Emeryville's Wham-O Turns to Video Games

FOG Studios of New Brunswick, Canada, got exclusive rights to produce video games based on Wham-O's popular products including Frisbee, Hacky Sack, Hula Hoop, and more. Wham-O definitely has quite an amazing array of products that have become household names. It will be interesting to see how they can go digital.

More at playthings.com

The East Bay Trash Strike is Over

From San Jose Mercury News:

Waste Management customers in Alameda County and San Ramon, it's official: Your trash will be hauled away Monday.

It's about time!

Headquarters in Emeryville: Jamba Juice

We all know it and love it, Jamba Juice makes the best, and healthiest, fruit smoothies around. And they call Emeryville home.

Profile:

Jamba Juice is a high-end chain of smoothie restaurants headquartered in Emeryville, California with over 640 locations operating in 21 states, the District of Columbia and the Bahamas. Over 400 locations are company-owned, with the remainder being franchised. For the 12 months ending January 10, 2006, system wide sales were $345 million, which included sales of $230 million from company locations. The company has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 20% per year over the last three fiscal years. (Source: Wikipedia).

Emeryville Sports Highest Office Rental Rates in the East Bay

An article in San Francisco Chronicle today about the Booming Bay Area states:

Available office rental space shrank by 459,232 square feet in the Oakland-East Bay market, continuing a trend for the 12th consecutive quarter, the study said.

The office vacancy rate dropped to 9.7 percent, down from 10 percent in the second quarter last year.

Average asking rates for office space in the East Bay increased 2 percent to $26.40 annually per square foot for all classes of buildings. Class A office rentals were the highest in Emeryville -- $34.20 per square foot per year -- and the lowest around Oakland International Airport, at $23.40 per square foot, the report showed.

Industrial and R&D space rents saw similar but smaller increases.

Looks like E'Ville is becoming quite the business hot spot.

300 People Waited for iPhone at Bay Street Apple Store

And half as many were waiting across the street at the AT&T Store also on Bay Street. An estimated 500,000 to 700,000 iPhones were sold on the opening weekend, not bad by any measure.

Was anybody lucky enough to get one?

Critics Love Pixar's Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a Pixar tour de force.

Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com

With a 95% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is poised to be a classic and puts it in the top movies of all time even beating out Lord of the Rings, Return of the King which got a 94%.