Tuesday, April 30, 2013Machinima Hits Xbox 360Los Angeles-based YouTube entertainment channel Machinima launched on Xbox LIVE Tuesday, the first third party app to launch worldwide on Microsoft's Xbox 360 marketplace. The launch--which was first detailed by Microsoft and Machinima last week--lets users access a large library of Machinima's shows, including Inside Gaming Daily, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, and many other series. Machinima produces a huge amount of gaming-related content, which it publishes directly to users via YouTube and o (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2013(Full story)
Local Market Launch Scores $1.5M
Santa Barbara-based Local Market Launch, a new startup founded by former ValueClick founder Brian Coryat, said Tuesday that it has raised $1.5M in a Series A funding round. The round came from Rincon Venture Partners. According to Local Markte Launch, it is developing a "local presence solution" which helps businesses get found easier by search engines, by optimizing business listings on the local level. The company said it has now raised $2.7M in funding, including an earlier seed funding.
(More info...)
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United Online's Goldston To ResignMark Golston, the longtime CEO and Chairman of United Online, is planning to retire from the firm after the company spins off its FTD segment as a separate, publicly traded entity. According to a filing from United Online, Goldston will resign both as an officer and director of the firm immediately after the spinoff. The company said the move would come due to a "change in control" at United Online, and that will make the employment change an "involuntary termination" giving him entitlement to s (More info...)
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Report: Coda Automotive Buried in LawsuitsIn what looks like more bad news for Southern California's electric car dreams, Santa Monica-based Coda Automotive is apparently up to its neck in lawsuits from its vendors, from payment issues at the company. According to a report from GigaOm, Coda is fending off lawsuits from one of its car engineering and development partners, a company which handles events, a billing and accounts receivables company, and an employee. It looks like it will be a struggle for CODA to avoid the fate of Fisker Au (More info...)
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Mindspeed Seeks Buyer, Hires Investment BankerAnother day, another Southern California high tech company on the block: Newport Beach-based semiconductor developer Mindspeed said late Tuesday afternoon that it has retained Morgan Stanley & Co., the investment bank, to help the firm with "strategic alternatives". Mindspeed did not give other details on the move, however, "strategic alternatives" is widely used as the codeword for "looking for a buyer" in the industry. The move came as Mindspeed announced preliminary second quarter 2013 revenu (More info...)
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Women of Silicon Beach: The Infographic
Who says that there aren't powerful women in Silicon Beach's startup ecosystem? A new infographic highlights some of the women who are making waves along Silicon Beach, for their efforts in creating new companies and businesses. The new infographic shows the educational background and companies of some of the women who will be talking at an upcoming Broads Circle event on their experience running companies here.
The Broads Circle event is May 22nd.
posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2013(Full story)
Google Links Results To Fandango, Slacker, OthersIn a move to better integrate the company's search results with third party sites, Google announced today that it will be integrating app activites into Google Search. As part of that move, Google said it will be surfacing the most popular user activity on sites such as Los Angeles-based movie service Fandango, San Diego-based music service Slacker, as well as a half dozen other popular online services.
According to Fandango, searches on Google.com will offer up top movies ranked by trailer vi (More info...)
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Kuyam Debuts Mobile AppsLos Angeles-based startup Kuyam said today that it has launched two, new mobile apps--one for the iPhone, another for Android--which allows users to schedule appointments at local services such as spas, fitness classes, gymnastics classes, and more. The startup--which debuted its online service in March--said the new, free apps let users find all kinds of services and book appointments that fit their schedule. Kuyam was founded by Kourosh Gohar. The company is specifically targeting busy mothers (More info...)
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Hulu: Streaming, Subscriptions Up
Los Angeles-based Hulu released some new numbers on the use of the company's streaming video today, saying that it has set new records for revenue, video streaming, and subscribers to Hulu Plus. The company said that it streamed more than 1 billion content videos in Q1 of this year, and doubled subscriptions to its Hulu Plus subscription service in 2012. According to Hulu, it now has more than 4 million subscribers to its service, the record for new subscribers.
