Monday, October 4, 2010Warner Bros. Names Ballard As VPBurbank-based Warner Bros. said Monday that it has named Thomas Ballard, most recently CEO of Santa Monica-based Transpera, as Senior Vice President of Digital Games. According to Warner, Ballard will head up both its Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment businesses. Warner said that Ballard will oversee business and strategy behind the studio's digital games business worldwide, including heading up Turbine, Inc. Ballard has also served as president and CEO (More info...)
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Chumby Raises $3.0M MoreSan Diego-based Chumby, maker of the alarm-clock sized, Internet device, has raised another $3.0M in funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Monday. According to the filing, the funding came in the form of debt and warrants, most likely a convertible debt round. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. Chumby has previously raised funding from Avalon Ventures, JK&B Capital, Masthead Venture Partners, and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. Chumby's Internet device allows users to run (More info...)
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Q3 Venture Investments For SoCal Total Around $1.0 BillionSouthern California venture totals for Q3 totaled around $1.0 billion in investments, according to the Q3 analysis of venture capital deals by socalTECH.com. According to an analysis of socalTECH's proprietary database of venture capital deals, venture investors invested slightly more than the $966M in Q3 of 2009, but less than the $1.6 billion invested in Q2. Q3 has traditionally been a slower, venture funding quarter in Southern California, due to summer vacations and a slower work schedule f (More info...)
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CanopyHR Gets InvestmentIrvine-based CanopyHR Solutions, a provider of outsourced payroll and human resources services, announced today that it has received a investment from Claritas Capital Fund III, L.P. Amount of the funding was not disclosed. The firm said the financing was an "early stage" equity deal.
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Blizzard Sets World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Release DateIrvine-based Blizzard Entertainment said that its third expansion for World of Warcraft is expected to debut in stores on December 7th. The firm--which has been running a invite-only beta of the expansion pack for World of Warcraft since July--said it will make the release available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Macintosh computers both at retail stores and online as a download. Blizzard said Cataclysm includes "the best content we've ever created for World of Warcraft."
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WebVisible Cuts Staff As Mangers Steps Down, Burr Takes OverIrvine-based WebVisible, which provides online advertising to small and medium sized businesses, has made a major change in its organization today, saying that it has made a fifteen percent reduction in its headcount, and shuffled its CEO. According to WebVisible, NetZero founder Ron Burr--who has been the firm's COO--is taking over as CEO, as founder Kirsten Mangers has stepped down. Mangers remains on the board of directors. According to WebVisible, the cuts come to "realign" the company to fo (More info...)
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Microsemi Buys ActelIrvine-based Microsemi, a developer of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, said this morning that it is buying Actel Corp. in a deal worth $430M. According to Microsemi, it will pay $20.88 per share in cash for Actel. Actel is a supplier of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), serving the military, industrial, communications, and consumer markets. Microsemi said the buy would provide it with "compelling synergies". Microsemi has been on an acquisition roll in the last months, and jus (More info...)
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Qualcomm To Shut FLO TV, Says ReportSan Diego-based Qualcomm is shutting its FLO TV video streaming service, according to report today. According to paidContent, Qualcomm's mobile TV service is shut down by the end of the year, after failing to find a buyer for the business. Qualcomm had said it had issues with the service earlier this year, and had been looking for a buyer or a spinout of the business.
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Interview with Ramit Varma, Revolution PrepLast week, Santa Monica-based Revolution Prep (www.revolutionprep.com) announced its first, institutional round of funding, worth $15M, from Kennet Partners. The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. The firm was bootstrapped several years ago, and is profitable, and its founders are both MBAs from UCLA Anderson, where they met. To hear about the company, we spoke with Ramit Varma, co-founder of the company.
How did Revolution Prep start? (More info...)
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Disney Names Playdom's Pleasants, Yahoo's Pitaro As Co-PresidentsBurbank-based Walt Disney said this weekend that it has promoted John Pleasants, the former CEO of Playdom, as co-President of its Disney Interactive Media Group, along with James Pitaro, most recently of Yahoo!. According to Disney, the new structure of its interactive media unit will "enhance the strategic focus and responsiveness" of its digital games business. Pleasants joined Disney in July, when Disney paid more than $760M for social games developer Playdom. Disney said Pleasants will cont (More info...)
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Autobytel Partners With Firm For Online AnalyticsIrvine-based Autobytel, the operator of online auto information websites and a related, Internet leads business for auto dealers, reported today that it has partnered with another firm on better advertising analytics and optimization. Autobytel said it has linked with online audience measurement firm Aperture, which will provide household-level, online consumer analytics to its customers, including automakers and publishers. Financial details of the partnership were not announced.
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Mojix Signs Middle Eastern ResellerLos Angeles-based Mojix, the developer of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, said over the weekend that it has signed a partnership with a reseller to provide its products in the Middle East. The firm said it has signed on Universal Media (UMedia), a systems integrator based in Kuwait, to deliver its RFID systems to the Middle Eastern market. UMedia will offer up consulting, system integration, and services for Mojix products aimed at the supply chain and asset management area. UM (More info...)
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Qualcomm Releases Android Augmented Reality SDKSan Diego-based Qualcomm said this morning that it has released a new, augmented reality (AR) software development kit for Android smartphones. According to Qualcomm, the new SDK enables software which delivers interactive, 3D experience with everyday objects. Qualcomm said the SDK includes computer vision technology will allows developers to align graphics tightly with underlying objects. The company said the new software should enable things such as 3D gaming experiences on tabletops, and inte (More info...)
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Broadcom Ships New Energy Efficient Ethernet ChipsIrvine-based Broadcom announced this morning that it has shipped a new set of products that conform to the Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) standard, a new IEEE standard for Ethernet chips which saves up to 70 percent energy compared with current Ethernet equipment. According to Broadcom, it has rolled out a portfolio of silicon which includes enterprise and metro class switches, single, quad, and octal Gigabit Ethernet PHYs, dual and qual 10GbE PHYs, 10/100 and 1GbE controllers,, and 10GbE conve (More info...)
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