Wednesday, October 22, 2008Mahalo Cuts StaffSanta Monica-based Mahalo, the search and news site run by Jason Calacanis, has cut 10 percent of the firm's staff, Calacanis said in a post on his blog Wednesday. Calacanis said that the moves were due to a "challenging economic environment." According to Calacanis, the firm is "fairly certain" that advertising for the next two years will be "severely depressed." The cuts will give the company runway past 2012. Mahalo is venture backed by Burda Digital Ventures, CBS, News Corp., and Sequoia Cap (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008(Full story)
Luxtera Gets Major Win With Sun Microsystems, DARPACarlsbad-based Luxtera, a venture-backed developer of CMOS photonic components, said Tuesday that the firm has scored a multi-million dollar contract with Sun Microsystems. The firm said the win, part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Ultraperformance Nanophotonic Intrachip Communications (UNIC) program, calls for Luxtera's technology and silicon fabrication processes to be used to develop next-generation optical interconnects. Exact financial terms of the contract we (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008(Full story)
Advanced Modern Technologies Gets InvestmentLos Angeles-based Advanced Modern Technologies (AMTC), a manufacturer and distributor of automatic washroom fixtures, said Tuesday that it has received an equity investment from a private investment group. Amount of the funding was not disclosed. According to the company, the group includes George Patrick Murphy, former President and CEO of Technical Concepts, who will join the firm's board of directors and serve as an advisor to the firm. AMTC's products are targeted at the commercial, institut (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (More)(Full story)
Reflexive Entertainment Acquired By Amazon.comLake Forest-based Reflexive Entertainment, a developer of computer games, has been acquired by Amazon.com, the firm's CEO, Lars Brubaker, has announced. Financial terms of the deal was not disclosed. Reflexive was founded in 1997 and develops games for the Mac, PC, and other platforms. No other details of the acquisition were announced.
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008(Full story)
Xirrus Deploys In HawaiiThousand Oaks-based Xirrus, a manufacturer of Wi-Fi networking equipment, said Wednesday that the firm's Wi-Fi arrays have been deployed at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. Xirrus said that the firm's 802.11abg+n products are replacing switched Ethernet to the desktop at the mountain-top facility. The W.M. Keck Observatory is located at 13,796 feet on the top of the Mauna Kea volcano, and is used for astronomy.
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008(Full story)
Panache Gets Win With PointRollLos Angeles-based Panache, a provider of ad-insertion technology for video publishers, has scored a win with Gannett's PointRoll, the firm said yesterday. According to Panache, PointRoll will use Panache's video insertion technology for its existing publishing clients. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. Panache offers ad insertion technology, including pre-roll, overlays, rich-media, along with other formats.
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008(Full story)
Interview with Raph Koster, MetaplaceToday, San Diego-based Metaplace (www.metaplace.com), which develops virtual world software, is announcing a funding round from Charles River Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, and high profile investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. We spoke with Raph Koster, the firm's CEO and founder, about the site and the new investment round. Metaplace was formerly known as Areae.
First off, for folks who aren't familiar with Metaplace, what do you do?
Raph Koster: Metaplace is creating an end user p (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008(Full story)
Metaplace Gets $6.7M For Virtual WorldsSan Diego-based Metaplace said this morning that it has raised $6.7M in a financing round for the firm's virtual worlds platform. According to the firm, which was formerly known as Areae, the round came from Charles River Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, as well as individual investors Marc Andreesseen and Ben Horowitz. The funding round brings the company's total raised to $9.4M. Metaplace operates a service which allows users to create their own virtual worlds, which they can embed on their own w (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (More)(Full story)