Tuesday, December 15, 2009RealD Part of AVATAR PremiereLos Angeles-based RealD said Tuesday afternoon that the firm is powering the U.S. premiere of James Cameron's AVATAR, at the Grauman Chinese Theatre. The firm, which develops 3D movie projection technology, said the premiere will be the first time 3D has been displayed in the theater. The theater recently installed RealD's XL Cinema System. The U.S. premiere is set for Wednesday. RealD said its equipment, which is used in conjunction with digital movie projection hardware to add 3D film support, (More info...)
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ViaSat Completes WildBlue BuyCarlsbad-based ViaSat, a developer of satellite and wireless communications systems, said Tuesday afternoon that it has completed its acquisition of WildBlue Communications. ViaSat had said it would buy WildBlue in October, in a deal worth $568M in cash and stock. ViaSat said that it will use the buy for accelerated growth and expansion. The firm said it will use the launch of the firm's ViaSat-1 satellite, scheduled to launch in early 2011, to expand WildBlue's broadband service.
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MyShape's Wannier Shifts To Executive ChairmanGlendale-based MyShape, the personalized online shopping site for women's apparel, said Tuesday that CEO Louise Wannier has become Executive Chairman of the Board, and that it has appointed Mercedes De Luca as President. De Luca was previously the firm's Chief Information Officer and Customer Experience Officer. The firm said that the new role will allow Wannier to focus full time on strategic partnerships and developing new opportunities for the firm. De Luca was previously VP and Chief informa (More info...)
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Paramount Opens Online Movie Clip Licensing SiteLos Angeles-based Paramount Digital Entertainment said Tuesday that it has launched a new site, ParamountClips.com, which will offer B2B licensing of clips from the studio's films. According to the studio, the new site will allow users to search for clips by actor, location, or dialogue. The site was developed for Paramount by Digitalsmiths, a North Carolina startup. Pricing on the clips was not announced, and the site's registration form indicates that only people with a Paramount sponsor and c (More info...)
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MySpace Launches Developer ChallengeLos Angeles-based social networking site is looking to court developers with the launch of a development contest, the MySpace Developer Challenge, the firm said recently. The site said the challenge will award $50,000 between winners submitting MySpace applications, which use the firm's Real-Time Stream API, Open Search API, Photo Upload API, or which integrate the service on the Apple iPhone. Judges on the contest include Mike Jones, COO of MySpace; angel investor Ron Conway; Google's David Gla (More info...)
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RFaxis Reports Multi-Million Dollar OrderIrvine-based semiconductor startup RFaxis, which is developing RF front-end integrated circuits for the wireless market, reports this morning that it has received what it says is its first, multi-million dollar purchase order. The firm said the order came from electronic distributor EDOM Technology, based in Asia. Exact size of the win was not disclosed. RFaxis said it is seeing high volume orders from EDOM for its Zigbee and WLAN RF ICs. RFaxis devleops BiCMOS-based semiconductors used for wire (More info...)
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Sorenson Media Promotes Sismondo, Looks to HireSan Diego-based Sorenson Media, a developer of Internet video compression and decompression software, said today that it has promoted Charles Sismondo to Vice President of Engineering. Sismondo has been at the company for just over a year, the firm said, and has previously served at Hewlett Packard, MP3.com, and EyeSpot. As part of the announcement, Sorenson Media said it is looking to hire more engineering, marketing, and sales personnel. The extent of the hiring effort was not disclosed by the (More info...)
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Demand Media Sued By Mania.com's FounderSanta Monica-based Demand Media has been sued by Chip Meyers, the founder of Mania.com, according to a report today from paidContent.org. paidContent said that Meyers is looking for at least $6.2M from Demand, over Demand Media' acquisition of his site in 2007.
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Amgen Licenses Rights For Diabetes DrugThousand Oaks-based Amgen and Colorado-based Array BioPharma announced Monday evening that Amgen is licensing the exclusive worldwide rights to Array's compounds for treating Type 2 diabetes, in a deal worth $60M plus additional contingent payments. The license covers rights to Array's small-molecule glucokinase activator program, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials.
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iQstor Names European ResellerNewbury Park-based iQstor Networks, a developer of virtual storage systems and storage arrays, said today that it has signed SJ-Solutions as an exclusive reseller for the firm in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. SJ-Solutions is based in Leusden, the Netherlands, and is a storage integrator focused on storage virtualization, backup, and archiving. As part of the deal, iQstor said that SJ-Solutions will set up a product demonstration and support center for the firm in the region.
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Integrien Names Strategy VPIrvine-based Integrien, a developer of analytics software for IT operations, announced this morning that it has appointed Ian Dodd as the firm's Vice President of Strategy and Business Development. The firm, which is backed by Clearstone Ventures, Acartha Group, and the Tech Coast Angels, said that Dodd joins the firm from IBM, where he was ran Global Operations and Enterprise Automation supporting Kaiser Permanente. Dodd has also served at United Health Group.
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SharesPost Expands Research InformationSanta Monica-based SharesPost, which operates a secondary marketplace for privately held company shares, is expanding the amount of third party research on its market. According to the firm, it has added Blueshift Research and Liquid Scenarios as providers of private company research and data to its subscribers. SharesPost's site features in-depth analysis of privately held firms such as Facebook, Twitter, Tesla Motors, eHarmony, and other popular privately held firms. The firm also features res (More info...)
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Broadcom Completes Dune Networks BuyIrvine-based Broadcom has completed its acquisition of Dune Networks, a developer of switching fabric chips for the data center networking market, the firm said Monday afternoon. The deal, which was originally announced on November 30th, was worth $178M in cash. Broadcom said it expects the acquisition of Dune Newtorks will be neutral to slightly accretive to earnings per share in 2010. Dune was based in Sunnyvale, with additional operations in Israel.
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