Park, CA-based Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Let’s just say these guys are connected. They’re also Portland natives who have known each other since sixth grade.

Rosenfeld and Ward started Capybara Ventures in 2004. Since then, the firm has made investments in 10 companies, all early-stage, including RSS software startup Attensa, telecom networking firm Clear Access, and optical tech startup Phoseon. “We look for companies that are at the intersection of what grows well in Oregon, including semiconductors, electronics, Internet software, wireless communication, and where we have experience,” Rosenfeld says. He adds that Capybara’s seven active portfolio companies are doing between $3 million and $11 million in revenue this year, and about half are at cashflow break-even.

Here are a few highlights from our discussion:

Xconomy: Talk about your connections to other venture firms on the West Coast, especially with your recent DFJ Frontier relationship. Do you collaborate much with Seattle-area investors, for instance?

Eric Rosenfeld: We talk to them quite a bit. The ones we’re most close with are Buerk Dale Victor, Voyager Capital, and Madrona Venture Group. We collaborate quite a bit with the angel groups. The DFJ Frontier is a close relationship, but there’s nothing formal yet. They want to be active in Oregon. We have co-invested in one deal with them—Capybara and DFJ led a Series A round in Clear Access in Vancouver, WA. We hope to do more with them. They’ve been wonderful partners. They come up at least once a month, and we try to introduce them to companies they should know. They share their due diligence, we share our due diligence. We have a similar relationship with Walden Capital in the Bay Area.

X: What are your thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of the Portland innovation scene, as compared to Seattle and Silicon Valley?

ER: When we started Capybara, the semiconductor industry here was more diverse and in better shape. It was Intel plus a whole ecosystem. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a startup really succeed in the semiconductor world. One company we’re involved with is Avnera, which does analog wireless audio chip sets. They’re doing very well, hopefully they’ll be the one that revives people’s confidence locally.

If you step back, Portland’s got an enviable quality of life which draws people from all over. That’s part of the solution. Our research universities are not necessarily world-class, and that’s hurt …Next Page »

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The 2009 University of Washington Business Plan Competition has come and gone. It started with something like 90 business plan submissions that were paired down to 33 set to compete in an investment round. That round can best be described as a Las Vegas-style trade show with 33 booths, over two hundred judges, team shirts, ties, hair styles, and five hours of pitching that left me and many of my friends sounding like frogs at the end of the day. “Ribbit, Nanocel cools electronics better and cheaper, Ribbit.” The 16 teams that had the most “CIE bucks” invested in them made it to the next round.

Teams had a few weeks to prepare a slide deck and practice presenting their cases to a panel of judges. We all had coaches that listened to our pitches and critiqued them. For team Nanocel, this round was critical as our coaches grilled us on our pitch and punched enough holes in our presentation to make it look like Swiss cheese. That session was uncomfortable. But our coaches weren’t there to stroke us. They were there to school us and schooled we were. We recorded the session and listened to our coaches comments over and over. We did our best to implement every single recommendation and answer every single question raised so that they wouldn’t be asked again. It paid off. The questions raised by our coaches were never again asked by judges in subsequent rounds. Our coaches obviously knew their stuff.

Several weeks later, after multiple presentation deck rewrites and scores of practice pitches, we were ready for the Sweet 16. The day started in a room filled with all of the competitors looking tired, nervous, excited, and tough. My evening MBA class was well represented. I knew these student teams and have seen them present on case studies for last two years. We were confident in our product, our team, our pitch. My partner Dustin sat back looking confident and collected. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried and intimidated by the competition.

We found out when and where we’d be pitching, who our judges were and which teams we needed to beat to get to the final round. We had two hours before we had to pitch and used our time to research our judges just in case one of them would personally benefit from our technology. And we paced around. The pitch seemed to go fast and the questions after were tough. But it was what we expected and we were ready.

The toughest part of the day was coming up. We had to pause and eat lunch, waiting to …Next Page »

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From an initial field of 90 teams last month, down to 33 presenters, and the sweet 16 and finals yesterday, the business plan competition at the University of Washington has captivated us with the spirit and determination of these student innovators and their veteran advisors. Some 30 judges from the Seattle-area innovation community participated in the final rounds as well, including Rebecca Lovell of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network, Bill McAleer and Geoff Entress of Voyager Capital, and Adrian Smith of Ignition Partners.

