Wednesday, June 1, 2011


SteelHouse Gets Funding, Launches E-Commerce Technology Firm
Los Angeles-based SteelHouse, a developer of e-commerce technology based on consumer behavior, launched its "behavioral commerce technology" to boost e-commerce conversion Wednesday, and also revealed that it has scored venture funding for its efforts. The firm said is backed by prolific angel investor Ron Conway and Baroda Ventures, the venture capital arm of Geocities founder David Bohnett. Details on the funding round were not announced, however, the firm said that the round came last year. S (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 (More)(Full story)

AeroVironment Wins EV Charging Deal In Oregon
Monrovia-based AeroVironment said today that it has landed a deal to install a network of electric vehicle chargers in Oregon, along Interstate 5, as part of a project from the Oregon Department of Transportation. AeroVironment said that it will install its high power, Level 3 electric vehicle fast charging stations between the California state line and the Willamette Valley, as part of a "green highway" project in Oregon. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. AeroVironment said it will (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011(Full story)

Altly Reveals Seed Investors
Venice-based Altly, the startup headed by Dmitry Shapiro which is developing an alternative to Facebook, has revealed the full list of its seed funding investors today, saying that it raised $1M in funding from Freestyle Capital, Social Leverage, Arthur Bilger, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Howard Lindzon, Tom Anderson, Alex Bard, Alex Karelin, Kenny Van Zant, and Francis Costello. Both Howard Lindzon and Dave Samuel are joining the firm's board as part of the funding. Altly detailed its plans to cre (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 (More)(Full story)

PriceGrabber Launches Local Deals Site
Los Angeles-based PriceGrabber, the online comparison shopping site now owned by Experian, said today that it has officially launched a new, daily deal site at deals.pricegrabber.com. PriceGrabber said it is aggregating over 20 group buying sites--including Groupon and LivingSocial--on the site. PriceGrabber's local deal site allows users to browse and find daily deals from over 160 metropolitan areas, the firm said, and is aimed at reducing the "daily deal deluge". There has been a explosion in (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011(Full story)

Interview with Clark Benson, Ranker
One of the biggest forces that has emerged in the Internet in recent years has been crowdsourcing, the way the web has empowered users to drive the creation of content and information online. For today's interview, we spoke with Clark Benson, CEO and Founder of Ranker (www.ranker.com), on how the firm is looking to harness that same force to power its own startup, which offers up a way for users to create their own ranked lists of pretty much anything. What's the story behind Ranker? Cla (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011(Full story)

Hulu Debuts Miramax Films On Hulu Plus
Los Angeles-based video streaming site Hulu said this morning that it has debuted 27 titles from Miramax on its Hulu Plus service, after inking a deal to include "hundreds" of Miramax films through the site's premium services. According to Hulu, the titles include such titles as Pulp fiction. The new titles will be available to current and new Hulu Plus subscribers, who can view those titles via their computer, internet-connected TV, phone, or iPad. In addition to access via Hulu Plus, Hulu said (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011(Full story)

Vokle Gets New Investment
Irvine-based Vokle, which operates an online, live web streaming and broadcasting service, has scored $767,000 in a new round of funding, according to lead investor the Tech Coast Angels. The TCA said the new round was led by Dave Berkus. The TCA said that Vokle has now raised $1.26M in funding. Vokle will use the new funding to develop its audience and users, as well as to add staff and facilities. Vokle's platform includes interactive features and enables both broadcasting of live video and in (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 (More)(Full story)

Mogreet: Verizon Leads On Video Messaging
Los Angeles-based Mogreet, the mobile marketing and video firm headed by James Citron, released mobile video stats gathered by the firm during Q1 today, saying that Verizon leads the market in terms of mobile video messaging views. The firm said its Q1 2011 mobile marketing analytics report finds that 44 percent of mobile videos are viewed on Verizon Wireless phones, followed by AT&T at 34.6 percent, then Spring at 9.7 percent. T-Mobile represented 5.8 percent of video views, with Cricket at a s (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011(Full story)

Novatel Wireless Rolls Telematics Product
San Diego-based Novatel Wireless, the developer of 3G and 4G wireless modems, said today that it has entered into the insurance telematics market, with a new product. The firm said its new Enfora Spider MT 3000 is a dual-band, integrated device used to connect passenger cars, service vans, and light duty trucks for the usage-based insurance (UBI), telematics, and fleet management market. Novatel acquired M2M equipment maker Enfora in November.
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011(Full story)

Qualcomm Expands Flash Support, Pushes Games
San Diego-based Qualcomm said today that it has expanded its support of Adobe Flash across Qualcomm-enabled smartphones, allowing for video playback of Flash-based content on mid-tier and high end Snapdragon smartphones and tablets. Separately, the firm also said it has introduced a "Snapdragon Game Pack" which features more than 100 mobile games optimized for its Snapdragon processor and its Adreno GPU. In terms of Adobe Flash support, Qualcomm said it will begin supporting Adobe Flash on its 8 (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, June 1, 2011(Full story)