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1/25/08 – Los Angeles-based MyMedicalRecords.com, which provides web-based personal health records services, has debuted MMR Pro, which it says is an easy-to-use, low-cost system that enables physicians and other healthcare providers to store paper-based patient medical records in a secure online environment without requiring upfront costs for special hardware or software.
1/25/08 – Gumiyo, a Woodland Hills-based startup that develops e-commerce solutions for mobile devices, will begin enabling consumers of AutoUpLinkUSA, which runs an online inventory service for car dealers, to directly access their online inventory listings through a mobile phone web browser.
Continue reading "Gumiyo Links Up with Auto Inventory Management Firm" »
1/24/08 – Westlake Village-based Row 44 and Southwest Airlines announced this week that it will test Row 44’s service on four of its aircraft this summer. This will make Southwest the first U.S. carrier to test satellite-delivered broadband Internet access on multiple aircraft.
Continue reading "Southwest Airlines to Test Row 44 In-Flight Broadband" »
1/24/08 – Dell has announced that it will begin bundling Culver City-based open source IP telephony company Fonality’s open-source software with its enterprise servers.
1/24/08 – Venture investors poured $3.8 billion into Southern California-based companies last year, according to the Quarterly Venture Capital Report released this week by Dow Jones VentureSource. The total represents 272 deals and a 12 percent growth rate over 2006.
Continue reading "Venture Capital Investment in Region Continues to Grow" »
1/23/08 – Santa Monica-based mobile video and advertising company Transpera and Los Angeles-based online video company Break.com are partnering up to bring Break’s Internet content to mobile phones.
Continue reading "Local Online Video Companies Partner Up" »
1/23/08 – AlwaysOn has unveiled its OnMedia 100 winners, an award that recognizes the top private companies who have made significant strides in the advertising, marketing, and promotion industry. Local winners include Ripe Digital Entertainment, Ripple, Jacked, The Rubicon Project, ThisNext and Transpera.
Continue reading "Local Companies Well Represented in AlwaysOn OnMedia 100" »
1/23/08 – Santa Monica-based Jacked, an online publishing platform designed to operate simultaneously with TV programming, today announced that it has been selected to join Microsoft’s Startup Accelerator Program. The program is designed to connect high-potential startups to an extensive support network that it says provides access to Microsoft people and programs, guidance on future directions, and support to accelerate participants’ success.
Continue reading "Jacked Joins Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program" »
1/22/08 – Spot Runner, the Los Angeles-based Internet-based TV ad agency, has announced the acquisition of GlobeShooter, a network of more than 1,200 independent filmmakers, professional videographers, photographers, producers and production companies.
Continue reading "Spot Runner Acquires Video Producer Network" »
1/22/08 – Irvine-based Integrien, the provider of integrity management solutions for businesses, today unveiled the next version of its flagship software, Alive. Integrien says version 6.0 includes enhanced analytics, scalability for the largest operational environments and a new customizable, role-based GUI, which assists IT operations staff in alleviating complexities associated with maintaining mission critical applications in complex IT environments. The software increases operational efficiency by providing real-time, automated analysis of IT performance data and delivers actionable intelligence for identifying, resolving, and preventing problems, according to Integrien.
Continue reading "Integrien Releases New Version of ‘Alive’ Integrity Management Software" »
1/18/08 – El Segundo-based Ripple, which delivers hyper-local content on flat screen panels in public locations, has announced two big partnerships that expand its network of public interactive screens and its advertising reach. The first is a deal with CBS Outernet, a division of CBS that runs in-store media networks and advertising in grocery stores nationwide. The company has also partnered with SeeSaw Networks, a San Francisco-based media company that offers a digital out-of-home media network advertising portfolio.
Continue reading "Ripple Expands Reach with SeeSaw Networks and CBS" »
1/18/08 – Pasadena-based eSolar, the renewable energy startup that specializes in solar thermal power, has been given the largest grant by Google.org in its initial $26 million disbursement of funds. Back in late November, Google.org, which is Google’s philanthropic arm, announced that eSolar would be part of the first group of companies to receive support.
Continue reading "eSolar Gets $10 Million from Google.org" »
1/18/08 – The Los Angeles Venture Association, or LAVA, held its fifth annual awards dinner last night, where it honored some of the region’s standout companies over the last year, and presented its Lifetime Achievement Award in Venture Capital to IdeaLab CEO Bill Gross.
Continue reading "LAVA Honors IdeaLab’s Gross at Annual Awards Dinner" »
1/17/08 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has been chosen to provide wi-fi connectivity for USENIX—the Advanced Computing Systems Association—conferences and symposiums. The group says these events are meeting grounds for the presentation, discussion and application of technical advances in all aspects of computing systems, covering topics such as network design and implementation, systems administration, network security and electronic voting.
Continue reading "USENIX Selects Xirrus as Wi-Fi Provider for Events" »
1/17/08 – Los Angeles-based 60Frames Entertainment, a producer and syndicator of online content that was recently started and incubated by United Talent Agency and Los Angeles-based Spot Runner, has launched its first line up of programming. The company says it first programs include one called “Cockpit,” a comedy series developed by the group that created the popular online series “Prom Queen” for Michael Eisner’s Vuguru, and “Erik the Librarian Mysteries,” which is written and directed by TV writer Brent Forrester of “The Office.”
1/16/08 – Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, Helio, today officially released its long-anticipated Mysto phone. The device is an ultra-thin slider phone that features a large, reflective mirror-like screen, and electrostatic keys that make the device shiver when pressed, according to Helio.
Continue reading "Helio Officially Releases Mysto Phone; Includes New GPS Search" »
1/16/08 – Los Angeles-based Placely, a new online travel networking startup that enables travelers to share information and to stay connected while traveling, announced today that it has launched a new free feature. Called the TripKit, the company says it allows users to enter a travel itinerary and immediately receive relevant data to make the travel experience more informative and pleasurable.
Continue reading "Placely Launches TripKit Travel and Social Networking Service" »
1/16/08 – Los Angeles-based The Rubicon Project, a startup online marketing and advertising firm, has hired Bob Bennett, the former senior vice president of product development at Ticketmaster, as vice president of product and engineering. The company says Bennett will oversee all aspects of product development and the technology team.
1/15/08 – Irvine-based Fisker Automotive, a startup that is working on a range of environmentally friendly sports cars, has secured a second round of funding, from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Fisker is a joint venture of Quantum Fuel Systems and Fisker Coachbuild that was launched in September, 2007. The firms did not disclose the funding amount.
Continue reading "Fisker Automotive Gets Backing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers" »
1/15/08 – Westlake Village-based Inphi, which designs and develops integrated circuits for processing high-speed digital data in computing and communications systems, today announced that John S. Edmunds has been appointed as its CFO. The company says that Edmunds will assume responsibility for its global financial strategy, planning and reporting, and will report directly to Young Sohn, Inphi’s president and CEO.
1/15/08 – Oversee.net, the downtown Los Angeles-based online media company that runs domain and online marketing services businesses, announced today that it has executed a definitive agreement with private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners for an investment of $150 million. The firms did not disclose specific terms, but said that the transaction is expected to close by the end of January.
1/14/08 – ExerciseTV, the Los Angeles-based on-demand content network dedicated to fitness and sports training programming and founded by Jake Steinfeld of Body by Jake, has partnered with thePlatform, a white-label broadband video publishing company. ExerciseTV says the partnership will allow it to grow and expand the video offerings on its fitness destination web site.
Continue reading "ExerciseTV Partners to Expand OnDemand Offerings" »
1/14/08 – The Automotive X PRIZE, a competition run by the Santa Monica-based XPRIZE Foundation, and designed as a competition to find viable, super-efficient vehicles, has announced that it will release a request for proposal to U.S. cities interested in hosting a stage of its upcoming city-to-city race. The announcement coincides with the North American International Auto Show’s press and industry preview days this week, where Automotive X PRIZE says it will showcase the innovations of its early entrants at its booth.
Continue reading "Automotive X PRIZE Moving to Next Stage at 2008 Detroit Auto Show" »
1/14/08 – Los Angeles-based security software developer CyberDefender has announced that it will release a beta of its safeSEARCH Toolbar v2.0 at the end of this month. The company says it will be available for download beginning January 30 at beta.cyberdefender.com.
Continue reading "CyberDefender to Release Beta of New Security Toolbar" »
1/11/08 – The 5th Annual Los Angeles County Technology Week is coming up during the last week of the month—January 28-31, 2008.
Continue reading "Sally Ride to Headline 5th Annual Los Angeles Tech Week" »
1/11/08 – MusicIP, the Monrovia-based digital music discovery and recommendations web site, today announced that it has partnered with LyricFind, a provider of lyric search and display services. MusicIP says the partnership will enhance MusicIP’s MyDJ and MusicDNS products to now include lyrical information, allowing music fans to seamlessly and quickly access their digital music.
Continue reading "MusicIP Partners with LyricFind to Expand Music Offerings" »
1/11/08 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open-source IP telephony company, has garnered Technology Marketing Corporation’s Internet Telephony Magazine’s Product of the Year award for 2007 for the third year in a row.
Continue reading "Fonality Honored with Product of the Year Award" »
1/10/08 – Interneer, the Culver City-based web application software developer, has announced that Frank Perna Jr. has been elected to its board of directors. Perna joins board members Jim Collins, the renowned entrepreneur and businessman, and Michael Edell, managing partner of Groundwork Equity, who also serves as Interneer’s CEO.
1/10/08 – Boingo Wireless, the Santa Monica-based wi-fi hotspot network operator, and Irvine’s Broadcom Corporation have partnered up to enable wireless network connections for wi-fi phone users. Broadcom manufactures semiconductors for both wired and wireless communications devices.
Continue reading "Boingo Wireless Enters Into Partnership with Broadcom" »
1/10/08 – Break.com, the Los Angeles-based Internet video entertainment company, has announced a partnership with Verizon Wireless to bring Break’s original content to Verizon’s V CAST Video service.
Continue reading "Break.com to Bring Video Content to Verizon Wireless Customers" »
1/9/08 – Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics Retail, a division of robotic technology company Evolution Robotics, has made a new version of its LaneHawk Visual Scanner solution available for the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system. LaneHawk is designed to prevent bottom-of-basket losses at retail locations. According to the company, this type of inventory loss accounts for 0.1 percent of front-end sales, which equates to ten dollars per lane, per day in a typical store.
Continue reading "Evolution Robotics Retail Releases New Version of Visual Scanner" »
1/9/08 – Marina Del Rey-based DevZuz, a developer of delivery platforms that link enterprise businesses to application development projects and processes, has been acquired by Exist Global, a software engineering services firm headquartered in the Philippines.
1/9/08 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has announced that it has deployed a wi-fi network solution for Santa Barbara-based Occam Networks, a manufacturer of broadband access solutions for service providers of voice, video, and data services. Xirrus says its network provides high performance coverage at Occam’s new 47,000 square foot headquarters, supporting more than 130 employees and corporate visitors using voice and data on laptops and PDAs.
Continue reading "Xirrus Provides Wi-Fi Solution for Occam Networks’ New Headquarters" »
1/8/08 – Woodland Hills-based search marketing firm ReachLocal today announced that it has become an authorized reseller of Google’s AdWords advertising program.
Continue reading "ReachLocal Becomes Google Authorized Reseller" »
1/7/08 – Los Angeles-based Geni.com, the highly-touted genealogy web site, has launched two new major features that it says add to the collaborative nature of the service. Geni has been wildly popular since its launch last January, reaching the 5 million user profiles milestone within seven months.
Continue reading "Geni Bids to Become ‘Digital Scrapbook’ for Families" »
1/7/08 – One of the more interesting stories coming out of CES from companies in the Los Angeles area is Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics, which today unveiled what it says is a system that allows robots to be aware of their environments and perform tasks with autonomy. The system is called NorthStar 2.0, and at its debut at the CES show, the company is touting the system as “a new era of ‘super smart’ robots for the consumer market.”
Continue reading "Evolution Robotics Debuts Breakthrough Technology at CES" »
1/7/08 – Manhattan Beach-based TechForward, which provides consumer electronics trade-in plans, has used this week’s CES show as a platform to unveil a wide-ranging enhancement to its service line which it says is designed to help retailers, product manufacturers, and consumers overcome obstacles to more frequent upgrade purchasing of popular consumer electronics.
Continue reading "TechForward to Accelerate Upgrade Cycle for Consumer Electronics" »
1/4/08 – Oversee.net, the Downtown Los Angeles-based online media company that runs domain and online marketing services businesses, has acquired Moniker, a provider of domain name registration, domain asset management and monetization services.
Continue reading "Oversee.net Acquires Second Domain Services Company" »
1/4/08 – Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics, the provider of robotic technologies for consumer products, today announced that the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology has licensed its ViPR robotic visual pattern recognition technology for incorporation into the Institute’s national robot platform Software Development Kit.
Continue reading "Evolution Robotics Licenses Technology to Korean Institute" »
1/3/08 – El Segundo-based Axiotron is now officially shipping its Modbook Mac-based notebook computer. The highly anticipated and long-delayed notebook is the first Apple-authorized Mac tablet computer.
Continue reading "Axiotron Ships Modbook Mac-Based Tablet" »
1/3/08 – Twistbox Entertainment, a mobile entertainment company based in Sherman Oaks, has announced that it has agreed to merge with Mandalay Media, Inc. The companies say that pursuant to the proposed merger, Twistbox will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mandalay, and the shareholders of Twistbox will receive shares of common stock in Mandalay.
Continue reading "Mobile Entertainment Company Twistbox Entertainment Announces Merger" »
1/2/08 – Westlake Village-based Inphi, which designs and develops integrated circuits for processing high-speed digital data in computing and communications systems, announced today that Ron Torten has been appointed as vice president of worldwide sales. The company says Torten will report directly to Inphi’s president and CEO, and will assume responsibility for the company’s entire sales group, including an extensive network of direct and independent sales organizations, manufacturer’s representatives and distributors in North America, Europe and Asia.
Continue reading "Inphi Corporation Selects Vice President of Worldwide Sales" »
12/28/07 – Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the developer of space launch vehicles, has announced the completion of the Systems Requirements Review, or SRR, for what will be the third demonstration of the company’s Falcon 9/Dragon spacecraft under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program. The company says that NASA representatives attended the event, which was held on the first day of regular business operations at SpaceX’s new headquarters in Hawthorne. The company previously operated out of El Segundo.
Continue reading "SpaceX Completes NASA Review for Berthing at International Space Station" »
12/27/07 – Santa Monica-based Trilogy Studios, the videogame and virtual world development startup, has appointed video game industry veteran and former Sony PlayStation and Sega chief Bernard Stolar to its board of advisors.
12/21/07 – Big Stage, the Pasadena-based startup that offers a 3D avatar creation tool, announced this week that Chuck Huebner, former head of worldwide studios at Activision, has been hired as president and CEO. Big Stage unveiled its technology earlier this week. In a nutshell, it allows users to easily create and integrate a life-like 3D avatar of themselves into media like famous movie scenes, TV shows and video games.
