Tuesday, August 17, 2010Topspin Media's Gotcher Gets EmmyPeter Gotcher, the Chairman and co-founder of Santa Monica-based music startup Topspin Media, has scored an Emmy award, for his work in co-founding firm Digidesign. The Philo T. Farnsworth Corporate Achievement Award was given over the weekend to the founders of Digidesign, by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award is presented to honor firms that the Academy says "whose contributions have significantly affected the state of television technology and engineering over a long period (More info...)
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Life Technologies Buys Ion TorrentCarlsbad-based Life Technologies, a developer of DNA sequencing technology, said Tuesday afternoon that it has agreed to buy Ion Torrent in a $375M deal. According to the firm, the cash and stock deal also includes up to $350M in additional consideration based on technical and time-based milestones through 2012. Ion Torrent is a developer of DNA sequencing technology based on chip-based, semiconductor technology. Ion's products are being targeted at benchtop, personal genome sequencing efforts, (More info...)
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Cibus Global Finds $1.1MSan Diego-based Cibus Global, a developer of technology for engineering agricultural crops, has raised $1.16M in funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Tuesday. The funding appears to be part of an ongoing, $2.6M fundraising by the firm. Cibus said it is developing a patent-protected technology which helps develop environmentally friendly crop traits for the agricultural community, which are free from the market resistance and regulatory burdens of introducing foreign genetic mate (More info...)
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Apex Digital Files For Chapter 11Walnut-based Apex Digital, a manufacturer of televisions, Blue-Ray and DVD players, set-top boxes, and other electronics products, said Tuesday afternoon that it has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. According to the firm, it will use the restructuring to grow in a "new direction" focused on green energy lighting. As part of the bankruptcy filing, the firm said it is looking to transfer the trademark "Apex Digital"--which is owned by a third party--to a new licensee, and will provide customer su (More info...)
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Stamps.com, Magento Integrate SoftwareLos Angeles-based Stamps.com and fellow Los Angeles firm Magento announced today that the two firms have integrated their tools, and are in a partnership. According to the companies, users of Magento's e-commerce software can now use Stamps.com to batch print up to 1,000 pre-paid, USPS shipping labels for any mail class. The integration is targeted at helping Magento's e-commerce customers to fulfill orders from their web stores, eBay, PayPal Shops, and other electronic orders. Details of the bu (More info...)
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NTS Extends MoCA Testing DealCalabasas-based National Technical Systems, a provider of engineering and testing services, reported today that it has extended a deal with the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) to be the group's exclusive worldwide testing laboratory for MoCA certification. MoCA covers standards in the home entertainment networking area. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. NTS is handling all of MoCA's certification process.
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BUZZMEDIA Gets Competition From MOGHollywood-based BUZZMEDIA, the venture-backed publisher of music content, information, and community sites, is getting some new competition this week from Berkeley-based MOG. According to MOG, it has launched a new "editorial hub" called the MOG Music network which will showcase content from a network of 1,300 music blog. MOG said it will offer premium brands a "unique targeting platform" for engaging consumers based on musical interests, reaching around 20 million visitors each month. The move (More info...)
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MINDBODY Signs Customers For Booking TechnologySan Luis Obispo-based MINDBODY, a developer of software-as-a-service for the yoga, pilates, wellness, and spa market, said today that wellness businesses are signing up for its MINDBODY Finder product, technology which allows consumers to book and pay for fitness classes and wellness appointments online. According to the firm, partners IDEA Health and Fitness, TeachStreet, RoamingQ, Yogoer, FindYoga.com, Yoga Tampa Bay and Kidzmet are among the customers who will be rolling out the technology th (More info...)
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FastSoft Aims At Web RetailersPasadena-based FastSoft, the Caltech spinout which develops web acceleration software, said today that it has released a version of its products aimed at Internet retailers and web properties. According to the firm, the upgrade includes custom graphs and diagnostics tools aimed at helping network operators optimize for end user experience and troubleshoot problems in their network, and also includes a TCP packet capture tool. FastSoft develops software which optimized the TCP/IP protocol to acce (More info...)
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WebVisible Upgrades Dashboard SoftwareIrvine-based WebVisible announced today that it has upgraded its dashboard for its online advertisers and resellers. According to the firm, its upgraded merchant Center software adds such features as call mapping, which maps where advertisers are getting calls from on an interactive map; call grading to rate calls as strong or weak leads; call blocking to prevent solicitors from calling inbound sales lines; and more. WebVisible, which is headed by Kristin Mangers, provides online advertising ser (More info...)
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Perfect Market Names Bizdev VPAltadena-based Perfect Market, the Idealab firm which is providing tools to help publishers surface and monetize their archive content, said Monday that it has named Guy Vidra as Vice President of Business Development. Vidra was most recently at Washington Post Digital, and also has served at 2ergo Americas and Oddcast. Perfect Market said Vidra will lead the firm's strategic partnership and customer programs. Perfect Market developers software which search engine optimizes content from publishe (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: Returns From Southern California IPOsFor today's Insights and Opinions section, we have the third and final article on Southern California IPOs and returns from Jon Funk. Funk is a venture capitalist who founded OceanRoad Partners and has been a Managing Director with Allegis Capital, where he invested in Sandpiper Networks, Rent.com and Shopzilla. Jon discusses the returns from Southern California IT IPOs between 1995 and 2009.
Previously, we reviewed the performance of southern California technology IPO's from 1995 through (More info...)
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