The sweet 16 were whittled down to five finalists in the morning (and nary a software or Internet play among them):

—Energizing Solutions, a UW team working on making motors more efficient to reduce unplanned downtime in industrial facilities

—Hydrosense, a UW team developing a low-cost, sensing system for tracking water use in the home

—Nanocel, a UW and Seattle University team making a liquid cooling system for electronics

—Shockmetrics, a UW team with novel medical technology to detect shock in patients before it’s too late

—Soluxra, a UW team commercializing cheap organic solar cell technology for residential solar panels, electricity-producing windows, and other applications

At the evening awards ceremony at the Bell Harbor conference center, all of the teams in the competition were honored. The $25,000 grand prize went to Nanocel (see co-founder Daniel Rossi’s post going into the finals here), with Energizing Solutions as the runner-up. It’s interesting that both companies are fundamentally about making physical equipment more efficient.

But there were many other prize winners as well. Here’s a quick rundown (including some teams that didn’t make the final five in the grand prize competition):

$25,000 Grand Prize: Nanocel

$10,000 Second Place: Energizing Solutions

$5,000 Finalist Prize: Shockmetrics

$5,000 Finalist Prize: HydroSense

Best Tech Idea: Nanocel

Best Consumer Product: Big Canvas (UW team developing rich media and art for mobile communications)

Best Innovation Idea: Shockmetrics

Best Service/Retail Idea: Ecowell (Washington State University team developing litter-free vending machines that let you customize your drink)

Best Sustainable Advantage: Sisalwood (UW team with a sustainable alternative to hardwood for interior design)

Best Clean Tech Idea: HydroSense

(Congratulations to all the teams, and see you again next year.)

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Today is the Sweet 16 and final round of the University of Washington’s annual business plan competition. Yesterday, I was asked to write an article about my experiences thus far. The fact that I’m writing this article during time that I should be practicing my pitch or, if I were really smart, trying to sleep, should give you a brief insight into the scrappy nature of an entrepreneur-to-be. I love this technology and the company my partner Dustin and I are forming—Nanocel—so I would rather tell you about it than count sheep.

The process of writing a competition-worthy business plan has been long and arduous. In our case, it has required hundreds of hours of research, meetings that started early and went late, and sacrificing things like sleep and dinner dates. So it helps if you’re starting with a good idea. Dustin Miller, my partner in crime and inventor extraordinaire/PhD student in mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, came up with a good one. He figured out a way to use plastic as a heat sink for electronics applications, and it actually works. Really well.

We took this idea and started the process of researching and validating the market. I wasn’t sure at first if this “million dollar” idea had any legs at all. If it didn’t, we’d know soon enough and do something else. It didn’t take too long to learn that not only did it have legs, but this technology had applications all over the place. Everywhere we turned, from Frost & Sullivan and BCC Research reports to conversations with industry representatives, we learned of an intense need for cooling that exists in the electronics market. This isn’t a million dollar idea. It’s a billion dollar idea. Market validation, check.

This meant that we really had something worth pursuing. So, we started talking to folks that know a lot about startups. Namely, we went and begged for information from Janis Machala and Emer Dooley at the University of Washington. Both had taught classes in my MBA program and both seemed to know all about what to do and what not to do when getting things started. These learned ladies didn’t let us down. We came away with a long laundry list of questions to answer and information to gather. That meeting spawned another, and then another. It didn’t take long before Dustin and I had met with scores of entrepreneurial-minded people from academia to venture capitalists.

Between meetings, Dustin and I spent hours at the library and in coffee shops fleshing out a business plan that would stand up to the questions we’d been getting. Every meeting uncovered a weak spot or an area we hadn’t yet explored. With our research, I would write the plan. Then Dustin would disappear into his lab and work on the prototype. We both found that as time marched on, our lack of sleep was due as much to the excitement we felt about this opportunity as to the work we put into the research and writing of our plan.