12/21/07 – The Technology Council of Southern California has issued its call for nominations for its fourteenth annual Technology Industry Awards. The honors are presented to individuals and companies that the Council determines have “made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Southern California as a center for technological innovation.” Nominations must be received by January 18, according to the Council. The awards will be presented on February 28 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
12/20/07 – Santa Monica-based Goodreads, a social networking web site where users discuss books, has announced that it has raised a round of funding from angel investors, including James Currier, founder of Ooga Labs, and Tickle.com. The company has not disclosed the amount raised.
12/20/07 – Los Angeles-based Language Weaver, developer of software for automatic language translation, has announced further expansion of its roster of language modules with the addition of another five bi-directional language modules.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Expands Translation Capabilities with Five New Language Pairs" »
12/19/07 – Pasadena-based Big Stage, which offers a 3D avatar creation technology, has made its official debut. The company says its proprietary technology allows users to create and integrate a 3D avatar of themselves into media like famous movie scenes, TV shows, video games, music videos, virtual worlds and still images. The service will be available to the public in the second quarter of 2008.
12/19/07 – PeopleJam, the Los Angeles-based “purposeful living” video and social networking web site, says it is now showcasing videos and expert commentary on health during the holiday season. The company says the content is being offered through its partnership with Stream4 Media, which provides high-quality, personality-driven video for the web and handheld devices.
Continue reading "PeopleJam Touts Expert Advice and Videos on Heath During the Holidays" »
12/18/07 – Helio, the Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, continued its active rollout of new service features with the launch of its Helio Player PC software. The service lets members manage their personal collection of music, videos and pictures on their PCs, then transfer to and from their Helio devices.
Continue reading "Helio Launches Mobile Media Transfer Service" »
12/18/07 – Sherman Oaks-based online video animation startup Fix8 today unveiled premium software, which it says is now available for download. Along with the release of the software, the company launched its new web site featuring what it says is a simplified software download process with fun new videos and avatars.
Continue reading "Fix8 Unveils Premium Webcam Animation Software; Launches New Web Site" »
12/17/07 – Los Angeles-based Juice Wireless, the mobile device-based social networking service, has closed its third round of funding, raising $6 million. The round was led by 21Ventures, which joins Qualcomm and Citizen’s Communications as investors.
Continue reading "Juice Wireless Raises $6 Million in Funding" »
12/14/07 – Los Angeles-based EdgeCast Networks, which has created a rich media content delivery network, has announced the closing of a $6 million series B financing round led by Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital firm affiliated with Disney. The company also announced that Scott Hilleboe, senior principal of Steamboat Ventures, and Jeffrey Stibel, president of Website Pros, will join EdgeCast’s board of directors.
Continue reading "EdgeCast Networks Closes $6 Million Financing Round" »
12/14/07 – Los Angeles-based online video streaming web site Stickam has announced that it has begun creating applications utilizing Google’s OpenSocial APIs, allowing OpenSocial-enabled platforms to integrate Stickam’s technology.
12/14/07 – Passenger, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand software that creates private brand communities for company collaboration with customers, has been awarded the 2007 Innovator Award for Emerging Media by the Summit International Awards. The group says it recognized Passenger as an innovator in bringing new technology advancements and methodologies to the social media space and helping to set the pace for the emerging media movement through its work with big name brands like ABC Studios.
Continue reading "Passenger Honored with ‘Media Innovator’ Award" »
12/13/07 – Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, Helio has announced that it has partnered with YouTube to bring what it calls the most comprehensive YouTube experience currently offered on mobile to its subscribers.
Continue reading "Helio Launches Enhanced Mobile YouTube Experience" »
12/13/07 – New Enterprise Associates, or NEA, today announced that it has completed an investment in Manhattan Beach-based TechForward, which provides consumer electronics trade-in plans. TechForward says it will use the funds to advance its Guaranteed Buyback product within the consumer electronics marketplace by partnering with retailers and manufacturers. The firms did not reveal the amount of the investment.
12/13/07 – Santa Monica-based Mahalo, the “human edited” search engine started by serial tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, this week released a series of new features at the Le Web 3 conference in Paris. The company says that the new features, dubbed “Mahalo Social,” allow users to collaborate in building trusted search results with friends.
Continue reading "Mahalo Releases Social Search Features; Reaches 25,000 Pages Milestone" »
12/11/07 – Agoura Hills-based ClipBlast, the web video search and navigation platform, today announced the release of ClipBlast Version 3.0. The new release includes a major enhancement of ClipBlast’s video search platform, with improvements that provide a richer, easier and more relevant experience for advertisers and content providers, according to ClipBlast.
Continue reading "ClipBlast Unveils New Version of Video Search Service" »
12/10/07 – Santa Monica-based Teleflip, the startup that offers a service where email and text messages can be received on any mobile phone from any computer, has launched a texting and email service for telecommunications provider Qwest Communications. The new Qwest-branded service allows customers to receive and reply to email from any text-messaging-capable wireless phone without subscribing to data plans or upgrading to smartphones. The service is enabled through an exclusive deal between the companies.
Continue reading "Teleflip Powers Free Mobile Email and Texting Service for Qwest" »
12/10/07 – Los Angeles-based Break.com, the Internet video entertainment company, today announced the appointment of Andrew Budkofsky as senior vice president of sales. The company says that Budkofsky will be responsible for accelerating sales, client services and overall business development for the website.
12/10/07 – Once in a while we will make mention of a new feature on StartUp Beat, and the new StartUp Beat job board is particularly noteworthy. The board is expressly for technology startups in the greater Los Angeles area looking to hire, along with job seekers seeking the challenge and excitement of joining a startup. As an introductory offer, we’re offering job postings at half the $20 price for the first 30 days. Just use promo code “STARTUP1” to post your job openings for only $10 for 30 days. We'll accept positings for positions based in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, or Santa Barbara counties, and parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties that can be considered part of the greater Los Angeles area.
Check it out by either clicking on the orange job box on the left hand side of every StartUp Beat page, or by visiting startupbeat.jobamatic.com.
12/7/07 – Los Angeles-based Studio 4 Networks, which produces lifestyle and educational programming delivered on-demand over cable TV, satellite and the Internet, today reported a 37 percent increase in usage per available household of its television-based video-on-demand programming during Q3. The company says that the adoption increase was for its existing cable distribution systems, and did not include on-demand cable homes available through a new distribution agreement that just commenced through Charter Communications.
Continue reading "Studio 4 Networks Announces Video-On-Demand Usage Increase" »
12/6/07 – Santa Monica-based Transpera, a recently launched mobile video company, today announced the availability of what it calls “Peek” pre-roll video advertising. The service purports to be a solution to the problem of advertising on mobile video given the short viewing time of most clips.
Continue reading "Transpera Launches New Quick Pre-Roll Ads for Mobile Video" »
12/6/07 – A new “green” shopping web site has launched out of Santa Monica, just in time for the holiday shopping season. EVO.com, which has been in development for some time now, claims to have the “widest selection of green gift items on the web.”
Continue reading "EVO.com Opens Green Shopping Destination" »
12/5/07 – Santa Monica-based Social Project, formerly called TagWorld, has rolled out the first components of the Flux social media distribution platform for publishing partners. Flux is the result of a partnership inked earlier this year with Viacom and MTV, and enables media companies and content-focused bloggers to virally distribute content and create connected online communities, while retaining ownership and branding controls, according to Social Project.
Continue reading "Social Project Debuts Tools for Flux Social Media Platform" »
12/4/07 – Encino-based Bid4Spots, the online auction of radio advertising time, today announced the upcoming launch of a new feature, called SpotFill, which will enable advertisers to supplement their auction results by picking up remaining spots in their target markets after the close of an auction. For stations that don’t sell all of their inventory in the site's weekly auction, Bid4Spots says SpotFill, which is set to debut December 20th, offers another opportunity to win business and sell last-minute airtime that otherwise would have gone unsold.
Continue reading "Bid4Spots Debuts New Service for Media Buyers" »
12/3/07 – Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator Helio, and QD3 Entertainment, an independent producer and aggregator of urban content for multi-platform distribution, have partnered to launch a QD3-branded mobile channel as part of Helio’s new Music Mix premium video package. The companies say the service will feature streaming music-related video content, including performances, artist interviews, music news and videos.
11/29/07 – Los Angeles-based Language Weaver, developer of software for automatic language translation, and across Systems GmbH, a provider of corporate translation management systems, have announced the joint development of a specially-priced, bundled software package that will support German/English translation of documents in industrial manufacturing. The companies say the translation management software bundle can deliver translation productivity increases for companies operating in mechanical engineering, construction, automotive manufacturing and plant construction industries.
Continue reading "Language Weaver and across Systems Announce Bundled Translation Package" »
11/28/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, the provider of integrity management solutions for businesses, today announced that it will release a new set of algorithms that it says will drive future versions of its flagship IT intelligence solution offering, called Alive.
Continue reading "Integrien to Release New Algorithms for IT Intelligence" »
11/27/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has made available the first of what it says is a series of free wi-fi gadgets for Windows Vista. “Gadgets” are mini-applications that run on the Vista desktop and provide easy access to commonly used information and tools. Xirrus’s Wi-Fi Monitor gadget provides “at a glance” access to information about wi-fi adapters, connections, and the surrounding environment. The company says it is intended for both IT managers and end users deploying and operating wi-fi in their networks.
Continue reading "Xirrus Releases Wi-Fi Monitor Gadget for Windows Vista" »
11/26/07 – Tarzana-based DigiContractor, which developed the industry’s first photo measuring software, has released a new version of its iPhotoMEASURE software. The company says this version includes several new features, like multiple depth capability for 3-D dimensioning.
Continue reading "DigiContractor Adds 3-D Capabilities to Photo Measuring Software" »
11/26/07 – LeadPoint, the Los Angeles-based online leads exchange marketplace, has partnered with Debt.com to power the site’s lead generation platform.
Continue reading "LeadPoint to Power Debt.com Lead Generation Platform" »
11/21/07 – Manhattan Beach-based Metabeam, developer of home entertainment technologies for movie studios, digital content creators and digital artists, announced today that it will join the NetBlender Blend/In developer partnership program to create network-enabled modules for DoStudio MX, the industry-first visual authoring tool for HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs.
11/20/07 – DomainSponsor, the domain monetization business of Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, today announced that John Battelle, the best selling author and founder of Federated Media, and Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmond Hillary and adventurer, will be keynote speakers at the company’s second annual DOMAINfest Global event in January.
Continue reading "Oversee.net and DomainSponsor Announce DOMAINfest Details" »
11/19/07 – Desktop Factory, a Pasadena-based IdeaLab startup that develops lower-cost desktop 3D printers, has announced that it has been selected as a winner of a 2007 ‘Best of What’s New’ award from Popular Science magazine in the ‘Home Tech’ category.
11/19/2007 – Santa Monica-based wi-fi hotspot network operator Boingo Wireless has signed a roaming agreement with Golden Telecom, the leading provider of integrated communication and Internet services in Russia. Through the agreement, Boingo will add Golden’s wi-fi network, which it claims is the largest metropolitan wireless network in the world, to the Boingo Roaming System for customers.
Continue reading "Boingo Adds Russia to Worldwide Wi-Fi Network" »
11/16/07 – Marina Del Rey-based BiggerBoat.com, a search and discovery engine for entertainment, has launched an interactive vertical advertising network. The company says the BiggerBoat Entertainment Advertising Network will reach more than 15 million monthly unique users across a network of entertainment web sites. BiggerBoat will use its proprietary AdMatch targeting platform to automatically place an advertisement next to and within the movies, music, TV shows, video games, and celebrity information that best resonates with the brand’s image, according to the company.
11/16/07 – The Santa Monica-based X PRIZE Foundation has named Arianna Huffington and Will Wright to its board of trustees. X PRIZE creates and manages prizes focused on using technology to solve challenges in areas like space, travel and genomics. Until recently, its best known project was its $10 million Ansari X PRIZE, which resulted in the world’s first private vehicle to fly into space twice within two weeks. Over the summer, the Foundation announced the launch of the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, focused on landing a privately-built explorer on the Moon. X PRIZE has also launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for genomics.
11/15/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to develop advanced wi-fi applications, to test its new high capacity 802.11n capable Wi-Fi Array, and to deploy a large quantity of Xirrus 802.11abgn Wi-Fi Arrays on the university’s campus as part of its campus-wide upgrade project.
Continue reading "Xirrus Announces Collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University" »
11/15/07 – Ripple, the El Segundo-based startup which delivers hyper-local content on flat screen panels in public locations, today announced the addition of Briggs Ferguson to its board of directors, and John Richards and T.S. Ramakrishnan to its advisory board.
11/14/07 – ClipBlast!, the Agoura Hills-based web video search and navigation platform, has announced the launch of Live Video Indexing, which it says is an extension of its patent-pending Video Web Intelligent Index technology. The company made the announcement at the Streaming Media West show in San Jose.
Continue reading "ClipBlast! Unveils Live Streaming Video Indexing" »
11/14/07 – Panache, the Encino-based online advertising delivery company, has partnered with Los Angeles-based online ad firm Gorilla Nation to provide the firm with Panache’s patent-pending in-video advertising-delivery technology.
Continue reading "Panache to Power Ads for Gorilla Nation" »
11/13/07 – El Segundo-based Ripple, which delivers hyper-local content on flat screen panels in public locations, has signed an agreement with Borders bookstores to launch an in-store television network called “Borders TV” in the retailer’s superstores nationwide. The companies say that under the agreement, Ripple will feature original video content from Borders, until now only available on the web, in conjunction with Ripple’s geographically-targeted lifestyle content.
11/13/07 – Hollywood-based FastCall411, the local pay-per-call listing and search company, has introduced FastCall411 Mobile, a wireless version of the FastCall411 platform. The company says FastCall411 Mobile will formally debut tomorrow at the Mobile Marketing Forum at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.
11/13/07 – Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, an online media company that runs domain and online marketing services businesses, today released a new publisher management system for its DomainSponsor subsidiary. The company says that the new tools offered demonstrate a fundamental rethinking of the domain professional’s experience from a usability perspective. It also says the new system includes back-end improvements that have increased the system’s speed and performance.
Continue reading "Oversee.net Introduces New Publisher Management System for DomainSponsor" »
11/9/07 – According to several sources, South Korea’s SK Telecom has decided to inject $70 million into Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, Helio. The company was a joint investment by SK Telecom and Internet service provider EarthLink on equal terms, but with EarthLink bowing out of further funding in the venture, this infusion effectively gives SK Telecom management rights.
Continue reading "Helio Gets Further Investment; SK Telecom to Gain Controlling Stake" »
11/8/07 – Break.com, the Los Angeles-based Internet video entertainment company, has announced the addition of two new features to it site-a recommendation engine for user-generated content and a new customizable embedded video player.
