In today’s wrapup of technology and life science news:

  • Wilmington-based Connected Investors adds crowdfunding for real estate
  • Raleigh-based BDSI hires two Salix execs
  • Facebook dumps an intern turned critic
  • Vox lands $200 million from NBC Universal
  • Rdio adds 500 stations

The details:

  • Crowdfunding at Connected Investors

Wilmington-based Connected Investors, which touts itself as the world’s largest real estate investors network and marketplace, has unveiled an “aggregated real estate crowdfunding marketplace.”

“For the first time, investors will be able to quickly locate and evaluate investments available across the real estate crowdfunding industry in the US and around the world,” the firm says. .

Connected Investors launched in 2005.

Ross Hamilton, founder and CEO of Connected Investors, noted: “Many people are looking for opportunities to build wealth in real estate but the traditional ways create many roadblocks. Through crowdfunding, real estate and investing in particular has been transformed. We recognized this fact and developed an effective, simple, and affordable way for anyone to get involved in a real estate investment.”

  • BioDelivery Sciences hires two former Salix executives

BioDelivery Sciences International (NASDAQ: BDSI) has named former Salix executive Scott Pleshaas as senior vice president of sales.

He joins another Salix exec at the company: Mike Bullock, who leads managed markets.

“Scott’s hands-on managerial style, well-proven leadership and commercial business acumen will greatly facilitate our commercial efforts and further solidify our sales management team,” said Dr. MarkSirgo, BDSI’s CEO. “Over Scott’s 15 year tenure at Salix, he navigated and overcame the many challenges that are customary with product launches and will apply these learnings to Bunavil. In addition, as we look to expand our commercial footprint, it is comforting to know that we have an individual who has done it successfully.”

  • Harvard student loses Facebook gig for app that shows flaws

A Harvard University student says he lost his internship at Facebookafter he launched a browser application from his dorm room that exploited privacy flawson the company’s mobile messenger.

Aran Khanna’s app — called Marauder’s Map in tribute to the Harry Potter books —showed that users of Facebook Messenger could pinpoint the exact locations of people they were talking to.

He told Boston.com (http://bit.ly/1NcW7km ) he created the app to show the consequences of unintentionally sharing data and thought he was doing a public service.

“I didn’t write the program to be malicious,” he said.

Khanna launched the app from his dorm room in May and said 85,000 people downloaded it.

Days later, Facebook asked Khanna to disable it. A week after that, Facebook released a Messenger app update addressing the flaw.

Facebook spokesman Matt Steinfeld said the company had been working on a Messenger update months before it became aware of Khanna’s app.

  • Digital media hub Vox valued at $1B as NBCUniversal invests

NBCUniversal is investing $200 million in digital media companyVox Media, whose brands include news site Vox, food blog Eater, the sports-focused SB Nation and the tech blog Re/code.

NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corp., said Wednesday that it hopes to build a partnership with Vox that involves collaborating on editorial content, advertising and technology. A representative declined to comment beyond the announcement.

A person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly confirmed that the investment values privately held Vox at $1 billion. For context, The New York Times Co., which is publicly traded, is valued at about $2.1 billion.

Philadelphia-based Comcast already has a separate investment in Vox through its venture arm, Comcast Ventures.

The investment comes amid the growing popularity of digital media brands, especially among younger people.

  • Rdio enables saving of tracks from 500 live radio stations

Rdio, the music subscription service backed by Skype co-founder Janus Friis, is partnering to bring simulcasts of 500 traditional radio stations to its app in the U.S.

The move is the next step in its partnership with station owner Cumulus Media Inc., which took a 15 percent stake in Rdio in 2013.

By gaining access to data about what’s playing on the Cumulus-owned stations, like KFOG in San Francisco or KLOS in Los Angeles, the app now allows users to pick favoritetracks and save them for later playback. Playback requires a subscription of at least $4 a month, which caps offline listening at 25 songs. Rollout with other stations and in other countries is planned over the next year.

Apple Music provides a similar ability to pick favorites and save tracks played on its newly launched Beats1 online-only radio station, but Rdio offers a far wider selection of tower-based stations.

It’s the latest push by a digital music company to gear its service to accommodate liveaudio with human DJs. San Francisco-based TuneIn has access to 100,000 traditionalradio stations but no way to mark and save songs. Los Angeles-based Dash Radioprovides dozens of online stations ad-free with popular hosts like DJ Skee and Snoop Dogg, but also no way to mark favorites.