Friday, August 20, 2010


Broadcom's Newest: Faster Channel Surfing For Couch Potatoes
Irvine-based semiconductor maker Broadcom's latest product: a technology which the company says speeds up channel surfing by up to five times. According to Broadcom this week, it has rolled out its new FastRTV Channel Change technology on a wide range of its systems-on-a-chip, which are built into set top boxes and other digital television devices. The company explained that its technology, which does not require changes to broadcast technology, minimizes delays and pauses as consumers surf thro (More info...)
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Sonos Slips On iPad Release
Santa Barbara-based Sonos, the developer of the whole-house digital audio systems, said this morning that it has slipped its schedules on its iPad release. The firm, which had said in June that it would ship the product sometime in August, said it is postponing the shipment of its Sonos Controller for iPad app until the end of September. The firm said its iPod version of the product will still work on the iPad. Sonos explained that its mission is to deliver the "highest quality products" that ex (More info...)
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Mindbody Confirms $14M For Health and Wellness Software
San Luis Obispo-based Mindbody Software has confirmed that it has raised $14M in a new funding round for the firm's health and wellness business management software. According to the firm, the new round of funding came from Bessemer Venture Partners and Catalyst Investors, and is made up of an immediate $11M initial tranche, plus an additional $3M option that may be exercised anytime within the next 36 months. Mindbody develops scheduling and business management, software-as-a-service for the we (More info...)
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Overland Sues Firms Over Patents
San Diego-based tape backup and archive storage maker Overland Storage said Friday morning that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against three firms. According to Overland, it has filed suit against BDT AG and BDT-Solutions GmbH, both based in Germany, and BDT Products, Inc., based in Irvine. The firm said the suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. The patents in question are US Patents 6,328,766 and 6,353,581. Overland said it is se (More info...)
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Interview with Patrick Kennedy, Sidebar
For this morning's interview, we thought we'd talk with Los Angeles-based Sidebar (www.sidebar.com), a venture backed startup in the mobile space, to learn more about what they are up to. We caught up with CEO Patrick Kennedy. What is Sidebar all about? Patrick Kennedy: Sidebar is a company that was founded to bring consumers personalized content, focused on mobile delivery of that content. The company was founded in 2007, and the initial emphasis was to deliver to end users a personalized (More info...)
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Mindbody Raises $11M
San Luis Obispo-based MindBody Software, a developer of software for managing yoga, wellness, and spa businesses, has raised nearly $11M in a new funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this morning. According to the filing, the round is part of an ongoing $14.0M fundraising effort. Source of the funding was not announced, however, the firm has previously raised funding from Catalyst Investors, Frontera Capital, the Pasadena Angels, and the Tech Coast Angels. MindBody develop (More info...)
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Insights and Opinions: No One Cares About Your Company Logo
For today's Insights and Opinions section, we've got an article from Joe Moreno, founder of Carlsbad-based photo sharing site Epics3.com. Joe tells us why No One Cares About Your Company Logo. Are you about to test the waters as an entrepreneur? One of the most important first steps is to spend a lot of time, money, and energy designing your logo since that represents your company, right? Wrong! In a recent column that I wrote with Guy Kawasaki on business branding mistakes, we n (More info...)
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VIZIO Claims Double Industry Growth
Irvine-based HDTV maker VIZIO is claiming this week that the firm is growing twice as fast as the rest of the industry, and has been seeing 31 percent quarter-over-quarter sales growth. The firm said that is almost double the industry average of 16 percent growth in the U.S. LCD TV market. VIZIO claimed it outperformed the industry due to its advanced technology product, particularly larger (40 inch plus) televisions and its Internet connected devices. The firm, citing El Segundo-based iSuppli's (More info...)
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ViaSat Gets Stimulus Grant
Carlsbad-based ViaSat, which develops satellite communications products, said this week that its subsidiary, WildBlue Communications, has been awarded $19.5M in grant funding, from the Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service. The funding comes from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. WildBlue said the funding will go to activate new subscribers on its satellite broadband services. ViaSat said the firm co-applied with DIRECTV and DISH on the grant. ViaSat bought WildBlue (More info...)
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