Continue reading "Break.com Adds New Features to Online Video Site" »
11/8/07 – Pasadena-based X1 Technologies, a provider of enterprise and desktop search solutions, has entered into a reseller partnership with Sherman Oaks-based Globanet Consulting Services, an email message archiving solutions firm. The companies say that Globanet will now offer X1 enterprise search products as part of its technology solutions for email management.
Continue reading "X1 Technologies Announces Reseller Partnership" »
11/7/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, the provider of integrity management solutions for businesses, has appointed Dale Quayle to the position of executive vice president, sales and field operations. The company says Quayle is a seasoned sales executive with more than 25 years experience in driving strategic direction and sales growth for enterprise software companies. His resume includes a stint with Hewlett-Packard and Jonathan Engineered Solutions.
Continue reading "Dale Quayle Joins Integrien Executive Team" »
11/7/07 – Manhattan Beach-based Metabeam, developer of home entertainment technologies for movie studios, digital content creators and digital artists, has debuted a new service that allows producers to unite their DVD content with online content. Called SimpleROM.com, the company says it provides a natural pathway for viewers to connect to more content.
11/6/07 – Specific Media, an Irvine-based online advertising network, has closed a series B financing round from Francisco Partners of up to $100 million, with access to further resources as necessary, according to the company.
Continue reading "Specific Media Secures $100 Million in Funding" »
11/6/07 – Docstoc, a Beverly Hills-based company that provides an online community-based library of professional documents, forms, templates, presentations and spreadsheets, has opened in public beta. The company says that users can find and share any document and organize and access their files with online storage for access anytime, anywhere.
Continue reading "Docstoc Goes Live—Claims to be YouTube for Professional Documents" »
11/6/07 – Los Angeles-based online video web site Revver, one of the first video sharing services to include advertising for content creators and sharers, has launched Revver.com 2.0. The latest version of the web site incorporates a more intuitive user interface with new community tools, along with additional opportunities for advertisers, according to Revver.
Continue reading "Revver Debuts Latest Version of Video Sharing Web Site" »
11/5/07 – Santa Monica-based wi-fi hotspot network operator Boingo Wireless has announced the acquisition of seven airport wi-fi networks from Sprint. The company says that operations in all seven airports have already been successfully converted to Boingo.
Continue reading "Boingo Wireless Acquires Airport-Based Wi-Fi Networks from Sprint" »
11/5/07 – Fonality, the CulverCity-based open-source IP telephony company, announced today that it has acquired Insightful Solutions, a leading hosted CRM solution provider and a SugarCRM Gold partner for the Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific regions. The company says the acquisition is consistent with its goal of creating the industry’s first phone system that unifies both telephony and customer relationship management for small and medium-sized businesses.
11/2/07 – Gumiyo, the Woodland Hills-based startup that develops e-commerce solutions for mobile devices, has closed its second venture funding round and named entrepreneur Yuri Pikover to its board of directors.
11/1/07 – Santa Monica-based wi-fi hotspot network operator Boingo Wireless today announced a partnership with Thailand’s True Corporation, a wi-fi hotspot operator. With more than 4,000 hotspots in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, Boingo says the roaming agreement represents an extension of Boingo’s Asian roaming network to more than 23,000 total hotspot locations.
Continue reading "Boingo Wireless Expands Wi-Fi Coverage in Southeast Asia" »
10/31/07 – FastCall411, a Hollywood-based local pay-per-call listing and search company, has announced the availability of its “FastCall” and “TryAnother” applications via an API, as part of a new partner recruitment program.
Continue reading "FastCall411 Offers API to Extend Local Search Platform to Third Parties" »
10/31/07 – Demand Media, the Santa Monica-based social media and domain holding company, has debuted a user advertising program for its .TV domain and social networking service.
Continue reading "Demand Media Launches User Ad Program on ChannelME.TV" »
10/30/07 – Pasadena-based Entretech, the business development organization supporting high technology companies throughout greater Los Angeles, today publicly invited local technology companies to apply for its Fifth Annual Entrepreneurship Awards. Offered in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Entretech says the Entrepreneurship Awards will again honor the region’s top emerging technology companies that “exemplify the best in entrepreneurial spirit and skills.” The deadline to apply is November 29, according to Entretech.
10/30/07 – Tarzana-based DigiContractor, maker of the iPhotoMeasure digital photo-based measuring software, has announced that it is offering the use of its innovative technology free to victims of the Southern California wildfires.
Continue reading "DigiContractor Offers Photo Measuring Software to California Fire Victims" »
10/29/07 – EarthLink, the Atlanta-based Internet service provider and one of the primary investors in Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, Helio, posted a third-quarter loss that was driven in large part by its investment in Helio. Quarterly reports from public companies EarthLink and Helio’s other investor SK Telecom provide a window into Helio’s financial position. EarthLink’s report revealed a $41.9 million loss from Helio, with the MVNO’s revenue at $51.7 million for the quarter with a net loss of $92.3 million.
Continue reading "Helio a Drag on EarthLink’s Quarterly Results" »
10/26/07 – Los Angeles-based greentech vehicle company Venture Vehicles is on track to roll out two versions of its three-wheel alternative energy vehicle in early 2009. The company made the announcement this week at the Dow Jones Alternative Energy Innovations conference in Redwood City.
Continue reading "Venture Vehicles to Roll Out Environmentally-Friendly Car" »
10/26/07 – Southern California’s healthy quarterly venture capital investment is continuing at a steady clip, according to a report released this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. For Southern California as a whole, the firms say that venture investment deals valued at almost $784 million closed in Q3. Los Angeles County’s share was $342 million, second to San Diego County, with $359 million, and ahead of Orange County, which reported $83 million in venture funding in the quarter.
Continue reading "New England Eclipses Southern California in Q3 VC Funding" »
10/25/07 – Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics, the provider of robotic technologies for consumer products, and Hong Kong’s Wowwee Limited, a manufacturer of high-tech consumer robotic and entertainment products, today announced a joint agreement to launch a new category of entertainment robots, functional robots and robotic toys. The companies say that at least three products are planned for release in 2009, with additional products under development.
Continue reading "Evolution Robotics Partners to Bring New Technology to Consumer Robots" »
10/25/07 – The Technology Council of Southern California has announced that Santa Barbara-based RightScale was voted “Best of Show” at the VentureNet 2007 conference, held earlier this month. RightScale was selected from 13 startup and early-stage tech companies that presented at the event. The award was chosen by a select group of investors who reviewed the companies against five specific criteria, according to the Technology Council.
10/24/07 – Los Angeles-based Language Weaver, developer of software for automatic language translation, today announced it has retained Emmanuel Tonnelier as sales director for southern Europe. The company says he will also drive additional sales and marketing penetration in the Middle East and Africa for the company.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Opens Second European Sales Office" »
10/24/07 – WiSpry, the Irvine-based fabless semiconductor company that develops low-cost, high-performance radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical systems for the wireless industry, today debuted its newest product family of MEMS tunable digital capacitors. The company says these products integrate low power CMOS control and voltage generation logic with an array of tunable RF-MEMS digital capacitors to provide customers with an ultra linear, digitally programmable solution on a single silicon die.
10/23/07 – A group of local businesses and trade organizations are hosting a conference this week focused on the startup community in the Los Angeles area. The gathering, called StartupLA, will feature speakers Joel Ordesky, CEO of ExecTec; former Apprentice winner Kelly Perdew; and serial entrepreneur and current CEO of Mahalo.com Jason Calacanis.
Continue reading "New Local Startup-Focused Conference Coming to UCLA" »
10/23/07 – Santa Barbara-based Sonos, developer of wireless multi-room music systems, today released the newest version of its system software, which includes plug-and-play support for the Napster music subscription service and the Best Buy Digital Music Store.
Continue reading "Sonos Releases New Software; Includes Integration with Napster and Best Buy" »
10/22/07 – Los Angeles-based Juice Wireless, the mobile device-based social networking service, has announced that it will offer its JuiceCaster service free to users of San Francisco-based Ojeez.com, a business-oriented social community for entrepreneurs. Ojeez says it has more than 16,000 members.
Continue reading "Juice Wireless Announces Partnership with Ojeez.com" »
10/22/07 – Fonality, the CulverCity-based open-source IP telephony company, announced today that trixbox Pro, the company’s channel-focused Internet telephony PBX system, has been downloaded 10,000 times since its release in August. The company also announced new price tiers for the product that Fonality says makes the system up to 50 percent more affordable for large deployments.
Continue reading "Fonality Reaches Another Milestone; Cuts Reseller Product Price" »
10/19/07 – Santa Monica-based wi-fi hotspot network operator Boingo Wireless, has announced that Boingo Mobile, the company’s wi-fi service for mobile devices, is now available for selected Nokia phones. The companies say that selected Nokia handsets and Internet tablets can automatically connect to Boingo’s network around the world.
Continue reading "Boingo Launches Wi-Fi Access for Selected Nokia Mobile Devices" »
10/18/07 – Zag, the Santa Monica-based online auto sales company, has announced that it will partner with San Francisco-based Vast.com, which runs a vertical online auto sales service, to create a new used car search solution. Zag says it is integrating the Vast.com platform to attract used car shoppers with a better experience and convert them to buyers for Zag’s premium dealers.
Continue reading "Zag Partners with Vast.com to Expand Used Car Platform" »
10/17/07 – Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, which develops fully-integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, power amplifiers for cell phones, has announced that it shipped more than one million power amplifiers in the months of August and September. The company says this increase in monthly volume puts it on track to ship a total of 10 million units of its quad-band GPRS CMOS power amplifiers by the end of 2007. Multiple handsets containing Axiom Microdevices’ product now are shipping in Europe and Asia, according to Axiom, which shipped its first million units earlier this summer.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices Shipping More Than One Million Power Amplifiers Monthly" »
10/17/07 – Pasadena-based EI Solutions, the systems integration arm of Energy Innovations, today announced that it will begin constructing a 1 megawatt solar electricity system for The West County Wastewater District’s main wastewater treatment plant in Richmond, Calif., later this year. EI Solutions says the system is being funded and built under a power purchase agreement with Solar Power Partners, who will own and operate the system while providing the plant with clean energy at a fixed price.
Continue reading "EI Solutions Chosen to Build Solar System for West County Wastewater District" »
10/16/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has received a “Gold Star, Silver Star and Bright Star Mobile Star” award from MobileVillage, a market development and news service about mobile technology.
10/16/07 – Santa Monica-based social networking web site Reunion.com today announced the appointment of Cornell McGee as CMO. The company says that in this capacity, McGee will be responsible for overseeing all functions of Reunion.com’s marketing and business development, and a focus on aggressive customer acquisition for the site.
Continue reading "Reunion.com Names Chief Marketing Officer" »
10/16/07 – Sherman Oaks-based online video animation company Fix8 has raised $3 million in a round lead by Vickers Financial Group. The company provides interactive media tools for user-generated content, allowing users to create animation and add to videos and other content. has raised $3 million in a round lead by .The company provides interactive media tools for user-generated content, allowing users to create animation and add to videos and other content.
10/15/07 – Los Angeles-based VIMBY has announced the official launch of its community-based online video site. VIMBY, which is an acronym for “Video In My Backyard,” is focused on the 18-34 year-old demographic, and produces original, first-run programming focused on topics like action sports, cars, music, nightlife, fashion, art, alternative subcultures, travel and more.
Continue reading "VIMBY Launches Online Video Content Site" »
10/15/07 – Frost & Sullivan, the international consulting and business analysis firm, has selected Newbury Park-based EdenTree Technologies as the recipient of the 2007 Global Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement in the world lab test and measurement market.
Continue reading "EdenTree Cited by Frost & Sullivan for Product and Customer Service Standards" »
10/12/07 – Leads360, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand customer acquisition and lead management solutions, today announced that it has raised $3.25 million in series A financing from Rustic Canyon Partners. Leads360 says it will use the funding to accelerate growth and expand into new lead categories, ramp its sales and marketing efforts, and accelerate ongoing product development.
10/12/07 – El Segundo-based Ripple, which delivers hyper-local content on flat screen panels in public locations, has partnered with Burbank-based CenterStaging Corp., which runs a 150,000 square foot twelve-stage rehearsal center for the music industry, to provide specially produced CenterStaging video content from its Rehearsals.com web site to Ripple’s interactive digital network.
10/11/07 – Monrovia-based FastSoft, developer of Internet data transfer acceleration products, has announced that XOS Technologies, a technology provider for collegiate and professional sports teams, has selected the FastSoft Aria Internet acceleration device for its online service. Specifically, the companies say Aria will be a component of XOS Coaching solutions, which makes the acquisition, management and distribution of digital video to coaches of sports teams more efficient.
Continue reading "FastSoft Chosen to Accelerate Data Transfer for Sports Technology Provider" »
10/11/07 – Los Angeles-based Spot Runner, the Internet-based TV ad agency, has won the Web Marketing Association’s annual WebAward for “Best Advertising Website.” Spot Runner is the only company to have received the award for two consecutive years. The distinction is the top honor in the WebAwards’ Advertising category, given to only one company a year. This year, there were 28 other finalists in the category.
Continue reading "Spot Runner Wins Second Consecutive Web Award for ‘Best Advertising Website’" »
10/10/07 – Oracle has announced that it has agreed to acquire Irvine-based LogicalApps, a provider of embedded governance software for enterprises that delivers out-of-the-box automated enterprise application controls in the areas of access, setup and transaction monitoring.
10/10/07 – Los Angeles-based LeadPoint, an online leads exchange marketplace, has launched an education leads service that it says allows online and campus-based educational institutions to purchase leads submitted by students that have the highest likelihood of matching each school’s target student profile.
Continue reading "LeadPoint Launches Education Leads Service" »
10/9/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has announced the availability of an embedded spectrum analyzer in its Wi-Fi Arrays product for easier wi-fi network connectivity management.
Continue reading "Xirrus Announces Around-the-Clock Wi-Fi Spectrum Analysis" »
10/9/07 – ReachLocal, a Woodland Hills-based search marketing firm, announced today it has secured $55.2 million in series D funding. The round was led by Rho Ventures, and also included Galleon Crossover Fund and VantagePoint Venture Partners.
10/8/07 – Beverly Hills-based The Tornante Company’s new media studio Vuguru today announced that it has signed two international distribution agreements for its Prom Queen and Prom Queen: Summer Heat series. The studio says the first, with French company Cyber-Group Animation, is for distribution of both series dubbed in French for wireless mobile, broadband, TV and home video. The second, according to the company, is a deal with Japan-based Rights Entertainment to produce a localized version of Prom Queen and its sequel in Japanese.
Continue reading "Vuguru Signs International Distribution Deals for Online Series" »
10/8/07 – Newly-formed online marketing and advertising firm The Rubicon Project has officially launched the beta version of its online advertising “self-serve” web site. The Los Angeles-based startup says its offering enables web sites to optimize for 300 ad networks in one place.
