Thursday, April 3, 2008IBM Completes Telelogic BuyIBM Corp. has completed its acquisition of Telelogic, the Swedish software firm which has major operations in Irvine, IBM said Thursday. The deal worth worth approximately $845M. Telelogic develops software used for product development and modeling in the aviation, electronics, automotive, and other industries. IBM originally said it would buy Telelogic in June of 2007. Telelogic will become part of IBM's Rational Software unit. Telelogic has over 1,200 employees worldwide.
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FIX8 Scores $2M For Avatar TechnologyLos Angeles-based FIX8, a developer of software to create custom avatars, said Thursday that it has raised $2M in a Series A financing round. The funding came from SK Telecom. FIX8 said that the round brings the company's total Series A funding to $5M. FIX8 said that the deal came as part of a contract with SK Telecom to develop 3D avatar animation technology. That deal calls for FIX8's animation technology to be used to map a user's facial movements to their online avatar. FIX8 had previously r (More info...)
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MySpace Spins Out Music Joint VentureMySpace said today that it has launched a joint venture, MySpace Music, along with Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Univeral Music Group, and Warner Music. Financial terms of the joint venture were not disclosed. According to the firms, the new effort will combine artist profiles, user home pages, and other features with ad-supported audio and video streaming, ability to purchase music, and sponsorships. The effort also inclusion of a mobile storefront powered by News Corp's Jamba, MP3 downloads, a (More info...)
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Mahalo Loses High Profile Video Blog HostSanta Monica-based Mahalo, the human-powered search engine run by Jason Calacanis, has lost its high profile video blog host, Veronica Belmont. According to Belmont in a message on her blog, she is leaving Mahalo to embark on unnamed other projects. Mahalo--which is venture backed by Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk, News Corp, CBS Corporation, and Burda Media--launched the video blog Mahalo daily back in November of 2007 with great fanfare around Belmont. Belmont was previously at CNET.com, where she (More info...)
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Be Jane Finds New CEOSanta Monica-based Be Jane, a provider of Internet content focused on women's do-it-yourself projects, announced Thursday that it has added Suzanne Horton as the firm's new CEO. Horton was most recently President and CEO of consulting firm Horton Associates, where she was involved with working with Homebuilder.com. Be Jane said that Horton has also served at American Express, on its Internet investment team. Be Jane operates an online web site focused on the female do-it-yourself market, providi (More info...)
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Strix Signs Canadian ResellerCalabasas-based wireless mesh networking hardware provider Strix Systems has signed on a new reseller for the firm's hardware, the company announced Wednesday. Strix said that it has added Ontario-based ReliaClear Canada as a partner to distribute, resell, and deploy Strix systems throughout Canada. Strix develops wireless networking hardware which does not require hardwired connections at every access point, and is being used for muni WiFi and campus networking. According to Strix, ReliaClear i (More info...)
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Leads360 Adds Ojdana To BoardLos Angeles-based Leads360, a developer of lead acquisition management software, said Wednesday that it has added former Experian Interactive executive Ed Ojdana to its board of directors. Ojdana was formerly Group President at Experian, and spearheaded Experian's acquisitions of LowerMyBills and Pricegrabber. Ojdana was also previously founder of ConsumerInfo.com. Ojdana joins Rustic Canyon's John Babcock and the firm's original founders on the board of directors. Leads360's leads management so (More info...)
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