Thursday, March 15, 2012


Qualcomm, Broadcom, Skyworks Prominent In iPad 3 Teardown
Who says that Southern California companies aren't at the core of the technology business? A new teardown of the Apple iPad 3, just posted by iFixit, shows that at least three semiconductor companies with Southern California connections are doing the heavy electronics lifting inside Apple's new device. San Diego-based Qualcomm, Irvine-based Broadcom and Skyworks Solutions, with operations in both Irvine and Newbury Park, have major chips in the new Apple iPad 2, based on the information uncover (More info...)
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Topspin Ties With MTV On Artists.MTV
Los Angeles-based Topspin and MTV said Thursday at SXSW that the two are in a new partnership, on a new initiative called Artists.MTV. The new project taps Topspin's marketing platform, to provide artists with pages on MTV with ways to connect with fans, and allows fans to buy music, merchandise, and tickets. The companies said that Artists.MTV will be open to all levels of musicians, and will give musicians access to MTV, VH1, and CMT's audience of 600 plus million TV viewers and 60 million onl (More info...)
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Hulu Updates Video Player
Viewers watching their favorite TV show on Hulu today might notice a slight change: the site's video player is now bigger, due to an update on the firm's web site Thursday. Hulu said the company updated its video player with one which is 55 percent larger, in addition to a number of other UI changes. Hulu explained the update came to provide the site with a "cleaner, crisper" look.
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Local Angels Back Technology Weight Loss Program Retrofit
A number of local angels have backed a technology-driven, weight loss program operator called RETROFIT. According to RETROFIT, it raised $2M in a financing round, which came from I2A Fund, New World Ventures, and FireStarter Fund, as well as angels. Those angels included Renee LaBran, a partner at local investor Rustic Canyon / Fontis Partners, and Howard Lindzon, the founder of San Diego-based StockTwits. LaBran's involvement was a personal investment, not a fund investment. RETROFIT operates a (More info...)
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Avalon Ventures Might Reap Cash In Zynga Offering
San Diego-based Avalon Ventures, one of the venture capital investors in social gaming phenomenon Zynga, may be set to cash in on its shares of the newly public gaming firm, after Zynga said this week that it is planning a $400M, secondary offering of its stock. Zynga said earlier in the week that it hopes to sell the $400M in stock, all of which is coming from its current shareholders, and which will not benefit the firm itself. Zynga's major backers are Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, IVP, U (More info...)
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textPlus Adds Windows Phone Support
Los Angeles-based textPlus, the developer of the popular free texting app on the iPhone and Android, has rolled out Windows Phone support, the company said yesterday. textPlus, which is venture backed by Matrix Partners, GRP Partners, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said that the new version of the app for Windows Phone supports all of the features of its iPhone and Android versions. textPlus offers up an app which lets users send texts for free to users in the U.S. and Canada, and is very (More info...)
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MyLife.com Buys Threadsy
Los Angeles-based MyLife, the online relationship management and networking service headed by Jeff Tinsley, said today that it has purchased the technology behind Threadsy, the developer of a unified communications client for email, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The acquisition comes five months after Threadsy shut down its operations, citing the challenge of the "economics behind the application."
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Docstoc's Jason Nazar Talks License123
Last week, Santa Monica-based Docstoc (www.docstoc.com), the online business documents site headed by Jason Nazar, launched a new website, called License123 (www.license123.com). The new site is a separate brand, offering up help to businesses trying to make sure their companies are properly licensed in whatever city and state they are operating in. It's an interesting new strategy for Docstoc, in that License123 exists as its own brand, and we thought it would be great to hear from Jason about (More info...)
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Live Nation Sets Up Venture Investment Fund
Los Angeles-based ticketing and concert management firm Live Nation is getting into the early stage investment business, announcing Wednesday that it has established the LN Labs Fund, which will invest in early stage technologies and entrepreneurs. The firm said the company is interested in funding "great new products that further engage fans and enrich the concert experience." Size of the fund was not announced. Live Nation said the new investment fund will be managed by Eric Garland, executive (More info...)
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Givit Inks Deal With CIsco's FlipShare
San Diego-based Givit, a new online video sharing service which is backed by ATA Ventures and JK&B Ventures, said today that it has linked its service with users of Cisco's Flip video camera and online video storage service FlipShare. According to Givit, it will provide a way for users of FlipShare with a way to private share videos with friends, family, and colleagues. Cisco, which is shutting down its Flip video division, has told its users that it will run its FlipShare service until December (More info...)
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Merck Invests $90M In San Diego Research Group
Biopharmaceuticals giant Merck said today that it is investing $90M in setting up a new, San Diego research organization, called Calibr. According to Merck, the new, independent not-for-profit will aim to accelerate translation of basic biomedical research into new medicines to treat disease, and will be led by Peter G. Schultz, Ph.D. z is a professor at The Scripps Research Institute. Merck said it will provide funding to Calibr of up to $90M over a period of seven years, and will retain an opt (More info...)
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Mark Burnett Invests In Youtoo
Los Angeles-based reality show producer Mark Burnett, and his company One Three Television LLC announced this morning that it has taken an ownership interest in startup Youtoo. Youtoo operates an online site which allows viewers to upload videos of themselves, and then incorporates those videos into live television. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. Burnett said that he will be integrating the technology from YouToo into series produced by his company. YooToo is based in Texa (More info...)
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