10/5/07 – Fonality, the CulverCity-based open-source IP telephony company, has announced that it has signed partnership agreements with solution providers in France, Poland, Italy and the UK to resell and support its trixbox Pro phone system. France’s CNSI, Poland’s Halo2, Italy’s Wildix, and the United Kingdom’s V4VoIP, VCOMM, and VoIPon are among the first to sign-up for Fonality’s partner program, according to the company.
Continue reading "Fonality Adds Reseller Partners in France, Italy, Poland and the UK" »
10/5/07 – Pasadena-based EI Solutions, the systems integration arm of Energy Innovations, has been chosen by Sony Pictures Entertainment to construct a pilot solar electricity system at the studio’s Culver City headquarters. The installation will be part of an expansion project underway at the historic studio lot.
Continue reading "EI Solutions to Build Solar Installation for Sony Pictures Entertainment" »
10/4/07 – Santa Monica-based Transpera, the mobile video company, has announced that Rob DeMillo and Jody Stark have been hired as CTO and vice president of business development, respectively. Transpera says DeMillo will be responsible for the technology and operational aspects of the company and serve as the technical liaison to mobile operators globally. Stark will oversee the company’s strategic partnerships with online video publishers, according to the company.
10/4/07 – In more online video news, Break.com, the Los Angeles-based Internet video entertainment company, and Encino-based advertising delivery-platform pioneer Panache have partnered to deliver a new ad environment for Break.com advertisers and viewers. The companies say that advertisers and advertising agencies are already using the platform to engage with Break.com’s 17 million viewers.
Continue reading "Local Online Video Companies in Advertising Partnership" »
10/4/07 – Los Angeles-based The Rubicon Project, a startup online marketing and advertising firm, has secured $4 million in series A funding from Clearstone Venture Partners and an additional $2 million in venture debt through Square1Bank.
Continue reading "The Rubicon Project Closes $6 Million Funding Round" »
-FastCall411 selects capacity provider – Hollywood-based FastCall411, which debuted its local search service last week at DEMOfall 07, has selected San Diego’s Telanetix as a voice-over-IP capacity provider for its services. More on the deal can be found here: FastCall411 Selects Telanetix's AccessLine Phone Service to Improve Local Business Search Options
-Helio to debut new phone? – With all the recent speculation and bad news for Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator Helio, including layoffs and the failure of fellow MVNOs Amp’d Mobile and Disney Mobile, word has hit the mobile phone blogs that Helio is getting set to release a new device, apparently called the “Mysto.” Innovative devices have been a strong point for Helio, and may ultimately lead the company to success in the mobile market. Here is SlashGear’s (brief) write-up about the Mysto: Helio Mysto replaces popular Drift cellphone
10/3/07 – Low.com, a consumer financial portal solutions firm and subsidiary of Los Angeles-based online marketing and domain name solutions company Oversee.net, has launched a new client interface called LeadMatch.com, which it describes as a self-serve lead portal dedicated to the broker and loan officer community. The company says LeadMatch builds on its technology and expertise as a “top five” lead generator to match brokers and individual loan officers with qualified consumers looking for mortgage loans.
Continue reading "Oversee.net’s Low.com Launches LeadMatch.com" »
10/3/07 – Los Angeles-based ThisNext.com, a Los Angeles-based social product discovery and recommendation web site, has announced the hiring of Scott Morrow as president and newest board member. The company says a key focus for Morrow will be brand strategy, consumer experience, and developing sales and distribution channels.
Continue reading "ThisNext Appoints President and New Board Member" »
10/3/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced today that Envision Schools, a non-profit charter management organization located in the San Francisco Bay area, has selected Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays for wi-fi coverage across each of its four high school campuses.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi Networks at Charter Schools" »
10/2/07 – The Santa Monica-based X PRIZE Foundation has made a seven-year, $300 million commitment to action in the areas of education, energy and climate change, poverty alleviation and global health. The announcement was made at the 2007 Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City last week.
Continue reading "X PRIZE Makes ‘Commitment to Action’ at Clinton Global Initiative" »
10/2/07 – Los Angeles-based Language Weaver, developer of software for automatic language translation, has signed a marketing, workflow integration and reseller agreement with Cambridge, Mass.-based Linguistic Systems.
10/2/07 – Juice Wireless, a Los Angeles-based mobile phone social networking service, has announced that it has integrated its JuiceCaster service with Ikena Web, a video enhancement service from San Mateo-based digital video technology firm MotionDSP. JuiceCaster says that using the Ikena Web service, mobile phone videos uploaded to its service will be dramatically enhanced with MotionDSP’s patent-pending automatic video enhancement tools.
10/1/07 – Language Weaver, the Los Angeles-based developer of software for automatic language translation, says it has expanded its automated translation technology to include linguistics information and syntax rules in its statistical translation techniques. To help achieve this goal, the company has announced the hiring of David Savignac, Ph.D., as senior director of lexicography to head up the effort, the goal of which is to add less commonly taught languages to Language Weaver’s roster of automated translation modules. Savignac recently concluded a career of more than 30 years with the National Security Agency, where he had been founder and director of the Center for Applied Machine Translation.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Expands Statistical Technology Capabilities; Hires New Exec" »
10/1/07 – Los Angeles-based security software developer CyberDefender has launched new security suites with around-the-clock phone and remote support, as well as 2 gigabytes of online backup.
Continue reading "CyberDefender Debuts New Security Suites" »
9/28/07 – CircleUp, the Newport Beach-based provider of a service that helps users organize email and instant messages, has launched an application on Facebook. The company says its service can now be added to any Facebook user’s profile.
Continue reading "CircleUp Launches New Service on Facebook" »
9/28/07 – The Walt Disney Internet Group announced yesterday that it is closing its Disney-branded mobile virtual network operator service, or MVNO. The move could have a big impact on Los Angeles-based MVNO startup Helio, as the closing of Disney Mobile leaves Helio as the only large stand-alone data-focused MVNO.
9/28/07 – Tarzana-based DigiContractor, maker of the iPhotoMeasure photo-measuring software, announced this week that it has raised a total of $400K in funding over the past two years, including an undisclosed amount recently that CEO and founder Paul Minor says will allow it to launch a new version of the software.
9/27/07 – Santa Monica-based Zag, an online auto sales company, has raised $13.5 million in funding, led by Capricorn Investment Group. The company says that since launching in 2005, it has now raised over $46 million in equity capital and additional acquisition debt of $21 million, for a combined total of $67 million.
9/27/07 – LeisureLink, the Pasadena-based online travel marketing firm, has announced the hiring of John Hoang as vice president of finance. The announcement follows the closing of an $8 million round of funding for the company from Clearstone Venture Partners, Group RCI and Mission Ventures.
9/27/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, continued its string of rollouts this week with the announcement that Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, has deployed Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays throughout its classroom areas to support the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The Church has been serving as a remote campus for the Seminary for over a year.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi Network at Church Complex" »
9/26/07 – Various sources are reporting that Demand Media, the Santa Monica-based social media and domain holding company, has raised a whopping $100 million in series C funding led by Goldman Sachs.
Continue reading "Reports: Demand Media Raises $100 Million" »
9/26/07 – Los Angeles-based PeopleJam has announced the beta launch of its new “purposeful living” video and social networking site at the DEMO07 conference in San Diego.
Continue reading "PeopleJam Launches Video and Social Networking Site" »
9/25/07 – ClipBlast!, the Agoura Hills-based web video search and navigation platform, unveiled its new ClipBlast! Video Widget at the DEMOfall show yesterday.
9/25/07 – Hollywood-based FastCall411 has unveiled its local search product at DEMOfall07 in San Diego. The company says it has reinvented the consumer directory using patent-pending technology that includes artificial intelligence, voice-over-IP, open source Asterisk and parallel dialing.
Continue reading "FastCall411 Debuts Local Search Service" »
9/25/07 – El Segundo-based Siderean Software, a provider of relational navigation solutions, today announced the appointment of Reza M. Kazemipour as chief revenue officer.
Continue reading "Siderean Software Appoints Chief Revenue Officer" »
9/24/07 – Network World Events and Executive Forums has officially revealed the participants for its DEMOfall 07 show, the second of the bi-annual conferences based around startups debuting their new products and services.
Continue reading "DEMO Unveils List of Participants; Includes Three Local Startups" »
9/24/07 – Los Angeles-based Stickam.com, a video streaming web site, has announced the establishment of cross-promotional ties with several major radio stations. The company says the stations include 97.1 Free FM and 95.5 KLOS FM in Los Angeles; KMEL 106 FM, STAR 101.3 and Channel 104.9 in San Francisco; KUBE 93 and The Monkey 104.9 in Seattle; and Power 105.1 in New York, enabling each to stream a number of their exclusive events, performances and interviews on Stickam.com.
Continue reading "Stickam Forges Video Streaming Partnerships with Radio Stations" »
9/21/07 – Westwood-based Helio, the mobile virtual network operator backed by Atlanta-based EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom, will get further investment up to $270 million from the Korean firm.
Continue reading "Helio Gets Big Investment Boost; Predicts 200K Subs by Year End" »
9/21/07 – FastCall411, a Hollywood-based local pay-per-call listing and search company, announced this week it has appointed Gordon Henry, Milton Olin and Mark Canon to its advisory board. The company will unveil its local search product next week at the DEMOfall 07 show in San Diego.
Continue reading "FastCall411 Further Expands Advisory Board" »
9/20/07 – Los Angeles-based Ripe Digital Entertainment has announced that it will bring programming from its three unique online networks, RipeTV, OctaneTV, and FlowTV, to Joost, the UK-based Internet television service.
Continue reading "Ripe Digital Entertainment Joins Joost Platform" »
9/20/07 – Fonality, the CulverCity-based open-source IP telephony company, has announced that more than 2,500 customers with 53,000 phones in 50 countries have adopted its award winning business phone system, PBXtra, using it to place more than 130 million voice-over-IP and traditional calls. PBXtra is Fonality’s professional phone system offering that is designed to be purchased, installed and managed by non-technical professionals.
Continue reading "Fonality’s PBXtra Phone System Reaches Usage Milestone" »
9/19/07 – Westlake Village-based Row 44 and Alaska Airlines have announced plans to launch inflight wireless Internet service. Row 44’s satellite-based broadband connectivity will be tested by the airline on a Boeing 737 aircraft in spring 2008 and, contingent upon a positive outcome of the trial, Alaska Airlines says it plans to eventually equip its entire 114-aircraft fleet.
Continue reading "Alaska Airlines Working With Row 44 to Launch Inflight Wireless Internet" »
9/19/07 – Los Angeles-based security software developer CyberDefender has partnered with Quatrro, an India-based business process outsourcing solution provider. The companies say the partnership will enable CyberDefender to ensure a high level of support for customers experiencing technical issues with their security software.
Continue reading "CyberDefender Inks Support Deal with Quatrro" »
9/19/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has announced that Connexus, an online marketing firm, has selected the wi-fi provider for its company-wide wi-fi deployment. Xirrus says the initial deployment at Connexus’ offices in Mountain View, Calif. is complete, with the wi-fi rollout continuing at its El Segundo and New York locations. The companies say the Xirrus solution is replacing a thin access point and controller set up that provided limited performance and connectivity for Connexus’ mobile workers throughout their office areas and conference rooms.
Continue reading "Connexus Chooses Xirrus for Company-Wide Wi-Fi" »
9/18/07 – Bid4Spots, the Encino-based online auction of radio ad time, says it held its first auction in the United Kingdom last Thursday, marking the official launch of the company’s international business.
9/18/07 – The team at Santa Monica-based TagWorld has announced that the company will now be called Social Project, and has partnered with Viacom and MTV to power a new, yet-to-be launched social media project, called Flux.
Continue reading "TagWorld Becomes Social Project; Partners with MTV" »
9/18/07 – WiSpry, the Irvine-based fabless semiconductor company that develops low-cost, high-performance radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical systems for the wireless industry, has announced the appointment of Mark Becker as CFO. Becker brings over 20 years experience in the semiconductor industry to the company.
9/17/07 – Passenger, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand software that creates private brand communities for company collaboration with customers, today named Steve Howe, former executive at Atlanta-based Internet service provider EarthLink, as chief operating officer. Passenger says Howe will oversee strategic planning, business development, sales and finance, day-to-day operations, and will spearhead the company’s New York expansion while evaluating additional growth opportunities.
9/14/07 – The X PRIZE Foundation, based in Santa Monica, announced yesterday the formation of the Google Lunar X PRIZE, a joint project with Google that is, in essence, a robotic race to the Moon with a $30 million prize purse for the winner. XPRIZE and Google say that private companies from around the world will compete to land a privately-funded robotic rover on the Moon that must be capable of completing several mission objectives, including roaming the lunar surface for at least 500 meters and sending video, images and data back to Earth.
Continue reading "XPRIZE Teams with Google to Create Lunar Exploration Competition" »
9/14/07 – Pasadena-based Desktop Factory, an IdeaLab startup that develops lower-cost desktop 3D printers, today announced that the company will begin accepting reservations for its forthcoming printer, the Desktop Factory 125ci.
Continue reading "Desktop Factory Accepting Reservations for 3D Printer" »
9/13/07 – Los Angeles-based online video web site Revver, one of the first video sharing services that included advertising for content creators and sharers, has announced that it has paid out more than a million dollars in advertising revenue.
Continue reading "Revver Hits One Million Dollar Milestone" »
9/13/07 – LogicalApps, the Irvine-based provider of embedded governance software for enterprises, has appointed three new executives in product management and sales to its management team.
Continue reading "LogicalApps Expands Management Team with New Appointments" »
9/13/07 – Foothill Ranch-based Aristos Logic, which produces RAID storage solutions, has announced the appointment of Young K. Sohn as the non-executive chairman of its board of directors. Sohn, current CEO of Westlake Village-based Inphi, brings more than 25 years of industry experience to Aristos Logic’s board.
Continue reading "Aristos Logic Appoints Inphi CEO as Chairman of the Board" »
9/12/07 – Oversee.net, the Los Angeles-based online marketing and domain name solutions company, today announced that Stacey M. Peterson has been hired as CFO. The company says she will report directly to co-founder and CEO Lawrence Ng.
9/12/07 – Pathmark Stores has announced that it will work with Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics Retail, a division of robotic technology company Evolution Robotics, and IBM to deploy the LaneHawk Visual Scanning Solution in 10 stores to combat “bottom-of-basket” loss. Evolution Robotics Retail’s LaneHawk uses a patented visual pattern recognition technology to detect, identify and present bottom-of-basket items directly to the point of sale, enabling cashiers to add those items directly to the transaction.
Continue reading "Evolution Robotics Retail Deploys LaneHawk at Pathmark Stores" »
9/12/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, added to its steady stream of wi-fi network deployment announcements yesterday. This time the company says that the International Telecommunication Union has purchased Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays, Management System and Security Modules for deployment throughout the International Conference Centre Geneva to support a worldwide conference expected to attract more than 2,000 participants next month.
