Thursday, October 31, 2013LA Taxi Company Challenges Uber, Lyft, SidecarThe battle for control over LA's streets--and transportation--continued today, as one of the major taxi providers in the city--United Independent Taxi Drivers (UITD), has filed a lawsuit claiming Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar pose unfair competition to the company--and have resulted in a "sharp drop" in business for the company. UITD--which is one of the companies working with competing smartphone app provider Flywheel to counter the other ridesharing companies--told the LA Weekly it has seen at least (More info...)
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BLANKSPACES Expands Into Downtown LACoworking space BLANKSPACES said today that it has opened up its third location in Southern California, and has opened up a new office location in downtown Los Angeles. The company--which was one of the first coworking spaces in Southern California--said it has opened up a new location between 5th and 6th street, near Pershing Square. The coworking operator said that the new location has eight team offices, ten individual offices, and three meeting rooms. BLANKSPACES also has locations in Santa (More info...)
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SnapMD Launches New Telemedicine ServiceLos Angeles-based SnapMD said this week that it has launched a new, software-as-a-service based telemedicine system, which helps healthcare providers better connect with their patients. The startup, which is led by Dave Skibinski, said its new Connected Care telemedicine system offers up live video, audio, and text message consultation between patients and their primary care and specialty care physicians. Pricing on the new offering was not announced.
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JumpStartFund Names Hyperloop EffortJumpStartFund, the online, crowd-sourcing site which looks to help create companies using the power of the community, said today that its community members have named the company which is looking to bring Elon Musks's Hyperloop concept to life. JumpStartFund--which is based in El Segundo--said its community has voted to name the company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, and also has tapped into ANSYS, GloCal Network Corporation, and UCLA"s Architecture and Urban Design program SUPRASTUDIO t (More info...)
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Green Dot Expands Walmart Prepaid CardsPasadena-based prepaid debit card provider Green Dot said Thursday that it has expanded the line of products it offers through Walmart, under the Walmart MoneyCard brand. According to Green Dot and Walmart, they have added six new card types to its line of cards, ranging from a "basic" low cost card to a "MoneyCard Preferred" card with waived monthly service fees for customers with direct deposit. The two also added a number of affiliate cards--including one linked to NASCAR, another to the NFL, (More info...)
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Achates Power In Technology Deal With Piston Engine ManufacturerSan Diego-based Achates Power, which is developing more efficient internal combustion engines, has linked with a major manufacturer of opposed-piston engines, Fairbanks Morse Engine. According to the two companies, they are in a joint development and licensing agreement with Achates Power, to apply the company's technology to Fairbanks Morse diesel and dual-fuel opposed-piston engines. Financial details of the deal were not announced by the companies. Achates Power--which is venture backed by Se (More info...)
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NantWorks Buys Alcatel-Lucent's Digital Multimedia Solutions BusinessLos Angeles-based NantWorks, the investment and umbrella company for the projects of billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, announced a deal today with Alcatel-Lucent, where Nantworks will acquire Alcatel-Lucent's Digital Multimedia Solutions business unit. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. Alcatel-Lucent said its DMS unit develops technology for the areas of advance television, new media, digital advertising, retailing services, and health. NantWorks said it will use the bu (More info...)
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J2 Global Buys UK Email Security ProviderLos Angeles-based J2 Global announced this morning that it has acquired another company, this time a UK-based email services provider called EPA Cloud. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. EPA Cloud provides email security and management. J2 Global said it will use the acquisition to expand its customer base, technical expertise, sales, support, and operations in the UK and the rest of Europe. J2 said it did not expect the acquisition to be material to its results. J2 Global has been a (More info...)
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Nimble Ties Into HootSuiteSanta Monica-based Nimble, the developer of customer relationship management and contact management software, said today that it has linked its app into social media management service Hootsuite. According to Nimble, the new Nimble Contact App for HootSuite allows users to see and interact with contacts in their Nimble account directly from the main HootSuite screen. Nimble's service tracks all contacts with a user--whether it's email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or other means--to help users b (More info...)
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DTS Wins Indonesian Smartphone BrandCalabasas-based audio processing technology provider DTS has signed on another licensee of its audio technology, saying this morning that Indonesian smartphone developer Mito Mobile will incorporate its products into a new line of mobile devices. Financial impact of the deal was not announced. DTS said that Mito Mobile will use its DTS Sound audio processing technology in its latest Android smartphone, the Fantasy A50. DTS develops the software and algorithms to help provide surround sound and i (More info...)
posted on Thursday, October 31, 2013(Full story)