Tuesday, July 18, 2006VC Funds Raise $11.2B in Second QuarterThomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) are reporting that private equity fundraising hit new heights in the second quarter of 2006, with fifty venture capital funds raising a total of $11.2 billion in the second quarter. In numbers reported Monday, Thomson and the NVCA said that the amount raised was the highest level since the first quarter of 2001. In addition, they reported that buyout and mezzanine funds raised $30.8 billion. The biggest VC funds raised were Oa (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006(Full story)
MySpace Targets Comedy CommunitySocial networking web site MySpace.com is courting the comedy community, in a new initiative to target the comedy world. MySpace said today that it has launched a portal, MySpace Comedy, designed to let comedians engage with fans and share their talent. The popular web site has partnered with The Improv to provide comedy programming material for the site. The new comedy focus is a natural extension of the site's existing music and film promotion efforts, where MySpace provides content and tie-in (More info...)
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THQ Opens New Games UnitAgoura Hills-based THQ, a games developer and publisher, has organized a new development team in Carlsbad. THQ said that Incinerator Games will be based in Carlsbad, and will focus on development of titles for next generation consoles. The games unit is currently working on console versions of Disney's Cars for Xbox 360. THQ said that the team is made up from developers of Twisted Metal, NFL GameDay and MLB 2006: The Show projects from Sony's 989 studios, as well as the Midnight Club from Rockst (More info...)
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Iomega Doubles REV CapacitySan Diego-based Iomega, a provider of data storage products, said today that it has doubled the capacity of the company's flagship REV removable storage drives. Iomega said that the drives now support 70GB, in USB 2.0 and internal ATAPI interfaces. The new drive doubles the company's existing 35GB capacity, and are backward compatible with the first generation REV technology disks. Iomega said that the new higher capacity drive and disks are targeted for server backup applications, and are bundl (More info...)
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Streamload Opens API, Targets Amazon S3San Diego-based Streamload, a provider of online digital media storage services, announced today that it has opened up a new Web Service API to allow developers to tap into its storage services. Streamload's new Web Services, Storage and Processing Services (SPS) and Streamload Platform application programming interface (API) allow developers to use Streamload's platform to store content programmatically. The firm said that developers can use their service to offer customers the capability to sh (More info...)
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Boodle Launches Web SiteSan Diego-based Boodle, a provider of printable, online grocery coupons, has officially launched its web site. The firm said today that it has launched its grocery shopping saving site, www.boodle.com. The new web site targets grocery shopers with printable coupons and other content. The online coupon site has existing deals with local newspapers to offer coupons for consumer goods, and its coupon printing services are currently available at over 500 newspaper Web sites. Boodle, which is operate (More info...)
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CrystalVoice Gets Firewall Traversal PatentSanta Barbara-based CrystalVoice, a provider of voice over IP software, said today it has received a patent on the firm's method of transversing firewalls. The patent, number 6,978,383, is entitled "Null-packet transmission from inside a firewall to open a communication window for an outside transmitter". The patent was granted to Steven C. Boyle and Debra C. Kirchoff, and was actually granted in December of 2005. CrystalVoice originally filed the patent in July of 2001. CrystalVoice said that t (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, July 18, 2006(Full story)