Hulu, via the note from acti (More info...)
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SolarCity Expands In Riverside With New Operations Center
In some good news for the Inland empire, solar financing firm SolarCity said today that it has opened up a brand new, U.S. operations center in Riverside, with big hiring plans in the location. According to SolarCity, its new 35,000 square-foot facility is currently staffed by 75 employees, and has an additional 20 job openings; the firm said it expects to hire an additional 50 this year in the location.
Silicon Valley-based SolarCity--which recently went public--is a provider of financing (More info...)
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STEAM Carnival's Education Combines Robots, Lasers, Cotton CandyWhat do you get when you cross science and technology education with a carnival? In the case of a new effort by Two Bit Circus, the think tank of Brent Bushnell, you get the STEAM Carnival, a traveling, high-tech project aimed at using "robotics, lasers, acrobatics, and cotton candy" to rethink STEM education. The new project--launched on Kickstarter today--seeks to inspire young inventors in science, technology, engineering, art, and math through its circus-themed, high tech amusement event. Th (More info...)
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BEASTMODE.FM's Galica Calls It QuitsOne of the most promising of Silicon Beach's startup entrepreneurs, Matthias Galica, has called it quits--literally. Galica, in post to Silicon Beach's startup community via StartupDigest, said he has resigned from the startup world, departing his company BEASTMODE.FM and has quit helping to curate StartupDigest. Galica said he actually abandoned BEASTMODE.FM (and its predecessor, ShareSquare) in January. The move apparently comes as Galica is looking to overcome health problems. Galica posted r (More info...)
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Reaching Girls With MobiGirl Media's Girl-Friendly Mobile Ad Network
It seems like a "no-brainer" -- young girls are among the biggest audiences for mobile games, and there's a huge subculture of games targeted at iPhone-carrying girls. Yet, it seems like there's no easy way to specifically advertise on those games, or a way for those game developers to monetize that audience. However, Mobigirl Media (www.mobigirlmedia.com), a new mobile advertising network, is looking to change that by specifically creating an ad network focused on girls. We caught up with Jen (More info...)
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Walk In My Closet Launches Designer Clothing Resale SiteLos Angeles-based Walk In My Closet, the newest entrant into the luxury fashion resale sector, said today that it has launched a public beta of its service. The new startup, founded by Ambre Dahan and Amadine Rohmer, said that it will offer up an online fashion boutique for buying and selling contemporary and pre-owned designer clothing. Walk In The Closet revolves around user "closets", where users can create their own virtual closet of the clothing, shoe, and fashion items they own. Users can (More info...)
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Rubicon Project Hails Growth, New Customers
Los Angeles-based Rubicon Project says today that it is one of the "fastest growing ad technology companies in history". The startup says it added more than 200 new publishers and 100 new buyer channels for the six months ended March 31, 2013, and that its customers now include more than 500 of the world's premium publishers, including eBay UK, Time, ABC News, the Wall Street Journal, Tribune Company, Virgin Media, People, Universal and many others.
Rubicon develops a cloud-based platform w (More info...)
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Nero Debuts Updated Photo AppGlendale-based Nero, the developer of video, photo, and other software, has been moving to the mobile market, and said this week that it has launched a new version of its mobile photo service, NeroKwik. According to Nero, the new, free app let users access, view, and share photos on their iPhone, iPad, Android smartphone, tablet, and soon Windows 8 devices. Nero said the service is aimed at letting users access their entire photo library from a mobile device--without the limitations of a device' (More info...)
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Ligand Buys Rights To Programs From SelexisSan Diego-based biopharmaceuticals firm Ligand said today that it has acquired a portfolio of potential future milestone and royalty payments for more than 15 biologic development programs from Selexis SA. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. Selexis SA is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and develops therapeutic protein drugs. Ligand said the move "significantly expands" its portfolio of products.
posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2013(Full story)