Monday, November 3, 2008Spot Runner Lays Off 115Los Angeles-based Spot Runner has laid off 115 employees, as part of a new strategic plan, a spokeperson for the firm confirmed Monday. According to Spot Runner, the 115 represents about 30 percent of the company. A spokeperson for the firm told socalTECH that the change was due to an "unprecedented change in the economic environment." Spot Runner provides online services that help place television advertising, and is venture backed by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), Grupo Televisa, Legg Ma (More info...)
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SpaceX Rolls Out Space VehicleHawthorne-based Space eXploration Technologies (SpaceX), the rocket firm backed by Elon Musk, said Monday that the firm has introduced a new, reusable spacecraft as part of its set of products. SpaceX said the new product is aimed at providing a platform for in-space experimentation, both in a pressurized and unpressurized environment. The firm said the new spacecraft is designed to launch on its Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The new product is aimed at providing cargo service to the International Sp (More info...)
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mobileStorm Snags Engineering Director From MySpaceLos Angeles-based mobileStorm has bolstered its engineering resources, saying today that it has named David Pedowitz as the firm's new Director of Engineering and Principal Architect. mobileStorm, which provides mobile and email marketing services, said that Pedowitz will be responsible for developmentof the firm's next generation platforms. Pedowitz joins the firm from Fox Interactive Media, where he headed up re-architecture and re-engineering of the MySpace MyAds platform. Pedowitz also has s (More info...)
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VoxOx Takes On CommunicationsSan Diego-based TelCentris said Monday that it has launched a new consumer service, VoxOx, which unifies voice, video, IM, text, email, and fax in a single user interface. according to the firm, it is looking to create a "Skype Killer" with its free service, which just launched into public beta. Among features of the service are an aggregated address book; free phone number; voicemail; two-way texting; fax support and fax-to-email, and connections to major instant messaging networks and social n (More info...)
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Reunion.com Merges With Social Search Engine WinkLos Angeles-based Reunion.com has merged with people search engine Wink, the two said this morning, to create a new online people search site. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed. According to the firms, they will create what they call the "most comprehensive" online platform for people looking to find each other on the Web. The firms are planning to roll out a new brand and Web site next year. Mountain View-based Wink -- which was backed by Cambrian Ventures and Greylock Partners - (More info...)
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Perfect Market Acquires MediaRiverPasadena-based Perfect Market, which is developing technology to help publishers monetize their archive content, said Monday that it has acquired technology from Mediariver, which can be used to match content and advertising to any web page. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Perfect Market said that the entire MediaRiver team, including its founder and CTO, have joined the company. MediaRiver CTO Dr. Jay Budzik will become CTO at Perfect Market. Perfect Market is venture bac (More info...)
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MySpace Inks Ad Deal With Auditude, MTV NetworksLos Angeles-based social networking site and online video advertising firm Auditude announced this morning that the two companies have partnered with MTV Networks to insert ads into user uploaded videos on MySpace. According to the firms, MySpace is using technology from Auditude to identify professional videos and insert video advertising. Specifically, Auditude's technology looks at user uploaded videos and automatically identifies the original content owner of those videos. The technology the (More info...)
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WD Rolls Media PlayerLake Forest-based WD, a developer of hard disk drive and other storage products, said this morning that it has rolled out a new product which plays digital content on HDTV. WD said its new WD TV Media Player can connect to a TV or home thater, to play HD 1080p video from any USB mass storage device. The new device is designed to be connected to up to two WD's My Passport USB drives, and includes a remote control, photo slideshows, music playback, and both HDMI and RCA outputs. The new device wil (More info...)
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Conexant, Xceive Connect On PCTVNewport Beach-based semiconductor maker Conexant and Xceive,a developer of RF-to-baseband silicon transceivers, have created a new set of reference design for the PCTV market. According to the firms, they have created four reference designs that allow manufacturers to create designs which connect broadcast television to personal computers. The designs include USB and PCI Express designs, and ability to support analog or digital broadcasts, and include specific designs for notebook PCs. Conexant (More info...)
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