Thursday, May 31, 2012


RealD Wins Another Chinese Deal
Los Angeles-based RealD, which provides 3D movie projection technology, reported Thursday that it has scored another deal with a Chinese theater chain. RealD said that HNA Group will install RealD's 3D technology on up to 500 cinema screens across a newly formed cinema circuit, HNA Vigor Film Investment. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. RealD said the deal places the firm's future commitments to 1,250 screens in that country, on top of a current 650 cinema screens installed.
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Fisker Automotive Supplier A123 Heads Towards The Rocks
A major supplier to Anaheim-based Fisker Automotive looks to be in severe trouble, linked to issues uncovered in March by Fisker when one of that company's automobiles failed during testing with Consumer Reports. A123, a developer of battery modules which go into the Fisker Karma and other vehicles, said that--due to a field campaign to replace battery modules and packs with defective prismatic cells, including those used in the Karma--it is expecting to incur "net losses and negative operating (More info...)
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BUZZMEDIA Buys Electronic Music Blog XLR8R
Los Angeles-based BUZZMEDIA, the venture backed entertainment and digital media publishing firm behind such sites as Celebuzz, Sterogum, and Buzznet, has acquired electronic music blog site XLR8R, the firm said today. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. BUZZMEDIA, which is headed by Tyler Goldman, said the move goes toward accelerating the firm's growth. XLR8R has around 450,000 unique visitors per month.
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Grubwithus Gets $5M
Venice-based Grubwithus, which operates a service which helps connect people in real life with others over meals and food, said this week that it has raised $5M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by GRP Partners, and also included Michel Daher, a Lebanese entrepreneur. The firm said that Mark Suster of GRP Partners will join the company's board along with the funding. Grubwithus previously raised $1.6M in a seed funding last year from YCombinator, Ashton Kutcher, Andreessen Horowitz, (More info...)
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SpaceX Dragon Splashes Down In Successful Mission
The SpaceX Dragon, the spacecraft built and launched by commercial space firm SpaceX, has succesfully returned to earth, splashing down at 8:42 a.m. PT this morning off the coast of Baja, California. The spacecraft--the first commercial vehicle to ever launch into orbit and dock with the International Space Station (ISS)--is returning experiments, hardware, and other materials from the ISS as part of one of the first missions expected to iron out the use of SpaceX's rockets and spacecraft for re (More info...)
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Sky Dayton Backs Diffbot
Earthlink founder and Southern California entrepreneur Sky Dayton is leading an angel investment in a new startup out of Stanford, which is developing a service which allows developers to track changes and extract information out of web pages. Palo Alto-based Diffbot has raised $2M in an angel funding round, which included Sky Dayton, Andy Bechtolscheim (Sun Microsystems), Joi Ito, Maynard Webb (eBay), and several others. Dayton is joinig the company's board, according to TechCrunch, and will be (More info...)
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Cricket Offers Up iPhone Via Prepaid
Apple's popular iPhone has just jumped into the pre-paid wireless market, after San Diego-based Cricket Communications said that it will offer up the popular smartphone to its customers, starting at $55 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data. Cricket is the first, pre-paid carrier in the U.S. offering up the popular device. Cricket said it will offer both the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 via its prepaid plans, and will be available in Cricket's company owned stores and select dealers. Cricket is (More info...)
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SpaceX Dragon Scheduled For Return Today
The SpaceX Dragon, the commercial spacecraft built by Hawthorne-based SpaceX, is set to splash down in the Pacific this morning at 8:44 a.m. PT, after a successful detachment from the International Space Station earlier this morning. According to NASA, the Dragon detached from the ISS at 2:49 a.m. PT, and is now scheduled to splash down in the Pacific in the next few hours, somewhere west of Baja, California. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, said that the Dragon is now packed with 1,455 pounds of c (More info...)
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Teledyne Buys BlueView Technologies
Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies, the diversified provider of instrumentation, software, electronics, and other products for the aerospace, defense, and other markets, is continuing its acquisition strategy this morning, saying that it has acquired BlueView Technologies, a developer of high resolution acoustic imaging and measurement products. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Teledyne said the acquisition of BlueView will bolster its Teledyne Marine Group, which is focused (More info...)
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