Qualcomm's efforts to ensure its CDMA technology is compatible with the next generation of wireless technical standards, known as 3G, remain in play. European countries and companies surprised by the success of CDMA have lined up substantial support for a 3G CDMA standard that would not work with Qualcomm's existing systems. They've hinted a readiness to modify their approach if Qualcomm will relinquish its substantial intellectual property. Qualcomm says "no." On June 30, Qualcomm, the Europeans and others submitted their 3G proposals to the International Telecommunications Union in Geneva. Since then, telecom groups around the world have been evaluating the documents. Their reports to the ITU are due Sept. 30. The ITU may takes months more to digest.

***

    The North Embarcadero Alliance presents its final recommendations Sept. 10.

***

    Is the condo making a comeback? In the first half of 1998, 713 units were approved, reports John Burnham & Co. * Oncor International, an 82.8 percent increase over the 390 approved a year earlier. Mission Valley is getting most of the action. For perspective, in the first half of 1987, the number of new condos and townhomes available to purchase was 13,890.

***

    With apartment rents up 7 percent, and as high as 12 percent in some places, apartment sales should be trending up. And they are. Burnham & Co. reports 368 sales representing 7,759 units in the first half of 1998. The number of sales is up 4.5 percent from the first half of 1997, says v.p. George Carlson. The total number of units moved is down slightly, from 8,084 in the first half of 1997. Still, this is the fourth consecutive six-month period in which apartment sales have been in the 8,000 vicinity. And the decrease is because of a change in the action, with complexes of 100 or fewer units now starting to change hands. Also up is apartment construction. In the six months ended June 30, permits valued at $41.5 million for 552 units were issued, a 35 percent increase from the $30 million and 416 units a year earlier.

***

    The shell should be finished this month on Qualcomm's Building L, a seven-story structure that will house 319,223 square feet of office and be attached to a three-story, 286,465 square foot parking garage that’s large enough to fit two supermarkets per floor. Wayne Hickey, Jeff Anderson and Vic Johnson are overseeing the project for Roel Construction. It’s Roel's largest Qualcomm project yet. Yet.

***

    When Pete Wilson introduced Malin Burnham as the Rotary's new "Mr. San Diego," the governor acknowledged Burnham's wife Roberta as "irreverent." But the audience gasped when Burnham called her "irrelevant."
    Does this make her Mrs. Diego?

***

    New online at sandiegometro.com is Fair Game, a weekly humor column by Richard Acello, a veteran writer and author. Acello's debut deals with a new ballpark, Budweiser, Mayor Golding and a library. A fresh column appears each Monday.

***

    San Diego companies are more Intranet savvy than their national counterparts but not as likely to have a position on the Internet. Those nuggets were gleaned from a national survey by Ikon Office Solutions. The IKON Index shows 56 percent of San Diego companies have an Intranet, an internal Web site available to employees, compared to 38 percent nationally. In contrast, 47 percent of San Diego companies have Web sites, compared to 65 percent of firms nationally. Fewer San Diego companies Ð 23 percent compared to 28 percent nationally Ð have an Extranet presence, essentially a Web site that is available for the use of select partners or customers to conduct business.

***

    First Dental Health, a reduced-fee-for-service dental company, has appointed Murray Galinson, James Cahill and Mary Lee Coleman to its board.

***

    Ever wonder who designs airline seats? Look no farther than Poway, where Airline Interiors Inc. has just opened a 133,000-square-foot headquarters that will employ 350 people. Founded in 1973, Airline Interiors has grown from a used-seating refurbishment center to a manufacturer of FAA compliant 16g energy-absorbing seating systems.

***

    Orbcomm's growing fleet of Low Earth Orbit satellites Ð a dozen of the 26 planned are already flying Ð will depend on Gateway Earth Station modems to send and receive the packets of data it will distribute around the world. The modems are built exclusively by Torrey Communications of San Diego, which has just been awarded an $800,000 contract to keep 'em coming.

