Business in brief: Valley-based DigiDeal gets global investor
A global electronic gaming company has announced it is making a “significant” financial investment in DigiDeal Corp., a Spokane Valley-headquartered electronic gaming products designer, according to a DigiDeal news release.
Backing is coming from the International Game Technology Co., or IGT, which sells or places a range of gaming equipment, products and services throughout North America, Australia, Asia, Europe, South America and South Africa.
IGT declined to disclose the amount of its investment, which is subject to regulatory approval.
“IGT will receive access to DigiDeal’s intellectual property portfolio, five-year exclusive manufacturing and distribution rights for DigiDeal products, and an option to acquire DigiDeal within five years,” the release said.
DigiDeal, founded in 1998, is a privately held Nevada company.
It holds at least 20 gaming products patents and markets electronic games, like Texas hold ‘em, World Poker Tour and Bonanza Blackjack. DigiDeal’s primary technology is a patented, computerized gaming system that accommodates several players at large touch screens.
IGT expects to help DigiDeal expand its number of games and electronic products, the release said.
WASHINGTON
Cell phone ban for planes upheld
Siding with cell phone haters everywhere, a government agency on Tuesday said it will keep a rule in place that requires the divisive devices to be turned off during airline flights.
The reasoning behind the decision was technical. But the avalanche of comments the Federal Communications Commission has logged from airline travelers have been nothing short of visceral.
“These days it’s impossible to get on a bus without at least one person hollering into their cell phone, invading the private space of everyone around them,” one member of the public wrote in an e-mail to the FCC. “That’s bad enough when one can get off in 10 minutes. To have to suffer through HOURS of such torture, with nowhere to go and miserably cramped conditions – someone is going to explode.”
The agency has been considering lifting its ban on cell phone usage on airplanes since 2004.
Unlike the Federal Aviation Administration, which bans the use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices for fear they will interfere with navigational and communications systems, the FCC’s concern is interference with other cell phone signals on the ground.
Airphones installed in cabins use a special FCC frequency that operates outside the range of regular cellular phones.
In an order released Tuesday, the agency noted that there was “insufficient technical information” available on whether airborne cell phone calls would jam networks below.