Wednesday, December 5, 2012ValueClick Shuffles CEOOnline advertising firm ValueClick said late Wednesday that it has named John Giuliani as its new President and CEO, replacing former CEO James R. Zarley. Zarley becomes Executive Chairman of ValueClick's board of directors. No reason for the change was given by the company, and ValueClick said there would be no change to either Mr. Giuliani's or Mr. Zarley's compensation as part of the move. Zarley served as CEO of valueClick from 1999 to May of 2007, chairman between May of 2007 to April 2010, (More info...)
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YouMail Increases Focus On Revenues With New ChangesWhat's the hardest part of running a freemium business? When you've got to pull back your free features, in order to make sure those free accounts don't overwhelm your resources. That's the lesson being learned by YouMail this week, as the firm announced that it would be changing some of its free services. YouMail, which offers up both free and paid, enhanced voicemail services, said it is no longer supporting SMS alerts in its free service, adding more advertising, and making other changes to b (More info...)
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TechForward Wins Lawsuit Against Best BuyLos Angeles-based TechForward, the provider of guaranteed buyback plans for electronics which was founded by Jade Van Doren and Marc Lebovitz, has just won a $27M lawsuit it filed against Best Buy. TechForward sued Best Buy in February of 2011, over Best Buy's creation of a near clone of TechForward's business. TechForward was venture backed by New Enterprise Associates and First Round Capital, and had initially launched its services in 2007. TechForward's buyback program had allowed consumers t (More info...)
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DocStoc's ExpertCircle Provides Business Advice, By PhoneAre you a small business owner, wishing you had a person on call who you could call to ask questions about marketing, legal human resources, accounting, or other topics? A new service called ExpertCircle, run by Santa Monica's DocStoc, has just launched into beta, allowing business owners to call and get expert advice on all of their business questions. According to the service, it will connect small business owners with professional experts over the phone for answers to all of their business qu (More info...)
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CLU Boots Up New Startup CenterIn an effort to bolster startups and entrepreneurs in the San Fernando, East Ventura and Santa Clarita Valleys, a group has just started a new Center for Entrepreneurship and Growth, which will provide training, coaching, consulting, and other resources for local entrepreneurs. The new effort--which is being backed The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at College of the Canyons, California Lutheran University (CLU), Homeier & Law, P.C., and the Maverick Angels--said it will choose up to 2 (More info...)
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SpaceX Wins Two Air Force MissionsHawthorne-based SpaceX has scored a new win today, this time, with the United States Air Force. According to SpaceX, it has been awarded two, Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)-class missions by the USAF, which will launch on the SpaceX Falcon in 2014 and 2015. The first mission is for the Falcon 9, and the second on the Falcon Heavy, the SpaceX rocket which is expected to be the most powerful in the world since the Saturn V. The Air Force missions are worth up to $900M, according to info (More info...)
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SoCal's Online Video Companies Weigh In On Gangnam Style EarningsHow much is Korean pop star Psy making with his viral "Gangnam Style" video on YouTube? Based on recent figures from a number of Southern California's online video companies, anything from $870,000 to $1.7M. Two recent reports--one in New York Magazine, using figures from Mahalo's Jason Calanis--and another from the AP, quoting the folks at TubeMogul, have tried to decode the economics behind the viral music video from Psy. Both reports are unusual, in sourcing payout rates on YouTube channels, (More info...)
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LA's Ninjathat Exits Philly's Dreamit VenturesOne of the most recently graduates of the DreamIt Ventures accelerator in Philadelphia--which is holding its Demo Day today--is none other than Los Angeles company NinjaThat. The startup operates an online marketplace that allows businesses and individuals to hire students "on-demand" to accomplish tasks for them. The startup, headed by Atif Siddiqi, said the company came out of a desire to help recent graduates, and to help them build an "employment graph" so they can leave college with more ex (More info...)
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Connecting People Over Food, With SupperKing and Kai StubbeWhat's the best way to meet new people and friends? Supperking (http://www.supperking.com./), a newly launched startup, is hoping that one of those ways will be over a home cooked meal you discover over the phone's iPhone application. We spoke with CEO Kai Stubbe to hear about how SupperKing is looking to create a service--inspired by collaborative consumption sites like Airbnb--which will let people host meals in their homes for strangers, to get to meet new people, show off your cooking skill (More info...)
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StackSocial Partners With Digital TrendsVenice-based StackSocial, which develops an e-commerce platform for publishers, said today that it has partnered with technology publication Digital Trends. StackSocial said that the deal will offer up new products via a new "Digital Trends Deals" section, which will offer up new apps and products to users. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. StackSocial said that Digital Trends provides technology editorials, reviews, and more to over 15 million tech enthusiasts every month. Stack (More info...)
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Call of Duty: Black Ops II Tops $1 Billion Sales MarkSanta Monica-based videogame developer Activision Publishing, which is a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, reports that its newly launched title, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, just crossed the $1 billion mark in retail sales. Activision said it reached that retail sales mark just fifteen days after launch. Activision said the numbers came via Chart-Track retail customer sell-through information and internal company estimates. The sales beat the company's prior release, Call of Duty: Modern Warefa (More info...)
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FitOrbit Partners With BodyMediaLos Angeles-based online personal training site FitOrbit said this morning that it has partnered with fitness monitoring device provider BodyMedia. The two said that calorie burn and activity data from BodyMedia's armbands will be sent directly to FitOrbit's online trainers, letting those trainers better manage meal and workout plans for members. Financial details of the integration deal were not disclosed. The two said the move will automatically update a FitOrbit subscriber's activity journal, (More info...)
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Cinedigm Sets Software HeadLos Angeles-based digital cinema technology developer Cinedigm said Tuesday that it has named Dan Sherlock as its President of Cinedigm Software. Cinedigm said that he will be responsible for production, technology, business development, sales, and marketing at the company. SHerlock was previously president of Baseline, and also served at The Walt Disney Company, where he was Vice President and General Manager of Movies.com. Cinedigm's software includes software to run back end office operations (More info...)
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uSamp's Mobile App Pays Users For Business IntelligenceuSamp, a provider of technology and survey respondents for the market research industry, has an offer for smartphone users: use the company's app to take photos, provide real-time feedback, or scan a barcode, and get cash and other rewards. uSamp said today that it has been running an effort called uSamp's Mobile Army, which lets users get rewards for gathering business intelligence for companies. uSamp said users who download iPoll can choose from over 300 options, ranging from gift cards, gami (More info...)
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