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Orlando-based Escapology has a bright outlook for its Dark Knight plans. The company — alongside L3DFX, a fabrication firm —  plans to install Batman-based escape rooms in 30 locations in 2025.

The companies detailed their plans for the exclusive Batman: The Dark Knight Challenge during the IAAPA Expo at Orange County Convention Center.

“I love the ability, especially with IP [intellectual property], to be able to put people in the story, and know that we’re walking away with that experience, and it’s our goal to, obviously, make sure that it’s impactful and they want to come back,” said Paul Ciesiun, president of L3DFX, which is based outside Chicago.

In the game, players assume the role of trainees for Batman’s Gotham City Guardian Training Program, and they have 60 minutes to think like the Dark Knight and pass the first test.

“There’s a lot of great technology in the game, lots of surprises,” said Burton Hess, Escapology’s CEO.

His company develops the story, visuals, design and puzzles, all of which go through approval processes with Warner Bros., which owns DC Comics. read more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writer

DirecTV is calling off its planned acquisition of rival Dish after the offer was rejected by bond holders at that company.

The deal was reliant on Dish bond holders agreeing to trade in the debt they held for debt in the new company, a swap that would have cost them about $1.6 billion, collectively.

The retreat by DirecTV this week may end a years-long effort by the company to acquire both Dish and Sling after it announced the bid in September.

DirecTV was looking to acquire Dish TV and Sling TV from its owner EchoStar in a debt exchange transaction that included a payment of $1, plus the assumption of approximately $9.8 billion in debt. The deal was contingent on several factors, including regulatory approvals and bondholders writing off debt related to Dish.

“While we believed a combination of DirecTV and Dish would have benefited all stakeholders, we have terminated the transaction because the proposed exchange terms were necessary to protect DirecTV’s balance sheet and our operational flexibility,” DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said in a statement. read more

Winter Park power couple Marc and Sharon Hagle returned to space on a short suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on Friday.

The duo first flew to space on New Shepard back in 2022, the fourth-ever flight of the space tourism rocket. For flight No. 2, they joined four new crewmates on the NS-28 mission that lifted off from Blue Origin’s West Texas launch site at 10:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. CST).

This was ninth human spaceflight since the first in 2021 that took up company founder Jeff Bezos. The trips last a little longer than 10 minutes, but takes passengers up past the Karman line — about 62 miles high — the internationally recognized altitude for someone having gone into space.

Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness before making a parachute-assisted landing just a few miles from the launch site.

Also flying on NS-28 were science communicator Emily Calandrelli; financial services exec Austin Litteral; entrepreneur James Russell; and investment banking CEO Henry Wolfond. read more

Blue Origin continued to prep for the maiden flight of its massive New Glenn rocket as it went vertical on the launch pad Thursday ahead of an upcoming hot fire test needed before a launch attempt that is targeting before the end of the year.

“Up we go! The steel launch table that New Glenn sits on weighs 1.7 million pounds (roughly 726 metric tons), including the clamps that connect to the vehicle’s aft ring,” the company posted on social media after the rocket was lifted into a vertical position at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 36.

The integrated first and second stage of the rocket were mated earlier this month and made the trip from the integration facility to the pad overnight Wednesday.

Gone vertical. pic.twitter.com/pDn29X5itN

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) November 22, 2024

“Another step towards launch,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp wrote on X. “The transport and lift operation relies on our Transporter Erector or TE, a structure that’s almost 300 feet long and 50 feet wide and weighs more than 4 million pounds.” read more

A homebuilder recently submitted plans to the city of Apopka for a subdivision of uniquely hurricane-hardy modular houses that can withstand 175 mph winds.

The plans, from Texas-based Onx Homes, went before the Apopka Development Review Committee on Wednesday, according to GrowthSpotter. The homebuilder wants to build 54 single-family, detached homes at 4101 Golden Gem Rd. on the south side of the Wyld Oaks master-planned community. While the location is attractive, Onx’s homebuilding technology and process that can deliver a solidly built home in as little as 30 days is also alluring.

Onx uses a patented technology called X+ Construction. The process starts in one of the builder’s multiple factories in Texas and Florida, including a recently opened 150,000-square-foot factory in Pompano Beach. All of the home elements and materials are built in these facilities, including kitchen and bathroom “pods” that are ready to be installed in the house as-is upon arrival.

The Lego-like pieces are then delivered to the construction site, where a streamlined process allows Onx to assemble an entire home much quicker than the average construction process of eight months. read more