Wednesday, September 25, 2013DFJ Frontier Names New Venture PartnerLos Angeles-based venture capital investment firm DFJ Frontier is bolstering its ranks, and has snagged an entertainment and media veteran as a new Venture Partner at the company. According to DFJ Frontier, it has added Bruce Long has previously served as an executive at such companies as Technicolor, Deluxe, and Ascent Four Media. He's also served at Encore Video/Encore Visual Effects, Heroes Title Design, Next Element, CBS Music, Iconix Imaging, Bancom Financial Corporation, and New Antics. DF (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Fandango Debuts Horror Movie DestinationLos Angeles-based movie ticketing and information site Fandango announced Wednesday that it has launched a brand new site, focused on horror films. The new Fandango House of Screams includes original videos from film producer and rocker Slash, including highlights of upcoming horror films and related content. Fandango also said it will be producing its own, special features and a "Behind the Screams" video mini-series focused on Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights. House of Screams is lau (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Evoke Pharma Raises $25M In IPO, But Sees Price Drop After DebutSan Diego-based Evoke Pharma, a biopharmaceuticals firm focused on gastrointestinal disease, raised $25M in an IPO this morning, but is trading down from its IPO debut. The company, which is now trading as EVOK on the Nasdaq Global Market, debuted at $12 per share this morning, and was recently trading around $11.13. Evoke was venture backed by Domain Associates, Latterell Venture Partners, and Windamere Venture Partners. The company sold 2.1 millon shares of its stock last night at the low end (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Donuts Launches Domain Trademark Protection ServiceDonuts, the domain name registry companies targeting the emerging generic, top-level domain name (gTLD) market, has launched a new service aimed at protecting trademarks across its portfolio of gTLDs, the company announced today. Donuts--which has major operations in Los Angeles--said that its new Domains Protected Marks List (DPML) service will allow trademark owners to protect all of their terms, across its range of gTLDs, at a cost significantly less than the usual practice of defensively reg (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Novatel Deploys New 4G LTE Broadband Router With VerizonSan Diego-based wireless equipment provider Novatel Wireless is deploying another product today, a 4G LTE broadband router, in conjunction with Verizon. According to Novatel Wireless, the new router--which provides both voice and data connections for in-home and small offices--started shipping online and is available at Verizon stores, as of this morning. Novatel has branded its broadband router under its "MiFi" line of wireless routers. The router includes three Ethernet ports and voice connect (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Sony Pictures Gets Home Entertainment Rights To Angry Birds SeriesCulver City-based Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has acquired the home entertainment (Blu-ray and DVD) rights to the new, animated Angry Birds Toons series, the company said today, and expects to have the first volume of the animated series on Blu-ray and DVD by December. Financial details of the licensing deal were not announced. Sony Pictures is already releasing the theatrical, 3D Angry Birds title in 2016. Sony and Rovio, the owner of Angry Birds, says the deal cover 52 short episodes of t (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Amgen To Open R&D Center In ShanghaiThousand Oaks-based biotech Amgen has linked with a university in Shanghai, China, to open up a new R&D center. According to Amgen, it has entered into a strategic partnership with ShanghaiTech University, to open up a research and development center at the university's campus. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Amgen said expansion into China is a "business priority" for Amgen. Amgen's center will be co-located with ShanghaiTech's two life sciences institutes, the Shanghai Instit (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Evolve Media Launches New Social Video ProductLos Angeles-based Evolve Media has launched a new, social video product via its SpringBoard Video Division, aimed at distributing social video content to publishers. According to Evolve Media, its new SpringBoard Social Dashboard product distributes branded, social videos to a family of over 500 publishers, and also provides the analytics tools to track those video campaigns and how they are being shared on social networks. Evolve Media's platform includes its own customizable and brandable vid (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
Roku, M-GO Partner On Movie Purchases, RentalsVideo and music streaming device developer Roku and Culver City-based online movie streaming service M-GO said this morning that the two are in a partnership, which will give Roku customers direct access to movies and TV shows via M-GO. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Roku said the M-GO service will be accessible via "moves" and "TV shows" shortcuts on its streaming device. The two said the link will give Roku users access to such shows as Hangover 3, The Croods, Breaking Bad, (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
DTS Wires Play-Fi Into DeezerCalabasas-based DTS has announced a partnership with music subscription service Deezer, saying that Deezer will offer up its music subscription service on the DTS Play-Fi wireless home audio system. According to the two, Deezer's four million paying subscribers will be able to directly stream their music to Play-Fi enabled products. Play-Fi is the whole home, wireless audio device that DTS acquired when it bought audio products firm Phorus; the company has recently been ramping up efforts to lic (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)
TigerText Gets Win In ConnecticutSanta Monica-based TigerText, the developer of secure, real time messaging services, reported a win in Connecticut, with healthcare network Hartford HealthCare, and the University of Connecticut's School of Medicine Residency Program. TigerText said its secure, HIPPA-compliant text messaging services are being used across Hartford Hospital, Hospital of Central Connecticut, MidState Medical, Windham Hospital and the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group to streamline communications. Financial impact (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013(Full story)