In this edition of the Bulldog roundup of tech news: Google makes it possible for you to hunt for the Loch Ness monster from your computer; Wearality names CEO; Parade Magazine features Durham ELF in its Earth Day issue, NephroGenex files to raise up to $34.5 million and the reason Apple bought 3,600 acres of forest land in Brunswick County.
Raleigh-based NephroGenex Inc. (Nasdaq:NRX) has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $34.5 million via a secondary offering of stock.
The company says it would use the funds to boost the number of clinical sites where it will test Pyridorin, its treatment for diabetic nephropathy to 150 globally and to file an Investigational New Drug Application.
The company launched its IPO last year in February, raising $33 million. Its stock traded from its initial price of $12 up to $18, but has since dropped to under $9, trading at $8.25 midday Tuesday.
Can you find the monster? Google Street View goes to Loch Ness
Google sees more searches for Loch Ness, home of the legendary Loch Ness Monster, than for Buckingham Palace.
Now, you can look for yourself as Google takes its Street View to the storied Scottish Lake. The Google camera, mounted on a boat, gives viewers a 360-degree look at the 23-mile long loch. The camera also dips below the surface of the murky lake, but the view is muddy to say the least. It’s peat content makes it more murky than it would be normally and just adds to the mystery.
“Loch Ness is a lost world, but it’s accessible through technology. And what should be here, of course, we all know the answer to that. It’s the sort of place that if there weren’t any dragons, there really ought to be,” Adrian Shine, leader of the Loch Ness & Morar Project, said in a Google video post.
Start your own search here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@57.324751,-4.440336,3a,75y,244.05h,97.4t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!2e0!3e2
Wearality Corp. names former Google tech advocated CEO
Wearlity Corp., which has offices in the Research Triangle Park and Orlando Florida, has named Google’s former chief technology advocate Michael Jones as its new CEO.
Jones will oversee the launch of today’s most innovative virtual reality (VR) wearable technology, including the recently launched Wearality Sky™, to help users experience the true power of immersive 3D worlds. Jones will drive sales with major mobile technology partners, manage overall operations, and oversee investor relationships. David Smith, Wearality’s inventor, founder, and former CEO will assume the role of chief technology officer and maintain his focus on inventing and extending the company’s technological advantage.
Jones said in a statement that “Wearality’s Sky headset has stunning emotional impact. It will revolutionize VR through its astonishing 150-degree field of view, which gives limitless ways to experience the world. Wearality has created a VR experience that is simultaneously dramatically better and also less expensive than even the highest-rated products in the current marketplace.
“This means incredible access for the consumer that will change the way we all look at and use VR, and will finally realize the promise of making computing a ubiquitous part of the human visual system.”
Wearality has spent the last five years developing world-class technologies for virtual reality (VR) at Lockheed Martin for the defense and aerospace industry. The team created a new company, exclusively licensed the intellectual property from Lockheed Martin, and are now translating this cutting edge, patent protected technology into VR optics for consumer and commercial head wearable displays.
North Carolina represented by Elf in Parade Mag Earth Day issue
Parade Magazine featured Durham-based Organic Transit’s cross between a bicycle and car called the ELF in its Earth Day issue citing examples of green tech from all 50 states.
The magazine reports, “A bug-like contraption with an enclosed cab, it has three wheels, pedals, a solar panel and a rechargeable battery (the ELF does not use gasoline). A standard ELF seats one (like a bike) and can go 14 miles without pedaling.”
You see more and more ELFs when you travel around Durham these days. They’re colorful and perfect for short-range city travel.
See the Parade story here:
Timber from land Apple bought in Brunswick County to make paper
The Triangle Business Journal reports that Apple will use timber from the 3,600 acres of forest land it bought in Brunswick County to make paper packaging for its products. The land is harvesting the timber, primarily pines and hardwoods, with a management plan focused on sustainability, the company says.
See Rebecca Troyer’s full report here: http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/morning_call/2015/04/apple-bought-3600-acres-in-eastern-nc-brunswick.html
