GS Early

Gregg Early is vice-president of KCI Communications and executive editor of the company’s flagship publication, Personal Finance. Over the past decade, he has helped build the newsletter’s reputation as a trusted source for penetrating market analysis and investment advice that subscribers can take to the bank. He also oversees the editorial department’s other award-winning publications.

But Gregg’s responsibilities and interests are not purely administrative. Always forward-looking, he found his niche reporting on the frontiers of technology: high-temperature superconducting, alternative energy, intelligence infrastructure, as well as advances in the nanotech and biotech sectors. For those willing to follow him back to the future, he pens The Real Nanotech Investor, a financial advisory that focuses on how individual investors can capitalize on innovations in nanotech and disruptive technologies. Gregg’s free e-zine, New Tech Investor, keeps readers updated on the latest advances and developments in these nascent sectors and, more importantly, the opportunities therein.

Prior to joining KCI, Gregg honed his journalistic chops reporting on a variety of topics including finance, health care and education. He is also a respected gastronome and chef as well as a published poet and playwright. He’s a graduate of James Madison University.

Content Posted by GS Early

Profiting from Megatrends and Innovators

You see, we're no longer able to simply buy stocks blindly; you have to know what you're buying and why you're buying it. The market is a cruel place for sloppy investors. It's hard enough if you're calculating.

The Real Killer App: Augmented Reality

Augmented reality apps are going to be huge because they're both revolutionary and evolutionary.

Investing in DNA Vaccines

DNA vaccines show promise and could make a compelling investment.

Shining Some Light on Solar Energy Stocks

The solar energy industry is transitioning from first-generation thin film to second-generation technologies; the pioneers of thin-film solar like First Solar (NasdaqGS: FSLR) blazed a bold path, but the torch may be passing.

This Week's Emerging Technology Newsmakers

We run down the week in emerging technology from unmanned vehicles to solar power.

Small Is Getting Big Again

The last century was about evolutionary innovations up until the pace quickened in the 1980s and '90s; this century is all about revolutionary innovations

A State of Flux

American ingenuity and innovation offer hope in the alternative energy space.

Cybersecurity Now

With an increasing amount of sensitive business being conducted online, cybersecurity is becoming a necessity.

The European Supergrid

How technology is used makes for successful innovation.

A Juggernaut in Reality and Fiction

Truth is stranger than science fiction. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) launched an energy subsidiary a few weeks ago.

Think Thorium

For now, I'd stick to the established players in nuclear power and the big construction and consulting firms that develop, design and maintain the facilities. But keep an ear to the ground on Thorium reactors.

Copenhagen Takeaways

The Copenhagen Accord disappointed many and served as a rallying cry for opponents, but investors need to read between the lines to pick the likely long-term winners.

Lost in the Clean-Tech Shuffle

Although innumerable stories emerge each day about solar, wind, fuel cells, nanotechnology and other bleeding-edge technologies, the engine behind the industrial revolution and the father of clean-tech largely goes unnoticed--hydropower.

The New Grid Is Getting Smaller

But building a national Smart Grid is a very daunting task, but regional coalitions comprising industry, government and consumers are banding together to push for smaller, local Smart Grids.

New World San Francisco

Entire industries that have dominated the competitive landscape are struggling for relevance, while new insurgent businesses are gaining momentum and disrupting the status quo. The goal of New World 3.0 is to embrace these changes, not to shrink from them. In this space, we identify investment opportunities that are emerge as much of the world rethinks, retools and rebuilds its industries and technologies.

An Emtech Melange

A brief rundown of interesting developments in the emerging technologies space.

The New Tech Boom

Technology stocks are outpacing the broader market by a wide margin this year. Here’s how to play the group.

Stay Bullish on Defense

The US defense budget is 48 percent of the world’s total spending on military preparedness. Don’t expect any major changes.

Target Rich Takeover Sector

Big pharma has been on a takeover tear of late. Here’s a handful of potential companies that may hit it big on their own or in a takeover play from one of their bigger brethren.

Appearances Aren’t Reality

Although the major indexes have broken to new multi-year lows, some stocks are on the rise. Here’s how to profit from the stealth bull market.

The Sunshine in My Mind

If you don’t change the distribution model, you can put up all the solar/wind/wave systems you want, but you don’t have a game changer. It’s like inventing toothpaste but not having a tube to put it in.

Big D

The more things change, the more they stay the same: Defense will always be good for long-term growth, regardless of how you feel about war.

