Monday, June 4, 2007


Agilysys Buys InfoGenesis For $90M
Boca Raton, Florida-based Agilysys, Inc. said Monday that it is in a definitive agreement to acquire Santa Barbara-based InfoGenesis for $90M. InfoGenesis is a provider of point-of-sale (POS) software used by the hospitality industry to manage their operations. According to Agilysys, the purchase is expected to close in mid-to-late June. The firm said that InfoGenesis had revenues of approximately $42M for the trailing 12 months ended March 31, 2007. InfoGenesis employs 170. InfoGenesis was owne (More info...)
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Amp'd Mobile Files For Bankruptcy
In a spectacular flameout, Los Angeles-based Amp'd Mobile has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying Friday that it has been unable to keep up with customer demand due to rapid growth. The firm said that the bankruptcy was a "necessary and responsible action to sustain and strengthen our momentum in the market place." Amp'd Mobile said that it expects to continue normal business operations through the bankruptcy. According to a statement released by the firm, it is working with one of Amp'd Mob (More info...)
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Interview with Dinesh Bhatia, Fix8
As more and more users have begun creating their own personal home pages, blogs, and profiles on social networking web sites, a robust demand for personalization of those pages has spawned dozens of companies, focused on creating interesting web widgets and accessories. Among those companies is Sherman Oaks-based Fix8 (www.fix8.com), which recently released a software package that allows users with a webcam to create a real-time, animated avatar which can be posted to a web page. The firm's soft (More info...)
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Brash Entertainment Raises $400M For Video Game Firm
Hollywood-based Brash Entertainment said this morning that it has raised $400M to start a new video game company focused on creating titles around new movie releases. The firm said that the funding was led by ABRY Partners LLC, and also included New York Life Capital Partners III, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, and PPM America Private Equity Fund. The company said it will focus solely on the creation of high-quality games based on "tent-pole" movie releases, television, and music properties (More info...)
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Websense Clears Hart-Scott-Rodino Review
San Diego-based Websense said today its acquisition of SurfControl has cleared the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antiturst Improvements Act. Hart-Scott-Rodino is the major review barrier for firms under anti-trust laws in the U.S. Websense said it was acquiring Surfcontrol PLC in a $400M deal in late April; the companies are still awaiting regulatory clearance from the U.K. for the deal. Websense said that it expects the transaction to close four months following final regulatory ap (More info...)
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Yahoo! Opens Search Marketing API
Yahoo! said today that it has opened up an API to its new "Panama" search marketing application interface. Yahoo said that the new application programming interface (API) will allow ad agencies, technology partners, and others to integrate and build on the firm's search marketing offering. Access to the programming interface is free. API access will be given to partners in three different levels, including basic free access; an advanced access program which also includes account management and s (More info...)
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FastSoft Scores Win In Hollywood
Monrovia-based FastSoft, a firm developing technology for accelerating the delivery of data over the Internet, announced today that it has been selected by Hollywood-based Post Group for a video download application. FastSoft said that Post Group will use its Aria product to accelerate transmission of large videos to partners, suppliers, and customers. Financial details of the win were not released. Post Group is a provider of post-production for film productions. FastSoft is a startup commercia (More info...)
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Newport Media Samples DVB Chip
Lake Forest-based Newport Media has begun sampling a mobile digital TV receiver chip to its customers, the firm announced today. Newport Media said that the chip is the world's first DVB-H system-on-a-chip (SOC). DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasing - Handheld) is the standard governing transmission of digital video signals over cellular networks. The firm's NM1310 chip is now available to customers in sameple devices; the company said that it will commence volume production in the third quarter of (More info...)
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WD Ships 750 GB Hard Drive
Lake Forest-based Western Digital has shipped a new, whopping 750GB hard drive targeted at desktop computers, the firm said Monday. Western Digital said that its new 750GB drive boasts a 3 Gb/s transfer rate, 16 MB cache, and support for native command queuing (NCQ), a technique used to accelerate access to data. The new Caviar SE16 hard drive taps Western Digital's perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology for the high density, and is available for $249 from the firm and its distributor (More info...)
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Broadcom Rolls HD Video Cards
Irvine-based Braodcom announced three new add-in cards targeted at high definition video playback today. The developer of semiconductor products said that the three new PCI Express, PCI Express mini-card, and ExpressCard products, as well as a chipset targeted at PC motherboards, provides playback of either Blu-Ray Disc or HD DVD content on PCs. The low-power media chips provide video playback of VC-1, H.264 and MPEG-2 HD encoded video. Broadcom is targeting offloading of HD video decoding from (More info...)
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ThisNext Raises Round Of Venture Debt
Santa Monica-based ThisNext, an online shopping discovery and community web site, has raised a round of venture debt, the firm told socalTECH Friday. The firm's CEO, Gordon Gould, said that ThisNext raised a round from Western Technology Inc., which will go towards giving the firm runway extension prior to the company's Series B funding in the fall. Gould said that the funding should give the firm a strong position and help boosts the firm's valuation in advance of its venture capital efforts. T (More info...)
posted on Monday, June 4, 2007(Full story)