Monday, February 4, 2013Competition Heats Up For DogVacay, As Rover Gains FundsDogVacay, the online peer-to-peer marketplace which helps pet owners find dog sitters, has been one of the favorites of local Los Angeles investors, having picked up funding from such firms as Science Inc., Andreessen Horowitz, Baroda Ventures, Benchmark Capital, First Round Capital, and others. However, it looks like there's another dog loose in the neighborhood, after a direct competitor-Rover.com--announced an additional funding round Monday, for its own, peer-to-peer dog sitting marketplace. (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
News Corp. In Repeat With Sale To Local Tech FirmDoes this sound familiar? News Corp. spends hundreds of millions of dollars on a media property, runs it for about seven years, and then decides to unload that same property for a fraction of the price it paid to a Southern California technology--not media--company. MySpace? Well, could be. How about IGN? That appears to be the story (again) today, after news that Ziff Davis, the publisher owned by Los Angeles-based J2 Global, has acquired IGN. That deals loooks to be worth around $100M, based (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
MaintenanceNet Wins PanasonicEnterprise software might be considered on the boring side for some of those in the technology world, but it looks like the industry is being good to Carlsbad-based MaintenanceNet. The firm, which develops software-as-a-service used by companies to automate warranty and maintenance contract management, reported another win this morning, with Panasonic. The firm said it has implemented its platform for Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, which is the primary B2B technology s (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
GameSalad Ships Universal Binaries For iOSGameSalad, the Los Angeles- and Austin-based developer of software which makes it easy for game developers to develop their own, Apple iOS and web games without coding, has just launched a new, universal binary for ioS. The new feature--which debuted last week--means that developers no longer have to create separate targets and apps for each of Apple's various platforms when using GameSalad. GameSalad's tools allow developers to drag and drop components, and wire those together to create iOS, An (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
Making A Sport Out of Shopping On Little Black Bag, With Dan MurilloWhen is shopping a sport? When it's all about trading, swapping, lucky finds, and more--explains Dan Murillo, who is CEO and Founder of Little Black Bag (www.littleblackbag.com), an online e-commerce community based in Los Angeles. Little Black Bag is centered around serendipity, luck, and fashion--letting users not only get fashion items they like, but allows them to gain a "mystery bag" of fashion items, which they can trade and exchange with others. We caught up with Dan to hear about how the (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
j2 Global Buys IGN EntertainmentLos Angeles-based j2 Global, the provider of cloud-based business and telephony services, said today that it has acquired IGN Entertainment, the video game, entertainment, and men's lifestyle publisher, via is Ziff Davis subsidiary. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The acquisition significantly bolsters j2's media properties.
j2 Global said the acquisition will more than double its digital media business. j2 moved into digital media in only November, when it purchased Ziff Davis (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
Hulu Users Select Top Super Bowl XLVII Commercials
It looks like the serious commercials won the popularity contest during the Super Bowl, at least according to voting on Hulu, on its Super Bowl XLVII commercial site. Hulu--which again ran its Hulu Adzone section again this year to let people see the new Super Bowl ads in real time, said its voting from viewers this year ranked the top commercial during the Super Bowl. The top ads, according to Hulu, were:
1. Ram Trucks: Farmer
2. Budweiser: Brotherhood
3. Taco Bell: Viva Young
4. Volksw (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
Legend3D Gains $8M For 3D EffectsLegend3D a developer of 3D visual effects and 3D conversion technology, announced this morning that it has raised $8M in a Series B funding round. The Carlsbad-based company said that the funding was led by Augustus Ventures Limited and Northwater Capital Management, via its Intellectual Property Fund. Legend3D's 2D-to-3D conversion technology is used by moviemakers to convert films into 3D format; the firm said its most recently work has been on such titles as Top Gun 3D, Oz: The Great and Powe (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013 (More)(Full story)
Covario Snags CMO From OpenTextSan Diego-based Covario is announcing today that it has hired a chief marketing officer, James Latham, who was last the CMO of OpenText, Canada's largest software company. According to Covario, which develops search marketing software, tools, and services, Latham will help provide strategic marketing advice and counsel to the firm. Latham has also served at McCann-Erickson. Covario is headed by Russ Mann and is backed by such companies as FTVentures, Dubilier & Company and Voyager Capital.
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
Qualcomm Wins $12.4M In LawsuitSan Diego-based Qualcomm reported today that it has received $12.4M in attorney's fees, from Gabriel Technologies, which had sued Qualcomm over patent infringement claims. Qualcomm said the United States District Judge ordered the payment for pursuing objectively baseless claims against Qualcomm in bad faith. Gabriel had sued Qualcomm in October of 2008 over patents. Qualcomm said it was represented by Cooley LLP in the lawsuit, Gabriel Technologies Incorporated and Trace Technologies v. Qualco (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
ServiceNow Ties With Hitachi On Japanese ExpansionSan Diego-based enterprise IT management software developer ServiceNow reported this morning that it is expanding into the Japanese market, via a deal with Hitachi Solutions, a unit of Hitachi Group. ServiceNow said that Hitachi Solutions is its first business partner in Japan, and will provide its software-as-a-service to the Japanese market. Hitachi Solutions will provide implementation, training and first-level support for Japanese customers for ServiceNow. ServiceNow develops software used (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)
ViaSat In $34M Contract AwardCarlsbad-based ViaSat, the satellite communications operator and developer, reported a $34M contract win this morning. The win came from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), and will go towards developing a crytographic module used for satellite communications by the Navy, Marines Corps, and Army. The company said the funds go towards the design, development, and production of a cryptographic module for the Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) Program Office (M (More info...)
posted on Monday, February 4, 2013(Full story)