Welcome back from the last long weekend of the summer. Here’s the definitive roundup of all the news you’ll need to start your week.
—Sony (ticker: [[NYSE:SNE]]) officially launched its Tablet S, a 9.4-inch tablet computer that includes apps developed by San Diego’s Chumby Industries. The Japanese consumer electronics giant also made it easier for Tablet S users to access the Sony Entertainment Network, a new brand that combines its network of PlayStation video games, music, movies, and other entertainment services.
—Ortiva Wireless CEO Marc Zionts told me he expects the seven-year-old startup, which has developed server-based software to optimize the speed of streaming video across wireless networks, to be profitable in 2012. Zionts said he’s been focused on expanding Ortiva’s partnerships with big corporations like Nokia Siemens Networks. Most of Ortiva’s customers are mobile network operators in North America and Europe.
—Southern California Gas, a gas utility operated by San Diego’s Sempra Energy (NYSE: [[ticker:SRE]]), said it has agreed to work with Oberon Fuels, a San Diego alternative fuels startup. SoCalGas and Oberon Fuels plan to build a demonstration plant that will use natural gas as the raw material needed to produce Dimethyl Ether, (DME), a cleaner-burning fuel. In the joint statement issued last week, Oberon CEO Neil Senturia said, “We see great potential for widespread use of DME as a cleaner substitute for diesel and propane.”
—EvoNexus, the free incubator for tech startups in San Diego, has been studying a move from University City to a high-rise building in downtown Dan Diego. By moving downtown, EvoNexus could occupy one entire floor of a downtown commercial high-rise—enough room for the incubator to accept 20 or 30 new startups—more than three times the eight sartups EvoNexus is currently incubating.
—Zeebo, the San Diego-based video game console maker founded in 2007 by Qualcomm (NASDAQ: [[ticker:QCOM]]) and Brazil’s TecToy S.A., has raised $17 million, according to a recent regulatory filing. But it’s unclear if the $17 million represents just a $3.5 million extension of the $13.5 million the company raised in mid-2010—or if Zeebo has raised an additional $17 million in new money.
—San Diego’s Active Network is devoting more attention to developing a global strategy for its online registration and media business by naming Darko Dejanovic as its chief technology, product, and innovation officer, a newly created role. Dejanovic previously led San Francisco-based Monster’s global IT strategy, product design, online marketing, consumer sales, and operations and development work for San Francisco.
