Friday, July 29, 2011Amazon Tax Fight Heads To Congress, Says ReportThe battle of states against e-commerce giant Amazon.com appears to be moving to Congress, on reports that a bill was expected to be introduced today giving states the ability to tax Amazon.com. The Main Street Fairness Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Dick Durban (D-Ill.) and Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), would require electronic retailers like Amazon to collect taxes for states, according to a report Friday from Politico. The move comes just a few short weeks after Amazon was forced into battle with the (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
Hulu Halts Use Of Kissmetrics On Security ReportA report, published Friday by Wired, says that Los Angeles-based video streaming site Hulu has cut its use of web analytics service Kissmetrics -- a startup founded by former Orange County entrepreneur Neil Patel -- after U.C. Berkeley security researchers detected the use of undetectable cookie code by Kissmetrics. The report from Wired said that those researchers found that Kissmetrics tracking service cannot be evaded, even when users block their cookies, turn off storage in Flash, or use "in (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
Oversee.net's Kupietzky To Depart FirmLos Angeles-based Oversee.net said Friday that CEO and President Jeff Kupietzky is planning to depart the firm at the end of August. According to the online marketer and domain name management company, Kupietsky is relocating his family to Israel for personal reasons. The firm said that the firm's day to day operations and strategic vision will be led by co-presidents Debra Domeyer and Scott Morrow. Kupietzky joined Oversee.net in November of 2008, taking over for Oversee.net's founder, Lawrence (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
Insights and Opinions: Man's search for meaning(ful work).Today's contribution to our Insights and Opinions section, where we feature the thoughts and opinions of Southern California's technology community, is from Megan Lisa Jones, an investment banker and author. Jones talks about how companies can attract, keep, and engage employees, and what people are looking for in a job.
I've been reading the unemployment stats again. 35% plus percent of millennials unemployed, ten percent chance of getting a job if you've been out of work over 26 weeks, u (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
RPost Wins Insurance FirmLos Angeles-based RPost, the provider of email encryption and electronic signature services, said Friday that it has signed an insurance agency as a client. The firm said it has linked with Renaissance Alliance Insurance Services, an independent insurance agency aggregator. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. RPost said the use of its Registered Email service will be used to mitigate E&O exposure and ensure compliance with data privacy requirements. RPost provides email encryption a (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
Specific Media Taps Investment Banker As Corp Dev HeadIrvine-based Specific Media has recruited an investment banker to head up its business development efforts, fresh off its acquisition of onetime social networking king MySpace. According to Specific Media, it has hired Scott Schopen, former investment banker at Piper Jaffray, as Vice President of Corporate Development at the firm. Schopen was overseeing merger and acquisition transactions, initial and secondary public offerings, and private capital raises at Piper Jaffray. Schopen has a long hi (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
InvenSense, Backed by Qualcomm, Sets IPO Pricing RangeInvenSense, the maker of the motion detecting sensors used in the Wii MotionPlus controller, has set the initial pricing range for its IPO, saying in a filing today that it expects the initial public offering price for its IPO to be between $8.50 and $10.50 per share. One of the firm's major backers is San Diego-based Qualcomm, which owns 7 percent of the firm. Other investors in the company include Artiman Ventures, Partech, and Sierra Ventures. InvenSense is based in Sunnyvale.
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
X Prize Oil Challenge AdvancesThe X Prize Foundation said Thursday that its $1.4 million, Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X Challenge is advancing, with competitors in the prize entering the testing phase. The group said that the competition--which is looking for new ways to clean up oil spills--began field testing on July 22nd, at the The National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility in Leonardo, NJ. The X Prize Foundation kicked off its oil cleanup challenge in July of last year, in response to the BP oil (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
Move CFO Snagged By YelpMove, Inc., the parent firm of Realtor.com, said Thursday afternoon that its CFO, Rob Krolik, has resigned in order to become CFO of Yelp. Move--which is based in Campbell, California, but still has operations in Southern California, in Thousand Oaks--said the firm is now searching for a new CFO. Yelp is rumored to be heading towards an IPO, so the addition of Krolik and his expertise as a public company CFO is expected to help the firm in its efforts.
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
Venture Capitalist Confidence Falls, Says ReportA report today, measuring the confidence level of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, said that its measure of confidence of VC investors dropped in the quarter. According to the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index, tallied by Mark V. Cannice, professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of San Francisco (USF) School of Management, the survey found that venture capitalists were worried about "macro economic trends, seemingly inflated valuations, uneven capital (More info...)
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)
Security First Inks Crypto Deal With IBMRancho Santa Margarita-based Security First Corp., a developer of cryptographic software, said today with IBM that the two are in a joint development agreement. According to the two, they will implement Security First's cryptographic technology on IBM's wire speed processor technology, integrating the technology directly onto IBM's systems on a chip. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
posted on Friday, July 29, 2011(Full story)