Thursday, March 24, 2011FastPoint Games Scores With Major League SoccerLos Angeles-based FastPoint Games, the developer of white label fantasy and other games for sports and entertainment firms which is run by Kelly Perdew, said Thursday that it has delivered two games for Major League Soccer. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. FastPoint said that it has delivered a 2011 Salary Cap Game and a League Manager Game for the soccer league. Both games are running on Major League Soccer's web site.
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Solarflare Gets Win With FujitsuIrvine-based SolarFlare, the developer of 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapters run by Russell Stern, reported Thursday that it has signed a strategic partnership with Fujitsu Frontech North America. According to SolarFlare, Fujitsu will sell its adapters along with Fujitsu's XG Series Ethernet switches. Expected shipment volumes from the deal were not disclosed. Solarflare said the adapters will be sold under its own brand name through Fujitsu's channel.
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ShareSquare Opens QR Code ServiceLos Angeles-based QR code startup ShareSquare is announcing today that it has opened up its QR code service to the public, and also outlined its pricing plans and tiers. The firm--which has been focusing in on musicians and bands with its service--allows customers to create their own QR codes through the site, linked to special online modules to promote those customers. ShareSquare has been in private beta for the last three months. ShareSquare said it will offer up to five ShareSquare mobile we (More info...)
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CitizenGlobal Lands Wiki Inventor As CTOVenice-based CitizenGlobal, a startup working on crowd-sourced video content, has landed the inventor of the web wiki as Chief Technology Officer. Ward Cunningham, who is known for his creation of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, which allowed anyone browsing a page to update and change web pages on the fly, apparently is now heading up the firm's development efforts. The news was first uncovered by The Oregonian, a Portland paper, which noticed Cunningham had departed AboutUs, a Portland w (More info...)
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USC Team Heads To Rice Business Plan CompetitionA student team from the University of Southern California is one of forty two teams heading to the 2011 Rice University Business Plan Competition in April. Rice named the teams it had selected this week, who are competing for $1M in prizes. The competition--which is one of the largest in the world--also includes a new $100,000 prize from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, focused on clean technology. The USC team, Somatis Technologies, has not detailed its plans publicly. B (More info...)
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Specific Media Furthers Privacy PushIrvine-based Specific Media, the online advertising network operator, appears to be on a privacy push, saying this morning that it has gained TRUSTe certification. The firm said it is the first digital media company to be certified under the new TRUSTed Data Collection program, a certification focused on privacy controls at Internet ad networks and advertising providers. The move is the latest in a series of privacy moves at the company, which also recently adopted the IAB Ad Option Icon. Specif (More info...)
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CrowdGather Names Taher Scherzay As VPWoodland Hills-based CrowdGatehr, which operates a network of special interest message boards and forums, announced Thursday that it has named Taher Scherzay as Vice President of Technology. CrowdGather said Scherzay joins from Elexity Systems, where he was co-founder and CTO. Elexity was behind the DentalSenders.com patient communications systems which was acquired by Futuredontics. The firm also said that Scherzay has served at Alcatel-Lucent, Clarent, and Spirent Communications. Although Crow (More info...)
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HauteLook Acquisition CompletesDepartment store firm Nordstrom said this morning that it has completed its acquisition of Los Angeles-based private sales site HauteLook. Nordstrom announced its acquisition of HauteLook on February 17th. Nordstrom paid $180M in stock plus up to $90M in earn out for HauteLook, for a transaction worth $270M. HauteLook was venture backed by Insight Venture Partners, and headed by Adam Bernhard. The acquisition was one of the quickest in Southern California's technology startup world; HauteLook wa (More info...)
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YouMail Hits Windows Phone 7Irvine-based YouMail, the enhanced voicemail provider headed by Alex Quilici, said today that a number of third party developers have released applications that connect to the service from Windows Phone 7 and Windows 6.5, and Android. According to YouMail, its Windows Phone 7 applications are MagikMail and MagikMail Lite, and provider caller ID, message forwarding, mailbox management, as well as access to YouMail's premium transcription and other services. MagikMail Lite is free, but contains ad (More info...)
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Demand Media Applies Content Strategy To eNomSanta Monica-based Demand Media, the Internet content publishing company run by Richard Rosenblatt, is applying its crowdsourced content model to eNom, the domain name registrar it owns. According to eNom, it has put up a new content portal focused on the .ORG domain name, which is powered by Demand Media's creative studios. The portal features articles about the .ORG domain, which were created by Demand Media's creative professionals. eNom also said it will offer its customers the ability to us (More info...)
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Total Immersion Raises $5.5MLos Angeles-based Total Immersion, the developer of augmented reality software and technology, announced this morning that it has raised $5.5M in a funding round. The round was led by Intel Capital, and also included prior investors Partech, iSource, and Elaia Partners. Total Immersion makes software which combines live, web-cam and mobile images with computer generated graphics, which is being used in advertising, games, special promotions, marketing, and other uses. Total Immerson is headed by (More info...)
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Rubicon Project Names Three ExecsLos Angeles-based online advertising firm Rubicon Project announced this morning that it has hired three new executives. According to the company, it has named Nick Hulse as Chief Revenue Officer, Bill Harries as Vice President of Sales Operations, and Bill McHargue as vice President of North American Sales. Hulse joins from iPass, and also has served at Frontbridge and Tumbleweed; Harries was most recently at Oracle; McHargue joins from AutoWeb. Rubicon also said it has promoted founder Craig R (More info...)
posted on Thursday, March 24, 2011(Full story)