Tuesday, May 28, 2013BitAngels Raises $6.7M For Bitcoin InvestmentsA new, angel investment group, BitAngels, said this morning that it has raised $6.7M in funding to invest in Bitcoin startups--and also has launched three, physical locations to help incubate companies in the sector. The angel investment group--co-founded by Michael Terpin, a well known figure in the Los Angeles technology community--said it has more than 60 angels helping to support the effort. Bitcoin is the electronic currency which has caught fire in the last few months, an alternative curre (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
Twitter Ramps Music Efforts--and Jobs--In LAIt looks like Twitter is ramping efforts in Los Angeles, and is seeking a new Head of Music Partnership to lead a team based here to work with musicians, labs, radio stations, and digital music portals. According to a job posting by Twitter, the company is seeking someone to help it make Twitter valuable to the talent as well as to the operations and strategy of music labels, digital music services and events. The job posting--first highlighted by VentureBeat--is among a number in Los Angeles, (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
Helping Consumers Name Their Own Price For Products, With GreentoeIn real life, you can just about bargain a price for anything you want to buy--a car, a house, even that new stereo from your local electronics store. But, online, that's not the case. To bring that ability to name your own price on products, Los Angeles-based Greentoe (www.greentoe.com) recently launched, allowing consumers to name their own price to retailers of everything from electronics to baby products. We caught up with CEO and Co-founder Joe Marrapodi to hear more.
What is Greentoe?
(More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
Cymer/ASML Acquisition Gets Korean ApprovalThe acquisition of San Diego-based semiconductor lithography equipment developer Cymer by ASML has cleared another regulatory hurdle, the firms said over the weekend. The two said that the Korean Fair Trade Commission has approved the merger between the two firms. The two have been getting a wide range of international clearances on the deal, and now expect to close the transaction between the end of May and early June. Cymer's laser light sources are used in semiconductor lithography, the proce (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
uSamp Launches Updated Mobile Polling AppEncino-based uSamp, the provider of technology and survey and polling services, announced this morning that it has launched an updated version of its iPhone app, iPoll. The mobile app allows mobile users to answer questions on their phone and receive cash payments for answering various questions and surveys while on the go. uSamp said its app is focused on "missions" and are targeted to a user's location, such as visiting a certain business and answering questions about their experience. uSamp s (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
Hulu Entertaining At Least Five Bidders, Says ReportLos Angeles-based video streaming site Hulu is entertaining offers from at least five different bidders, according to a report over the weekend, including one that values Hulu at between $600M to $800M. According to a report from AllThingsD, Yahoo made the $600M to $800M bid for Hulu, depending on the licensing terms for the content acquired with the site. In addition, other bidders include Time Warner Cable; DirecTV; The Chernin Group; and a bids from private equity firms KKR, Guggenheim Digita (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
Broadcom Wins Chinese Cell Phone ManufacturerIrvine-based chipmaker Broadcom has scored a design win with Chinese cell phone maker K-Touch, the company reported this morning. According to Broadcom, K-Touch has selected its Android smartphone platform for its new Android smartphone. Expected shipment volumes and financial impact were not announced. Broadcom develops a 3G HSPA+ platform used for the smartphone market. The companies said that K-Touch's new W68 phone is available for sale in China now.
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
WD Aims At Big Data CustomersIrvine-based disk drive maker is hoping to attract "Big Data" customers, announcing today that it has launched a line of disk drives specifically for scale-out datacenter deployment. The hard drive developers said its new WD Se line of hard drives have been validated in a Hadoop environment, and also is being aimed at large-scale replication, mid-sized network attached storage (NAS) deployment, and backup/archiving. The new drives have a capacity of up to 4TB, and start at $159.99 for the 2TB mo (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)
EnGenius Debuts Four Wireless RoutersCosta Mesa-based wireless networking equipment developer EnGenius has shipped four, Wireless-N routers, the company announced this morning. The company said the new routers are aimed at both use in the home as well as on the go, and include such features as a USB port for media sharing; an Internet cloud storage feature called EnShare; long range capability; QoS features; and VPN support. The new EnGenius ESR900, ESR600, ESR350, and ESR300 routers started shipping today.
posted on Tuesday, May 28, 2013(Full story)