Monday, February 9, 2015Qualcomm To Pay Nearly $1 Billion To ChinaSan Diego-based Qualcomm said late Monday that it will pay $975 million to China, to settle China's claims that the company had violated its anti-monopoly laws. Qualcomm reached the record payment after a resolution with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Qualcomm said it would not contest the fine or continue further legal proceedings, and also said it will offer licenses for current 3G and 4G technology separately from its other patents, and limit its royalties for 3G a (More info...)
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Dexcom Aims To Bring Diabetes Monitor To Apple WatchSan Diego-based Dexcom, a developer of medical devices used to monitor the blood glucose level of diabetes patients, is looking to become the first provider of a glucose monitoring app on the Apple Watch. According to the WSJ, Dexcom hopes to rollout an app to display readings from its diabetes glucose monitors as soon as the FDA relaxes the rules for those kinds of applications, which currently require regulatory approval. DexCom apparently submitted an iPhone app for review to connect to its d (More info...)
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Sidecar Shifting Towards On-Demand DeliverySidecar, one of a number of on-demand, ride services competing for the LA market, is shifting its services towards on-demand delivery, the company said today. Sidecar announced it has launched a new service called Sidecar Deliveries, which will offer same day delivery of products for companies, and expects that business to be at least 50 percent of its business nationwide this year. Sidecar has been competing against Uber, Curb, Lyft, Flywheel--not to mention plenty of traditional shuttle and ta (More info...)
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Snapchat Linked To Murder Case, AgainVenice-based ephemeral messaging app Snapchat is being wrapped into yet another, murder investigation, this time in the Pittsburgh area--after a teenager apparently took a Snapchat photo with the body of a murder victim. Apparently, a 16-year old teenager in Jeanette, Pennsylvania, was charged with murder Friday, after the teenager sent a selfie via Snapchat with the murder victim--another teenager--in the background. The murder investigation is at least the second time Snapchat has been pulled (More info...)
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Vinny Smith's Toba Capital Backs Sauce LabsVinny Smith, the former CEO of Orange County's Quest Software, has backed a developer of web and mobile application development, via his investment firm, Toba Capital. San Francisco-based Sauce Labs said last week that Toba had backed the company in a $15M, Series D funding round, for the company's testing software, which is aimed at the mobile and web application development market.
Vinny Smith, who build Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software into one of the region's largest software companies, to (More info...)
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Payoff Adds ING Direct Founder To BoardCosta Mesa-based Payoff, the consumer finance product provider led by Scott Saunders, has snagged another high profile finance executive to the board. Payoff said this morning that Arkadi Kuhlmann--who founded ING Direct--has joined the company's board of directors. Kuhlmann is currently founder and CEO of Zenbanx, and also was the CEO of Savings. Payoff said that Kuhlmann also invested in the company's recent funding round. Payoff has a board full of notable executives, including Arianna Huffin (More info...)
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Maker Studios Powers Sling TV LaunchLos Angeles-based Maker Studios is helping to power the launch of a new, live television service from Sling TV, the new online-only video service which is owned by DISH Network. According to Sling, content from Maker is a major component of its new service, which offers up ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, ABC Family and Disney Channel for only $20 a month. Sling also features a "Maker playlist" drawn from Maker's network of 55,000 creators and its existing library. Sli (More info...)
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SpaceX To Retry Launch TodayHawthorne-based SpaceX is planning to retry a launch originally planned for Sunday afternoon today, after a failure of an Air Force radar system forced the company to scrub its original launch time. SpaceX said the earliest next opportunity for its launch of the DSCOVR space weather satellite is today, at 6:07pm ET. SpaceX's customer for the launch is the US Air Force, NOAA, and NASA. SpaceX said it is looking to deliver the USAF DSCOVR satellite to orbit 1,500,000 kilometers above the earth, to (More info...)
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OpenX Hits $100M In RevenuesLos Angeles-based online advertising technology developer OpenX announced that it exceeded $100M in net revenues in 2014, making the company the latest area company to pass the milestone. The company--which is led by Tim Cadogan--said the growth came from growth of both its OpenX Ad Exchange and OpenX SSP businesses. The company explained that mobile advertising, in particular, grew 100 percent, and is now 25 percent of the company's inventory. OpenX both provides ad serving technology as well a (More info...)
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SendGrid Rolls Out iOS AppEmail delivery platform SendGrid, which has significant operations in Orange County, said today that it has launched a new app on the iPhone and iPad. SendGrid said the app allows users access to their Sendgrid account and metrics. SendGrid offers up an email service, which is heavily used by developers to send transactional emails to customers. The company's platform helps improve the deliverability of emails, helping deal with spam locking, unsubscribes, and bounces, as well as delivering to (More info...)
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Hunger Games To Debut In 3D On RealDLos Angeles-based 3D movie projection technology provider RealD said late Friday that it will be powering the 3D launch of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, the fourth film in the Hunger Games franchise. RealD said the movie will be released worldwide in 3D on November 20th, 2015. Financial details of the release agreement with Lionsgate were not announced. RealD is led by Michael V. Lewis. The Hunger Games movie is also being released on IMAX 3D.
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Kofax Pulls Back From London Stock ExchangeIrvine-based software developer Kofax said this morning that it has applied to delist its shares from the London Stock Exchnge. the company--which is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market--said it is seeking to reduce its ongoing costs and administration by dropping its listing in London. Kofax said that currently, 75 percent of its shares are held by U.S. shareholders, and that the majority of its trading is done on the NASDAQ. Kofax said it will save at least $750,000 in annual costs by dr (More info...)
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