Thursday, November 18, 2010


In-Three Acquired By Digital Domain
Westlake Village-based In-Three, a developer of 3D conversion technology and services for the movie industry, has been acquired by visual effects house Digital Domain, according to reports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. In-Three is reportedly moving its operations to Florida, where Digital Domain is headquartered. In-Three provided technology and services which allowed movie studios to convert their 2D content into 3D, without having to film originally in 3D or digital. The fi (More info...)
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MySpace Further Connects To Facebook
Further acknowledging that the firm has lost its former status as the center of the social networking universe, MySpace announced Thursday afternoon that it is now allowing its users to port information, likes, and interests from users' Facebook profiles over to MySpace. MySpace said its new feature--Mashup with Facebook--will link a user's stream with entertainment content based on their interests in music, celebrities, TV, and movies. In addition to the new connections to entertainment conte (More info...)
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AeroVironment Wins NRG Energy
Monrovia-based AeroVironment, which develops both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and also electric vehicle charging technology, said today that it has been selected by energy firm NRG Energy to develop a privately funded, comprehensive electric vehicle charging system. The two said that will provide products, services and payment plans aimed at making EVs practical for drivers, starting with the city of Houston. AeroVironment said it will supply, install, and support smart home and public overn (More info...)
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SolarReserve In Joint Venture With PV Solar Firm
Santa Monica-based SolarReserve, a developer of large-scale, concentrated solar power and photovoltaic projects, announced Thursday it is in a joint venture with a photovoltaic power plant operator producer, GCL Solar Energy. According to SolarReserve, the joint venture will develop, build and operate solar photovoltaic facilities in the United States, with more than 1,100 megawatt of photovoltaic development projects in its portfolio. Financial details of the joint venture were not announced. T (More info...)
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USC Launches Media Lab
The University of Southern California is looking to tie together technology and media, saying Thursday that it has launched a new Annenberg Innovation Lab as part of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. According to USC, the new lab--backed by IBM, Verizon, the Levi's brand and Mattel--will focus on the areas of geolocation, social networking, digital entertainment, gaming behavior and transmedia. The cross-disciplinary lab will include students and professors from both (More info...)
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Disney Parks Checks In With Gowalla
Burbank-based Walt Disney's amusement park arm, Disney Parks, is getting on board with the location based check-in trend, and has inked a deal with Gowalla, one of a number of location-based check-in firms. Gowalla--which competes with such services as Foursquare and Whrrl--said today that it has signed a deal with Disney to feature official badges for check-ins to Disney locations, including amusement park rides and other park features at Disneyland and Disney World. Financial details of the de (More info...)
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XCOR To Power KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Suborbital Tours
Mojave-based XCOR, a developer of rocket-powered space planes, is powering a new frequent flyer offering from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the firm said Wednesday. According to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, it has joined with Space Experience Curacao (SXC) to allow its frequent flyers to purchase vacation packages to Curacao and suborbital flights to space via XCOR's Lynx suborbital spacecraft. XCOR's Lynx is currently under development. XCOR said it has a planned start date in January 2014 with SXC, w (More info...)
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Call of Duty Black Ops Sales Hit $650M
Santa Monica-based Activision Publishing has updated sales figures for its latest blockbuster release, Call of Duty: Black Ops, saying that the title has now grossed more than $650M in worldwide sell through in the last five days. Activision said the figure breaks the firm's prior record, set last year with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was $550M in five day sales. Call of Duty: Black Ops was developed by Santa Monica studio Treyarch.
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Ortiva Wireless Names Sales VP
La Jolla-based Ortiva Wireless, which develops products for optimizing mobile video, said this morning that it has named william Archer as Senior Vice Presient of WOrldwide Sales. Archer has previously served at Flash Networks, and also been at TTI Telecom, Cash-U Mobile Technologies, and Viziqor. Ortiva said Jim Edson, who previously led both Sales and Business Development, shifts to exclusively cover Business Development efforts for the firm. Ortiva's products are sold to wireless operators, t (More info...)
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Optimer Pharmaceuticals Finds General Counsel
San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals said today that it has named Kurt Hartman as its General Counsel and Access. Hartman was most recently at Eisai Inc., and also has served at Boehringer Ingelheim, Maxim Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, and Kaiser Permanente. As part of the role, Optimer said Hartman will lead development and execution of Optimer's market access strategies for its lead product candidate, fidaxomicin. Optimer's fidaxomicin is a narrow spectrum antibiotic being developed for the trea (More info...)
posted on Thursday, November 18, 2010(Full story)