***

    Mayor Golding will lead the new Commission on Governance for the 21st Century, a statewide group of business, government and community leaders selected by Gov. Wilson. The commission's report, due July 1, 1999, will make recommendations on how local governments can be more accessible and accountable. It also will suggest ways to improve the relationships between cities, counties and special districts. Golding is the only San Diegan on the commission.

***

    Joe Ditler is collecting aerial photographs to help determine the size of the crowds who witnessed the first sailing of the Star of India beneath the Coronado Bridge. He thinks it hit 300,000. A "normal" sailing draws about 200,000. "People were lined up thick from the Ferry Landing all the way around the golf course," says Ditler. On board, about 60 crew and 80 guests experienced the feat; Anne Evans thought the top of the tallest mast nearly grazed the bridge. (It didn’t.) The youngest passenger was a sailor named Sarah, age 5. The San Diego Maritime Museum may budget annual sails of the Star.

***

    Barron Hilton fell into the pool at Villa Angelica during Alex and Faye Spanos' 50th anniversary party.

***

    The San Diego Foundation is seeking entries for its $250,000 Blasker Award for Environmental Science and Engineering. The prize will be given for novel science and technology achievements that contribute toward renewal of land to make possible its sustainable, beneficial use. Complete applications are due Oct. 15, 2000. Check out the Web site www.blasker.org for more.

***

    The first full-service Mexican insurance broker in California, Oscar Padilla Mexican Insurance, has ventured south of the border, opening an office in Tijuana that’s headed by attorney Luis Bobadilla.

***

Maintaining its cutting-edge reputation, San Diego Opera has locked up the new opera, "A Street Car Named Desire," for part of its 1999-2000 International 35th anniversary season. Written by composer André Previn and librettist Philip Littell and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams, the opera's world premiere is this fall at San Francisco Opera. It will be performed locally early in 2000. ***     Remember "The Clapper?"     Sound activation has improved a lot in the last 10 years. San Diego-based VOS Systems is marketing a device called IntelaVoice. The $49 gadget fits between the wall plug and appliance cord. Click on www.vosystems.com for more.

***

    In San Diego, the average luxury home moved past $1.1 million for the first time since 1993, reports First Republic Prestige Home Index. The price rose 6.1 percent during the second quarter to an average of $1,120,748. San Diego luxury-home values were up 8.4 percent during the first six months of 1998 and up 9.9 percent over a year ago. In San Diego, First Republic defines a luxury home as one selling for at least $750,000.
    "During the second quarter, San Diego also experienced the largest quarterly increase in the history of the index," says Katherine August-deWilde, COO of First Republic. "Clearly most of the gain in value during the first half of this year and even the last 12 months came from the strong second quarter."
    "The demand for luxury homes in the Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch area is unbelievable," reports Nic Lundborg of Dyson & Dyson in Del Mar. "Homes priced between $1.1 million and $1.2 million are selling easily within a 10-day period. Homes from $1.5 million and up are taking anywhere from three to 14 days to sell. And for the first time, we are seeing home sales over $5 million." Andrea Dougherty of Fairbanks Ranch Realty in Rancho Santa Fe concurs that "the market right now favors high-end homes, even those in the $2.5 million to $6 million range. Prices have appreciated so much that sellers have no difficulty putting their home on the market knowing they will be able to get more than their asking price."

***

    A management team at the Robert F. Driver Co. has purchased the company, buying out the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (which was unanimously approved by Driver employees) and all privately held shares. The company is gearing up for national expansion and diversification, both through internal growth and acquisitions. A San Diego institution, the insurance company was founded by a teen-age Robert Driver in 1925 and today has five offices throughout the state.

