Count Apple Inc. cofounder Steve Wozniak among the backers of Facebook Inc.’s $2 billion buy of Irvine-based startup Oculus VR Inc.
It took some convincing, though, because the technology icon had some doubts at the onset, like many industry watchers.
“I’ve changed my mind,” said Wozniak, who’s tried out the company’s virtual reality headset a few times. “This is where games are going to go.”
The Business Journal caught up with Wozniak late last month at the 2014 Local Search Association Conference at Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach to ask him about the Oculus buy following his 45-minute keynote address.
The affable visionary delivered an entertaining talk littered with anecdotes about Steve Jobs, like the time the pair built a blue box that could make free calls all over the world by tapping into a local high school’s pay phone; his 12-year tenure at Apple and the company’s early days; dealing with success; and his unwavering curiosity about electronics that led him to tear down and build computers at an early age using fewer chips and cheaper components.
“I could design any computer in two days,” said Wozniak, the engineering brains behind Apple and its breakthrough computers. “I could do it with pen and paper. I couldn’t afford chips.”
Wozniak, who spends most of his time on the speaking circuit these days, is betting that Oculus was a good purchase and will push Facebook into “some sweet territory.”
“They know what the real future is. I’ll buy into that.”
Netlist Wins Battle
Irvine-based computer memory products maker Netlist Inc. earned another nod from regulators in its ongoing patent feuds with several technology companies, including Google Inc.
An examiner recently ruled that 92 claims related to maximizing system memory capacity and speed are patentable by Netlist. Google, Inphi Corp., and Smart Modular Technologies pressed for the re-examination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
“The examiner considered and ultimately rejected more than 20 different grounds of rejection proposed by Google, Inphi, and Smart Modular,” said Netlist Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing Noel Whitley.
The ruling ends nearly four years of examination related to the patent claims.
Google, Inphi and Smart Modular can appeal the findings to the Patent Trial and Appeals Board later this year.
The set of patents is still being contested by Inphi in the Central District of California and by Google in the Northern District of California.
The various lawsuits involving Netlist memory products and technology have curtailed adoption and kept investors at a distance.
Iteris Nabs $1.2M Contract
Santa Ana-based Iteris Inc. has won a five-year, $1.2 million contract from the Virginia Department of Transportation to implement its cloud-based analytics software.
The iPeMS product analyzes big data and transportation networks for performance monitoring, traffic prediction, and local weather condition updates in real time.
The latest deal builds on Iteris work with VDOT. The company operates and maintains the state’s award-winning 511/Traveler Information System and is part of a network that provides operations and engineering services for Virginia’s five traffic operations centers.