Buying into the Future of Cars

We’ve been whistling past the graveyard of the Big Three for far too long, and it’s caught up with us. Now we have to grapple with the unavoidable reality that the Big Three are in a death spiral, cheap gasoline can only be sustained at enormous costs of blood and fortune, and if we don’t change our ways of doing business the US may lose its spot on top of the global economic food chain.

The Smart Grid and Smart Investing

Its most accessible name is the Smart Grid, and it’s being built right now, a bit piecemeal and with a host players fighting for primacy, but this ship is sailing. It’s not a theoretical concept.

A Blast from the Past

It’s about the science that’s moving tech forward; if you know the challenges and opportunities on the scientific side, you know where to put your money on the market side.

Back in Black: Black Silicon May Be a Game-Changer

About a decade ago, when Dr. Eric Mazur was working on a defense research contract, and just for kicks one day, he blasted a doped silicon wafer with a laser that in a single pulse replicates the energy of focusing all the sunlight hitting Earth at one time onto a space the size of a fingernail. The laser blast lasted a femtosecond, 100 millionths of a billionth of a second. It produced a wafer that looks black--go figure after getting hit with that blast of energy--and thus was dubbed black silicon.

Water: The Overlooked Alt Energy

Well, there’s a new world of hydro, and it’s already being used in places. There’s wave energy, tidal energy, current energy and a number of other variants that are being used to tap into the extant power of the earth’s most abundant resource. Smart tech investors should start to learn about these new systems.

The Smart Grid and Smart Investing

Its most accessible name is the Smart Grid, and it’s being built right now, a bit piecemeal and with a host players fighting for primacy, but this ship is sailing. It’s not a theoretical concept. Industries, from small software companies to major utilities, are spending tens of millions already. Governments--federal, state and local--are also committed to the Smart Grid.

We SPIE

I’m not incredibly enthusiastic about the a robot-filled battlespace as many defense contractors are, but that doesn’t change the fact that Pentagon brass has been sold on the concept and is investing into this concept in a big way. Unmanned aerial vehicles, robots--you name it.

Biomemetics Is the Future of Science

Having been to a fair number of nanotech/distech/emtech conferences over the years, the one thread that occurs with increasing frequency is how many researchers are going back to nature to answer questions about form, function, durability and efficacy.

The Green Revolution Hits the Military

One of the biggest consumers of energy in the US economy is the US military. Some say that to keep ships sailing, tanks rolling, Humvees humming and bases operational, the military uses about one-third of the nation’s oil supply.

Spire Corp Gets a Domestic Thin Film Deal

You can either work finding the gold or you can work selling the picks, pans and shovels to the miners. Generally speaking, it's a much wiser strategy to be a pick-and-shovel guy. And those are the companies I like the most when it comes to up-and-coming nanotech companies: FEI Company (NSDQ: FEIC, microscopy), CVD Equipment (NSDQ: CVV, solar and nanotech manufacturing equipment), Industrial Nanotech (NSDQ: INTK, advanced coatings) and Spire Corp (NSDQ: SPIR, solar turnkey manufacturing).

A Lesson in Solar Breakthroughs

As alternative energy production grows and “Made in America” energy becomes a hot topic, the real facts about technology get lost in the mix. Mostly it’s because the details—or as we call it, science—is far more complex than the cool concept it represents. For example, electricity is a very cool thing. But how we distribute it and how it’s actually produced makes heads loll and eyes drift shut.

More Good News for CVD

After inking a big sale earlier this month, CVD Equipment (NSDQ: CVV) has announced that its sales have hit $25 million in the first three quarters of the year. Last year’s total sales were $14 million.

Altairnano Gets a New Client

In the midst of this market maelstrom, it’s usually more likely that you find not-so-bad news and churn it into good news. But, happily, this isn’t the case with the story from Altairnano (NSDQ: ALTI). It’s landed a nice little contract with some big implications.

Long-Term View for Short-Term Tribulations

Part of being an emerging technologies investor means you’ve got to hold a long-term view. This isn’t a sector that’s trendy or doesn’t splash on the cover of every magazine and news show overnight.

Big Defense Equals Safe Profits

Defense stocks are one of the most secure places in times of market troubles. Although most businesses need credit lines to conduct and expand business operations, big defense companies are underwritten by big governments and ink their deals with nations, not other businesses.

A Positive Sign for the Grid

Although it’s somewhat unusual to see the words “good idea” and “Dept of Homeland Security” in the same sentence, it actually appears to have happened last week.

