Can you build an entire town off-the-grid? Babcock Ranch wants to find out

Enlarge / Babcock Ranch doesn’t want to be any other developer-driven southwest Florida today. (credit: Dyllan Furness) BABCOCK RANCH, Florida—About a decade ago, NFL lineman-turned-real estate developer Syd Kitson began to have a vision. Fiber-optic Internet fed into every home. Self-driving cars ferried kids back-and-forth from school. A great blue sea of solar panels stretched […]

Off-the-Grid EV? Upstart Bollinger Planning U.S.-Built Electric Off-Roader

– Take some of the tweed-jacket, traditionalist design character of the original Land Rover Series 1 and mix in some of the modern features and comforts of the Jeep Wrangler and the Toyota FJ Cruiser, and you’re probably not far from what New York State upstart Bollinger Motors hopes to build. Except it intends for it […]

GoTenna raises $7.5 million to enable off-the-grid communications on your smartphone

Satellite-powered phones are often clunky, expensive, and, well, dependent on satellite connection. GoTenna wants to bring off-the-grid text and GPS communication to your smartphone. No cell service? No Wi-Fi? No problem. The Brooklyn-based startup today announced funding of $ 7.5 million, led by Union Square Ventures. GoTenna’s USB key-type device works using Bluetooth low-energy (LE), […]