Wednesday, October 10, 2012Google's PageSpeed Exits BetaGoogle announced Wednesday that it has released its mod_pagespeed project--which automatically optimizes and speeds up web pages accesses for website owners using Apache--out of beta. The move allows customers of such companies as Los Angeles-based Dreamhost and Los Angeles content delivery network provider Edgecast--two of the launch partners of Google's PageSpeed--to automatically see speed increases in the retrieval of their web pages by users. Google's Pagespeed module does all that is requi (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2012(Full story)
CityGrid Slashes StaffIn the latest cuts among Silicon Beach's high tech community, CityGrid, which runs Citysearch, Insider Pages, and Urbanspoon--has laid off a chunk of its staff, including a significant number of Los Angeles employees. Initial news of the cuts, which were made in the last couple of days, came through recruiters and others close to the company. Citygrid did not respond to emails for comment yesterday from socalTECH, however, TechCrunch is placing the size of the cuts at 15 percent of the company. (More info...)
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Three Southern California Firms Get EETimes FocusSemiconductor and electronics industry publication EETimes has identified three of Southern California's semiconductor startups among its annual list of sixty startups to watch in the industry. The magazine, in its list of startups worth watching, identified Efficient Power Conversion Corp. in El Segundo; RFaxis in Irvine; and Transphorm in Goleta as companies in its list, which was based on evaluating technology, market, maturity, financial position, investors, and leadership. The three are amo (More info...)
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Convertro Launches New ProductConvertro, the new advertising analytics and optimization technology firm headed by Jeff Zwelling, has released a new product today, saying it has launched a product which helps figure out attribution of such things as Twitter streams, YouTube channels, Pinterest pins, and Facebook to sales, in addition to tracking of display advertising, paid search, and other online advertisements. The firm said its product provides "attribution credit" to those assets--which it calls owned media assets--even (More info...)
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Contur Getting Set To Beta Automatic Email OrganizerLos Angeles-based Contur, the email organization software developer recently launched out of StartEngine, told its users that it's getting set to release its automatic email organizer. The firm said that its software is now able to sort emails automatically into inboxes 80 percent of the time, and is getting set for a closed beta of the new service. The company's software is aimed at helping users organize their emails by task, projects, and more.
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Latest New World Ventures Firm On IPO TrackIO Data Centers, The newest portfolio company of New World Ventures, the venture investment arm of The Pritzker Group--which has been one of the most active local investors in Los Angeles in recent months--is already on track to an IPO, according to a report. FORTUNE said that IO Data Centers, which recently raised $90M (with $50M from New World Ventures) is hoping to be listed publicly by 2013, according to IO's CEO. The investment in IO is apparently the largest, ever investment by New World V (More info...)
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SpaceX Dragon Docks Successfully With ISSHawthorne-based SpaceX has had another big milestone today, after NASA reported that the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft successfully docked with the International Space Station this morning at 9:03 a.m. EDT. SpaceX launched its first, cargo carrying mission to the ISS Sunday evening. According to NASA, the SpaceX Dragon was captured by Expdition 33 Commander Suni Willians by the station's robotic arm, with the capsule securely bolted to the station. The hatch to the Dragon is scheduled to be opened t (More info...)
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How GridTest Is Helping To Build The Next Electric Car, With Neal RocheThe clean technology sector is infamous for taking a big toll on startups--requiring large investments, risky technology propositions, steep international competition, and fickle government policies. How do you create a business around the still-emerging market of electric vehicles and avoid those issues? One way is developing testing tools and infrastructure around that market, to help those manufacturers in their research and development, which is just what Calabasas-based GridTest Systems (ww (More info...)
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New World Leads Big Investment In Data Center Technology DeveloperNew World Ventures, the venture capital arm of The Pritzker Group, is the lead investor in a big, $90M funding round for a developer of data center technology and services. Phoenix-based IO, which develops modular data center technology, said it raised $90M in a funding led by New World Ventures, which is based in Chicago but has recently been ramping up its Los Angeles investing efforts. IO said that New World Ventures contributed $50M to the round, which was the largest single transaction in t (More info...)
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SGN Launches Effort Supporting Ocean ConservationLos Angeles-based game developer SGN, the mobile and social gaming firm headed by former MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe, has kicked off an effort to help support ocean conservation via a relationship with EarthEcho International, a nonprofit headed by Phillippe Cousteau. The two said they are partnering to raise awareness and charitable donations for ocean conservation. As part of that partnership, the two said that SGN's Rescue Reef mobile game will include EarthEcho branded items in the game, a (More info...)
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Qualcomm Signs Brazilian Electronics ManufacturerSan Diego-based Qualcomm and Brazilian electronics manufacturer Semp Toshiba are in a new 3G and 4G license agreement, the two said this morning. The companies said that Qualcomm has granted Semp Toshiba a patent license to sell 3G WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, and 4G OFDMA (LTE) equipment in Brazil. Financial terms of the licensing deal were not disclosed. Qualcomm said that Semp Toshiba will pay it licensing fees as it standard worldwide rates. Semp Toshiba is an electronics manufacturer, selling desktops, (More info...)
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