Dave Matthews Plays at 25th Anniversary Festival, ViaSat Partners with JetBlue for Inflight Wi-Fi, Oceanhouse Media Adds 3 Berenstain Bears Titles, & More San Diego BizTech News

Short and sweet: it was a busy week, but not exactly an avalanche of local tech news. The countdown has begun, and your wrap-up of local developments begins in 3, 2, 1:

—San Diego’s PCN Technology has developed technology that converts an existing copper-wire control system or power line that was installed before the Internet era into an Internet-capable communications network using standard TCP/IP communications protocols. PCN Technology says its proprietary technology can be used with a wide variety of conductive wire, including energized AC power lines (below 600 volts).

—Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]), the San Diego wireless giant, hosted a 25th anniversary festival that included the opening of a new Qualcomm museum, an employee recognition ceremony, fireworks, and … oh yeah, a concert by rock legend Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. Lynn Mattoon, who was there, sent me an e-mail clarifying that Dave Matthews appeared without his band. She says Matthews and Reynolds have been touring as “Dave and Tim” since 2007.

—JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: [[ticker:JBLU]]) plans to add advanced inflight Wi-Fi to its 160 aircraft by late 2012, courtesy of antenna components, modems, and satellite-based services from Carlsbad, CA-based ViaSat, (NASDAQ: [[ticker:VSAT]]). “Rather than invest in current technology, designed to transmit broadcast video and audio, we elected to partner with ViaStat to create broadband functionality worthy of today’s interactive personal technology needs,” JetBlue chief executive Dave Barger said in a statement.

—Encinitas, CA-based Oceanhouse Media, which landed e-book rights for the entire catalog of 44 Dr. Seuss books for the iPad, iPhone, and iTouch, is expanding its portfolio with the popular Berenstain Bears children’s books.

—Qualcomm said it has promoted Steve Mollenkopf to executive vice president and group president, recognizing his oversight responsibilities of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT), Qualcomm Internet Services (QIS) and Qualcomm MEMS Technologies.

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.