Wednesday, March 24, 2010Report: Redpoint's Martin Leaving FirmGreg Martin, the partner heading up Redpoint Ventures' Los Angeles office, has reportedly left the firm, according to a report from the Private Equity Insider. Martin is no longer listed on Redpoint's web site, was not listed in its latest fundraising documents, and declined to comment on the story. Martin had actually disappeared from Redpoint's site in February, when Redpoint announced it had closed its $400M, Redpoint IV early stage venture capital firm. Martin had led Redpoint's investment i (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
Total Immersion Targets Markerless TrackingLos Angeles-based augmented reality firm Total Immersion, which is headed by Bruno Uzzan, is looking to extend itself into the markerless tracking area, the firm said this week at CTIA. Total Immersion, which powers "augmented reality" software which can use real-life video to trigger interactive software, said it is previewing its first commercial application using markerless tracking--on a Google Android mobile phone--at the show. Total Immersion's technology has been powering promotional cont (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
mobileStorm Employee Takes Bait, Gets Company TattooLos Angeles-based mobileStorm, the online and mobile marketing firm headed by Jared Reitzin, has gotten its first taker on an offer by Reitzin to pay $1000 to any employee that gets a permanent tattoo of the firm's logo. Reitzin--who launched the effort last week after revealing his own, company tattoo--said that Roxanne Brown, a Customer Satisfaction Rep at the firm, had the company's blue tornado tattooed on the inside of her wrist. mobileStorm's effort--an attempt to spur company spirit--rank (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
UCLA Anderson Forecast: Bipolar Economy Through 2011In a new report released today by the UCLA Anderson Forecast released a report today saying that the economy is in a "bipolar" condition, where the economy is growing, but where unemployment continues to stay in the double digits. The forecasting effort said it is seeing slow-but-sure growth in the national gross domestic product, but predicts an unemployment rate to remain in double digits until 2012. David Shulman, Senior Economist at the UCLA Anderson Forecast, suggests in the report that the (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
AltaSens Rolls Out 1080p CMOS SensorWestlake Village-based AltaSens, a developer of HD CMOS image sensors, announced Tuesday that the firm has rolled out a new, 1/3-inch, 1080p60 HD sensor. AltaSens said the sensor provides very wide dynamic range, 100db, to support very low-light sensing at up to 60 frames per second. The firm's sensors are used in broadcast/professional video equipment, camcorders, videoconferencing, telepresence, medical, and other markets. The company said it tapped hardware IP cores from Apical Limited for it (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
KidZui Gets $4MSan Diego-based Kidzui, which develops a kid-friendly web browsers, has raised $4M in a funding, according to reports. The round was led by new investor Mission Ventures, and also included prior backers First Round Capital, Emergence Capital Partners and Maveron.
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Verimatrix Settles Patent SuitSan Diego-based Verimatrix, a developer of digital rights management (DRM) software for the set top box market, reported Tuesday that it has settled a patent dispute with competitor Widevine Technologies. The firm said that the settlement covers litigation pending in the Eastern District of Texas, covering two Widevine patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 7,165,175 and 7,376,831. According to Verimatrix, Widevine has granted Verimatrix a license to the two patents and foreign counterparts, and that the fir (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
ExpenseBay Updates SoftwareSanta Monica-based ExpenseBay, the online expense report management software firm run by Eric Sikola, told its users today that it has added a number of new features to its service. According to ExpenseBay, the firm has added integration with Freshbooks; ability to approve or reject expense reports within the software; support for foreign currency; a new reporting engine; as well as a new native Salesforce.com AppExchange application and updated iPhone app.
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
PacketVideo Powers AT&T Mobile Music ServiceSan Diego-based PacketVideo announced today that the firm is powering AT&T's new mobile music service, which was launched today by AT&T. AT&T's Music service allows users to listen to personal radio stations, download, and buy full songs and albums from their mobile phones, and also identify tunes, search for lyrics, and save music to their phones. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. PacketVideo is owned by NextWave Wireless.
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
Make It Work Launches Daily VideoSanta Barbara-based Make It Work, the in-home neighborhood computer support firm run by Eric David Greenspan, is expanding its media empire with a new, daily technology video effort. According to Greenspan, the firm has tied with local Santa Barbara community news site Noozhawk, to publish daily videos on consumer technology. The firm said it will publish its "T-3" videos every day on current technology trends. Make It Work has built out its computer support business in part built on two radio s (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
ABetterStay.com Adds Ratings, ReviewsPasadena-based ABetterStay.com, the consumer-facing alternative lodging site run by LeisureLink, announced today that it has launched a new "Ratings and Review" section on the site. ABetterStay.com said it will allow users to share their experiences and opinions on the properties listed on the site, on a five star ratings basis. ABetterStay.com lists vacation rentals, condos, resorts, timeshares, bed and breakfasts, and other properties.
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
Xavient Names CFOSimi Valley-based Xavient Information Systems, a provider of IT and engineering services, announced today that it has hired Tim Lutz as the firm's new Chief Financial Officer. Xavient was most recently at publicly held Convergys Corporation, where he was also CFO. Lutz had been at Xavient for the last ten years. Lutz has also previously served at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Xavient Information Systems serves wireless, cable and satellite service providers, and employes over 1800 in the U.S. and Indi (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
Break Media Ties With BlueKai, exelateLos Angeles-based Break Media, which operates a number of Internet media and entertainment properties focused on men, said late Tuesday evening that it has partnered with BlueKai and exelate, two firms providing online advertising data. Break said that the partnerships will provide it advertisers with ad targeting and optimization capabilities. BlueKai is a provider of Internet advertising targeting and data, and exelate is a provider of behavioral targeting data. Break specifically said the par (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
Interview with Brandon Hance, AudiolifeVan Nuys-based Audiolife (www.audiolife.com), a new startup focused on providing e-commerce tools to musicians, recently raised $1M in angel funding. For today's interview, we spoke with Brandon Hance, the firm's founder, about how his startup is helping musicians to sell both digital and physical merchandise on the web.
What's the idea behind Audiolife?
Brandon Hance: In today's modern music industry, it's become a requisite for success to have a strong, online fan base. From entry level (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)
MaxLinear Prices IPOCarlsbad-based RF semiconductor maker MaxLinear priced its IPO Tuesday evening, saying that it will offer 6,444,100 shares of its Class A common stock at $14.00 per share. The pricing was above the initial pricing range given by the firm earlier this month of $11 to $13 per share. MaxLinear said the firm's shares will begin trading on the NYSE today as MXL. MaxLinear's IPO was underwritten by Morgan Stanley & Co., Deutsche Bank Securities, USB Securities LLC, Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, and Need (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2010(Full story)