Continue reading "Xirrus Selected for Wi-Fi Deployment in Geneva" »
9/11/07 – The XPRIZE Foundation, based in Santa Monica, will announce a new innovation competition this week that it says will include the largest international prize ever offered. The Foundation is probably best known for its $10 million Ansari X PRIZE which resulted in the world’s first private vehicle to fly into space twice within two weeks. XPRIZE creates and manages prizes focused on using technology to solve challenges in areas like space, travel and genomics.
Continue reading "X PRIZE Foundation to Announce Largest Ever International Prize" »
9/11/07 – Following on the heels of its agreement with Blinkx.com, Beverly Hills-based Vuguru has announced the signing of a number of distribution deals with new media destinations including digital media platforms like MySpace and YouTube for Prom Queen: Summer Heat, the spin-off of the Emmy-nominated broadband series Prom Queen. Vuguru, founded by Michael Eisner, is owned by Eisner’s Tornante Company.
9/11/07 – Twistbox Entertainment, a mobile entertainment company based in Sherman Oaks, has closed a $19.5 million round of funding led by an affiliate of ValueAct Capital.
Continue reading "Twistbox Entertainment Raises $19.5 Million" »
9/10/07 – Los Angeles-based LeadPoint, an online leads exchange marketplace, today launched a credit card debt voice leads exchange, what it calls a first for the lead generation industry. The voice leads exchange allows buyers to purchase leads generated from sources like television, radio, print and verified call center hot transfers.
9/10/07 – Fonality, the CulverCity-based open-source IP telephony company, has announced that it will soon begin shipping its trixbox Pro telephony appliance with its trixbox Pro commercial software. The appliance previously only shipped with the company’s trixbox Community Edition software.
Continue reading "Fonality Announces New Telephony Appliance Software Combination" »
9/7/07 – VantageILM, the Pasadena-based provider of lender and leasing management solutions, today announced the addition of Shawn Keller to its management team as director of product management.
Continue reading "VantageILM Hires Product Management Chief" »
9/7/07 – Echo Park-based MusicPlusTV.com, a web-based video broadcast and production company, has announced the debut of a new interactive sports betting talk show, called “Tony T’s Sports Bets.” The show will star Tony T, a professional sports handicapping professional, who will provide analysis of the college and NFL football season, according to MusicPlusTV.
Continue reading "MusicPlusTV.com to Debut New Sports Series" »
9/6/07 – Santa Monica-based Jacked, an online publishing platform designed to operate simultaneously with TV programming, has closed a $6.5 million initial round of funding from Provenance Ventures, Core Capital Partners and Gabriel Venture Partners. The company also inked a deal with NBC to power NBCSports.com Play Action, which is an online in-game application that will accompany the network’s broadcasts of the 2007 Notre Dame football season.
Continue reading "Jacked Raises $6.5 Million; Partners with NBC" »
9/6/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, the provider of integrity management solutions for businesses, has announced that it has seen a 360 percent year-over-year revenue increase in the first half of 2007. Integrien’s flagship Alive product enables the predictable operation of mission critical applications by providing the intelligence needed to prevent problems from affecting business services.
Continue reading "Integrien Announces Significant Revenue Growth" »
9/6/07 – Zag, a Santa Monica-based online auto sales company, has raised $13.5 million in funding, according to VentureWire and other sources. Investors included Capricorn Management, Anthem Venture Partners, Arcturus Capital, Capital One Financial Corp. and GRP Partners.
9/6/07 – Central Desktop, the Pasadena-based developer of a web-based collaborative platform for small-to-medium sized businesses, has passed the 60,000 users mark and says it expects 800 percent growth by years end.
9/5/07 – El Segundo-based Ripple, which delivers hyper-local content on flat screen panels in public locations, has launched a new interactive feature that allows people to post public messages on digital screens located in stores throughout their neighborhood. Called “ShoutOuts,” Ripple says the service will debut in Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Tully’s Coffee on the West Coast and across the Southwest.
Continue reading "Ripple Adds Personalized Messaging Feature" »
9/5/07 – MusicIP, the Monrovia-based digital music discovery and recommendations web site, today announced that Andrew Stess has been named CEO, replacing Matthew Dunn, who has served in the position since May of 2005. The company says Stess will also serve on its board of directors. MusicIP has developed music matching technology that defines relationships between sets of music based on acoustic traits and characteristics.
9/5/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus continues to broaden its range of wi-fi network deployments, this time at the Amelia Island Plantation Resort in Florida. Xirrus, which has recently deployed its Wi-Fi Array networks at a spate of school sites, says its latest network will allow the resort to offer high-performance wireless connectivity to guests and hotel staff throughout the property’s conference facility, spa and cafe areas.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi at Amelia Island Resort" »
9/4/07 – Westlake Village-based Inphi, which designs and develops integrated circuits for processing high-speed digital data in computing and communications systems, is now offering a company-produced podcast. Inphi says the initial podcast, the first of several the company plans for the remainder of the year, is immediately available for download at its web site and iTunes, and features information on Inphi's GigaTrack family of commercial “track-and-hold” devices for ultra-wideband applications.
9/4/07 – The mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, business quickly became one of the biggest stories in the Southern California startup community back in 2005 with the launch of perhaps the two most prominent MVNOs, both based in Los Angeles—Helio and Amp’d Mobile. In terms of significance, consider that before its bankruptcy, Amp’d Mobile had raised approximately $360 million dollars in venture capital investment, rivaling any other recent startup. And Helio, the MVNO entry backed by EarthLink and SK Telecom, has raised a ton of money from its investors in order to establish a strong foothold in the U.S. mobile market. Add to the mix Disney Mobile, not exactly a startup, but run out of Disney headquarters in Burbank, and MVNOs, with their mobile entertainment focus, clearly adopted the Los Angeles area as the place to make a go at the yet-unproven business.
8/31/07 – Beverly Hills-based Vuguru, an online media studio founded by former Disney chief Michael Eisner, and Blinkx.com, a popular video search engine, have reached a deal to distribute Vuguru’s “Prom Queen: Summer Heat” series on the site.
Continue reading "Vuguru’s ‘Prom Queen’ to Appear on Blinkx.com" »
8/30/07 – SpaceX, the El Segundo-based developer of space launch vehicles, has announced the successful completion of the first of three phases of review required by NASA’s Safety Review Panel to send the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The company says that this phase of the process involved the presentation of SpaceX’s plan for sending the cargo version of Dragon to the $100 billion orbiting space laboratory.
Continue reading "SpaceX Spacecraft Gets Initial Approval From NASA" »
8/30/07 – News Corp. and NBC Universal announced yesterday that they have named their new online video joint venture “Hulu.” The venture is based both in Los Angeles and New York.
Continue reading "News Corp and NBC Universal Video Site Named Hulu" »
8/30/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus has announced yet another deployment of its Wi-Fi Arrays at a school—this time at Saint Leo University in Florida. Xirrus develops and deploys high-performance, long-range wi-fi products. The network is going to serve approximately 14,000 students, teachers and administration staff at the University, according to Xirrus.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi at Florida’s Saint Leo University" »
8/29/07 – Santa Monica-based Trilogy Studios, a videogame and virtual world development startup, today announced it has completed a second round of independent equity funding, totaling $3.2 million. The company says the funds will be allocated to expand the company’s virtual world and casual massively multiplayer online businesses.
Continue reading "Trilogy Studios Closes Series B Funding" »
8/29/07 – inQ, an Agoura Hills-based firm that provides outsourced online live chat sales solutions, says it has raised $5 million in a series D round of funding. The round was led by Emergence Capital with existing investors Partech International, Dolphin Equity Partners and Hudson Ventures also participating, according to inQ.
8/28/07 – Language Weaver, the Los Angeles-based developer of software for automated language translation, has signed a strategic marketing and integration agreement with Armedia, an Atlanta-based consulting and integration firm that helps clients automate the creation, capture, organization and presentation of their intellectual assets.
8/28/07 – Beverly Hills-based OnlyBusiness.com has announced that Triple L Distribution, a re-distributor of bar and restaurant supplies to the food service industry, has joined the OnlyBusiness.com online marketplace and platform, and has created a customer-facing e-commerce web site using the service. Triple L claims it is one of the largest independent re-distributors on the West Coast, with over 120 employees and $80 million in annual revenue.
Continue reading "OnlyBusiness.com Gets Significant New Customer Win" »
8/28/07 – Hollywood-based FastCall411, a startup offering local search options based on a pay-per-call model for consumers, has named former Citysearch CEO Briggs Ferguson and Momentum Venture Management’s Stuart MacFarlane to its advisory board. The company’s services are designed to connect consumers with local businesses via telephone. It will officially unveil its product next month at the DEMOfall show.
8/27/07 – Monrovia-based FastSoft, developer of Internet data transfer acceleration products, has hired Mike Beard as director of sales and Pamela Hunt as financial comptroller. The company says the appointments are a part of its expansion following the closing of its series A round of funding.
8/27/07 – Helio, the Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, has been getting significant press for its new ultra-thin Fin device. Touted as the thinnest “clamshell” phone available in the U.S., the Fin is getting attention similar to the Ocean dual-slider device, which has been a hit for the company. For Helio, the buzz and overall positive reviews come at a good time, as the recent bankruptcy filing and subsequent shutdown of fellow Los Angeles-based MVNO Amp’d Mobile has only intensified questions about the MVNO business model in general.
8/24/07 – Venture Vehicles, a Los Angeles-based environmentally-friendly vehicle company, has closed $6 million in series A financing from NGEN Partners. The company says that concurrent with the financing, NGEN’s Steve Parry and Robert Koch will join chief executive officer Howard Levine and co-founder Ian Bruce on the board of directors.
Continue reading "New Earth-Friendly Car Company Garners $6 Million in Series A Financing" »
8/24/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, provider of integrity management solutions for business, has launched a dynamic thresholding initiative to help organizations alleviate the burden of manually setting static thresholds for critical business services.
Continue reading "Integrien Launches Dynamic Thresholding Program" »
8/23/07 – Los Angeles-based Wannago.com has launched its “Yes or Next” application, which the company says connects people offline based on their mutual interest in an event and in each other. Wannago is a social networking and dating site that is based on arranging meetups around local events and activities.
Continue reading "Wannago.com Launches New Social Networking Application" »
8/23/07 – Leads360, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand customer acquisition and lead management solutions, has announced the hiring of Noel Collins as client success manager. The company says he will play a central role in providing Leads360 customers with expert advice and proven workflow management.
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8/22/07 – Buzznet, the Hollywood-based social networking startup focused on music and pop culture, today announced that singer and actress Mandy Moore has created a profile on the site where she will personally share exclusive behind-the-scenes photos and videos shot while on the road throughout her upcoming nationwide tour. The company says that as part of the promotion fans will be able to win tickets and a meet and greet with the artist.
8/22/07 – Los Angeles-based online video web site Revver has announced the appointment of Marc Hernandez as vice president of advertising sales. Hernandez actually started at the company last month, and his duties include management of advertising sales operations and the development of new, customized sponsorship packages to align brands with content.
Continue reading "Revver Announces Appointment of New VP of Advertising Sales" »
8/21/07 – Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, an online marketing and domain name solutions company, announced today that Kamran Pourzanjani, founder and former CEO of PriceGrabber.com, has joined its board of directors.
Continue reading "Oversee.net Adds PriceGrabber.com Founder to Board" »
8/21/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has deployed a wireless network in a temporary school facility in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas. The company says that the network was up-and-running in less than a day and covers the 14 temporary buildings where it says 74 percent of the student population will return for this school year. The wi-fi network will provide Internet access for the students, faculty and school staff using 200 new computers, according to Xirrus.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi Network at Tornado-Ravaged School" »
8/21/07 – Inphi, the Westlake Village-based developer of integrated circuits for processing high-speed data in computing and communications systems, today announced that Sam Srinivasan has joined its board of directors.
8/20/07 – CircleUp, the Newport Beach-based provider of a service that helps users organize email and instant messages, today announced the launch of a downloadable toolbar for Microsoft Office Outlook.
8/20/07 – Los Angeles-based Leads360, which provides on-demand customer acquisition and lead management solutions, has announced the upcoming release of a sales call management application called LeadDialer.
Continue reading "Leads360 Introduces LeadDialer Application" »
8/20/07 – Santa Monica-based social networking web site Reunion.com today announced a partnership with ZoomInfo, a business information search engine, to expand its people search results by adding ZoomInfo’s listings. ZoomInfo says its database includes more than 36 million professionals and 3.8 million businesses.
8/17/07 – Agoura Hills-based ClipBlast, a startup that has built a proprietary online video search platform, this week announced it is partnering with Palo Alto-based Metacafe, a video site that claims more than 25 million unique viewers monthly. ClipBlast says that it will automatically index new video posted to Metacafe, enabling its viewers to find Metacafe video content on its site quickly and easily.
Continue reading "ClipBlast to Index Video Content on Metacafe" »
8/17/07 – Mobile industry publication RCR Wireless News is reporting that Amp’d Mobile’s content team has officially joined Kirkland, Washington-based wi-max provider Clearwire—confirming rumors circulating since late last week. The magazine reports that the 50-plus member team from the bankrupt mobile virtual network operator had been “shopping themselves out as a cohesive unit” to several companies. The group reportedly includes former Amp’d founder and CEO Peter Adderton.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Content Team Joins Clearwire" »
8/16/07 – Manhattan Beach-based TechForward, which provides consumer electronics trade-in plans, today announced that its flagship Guaranteed Buyback service is now available in-store at a number of retailers in the Southwest, including Los Angeles-based MacHollywood, MicroLeague, Computer Graphics & Networking, and Las Vegas-based Century 23.
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8/16/07 – AccuScore, a Los Angeles-based “sports forecasting” company, has launched what it claims to be the first web site dedicated to simulations and forecasting of sporting events. The company says AccuScore.com provides free tools, content and simulation forecasts, and caters to serious and knowledgeable sports fans.
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8/15/07 – Sonos, the Santa Barbara-based developer of wireless multi-room music systems, and Sirius Satellite Radio today announced that the new release of the Sonos System Software will include streaming from Sirius on the Sonos Digital Music System. The offering will allow Sirius subscribers to wirelessly stream satellite radio all over the house.
8/15/07 – Newbury Park-based EdenTree Technologies, which develops lab management and test automation solutions, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Spirent Communications, a provider of performance analysis and service management solutions. The companies say that under the agreement, Spirent will resell EdenTree’s lab automation solutions to its clients.
Continue reading "EdenTree Partners with Spirent Communications for Lab Automation" »
8/14/07 – Gumiyo, the Woodland Hills-based startup that develops e-commerce solutions for mobile devices, announced today that it is partnering with AutoBase.com to deliver AutoBase’s inventory of vehicle listings to interested buyers on mobile devices. AutoBase is a data collection and distribution service for car sellers that offers high-quality digital photos, custom window labels, compliant buyers guides, data distribution, easy to use dealer backend reporting and pricing tools in several states throughout the U.S.
Continue reading "Gumiyo Partners with AutoBase to Deliver Mobile Auto Classifieds" »
8/14/07 – Hollywood-based Brash Entertainment, creator of games based on movie releases, television and music properties, today announced that it will be releasing an Alvin and the Chipmunks video game for the upcoming holiday season. The game will be timed to ship around the release of the 20th Century Fox film with the same title.
