Tuesday, September 26, 2006Intel, DIRECTV Team On Viiv Set Top BoxIntel said today at the Intel Developer Forum that it will work with El Segundo-based DIRECTV to develop a Viiv-based digital set top box. Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said Tuesday during the keynote at IDF that DIRECTV's new DIRECTV Plus HD DVR will be based on Intel's Viiv integrated digital media adapter technology. DIRECTV's HD DVR receiver will provide recording of up to 200 hours of standard definition content and 50 hours of MPEG 4 HD programming.
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Acquicor Buys Jazz Semiconductor For $260MNewport Beach-based Acquicor Technology and Jazz Semiconductor said today that the two will merge. The transaction, which is worth $260M in cash, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007. Jazz Semiconductor will merge with a wholly owned subsidiary of Acquicor. The firm is a semiconductor foundry that focuses on CMOS technology for analog and mixed-signal chips. Jazz Semiconductor is a joint venture of The Carlyle Group and Conexant Systems, and is a spinoff of Conexant. Acquicor is th (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 26, 2006(Full story)
Techbooks Buys Whitmont Legal TechnologiesVirginia-based Techbooks has acquired Los Angeles-based Whitmont Legal Technologies, a provider of litigation support and eDiscovery services. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Whitmont provides outsource services and content management to legal firms. Techbooks is a provider of services to digitize documents and capture content in an electronic form.
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Interview with Seth Alsbury, Founder of PanjeaII recently bumped into Seth Alsbury, Founder of Panjea (www.panjea.com), an online social network. Panjea has gotten some attention for its service, particularly the company's music and video content. There are quite a few companies in the social networking space, so I asked Seth to describe to me what the difference is between Panjea and everyone else, and to tell me a bit about the background of himself and the team.
Ben Kuo: What is Panjea?
Seth Alsbury: Panjea's mission is to unite a (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 26, 2006(Full story)
NGEN Closes New FundSanta Barbara-based NGEN Partners has closed a $180M venture capital fund. NGEN said late yesterday that the new fund was over-subscribed, and included both new and returning investors. NGEN invests in clean and sustainable technologies in the material science area. According to NGEN, the firm has already made several investments from the new fund, including SolFocus, Solaria, and Hycrete. The fund is a significant increase from the fund's prior fund, which was around $70M. NGEN said that becaus (More info...)
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CinemaNow Adds Day and Date to DVDMarina Del Rey-based CinemaNow announced this morning that it will offer Day and Date burning of "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" today for DVD burning, on the same day that the movie is released nationwide in retail stores. The DVD will be available for $9.99. The deal is the first time a major studio has released a DVD both in retail stores and for purchase online, instead of waiting what has typically been six weeks or more before online release. Universal Studios said that the move wa (More info...)
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Userplane Connects Dogster, CatsterLos Angeles-based Userplane has scored another win for its instant messaging and audio/video chat tools, and has signed up-and-coming social networking sites Dogster and Catster. The two sister pet destinations have rolled out Userplane's instant messaging tools, and have been running them since August. Userplane's tools provide both instant messaging and presence information to users. Userplane was acquired by AOL in August.
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Tanner Research Releases Consumer Calendaring ToolMonrovia-based Tanner Research has launched a new consumer focused, calendar tool, ClearSync. The firm announced today that ClearSync 1.0 provides group clanedaring and synchronizatino of contact lists and calendars on both PCs and Palm handhelds. The new software, which Tanner originally acquired by PalmSource, competes against online shared calendar services like Google and Yahoo Calendars, but does not require a shared common server for synchronization. The new software provides synchronized, (More info...)
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AdECN Extends Into ChinaSanta Barbara-based AdECN, an online exchange for display advertising, said today that it has signed a deal to provide its technology platform to a Hong Kong firm. The deal calls for FUHU Ltd. to use AdECN¹s automated auction exchange platform to sell and serve ads on its inventory.
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MusicIP Lands RipfactoryMonrovia-based MusicIP, a provider of music search engine technology, said Monday that Ripfactory will incorporate the company's functions to build out its digital music offerings. Ripfactory is a European provider of CD digitizing services. According to MusicIP, Ripfactory will use its software development kits to add playlist generation, music analysis, and other features into custom applications. MusicIP provides technology that analyzes music to select music that a user might enjoy, based on (More info...)
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NComputing Launches Shared PC TechnologyOrange-based NComputing has officially launched the firm's shared computing product and network computing product at the DEMOfall conference in San Diego. The company develops a system for serving up multiple PCs. The company's system, which includes both hardware and software, is targeted at allowing customers such as schools and Internet cafes to provide full PC functionality without requiring dedicated personal computers. The company also is aiming at developing countries with its devices.
posted on Tuesday, September 26, 2006(Full story)