Thursday, May 24, 2012SpaceX Docking With ISS Early Tomorrow AMHawthorne-based SpaceX said Thursday evening that it will be webcasting the docking of the firm's Dragon capsule with the International Space Station tomorrow morning, at the early hour of 4:30 A.M. PST. SpaceX, which so far has successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket, deployed its Dragon capsule, and had a successful flyby of the ISS, is getting set to dock the capsule tomorrow in the first, ever, berthing of a commercial spacecraft with the ISS.
SpaceX--a venture backed startup headed by (More info...)
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Crowdfunder Gets $400K For Crowdfunding SiteLos Angeles-based Crowdfunder, an online crowd funding site headed by Chance Barnett, has raised $400,000 in seed funding, according to reports today. The firm offers up an online web site where companies get solicit funding for their startups, providing a pitch, supporting documents, and other information on their firms, and people can follow companies they might be interested in funding. According to TechCrunch, the firm is currently limiting users to accredited investors, until the JOBS act t (More info...)
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Triptrotting Adds Golden Seeds, Boosts Round To $1.5MLos Angeles-based Triptrotting, the online site which helps connects travelers with other like-minded, local hosts, has boosted its funding round to $1.5M, and added angel investment group Golden Seeds. The firm, which announced the first close of its Series A in March, said co-investors include Google Ventures, Idealab, LaunchpadLA, 500 Startups, WI Harper Group and individual angels. Triptrotting was founded by Aigerim Shorman and Shana Zheng. The firm is part of the LaunchpadLA accelerator. T (More info...)
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CoreLogic Sues RedfinSanta Ana-based CoreLogic, the Orange County provider of real estate, mortgage, and other related databases and information services, has sued Internet real estate broker Redfin, over patents related to home price valuation. CoreLogic's lawsuit says that Redfin is infringing on its patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,361,201, covering real estate appraisal using predictive modeling. The lawsuit, CoreLogic Solutions, LLC v. Redfin Corporation, was filed last night in the Texas Eastern District Court, a po (More info...)
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ShareSquare Unveils New Mobile Restaurant Service, TacoGridLos Angeles-based ShareSquare, the developer of mobile marketing services founded by Matthias Galica, said today that it is targeting the restaurant industry with a new service called TacoGrid. The firm said that TacoGrid will automatically general mobile site for restaurants, aimed at restaurants in the top 50 cities in the U.S., which will feature menus from SinglePlatform, and tips and specials from Foursquare. ShareSquare said the new site will be completely free to restaurants, but will als (More info...)
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AeroVironment Eyes Civilian Market With FCC DemoMonrovia, California-based unmanned aircraft maker Aerovironment said today that it is looking to demonstrate the use of its small, unmanned aircraft for use in post-disaster communications, for the Federal Communications Commission. The UAV maker, which currently sells its aircraft to the military, said the demonstration is for the FCC's Deployable Aerial Communications Architecture (DACA) Notice of Inquiry (NOI) proceedings, which is aimed at finding aerial platforms to help bring communicatio (More info...)
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Lifecrowd, EventUp Team UpTwo of the newest startups to emerge out of Southern California's technology and accelerator scene, Lifecrowd, and Eventup, are partnering, to join Lifecrowd's social activities site with Eventup's service to help people book exclusive private residences and locations for their events. According to the two, they will showcase "distinctive" Eventup locations with Lifecrowd's activities, through a series of events. Lifecrowd the first startup out of Erik Rannala's MuckerLab accelerator program, an (More info...)
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SpaceX Dragon Approaches ISS, Set For Docking FridayThe historic mission to the International Space Station by Hawthorne-based SpaceX progressed further Wednesday, after NASA reported that SpaceX successfully completed an approach to the ISS. The SpaceX Dragon passed directly below the ISS, 2.5 km from the space station, part of testing before a closer approach which will lead to the docking of the SpaceX Dragon with the station on Friday. NASA reported this morning that SpaceX's Dragon capsule is now departing the vicinity of the International S (More info...)
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Paramount Pictures Licenses Movies To Amazon PrimeHollywood studio Paramount Pictures is extending out distribution of its movies with a new deal with Amazon.com, Amazon said Wednesday. Amazon said that it will bring hundreds of movies from Paramount to its Prime Instant Video service, its subscription, video on demand service. Financial details of the licensing deal were not disclosed. The deal covers such popular titles as Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Mission Impossible 3, Clueless, Nacho Libre, and others. Amazon's streaming video service now i (More info...)
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Zebit Gets $25M For Microlending SiteZebit, a microlending and financial transactions platform in the UK which is owned by San Diego-based Global Analytics Holdings, said it has raised $25M in a Series D funding round this morning. According to the firm, the round was led by Mohr Davidow, and also included Crosslink Capital, Leapfrog Ventures, QED Investors, and a number of private strategic advisors. Zebit operates a service which allows users in the UK to borrow small amounts of money for a short period of time, and uses data ana (More info...)
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GameFly Plans iOS, Android Mobile Games EffortLos Angeles-based videogame rental service GameFly said Wednesday that it is planning to start publishing its own, mobile games for Apple iOS and Android, and will also open up a store for third party, Android games. As part of the effort, GameFly said it has created a new game development fund, and will be working with mobile developers to help them publish and promote their titles. The company said it hopes to publish its first title this summer.
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