Tuesday, February 19, 2008


Toshiba Kills HD DVD
Toshiba Corporation said Tuesday that it has decided that it will no longer develop, manufacture, or market HD DVD players and recorders. The announcement by the firm follows a high profile loss at Warner Bros. in January, where the studio said it would no longer distribute its movies in HD DVD format; as well as a high profile loss at Netflix earlier this month, where the movie rental business said it would carry rival Blu Ray Disk format instead. The loss is also a major one for Microsoft, whi (More info...)
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Venture Farm, Frontera Link Investment Efforts
Irvine-based Venture Farm and venture firm Frontera Group said Tuesday that the two firms are in a strategic alliance. Venture Farm and Frontera Group said that the two groups will co-invest in emerging companies that fit the Venture Farm model. Venture Farm is an early stage, seed investment fund headed by angel investor Sid Mohasseb, which is looking to invest in companies falling into the gap between angel and venture capital investors. The group is specifically focused on providing operation (More info...)
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Disney Creates New Virtual Worlds Unit
North Hollywood-based Disney Online said Tuesday that it has created a new team focused on building, operating, and publishing online games, virtual worlds, and online social communities. The new Disney unit, which is part of Walt Disney Internet Group, will be called Disney Online Studios. The new studio will be headed by Steve Parkis. According to Disney, the new online studios group will include Disney Online's Virtual Reality Studio, which runs Toontown Online and Pirates of the Caribbean On (More info...)
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Interview with Anderson Schoenrock, ScanDigital
Our interview today is with Anderson Schoenrock, Co-founder of ScanDigital (www.scandigital.com), a Los Angeles startup which takes and scans photos and slides for consumers and turns them into digital files. Anderson spoke with socalTECH's Ben Kuo and his company. Tell me a bit about ScanDigital, and what your service offers to consumers? Anderson Schoenrock: We've created an innovative service to help people take their old photos, slides, negatives, and photo albums, and convert them to (More info...)
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THQ Ties Into Zoo Tycoon Developer
Agoura Hills-based games firm THQ and "Zoo Tycoon" developer Blue Fang Games said today that the two companies have entered into a development agreement for a new videogame property. Name and details of the new title were not announced, however THQ and Blue Fang said that the new software will run on Nintendo Wii and DS systems, and Windows PC platforms. The new title is expected to be released in 2010. Blue Fang Games is best known for its Zoo Tycoon title. Financial details of the deal were no (More info...)
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Quest Software Completes PassGo Technology Buy, Inks Partnership
Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software said today that it has completes its previously announced deal for PassGo Technologies, and also inked a partnership with Evidian. Financial terms of the acquisition of PassGo Technologies were not disclosed; Quest had said in December that it was buying PassGo for its web access management, password management, and other products. Quest also said that it has signed a distribution agreement with Evidian for its universal enterprise single-sign on product. Evidian (More info...)
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EA Mobile Rolls Mobile Tetris
Los Angeles-based EA Mobile, the division of EA which was formerly JAMDAT, announced the availability of a new mobile version of Tetris to its lineup. The firm said that Tetris Blockout is the latest addition to its Tetris franchise. The new game adds a 3-D twist to the popular Tetris game. The title is the fourth mobile game based on the Tetris theme available from EA Mobile. JAMDAT was acquired by EA in December of 2005, and became EA Mobile.
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Epicor Names New CEO
Irvine-based Epicor Software, which develops enterprise software for the enterprise resource planning and supply chain management sector, said Tuesday that Thomas Kelly has been named the firm's President and CEO. Kelly succeeds George Klaus, who has become Executive Chairman of the firm. Kelly has been on the board of Epicor since January of 2000, and was most recently Chairman and CEO of MontaVista Software; Kelly also served as Entrepreneur in Residence for Trident Capital and Morgan Stanley (More info...)
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