Editorial: Time for UCSB to engineer a new dean
OpinionFor more than a year there’s been a looming gap in the leadership structure of the region’s technology sector. The departure of Matt Tirrell from UC Santa Barbara, after a decade of exemplary performance as dean at the UCSB College of Engineering, created a void that’s yet to be filled. Tirrell’s term was extraordinary for Read More →
High-wireless acts: Row 44, Sonos capitalize on move toward WiFi
UncategorizedThe world is going wireless, and two tri-county firms have raised $62 million as proof. Westlake Village-based Row 44 and Santa Barbara-based Sonos are building businesses around consumers’ burgeoning demand to stay connected to their digital lives wherever they are. Row 44 operates an in-flight wireless Internet service and is installing it on Southwest Airlines’ Read More →
Carpinteria
UncategorizedCarpinteria is home to some of the largest private and public companies on the South Coast, including Clipper Windpower, CKE Restaurants and Lynda.com. But the small seaside city has seen its commercial real estate market stagnate over the past year, jumping up to a 14.6 percent industrial vacancy rate. Online software training firm Lynda.com started Read More →
Editorial: Three big deals could signal Conejo comeback
OpinionThe Conejo Valley stretch of the Highway 101 corridor is looking like an early winner as the economy emerges from the Great Recession. We’re basing our judgment on one key factor — capital flows. In just 10 days in late August and early September, capital raises worth more than $200 million were announced for the Read More →
Advertising innovation the hot topic at MIT Forum
UncategorizedIf you thought the advertising business was all smoking, drinking and skinny ties, as it’s portrayed in the AMC series “Mad Men,” think again. The people making the industry tick in the digital age are more likely to be hunkered down behind a computer monitor, perfecting code that serves up an ad to just the Read More →
Climbing through the clouds: Jeep tour business grows in region's wine hotspots
Small BusinessCloud Climber Jeeps was one of the first wine country tour companies in Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley. Now it’s hoping to blaze the trail in Ojai and Paso Robles, too. The company, founded in 1999 by Dave and Sybil DeMauro, offers back-country and wine tours, taking upwards of 5,000 people a year Read More →