Wednesday, March 3, 2010


Hollywood Scores Win Over RealNetworks RealDVD
A group of Hollywood studios has scored a win over RealNetworks today, as the firm settled a lawsuit which targeted a DVD copying and ripping service called RealDVD, which RealNetworks was attempting to launch into the market. According to RealNetworks, it is entirely dropping the service, and will pay $4.5M in costs and fees associated with the litigation, after agreeing to settle the dispute over its software. Six major Hollywood movie studios, Viacom, and the DVD Copy Control Association had (More info...)
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Edmunds.com Dangles One Million For Acceleration Answer
Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com said this week that the firm intends to award one million dollars, to researchers who can address and determine what the cause of the sudden unexpected acceleration in Toyota and other vehicles. The firm said it is currently drafting rules for the prize, modeling the effort after "open source" software models. Edmunds.com said it would challenge participants to demonstrate, in a controlled environment, a repeatable factor to cause an unmodified, new vehicle to acce (More info...)
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Internet Brands Buys Tjoos.com
Los Angeles-based Internet Brands said Wednesday it has acquired Tjoos.com, an online coupon web site. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Internet Brands said that Tjoos.com would join the firm's shopping vertical. Tjoos had over 1 million unique visitors in February 2010, according to Internet Brands.
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Kyocera To Manufacture Solar Modules In San Diego
Kyocera Solar, a manufacturer of solar modules, said today that it is planning to begin manufacturing solar modules in San Diego, to serve the U.S. market. The firm said it is looking to produce 1,000 megawatts of solar cells per year by March 2013 from the location. Kyocera Solar is the Arizona-based photovoltaic arm of Japanese firm Kyocera Corporation. Kyocera already maintains its North American businesses from San Diego. Kyocera said that the manufacturing will begin in the first half of 20 (More info...)
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GotCast Launches Effort For Streamy Award, HollyScoop
Los Angeles-based GotCast.com, the online casting site run by Alec Shankman, said today that it has launched two talent searches for on-camera roles, for The Streamy Award, and HollyScoop, a syndicated TV show and site focused on celebrites, music, and fashion news. GotCast allows users to submit their profiles, photos, and information in hopes of getting casted for entertainment positions. The new guaranteed roles are for a red carpet host for The Streamy Awards, and a host for Hollyscoop's TV (More info...)
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WD Ships New SSD Line
Lake Forest-based disk drive maker WD said today that it has shipped a new line of high performance, 2.5-inch solid state disk drives (SSDs). The firm said the nw WD SiliconDrive N1x is targeted at embedded system OEMs, and feature capacities of up to 128 gigabytes. The firm is targeting the automotive and transportation, data center, communications infrastructure, video surveillance and industrial automation markets with the new disk drive, which uses the SATA 3.0 interface and feature a five y (More info...)
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BlackLine Reports Strong Growth
Calabasas-based BlackLine Systems, a developer of account reconciliation and financial close software, is claiming that it saw a strong Q4 and a 50 percent increase in its annual revenues over the prior year, despite a difficult economy in 2009. The privately held firm, which is headed by Therese Tucker, said the increases came on top of two, previous years where it was able to double its revenues. No actual financials were given by the firm. BlackLine said it signed such companies as Unified Gr (More info...)
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Hydra Rolls Out Campaign Tracking Software
Beverly Hills-based Hydra, which operates an online, cost-per-acquisition (CPA) advertising network, said today that it has officially debuted its new campaign tracking software for its advertisers. The firm said the new software, HN 2.0, will offer its advertisers increased compliance and fraud protection, better analytics, and a more powerful user interface. Hydra's HN 2.0 product has been in beta for the last three weeks. The new software is a part of the firm's push to increase the quality (More info...)
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La Jolla Pharmaceutical Dropped From Nasdaq
San Diego-based La Jolla Pharmaceuticals, the failed biopharmaceuticals firm which was previously developing treating lupus renal disease, reported today that it has received notification from the Nasdaq that it will be delisted from the market as of Thursday. The Nasdaq denied the company's request for continued listing on the market, and determined that the company is now a "public shell" due to its nominal assets and operations. La Jolla Pharmaceuticals said it will be quoted on the Pink OTC (More info...)
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Perfect Market Confirms $6M Fundraising
Altadena-based Perfect Market, which is developing technology to help publishers monetize their long tail content, confirmed today that it has raised $6M in a Series C funding round. The firm said the round was led by Tribune Company, and also included Trinity Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners, and Idealab. According to Perfect Market, the new funding will go to market and deploy its solutions. Perfect Market said that the Tribune Company has been using its product on a number of its web properti (More info...)
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SharesPost Rolls Out Private Company Index
Santa Monica-based SharesPost, the marketplace for private companies headed by Greg Brogger, has cooked up a new index of private companies, the firm said today. SharesPost said its index will track the performance of "blue chip" venture backed, pre-IPO companies such as Facebook, Linden Lab, LinkedIn, Tesla Motors, Serious Materials, Twitter, and Zynga. The firm said the SharesPost Index will reflect real-time, market input into the value of those firms. SharePost said the index will be availab (More info...)
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X1 Upgrades Email, Desktop Search Software
Pasadena-based X1 Technologies, the developer of desktop search software run by Idealab, announced today that it has upgraded its software. The firm said that its newest version of its X1 Professional Client includes such features as removable disk support, RSS and Atom feeds, double byte language support, better Lotus Notes support, as well as performance and stability improvements. X1's software is used to index and search enterprise desktops. The new software is Version 6.7 of the X1 Professi (More info...)
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Conexant In Refinancing Plan
Newport Beach-based semiconductor maker Conexant Systems reported this morning that it is in a "comprehensive" refinancing plan, which it says will improve its balance sheet and address liquidity needs. The firm said the effort includes $175M in new, 11.25 percent senior secured notes due in 2015, and a new offering of 14 million shares of its common stock. The proceeds will go to retire its convertible debt. The firm said it has also sold 25 acres of property adjacent to its Newport Beach headq (More info...)
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Acacia Buys 49 Storage Patents
Newport Beach-based Acacia Research, which aggressively acquires and licenses patents, said today that it has acquired two patent portfolios, made up of 24 U.S. patents, 7 U.S. patent applications, and 18 foreign patents, from a "major" technology company. The firm said the patents cover storage networks and disk array systems. Name of the firm it acquired the patents from was not disclosed, however, Acacia said the patents cover storage area network (SAN) architecture, data storage, and monitor (More info...)
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Activision Creates New Call of Duty Business Unit
Santa Monica-based Activision Publishing said Tuesday afternoon that it is creating a new, dedicated business unit around its Call of Duty franchise. According to the company, the new unit will be headed by Philip Earl, who currently runs Activision's Asia Pacific region. The firm also said that it is tapping a new game studio, Sledgehammer Games, headed by Glen A. Schofield and Michael Condrey, to extend the Call of Duty franchise. In related news, the firm confirmed that Infinity Ward, the cur (More info...)
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