By the time the business plan competition season finally rolled around, Dustin and I had become fluent in the electronics cooling market and adept at pitching our product. As a quick aside, I have to say that it’s a delight to work with an engineer who speaks in multisyllabic sentences! We’ve made it to the finals of two competitions thus far and have heard that our product is indeed fundable.

I feel good about our chances of making it to the final round this year. However, the competition is steeper than last year, and several of my classmates are on competing teams, including my teammate from last year. We’ve been good-naturedly taunting each other for weeks. I hope my classmates do well. And I hope I beat the pants off of them too.

This competition has been top-notch from the resource nights before it began to the investment round of 32 teams. Dustin and I have turned in our final business plan (version 15) and put our notes to bed. As I write this article, I think back on the work of the past several months, grateful for the opportunity to learn so much and fearful that it hasn’t been enough to win. We’ll know soon enough.

I’m glad we chose to compete. Win or lose, we’ll move forward with this idea. Someday when you’re reading something on your laptop and you stop to notice that your thighs are not being scalded by the heat emanating from its base, you may well have Dustin and me to thank. I hope so.

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Sony Electronics, which has been reorganizing its San Diego operations, disclosed that 340 employees are losing their jobs through a combination of early retirement and layoffs. Because more workers took early retirement than the Japanese company had expected, Sony executives told the San Diego Union-Tribune the company could have as many as 100 job openings at its North American headquarters, which now has about 1,900 employees. The cutbacks come as Sony is nearing completion of a new $150 million building in suburban Rancho Bernardo.

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San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has referred to SPAWAR, the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, as one of the city’s best kept secrets, and I started to understand why during a presentation yesterday at San Diego’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center.

SPAWAR is a major Navy procurement agency, with a total budget of more than $2.4 billion in fiscal 2008. About 65 percent of that supports industry partnerships, which includes spending to acquire a host of hardware and software technologies needed for what the Navy calls C4ISR, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaisance. Naturally, the Navy keeps most of this technology under wraps—literally. When maintenance crews work on U.S. warships at the Navy base here, they often wrap up parts of the superstructure before servicing the radar and other electronics.

So a presentation yesterday by Frank Gordon, who heads SPAWAR’s navigation and applied sciences department, represented an unusual opportunity to lift the veil of secrecy that surrounds the Navy labs on Point Loma. SPAWAR is an enormous organization, with more than 6,300 civilian, military, and contract workers just at its San Diego headquarters, and local spending of almost $991 million on procurement contracts and R&D programs, according to the latest data available at SPAWAR’s web site. Gordon says that at any given time, SPAWAR is overseeing more than 800 technology development programs in San Diego.

About 100 people attended the session, which was sponsored by Connect, the San Diego nonprofit group that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship. Connect was founded at UC San Diego in 1985 as a resource for academic researchers who wanted to start technology-based companies based on their laboratory breakthroughs. At SPAWAR’s government lab in San Diego, scientists also spin out new companies and technologies, said Jim Fallin, a spokesman for SPAWAR Systems Center.

Gordon, who is nicknamed “Dr. Chaos” because of his love of nonlinear dynamics, highlighted some of the advanced technologies that SPAWAR is developing for …Next Page »

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Sony Electronics, which moved its U.S. corporate headquarters from New Jersey to suburban San Diego five years ago, is restructuring its business here as part of a global overhaul the Japanese giant has been undergoing since January.

Sony arrived in San Diego’s Rancho Bernardo neighborhood in 1972, becoming the first foreign company to establish a TV production facility in the United States. Sony stopped making televisions here in 2006, but kept its U.S.-based electronics division headquarters, including engineering development for Vaio computers, IT devices, digital imaging products and a variety of media, software, and entertainment products.

Sony Electronics currently has approximately 2,000 employees in San Diego. Spokesman Rick Clancy said yesterday it’s “not totally clear at the moment how many will be affected” by the reorganization. Sony offered incentive buyouts to qualifying employees last month, but Clancy said some “streamlining” is expected beyond the buyout-led reductions, and the company won’t have definitive information about its remaining workforce until the end of this month. Clancy, a senior vice president who’s been with Sony for 19 years, is among those taking the company’s buyout offer, and plans to leave by June 1.

