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• Silicon Beach: South Florida plugs into the next wave

Silicon Beach: South Florida plugs into the next wave

There has been quite a bit of bellyaching coming out of some recent South Florida tech networking meetings. It sounds like this:

The government needs to do more to lure tech firms here.

The education system doesn't do enough to cultivate tech talent.

Silicon Storage takes Microchip Tech's buyout bid

Silicon Storage Inc., a maker of flash memory cards used in digital cameras and MP3 players, said Wednesday that it has agreed to be acquired by Microchip Technology Inc. for $273 million in cash.

The company said it has ended its acquisition agreement with Technology Resource Holdings Inc., which is controlled by Prophet Equity LP, as well as some Silicon Storage executives.

Microchip, based in Chandler, Ariz., offered to pay $2.85 per share in cash to acquire Silicon Storage, compared with $2.10 per share from the prior buyer.

His work invisibly touches us

Irvin Lustig is one of the original developers of software used to run major airlines, telecommunications companies, manufacturing, transportation, financial services and the U.S. defense program. In some sense, he says, his software touches you every day -- you just never knew it.

Irvin Lustig

1979 Mathematics

Fontainebleau battling creditors

As the Fontainebleau Las Vegas battles creditors in a bankruptcy fight, its namesake, the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, faces claims of unpaid bills, too.

More than 30 construction companies, designers, installers and others hired for the $500 million renovation of South Florida's largest resort have filed court claims totaling nearly $65 million -- the result, they say, of bills still unpaid nine months after the 1,504-room oceanfront property reopened amid a global financial crisis.

The litigation adds to the pressure facing Jeffrey Soffer, the Aventura developer who launched both Fontainebleau projects at the height of the real estate boom. His lawyers are suing to force major banks to resume funding construction on the stalled Vegas Fontainebleau, while lenders say the 3,800-room tower on the Strip isn't worth enough to justify more construction dollars.

Tech-savvy teen clicks way to top

Weina Scott answers about 100 tech support e-mails a day. The website must be perfect - one glitch, and 6,000 irate customers will bombard her inbox. But first, she has to study her physics.

At age 17, Weina is the chief executive of her own Web-based podcast hosting company and makes an annual salary of $40,000 for working 20 hours a week. Her office is her laptop in her parent's townhouse near North Miami Beach. She balances her work duties with doing homework for seven advanced placement classes at Krop Senior High School and applying to colleges.

"This is the American dream, " Weina says. "Start the company with zero dollars and end up with a $40,000 salary. I think I'll take that." Experts say there is a growing number of teenage entrepreneurs like Weina, and most dive into the online business world. But because of their inexperience with promoting themselves, their stories are rarely heard.