Foxborough device maker has funds to reach October

August 15, 2008

Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc., which is trying to win federal approval for a device to help people recover from spinal injuries, warned that it only has enough money to last into October. To avoid shutting down, the Foxborough medical-device maker said it is trying to raise money, considering selling some assets, or finding partners and significantly reducing its expenses, including eliminating jobs. As of March 25, the company had 25 full-time employees. (Todd Wallack)

Rhode Island should force the state's largest power company to buy electricity for decades at a time from renewable energy producers such as wind turbines and solar panels, Governor Don Carcieri said. In a letter, Carcieri asked the state Public Utilities Commission to require that National Grid, the state's dominant electricity distributor, sign long-term contracts with developers offering to build renewable energy projects. Carcieri, a Republican, is feuding with Democratic lawmakers and National Grid over the best way to stimulate renewable energy in Rhode Island, which has a single wind turbine. He vetoed a Democratic-backed bill in June that attempted to accomplish the same goal. (AP)

US sales of video game hardware, software, and accessories rose 28 percent in July from a year earlier, boosted by continued strong demand for Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii console, according to data from research firm NPD. Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 outsold Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 game console in July, 224,900 to 204,800 in the United States. The Wii outsold both systems combined, tallying 555,000 units that month. The top selling game in July was Electronic Arts' "NCAA Football 09," which debuted that month, with nearly 400,000 units in the United States. (Reuters)

Netflix Inc. said major technical problems over the past three days have severely limited the number of DVDs it could send out. The unspecified problems affected all of the company's 55 shipping centers and marked the biggest disruption in service since Netflix launched its DVD-by-mail subscription business nine years ago. It was unclear when normal shipments from the online DVD rental leader would resume. Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said the company was able to send out some discs on Wednesday, but shipped none on Tuesday and hadn't shipped any yesterday morning either. The glitches didn't affect Netflix's website or its service for streaming movies and TV shows. (AP)

Billionaire Nelson Peltz and his Trian hedge-fund group sold its stake in Starbucks Corp. and added shares of Hansen Natural Corp., sending the maker of the Monster Energy drink up as 11.1 percent. Peltz acquired shares of Hansen and retailer Target Corp. as of June 30, according to SEC filings by Peltz's funds. He also added shares of tobacco companies UST Inc., Philip Morris International Inc., and Lorillard Inc. A Trian spokeswoman declined to comment. (Bloomberg)

Gamers who want to watch music videos will have more choices as Warner Music Group Corp. said it is adding its library of videos to Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 game console. Videos from Sony BMG, which sell for the equivalent of $1.99, have been offered on the Xbox since December. Microsoft's game division is in talks with other major labels, such as Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and EMI Group PLC, to add their music videos to the service offered to users of Xbox Live. (AP)

A federal judge ruled that hundreds of farmers will not be able to consolidate their lawsuits against Bayer CropScience AG over the accidental release of experimental genetically engineered rice into the food supply. US District Judge Catherine Perry denied a motion to certify the farmers' claims into one class-action suit, saying they were too different from one another. If the case had been certified, attorneys say thousands of farmers in rice-producing states like Missouri and Arkansas could have joined the action. The rice farmers are suing to recoup income they claim to have lost after the release of the company's so-called Liberty Link rice into the public food supply in 2006. After the accidental contamination was made public, some foreign countries have temporarily banned US rice exports, drying up key foreign markets and causing the price for US rice to drop. (AP)