BUSINESS BRIEFS
How do you feel about ethanol?
Advertiser Staff and News Services
The state received about 100 calls and e-mails yesterday commenting on and expressing concerns about how ethanol-blended gasoline is affecting their vehicles. Since April 2, Hawai'i has required the sale of gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol.
The state has set up a telephone hot line and Internet site where residents can report problems or ask questions. The No. 1 complaint among people contacting the state yesterday was that the new gasoline resulted in lower fuel efficiency, said Maria Tome, an alternate-energy engineer with the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
People can leave a message on the state's gasoline comment line at 587-3814 or visit www.new-fuel.com.
CYANOTECH SALES UP 27 PERCENT
Kona-based Cyanotech Corp. said sales rose 27 percent to $3.3 million during the first three months of the year, versus sales of $2.6 million in the same period in 2005. The maker of microalgae-based nutritional products said the higher sales came from increased orders of spirulina products. Net income during the quarter was $194,000, or a penny a share, compared with a loss of $74,000 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2005. Shares rose 3 cents, or 5 percent, to close at 62 cents a share.
NAVATEK TO BUILD NAVY PROTOTYPES
Honolulu-based Navatek Ltd. and Maryland-based General Dynamics Robotics Systems yesterday said they won an $8.4 million contract to build two advanced prototypes of an unmanned surface vehicle.
The vehicle will be designed to be carried aboard a U.S. Navy coastal combat ship. The value of the contract with all options exercised is $11.3 million. Navatek will design and build the craft while General Dynamics will provide the craft's sensors, communications and payloads.
TEENS ALLEGEDLY HACK MYSPACE
LOS ANGELES — Two New York teenagers were in police custody yesterday facing illegal computer access and attempted extortion charges after they allegedly threatened to shake down the popular Web site MySpace.com unless its operators paid them $150,000, prosecutors said.
Shaun Harrison, 18, and Saverio Mondelli, 19, of Suffolk County, N.Y., allegedly hacked into the social networking site and stole personal information from MySpace users.
