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The lives of people today can't be imagined without mobile apps. And the growing popularity of mobile apps influences many startups to create their own app. But many similar apps are available in the market, so it's essential to know how to create unique mobile apps. Here we will discuss some mobile apps for startups with some new ideas for the app.

Ireland's OpenHydro and Germany's RWE are spending millions to try to turn the power of waves into electricity With oil prices hitting almost daily record highs and global warming climbing up the public agenda, the need for alternative energy sources has never been more urgent. But while wind and solar have dominated the recent rush to invest in renewables, market watchers reckon it could now be marine energy's turn to shine. Ocean power-using the energy from waves or tidal flows to produce electricity-is quickly coming of age as a viable green resource that could help meet ambitious global targets to reduce greenhouse gases and dependency on fossil fuels. European and North American power companies such as Canada's Emera (EMA.TO) and Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE) are spending millions to fund wind and tidal projects. This investment has led to a new generation of more efficient technologies, with dozens of prototypes expected to be ready for commercial deployment within the next five years. "There's huge interest in both wave and tidal technology," says Thomas Boeckmann, clean tech analyst at market research firm StrategyEye in London. "It's gaining a lot of attention from energy companies, which will be able to offer financial backing and technical expertise to these startups."

Thin-film solar company Nanosolar has been sitting on a big secret for much of this year, it turns out: The company took a $300 million financing this March, and has remained mum ever since, only detailing it on the company's blog this morning after VentureWire reported the funding. While Nanosolar hasn't been entirely secretive about its technology, with chief executive Martin Rosencheisen showing off a rapid manufacturing technique early in summer, but apparently it didn't want details leaking on this giant-sized investment until necessary. Word slipped out in April about $50 million of the total, but at the time, Nanosolar didn't want to talk - and it's now clear why. The race for funds, and ever-larger production targets, is definitely on for thin film. Secretive thin-film silicon company Optisolar has raised over $200 million this year, and Nanosolar's thin-film CIGS competitor Miasole is trying to close on a similar amount. And while dozens of other startups are also on the hunt, large companies like Oerlikon Solar and Applied Materials are pouring money into ventures of their own. In many ways, it looks like an overheated sector. But on the other hand, Optisolar's recent deal with PG&E to provide 550 megawatts of electricity suggests that the potential for thin film panels is larger than previously expected, even when considering one analyst firm's prediction earlier this year that the sector will grow at 45 percent annually. That figure could now be much higher, especially for a few big winners - of which Nanosolar will likely be one. The company will be doing some utility-scale projects of its own, Rosencheisen tells us, with experienced partners. It also has a panel built specifically for use by utilities. And one of the backers of this funding, AES Corp., is also one of the world's biggest power companies. At the moment, Nanosolar is still working toward a gigawatt of annual manufacturing capacity, but it will grow be

Google's conference this week on plug-in electric vehicles and related federal policy clearly positions the search company's RechargeIT program as an EV incubator for startups, R&D initiatives and policy discussions. Dan Reicher, Google.org's director of climate change and energy initiatives, opened the conference, which was heavily attended by beltway insiders, by announcing that Google would invest in multiple ventures to make wide-scale plug-in electric cars viable.

Part of the growing trend for nearly every electronic device to be able to communicate with others, smart grid and advanced metering startup Trilliant has taken $40 million in its first official venture funding.\n\nTrilliant, like competitors Ambient, Silver Spring Networks, SmartSynch and others, makes wireless communication devices for utility meters. When enough are present in an area, they can form a mesh network capable of communicating moment-to-moment use information back to utilities, and to the homes and businesses they're installed within. (Some can also communicate via hardwired connections.)\n\nThe company is one of the oldest to try to tackle the problem. I covered it in more depth in June. The problem with looking at the field is that, at first glance, all the contenders seem to be pretty much identical; broadly speaking, each is approaching the same problem, that of trying to get more information about usage to consumers and utilities, in more or less the same way.

"The smart city concept is a framing device for many of society's most important conversations about globalization, technology, and the environment, which is driving investment across a range of city services and infrastructure. As the supplier ecosystem for smart cities continues to expand, established suppliers are moving into the market from the energy, transport, buildings, and government sectors, while startups are addressing a range of emerging opportunities. "

Jinchuan Group began construction of its 300,000t/y continuously cast copper rod and rolled products operation. The company is China's third largest producer of refined copper, with a reported capacity of 600,000t/y.

It was reported that China's Amer International expects to complete construction of its new 250,000t/y copper rod production line, located in its Chaohu City facility in Anhui Province, by year-end. The expansion project will bring Amer's production capacity to 500,000t/y and its total copper rod production is anticipated to reach 200,000t in 2011. A spokesperson for the company said that it will manufacture rod for both domestic and foreign export markets. In addition, Amer also intends to source copper cathode for rod-processing from within China and also overseas. Total investment for the project amounted to RMB2.5B.

Southwire, the US-based aluminium and copper cablemaker, has said that while the use of copper in most electrical applications is unlikely to change, some manufacturers are likely to move toward the use of aluminium wire. The auto industry is increasingly using aluminium wire for traditional copper applications. This is occurring most predominantly outside of the US, however domestic autos companies have also been using aluminium wire for battery cable and aluminium wire harnesses for lights. Southwire stated that for most electrical applications copper usage will remain dominant because of its overall reliability.

Guangzhou Jiangtong Copper products, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper, announced that it began trial production at its new 400,000t/y copper wirerod plant this week. The company expects to supply nearby consumers in southern China as well as those in foreign markets in Southeast Asia. Capital investment expenditure totalled RMB2.0B.