by The Editors on November 4, 2008
Our favorite Carlsbad-based life sciences company Invitrogen is getting a new name. After the company’s $6.7 billion purchase of Applied Biosystems goes throught the new company will be called Life Technologies, according to a story on GenomeWeb News.
CEO Greg Lucier said in a memo sent to employees last night that the leadership teams of the two firms said that as they were “working together to define the identity and vision of our combined organization … one word became prominent in our discussions. That word was ‘life’ — a word that we believe truly symbolizes the promise of our combined company,” he wrote.
Sounds like a name straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel, but we like it.
[Link: GenomWeb Daily]
by The Editors on October 24, 2008
MacCase, the Carlsbadistan-based manufacturer of fine coverings for Apple products has just released a case that we’ve been waiting for. It’s leather, vertically oriented, and it can be slung over the shoulder, carried by handle or made into a backpack for easy on-the-go computer action.
The compact case has several storage pockets for accessories and a removable, customized pouch for the MacBook Air Super Drive or AC adapter for the larger MacBook Pro models. . . . The design of the Flight Jacket embodies the minimalism of the MacBook Air and the romanticism of our Premium Leather,” expresses Michael Santoro, Chief Creative Officer at MacCase. “Apple owners looking for a timeless case design with outstanding protection and minimal bulk will find this, and more, in the new Flight Jacket.”
Let’s just say this is exactly what we’ve been looking for.
[Link: MacCase]
by The Editors on October 15, 2008
The meeting we were planning on attending tomorrow at Invitrogen’s Carlsbadistan headquarters has been postponed until October 28 thanks to some amendments to their Applied Biosystems buyout agreement. The company wants to give shareholders more time to consider the deal.
Phew. There are a few details of the $6.4 billion buyout that we wanted to study up on. (Just kidding.)
[Link: Forbes.com]
by The Editors on October 14, 2008
Our favorite Carslbad-based life sciences company, Invitrogen, has just introduced a new bench-top instrument called the Countess automated cell counter, according to a story in Pharmaceutical Business Review .
According to the company, the Countess instrument: counts live and dead cells, calculates percent viability, measures average cell size, calculates dilutions for downstream applications and uses just 10 microliters of sample.
As usual, we have no idea what they’re talking about, but if it’s good for their stock price then it’s fine by us.
[Link: Pharmaceutical Business Review]
by The Editors on October 14, 2008
Carlsbadistan’s John Frisbie was sick of the gasoline bills he was paying to get from him home in Carlsbad to his job at Rady Children’s Hospital in Kearny Mesa, riding the Coaster was fine, but all those busses just wasn’t doing it for him according to a story in the North County Times. That’s when he got a Segway scooter.
Frisbie said it took him about 15 minutes to learn how to ride the Segway, which is balanced by gyroscopes to keep the rider upright. Frisbie said he’s fallen only once, and that it was his fault. . . “You have to make sure the tires don’t leave the ground. Make sure to take bumps slowly, or the gyroscopes will get off and you’ll fall off,” he said. . . . His new toy is attracting plenty of attention. Passing drivers honk and wave as he rolls by. He’s had people turn their cars around and ask him where he got the Segway.
Sadly, there is absolutely no way to ride a Segway without looking like a total tool. But don’t tell John we said that.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on September 9, 2008
Carlsbadistan’s satellite products company ViaSat Inc. has just signed a $50 million deal to “intall land-based ‘gateways’ to connect European broadband subscribers to the Internet via satellite.”
The contract was awarded by Skylogic, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications of Paris. ViaSat will install 10 broadband gateways in Europe linked to the KA-SAT satellite, which is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2010.. . . “This is the first network infrastructure award resulting from our transformational broadband initiative and leverages ground system economies of scale because it can be used for both high-capacity satellites — KA-SAT and ViaSat-1,” said Mark Dankberg, chairman and chief executive officer of ViaSat.
Yeah, what Mark said. We’re hoping someone got a nice fat bonus for this one.