CVD Equipment Lands a Big Sale in Tough Times

This is a good sign the company has important technology and is just starting to realize its value in the market. Plus, after all the fury in the markets, the stock has stayed at healthy levels.

pSivida 10-K and Drug Trials Are Working

A couple pieces were released regarding pSivida (NSDQ: PSDV) in the past couple of days, one about the company’s general health and the other regarding drug trial progress.

Emerging Technology, Developed Markets

One good thing about being at a technology conference is most of the people around you are too focused on the future to get clutched up about the financial horror show that is going on around them. It lends an odd sort of perspective.

Taking It on the Road

Since NIN is a bi-weekly service in an immediate-response digital world, it seems a bit silly for me to wait until the next issue to give you the scoop from the MIT Emerging Technology Conference (http://www.technologyreview.com/emtech/08/) I’m heading to tomorrow.

Spire Stays Busy in India

Spire Corporation, a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide, announced yesterday that it has received a contract from GreenBrilliance to provide a turnkey photovoltaic module assembly line for that company’s operation in India.

iRobot Finds a Way Under the Market Maelstrom

iRobot has acquired Durham, N.C.-based Nekton Research, a maker of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), for $10 million and an additional $5 million based on performance. Nekton’s 20-pound, torpedo-shaped Ranger UUV can be used for "search and survey" missions and to deliver a "mine neutralizing charge" payload.

Small Tech vs. Big Tech, Here vs. There

The title of this piece asserts the two core questions investors should answer when investing in disruptive technologies because they sit at how comfortable you’re going to be in a very dynamic sector. Below, I hope to parse these two issues so you can get a better handle on how to choose your disruptive tech holdings. And I even provide a few starting points.

Q Unfettered from MoD

This is very much the story of James Bond’s scientist buddy, Q, going public and selling his services to the highest bidder.

Starpharma Scores Big Condom Deal

Well, all the recent insider buying had a reason behind it, as usual. Starpharma today announced that a full license agreement has been signed with SSL International in relation to the VivaGel coated condom. SSL manufactures and sells Durex condoms, the market-leading condom brand worldwide. Under the terms of this agreement, SSL secures marketing rights to the VivaGel coated condom in most of the world, including Europe and the US.

Altair Batteries Proven in Navy Tests

Altairnano (NSDQ: ALTI) today announced that it’s completed the 500th full depth cycle of a unique lithium titanate battery developed for the US Navy. Altair’s $2.5 million contract is funded as part of a $3.5 million United States Navy program that includes independent product testing by the Navy. Additional funding of $5 million has been approved by Congress for fiscal year 2008.

iRobot and QinetiQ Rally on Good News

Both iRobot and QinetiQ have released some big contract wins in recent days, helping push their stock prices higher. In QinetiQ’s case, the stock broke through resistance a couple weeks ago and seems to be on a slow, steady defense-stock rally to a new trading range.

More Insider Buying at Starpharma

Former CEO and current Deputy Chairman and Non-Executive Director Dr. John Raff has scooped up more shares of Pioneer holding Starpharma. 

ISO C4ISR

Command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance: That's C4ISR, and it's the new face of the military.

Starpharma's Yearly Numbers Are In

Pioneer holding Starpharma has released its fiscal year 2008 numbers, and I've also included a rundown of the company's projects going into 2009.

Nanotech Reality Check

I was reading through some e-mails and journals recently, sorting through some of the scientific happenings in the nanotech world, and something started to resonate with me that played out fully when I was at the SPIE Photonics and Optics Conference in San Diego a couple weeks ago. Although there’s great interest from the investor side in nanotech, US industry isn’t moving very quickly into this space.

QinetiQ's Zephyr Sets World Record

QinetiQ’s Zephyr High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has exceeded the official world record time for the longest duration unmanned flight with a 54-hour flight achieved during trials at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. 

Laissez Le Bon Temps Rouleau

A buddy of mine from Louisiana’s Cajun Country would be heard slurring, shouting or simply stating this fact on occasion: Let the good times roll. For most companies, this isn’t exactly the phrase on directors’ lips. As for a handful of Real Nanotech Investor companies, this market may look tough, but their businesses don’t seem to show it.

