Friday, October 17, 2014Early Tesla Owners Protest Lack Of Support For New FeaturesIn an example of how an electric car is not just a disposable, electronic device, a group of early owners and supporters of Telsa Motors electric vehicles are protesting a lack of an upgrade path for their cars. The owners--led by Los Angeles investor Richard Wolpert--are asking the car company to provide a retrofit of the new AutoPilot features into their existing vehicles.
According to the campaign Wolpert started on Change.org, Tesla is offering up the new AutoPilot features--including th (More info...)
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Upfront Backs Osmo's iPad Connected ToysLos Angeles-based Upfront Ventures is one of the investors in iPad toy maker Osmo, which said yesterday that it has raised $12M in a Series A funding. Osmo--which is based in Palo Alto--said it raised the funding from Accel Partners, along with Upfront Ventures and K9 Ventures. Osmo develops a hardware device which connects real life toys with apps running on the iPad. The company said its hardware lets any object, including pens and paper, to interact with digital devices like the iPad.
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CallFire Hits Messaging Milestone, Donates $10K To Local NonprofitSanta Monica-based voice and texting API developer CallFire said this week that it has just hit two billion messages send via its platform, and decided to donate $10,000 in credits on its service to a nonprofit to celebrate the milestone. According to CallFire, it donated $10,000 in credits on the service to fitkidsAmerica, a nonprofit which fights childhood obesity through after school programs and camps, in the name of its customer, Flywheel, which sent the two billionth message. Flywheel is t (More info...)
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Sofie Biosciences Scores $1.5M In SBIRCulver City-based Sofie Biosciences has scored a $1.5M, Phase II SBIR award for its Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging technology, the company said Thursday. The company said the SBIR award came from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The company--which is developing PET probes, scanners, and chemistry systems, said the contract will support further development of its products. Sofie Biosciences is led by Patrick Phelps. The company is venture backed by Tata Industries, MRM Capital and (More info...)
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BlackLine Trumpets Revenue Growth, CustomersLos Angeles-based financial automation software developer BlackLine said Thursday that its Q3 revenues were up over 50 percent, as a result of customer growth at the company. Actual financials were not released by the company. BlackLine said that it now has over 100,000 users of its software, which is used by companies for automating their financial close processes. The company said it added such new customers as Applied Materials, Cloud Peak Energy, La-Z-Boy, Louisiana Pacific Corp. and Web.co (More info...)
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Teledyne Lands Defense ContractThousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies said Thursday that it has scored a major, marine defense electronics contract, as part of a U.S. Navy submarine program. Teledyne did not say how much the contract was worth. Teledyne said the win came via its Teledyne Oil & Gas group, and was awarded a contract by General Dynamics Electric Boat of Groton, Connecticut. The contract covers materials and engineering support for electrical and fiber optic interconnect assembly hardware. The company said the (More info...)
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