Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Chip Keeps Smartbooks “Always On,” Sapphire Energy Developing Bio-Refinery, EvoNexus Picks First Startups, & More San Diego BizTech News

Qualcomm technology that’s being incorporated in a new line of small and lightweight netbook computers—which Qualcomm calls smartbooks—could make the wireless devices one of the hot gift items for consumers this Christmas. Read on as we unwrap that news and more.

—Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs says a lineup of “smartbook” computers that are set for launch in coming months will be powered by the wireless giant’s Snapdragon processor—and also will include Qualcomm’s satellite-based TV technology that broadcasts to mobile devices. In an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Jacobs says Qualcomm’s MediaFLO technology also will be used to rapidly cache data onto smartbook computer screens “so when you open it up, there’s already live data on it.”

—San Diego’s Sapphire Energy plans to build a 300-acre “integrated algal bio-refinery” in Southern New Mexico. Sapphire, which is developing processes for harvesting green crude oil algae to produce gasoline and other biofuels, says the project is expected to take three years to build out. Sapphire also is co-sponsoring a 3,000-mile cross-country road trip by Algaeus, a Toyota Prius hybrid electric vehicle that is using a blend of algae-based fuel and gasoline when it’s not running on electricity.

—EvoNexus, the startup incubator formed by the San Diego industry group CommNexus, has enrolled its first three startups. The companies, chosen from 45 applicants, are Medipacs, which is combining new intravenous infusion technology with wireless monitoring capabilities; IO Semiconductor, a wireless chip design startup; and Pixon Images, which is developing real-time video enhancement technologies. The three startups get business coaching, furnished office space for up to two years, and other help at no cost.

—Sean Barr, the Canadian consul in San Diego, says the job of the five-person Canadian consulate in San Diego is to help facilitate collaborations between technology companies in San Diego and Canada. One example of such collaborations is that San Diego’s Isis Pharmaceuticals has been working with OncoGenex Technologies of Vancouver, BC, on an experimental drug for prostate cancer. As Barr put it, “The Canadian government has sort of recognized that the opportunities here are significant enough to warrant a full-time presence that’s focused on the life sciences and biotechnology, cleantech, ITC (Information Technology and Communications), and defense and homeland security.”

—Carlsbad, CA-based MaxLinear, a fabless semiconductor company, has focused its business on making it possible to watch TV on any mobile device. The company introduced its latest tuner-and-demodulator designs to provide a single-chip solution for all broadcast TV applications.

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.