Continue reading "Brash Entertainment Tapped for ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ Video Game" »
8/13/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open-source IP telephony company, today launched a free phone system for businesses. Called trixbox Pro, Fonality says the downloadable system allows companies with five to 500 employees to make free voice-over-IP, or VoIP, calls.
Continue reading "Fonality Launches Free Business Phone System" »
8/13/07 – Several mobile phone industry news sites are reporting that Westwood-based mobile phone and service provider Helio will soon begin offering a new phone from Samsung, called the Fin, to its subscribers. The device is apparently going to be the thinnest “clamshell” type phone on the market, and will include a 3-megapixel camera.
8/10/07 – MocoNews is reporting that former executives of bankrupt cell phone service and mobile content provider Amp’d Mobile, including founder and former CEO Peter Adderton, are close to joining the team at Clearwire, a wireless broadband Internet service provider based in Kirkland, Washington.
Continue reading "Amp’d Executives Could End Up at Clearwire" »
8/10/07 – Santa Monica-based Boingo Wireless, through its Concourse Communications Group subsidiary, this week began providing wi-fi service for the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport. Boingo is an aggregator and operator of wi-fi networks worldwide.
Continue reading "Boingo Wireless Launches New Wi-Fi Service at Michigan Airport" »
8/9/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open-source IP telephony company, has been awarded the PC Magazine Editors’ Choice award for its PBXtra IP-PBX phone system. Fonality’s solution was given the highest rating in a roundup of leading open-and closed-source phone systems at similar price points.
Continue reading "Fonality Wins PC Magazine Editors’ Choice Award" »
8/9/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced today that it has successfully deployed wi-fi networks at several major music and arts festivals across the United Kingdom. The deployments were completed through an agreement with Wireless Events Ltd., which provides communications solutions for outdoor and touring events.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi Networks at UK Music Festivals" »
8/8/07 – OnlyBusiness.com, an online collection of free business tools and services, launched last week. The company, based in Beverly Hills, is going after the hard-to-crack small business market and business owners who don't have the time, money or in-house IT skill to develop a web site, market the site and sell products online.
Continue reading "OnlyBusiness.com Launches Free Online Business Services" »
8/8/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open-source telephony company, today announced the beta release of trixbox 2.4, an updated version of the trixbox Asterisk-based open source telephony platform. Fonality says trixbox 2.4 provides broader compatibility, choice and usability than previous versions.
Continue reading "Fonality Releases Updated Telephony Software" »
8/8/07 – SodaHead, the Los Angeles-based opinion-polling social network, has announced that the Family Values Tour, featuring rock band Korn, is using SodaHead’s proprietary polling widget to engage its fans, gauge opinions and offer an exclusive chance to win a Washburn guitar.
Continue reading "SodaHead Inks Deal with Family Values Tour" »
8/8/07 – Santa Monica-based Transpera, the recently-launched mobile video company, has announced the appointment of Nick Glassman as vice president of product development. Transpera says that Glassman will be tasked with driving the company’s content and advertising product and service strategy.
8/7/07 – Passenger, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand software that creates private brand communities for company collaboration with customers, today announced that it has secured $8.3 million in series B funding led by Steamboat Ventures, a venture capital firm affiliated with The Walt Disney Company. Shelter Capital Partners, which led Passenger’s series A funding, and StarVest Partners also contributed to the round.
Continue reading "Passenger Secures $8.3 Million in Series B Funding" »
8/7/07 – Los Angeles-based Spot Runner, the Internet-based TV ad agency, announced today that it has formed a partnership with jewelry manufacturer and distributor Stuller. Under the agreement, Spot Runner will deliver advertising services to Stuller’s network of nearly 40,000 jewelry retailers.
Continue reading "Spot Runner Partners with Diamond Jewelry Retailers" »
8/7/07 – Los Angeles-based EdgeCast Networks, which has created a rich media content delivery network, has announced its official commercial launch after operating for a year in “stealth” mode. EdgeCast says it provides each of its customers with dedicated edge space on its servers, providing superior speed and a scalable, globally load balanced architecture that it says supports massive audiences.
8/6/07 – Interneer, the Culver City-based web application software developer, has announced the debut of the latest version of its Instant Application Platform, or IAP. The new version, 6.0, is enhanced to provide performance and ease of use improvements that include tools that simplify changes to and support of existing configurations, speed configuration, facilitation of backups and restoration of the database, along with improved printing of highly-formatted reports in html and Excel, according to Interneer.
Continue reading "Interneer Debuts New Version of Flagship Software" »
8/6/07 – Westlake Village-based Inphi today announced the opening of a branch office in Silicon Valley. The company designs and develops integrated circuits for processing high-speed digital data in computing and communications systems.
8/3/07 – The X PRIZE Foundation, best known for its $10 million Ansari X PRIZE which resulted in the world’s first private vehicle to fly into space twice within two weeks, has announced that it will launch the Automotive X PRIZE competition, which will include Pasadena-based Aptera Motors. The Foundation, based in Santa Monica, says the new international competition is designed to “inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles to help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change.” Aptera is one of 30 teams to sign up to this point.
Continue reading "Automotive X PRIZE Announced; Will Include Aptera Motors" »
8/2/07 – The bankruptcy and subsequent dissolution of Los Angeles-based Amp’d Mobile is now being felt internationally, with the shutdown of Amp’d Mobile Canada. The Canadian mobile phone and content service was a joint service of Amp’d and Canadian phone company Telus.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Canada Discontinued by Telus" »
8/2/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, provider of integrity management solutions for business, has announced it has achieved “Certified for SAP NetWeaver” status for its flagship offering, Alive 5.6. The certification is based on an extensive assessment by the SAP Integration and Certification Center, and means that Alive is now integrated with the SAP NetWeaver platform and certified for specific functions, allowing customers to reduce the complexity of IT functions and increase flexibility, according to Integrien.
Continue reading "Integrien Alive Achieves Certified Status" »
8/1/07 – Hollywood-based Buzznet.com, a social networking startup focused on music, has announced that it has expanded its executive leadership team with two Internet-industry veterans. John Glascott, formerly a senior sales executive at Hearst, iVillage, Yahoo! and RealAge, has been named executive vice president of sales, and Elizabeth Osder, who was an executive with New York Times Digital and Yahoo! will serve as senior vice president of audience.
Continue reading "Buzznet Further Expands Leadership Team" »
8/1/07 – Santa Monica-based wi-fi hotspot network operator Boingo Wireless today announced that it is offering free wi-fi to iPhone users in 13 North American airports during August. Boingo normally charges $21.95 per-month for unlimited access in North America.
8/1/07 – Soliant Energy, the Pasadena-based developer of concentrating solar panels for commercial rooftops, today announced the appointment of Marc Cortez as vice president of sales and marketing. Cortez previously headed marketing efforts for the solar divisions of Sharp Electronics and Shell Solar.
Continue reading "Soliant Energy Hires New Head of Sales and Marketing" »
8/1/07 – Irvine-based WiSpry, the fabless semiconductor company that develops low-cost, high-performance radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical systems for the wireless industry, has been named one of the “five most promising companies” by Information Forecast, Inc. WiSpry was selected from among 75 semiconductor-related technology and service companies.
7/31/07 – A day before its scheduled service shutdown, the assets of bankrupt mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile have been acquired by Prexar Mobile, a company managed by Oakland-based USA Telephone. Prexar says it will ensure uninterrupted wireless service for Amp’d customers.
7/31/07 – ThisNext.com, a Los Angeles-based social product discovery and recommendation web site, has announced the appointment of Internet marketing and e-commerce veteran Rob Goldman to its board of directors.
Continue reading "ThisNext Appoints Rob Goldman to Board of Directors" »
7/31/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced another major wi-fi network deployment, this time at all of the 55 schools in the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado. The district services more than 28,000 students supported by 4,200 employees, according to Xirrus.
Continue reading "Xirrus Gets Customer Win at Colorado School District" »
7/30/07 – Monrovia-based FastSoft, developer of products that accelerate the transfer of data on the Internet, today announced the general availability of a new version of its flagship Aria appliance. Aria is a box that, when connected to a network, addresses the problem of Internet file transfer inefficiency without having to modify applications or load software—resulting in increased speed and quality of Internet transmission, according to the company.
Continue reading "FastSoft Enhances Internet Acceleration Product" »
7/30/07 – Westlake Village-based Inphi has announced that it will collaborate with AMD for the development of Inphi’s server memory interface solutions family. Founded in late 2000, Inphi designs and develops integrated circuits for processing high-speed digital data in computing and communications systems.
7/27/07 – Irvine-based LogicalApps this week announced the formation of a strategic alliance with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. LogicalApps, which provides embedded governance software for enterprises, says the deal includes joint offerings from the firms that will allow both to provide software and implementation services to clients.
Continue reading "LogicalApps Announces Alliance with PricewaterhouseCoopers" »
7/27/07 – Buzznet, a Hollywood-based social networking startup focused on music, announced this week that it has hired former Feedster president Tyler Goldman.
7/26/07 – Transpera, a Santa Monica-based mobile video startup, this week announced its official formation and the availability of its service.
Continue reading "Transpera Launches New Mobile Video Service" »
7/25/07 – As rival mobile service provider Amp’d Mobile shuts down, Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, Helio continues to launch new services for its customers. This time it's access to Microsoft Outlook through its Ocean device, which the company says lets users wirelessly synchronize email, calendar and contacts from their company’s Microsoft Exchange Server.
Continue reading "Helio Launches New Exchange Mail Service" »
7/25/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, today announced another deployment of its Wi-Fi Arrays product, this time at multiple motorsport venues across the United Kingdom. The deployment was completed in conjunction with UK-based MotorSport Vision Ltd.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi Network Across UK Racing Circuits" »
7/24/07 – Just days after revealing that it would be shutting down as early as today and selling its assets, Los Angeles-based wireless service provider Amp’d Mobile now says in a customer FAQ that it won’t shut down until July 31st. In addition, multiple sources report that the company’s network service provider and largest creditor, Verizon Wireless, will allow the company to continue to serve customers for another week—the date its assets are reportedly set to be auctioned.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Customers Get One Week Reprieve" »
7/24/07 – Demonstrating the strength of the technology community in greater Los Angeles, the region once again made a strong showing in the Ernst & Young and Dow Jones VentureOne quarterly venture capital report.
Continue reading "Region Makes Strong Showing in Venture Funding" »
7/24/07 – Westlake Village-based Inphi today announced that Young K. Sohn has been named the company’s CEO.
7/23/07 – In the concluding act of a spectacular flameout, Los Angeles-based mobile service and content provider Amp’d Mobile will shut down and sell off its assets, after the company was unable to secure financing to see it through the chapter 11 reorganization process. Officially, Amp'd has told customers that it is “potentially suspending U.S. operations on July 24th.”
7/23/07 – Los Angeles-based LeadPoint, an online leads exchange marketplace, announced today that it has hired former LowerMyBills executive Steve Horton as general manager of its consumer lending category. The company says he will focus primarily on driving further growth of the vertical by developing product enhancements to build upon the company’s mortgage lead trading engine.
Continue reading "LeadPoint Adds New General Manager of Consumer Lending" »
7/23/07 – Newport Media, the Lake Forest-based fabless semiconductor company focused on the mobile broadcast media market, today unveiled what it says is the world’s first complete single-chip solution for the mobile version of Japan’s Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial, or ISDB-T, digital television standard. The solution serves as a digital TV receiver that integrates a tuner, demodulator and all required memory in a single device.
Continue reading "Newport Media Unveils Mobile TV Chip Solution for Japan" »
7/23/07 – Thousand Oaks-based MyNextDeal.com, a vertical search engine for commercial real estate listings, announced today that the company has signed what it describes as a “listing distribution” agreement with the Florida Real Estate Journal. MyNextDeal says it will deliver for sale and for lease commercial property listings across all U.S. geographies to Florida Real Estate Journal readers.
Continue reading "MyNextDeal Partners with Florida Real Estate Journal" »
7/20/07 – Los Angeles-based Passenger, also known as “Think Passenger,” and Oversee.net have been chosen by AlwaysOn as AO 100 Top Private Companies for 2007. The fifth-annual AO100 list is made up of peer-nominated companies, and was compiled by AlwaysOn's editorial panel.
Continue reading "Local Companies Named to AlwaysOn Top Private Companies List" »
7/19/07 – Another twist was added to the Amp’d Mobile bankruptcy saga yesterday, as Verizon Wireless filed a petition in Amp’d’s bankruptcy case to allow Verizon to stop providing access to its network. Earlier this month the court ruled that Amp’d could continue to have Verizon provide its network service during chapter 11 reorganization contingent upon a $2.5 million payment to the cellular operator. Prior to its bankruptcy filing, Amp’d owed Verizon approximately $41 million for network service.
Continue reading "Verizon Wireless Threatens Amp’d Mobile Shutdown" »
7/19/07 – As Amp’d Mobile’s woes continue, the other big Los Angeles-based MVNO startup, Helio, today announced the launch of its enhanced MySpace on Helio service. Helio said the mobile-specific application was designed from the ground up by the company and is available exclusively on Helio’s Ocean device. The announcement further positions Helio as a leader in mobile social networking, following on the heels of the launch of Helio’s two-click mobile video uploads with YouTube.
7/18/07 – Bid4Spots, the Encino-based online auction of radio ad time, says it experienced a 300 percent increase in activity during June, and has now signed up nearly 1,800 advertisers and agencies to its reverse auction.
Continue reading "Bid4Spots Sees Significant Increase in Auction Activity" »
7/18/07 – Monrovia-based MeziMedia announced this week that it has been acquired by Westlake Village-based online advertising company ValueClick. MeziMedia runs the Smarter.com comparison shopping and CouponMountain.com online coupon web sites.
Continue reading "Comparison Shopping Site Operator MeziMedia Acquired by ValueClick" »
7/18/07 – Reports have surfaced that the debut of the ModBook tablet computer, made by El Segundo-based Axiotron, has been delayed. The ModBook is much anticipated because it will be the first Macintosh-based tablet computer.
7/18/07 – Valley Village-based eJamming, which has developed an online music collaboration service, is hosting online karaoke sessions tonight to demonstrate its technology.
7/17/07 – Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, an online media company that runs domain and online marketing services businesses, today announced it acquired over $7 million in domain portfolios during May, with a total of 66 domain portfolio acquisitions in the last ten months.
Continue reading "Oversee.net Expands Domain Portfolio Acquisition Program" »
7/17/07 – Interneer, the Culver City-based creator of software that allows companies to configure web-based applications with integrated workflow without programming, has announced the hiring of two executives to oversee sales and marketing.
