StartX company acquired by Apple | WifiSLAM, an indoor mapping and GPS location startup founded by Joseph Huang M.S. ’11, Jessica Tsoong M.S. ’11, David Millman M.S. ’10 and Darin Tay, has been acquired by Apple for approximately $20 million. The company, which was founded two years ago and developed through Stanford’s startup accelerator StartX, allows smartphone users to pinpoint their location indoors to within 2.5 meters by using Wi-Fi signals. 

Solar Decathlon team builds solar home | Stanford’s entrant in the Department of Energy’s 2013 Solar Decathlon competition has started construction on Start.Home, a 1,000-square foot solar home. The Stanford team will compete against 19 other teams this October at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif. The team received $200,000 in grants from the Department of Energy and the University and expects to spend approximately $250,000 building the home. Although the competition has been held annually since 2002, this will be the first time that a Stanford team competes. 

New online courses | Approximately 20 Stanford courses will be offered either partially or fully online in spring quarter, according to the Stanford Report. The online classes — most of which were funded by the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning — will be taught through a variety of platforms including Coursera, iTunes U and Venture Lab. Some courses will be reserved for Stanford students while others — such as Graph Partitioning and Expanders and Comparative Democratic Development — will be made available to the general public.

Long wait times at Stanford Hospital | Patients seeking treatment at the Stanford Hospital have to wait almost three times as long to see a healthcare professional as patients at Redwood City’s Sequoia Hospital, according to new data provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Waiting times at the Stanford Hospital also exceed state and national averages — as well as waiting times at other local hospitals — for patients seeking emergency treatment or pain relief from broken bones.