I SPIE

After a couple days at the San Francisco Money Show, where I did a Webcast event on nanotech investing, including my favorite hot stocks, I’m in lovely San Diego for the next few days attending a SPIE Photonic and Optics Conference. Sunday was the first day and here are my initial impressions. I’ll be blogging on At These Levels while I’m here if you want to read the day-to-day goings on.

I SPIE

After a couple days at the San Francisco MoneyShow, where I did a Webcast event on nanotech investing, including my favorite hot stocks, I’m in lovely San Diego for the next few days attending a SPIE Photonic and Optics Conference. Sunday was the first day and here are my initial impressions. I’ll be blogging on At These Levels while I’m here if you want to read the day-to-day goings on.

Busybodies

Several of my Portfolio holdings have been busy lately inking deals, making acquisitions and expanding use of their products.

Portfolio Newsmakers

Spire Corp, Altairnano and QinetiQ have been in the news during the past week, mostly for earnings news and insider buying/selling.

Maxwell Technologies Gets More Chinese Orders

Ultracapacitor maker Maxwell Technologies just announced that Golden Dragon Bus Co has selected Maxwell's BOOSTCAP(R) ultracapacitors for braking energy recuperation and torque assist in fuel-efficient, low-emission, diesel-electric hybrid buses for the Hangzhou Public Transport Group (HPTG).

Nanotechnology and Computing Speed: Part II

Last issue I was fawning over HP’s potential release of the Fourth Passive Circuit technology, the memristor, for computers by next year. This issue isn’t exactly as directly beneficial to consumers as the memristor advance, but it’s equally revolutionary and significant in its own geeky kind of way.

Nanotechnology and Computing Speed: Part II

The following originally appeared in my complementary e-zine, Nanotech Investing News.

Altairnano Delivers NanoSafe Packs to Phoenix

Altairnano will ship 47 new NanoSafe battery packs purchased by Phoenix Motorcars in 2007 to Phoenix for use exclusively in demonstration vehicles. In addition, Altair entered into a letter of agreement with Phoenix formally terminating the existing supply agreement and mutually releasing each other from any claims under such agreement. 

iRobot Shares Rise on Good Earnings News

Despite this economy, iRobot has released good quarterly numbers--and not good like recent releases from the mega-banks. The news wasn’t that it lost less than expected; it actually had a better quarter than last year.

Spire Corp Lands UL as New Client in US, China

Global solar company Spire Corp today announced that it’s received a contract from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to provide critical test equipment for its certification operations in both the US and China.

Nanotech and HP Help Launch the Fourth Passive Circuit

There are inductors, resistors and capacitors. These are the three passive circuits that all electronics have been built upon since the advent of electronic devices. Everything from a radio to a parallel processing supercomputer to the space shuttle uses the same junk.

Nanotech and HP Help Launch the Fourth Passive Circuit

The following originally appeared in the free e-zine, Nanotech Investing News.

Big Dogs Status Quo

Two Big Dog stocks have changed their stock status recently.

Maxwell Delivers

Maxwell Technologies announced last week that Vossloh Kiepe GmbH, a leading producer of heavy vehicle drive systems, has selected Maxwell's 125-volt BOOSTCAP ultracapacitor modules for emission-free electric buses.

Great News for Altairnano

After suffering brutally since the beginning of the year over its Gen1 NanoSafe battery recall by Phoenix Motorcars and the swift exit of its CEO, Altairnano finally got to deliver some good news to investors today.

Spire and pSivida Move Forward

Turnkey solar production player Spire Corp recently announced that it’s delivered advanced solar module production equipment to ET Solar Group, and pSivida has announced that Phase IIb clinical trials have commenced for BrachySil.

The Essence of Nanotech: From Boiling Water to Quantum Computing

This is what I continually harp on: Nanotech isn’t just one thing; it’s an enabling technology that has the ability to change the way we do almost everything, from the mundane to the esoteric.

The Essence of Nanotech: From Boiling Water to Quantum Computing

The following originally appeared in my complementary e-zine, Nanotech Investing News.

pSivida Reports Encouraging Medidur Interim Phase II Results

pSivida today reported the interim three-month safety and efficacy results from the first human pharmacokinetic (PK) study of Medidur FA in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME).

Altairnano Gets a CEO—Finally

The following release hit my inbox this morning.

An Interview with pSivida CEO Dr. Paul Ashton

pSivida Managing Director/CEO Dr. Paul Ashton has released an interview from openbriefing.com that covers the reincorporation of the company from Australia to the US.