Continue reading "Interneer Announces New Executive Appointments" »
7/17/07 – Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, which develops fully-integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, power amplifiers for cell phones, has relocated to an expanded headquarters at the Irvine Business Center.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices Moves to Expanded Headquarters" »
7/16/07 – Pasadena-based myShape.com has announced the closing of a series B round of funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. MyShape is an online apparel e-commerce site for women, which offers customers “personal” shopping that it says is tailored to individual styles and body types.
Continue reading "myShape Announces Completion of Series B Funding" »
7/16/07 – Los Angeles-based online video streaming web site Stickam has been a center of controversy over the past week after New York Times reporter Brad Stone wrote about ties between Stickam’s parent company and a company that runs adult web sites.
7/13/07 – Lionsgate Entertainment said this week that it has invested $21 million in Los Angeles-based online video site Break.com. Lionsgate, based in Vancouver, did not disclose the terms of the deal, but reports indicate the investment gives Lionsgate a 42 percent stake in the company.
Continue reading "Break.com Gets $21 Million from Lionsgate" »
7/13/07 – Los Angeles-based MyMedicalRecords.com, which provides web-based personal health records services, announced this week that it has integrated the Cerner Multum Drug Content Database into its web site, giving its subscribers access to detailed information on over 20,000 prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Continue reading "MyMedicalRecords.com Offers Free Advanced Drug Information Tool" »
7/12/07 – El Segundo-based Connexus today announced it has completed the purchase of the technology assets of AdModus, developer of a proprietary ad serving platform. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Continue reading "Connexus Acquires Online Ad Serving Technology" »
7/12/07 – On a topic somewhat tangential to local startups and early stage companies but important to the larger technology and entertainment communities, E3, the video game industry conference held yearly in Los Angeles and known in past years for elaborate displays and productions around launches of new titles, opened this week in Santa Monica. But the show has been dramatically scaled down, and is now far from being the big draw of previous years. The Los Angeles Times’ Alex Pham wrote this week about the fact that rather than being a big downtown event that until now was the best attended annual trade show held in Los Angeles, E3 is now an invite-only affair that is expected to draw only 3,000 attendees, compared with last year’s whopping 65,000.
7/11/07 – Internet-based ad agency Spot Runner and Hollywood talent firm United Talent Agency have launched a new Los Angeles-based online content firm that the companies say “provides professional content creators access to financing, speed to market, greater ownership over their intellectual property and participation in all revenue streams including advertising.” Called 60Frames Entertainment, Spot Runner and United Talent say it has raised $3.5 million in initial funding from Tudor Investment Corporation and the Pilot Group.
Continue reading "Spot Runner and United Talent Agency Launch Online Content Company" »
7/11/07 – Monrovia-based FastSoft, which develops products that accelerate Internet data transfer, today announced the deployment of its “Aria” acceleration tool to Pacific Internet Exchange LLC, a wholesale bandwidth and collocation services company that provides fiber optic bandwidth connecting North America and Asia.
Continue reading "FastSoft to Accelerate U.S.-Asia Web Traffic for Pacific Internet Exchange" »
7/11/07 – Fonality, the Culver City-based open-source telephony company, has announced a partnership with Technology Marketing Corporation, or TMC, to train and certify telephony resellers and IT professionals on trixbox open source PBX software.
Continue reading "Fonality and TMC Partner on Training Courses" »
7/11/07 – Irvine-based LogicalApps, which provides compliance software and solutions, has announced today that mobile technology company Qualcomm has used LogicalApps’ Financial Period Close Automation, or FPCA, solution to speed up its financial reporting in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently reduced the time large public companies have to file their annual 10-K reports from 75 days to only 60 days. Using FPCA, the companies say Qualcomm is one of the first public companies to comply with this rule, averaging just 38 days to report its annual earnings.
Continue reading "LogicalApps Helps Qualcomm Speed Up Financial Reporting" »
7/10/07 – Los Angeles-based GaimTheory, developer of an online PC gaming platform, has received initial bridge funding from Momentum Venture Management. In addition, Momentum managing director Stu MacFarlane will serve as GaimTheory’s CEO.
7/10/07 – Travel social network TripUp, based in Los Angeles, has been purchased by Santa Clara-based SideStep. The companies have not revealed the financial terms of the deal.
Continue reading "Travel Social Network TripUp Acquired by SideStep" »
7/10/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, said today that it and BYU-Idaho have submitted a patent application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for “Wi-Fi Availability Assurance.” Xirrus says the patent and implementation in Xirrus’s Wi-Fi Array product “allows automatic recovery from potential radio lock-ups.” Xirrus says the patent solution was co-developed during a large deployment of Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays at the BYU-Idaho campus.
Continue reading "Xirrus Submits Joint Patent Application with BYU-Idaho" »
7/9/07 – El Segundo-based Ripple, which delivers hyper-local content on flat screen panels in public locations, today announced a major new partnership that will allow company-operated Jack in the Box restaurants to broadcast entertainment, breaking news and sports, and relevant local information to its customers. Ripple also announced it has secured $10 million in a series B funding round, led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Continue reading "Ripple Announces Partnership with Jack in the Box; $10 Million Funding Round" »
7/9/07 – Answerbag, a question-and-answer “social knowledge” platform and a division of Santa Monica-based Demand Media, today debuted a Facebook social question and answer application that it says gives users free reign to ask questions and get answers without having to leave Facebook. The company says the Answerbag Facebook Application allows users to post questions and receive answers from anyone on Facebook and from the entire Answerbag community.
Continue reading "Answerbag Introduces Facebook Application" »
7/9/07 – Los Angeles-based Leads360, developer of software that provides on-demand sales lead management, has announced the formation of a professional services department to provide what it says will be consulting that revolves around its lead-generation focus.
Continue reading "Leads360 Establishes Professional Services Department" »
7/6/07 – Westwood-based Helio, the mobile phone service and content provider, has introduced the ability to upload videos shot with Helio devices to a YouTube account with only two-clicks. The new functionality is the result of an exclusive partnership with the Google-owned online video pioneer.
Continue reading "Helio and YouTube Launch Two-Click Mobile Video Upload" »
7/5/07 – A bankruptcy judge has approved a deal that will allow Los Angeles-based Amp’d Mobile to pay $2.5 million to Verizon Wireless to continue using Verizon’s network to provide cellular phone service while it reorganizes under chapter 11 protection.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Settles with Verizon Wireless" »
7/5/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open-source telephony company, announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation, or TMC, has named the company’s trixbox Appliance as a 2007 TMC Labs Innovation Award winner. The appliance made its debut in March, and Fonality says it created the product for trixbox and Asterisk resellers, as well as IT professionals.
7/3/07 – Pasadena-based startup VantageILM, provider of on-demand integrated loan management software, has announced appointments to its newly-formed board of directors. Late last week, the company announced the completion of its initial round of financing of $1.3 million.
Continue reading "VantageILM Announces Board Appointments" »
7/3/07 – U.K.-based FremantleMedia and Seattle-based mobile entertainment developer Mobliss have announced that their comedy channel, “Atomic Wedgie,” will launch on Helio, the Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, this month.
Continue reading "FremantleMedia, Mobliss Bring Content Channel to Helio" »
7/2/07 – Reuters is reporting this morning that Atlanta-based Internet service provider EarthLink and South Korean phone company SK Telecom will invest another $100 million each in mobile service and content startup Helio.
Continue reading "EarthLink and SK Telecom Step Up Investment in Helio" »
7/2/07 – Geni.com, the Los Angeles-based company that uses social networking to connect users by their genealogy, today announced that it has acquired over 5 million profiles since launching in mid-January.
Continue reading "Social Networking Genealogy Web Site Geni.com Hits 5 Million Profiles" »
7/2/07 – Lawrence Ng, co-founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, has been named the winner of the Greater Los Angeles edition of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 award in the technology category. Oversee is an online media company operating in the domain and online marketing services businesses that was founded in 2000 by Ng and Fred Hsu.
Continue reading "Oversee.net CEO Wins Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award" »
7/2/07 – Los Angeles-based MyNuMo, an online mobile content startup, has launched Fun4iPhone.com and its first iPhone game. The company says the free game, called iWhack, allows iPhone users to “whack” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer every time he pops up on the screen.
6/29/07 – CrunchGear is reporting today that Westwood-based mobile telephony company Helio will announce an upgrade to its UP service next week. The move coincides, of course, with the launch of Apple’s iPhone, which may prove to be Helio’s greatest challenge to date.
6/29/07 – Language Weaver, the Los Angeles-based developer of software for automatic language translation, and Germany’s pi-consult across Solutions have signed a reseller and technology integration agreement. Pi-consult is a certified reseller of language translation solutions company across Systems, which already has a partnership in place with Language Weaver.
6/29/07 – VantageILM, a Pasadena-based provider of on-demand integrated loan management software, announced this week that it had completed an initial round of financing, raising $1.3 million.
Continue reading "VantageILM Completes First Round of Financing" »
6/28/07 – Brash Entertainment, the Hollywood-based video game company focused on the creation of games based on movie releases, television and music properties, has announced the signing of several new deals with Hollywood studios.
Continue reading "Brash Entertainment Signs New Studio Partnerships" »
6/28/07 – Beverly Hills-based Vuguru, the new media studio founded by former Disney chief Michael Eisner, has announced that it will team up with Dinosaur Diorama Productions to produce its second original series, to be called “The All-For-Nots.”
Continue reading "Eisner’s Vuguru to Produce Second Original Web Series" »
6/27/07 – Sherman Oaks-based fix8, which provides interactive media tools for user-generated content, and Los Angeles-based Stickam, which has built a community around a video player that allows live communication, today announced they are partnering up to bring fix8’s interactive avatar creator to Stickam’s service.
6/27/07 – A day after announcing that it has closed a $3 million funding round, CircleUp, the Newport Beach-based provider of a service that turns email and instant messenger into social communication tools, today debuted a new, embeddable “MyQuestions” widget for web sites. CircleUp says the feature works on any web site, blog or social network serving groups, and users can communicate with their group or audience right from their site.
6/27/07 – Los Angeles-based Interneer, creator of the Instant Application Platform, or IAP, which it says allows companies to configure web-based applications with integrated workflow without programming, said today it has been awarded a U.S. patent for its technology.
Continue reading "Interneer Awarded Patent for Instant Application Platform" »
6/26/07 – Encino-based Bid4Spots, the online auction of radio advertising time, has taken a public stand “in solidarity” with Internet broadcasters as part of the industry’s response to the threat to Internet radio due to royalty rate increases set by the Copyright Royalty Board. Today has been designated by Internet broadcasters as a “Day of Silence,” designed to call attention to the fact that as a result of the Board’s action, royalties for Internet broadcasters are scheduled to move from a per-song rate to a per-listener rate starting July 15th, significantly increasing costs for online broadcasters.
Continue reading "Bid4Spots Gives Public Support to Internet Radio Broadcasters" »
6/26/07 – Los Angeles-based Spot Runner, the Internet-based TV ad agency, has won several industry awards, including an American Business Award for “Most Innovative Company,” and seven Telly Awards, which focus on local, regional and cable television commercials.
Continue reading "Spot Runner Touts Recent Honors for TV Ad Platform" »
6/26/07 – Axiom Microdevices, the Irvine-based developer of fully-integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, power amplifiers for cell phones, announced today that it has shipped its one millionth unit.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices Ships One Millionth Power Amplifier" »
6/25/07 – Newbury Park-based EdenTree Technologies, which develops lab management and test automation solutions, today announced the availability of a new version of its Lab Manager network lab automation software.
Continue reading "EdenTree Releases New Version of Test Lab Management Software" »
6/25/07 – Boingo Wireless, the network aggregator and operator of wi-fi networks, today launched a new service that gives international business travelers access to more than 100,000 Boingo hot spot locations around the world for one monthly fee with no roaming charges and no per-minute fees.
6/25/07 – Marina Del Rey-based DevZuz has appointed Dave Parker as its new CEO. The company provides a delivery platform to connect large enterprises directly to open source projects and developers, and helps those companies effectively implement open source initiatives.
6/22/07 – Amp’d Mobile will be allowed to use $7.5 million in cash collateral from Verizon Wireless to keep its mobile virtual network provider, or MVNO, phone service running, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ruled this week.
6/22/07 – SupplyFrame, a Pasadena-based vertical search engine for electronic components, has announced the completion of a $7 million series B funding round led by U.S. Venture Partners. SupplyFrame says its existing investors, Clearstone Venture Partners and Arcturus Capital, are also participating in the financing. In addition, the company announced that Irwin Federman, general partner at U.S. Venture Partners, will join the SupplyFrame board of directors.
Continue reading "SupplyFrame Completes $7 Million Funding Round" »
6/22/07 – Woodland Hills-based Gumiyo, a startup that develops e-commerce solutions for mobile devices, this week announced that it has integrated Google Base listings into its mobile commerce service. By extending the inventory found in Google Base classified content listings to cell phones, Gumiyo says it can match and deliver those listings to interested buyers wherever they are.
Continue reading "Gumiyo Offers Google Base Listings via Cell Phone" »
6/21/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has announced that eWEEK has named Xirrus’ Wi-Fi Array a winner in eWEEK’s Seventh Annual Excellence Awards program, in the Networking Infrastructure category. The winners in this year’s program were announced on June 11 at eWEEK.com and will be the focus of a comprehensive special report in the June 25 issue of the publication.
Continue reading "Xirrus Named by eWEEK as a Winner in Excellence Awards Program" »
6/21/07 – Irvine-based LogicalApps, the provider of compliance software and solutions, is assisting government agencies in safeguarding Social Security numbers as mandated by the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, through specific capabilities in its ACTIVE Governance solution.
Continue reading "LogicalApps Works with Government Agencies to Protect Personal Data" »
6/20/07 – EI Solutions, the systems integration arm of Pasadena-based Energy Innovations, has switched on the solar electricity system it built for Google’s Mountain View, California headquarters. The company says the system has a total capacity of 1.6 megawatts, and claims the Google system is currently the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the United States to date and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world.
Continue reading "EI Solutions Completes Solar Installation for Google" »
6/20/07 – Sonos, the Santa Barbara-based developer of wireless multi-room music systems, announced today that its Sonos Digital Music System is now available at more than 440 Best Buy locations across the United States, and on Best Buy’s web site. The company also says it will be featured in more than 600 Best Buy locations before the end of 2007.
Continue reading "Sonos Strikes Retail Deal with Best Buy" »
6/20/07 – Marina Del Rey-based Language Weaver has debuted new features and upgrades to its Kontrib subsidiary. Kontrib is a web site that allows users to submit, vote and comment on user-generated stories in multiple languages. The company, which also develops software for automatic language translation, says the upgrades include news functions designed to meet requests of its international users.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Upgrades Kontrib Features" »
6/20/07 – Thousand Oaks-based MyNextDeal.com, the vertical search engine for commercial real estate listings, today announced the launch of MyNextDeal Jobs, a new search feature to be powered by Simply Hired.
