Monday, May 17, 2010Virgin Galactic Snags NASA Chief of Staff As CEOVirgin Galactic, the commercial spaceflight firm developing vehicles for delivering tourists into space, said Monday that it has appointed George T. Whitesides -- former Chief of Staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as its CEO. Whitesides also has served at the FAA, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Blastoff Corporation, and Zero Gravity Corporation. Whitesides was previously a senior advisor to Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic is developing a space vehicle based on Spa (More info...)
posted on Monday, May 17, 2010(Full story)
MySpace To Simplify User Privacy SettingsLos Angeles based social networking site MySpace said Monday afternoon that it will be simplifying its user privacy settings, as the public debate over privacy in social networking has heated up. According to MySpace co-president Mike Jones, the firm is planning the launch of a simplified privacy setting for user profiles, allowing users to control whether they want their information to be public, available only to friends, or only public to people 18 and over. Jones also said that MySpace will (More info...)
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Mojix Names Services VPLos Angeles-based Mojix, which develops RFID technology based on research out of JPL/NASA, said Monday afternoon that the firm has named Samuel Levy as Sr. Vice President, Global Professional Services. Levy was most recently at Zebra Enterprise Solutions, as Vice President of Global Sales Engineering. Levy has also served at PinPoint Corporation. Mojix is venture backed by Oak Investment Partners, Red Rock Ventures and InnoCal Venture Capital. The firm's technology is applying techniques origina (More info...)
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Mixed Signals Acquired By TektronixEl Segundo-based Mixed Signals, a developer of digital content monitoring products for the cable and satellite television, broadcast, and IPTV market, has been acquired by test equipment giant Tektronix. Tektronix announced the acquisition Monday morning, but did not disclose any financial details of the buy. Mixed Signals was venture funded by Maverick Capital, Palomar Ventures, and RRE, and was headed by Eric Conley, and was founded in 1997. Tektronix said that the acquisition would give it a (More info...)
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Solarflare Raises $20.14MIrvine-based Solarflare, a developer of 10 Gigabit Ethernet semiconductors, has just raised $20.14M more in venture funding, according to a regulatory filing from the firm today. According to the filing, the new funding came from a total of three investors, and is part of an ongoing $23.6M funding round. It's unclear which three of the firm's investors participated so far in this funding, however, Oak Investment Partners Bandel Carano is listed as a continuing board member at the firm. Solarflar (More info...)
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MP3tunes Eyes Lala UsersSan Diego-based MP3tunes, the streaming music startup run by former MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, is eyeing former users of streaming music site Lala.com, which said earlier this month that it is shutting down its services. Lala, which was acquired by Apple in December, told its users at the end of April that it would be shutting down its service on May 31st. Michael Robertson, in his personal blog, told Lala users earlier this month that MP3tunes would offer its music locker service for 10 (More info...)
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SOA Software Wins State of CaliforniaLos Angeles-based SOA Software, which develops service oriented architecture (SOA) management software, reported today that it has signed on the State of California Department of Water Resources (DWR) as a customer. SOA said that the win came in conjunction with Red Hat Enterprise Services, and will be used as part of an IT modernization project at the DWR. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. SOA said that the DWR is using its products alongside Red Hat's JBoss Enterprise Middleware s (More info...)
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Vision Solutions Buys Double-Take SoftwareIrvine-based Vision Solutions, a provider of high availability and recovery software is acquiring Double-Take Software, in a deal worth $242M. According to Double Take this morning, Vision Solutions--which is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo--will pay $10.55 in cash for each share of its common stock. Double-Take develops high availability and continuous protection software used to ensure uptime of corporate computer systems and applications. Double-Take said it was being advised by BofA (More info...)
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uSamp Hires CTOEncino-based uSamp, the online survey and paneling firm run by Matt Dusig and Gregg Lavin, reported today that it has hired Steven Sobolevsky as the firm's Chief Technology Officer. Sobolevsky was most recently VP at Technology at RazorGator Intractive. Sobolevsky also has previously served at TicketOS and Outreach Express. uSamp said that Sobolevsky grew RazorGator's team from five to 70 members in three years.
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Netlist, Texas Instruments Settle LawsuitIrvine-based Netlist, a manufacturer of server and high speed communications memory subsystems, said today that it has reached a settlement with Texas Instruments. Netlist had sued Texas Instruments for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract. Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed.
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iRise Connects Into SAPEl Segundo-based iRise, a developer of software visualization and simulation products, announced today that it has shipped a new product which is specifically designed for SAP. The firm said iRise for SAP Solutions v2.0 helps business analysts to visualize their SAP projects. iRise's product allows business analysts to prototype their applications without having to program any software, before embarking on an application development project. iRise is backed by Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and (More info...)
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Halozyme Warns Baxter On Manufacturing IssuesSan Diego-based Halozyme Therapeutics said over the weekend that it has delivered notice to Baxter Healthcare, that Baxter is in breach due to failure to provide its HYLENEX (hyaluronidase human injection) product per the firm's development and supply contracts. Halozyme said the move came after Baxter told the firm that certain materials product by Baxter for the firm did not meet requirements of agreements between the firm. Halozyme Therapeutics said that if Baxter is not able to fix the issue (More info...)
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Axceleon Wins Malaysia CustomerHungtington Beach-based Axceleon, a developer of software used to manage cloud computing, said today that its EnFuzion3D software has been selected by MDeC Malaysia. The firm said the software will be used to manage a 128 node IBM BladeCenter rendering farm. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is an agency of the Malaysian government.
posted on Monday, May 17, 2010(Full story)