***

    The Mission Basin desalting plant in Oceanside will triple the amount of clean water it produces, boosting it to 6,500 acre feet, following approval by the Metropolitan Water District's board of a $200,000 contribution to the expansion. The agreement between the MWD and San Diego County Water Authority will add three off-site wells and a 30-inch, 5,000-foot-long waterline on Mission Avenue. Work should be completed by the year 2000.

***

    A+Net, a San Diego-based Internet services firm, is one of the first providers of Internet telephony, or Voice over IP (VoIP). To use it, both parties need only an ordinary phone. The customer places the call by dialing a local number, entering a personal identification number and then the long-distance number. The local number is linked to a machine, called a Gateway, that converts voice to digital data packets to be sent on the Internet. Another Gateway in the destination city receives the call and dials up the phone number.

***

    FirstWorld Communications is out with its new AudioConference Bridge. The two options are multi-way conference, when up to 30 callers can participate at a monthly price ranging from 75 cents to $1.25 per line; and mini-conference, when a toll-free number is available for $60 to $330 a month that can host six to 30 calls. Learn more at www.firstworld.com.

***

    San Diego-based Z Co. is offering a free personal calendar and appointment system. Called Calendarz, it’s available at http://calendarz.com.

***

    Spy Express Inc., a records retrieval and database information services firm, has acquired Sorensen Investigations and its Accost debt collection service. Offices will be consolidated with Spy Express' Solana Beach headquarters.

***

    Scripps Bank is bigger this month, having just finalized its merger with Pacific Commerce Bank. Joining Scripps' board is Alfred Salganick, chair of Pacific Commerce, while Tom Michelli, president and CEO of Pacific Commerce, is now Scripps' senior v.p. and regional manager of South Bay. The nine-location bank has assets of about $505 million.

***

    With regulatory and political issues becoming increasingly prominent to its international future, Qualcomm is bolstering its in-house lobbying lineup by adding to its Washington, D.C., office Jonas Neihardt as director of government relations. For nearly 10 years, Neihardt has helped develop federal and national telecommunications policies and legislation. Before joining Qualcomm, he ran congressional affairs at the
    Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Earlier, he was the budgetary and policy oversight official for the federal telecommunications agencies at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

***

    Ben Haddad's sincerity doesn’t make up for blandness: "When you’re doing what I’m doing, every day is so much fun." His first five weeks as San Diego Chamber president have been hectic.

***

    Thom Degnan, v.p. of Qualcomm, Mexico, is among the speakers for the Personal Communications Showcase Latin America set for Sept. 22-23 in Orlando, Fla. Degnan's panel will forecast the development of the PCS industry in Mexico, including subscriber growth and usage trends.

***

The injection-molding stars at Co-Mack Technology in Vista have solved another manufacturers' problem. This time it was by creating a child's chair for The Angeles Group in Missouri that was 100 percent injection-molded and had parts that slid together, eliminating the need for all metal. Angeles sells more than 5,000 chairs a month to schools and day-care centers. ***     Qualcomm is selling its Now Utilities, a suite of file and system utilities software for the Macintosh, to Power On Software Inc. Now Utilities was one of several products acquired by Qualcomm from Now Software earlier this year. Qualcomm was most interested in Now's contact management and scheduling features, which it could incorporate into future wireless devices.

***

    Wellness, the art of not getting sick, is essentially a convergence of exercise, nutrition and traditional health care. It has a place at home and in the workplace. To address the latter, the Downtown YMCA and Working Wellness this month begin a four-week "Lunch & Learn" series. All sessions will be taught by Marcia Kitson, former fitness director at the Golden Door Spa. The first, Sept. 15, is titled, "Creatively Managing Your Stress." The sessions, in the Y's Johnson Hall, start at noon. Bring a sack lunch or order in advance from the Grand Central Cafe. For more information, call the Y at 232-7451, or Working Wellness at 231-3600.

***

    Incidentally, the Downtown YMCA, not the Armed Services YMCA as incorrectly reported last month, is Metropolitan readers' favorite Centre City fitness club in the Best of Downtown survey. The Armed Services YMCA is the name of a different Y that occupied the same West Broadway facility, which still bears the old name too. Nonetheless, the Metropolitan regrets the error.

