Business

Pedego Carlsbad Offers Bikes With A Push

by The Editors on June 6, 2013

Pedego Shop-2

Carlsbadistan’s newest Village bike shop, Pedego Carlsbad, wants you to ride a new bike, but they’re not going to make you pedal if you don’t want to. Not with the Pedego e-bike.

The beach cruisers Pedego sells feature an electric “brushless geared hub motor” built into the rear wheel that allows riders to pedal if they want or go up to 20 MPH for 30 miles without doing much more than twisting the throttle. With a little help on the pedals the lightweight lithium batteries will last even longer. And, the best part, unlike a Tesla, when the battery dies you can always simply pedal the bike home.

Pedego Carlsbad launched in May 2013 by the husband and wife team of John and Denise Buckingham.

[They] decided to open the electric bike store after John became the proud owner of a Pedego electric bike. “I live four miles from the beach and loved riding my bike there, but the hills made it a challenge to do regularly, so I looked into electric bikes. I was so impressed by the quality and comfort of the Pedego bikes that I wanted to share the experience with as many as possible,” John explains.

After taking one of the Buckingham’s bikes out for a spin we’d have to agree. The electric motor is quiet and when you twist the throttle the bike suddenly surges forward like someone else is doing the pedaling. It seemed almost magical. But don’t take our word for it. Try one out. Pedego rents bikes $14 a hour or $25 for a tandem. The worst part about renting a Pedego, however, is having to return it. If you want to buy one you can check out all the options right here.

Pedego Carlsbad is located at 355 Carlsbad Village Drive, in Carlsbad, California across the street from the Village Faire. They are open daily from 10 AM to 7 PM.

[Link: Pedego Carlsbad]

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Life Technologies Sold For $13 Billion

by The Editors on April 16, 2013

LifetechCarlsbadistan-based life sciences company Life Technologies Corp. announced (April 15, 2013) that it will be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific for close to $13.6 billion in cash, according to a story in the San Diego Business Journal.

“The Life Technologies employees are very excited about joining forces with Thermo Fisher. There are many advantages to the combination for them,” Life Technologies chairman and CEO Greg Lucier said in an analyst call on April 15. “We’re going to have a series of programs in place to retain employees between the signing and the close so that we can deliver a terrific well functioning organization to Marc (Marc Casper, president and CEO of Thermo Fisher) and his team.”

Nice work, Mr. Lucier. It was a great run.

[Link: San Diego Business Journal]

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Legoland Hotel Opens Friday April 5

by The Editors on April 4, 2013

Img600 Llh Advisory

On Friday, April 5, 2013 the Legoland Hotel will officially kick opens its doors to the public and Legoland California General Manager Peter Ronchetti and Hotel General Manager Frank Idris will join a cast of characters at a ceremony officially opening the Hotel.

The three-story, 250 room hotel immerses guests in a creative LEGO® world and every room is themed after one of three popular LEGO toy lines in the Park: pirate, adventure or kingdom. Children have their own sleeping area in every room complete with bunk beds, a trundle bed and their own TV. A spectacular entrance is guarded by a smoke-breathing LEGO dragon created out of 400,000 LEGO bricks. Each room has at least eight LEGO models and theming can be found on the walls, carpeting and bedding. There are more than 3,500 LEGO models throughout the Hotel using more than three million LEGO bricks. Interactive features include a Castle Play area, a talking and spraying dragon on the patio, LEGO play pits in the reception area and a treasure hunt inside the rooms where younger guests search for clues then open a locked safe to find LEGO treasure! Guests staying at LEGOLAND Hotel have exclusive early access to LEGOLAND California.

It would appear that Legoland’s plan to grab every single tourist dollar that comes to Carlsbadistan is nearly complete. For the official word from Legoland, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Legoland Florida Drops Season Pass Price

by The Editors on February 21, 2013

D4S Legoland021713 10292129 8ColResidents of Florida not have it much better than we do when it comes to buying a season pass at their local Florida Legoland, according to a story in the Tampa Bay Times.

Legoland Florida has dropped the price of annual pass by $30 for Florida residents. The ticket, which has no black-out dates, now sells for $99 from the previous $129, which is what out-of-staters still have to pay. . . The pass, found on the Winter Haven theme park’s website, legoland.com, includes admission to its new water park and free parking. There are also special events at the park for Halloween, Christmas and Fourth of July.

Meanwhile, here in Carlsbadistan a season pass still costs $129 and DOES NOT include parking nor the water park. Thanks, Merlin. Way to stick it to the California locals.

