those 8 million [18-wheel trucks] to natural gas, we cut OPEC in half,” he says.
—Two Lithuanian software developers who created an interactive, augmented reality game called Paparazzi won the $125,000 top prize in Qualcomm’s inaugural 2010 Augmented Reality Developer Challenge. Qualcomm also named two other teams.
—I profiled San Diego’s Blue Sky Network, which was founded around technology that uses the Iridium satellite network to track and communicate with aircraft. Founding CEO Jon Gilbert told me the company has been expanding its product line, which now includes a dual-mode device, called HawkEye, that can operate with either the Iridium satellite network or GSM-based wireless networks.
—Resource Nation, a Solana Beach, CA, company that enables businesses to connect with pre-screened venders, acquired Business.com from Dex One Corp. for an undisclosed amount. Funding from JMI Equity, the private equity firm based in San Diego and Baltimore, MD, helped to make the transaction possible. Resource Nation says in a press release that the combined companies will enable customers to reach a larger number of B2B purchasers, and at multiple stages in the purchasing process.
—After more than a decade of losses, San Diego’s Maxwell Technologies (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MXWL]]) reported $771,000 in fourth-quarter operating income. Maxwell, which specializes in energy storage devices known as ultracapacitors, still reported a loss for the quarter, but CEO David Schramm told analysts during a conference call that ultracapacitor sales increased 56 percent, from $43.8 million in 2009 to $68.5 million in 2010, driven by orders from wind power companies.
—The Angel Capital Entrepreneurial (ACE) Fund 1 created last year by Southern California’s Tech Coast Angels made its first investment, providing $80,000 in funding to Vokle, an Internet startup in the Los Angeles area.
