Dude! San Diego’s Connect Gives Surf Board Maker (And 8 Others) Technology Award

developed by Firewire Surfboards. The design features carbon composite rods inserted near the surfboard’s rail, or edges, to enhance deep, carving turns. Connect introduced the action sports category last year to recognize the rapidly expanding cluster of recreational sports companies in the region.

—Aerospace and Security Technologies: A tie between the Vue Personal Video Network developed by wireless sensor company Avaak with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Office of Naval Research; and the Sky Warrior, a new version of the Predator robotic spy plane, armed with four Hellfire anti-tank missiles, that was developed for the U.S. Army by General Atomics, a privately held government contractor.

—Clean Technology: Energico, a complex software simulation program, developed by Reaction Design specifically to help industrial, chemical, and combustion engineers solve complex problems in gas-turbine engine design.

—Hardware and General Technology: Cipher Module, a magnetic stripe card reader developed by Semtek to help prevent credit card fraud at the retailer’s point of sale.

—Life Science, Design and Research Tools: Ski Pro, a machine that analyzes biomolecular interactions that was developed by Silicon Kinetics, a small company with 12 people, for biotech researchers.

—Life Science, Medical Products: The Catheter Ablation System developed by Ablation Frontiers, which is used to treat areas of heart tissue subject to atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat.

—Software and IT: Taaz.com, a free Web site developed by Photometrica that enables anyone to upload their mug shot and perform a “virtual makeover” using the registered colors and shades of Revlon, Sephora and other cosmetic companies.

—Wireless Communications: Awarded to the PortaBella broadband network appliance developed by Mushroom Networks for cost-effective connectivity between a host office and mobile locations.

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.