[Link: San Diego Business Journal]
by The Editors on September 4, 2008
Carlsbad’s electric motorcycle company Aptera isn’t just messing around with all that “C” round money. They’re aiming right for the top, especially with their new hire of Paul Wilbur as president and chief executive officer.
Wilbur is an automotive industry veteran who brings 26 years of extensive automotive experience, ranging from product planning and finance to marketing and product development for leading car companies such as Ford and Chrysler. Most recently, Wilbur was the president and CEO of Detroit-based American Specialty Cars, a tier-1 supplier of open air and convertible roof systems and Saleen, a leading manufacturer of high performance specialty cars and trucks.
But the big question being asked in automotive circles is what has happened to former CEO and founder Steve Fambro? According to the Up To Speed blog in the LA Times: “Fambro will become chief technical officer, since “it is a much better role for him to concentrate on vehicle development.”
Right. And Up To Speed points out that the same thing that happened to Tesla Motors‘ founder Martin Eberhard. He was moved to a position called “president of technology.” Then four months later he left the company entirely.
Hmm. . . .
[Link: Up To Speed]
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by The Editors on September 3, 2008
Joe Berry, the chief information officer of US Airways is leaving the company this month to become the senior vice president and chief information officer at Applied Biomedical/Invitrogen according to a story in USA Today.
Beery is just one of three “longtime executives” who are leaving the Tempe-based airline. It’s probably not a bad time to get out of the airline industry and move to Carlsbad, actually. Welcome, Mr. Berry. We hope you’ll leave the US Air stock mojo back with the old company.
[Link: USA Today]
by The Editors on August 26, 2008
We’re marking our calendar. On October 16, 2008 Invitrogen (our favorite Carlsbad-based life sciences company) is holding a special meeting of its shareholders to vote on the company’s proposed acquisition of Applied Biosystems Inc.
The special meeting of shareholders will be held on October 16, 2008, at 9 a.m., PT at Invitrogen’s headquarters, 5781 Van Allen Way, Carlsbad, Calif. 92008. Invitrogen shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 5, 2008 will be entitled to vote at the special meeting.
We’re thinking me might go, just for fun. How many times have you voted on a $6.4 billion deal?
[Link: BusinessWire]
by The Editors on August 16, 2008
When the doors of the new Carlsbad Apple Store at The Forum opened for customers the first time this morning at 10 AM Elizabeth Jean DeBoer, of the Oceanside Mac User Group was the first person in the store.
“I’ve been here since 4:20 AM,” she said from her comfortable chair before the doors opened. “I’m going to upgrade my iPhone to 3G and I waited until this store opened because I didn’t want to go to Fashion Valley.”
DeBoer entered the store through a gauntlet of more than 40 enthusiastically screaming, clapping, carousing Apple retail employees all outfitted in their matching orange and turquoise T-shirts with the words “I know people” screened on the front of them.
It was a bit of a madhouse actually as each person was welcomed into the store as if they were a high school football player entering the field of a state championship. It was just a continuation of the welcome everyone in line got at 9:50 when all the employees charged out of the front doors of the store and ran down the line of some 200 customers high-fiving them all and yelling the whole way.
The commotion was distracting regular mall shoppers as they tried to find parking. One attractive woman in big glasses leaned out her window or her black Porsche Cayenne to ask was was going on. When someone told her they were waiting for free T-shirts she couldn’t believe it. “All these people are standing in line for a free T-shirt,” she replied with a look of shock. “I thought all the iPods were 10 percent off or something.”
The Carlsbad store is the newest member of the Apple family of more than 200 retail stores worldwide. And while the Carlsbad store’s General Manager Audrey Todd wouldn’t say exactly how many employees her store has (or how many of them are from Carlsbad) she was happy to say that “Apple is always hiring.”
Stores hours are 8 AM to to 9 PM (Sundays 9 AM to 6 PM) and like all Apple retail store it features The Genius Bar, One To One weekly training, Personal Shopping, Workshops and Youth Programs.
For all the details, and more photos follow the jump (click them to view full size).
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