Tech Roundup: Tesla Founder Takes Step Toward Rocket Launch; New App to Track Smart Meter Data From iPads

As Palo Alto is swimming in a virtual sea of technology companies, here's a look at how some made the news this week.

•Tesla Motor’s co-founder Elon Musk has made a major move with his space exploration company SpaceX. On Thursday, Musk was joined by California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other dignitaries to break ground on a new launch site for the Falcon Heavy rocket: Vandenberg Air Force Base. The rocket is expected to arrive by the end of 2012.

•Heartwarming tech story of the week: Facebook user and author Deborah Copaken Kogan could not figure out the mysterious disease her son was infected with, and neither could doctors. But soon after she pasted a photo of her son on Facebook, a friend called, recognizing the condition as the rare Kawaski disease. Kogan then rushed her son to the hospital in time to receive treatment.

•Palo Alto-based Visible Energy Inc. launched a product this week that allows PG&E users to tap into Smart Meter data from their iPads. Their EnergyUFO+ iPad application presents users with daily updates on the amount of their electrical consumption.

•Swedish software maker Apica will soon be calling Palo Alto its home. The cloud and mobile device app monitor has raised $2 millon in funding to make the big relocation. Yet it may face some competition from Silicon-Valley based SOASTA, which recently raised $21 million for its cloud-based testing solutions.

•Palo Alto based LeoNovus has raised $1.3 million in private funding, money it intends to go toward selling and marketing an HDTV product. It will allow people to both access and view the Internet from TVs big and small.