Thursday, December 9, 2010Melanoma Diagnostics Sells Genetic Marker TechnologyAltadena-based Melanoma Diagnostics, a developer of technology for the diagnosis and prognosis of malignant melanoma using genetic markers, is in a deal to sell its technology to Myriad Genetics, a publicly traded provider of molecular diagnostics products. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.Myriad said it will gain the right to commercialize all tests derived from Melanoma Diagnostics' technology, in exchange for both upfront fees and contingent payments. Melanoma Diagnostics is hea (More info...)
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Edmunds.com Turns On New Home PageSanta Monica-based Edmunds.com, the provider of automotive information, announced Thursday that it has officially relaunched its web site and home page, after a webpage optimization and testing experiment. The firm said it has selected a "minimalist" design for its pages after testing out four different home pages to visitors, using different designs and graphics. Edmunds.com has been revamping its site since September, as the firm has looked to update its look and feel to better match modern we (More info...)
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Man To Go To Trial For Murder Of Tech Coast AngelA man accused of murdering Tech Coast Angel John G. Watson in June has been ordered to stand trial on murder charges, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Kent Thomas Keigwin, who was arrested a few days after the discovery of the body of Watson in June, also has been accused of trying to steal $7.5M from Watson. The death of Watson shocked the investment community in Southern California, after fellow angel investors found Watson dead after failing to show up for a meeting. Watson was a key (More info...)
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Milken Pledges Fortune To CharityMichael Milken, the former junk bond financier who now runs the Milken Institute economic think tank in Santa Monica, is one of seventeen billionaires who have pledged to give the majority of their wealth to charity. Milken joined Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others in taking the Giving Pledge on Wednesday, an effort co-founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, to get America's wealthiest families to focus on philanthropy. Milken is worth around $2.5 billion, according to the For (More info...)
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SpaceX's Secret Payload: CheeseHawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial spaceflight firm headed by Elon Musk, has revealed the contents of the firm's Dragon capsule. The firm--which made history Wednesday by successfully launching and returning a payload to earth from orbit as a commercial entity--said today that the payload of its Dragon Capsule was a wheel of cheese, in a tribute to Monty Python. The cheese was bolted to the floor of the Dragon capsule, which was sent up in a demonstration flight for NASA via SpaceX's Falcon (More info...)
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Study Tallies High Tech Employment In RegionA recently released study by TechAmerica, an advocacy group for the high tech industry, finds that Los Angeles ranks sixth among the top 60 cities in the United States for high tech employment. The TechAmerica CyberCities report, which was released Wednesday, found that New York led the nation in high tech employment, with 316,971 workers, followed by Washington, DC. (292,969 workers), San Jose/Silicon Valley (225,575 workers), and Boston (219,798 workers). Los Angeles had 169,974 workers in the (More info...)
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EdgeCast Targets Web Applications With New ServiceSanta Monica-based EdgeCast Networks, the content deliver network (CDN) provider, said today that it is targeting the performance of web applications with a new delivery service. The firm said its has announced a beta of a new, Application Delivery Network, which will help speed up availability of web applications. The firm claimed its service can help web apps run 200 to 400 percent faster. EdgeCast said it has invested in new infrastructure, including use of solid state disk drives, very large (More info...)
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Mobile Roadie Adds BlackBerry SupportBeverly Hills-based Mobile Roadie, a developer of a platform for creating and managing mobile applications, said this week that it has added support for BlackBerry smartphones. The firm said that the firm's platform allows users to create and manage their own BlackBerry smartphone applications, without programming knowledge. The firm already supports iPhone and Android. Mobile Roadie said it is powering mobile apps for such brands as Madonna, Taylor Swift, Drake, the Miami Dolphins and Wynn Las (More info...)
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Amonix Taps Flextronics For ManufacturingSeal Beach-based Amonix, which designs and manufactures concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar power systems, said this morning that it has tapped Flextronics as its manufacturing partner. Amonix--which is backed by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Adams Street Partners, Angeleno Group, PCG Clean Energy & Technology Fund, Vedanta Capital LP, New Silk Route, The Westly Group, and MissionPoint Capital Partners--said that the use of Flextronics will reduce the firm's time-to-market, and allow it (More info...)
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Qualcomm Backs Crowdsourced Traffic Data FirmSan Diego-based Qualcomm, via its Qualcomm Ventures venture capital arm, has backed a provider of crowdsourced traffic data. According to Palo Alto-based Waze Wednesday, Qualcomm was a strategic investor in the firm's latest, $25M fundraising effort. The round was led by Blue Run Ventures, Magama, and Vertex. Waze develops mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and other platforms which collects traffic data from users, and shares that with others.
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Gil Elbaz On Factual's New WarchestLast night, Santa Monica-based Factual (www.factual.com), the data provider and data tools firm, announced a big, $25M funding round from Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures. The firm is headed by Gil Elbaz, who is known for co-founding Applied Semantics, the firm which invented Google's AdSense product. We caught up with Gil to hear more about the round and what he's hoping to do with the large amount of capital Factual has just raised, as well as how the firm's technology is being used by s (More info...)
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Semtech Settles Securities LawsuitCamarillo-based Semtech said Wednesday evening that it has entered an agreement to settle a class action securities lawsuit against the firm. According to Semtech, it has agreed in principle to pay $20M in the lawsuit, over the firm's stock options accounting practices. The company said the settlement would fully resolve all of the claims against the company and its officers. Semtech is a maker of analog and mixed signal semiconductors.
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3ality Names Founder To CEO PostBurbank-based 3ality Digital, a developer of 3D camera rigs used for filming 3D movies, said Tuesday that it has named Steve Schklair as CEO of the firm. Schklair is a founder of the company. Schklair was formerly at Digital Domain, R/Greenberg Associates, and The Columbus Project. 3ality is backed by Modell Ventures.
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