***

    Have you ever seen and heard hundreds of kids and a few parents simultaneously dump giant shopping bags of Legos on the ground and for the next 90 minutes let their creativity run wild? Well, then you've never seen the Lego Design Competition at Horton Plaza. The 14th annual event is set for Oct. 10-11. Cost is $17 per person. Kids and adults keep their creations. Call 645-8005 for more.

***

    Alpine jewelers Suzanne and Erik Bjontegard have become something of international celebrities thanks to their appearances on QVC in England and the Home Shopping Network in the United States. The couple's company, Bjontegard Trading Co. Inc., expects this year to sell $2 million worth of jewelry designed by Suzanne.

***

    Barney & Barney and Jazzercise have teamed to fight repetitive stress injury by developing and marketing for computers CyberStretch by Jazzercise. The program kicks on like a screen saver, prompting a user into some easy-to-do stretches. Free demos can be downloaded at www.cyberstretch.com.

***

    Technical Differences, a Bonsall-based software firm, is out this month with an upgraded version of its People-Trak human resources programs. The 5-year-old company bills its HR products as being exceptionally easy to use and among the most affordable on the market. Its software for companies with less than 150 employees is priced under $500. Check out www.people-trak.com for more.

***

    Cynthia Adkins, CEO of Concierge @ Large, was among the speakers in Chicago for last month's National Concierge Association Conference.

***

    Mission Hills and Ocean Beach have joined the city's Main Street program.

Cutting the ribbon at the Black Contractors Association's new Apprenticeship Training Center on Imperial Avenue are, from left, Abdur-Rahim Hameed, BCA founder; George Stevens, San Diego City Councilman; and Louis Crutcher, BCA president.

    City National Bank signed a six-year lease at Symphony Towers. The office will serve small and mid-sized companies in its core niches: real estate, high-tech, apparel, entertainment, SBA, international and agricultural.

***

    Continental Homes has created a Web site for Rancho Carrillo, its master-planned community in Carlsbad named for Leo Carrillo. Best known for his role in television's "Cisco Kid," Carrillo's historical ranch is the centerpiece of the site www.truecalifornia.com and the community.

***

    By Dec. 31, Scripps Bank says it will have tested all of its critical systems for year 2000 problems. Scripps has prepared a brochure to assist its customers in addressing Y2K issues.

***

    Re/Max Associates, San Diego’s largest Re/Max real estate sales operation, has opened a commercial investment division. James Walters has been named by President Jon Kohl to head the operation.

***

    Don't think you’re going to the Timkin Museum of Art in Balboa Park this month. The museum's closed for some improvements, including the installation of new informational kiosks created by Phillips-Ramsey.

***

    A marketing effort by Sprint PCS to increase its Hispanic customer base includes a $3 per month Mexico plan that allows enrolled customers to call down to Mexico for a flat rate of 39 cents per minute.

***

    A national movable mural project called "What It Feels Like To Live With HIV/AIDs" arrives in San Diego Sept. 17 and will be on public display Sept. 25 to Oct. 13 at the Main Library, 820 E St., Downtown.

***

    Think you’re underpaid as a lab technician? Maybe you’re overpaying that smarty-pants information systems manager? Now you can check. The Eastridge Group has released its 14th annual San Diego Salary Survey. A record 300 companies, representing 30,775 employees, participated. For a copy, call 260-2158. Now about that lab technician. The average salaries paid ranged from a low $23,703 to a high of $55,000. Information systems managers are valuable, earning from $46,767 to $90,000, so don’t mess with yours.

***

    Is old news an oxymoron? Hope Engineering, which designed the steel frame, says the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute has topped out in the La Jolla Spectrum. The 122,000-square-foot building is scheduled for occupancy in April.