StartupRealities

StartupRealities No 160 MoonlightHarvester is a renewable energy company that generates (expensive) electricity from moonlight and utilises it for special occasions, for example to provide moonlight-powered illumination at wedding ceremonies. Generating electricity from moonlight is not commercially viable unless the power is used for symbolic purposes for which customers are willing to pay an enormous premium. Even at full moon, the moon is 100,000 times less luminous than the sun at noon. The company takes great care to store separately in special batteries the power generated at night from moonlight so that it is never mixed with cheap solar energy. MoonlightHarvester is working on developing future technology that may be able to capture starlight in addition to moonlight. This will allow the company to launch a franchise operation called StarlightHarvester. Starlight is much dimmer even than moonlight so harvesting it in any material way with existing solar panels is currently ...

StartupRealities No 30 CollarHoller is a manufacturer of electric collars for dogs and pets which keep the animals within a specified perimeter around the house. In the basic version, the collar inflicts a mild electric shock when the dog tries to move beyond a specified radius of its home, e.g. 50 metres. In the more advanced version, the collar is equipped with a GPS device, so the perimeter of territory where the dog is allowed to roam freely can be set virtually on a map. CEO QUOTE "CollarHoller creates a virtual fence which gives pet owners peace of mind and allows dogs the freedom to run outdoors from dawn to dusk," said company founder and CEO Colin Halls. "The rechargeable collar battery alerts the owner before the battery is fully drained, but it also alert the dog with two special electric and ultrasound signals (which are inaudible to humans). The dog is usually trained to run back to the base station and touch the collar to a contactless charging pad t...