Wednesday, October 25, 2006


Eyespot Raises $3.7M
San Diego-based Eyespot has closed a Series A round of funding. The firm said Wednesday that the funding came from Gabriel Venture Partners, Express Ventures, and executives from MP3.com and DivX. Eyespot is developing online video editing and video mashup applications in the Web 2.0 space. Tim Chang of Gabriel Venture Partners is joining the company's board as part of the investment. Eyespot previously received a seed round of funding from MP3.com's Michael Robertson.
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Highlights From Forbes MEET: Diller and Eisner, YouTube's Chad Hurley
The Forbes MEET Forum kicked off Tuesday in Beverly Hills, as a select group of movers and shakers gathered to discuss the future of the media and entertainment at the intersection of technology. The event was kicked off with an interview of Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, who was interviewed by Michael Eisner, former CEO and Chairman of The Walt Disney Company. Diller covered topics ranging from his opinion on old media versus new media, media aggregation, to net neutrali (More info...)
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Vanguard Voice Raises $3M
Rancho Santa Margarita-based Vanguard Voice Systems has raised $3M in a Series A round, the firm said yesterday afternoon. The funding came from Berkshire Ventures. Vanguard said that the round will be used to extend its commercial customer base, expand its research and development, and establish a local Washington DC presence to target the government marketplace. Vanguard is developing software for speech enabling software applications.
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Cadence Pharmaceuticals Prices IPO
San Diego-based Cadence Pharmaceuticals has priced the firm's IPO, saying that it will offer 6,00,000 shares of common stock at $9 per share. Cadence develops pharmaceuticals for hospitals, including candidates for the treatment of acute pain and catheter-related infections. The firm will list on the NASDAQ under the symbol CADX. The IPO is being underwritten by Merrill Lynch & Co., Deutsche Bank Securities, Pacific Growth Equities, and JMP Securities. The firm is backed by BB Biotech Ventures, (More info...)
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Quartics Launches Digital Media Chip
Irvine-based Quartics, the semiconductor firm headed by Safi Quereshey, said today that it has launched its digital content chips. The firm's PC2TV chips provide wireless connectivity for sending video and audio via wireless networks. Quartics has developed a media processing system for connecting televisions via Wi-Fi networks to a personal computer, and it targeted at the digital living room. The firm said that its products are being incorporated into OEM products for introduction in coming mo (More info...)
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CinemaNow Adds Liongate Day And Date Releases
Marina Del Rey-based CinemaNow announced this morning that it has inked a deal with Lionsgate, the independent entertainment studio, to allow for download and burn to DVD on the same day as DVD release in stores. CinemaNow said that it will begin offering titles this week as Day-and-Date releases, starting with the title An American Haunting. The deal also calls for select titles from Lionsgate to be added to its DVD burn program, including Reservoir Dogs and National Lampoon's Van Wilder. Cinem (More info...)
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Fox Pushes Blu-ray
Century City-based Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is bolstering its lineup of Blu-ray Disc releases, saying today that it has five new Blu-ray titles set for release in December. Titles include From Hell; Flight of the Phoenix; Rising Sun; The Devil Wears Prada; and Transporter 2. All titles will retail for $39.98.
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Diodes Buys APD Semiconductor
Westlake Village-based Diodes Incorporated said Tuesday that it has acquired APD Semiconductor, a fabless semiconductor company. The asset deal is worth approximately $8M. Diodes said that APD has forecasted revenues of approximately $2.0M for 2006. Redwood City-based APD develops discrete semiconductors used for applications such as power supplies, digital audio, and other products. Diodes is a developer of discrete analog power management devices and other products.
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Amgen Completes Avidia Acquisition
Thousand Oaks-based Amgen has completed its acquisition of Mountain View-based Avidia, the firm said Tuesday afternoon. The previously announced acquisition was worth $290M. Avidia's lead product candidate is an inhibitor of interleukin 6, targeted at the treatment of inflammation and autoimmune diseases.
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5Square Names President
Westlake Village-based 5Square, a provider of sales software for the automotive industry, said Tuesday that it has named Skip Kinford as President. Kinford joins the firm from On-Line Administrators, a provider of data management for the automotive industry. Kinford has also served at NMB Technologies. The firm also appointed Ged Mackey as Senior Vice President of Products. Mackey was most recently VP of Product Development at Access360.
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