Pain in the NEC

Well, the quiet skirmish between NEC and US regulators has ended, and it turns out the biggest losers are—you guessed it—US shareholders of NEC American Depositary Receipts (ADR).

Industrial Nanotech Scores Another Client

Having just written about this company earlier in the week makes this story seem less coincidental than it actually is.

Industrial Nanotech Is Doing It Right

Although most penny stocks are best avoided, there’s one I’ve been following for some time—Industrial Nanotech. I really think it has a unique product and a good business plan.

Industrial Nanotech Is Doing It Right

The following originally appeared in my complementary e-zine, Nanotech Investing News.

Petrobras Visits with Industrial Nanotech--Again

A technical executive from Brazilian oil giant Petrobras will be traveling to the US this summer and spending several days with Industrial Nanotech’s CEO/CTO Stuart Burchill and his team of scientists at one of the company's laboratories to outline specifications for Nansulate EPX.

pSivida Officially Incorporates in US on Nasdaq

pSivida will now trade under the sybmol PSDVV. Here's the release.

A Foot in and a Leg up

Spire Corp has just announced a new contract for a 25-megawatt turnkey solar facility in India, while QinetiQ subsidiary QinetiQ North America’s Technology Solutions Group has shipped the first MAARS ground robot to the US military.

An Interesting Business Model for Nano

I recently spoke with one of the directors of CVD Equipment Corp about the company’s future as well as its past. What I came away with was how the company is leveraging toward the future.

Good Is Never Sexier than Bad

The major press was all over a study that came out a couple weeks ago observing carbon nanotubes and C60 buckyballs (or fullerenes) to have potential carcinogenic pathologies.

Good Is Never Sexier than Bad

The following originally appeared in the complementary e-zine Nanotech Investing News.

Starpharma’s VivaGel Doing Well

Good news keeps rolling in for the developer of VivaGel. From an investor standpoint, the best news is the announcement that the deputy chairman and nonexecutive director picked up a sizeable chunk of shares recently, some at the American Depositary Receipt (ADR) equivalent of $3.55 a share.

How Nanotech Is Revolutionizing Solar Power

My biggest issue with the whole Green Tech trend is that most people are looking for that one big solution and betting all their money on a horse that not only isn’t in the race but isn’t even born yet.

Preprogrammed Profit Plan

General Atomics’ Predator made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) famous after it took out a Jeep-load of al Qaeda leaders traveling through the Yemeni desert.

pSivida and Alimera Tighten Bonds

Alimera Sciences announced today that a new trial that has commenced with pSivida’s Medidur for age-related macular edema (AMD). Per the revised agreement with Alimera, Alimera is funding the trial, and pSivida will get 20 percent of any profits down the line.

Britney vs. Nanotech: Breakdown or Breakthrough?

It’s likely that, if you follow the nightly news, read the paper or even scan your customized Google News browser, you missed one of the biggest scientific discoveries to come around in a long time. No, it wasn’t that Britney got the kids back.

Earnings Report

Certainly, it’s important to keep up with the earnings on the Big Dogs, but it’s always more fun to check in on what’s happening when the Pioneers report.

Britney vs. Nanotech: Breakdown or Breakthrough?

The following originally appeared in my complementary e-zine, Nanotech Investing News.

How to Invest in Solar

Solar power is becoming the latest niche frenzy in the Green Tech and nanotech space. There’s all sorts of talk about thin film solar and printable photovoltaic (PV) cells using nanorods or nanotubes.

How to Invest in Solar

The following originally appeared in my complementary e-zine, Nanotech Investing News.

Moto Reshuffles Mobile Division

It’s been reported by various sources today that Motorola has begun the Great Reshuffle of its mobile phone division.

pSivida to Reincorporate in US

Development-stage drug delivery maker pSivida announced today that it intends to reincorporate its operations to its Boston office. The move is intended to expand its visibility—and liquidity—in the US market.

Starpharma Finds New Application for VivaGel

While working VivaGel through its fast-track approval for herpes simplex virus and HIV and teasing out the research on its spermicidal properties in relation to the Durex condom deal, Starpharma discovered that one of the enzymes present in the egg fertilization process is also a key to joint lubrication.

A New Look for the Portfolio

After talking to a number of subscribers at various events and simply via e-mail, I heard a recurring request: “Please tell me what is best to buy now. You have a lot of buys, but I want to know which ones are better buys now.”

Starpharma Lands Another Big Client

Once more, a major multinational firm has sought out this little Down Under dendrimer company for a development deal.

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