Wednesday, June 16, 2010Worlize Gets Funding For Social GamingLos Angeles-based Worlize, a new startup focused on social gaming and chat, said Wednesday that it has scored initial angel funding for the firm, and opened up a private beta. The firm said it is developing a user-created, social gaming and chat platform for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and OpenSocial. Financial terms of the funding were not disclosed. Worlize's founding team includes CEO Brian McKelvey, who has served at Paramount, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate and Live Nation, and CFO Greg Diller, w (More info...)
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Goleta High School Students Win X Prize ContestStudents from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta have won a trip to Detroit, after scoring the top prize in a student contest which is part of Playa Vista-based X Prize Foundation's Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program. According to the X Prize Foundation, EDV Technologies from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta was the Grand Prize winner for the DASH+ student contest, which asked students to design the "dashboard of the future" for automakers. Those students--Jake Moghtader, (More info...)
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Demand Media Taps Joost For Pre-Roll AdsSanta Monica-based Demand Media, the online content publishing empire of Richard Rosenblatt, has tapped Joost--now owned by Adconian--for its pre-roll advertising inventory. According to Joost, it is in a global sales and technology partnership where Demand Media will power pre-roll ads on eHow.com, Cracked.com, Mania.com, and other Demand Media sites. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed. Joost is now Adconian's business for providing in-banner and in-stream video advertising (More info...)
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Interview with Kevin Kent, Inspired InstrumentsLast week, Irvine-based Inspired Instruments (www.yourockguitar.com) announced a round of funding, saying that it has developed an electronic guitar which combines the game controller functionality for popular videogames like Rock Band and Guitar Hero with actual musical functionality. To hear about how the firm is hoping to change the music industry, and bridge between the world of video games and music, we spoke with CEO and co-founder Kevin Kent.
Can you describe what your instrument is all (More info...)
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CPMs Highest For Newspapers, Sports SitesDisplay ad numbers released today from Internet analysis firm comScore shows that CPMs for Internet publishers were highest for newspapers, and lowest for social networking sites. According to comScore, in April 2010 the CPMs for display ad impressions were $6.99 for newspaper sites, and $6.29 for sports sites. Among the lowest CPMs are social networking sites, which garnered only an $0.56 CPM, as well as email, with a CPM of $0.94. Other high CPM earners are general news sites, at $6.14 CPM, an (More info...)
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Pervasive Finds $6.0MSan Diego-based Pervasive, a stealth-mode firm which says it is working on systems-on-a-chip, power line communications (PLC) products for the smart grid industry, has raised $6.0M, according to a recent regulatory filing by the firm. No details on the funding have been announced by the company. Pervasive is headed by Reza Mirkhani, who was formerly at Entropic Communications.
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Machinima.com Raises $9M for Entertainment ContentLos Angeles-based Machinima.com, an online entertainment site focused on video gamers, has raised $9M in a investment from Redpoint Ventures, the firm said this week. The firm said the Series B funding round will go towards accelerating further growth at the company. As part of the investment, Geoff Yang of Redpoint will join the firm's board. Machinima's other board members include Lowermybills founder Matt Coffin and Joi Ito; the firm previously raised capital from MK Capital Partners.
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Eucalyptus Adds Windows VM SupportSanta Barbara-based Eucalyptus Systems, which develops open source, cloud management software, said today that it has launched the latest version of its Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition (EE) software with support for Windows virtual machines. The firm--which is a spinout of UC Santa Barbara--said the new software allows users to include applications and workloads running on the Windows operating system into its Eucalyptus private cloud. The software now supports Windows Server 2003, 2008, and Windo (More info...)
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Dot Hill Accelerates Carlsbad ClosureStorage provider Dot Hill Systems, which manufactures RAID storage arrays, reported late Tuesday evening that it is accelerating its closure of its Carlsbad, California operations. The firm said it has implemented a "restructuring and cost reduction" plan which will result in severance costs of between $300,000 and $500,000 and facility reduction costs of between $200,00 and $350,000, related to its closure of its Carlsbad facility. Exact number of employees affected by the move were not disclos (More info...)
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Teledyne Technologies Buys Intelek plcThousand Oaks-bsaed Teledyne Technologies said late Tuesady evening that it is acquiring Swindon, United Kingdom-based INtelek plc, a firm which designs and manufactures electronics systems for satellite and microwave communications. The deal is worth approximately $52.0M. Intelek has divisions manufacturing satellite modems, transceivers, power amplifiers and other equipment, another developing microwave circuits and components, and a CML division manufacturing machined and composite aerostruct (More info...)
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GreenWave Reality Gets $11MIrvine-based GreenWave Reality, a firm developing a home energy management platform, has raised $11M in an equity funding round, according to the firm today. The funding came from Craton Equity Partners, which contributed $5M to the funding, along with the Singapore Economic Development Board and other, un-named strategic investors. GreenWave Reality is developing an energy management platform which allows consumers to monitor and control their energy consumption, which combines energy monitorin (More info...)
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LEHR Licenses Products To FiskarsLos Angeles-based LEHR, the maker of propane-fueled, eco-friendly lawn and garden tools, announced Tuesday evening that it has licensed its low-emission propane power technology to multinational Fiskars. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to LEHR, which is headed by Captain Bernardo J. Herzer, Fiskars will launch a new line of propane powered lawn and garden equipment powered by LEHR's technology. LEHR currently has a lawn trimmer, blower, and lawn mower that use propane i (More info...)
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