Monday, November 21, 2011Gumgum Names Sales VPSanta Monica-based Gumgum, the celebrity image licensing and advertising startup headed by Ophir Tanz, has appointed a new VP of Sales, the firm told socalTECH today. The company said it has appointed Brennan Beyer as its new Vice President of Sales. Beyer joins the company from SocialVibe, where he also served as VP of Sales. He has also served at SocialMedia.com, Business.com, Advertising.com, and Petersen Publishing, publisher of Motor Trend and Teen magazines. Gumgum recently raised $7M in a (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
ContentNext Up For SaleGuardian News & Media, the firm behind web publisher ContentNext, is in discussions with potential buyers about a possible sale, according to a report from the firm's own site, paidContent. ContentNext--which had been founded by Rafat Ali in Santa Monica, and eventually sold in July of 2008 to Guardian News and Media--publishes paidContent, mocoNews.net, paidContent:UK, and contentSutra.com. Names of potential buyers were not discussed. paidContent said that Guardian is working with Coady Diemar (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
GotCast Debuts Holiday Gift PackageLos Angeles-based GotCast, the online talent casting service, said today that it is offering up a new holiday gift package for its members and others. The offering--the first foray into added services for the site--will provide professional headshots, professional demo reel, and one year of access to its job platform, for $499. GotCast is marketing the package to loved ones interested in getting discovered by Hollywood and on Madison Ave. GotCast is being used by agencies to find talent, and all (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
Science Taps Peter Pham As PartnerSanta Monica-based Science, the new startup creation and "technology studio" created by former Myspace CEO Mike Jones, said today that it has brought on Peter Pham as a Partner at the company. Pham, a SoCal native best known for his roles at Photobucket, Billshrink, and Color, will focus on marketing and business development for Science. Pham was most recently Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Trinity Ventures. Pham was a critical piece of the acquisition of Photobucket for $300M by Fox interactive (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
Atari Names EVPAtari has bolstered its executive team in the US, saying that it has hired Gui Karyo as its new Executive Vice President Development and Operations last week. Atari said that Karyo has previously served at Mindspark Interactive Networks, Majesco Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment, and will head up day-to-day oversight of product development, operations, and Atari.com. Karyo was most recently President of Mindspark Interactive’s IWON. Atari--now headquartered in France--recently hired a su (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
Interview with Mike Jones, Science Inc.
The Los Angeles area has seen a surge in the last month in companies and organizations looking to bolster entrepreneurial activity and startups in Southern California. Joining that surge last week in startup activity was Science, Inc. (www.science-inc.com), headed by Mike Jones, the former CEO of Myspace. Science is looking to incubate its own set of companies, make investments, and otherwise work to create the next successful startups. We sat down with Mike to better understand Science and wh (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
LiveOffice In Migration Effort With MicrosoftTorrance-based LiveOffice, the provider on cloud-based email archiving services which is headed by Nick Mehta, reported today that it has announced a special email migration program for users of Microsoft Exchange Hosted Archive. LiveOffice said its new EHA Fast Pass migration program was developed in collaboration with Microsoft, to help transition select Microsoft Exchange Hosted Archive (EHA) customers to LiveOffice. LiveOffice explained that some of Microsoft's users need additional complian (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
Cricket In Distribution Deal With Amazon.comSan Diego-based Cricket Communications, the provider of pre-paid mobile phones, announced this morning that it has inked a distribution deal with Amazon.com, to distribute two Android smartphones on the e-commerce retailer. Cricket said the phones are the first time its products have been made available on Amazon.com. The deal also includes Cricket's music service, Muve Music. Cricket's two Android phones are the Samsung Vitality and ZTE Score. Cricket is a service offered by Leap Wireless.
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
Outcast Inks Deal With NFL NetworkSanta Monica-based Outcast, the operator of those ubiquitous, video advertising screens at gas stations, reported today that it has inked a deal with the NFL Network. Outcast did not details financials of the deal, but said that NFL Network game highlights, live match-up information, and news will be broadcast to its network of 12,000 screens. Outcast said it reaches a total audience of more than 68 million consumers through its screens, which are in gas stations and in health clubs nationwide.
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
WD Hit By $525M Arbitration Award To SeagateIrvine-based disk drive manufacturer Western Digital reported this morning that an arbitrator has awarded Seagate $525M from the firm, in a confidential arbitration action in Minnesota. WD said the effort involves claims brought by Seagate Technology LLC against WD and one of its former employees, who was formerly employed by Seagate, alleging misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets. WD said that the firm does not believe there is "any basis in law or fact for the damage a (More info...)
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)
OSI Systems Wins $1.8M OrderHawthorne-based OSI Systems, a developer of electronic systems and components for the healthcare, defense, homeland security, and other indutries, has won a $1.8M order, the firm said this morning. The firm said its Spacelabs Healthcare division won a $1.8M order from a southern Louisiana hospital for a patient monitoring product. Name of the customer was not announced.
posted on Monday, November 21, 2011(Full story)