by The Editors on December 8, 2009
by The Editors on December 6, 2009
Team “Four Wheel Drive” from the Carlsbad Education Foundation made up of Anna Lozar research mentor, Mark Rotenberg programming mentor, Kasey Cinciarelli – Team Coach, Jared John, Harlyn Fitzgerald, Alex Kaplan, and Noah Knudsentook took home the Championship trophy in the First Lego League (FLL) Cup at Legoland California today (December 6, 2009).
Team “Four Wheel Drive” was one of 52 teams of 9 to 14-year-olds to compete in this high-energy robotics competition. Teams from Encinitas, Laguna Beach, LaVerne, Palm Desert, Poway, Ramona, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Westlake Village were also honored.
Follow the jump for the entire press release.
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by The Editors on December 2, 2009
Carlsbadistan based consumer electronics company Digital Group Audio’s Livespeakr for the Apple iPhone turns any Apple iPod, iPod Touch, or iPhone into a miniature boombox with it’s patent pending technology.
Sometimes, especially during the holidays, it’s fun to share music, movies, or TV without having to use headphone splitter cables, and that’s why Livespeakr makes a perfect gift this Christmas.
This amazing new speaker system features a set of speakers that fold-up and store conveniently behind the iPhone when they are not in use allowing for maximum portability. When the unit is stored (or hidden) it piggy-backs on the iPhone or iPod Touch making it portable enough to fit in your pocket for on-the-go portability. The unique style of the Livespeakr™ is visually stunning featuring bold design inspired by modern art.
Livespeakr is currently on sale online for $79.99 and comes in black or white designs that go perfectly with any Apple iPod/iPhone product. Follow the jump to see the
Livespeakr.com
Previous Carlsbadistan Days of Christmas Gifts:
1. Ben Sherman At The M Collection
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by The Editors on November 29, 2009
Garry Brown, executive director of Orange County Coastkeeper compares the difference in water cost between a Ground Water Replenishment System operating in Orange County with the cost of water per acre foot from Poseidon Resources‘ proposed Carlsbadistan desalination plant in an editorial for the Daily Pilot.
The total cost of the highly treated [GWRS] drinking water is less than $800 per acre foot. . . We know that ocean desalination is used throughout the world. The costs per acre foot range between $2,000 and $3,000. There is certainly no reason to believe it can be done for less money in Southern California.
He goes on to point out that the only other desalination plant that Poseidon has built went “$40 million over budget, five years late, and has never produced the promised amount of water. In fact, “Poseidon had to be removed from plant operations and replaced by a public agency.” Oddly, the Tampa Bay plant isn’t even listed on the “our experience” page of Poseidon’s website. The only desal plants they list are the as-yet-unbuilt Carlsbad and Huntington Beach facilities.
All of this makes us ask this question: is Poseidon’s real business making drinking water or simply using the promise of water as a means of extracting money from public agencies?
[Link: Daily Pilot]
by The Editors on November 27, 2009
When Carlsbadistan resident Heather Hultgren (pictured right with her family) realized that her parents couldn’t be around every night to read bedtime stories to their grandson, she decided she could fix that problem and launch a web business at the same time according to a Dave Good story on SanDiego.com.
Using technology that Hultgren says wasn’t available two years ago, a CherishedVoices.com subscriber is able to dial a toll free number and record a personal message, tell a story, or read from one of the books in the Cherished Voices library. . . “You have up to an hour to talk,” she asks. “You can share whatever is in your heart.” . . Hultgren then edits the recording into the finished narrative.
Hultgren then puts the recording on a CD and ships it with the book that was read directly to the child for $49.95. Which is much cheaper than a cross-country flight.
[Link: CherishedVoices via SanDiego.com]
by The Editors on November 20, 2009
Carlsbadistan based electric car maker Aptera’s founder Steve Fambro tells Popular Mechanics that contrary to rumors quoted on Wired’s Autopia blog, he was not ousted “in a boardroom showdown,” he’s simply on vacation until the end of the year.
“I think some people read into this situation a little further than they should have, ” Fambro says. “Some folks were let go, and since they hadn’t seen me around—they put two and two together and made a fairly large and incorrect assumption,” he says. “Since I started Aptera, I’ve had like three or four vacation days. One of them was after receiving a 2008 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award in NYC. So I need to take some time, and come back in the beginning of the new year.”
Great. We hope Mr. Fambro enjoys his vacation.
[Link: Popular Mechanics]
by The Editors on November 16, 2009
Carlsbadistan’s next wave automobile company Aptera Motors appears to have hit more rough roads this week according to a story on Wired.com’s Autopia blog.
Aptera Motors has ousted founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony, sources told Wired, painting a picture of a boardroom confrontation between the original founders and the auto industry veterans the company brought in last fall. . . Rumors that Aptera Motors was letting them go and laying off an unknown number of people began swirling last week on the unofficial online Aptera Forum. The company says it simply elected to slow things down and minimize its burn rate while waiting for the Department of Energy to approve its loan application. It isn’t saying much about what happened to Fambro and Anthony, but claims the company’s relationship with them remains positive.
Sure, we’re guessing Fambro and Anthony are stoked that a bunch of Detroit guys came to California and took over the company, why wouldn’t they be?
[Link: Wired.com]
by The Editors on November 9, 2009
We don’t know much about Gregory T. Lucier. He is CEO of is our favorite Carlsbadistan-based life sciences company, Life Technologies. And under his guidance the company’s stock has gone up nearly $10 a share since we decided to “invest in Carlsbadistan.” And he thinks things are only going to get better for his industry.
I actually think we’re heading into the golden age of drug discovery and development. We’ve reached a point where our grasp and knowledge of these tools is finally allowing the researchers to get answers faster. So I’m hopeful the next 10 years will be different than the last 10 years of this kind of dearth of new products we saw coming out of pharmaceutical companies.
Now, thanks to the The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Thomas Kupper we know much more about the 45-year-old HBS MBA and you will too if you read this interview.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on October 1, 2009
Carlsbadistan based satellite communication system vendor ViaSat has announced that it “has signed a definitive agreement to acquire WildBlue Communications, a privately held satellite broadband service provider, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $568 million,” according to a story on Multichannel.com.
“By integrating ViaSat-1 and its ground network technology into the WildBlue operational and distribution platform, we believe we can meaningfully reduce our operational execution risks,” ViaSat chairman and CEO Mark Dankberg said in announcing the deal.
The transaction is expected to close in the quarter ending April 2, 2010, which is the end of ViaSat’s fiscal year. The transaction is not subject to a vote of the ViaSat shareholders.
[Link: Multichannel.com]
by The Editors on September 21, 2009
Thanks to a grant from our favorite Carlsbadistan-based life sciences company, Life Technologies, the Carlsbad Education Foundation is going to make sure all 14 schools in the district are able to compete in the First Lego League International Robotics Challenge.
By partnering with the Life Technologies Foundation, CEF is able to sponsor one team per school, including all registration fees, two robots, related supplies, training and resource materials. . . . “The Carlsbad Educational Foundation is thrilled to partner with Life Technologies to bring the exciting FIRST LEGO League program to all the schools in the Carlsbad Unified School District,” said Valin Brown, CEO of the Carlsbad Educational Foundation. “This highly innovative and forward-thinking program is the latest example of how CEF continually seeks ways to bridge the gap between classroom and real-world experiences. To that end, FIRST LEGO League represents an outstanding opportunity for us to promote educational excellence while inspiring young people to build science, engineering and technology skills.”
Now, rather than spending most of their time raising money, the robot heads in the Carlsbad Unified School District will be able to focus on building robots and bringing home a world title. For more info, follow the jump.
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