Thursday, January 12, 2012


Factual Targets SimpleGeo Users
Los Angeles-based Factual said Thursday that it will help former SimpleGeo customers--who were informed today by Urban Airship that it will start winding down SimpleGeo's location database by the end of March--migrate their services to Factual's own services. Factual provides an API with location information, similar to that which was being provided by SimpleGeo. The move is not unexpected; SimpleGeo was acquired in October by Urban Airship, and both of SimpleGeo's founders had left for other ve (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012(Full story)

Hulu: $420M In Revenues, 1.5 Million Paying Subscribers
Los Angeles-based Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said Thursday afternoon that the company brought in approximately $420M in revenues in 2011, up 60 percent from 2010, and now has more than 1.5 million paying subscribers to Hulu Plus. According to Kilar, the firm now expects that Hulu Plus will account for more than half of the site's overall business by later this year. Kilar disclosed the numbers in a blog post summarizing the firm's 2011. Among other tidbits, Hulu said it saw that growth despite a soft (More info...)
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Fisker Karma Drives Onto Harrod's Display
Looking to catch the eye of luxury goods shoppers, Fisker Automotive, the electric auto maker based in Irvine, said today that its Karma sedan will be displayed at Harrods in Knightsbridge, London, for the department store's Winter Sale. Fisker said its Karma will be displayed in a window display until the 4th of February. Fisker is in the midst of launching the Karma, the first product out of the electric automotive manufacturer. As unusual as a department store window display might sound, appa (More info...)
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JewelMint Launches Online Series, National TV Ad Campaign
Santa Monica-based JewelMint, the jewelry service run by former MySpace co-founder Josh Berman and Diego Berdakin, said Thursday that it is launching an online "fashion film" series featuring Kate Bosworth, along with a national television commercial campaign. JewelMint said the new film, "The Look" features JewelMint co-founder and actress Kate Bosworth, and was filmed by Michael Polish. The online series--with a new episode every month--will include each month's jewelry collection as part of t (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012(Full story)

Insights and Opinions: Fail Fast!
In our Insights and Opinions section this morning, we turn again to angel investor Dave Berkus, who tells entrepreneurs: Fail fast. Professional investors want to live by this rule. With the first round of funding, there should be milestones to be achieved. If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed and acted upon to avoid loss of capital beyond plan or expectation. And if the vision of the entrepreneur is flawed, or the product impossible to create (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012(Full story)

Independa Teams With LG Electronics On Elder Care
San Diego-based Independa, the provider of remote health monitoring services headed by Kian Saneii, said this week that it has inked a deal with Zenith, the U.S. subsidiary of LG Electronics, to use LG's commercial televisions to help residents of elder care facilities keep in touch with their family and professional caregivers. Financial terms of the strategic relationship were not disclosed. The two said that they will deploy technology to provide video calling, messaging, reminders and other (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012(Full story)

Local Corporation Claims Record Traffic
Irvine-based Local Corporation, the online local business guide operator headed by Health Clarke, said this morning that it had "record" fourth quarter 2011 search traffic. The firm said it is now seeing 93.7 million monthly unique visitors to its network of sites, up from 91.9M monthly unique visitors in Q3. The firm did not say what is driving that traffic, however, the company launched its own, daily deal service called Spreebird back in May, and a rich media ad platform called Rovion in Nove (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012(Full story)

SpotlightTMS Lands Baltimore Ravens
Calabasas-based SpotlightTMS, the developer of software-as-a-service for managing luxury suites at sporting and entertainment venues, said today that the Baltimore Ravens has selected the firm's product to offer to its luxury suite owners. SpotlightTMS said that the Ravens will offer Spotlight's service as a value-added feature to its luxury suite owners. Spotlight's software is used to manage and allocate tickets to those suites for corporate clients. Financial details of the deal were not anno (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012(Full story)

Rent.com Snags Product Head From ReachLocal
Santa Monica-based Rent.com, which is now part of eBay, has hired on a new Head of Product. According to recruiting firm NeoHire, Amanda McConnell has been hired as Head of Product for Rent.com, joining the company from ReachLocal, where she was Director of User Experience and Product Management. McConnell has also previously served at Buzz Media, Tag World, and Oversee.net.
posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012(Full story)