Wednesday, July 18, 2012


RightScale Buys ShopForCloud For Cloud Forecasting
Santa Barbara-based cloud managmeent software developer RightScale is launching a brand new product for cloud cost forecasting, thanks to the acquisition of ShopForCloud, a Scotland company developing free cloud forecasting software, the firm announced Wednesday. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to RightScale, which is headed by Michael Crandell, it has rebranded ShopForCloud's product as PlanForCloud, which allows companies to model various cloud architectures (More info...)
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Siminoff's Latest Project: POP Charger
Jamie Siminoff, the former CEO of Unsubscribe.com, has a new project, and--rather than angel of venture capital funding--he's turned to none other than Kickstarter to fund it. Siminoff launched POP, a project to create what he calls the "largest portable device charger available" on Kickstarter this week, looking to raise $50,000 to fund the effort. POP is a rechargable, portable battery with a 25,000 mAh battery, capable of charging multiple, electronic devices at once. POP's project page on Ki (More info...)
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Report: Amonix Shuts Vegas Factory
Seal Beach-based photovoltaic power firm Amonix has shut its Las Vegas factory, according to a report from the Los Angeles Review-Journal, some further bad news for the heavily backed solar panel manufacturer. Amonix--which had raised $129.4M in funding from Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers--has been suffering since the unexpected death of its CEO, Brian Roberts, in a plane crash in December. The firm has had a series of layoffs since then. Amonix apparently had, at one point, as many as 700 e (More info...)
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Obalon Raises $16.5M For Weight Loss Technology
San Diego-based Obalon said Wednesday afternoon that it has raised $16.5M, in a Series C funding. The funding was led by InterWest Partners, and also included Domain Associates and Okapi Venture Capital. Obalon is a developer of gastric balloon technology which is used for weight loss therapy; the firm's medical device is swallowed, and then remotely inflated, which creates a feeling of fullness which helps people to eat less. The firm said it is currently enrolling patient in a U.S. clincal tr (More info...)
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MaxLinear Sued By Competitor
Carlsbad-based MaxLinear, which develops radio frequency and mixed signal semiconductors, has been sued by one if its competitors, Silicon Laboratories. Silicon Laboratories said it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against MaxLinear in the Southern District of California, San Diego Division. Silicon Labs said it now has patent litigation against MaxLinear covering twenty of its patent related to RF and mixed-signal design. Silicon Labs said it is asking the court for an injunction stoppin (More info...)
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Media Temple Ties With Virb
Los Angeles-based Media Temple, the web hosting firm, is partnering with Virb to help small businesses, artists, musicians, and others to create their own web sites, the firms said this morning. According to the two, they have integrated their services, which will provide access to both firms' tools for site building, domain names, email, and web hosting. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Virb provides a service which helps creative types to create their own websites.
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Retention Science Gets $1.3M For Ecommerce Software
Santa Monica-based Retention Science, a new startup out of the MuckerLab accelerator, is announcing this morning that it has raised $1.3M in a seed funding. The firm, which is developing big data software for helping e-commerce sites to attract and retain customers, said the funding came from Baroda Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Double M Partners, as well as angels Bong Koh (Lifecrowd), Clark Landry (GraphEffect), Kunal Anand (BBC; MySpace; Gravity), Mike Greenfield (Circle of Moms), Paige Cr (More info...)
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Interview with Allison Dollar, SnapCuts
In a mobile world, what's a unique way to reach out to your friends and others? One way is to create your own, custom video clip which you can share via email, text message, or through a social networking site like Facebook. Los Angeles-based SnapCuts (www.snapcuts.com) does just that, allow users to tap into a wide collection of clips, which can be re-mixed, combined with text, and sent to your friends. We spoke with Allison Dollar, Chief Strategy Officer at the company and member of the foundi (More info...)
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Report: Buy.com's Grover, Giraudi Stepping Down
Neel Grover, the CEO of Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com, along with COO Greg Giraudi are stepping down on September 1st, according to an internal note published by TechCrunch. Buy.com, which was acquired by Rakuten in 2010, has not publicly announced the move, but the note from Grover said that he will remain on the company's board. No reasons for the move were given, however, the two said in the note they will be "pursuing some other professional interests" and board seats.
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eHow Targets Mom With Mothers Channel
Santa Monica-based eHow, the online advice and information site owned by Demand Media, is targeting mothers with a new channel, the company said today. eHow said it has launched a new eHow Mom Channel, specifically designed to provide information to mothers. The channel actually launched in May. eHow said it already is seeing around 14 million mothers visiting the site a month.
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San Diego Tech Coast Angels Open Quick Pitch Apps
Startups interested in pitching to the San Diego arm of the Tech Coast Angels can now submit their applications to the group, the TCA announced Tuesday evening. The group, which runs its pitch competitions in both San Diego and Los Angeles multiple times during the year, said it is looking for any entrepreneur in Southern California willing to make a 2-minute pitch to investors. The San Diego group is running its quick pitch in October at Qualcomm Hall; the group said it is looking for companies (More info...)
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DTS Signs Samsung
Calabasas-based DTS, the developer of surround sound and other audio technology, reported Tuesday that it is in a partnership with Samsung Electronics. DTS said that Samsung will integrate its audio products into select models of its 2012 premium Smart TV line. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. The technology will be used to deliver surround sound on the television line.
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LeisureLink Signs Wholesale Travel Firm
Pasadena-based LeisureLink, the developer of travel booking software and services, has added a new customer, the firm said Tuesday. LeisureLink said that Tourico Holidays, a global wholesale travel provider has established a partnership with the firm, to help expand the properties it distributes. Financial details of the link were not announced. Tourico Holiday sis a provider of vacation home rentals. The two said that the move adds more than 1,000 properties from LeisureLink into Tourico Holida (More info...)
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