One small maker in Burbank is trying to make sure it doesn’t get left behind as the videogame category begins to heat up. Tremor Entertainment Inc. is getting ready to complete a deal to take the company public in a move the company hopes will help it to compete in the expanding business. Tremor, which has a deal with Microsoft Corp. to develop an action fantasy game for its upcoming Ubox console, will merge with a shell corporation with no active business, New Systems Inc. New Systems, which has been engaged solely in the search for a business since its inception more than 10 years ago, reported assets of $23,506 as of June 30, 2001. It trades on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board, currently at under $1 per share. Under the deal, whose terms were not disclosed, the company will be renamed Tremor. Steven Oshinsky, chairman, president and CEO of Tremor, said the acquisition is part of an overall strategy to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the videogame market. “Tremor is now tracking its second year of more than 100 percent growth,” Oshinsky said. Last year, the company posted $502,000 in sales compared to $1.3 million projected for this year, Oshinsky added. Hardware makers, which began a major push in upgraded videogame equipment last year, are continuing to introduce new, digital products expected to expand the category and, with it, the market for software. In addition to the introduction of PlayStation2 by Sony Corp. last year and the upcoming Microsoft entry, Nintendo is entering the digital game category with its launch of Gamecube this month. By becoming public, Tremor hopes to gain access to capital markets that will allow the company to capitalize on these opportunities and duplicate the successes of companies such as Electronic Arts and THQ Inc., the company said. The upcoming Xbox game, scheduled for release next fall, will be one of a group Microsoft is planning to promote with a $500 million advertising budget over an 18-month period, according to Tremor. The deal has been approved by shareholders and is expected to be completed by December. Detecting Gold Billy Carmen knew he had the right idea when his new metal detector began selling in small hardware stores. Carmen, CEO of Van Nuys-based Wizard Industries Inc., has turned his once bulky metal detector into a state-of-the art device that can be used by carpenters to find a nail embedded in a piece of wood, to children who want to conduct their own metal-detecting experiment. “I’m not planning on competing with the big companies, but we do plan to be successful,” said Carmen, who has so far sold more than 200,000 metal detectors after one year in business. Carmen’s big seller is the Security Wizard, a baton-like metal detector used by security officers at airports. But security isn’t the only reason to own a metal detector, Carmen said. So far, Carmen has created a small, paint brush-size metal detector that can find studs on a drywall and another similar unit that can detect buckshot in game. Carmen said he expects the company to gross $1.3 million this year, with sales for next year projected to double. Carmen, a former web site designer, said he invested $75,000 to start the firm back in January. Moneyopolis Co-opted Parents looking for an online math and money game were in for a rude awakening last month when Van Nuys-based Internet company turned a former financial Web site for children into a porn Web site. DSLExtreme Inc. of Van Nuys acquired the Moneyopolis.org Web site after the registration for the site previously owned by the New York-based accounting firm Ernst & Young expired last month. DSLExtreme officials would not comment. Kenneth Kerrigan, a spokesman for Ernst & Young said there’s little the company can do now after the registration for the site lapsed. Kerrigan said Verisign Inc., which handled the registration for the site, sent letters of the expiration to an employee who had left the company, thus allowing the registration to lapse, Kerrigan said. “There was a lot of confusion and we just didn’t know what was happening,” he said. Ernst & Young’s corporate Web site directed parents to the Moneyopolis site until last month when customers notified them that the site was now a porn Web site. Semiconductors Get Smaller Westlake Village-based Diodes Inc. will begin distributing its smallest components yet, with its new SOT-523 line of semiconductor and related components. The new line of so-called “subminiature devices,” which are really small, are meant to meet the increasingly compact requirements of battery-operated PDAs, notebooks and cell phones. The new devices are scheduled for launch by year’s end. Mark King, vice president of sales and marketing, said the new products are 40 percent smaller than predecessors. “With the ever increasing focus on miniaturization in the hand-held market, space and power constraints are becoming more critical,” he said. The company plans to issue additional subminiature products, including diode and transistor arrays in a multi-pin package. Software Would Eliminate Live Operators Chatsworth-based US Dataworks Inc., a unit of SonicPort Inc., says it has completed testing on new voice-recognition unit that could eliminate the need for live operators at calling centers. John Cooper, SonicPort’s president and CEO, said the unit will allow small and large businesses the opportunity to operate call centers that would remain open and process product orders 24 hours a day. “(By) eliminating just one $9 per hour employee from each of three daily eight hour shits could mean a savings in excess of $100,000 a year,” Cooper said. As part of the testing, American Billing and Collections Inc. successfully processed 3,000 transactions valued at $100,000. Cooper said the software application allows it to recognize individual voices and allow for the processing of orders. Panavision Demos Equipment It was demo days at Panavision Inc.’s Woodland Hills headquarters last week as company officials showed cinematographers their latest in cameras and related equipment, including the Motorized Slider, a device that allows the mounting of a camera just two inches from the surface. The device, the company says, is particularly good for moving shots such as those from cars or dollies mounted on tracks. Staff reporter Carlos Martinez can be reached at (818) 676-1750 ext. 17 or by e-mail at [email protected]