Website Flying Faster in Unrestricted Airspace

Discount airfare website CheapAir.com thinks searching for flights is too restricted. So the Calabasas firm has released a mobile app that allows users to search by voice command. It works like this: instead of calendars and airport codes, users just say “L.A. to New York on Friday, coming back May 10,” and the app returns with flight options. The technology used for the voice-command app was developed last year, when the company launched its Easy Search website tool. The free-form internal search engine encourages site users to eschew the usual parameters for travel and just type in when and where they want to go, similar to a Google search. The site then matches the request with the closest – and cheapest – options from more than 150 airlines to airports in or nearby the destination city. The launch comes at a time when an increasing number of travelers are using cell phones and tablets to make travel arrangements, and that trend was key to its development, said Chief Executive Jeff Klee. “The most cumbersome part of looking for flights on a phone is the calendar and the multiple fields,” Klee said. “We wanted to make that easier and make sure our customers could search for flights from anywhere they are.” Since announcing the app, Klee said it has been downloaded by more than 30,000 customers. The app is currently available only for Apple platforms, but Klee said the company plans to roll it out to Android phones and tablets in coming months. CheapAir.com is a discount travel site that books flights, hotels, cruises and rental cars. It launched in 1989 as 1-800-Cheap-Air before changing its name. Firm Lands Navy Contract The U.S. Navy has awarded Thousand Oaks tech consulting firm VSolvit LLC a $51 million contract. The company will take over software development and management of websites and hardware for the Naval Facilities Information Technology Center. The facility is based at Port Hueneme in Ventura County, but services worldwide Navy and Marine Corps tech operations. VSolvit was founded in 2006, and up until now has primarily worked with clients to build mapping apps. Current clients include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The contract means the company will be looking to hire web developers and engineers in the near future, according to Chief Executive Paymal Kamdar. She said she expects the firm to nearly double its workforce of 61 employees by the end of summer to handle the contract. The firm has offices in Fillmore, Sonora and Vienna, Va., and will add staff at multiple locations. Swimmer’s Ear Valencia medical device company Advanced Bionics LLC is taking a waterproof version of its cochlear implant Down Under. The company’s implants help deaf people hear by gathering sound through an external sound processor that relays signals to a device implanted in the ear’s cochlea, where hair cells transmit sounds. Advanced Bionics’ Neptune device is the first waterproof sound processor on the market and has been available to adult U.S. patients for about a year. Now, the company has received approval to market the product in Australia. The Neptune allows patients to shower and even swim without damaging the device. The Neptune can even gather sound when submerged. Company officials say the device means that hearing-impaired patients can hear important safety warnings while swimming, a popular pastime in Australia. The Neptune costs about $8,000, on par with other processors,. The total cost of a cochlear implant, including surgery, can run up to $100,000. uSamp Exec PepsiCo. and Blockbuster LLC veteran Robert Clancy has joined Internet market research firm uSamp Inc. as senior director of insights and strategy. The Encino firm develops custom automated surveys that contacts mobile phone users. Clancy will be a liaison between clients, advising them on the results of uSamp’s market research, and the firm’s statisticians and engineers, who create the surveys, said uSamp Chief Executive Matt Dusig. “His experience on the client side will help us to better understand the inner workings of major brands and allow us to tailor our offerings to their needs,” Dusig said in a statement. Staff reporter Kelly Goff can be reached at (818) 316-3135 or [email protected].