Thursday, January 24, 2013Belkin Buys Linksys From CiscoLinksys, the Irvine-based manufacturer of network switches, wireless routers, and other products, has just been sold to Playa Vista-based Belkin, bringing the firm's corporate ownership back to Southern California. Belkin said Thursday that it has entered an agreement to acquire Cisco's Home Network Business Unit--which owns the Linksys business and brand, to help bolster its position in the home networking business. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. Linksys had been acquired by C (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
Webfest Taps Kim Kardashian For KeynoteWebfest Global, the annual domain name and online traffic monetization conference run by Oversee.net's DomainSponsor, announced Thursday that celebrity Kim Kardashian will be the conference's keynote speaker. Webfest (formerly known as DomainFest) has managed some fairly high level speakers at its events over the years, including Tony Hsieh of Zappos in 2010; Apple Founder Steve Wozniak in 2009; Bob Parsons of GoDaddy in 2011; and Biz Stone of Twitter in 2012. The conference caters to profession (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
AlpineReplay Takes Bragging Mobile For Skiers, SnowboardersIf you're a skier or snowboarder, it's often not just important to hit the slopes--it's often just as important to brag about all those vertical feet you've skied, the ski runs you've gone on, or the lifts you've ridden. That's what Huntington Beach-based AlpineReplay is counting on with its mobile apps which let you capture and share your ski slope experience with friends and others. According to AlpineReplay, winter sports enthusiasts are using its iPhone and Android apps to log more than 1 bi (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
CircuitHub, With Roots At UCLA, Launches Hub For Hardware DesignersA new startup looking to revolutionize the sharing of information on electronic parts for hardware designers, CircuitHub, launched today, looking to bring an open source, collaborative community to the sharing of electronic part libraries. The firm--co-founded and headed by UCLA Visiting Scholar Jon Friedman--has created an online site which lets hardware designers tap into the data sheets, symbols, components, and footprints of electronic components, for free, either by downloading or by connec (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
Doorbot Hits $250K Crowdfunding GoalDoorbot, the wireless, video-enabled doorbell created by Santa Monica-based Edison Jr., the hardware project and idea startup headed by Jamie Siminoff, has reached its crowdfunding goal of $250,000, according to Edison Jr. The firm said that the device is now headed into manufacturing stage, and is expected to be delivered in July of 2013. Doorbot is the latest hardware project from Siminoff's Edison Jr., which has also been trying to bring its POP Charger to market. Edison Jr's earlier POP Char (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
Gobbler Gets $1.5M MoreLos Angeles-based Gobbler, the cloud-based media backup, file sharing, and collaboration software provider run by Chris Kantrowitz, has raised $1.5M in a funding round, the firm said today. The funding came from celebrities Ryan Tedder (One Republic), Jared Leto, and Troy Carter (Lady Gaga's business manager). Gobbler develops a cloud-based service, specifically aimed at musicians, for helping them send files, collaborate with others, and back up their music. The new funding comes on top of exis (More info...)
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Central Desktop Accelerates File TransfersCentral Desktop, the Los Angeles-based provider of cloud-based, collaboration software, said today that it has tapped into technology from Aspera to speed file transfers for digital assets. Central Desktop said the move was aimed at helping creative agencies and marketing teams deal with large file transfer sizes, which apparently are an issue for creative teams and agencies. FInancial details of the link were not disclosed. Central Desktop said it is using Aspera's fasp protocol to increase fil (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
TapShare Takes On Social, Mobile Photo SharingA new, Los Angeles startup is hoping to break into the mobile, photo sharing market with it new app, Tapshare, specifically aimed at letting groups share their photos in a single, mobile photo album. The startup--founded by Myke Armstrong and Jacob Fatoorechi--said the app was originally created to better connect people at parties and events, and is now being used by bands and artists. The bootstrapped company's app runs on iOS 4.3 or later, and is free on iTunes. Tapshare said it is looking to (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
THQ Details Buyers, Numbers After Fire SaleTroubled Agoura Hills-based videogame maker THQ has officially been broken up into pieces and sold, according to the firm Wednesday evening, after a U.S. Bankruptcy Court has granted a motion to approve a sale of the majority of THQ's assets to multiple buyers. THQ detailed the sale Wednesday night, saying the company's estate will receive approximately $72M in total through the sales of its owned studios and games in development.
Relic Studios goes to Sega Corporation for $26.6M; Volition (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
BlackLine Systems Ties With Professional Services FirmBlackLine Systems, the developer of financial software used for automating financial close processes at companies, said it has linked with Los Angeles-based professional services firm The Goetzman Group. According to BlackLine, the link will provide its accounting and finance software along with professional services to large organizations in the Southern California region. The two companies said that the two already have entered into a strategic alliance, where The Goetzman Group will provide e (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
Retention Science Links With MagentoSanta Monica-based Retention Science, the developer of big data software being used to help e-commerce companies covert more customers, has linked into e-commerce engine Magento, the firm is announcing today. Magento said that it has added a new extension to Magento called the "Customer Profiling Engine", which will help online stores with automating personalized retention campaigns for customers. Retention Science--which is out of the MuckerLab accelerator, and headed by Jerry Jao--is applying (More info...)
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)
FutureLogic Names New CFOGlendale-based FutureLogic, the manufacturer of thermal ticket printers, announced yesterday that it has named Tony Shepherd as its new Chief FInancial Officer. Shepherd has previously served at PricewaterhouseCoopers, FTI Consulting, ExtruMed, Trinity Capital, and Barrington Associates. Former CFO Jon Huntley joins the company's board of directors. FutureLogic said Shepherd will oversee corporate finance and accounting, HR and IT.
posted on Thursday, January 24, 2013(Full story)