[Link: Tampa Bay Times]

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Arkeia Software Sold To Western Digital

by The Editors on January 22, 2013

ArkeiaArkeia Software, the Carlsbadistan (and Paris, France) based data backup software company has been acquired by digital storage giant Western Digital for an undisclosed amount, according to a story in the Orange County Business Journal.

Western Digital will fold Arkeia into its small- and medium-business unit, and expects the addition to boost its portfolio with products designed for the “larger SMB customers,” according to Western Digital’s Executive Vice President Jim Welsh. . . Arkeia provides data backup software, as well as other services such as data de-duplication. Its products are used on more than 150 platforms, including Windows and Linux.

We’re guessing everyone is very happy about the sale. But that would, of course, just be a guess.

[Link: OC Business Journal]

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Get Down To Business At The Library

by The Editors on January 10, 2013

For the next four months the Carlsbad City Library will host free business workshops at the libraries Gowland Meeting Room at 1775 Dove Lane. Topics will cover Building Business on Facebook, Link Up on LinkedIn, Steps to Starting a Business, and Doing Business in Carlsbad.

Now that we mention it, we’re realizing it might not be a bad idea for us to attend a couple of these. Most importantly, the Doing Business in Carlsbad session taught by Cith of Carlsbad Economic Development Manager Kathy Dobson, PhD. Couldn’t hurt right? For more info, including dates and times, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Papa Doug Going After Tribune Co.

by The Editors on October 18, 2012

Manchester T250Doug Manchester, the owner of the U-T San Diego (and the North County Times) is now officially going after the Tribune Company, according to a story on KPBS.com. The Tribune Company owns The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant and more importantly, the LA Times.

“We certainly are going to look at it,” Manchester said. “We are looking at it, yes. I would like to, yes.” . . Tribune spokesman Gary Weitman refused to comment on what he called speculation regarding the company and its assets. The Tribune’s owners are two hedge funds and JP Morgan Chase. U-T CEO John Lynch said recently that the paper’s ownership was interested in acquiring a company that would give it a national footprint. . . “We believe our business model will work and create great economic benefit to all of the investors,” Lynch said.

Media companies are cheap right now. For businessmen with another stream of revenue and the desire to give themselves good press, owning newspapers apparently makes sense.

[Link: KPBS]

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NCT Editor Kent Davy Canned By Manchester

by The Editors on October 1, 2012

523967 122417281233732 832970956 N T250Turns out North County Times editor Kent Davy could have let Carlsbadistan.com columnist Richard Riehl tee off on [new NCT owner Doug] Manchester” after all, as he’s getting the boot at the newspaper anyway, according to a story in the KPBS.org.

Davy said he was informed he would not be moving forward with the new management that takes over the paper today, though he was asked to be on a transition team for an indeterminate period. . . Davy arrived from Chicago in 1996 to become the editor of the North County Times after the owner of the Blade Citizen bought out its rival North County paper, the Times Advocate, and merged the two. Now, with the buyout of the North County Times by Manchester, Davy will move on.

We’re guessing it is “Davy’s commitment to balanced local journalism” that did him in. Another sad day in San Diego media.

[Link: KPBS.org]

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Legoland Gives Peek Into New Hotel

by The Editors on September 24, 2012

Lego Pirate

The Legoland Hotel, (Legoland’s most recent ploy to snag every single tourist dollar that comes to Carlsbadistan) is nearing completion and the company has released photos so all of us who live here can see what we’re missing by not really needing to stay at the Legoland Hotel.

Opening the summer of 2013, LEGOLAND hotel is now accepting reservations for guests wanting to be among the first to book a stay at the 250 room hotel. Vacation packages for stays starting May 2013 include four 2-day resort hopper tickets for entrance into LEGOLAND California, SEA LIFE® Aquarium and LEGOLAND® Water Park; breakfast for up to four people and early admission into the family theme park on both days.

We can hardly wait. Follow the jump for the official details from Legoland. [click to continue…]

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Get Riehl: Censorship Comes to Town

by Richard J. Riehl on September 20, 2012

Screen Shot 2012-09-20 At 3.56.35 PmBeginning in October Carlsbadians will get only Papa Doug Manchester’s (right) slant on the daily news.

Who’s Papa Doug (his preferred first name) and why should we care? The hotelier-turned-media mogul bought the North County Times [for $11.95 million]. Added to his acquisition and name change to the San Diego Union Tribune two years ago, he’s hellbent on creating a Hearst-like media empire in San Diego County.

And why should we care? He’s declared an editorial war on government employees, unions, President Obama, writers who don’t help promote the community, and anyone who walks, talks or acts like a Democrat. My last North County Times column critical of the empty boosterism of Carlsbad’s latest State of the City video would not see the light of day in a Manchester newspaper. [click to continue…]

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