Transphorm gets $3.6M grant
Transphorm, the Goleta-based energy efficiency firm backed by $63 million from Google and other investors, has received a $3.6 million federal grant to improve solar panels. Transphorm’s technology uses a semiconducting material called gallium nitride to drastically reduce heat waste in electronic systems. The grant from the U.S. Department of Energy went to Transphorm in Read More →
Vitesse slashes workforce, dims sales outlook
Vitesse Semiconductor, the Ventura County chipmaker rocked by a stock-options scandal in 2006, has laid off 10 percent of its workforce and shuttered one of its Camarillo facilities. Vitesse disclosed the pink slips in a regulatory filing Oct. 3. The company said it ended its lease on facilities at 4721 Calle Carga and terminated 10 Read More →

Scan this, eat that: Honest Label launches nutrition app

Honest Label Foods launched a smart phone app earlier this year that helps users make sense of the nutrition labels on the back of grocery store foods.

Colorful sounds, tuneful profits: Microphone maker forges a niche

Blue Microphones is running in the black by injecting a little color into the world of professional recording microphones.
UCSB snags $20M grant
UC Santa Barbara’s materials researchers have received a $20 million grant to carry on their studies until at least 2017. The money came from the National Science Foundation. UCSB houses one of the foundation’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers and has received support since 1992. “Competition for these flagship centers is fierce,” Craig Hawker, Read More →