Ring offers new products; Government shutdown delays SpaceX launch; SoulPancake hires new executives
Ring Unveils New Lighting Product
Santa Monica-based camera doorbell manufacturer Ring Inc. expanded its offerings for the outdoor lighting market Jan. 7. The Amazon.com Inc.-owned firm now offers a peephole video camera for homes without doorbells and motion-sensitive outdoor lighting setups, VentureBeat reports. None of the doorbells use facial recognition software yet, but Amazon recently applied for a patent to use the software to identify “suspicious” guests and automatically call police.
SoulPancake Taps New Executives
Rainn Wilson’s Beverly Hills-based media and production house SoulPancake added two new executives at the beginning of the New Year, according to Variety. Jordan Allen, formerly senior vice president at PopSugar Studios, will serve as SoulPancake’s new senior vice president of revenue and operations. Mick DiMaria joins SoulPancake as creative director, following tenure as a consultant for Jam City Inc. and 20th Century Fox Film Corp.
Shutdown Delays SpaceX Mission
Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. wants to be the first private aerospace outfit to launch a commercial crewed space flight, but the current government shutdown is stalling its plans. Nearly 90 percent of NASA employees are furloughed, delaying the planned Jan. 17 uncrewed demonstration launch date. ArsTechnica reports the flight, which would set SpaceX on a path to launch humans into orbit, enhancing NASA’s ability to put its own astronauts into orbit, has not been rescheduled.
