Monday, August 1, 2011


Gamzee Snags Scholz As CTO
Los Angeles-based Gamzee, the HTML5 game development firm headed by Activision co-founder Howard Marks, has made a high profile hire, saying Monday night that it has hired on Michael Scholz as its CTO. Scholz was most recently at Los Angeles-based GameSalad, where he created the HTML5 game engine for the firm. Scholz had previously founded CasualCafe, and also served at WildTangent, SkillJam Technologies and THQ.
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Geni Suffers Weekend Outage
Los Angeles-based Geni, the online family tree and genealogy site, suffered an unexpected outage over the weekend, the firm reported Monday evening. The firm said it was down for more than 48 hours over the past weekend, due to an issue with the firm's database software. Geni said that it had an issue with its PostgreSQL database, which it says it is investigating. The firm said it did not lose any data, but is restoring the full database, which is what caused the long term downtime, and also ex (More info...)
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FamilyFinds Launches Coupons, Social Deals
Los Angeles-based FamilyFinds, the family-oriented, daily deals site headed by former LowerMyBills.com founder Matt Coffin, said Monday that it has launched two new, major features to the service. The firm said it has launched a new coupon section, where it will feature online coupons from sites such as Kohls.com, UrbanOutfitters.com, and others, and also launched a "social savings" program, which will reward users for referring friends to deals. With the social savings effort, FamilyFinds said (More info...)
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LegalZoom Targeted In Legal Software Ban In Missouri
Los Angeles-based LegalZoom, the online legal document provider, is the target of a class action lawsuit in Missouri, which is looking to block the ability of the firm to provide wills, leases, and other documents. The lawsuit, is set to go to trail on August 22nd in Jefferson City, Missouri, after a ruling by a federal district court judge last week. LegalZoom had been sued by a Missouri resident who used the service for a last will and testament, and two others who used the firm to organize a (More info...)
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Marlin Equity's OnX Completes Technology Solutions Group Buy
Canadian firm OnX Enterprise Solutions, an enterprise solutions provider owned by Los Angeles private equity firm Marlin Equity Partners, said Monday that it has completed its acquisition of the Technology Solutions Group unit of Agilysys. The deal had originally been announced on June 3rd. The deal was worth $64M. TSG was a enterprise business and IT solutions provider. OnX said the combined firm will have combined revenues of $750 million, and more than 500 people on its team.
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Chumby Powers Best Buy Connected TV
San Diego-based Chumby, the developer of Internet-connected hardware, software widgets, and other related technology, is powering a new television from Best Buy. According to Best Buy, it has launched a new, Insignia brand Connected TV, which allows users to both watch television as well as access movies, show, music, and other content through the Internet. Best Buy said that the new, connected TV includes chumby applications, which connect the TV to Twitter, Facebook, Photobucket, Accuweather, (More info...)
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StockTwits Launches Activity Stream
San Diego-based StockTwits, the stock-focused, micro-messaging service run by Howard Lindzon, has launched a new feature today, focused on activity streams. The firm said the new StockTwits Activity Stream will allow users to keep up with other people, as well as tickers friends are following. The stream is very similar to features on Facebook, Google Plus, and other social sites. StockTwits operates a micro-messaging service, similar to Twitter, but focused on discussions and information on sto (More info...)
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RealD Adds To Board
Los Angeles-based RealD, the developer of 3D movie technology, said this morning that it has named Dave Habiger to its board of directors. Habinger was the President and CEO of Sonic Solutions, until its acquisition by Sonic Solutions in February of 2011. He's now the CEO of NDS Group Ltd., a provider of digital and pay TV technology.
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Six Degree Games Gets $4.0M
Marina Del Rey-based Six Degree Games, the developer of online virtual worlds, recently raised $4.0M in new funding, according to regulatory and other sources. Details on the fundraising round--which closed in Q2--have not been announced. Six Degree Games is the developer of the virtual world Action AllStars. The firm's prior backers were Time Warner, Clearstone Venture Partners, and Prism VentureWorks; it's unclear who backed the firm in the latest funding.
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Fallbrook Technologies Taps Ford Exec For President
San Diego-based Fallbrook Technologies has tapped a Ford Motor Company veteran for its President, the company announced this morning. Fallbrook, which makes transmission technology used in electric vehicles, said it ha appointed Al Kammerer as its President. Kammerer had been at Ford for 34 years before retiring in 2008 as Director of Product Development for Jaguar Land Rover. Kammerer has been on Fallbrook's board since February of 2009. Fallbrook makes a continuously variable planetary transmi (More info...)
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CareFusion Completes Acquisition of Rowa
San Diego-based CareFusion, the developer of medical devices, said today that it has completed its acquisition of German firm Rowa, a firm which develops robotics medical storage and retrieval systems for pharmacies. The deal was worth $150M in cash. The deal had originally benn announced in July.
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Vitesse Names New CFO
Camarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor, the high speed networking semiconductor firm, said this morning that it has named Martin S. McDermut as its Chief Financial Officer. McDermut was previously at financial advisory firm Avant Advisory Group, and has also served at Iris International Inc., Superconductor Technologies, and Coopers & Lybrand. The firm said that McDermut replaces Rich Yonker, who had been CFO since 2006. Reason for the CFO switch was not announced by the firm.
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Siemer Ventures Targets New Fund
Los Angeles-based Siemer & Associates, an investment banking firm, appears to be raising a $30M, second fund, Siemer Ventures II, according to a regulatory filing from the firm Friday. The fund's managers are listed as David Siemer and Eric Manlunas. Siemer & Associates earlier fund has invested in such firms as YouMail, XCAST, and Ranker. The firm declined to comment on the new fund. (Editor's note: Siemer & Associates is a sponsor of socalTECH.)
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Toshiba America Medical Systems Names VP
Tustin-based Toshiba America Medical Systems, the provider of CT, X-ray and other medical diagnostics imaging equipment, said today that it has named Scott Goodwin as its Vice President of Sales. Goodwin joins the firm from Philips Healthcare, and also had worked at Seiemens Medical Solutions.
posted on Monday, August 1, 2011(Full story)