Monday, August 8, 2011LA Startup Entrepreneur Crowdsources College DecisionA Los Angeles startup entrepreneur, Mike Moradian, the founder of CollegeBudget and CampusBuddy.com, is turning to the wisdom of crowds to decide whether or not he should go to Harvard -- or continue working full time on his startups. According to a widely promoted campaign by Moradian, he is taking votes from the public at large to decide whether or not he should attend Harvard Business School, which he was accepted to for this fall. Moradian invited users to log into a Facebook application on (More info...)
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Cornerstone OnDemand Drops Secondary IPO EffortSanta Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand, the developer of software-as-a-service for talent and employee management, has dropped its plans for a secondary IPO, citing "current marketing prices". According to the withdrawal statement from Cornerstone OnDemand, the firm's existing shareholders, who were planning on selling in the secondary offering, were unwilling to participate due to "current market prices". The firm also cited the expense of an offering. Cornerstone OnDemand had filed for a seco (More info...)
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Online Spending Hits $37.5 Billion In Q2Online spending on e-commerce sites hit $37.5 billion in Q2, according to the latest numbers from comScore. According to the Internet measurement firm, online retail spending was up 14 percent in Q2 versus a year ago. The gain was the seventh consecutive quarter of positive, year-over-year growth for the industry. Online sales have been growing since Q4 of 2009, with the last three quarters seeing double digit growth. Q4 of 2010 saw a year-to-year growth of 11 percent and Q1 saw 12 percent growt (More info...)
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Hulu Plus Hits Panasonic TVsLos Angeles-based Hulu said Monday that its Hulu Plus service has launched on Panasonic TVs and Blu-ray Players. The company said its Hulu Plus service will be available to any of its subscribers, who pay $7.99 a month for access to the service. Hulu recently added the WD TV media players, LG's HDTV line, and TiVo Premier to its list of supported devices for its Hulu Plus service.
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Break Media, Reveille Link On New Original SeriesLos Angeles-based Break Media and production firm Reveille, the company behind The Office and The Biggest Loser, said Monday that the two have inked a development deal. The two companies said that Reveille will develop a slate of original, digital pilots for Break, aimed at that site's comedy audience. Financial details of the development deal was not disclosed. Reveille is also the producer of MasterChef and Ugly Betty.
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eSolar Gets $40M From GEBurbank-based eSolar, the developer of concentrating solar thermal power technology, said today that it has inked a strategic investment from GE Energy, worth up to $40M. According to eSolar, the deal came along with a licensing agreement with GE Energy. Paul Browning, President and CEO of Thermal Products for GE Energy, joins the company's board as part of the funding. The firm said the deals will move its technology "to the next stage." eSolar develops concentrating solar power technology used (More info...)
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Mobile Roadie Powers Swiss Newspaper AppLos Angeles-based Mobile Roadie, the mobile apps developer, said today that it has inked a partnership with Consenda, a media software firm, to provide mobile news applications for newspapers in Switzerland. According to Mobile Roadie, it has developed mobile apps for Consenda which helps local and regional newspapers through a system called LocalPoint. That network links news readers with about a dozen newspapers in Switzerland. Financial details of the deal were not announced.
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Docstoc Ramps Video Content EffortSanta Monica-based Docstoc, the online business documents site headed by Jason Nazar, has quietly been ramping a video content effort at the site. In a new section on Docstoc's web site, the firm has been sharing dozens of video segments featureing business tips and advice from entrepreneurs from Southern California's technology community. The company has invested in dedicated staff and a studio at its Santa Monica offices to film the short business advice snippets, which have come from Jason Na (More info...)
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FastSoft Wins CDNPasadena-based FastSoft, the developer of Internet acceleration devices based on technology out of the California Insitute of Technology (Caltech), said today that it has been selected by Los Angeles content delivery network (CDN) NetDNA. FastSoft said NetDNA will use its appliances to improve content delivery speeds across its entire product line. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. FastSoft develops an appliance which optimizes the TCP/IP protocol to improve performance of file tr (More info...)
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Media Temple Sells Reinvigorate To WebtrendsLos Angeles-based web hosting firm Media Temple said today along with web analytics firm Webtrends, that Media Temple Ventures, its investment arm, has sold real time analytics firm Reinvigorate to WebTrends. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Culver City-based Reinvigorate is a developer of web visitors tracking and anaytics software. Media Temple Ventures is the investment arm of Demian Sellfors, the founder of web hosting company Media Temple. According to Media Temple Ventures, (More info...)
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Acutus Medical Raises $1MSan Diego-based Acutus Medical, a developer of medical devices for treating cardiac arrhythmia, said today that it has received $1M in a funding round. The round came form Index Ventures and un-named private investors. Acutus Medical said it is developing electrophysiological mapping technology to optimise the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. Kevin Johnson of Index Ventures has joined the company's board as part of the funding. The firm said the funding will go towards development of a prototyp (More info...)
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Liveoffice Ports To New Language: KlingonTorrance-based LiveOffice, the cloud-based email archiving and compliance service, has ported its user interface into an interesting language--the fictional Klingon language from Star Trek. According to LiveOffice today, users of the software can now view its interface in Klingon when they want to access their email archives. LiveOffice did not say why it decided to add the fictional language support to its product, but said that "In a society with a deep history of war and combat, email managem (More info...)
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Vitesse Names Japanese DistributorCamarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor said today that it has selected a new distributor in Japan. According to the semiconductor maker, it has selected Internix as its exclusive distributor in that country. Internix has been around since 1970 providing semiconductor distribution to communications infrastructure OEMs in Japan. Internix is based in Tokyo. Vitesse is s supplier of high performance networking semiconductors.
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Avanir Pharmaceuticals Names Research VPAliso Viejo-based Avanir Pharmaceuticals said today that it has named Dr. Joao Siffert as its Senior Vice President Research and Development. Siffert was previously VP and Chief Medical Officer at Ceregene, and has also served at Avera Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, and Beth Israel Medical Center. The company said Siffert will be responsible for leading all of the company's research and development activities.
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