Thursday, August 6, 2009


Symwave Gets $4M Investment
Laguna Niguel-based Symwave, a developer of USB semiconductors, has received a $4M investment from a strategic partner, SMSC. According to SMSC, it is in a strategic relationship with Symwave to accelerate its delivery of USB 3.0 products, and will invest $4M in Symwave, with a committment of an additional $1.3M in needed, and the right to acquire Symwave under certain conditions. As part of the funding, SMSC is adding a representative, President and CEO Christine King, to Symwave's board. SMSC (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009 (More)(Full story)

ARTISTdirect Drops SEC Reporting, Public Listing
Santa Monica-based ARTISTdirect said this week that it is suspending reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and will no longer be filing financial reports for the firm. The move will remove the firm's stock from the OTC Bulletin Board, where the firm has been since it was delisted from the NASDAQ in 2003, when its shares and value fell below NASDAQ standards. According to ARTISTdirect, the move comes because it felt it could eliminate "substantial expenses" associated with its repo (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

Savings.com Taps Calacanis For Board
Santa Monica-based online coupon site Savings.com has tapped Jason Calacanis, founder of Mahalo and Internet celebrity, for its board of directors, the firm said Thursday. Savings.com provides coupons and coupon deals to Internet users, and is venture backed by U.S. Venture Partners, as well as unnamed Southern California angel investors. Calacanis is CEO and founder of Mahalo, a human-powered search engine also based in Santa Monica; Calacanis had his big win at Weblogs, which was acquired by A (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

United Online's Dialup Drying Up, But Profits Up
Woodland Hills-based United Online move to diversify away from its dial-up business appears to paying off, at least in profits, as the firm reported late Wednesday that it had $68.5M in income on $260.8M in revenues. In its quarterly results, the firm continued to see a slide in the firm's dial up business, down to $54.1M for Q2, down 17% from Q2 last year. United Online operates NetZero and other, dial-up Internet access services. More than 57% of United Online's revenues are now coming from fl (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

SpaceX Boosts EELV Efforts
Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight operation run by Elon Musk, reported today that it has named Marv Vander Weg to Vice President of its EELV Customer Office, which appears to be a new office targeted at the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. government's EELV (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) program. The EELV program is an effort to replace the USAF's legacy rockets with newer technology. Vander Weg joins from the United Launch Alliance (ULA), where he was also a VP at the firm's Cu (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

V Vehicles: New Investors Include Google Ventures
Stealthy San Diego alternative energy vehicle firm V Vehicles, which just raised $62.25M in a funding round, apparently has added Google Ventures as an investor in the company. V-Vehicles--which counts Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and T. Boone Pickens as backers--disclosed in a regulatory filing that David Drummond--Google's Senior Vice President for Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer--is now on the board of directors. Google's involvement was first spotted by Xconomy, which sai (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Buys Remaining Rights To Compound
Irvine-based Spectrum Pharmaceuticals has acquired the remaining rights to RenaZorb, the firm's nanotechnology compound being used for treating hyperphosphatemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. The firm said it is paying $750,000 in restricted common stock for the rights to owner Altair Nanotechnologies. Spectrum had acquired a worldwide license to the compound in 2005.
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

Deja Vu In Twitter Patent Filing
The patent lawsuit filed Wednesday, against popular micro-blogging site Twitter by a Texas company, TechRadium, has echoes of a lawsuit spawned by the acquisition of Sherman Oaks-based NTI Group last year. TechRadium is accusing Twitter of violating three patents related to instant messaging and notification, related to TechRadium's emergency notification services. The lawsuit looks very similar to a lawsuit filed against Blackboard, the firm which acquired NTI Group last year for $182M in cash. (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

FlipGloss Ties With Variety
Santa Monica-based FlipGloss Media, a developer of visually driven, photo-centric web technology aimed at the fashion and news industry, announced today that it has launched a new web site for entertainment news provider Variety. According to FlipGloss, it is powering photo features on Variety's Emmy Central destination site, which will allow users to flip through images from the Emmy's, including information on shows, actors, and more. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. FlipGloss is (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

D2 Technologies Promotes Execs, Creates Business Units
Santa Barbara-based D2 Technologies, a developer of IP communications software for the embedded market, said this morning that it has promoted two of its executives and created two new business units. The firm said it has promoted Doug Makishima to Chief Operating Officer of the firm heading up a new Mobile and Personal Communications Business, and promoted Paul Wu to Vice President of a new Fixed Access Business Unit. Makisima has been at D2 since 2006, serving as VP of Marketing and Sales, and (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)

Interview with Gus Ezcurra, Advanced Telemetry
Last month, San Diego-based Advanced Telemetry (www.advancedtelemetry.com) announced that the company had scored a Series B round of funding from clean technology investor Quercus Trust and 21Ventures, for the firm's energy monitoring solutions. We recently talked with the firm's CEO and co-founder, Gus Ezcurra, to learn more about the company and what part of the energy monitoring market the company is focusing on. Describe how your energy monitoring systems work, what's special about them? (More info...)
posted on Thursday, August 6, 2009(Full story)