Friday, June 4, 2010ViaSat Buys Encryption Firm Stonewood GroupCarlsbad-based ViaSat, a developer of wireless communications and satellite products, said Friday that it has acquired London-based Stonewood Group Limited, a developer of encryption products. The deal was worth $20M in cash and stock. ViaSat said that Stonewood's products are used to encrypt data on hard drives, so that lost or stolen laptops do not result in the loss of classified information or intellectual property. ViaSat said the buy would enable it to offer secure storage at the edge of i (More info...)
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Clicker: Run, Don't Walk To Get Unlimited AT&T Plan For VideoLos Angeles-based Clicker, the online video guide site run by former Ask.com CEO Jim Lanzone, and backed by JAFCO Ventures, Benchmark, and Redpoint Ventures, has run the numbers on AT&T's new bandwidth plans, and has one conclusion: if you're going to buy an iPad 3G, buy it before the end of the weekend with an unlimited data plan, before AT&T eliminates the plan. The firm ran the data numbers for AT&T's new, bandwidth limited plans, and found that AT&T's 200Mb plan allows only 20 minutes of bas (More info...)
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GotCast Powers SuicideGirls CastingLos Angeles-based GotCast, the online casting site run by Alec Shankman and backed by entrepreneur Will Schroter, said this week that it powered the online casting efforts for a new television show for web site SuicideGirls. GotCast said the casting resulted in thousands of new registrations for the site, and nearly 100,000 votes cast. Financial impact of the casting effort was not disclosed. GotCast allows anyone to upload their information to cast for television, movie, and other casting calls (More info...)
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Walmart Gets Stake In Green DotMonrovia, California-based Green Dot, the provider of prepaid debit cards run by Steve Streit, reported in an updated S-1 filing with the SEC this week that it has issued 2,208,552 shares of its Class A stock to Walmart, as part of a renewed distribution deal with the retail giant signed in May. According to Green Dot, Walmart currently represents 63 percent of the firm's revenues. Green Dot also updated its quarterly numbers, saying that it had net income of $12.8M on operating revenues of $92. (More info...)
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SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 From Cape CanaveralHawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket firm headed by Elon Musk, has seen a successful launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral this morning. The spacecraft--which is being designed to deliver payloads to the International Space Station and to orbit--took off from Cape Canaveral at 11:45am Pacific Time, after a delay due to a "out-of-limit startup parameter" at its earlier 8:00am launch time. As of 11:54am PST the vehicle had reached earth orbit.
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AeroVironment In Electric Car Charging Station DealMonrovia, California-based AeroVironment, which develops both electric car charging infrastructure as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, has scored a major win in South Carolina this week. Plug In Carolina, a nonprofit supported by South Carolina Electric & Gas Co., Duke Energy, Santee Cooper and Lockhart Power, said this week that it has selected AeroVironment to supply, install, and support a network of electric vehicle "re-fueling" stations throughout South Carolina. Financial details of the w (More info...)
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GM Gets Into Venture CapitalGeneral Motors announced Friday morning that it has entered into the venture capital industry, and created its own transportation venture capital arm called General Motors Ventures, LLC. GM said the new unit will help it to "pursue innovative technology" and would also be a path to establish partnership with other venture capital companies. GM said General Motors Ventures will focus on identifying and developing innovative technologies in the automotive/transportation sector, and will be headed (More info...)
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SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Set For TodayHawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket firm headed by Elon Musk, is set for its first test launch attempt of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle this morning, at 8am Pacific. The launch--out of Cape Canaveral--is being webcast on SpaceX's website. SpaceX said that it has a 40 percent chance of "no go" conditions due to weather this morning, due to thunderstorm conditions, and that it has an alternate test launch date set for Saturday, as well if needed. SpaceX is developing commercial rockets to (More info...)
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Burstly Adds SoftBank, Founder CollectiveLos Angeles-based Burstly, the mobile ad management firm run by Evan Rifkin, said this week that it has added SoftBank Capital and Founder Collective to its Series A funding round. Size of the additional investment was not disclosed. Burstly recently announced a $1.8M investment from Rincon Venture Partners and GRP Partners. Rifkin was the founder of TagWorld/Flux, which he sold to MTVN in 2008. Burstly is developing a free ad management platform for the mobile phone market, and specifically the (More info...)
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SANYO, UCSD In Research DealSANYO Electric Group, which has its North American headquarters in San Diego, and the University of California, San Diego, said yesterday that they are in a research collaboration agreement focused on renewable energy. SANYO said it it will invest up to $3M over three years for energy-related projects at UCSD, and that the firm and UCSD will collaborate on multi-year, multi-disciplinary projects in the areas of renewable energy and energy storage development. SANYO said the investment is the fir (More info...)
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Jacobs Engineering Buys IT ProviderPasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group announced today that it is in a definitive agreement to acquire information technology firm TechTeam Government Solutions, Inc.. The deal is worth $59.0M in cash. TechTeam Government Solutions is a subsidiary of TechTeam Global, and provides services to federal, state, and local government agencies. Jacobs said TechTeam Government Solutions (TTGSI) has 500 employees. Jacobs is a provider of tehnical, professionals, and construction services.
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Ixia Wins StokeCalabasas-based Ixia, a developer of network testing software and hardware, said earlier this week that it has been selected by Stoke, Inc. for a mobile broadband testing effort. Ixia said that Stoke is using its IxNetwork and Ixia hardware to test its Stoke Session Exchange mobile broadband gateway device, and to specifically demonstrate high volume processing of Generic Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) traffic. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. Stoke's hardware (More info...)
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VMIX Targets iPadSan Diego-based VMIX, a provider of online video publishing tools, said yesterday that it is releasing a new, open source demo application which will enable developers to create Apple iPad video applications. The firm said it hopes the open source app will let developers build out custom video iPad applications quickly. VMIX also said it plans to launch similar software development kits for the iPhone, Google Android, and other mobile devices. VMIX provides its video management software to such (More info...)
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Semtech Names CIOCamarillo-based Semtech, a manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, said Thursday that it has named Jonathan Hahn as Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Technology. Hahn joins the firm from Telmar Network Technology, where he also was CIo. Hahn has also served at Nexgenix, EDS, E. Solutions Consulting, Cerplex Inc. and TRW. Hahn reports to Semtech President and Ceo Mohan Maheswaran.
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