[Xconomy San Diego Editor Bruce V. Bigelow contributed to this report]

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You may not realize it, but your mobile phone is a cold-blooded killer.

Its assault began with little fanfare—the first victim, the phone booth, wasn’t particularly well-loved, and nobody was expecting a complete extermination. Yet here we stand in a world where Clark Kent couldn’t find a place to pull on his Supersuit if the fate of Metropolis depended on it.

The next victims were just “accidents.” Seen anyone whip out a paper address book lately? And who would have thought that a little thing like the clock on the phone’s home screen could cause so many business professionals to stop wearing watches? Just who, exactly, is next?

For those looking over their shoulder, here are the three keys that will lead us to the next genre killer:

1. Every phone’s got it. Until a feature is a part of every phone, mainstream, non-tech-savvy America won’t notice that it’s there—camera phones only penetrated everyone’s consciousness when they were everywhere.

2. The user experience really works on a phone. Mobile TV is coming, but 50″ plasmas aren’t going—the 2″ experience just doesn’t compare. SMS remains the definitive mobile success story, but don’t wait for the end of email—at least not until someone solves the keyboard problem.

3. It crosses the Good Enough Threshold. The “GET” is the point where the best phone experience exceeds the minimum consumer bar for the feature. For example, the camera GET is two megapixels, autofocus, and flash. It’s no coincidence that this is about the quality level of a cheap disposable camera.

Following these rules, let’s break down the likely victims:

Point-and-shoot cameras—The writing’s on the wall.
There’ll always be a place for high end single-lens reflex models and the like. Enthusiasts will want the very best, regardless of cost or size. Most consumers, however, ask for two things from their camera: make it small and make it cheap. The GET for camera phones is being crossed as we speak, and then comes the end of the mass market digital camera. Who’s going to pay $250 for “just a camera” when their carrier just put one in their pocket for free? Danger level: critical.

Landline phones—The signal is still keeping busy.
The latest innovation often destroys its predecessor—CDs killed records, and DVD decimated VHS. The most obvious target for the phone, then, is the landline. But while the dial tone is clearly in decline, a tradition of reliability and security in case of emergency are keeping it alive. Burglar in the backyard? Hope you can get signal for 911. Extended power outage? Your touchtone telephone will be up and running, even as cell sites go offline and your phone battery dies. Installing an alarm for your house? Neither cellular nor VoIP are approved alternatives for trusty old copper. The GET for landline replacement is high reliability, and until carriers can guarantee it, the wires are safe. Danger level: moderate.

E-mail—Just a flesh wound.
SMS has revolutionized the way we communicate, but it’s still hard to beat …Next Page »

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General Dynamics Itronix, a manufacturer of laptops and mobile devices for field use, is closing its facility in Spokane Valley, WA, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department. The closure, which is effective April 24, 2009, affects 353 people. General Dynamics Itronix is based in Spokane and has offices in Canada and Europe.

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Waltham, MA-based Zink, known for commercializing an inkless printing technique originally conceived at Polaroid, is providing the technology behind a new ultra-mobile wireless printer from Dell. Called the Wasabi, the $149 printer is similar to the Polaroid PoGo mobile printer, which also based on technology licensed from Zink; it’s about 5 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 1 inch deep, and can produce 2 x 3-inch color prints using data from Bluetooth-enabled cameras, mobile phones, and PCs.

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TTM Technologies, a Santa Ana, CA-based maker of printed circuit boards for electronics, is closing its facility in Redmond, WA, according to the Washington State Employment Security Department. The closure affects 369 workers, and is effective March 16, 2009. TTM has about 4,000 employees, spread among its facilities in California, Washington, Utah, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and China.

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Teradyne (NYSE: TER), the North Reading, MA-based maker of automatic test equipment for the electronics industry, said after the markets closed today that it booked major losses for the fourth quarter and that it will retrench by cutting its workforce worldwide by 14 percent, or 532 positions. It’s not known how many of the cuts, which are expected to save the company $140 million in annual operating expenses, will occur at Teradyne’s Massachusetts facilities. We’ve updated the Boston Tech Layoff Tracker accordingly.

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