Continue reading "MyNextDeal Launches Job Site for Commercial Real Estate Professionals" »
6/19/07 – Santa Monica-based Teleflip, the startup that offers a service where email and text messages can be received on any mobile phone from any computer, has received $1 million in venture debt financing from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Teleflip recently deployed its flipMail free mobile email product, which works with all phones and all major U.S. carriers.
6/19/07 – Metabeam, an interesting startup based in Manhattan Beach which develops home entertainment technologies for movie studios, digital content creators and digital artists, has debuted a set of tools that enable DVD producers to create social media applications as bonus features within their movies.
Continue reading "Metabeam Develops Social Media for Home Entertainment" »
6/19/07 – LeadPoint, the Los Angeles-based online leads exchange, today introduced a payday loan lead trading marketplace. The company says the new service allows cash advance lenders to purchase individual leads with the exact criteria and pricing they choose. Employing filters like income source, pay cycle and bank account type, LeadPoint says payday loan and cash advance lenders can use the service to better target their customer outreach.
6/18/07 – Santa Barbara-based Sonos today announced the appointment of former Sony senior executive Phil Abram as president and COO. The developer of wireless multi-room music systems says that in the newly created position, Abram will oversee the rapidly growing digital music system business.
Continue reading "Sonos Names Former Sony Executive President and COO" »
6/18/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of long-range, high-performance wi-fi products, has announced the deployment of its Wi-Fi Arrays across three buildings at the Pierce Transit headquarters, in Pierce County, Washington.
Continue reading "Xirrus Provides Wireless Network for Public Transportation Facility" »
6/15/07 – As we gain some distance from Los Angeles-based Amp’d Mobile’s sudden bankruptcy announcement two weeks ago, answers are emerging as to why the company that raised $360 million in funding over the last two years ran out of money.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Founder’s High-Flying Commute" »
6/15/07 – Santa Monica-based Mahalo, the new “human edited” search engine started by famed tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, announced this week that the company will pay volunteers up to $15 to “fill in the blanks” in its search results.
Continue reading "Mahalo to Pay Users for New Search Results" »
6/14/07 – Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, which makes fully-integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor, or CMOS, power amplifiers for cell phones, has announced both the appointment of Raymond Wang as director of Asia Pacific sales and a deal with Taiwan-based electronics distributor Watson-Bell to support its Asia-Pacific growth strategy.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices Strengthens Focus on Mainland China and Taiwan" »
6/14/07 – Santa Barbara-based Sonos, the developer of wireless multi-room home music systems, today announced that its Sonos Digital Music System is now available at Abt Electronics in Chicago, ten Ken Crane’s here in Southern California and six Vann’s in Montana.
6/13/07 – Telephony’s Wireless Review reports that a spokeswoman has confirmed that Amp’d Mobile founder and CEO Peter Adderton has left the company. This follows on the heels of Amp’d’s chapter 11 filing last week.
6/13/07 – An interesting niche search startup has launched out of Alhambra, in close proximity to the world-famous Santa Anita race track. Equilink, which bills itself as the “Horse Google,” is a search engine and resource site for all things related to horses and the equestrian world.
Continue reading "Equilink Seeks to Become the Google of the Equestrian World" »
6/13/07 – Los Angeles-based Reunion.com, the social networking site focused on helping people find and reconnect with old friends, relatives and classmates, has announced a strategic partnership with the American Red Cross to raise funds for disaster relief efforts. The company says the 45-day program started on Monday and it expects to raise $40,000 for the organization by donating one dollar for every new Reunion.com subscription.
Continue reading "Reunion.com Partners with American Red Cross" »
6/12/07 – Demand Media, the Santa Monica-based online social media company, today announced the acquisition of ExpertVillage.com, a web site that provides professional “how-to” videos filmed and produced by local filmmakers that feature experts on a broad range of topics. Demand says the acquisition significantly expands its social media platform with a library of diverse video content to be distributed across its network of niche web properties.
Continue reading "Demand Media Adds Video Content Business with Acquisition of ExpertVillage.com" »
6/12/07 – Pasadena is set to host GreenTech 2007 this Thursday, a day-long showcase of innovations in green and sustainable energy from Caltech, UCLA and USC. Organizers say the conference will also include a panel of venture capitalists who will discuss the green energy market and areas for potential investment, along with individual company presentations.
Continue reading "Pasadena to Host Green Energy Industry Symposium" »
6/11/07 – MyNextDeal.com, the Thousand Oaks-based vertical search engine for commercial real estate listings, today announced that it has partnered with Chicago-based Catylist, a provider of marketing-based commercial information exchange technology, to give MyNextDeal access to Catylist’s database of commercial real estate listings.
Continue reading "MyNextDeal Partners to Extend Online Real Estate Listings" »
6/11/07 – Two local companies today announced details of upcoming events built around promoting their core businesses. Los Angeles-based DomainSponsor, an Oversee.net company, released the particulars of its next Domain Fest Global conference, while Westlake Village-based Xirrus announced that it would be conducting seminars in 20 cities throughout the summer and fall to promote its wi-fi products to IT pros.
Continue reading "Local Companies Seek to Promote Products and Services Through Events" »
6/11/07 – Los Angeles-based Leads360, which makes software that provides on-demand sales lead management, has released a tool that provides integration with Calyx Point loan and mortgage management software, used by mortgage brokers and direct lenders.
Continue reading "Leads360 Introduces New Integration Tool" »
6/8/07 – The story of Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile, its chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, and its prospects for survival, is slowly trickling out. It seems that in the wake of the filing, Amp’d had a surprisingly lenient collections policy, as publications like RCR Wireless News are reporting that according to the bankruptcy filing, nearly half of Amp’d subscribers were “non-paying customers” due to “a host of credit and collections problems that contributed ultimately to a liquidity crisis.”
6/8/07 – Santa Monica-based TeleFlip this week announced that it has officially launched its flipMail free email service for cell phones. The company says the service allows any cell phone user to receive and reply to existing e-mails from any POP, IMAP or web mail email account, personal or business, directly on any handset and through every individual carrier.
Continue reading "TeleFlip Launches Cell Phone Email Service" »
6/7/07 – Pasadena-based Soliant Energy, a developer of solar energy technology and solutions, has announced the appointment of Art Buckland as CEO. Soliant says Buckland will lead the company in its drive to commercialize its Heliotube solar panels while making the company a leader in grid-priced solar electricity.
Continue reading "Buckland Takes Reigns at Soliant Energy" »
6/7/07 – MusicIP has announced that its playlisting technology is included in Memorex’s new line of digital audio players.
Continue reading "MusicIP and Memorex Team Up on Music Player" »
6/6/07 – Los Angeles-based LegalZoom.com, the online legal document service, today announced the appointment of John Suh as CEO. Suh moves into the top management position after serving as chairman of the company’s board since 2005. He is switching positions with co-founder and previous CEO Brian Liu, who takes over as chairman.
6/6/07 – Culver City-based Interneer has received $2 million in funding from GroundWork Equity, a firm that provides technology companies with strategic planning, execution and access to investment capital. The company also announced that GroundWork founder and managing partner Michael Edell has been named CEO.
Continue reading "Interneer Closes $2 Million Funding Round; Names New CEO" »
6/6/07 – In a direct challenge to Google’s foray into media advertising sales, EBay is partnering up with Encino-based Bid4Spots to auction radio advertising time. Bid4Spots hosts weekly auctions of remnant terrestrial radio and Internet radio ad time.
Continue reading "EBay Partners with Bid4Spots for Online Radio Auctions" »
6/5/07 – Brash Entertainment, a video game company focused on the creation of high-quality games based on movie releases, television and music properties, has officially launched. Based in Hollywood, Brash is starting up with $400 million in funding.
Continue reading "Brash Entertainment Launches with $400 Million" »
6/5/07 – Santa Monica-based Cognition, the linguistic search technology startup, and Cuadra Associates have announced the signing of a marketing partnership agreement where Cuadra will promote Cognition’s linguistic meaning-based search software, CognitionSearch, to the U.S. and international library markets.
Continue reading "Cognition Technologies in Marketing Partnership" »
6/4/07 – Newport Media, the Lake Forest-based fabless semiconductor company focused on the mobile broadcast media market, today announced it has begun customer sampling of a new mobile digital television receiver chip.
Continue reading "Newport Media Samples New Mobile TV Receiver Chip" »
6/4/07 – Los Angeles-based mobile service and entertainment provider Amp’d Mobile has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a company statement released late Friday. Founded in 2005 by wireless industry veteran Peter Adderton, the startup has gained significant attention in its attempt to build an entertainment-focused mobile company.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Files for Chapter 11 Protection" »
6/1/07 – In a “You Tube-esque” fast rise to success, Culver City-based Flektor has been acquired by FOX Interactive, owner of MySpace.com. Founded just last year, Flektor provides users with photo, video and audio editing tools for content creation and manipulation. FOX made the announcement this week along with its purchase of popular photo site Photobucket.
6/1/07 – Language Weaver, the Los Angeles-based developer of software for automatic language translation, has released the latest version of its statistical machine translation software. The company says the new version provides better functionality for the translation workflow process.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Ships New Version of Translation Software" »
6/1/07 – Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, an online media company in the domain and online marketing services businesses, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SnapNames, operator of the largest available source of expired and deleting domain names. The companies are not revealing the terms of the acquisition, but said it is expected to close by mid-June.
5/31/07 – Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis today launched Mahalo.com, what he describes as a "human-powered" search engine, at the Wall Street Journal's D Conference in San Diego. The company is based in Santa Monica.
5/31/07 – Unstrung and SoCalTech are reporting that IdeaLab startup ClearMesh Networks has closed its doors. Citing multiple sources, Unstrung says the company officially shut down last Friday after IdeaLab stopped funding the Pasadena-based wireless optical broadband mesh company. It was apparently unable to attract other investors.
5/31/07 – Touting the success of its wi-fi network deployment at last week’s Interop show in Las Vegas, Westlake Village-based Xirrus today announced that it has been selected by Interop for a third time to deploy its Wi-Fi Arrays—this time at the upcoming Interop New York 2007.
Continue reading "Xirrus to Deploy Wi-Fi Network at Interop New York Conference" »
5/31/07 – El Segundo-based Siderean Software has received $2.5 million in new debt financing from BlueCrest Capital Finance, L.P., according to the companies.
5/30/07 – Los Angeles-based Spot Runner, the Internet-based television ad agency, and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, the provider of client development solutions for the legal profession, today announced a strategic alliance that enables Martindale-Hubbell-affiliated law firms to purchase local television advertising campaigns to help promote their services in select areas of practice.
Continue reading "Spot Runner Partners to Deliver Local TV Advertising Program for Law Firms" »
5/30/07 – Irvine-based Integrien has announced the release of the latest version of its Alive integrity management software. The company says the new features included in Alive 5.6 add to its ability to predict and prevent slowdowns and failures in mission-critical business services.
Continue reading "Integrien Debuts New Version of Flagship Software" »
5/29/07 – Los Angeles-based mobile content and service provider Amp’d Mobile is no stranger to media speculation about its business, and now several high profile blogs are writing that the company’s founder and CEO, Peter Adderton, may have left the company. Amp’d has not yet commented about the rumor.
Continue reading "Rumor Circulates that Amp’d Mobile CEO Has Left" »
5/29/07 – LogicalApps, based in Irvine, is opening a research and development facility in Hyderabad, India. The plan was announced earlier this month, and the company says the new Indian facility will augment research and development efforts at its Irvine headquarters and its New York City office, while also extending the company’s customer support capabilities.
5/25/07 – Buzznet, a Hollywood-based social media network, today announced it has closed a $6 million round of financing led by Redpoint Ventures and Anthem Venture Partners.
5/25/07 – Low.com, a consumer financial portal owned by Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, has introduced new products that it says improve the current industry standard for FICO and Social Security mortgage leads.
Continue reading "Low.com Introduces New Mortgage Lead Products" »
5/25/07 – Los Angeles-based Shipwire.com this week announced that it has partnered with Stone Edge Technologies to offer its fulfillment services with the Stone Edge ecommerce product for small businesses.
Continue reading "Shipwire.com Offers Integration with Ecommerce Management Tool" »
5/24/07 – Sonos, the Santa Barbara-based developer of wireless multi-room music systems for home entertainment, has introduced the Sonos Bundle 130, which includes three of Sonos’ key products—the Sonos ZonePlayer 80, the Sonos ZonePlayer 100 and the Sonos Controller 100. Sonos says the bundle enables customers to wirelessly stream music to two rooms and control it from anywhere.
Continue reading "Sonos Introduces New Home Entertainment Bundle" »
5/24/07 – Santa Monica-based Boingo Wireless, the wholesale network aggregator and operator of neutral-host wi-fi networks, today announced the signing of a roaming agreement with FON, a Madrid-based wi-fi company. Boingo says the agreement will provide access to an additional 130,000 hot spot locations—more than doubling the company’s network size.
Continue reading "Boingo Signs Agreement to More Than Double its Network" »
5/24/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, which provides integrity management solutions, has announced the filing of three patents for new technology that addresses the measurement and management of distributed, interdependent systems in order to predict and prevent failures.
Continue reading "Integrien Files Patents for New Integrity Management Technology" »
5/24/07 – Fulcrum Microsystems, the Calabasas-based fabless semiconductor company, and Irvine-based Solarflare Communications have announced a collaboration on a new 10GBASE-T switch reference design that the companies say is the highest density, most cost-effective 10G Ethernet switch on the market today.
Continue reading "Fulcrum and Solarflare Collaborate on Switch Design" »
5/23/07 – Monrovia-based Prolacta Bioscience, a biotech company that provides the only commercially available human milk fortifier made exclusively from human milk for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit, announced today that it has secured more than $12 million in funding. It also says that former Baxter Bioscience president John Bacich has been named chairman of the board.
Continue reading "Prolacta Bioscience Closes $12 Million Funding Round" »
5/22/07 – Westlake Village-based wi-fi provider Xirrus today made a spate of announcements at the Interop show in Las Vegas. Perhaps most significantly, the company debuted a solution for the remote powering of Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays over Gigabit Ethernet data connections. Xirrus says the solution streamlines wi-fi installation by reducing cabling and increasing deployment options.
Continue reading "Xirrus Gets Down to Business at Interop" »
5/22/07 – Santa Monica-based linguistic search technology startup Cognition Technologies announced that founder and CTO Kathleen Dahlgren, Ph.D., is a featured speaker today at the 2007 Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose. The company says that Dahlgren’s presentation “Improved Precision and Recall with Linguistic Semantics,” will discuss how computational linguistics and an understanding of word meanings can dramatically enhance the capabilities of search technology.
5/21/07 – Leads360, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand lead management solutions, has announced the release of what it describes as a “Pull Distribution” engine.
Continue reading "Leads360 Introduces ‘Pull’ Lead Distribution Tool" »
5/21/07 – MyNextDeal.com, the Thousand Oaks-based vertical search engine for commercial real estate listings, has announced a new data sharing agreement with the Commercial Investment Multiple Listing Service, CIMLS.com.
Continue reading "Real Estate Listing Service MyNextDeal Announces Data Sharing Partnership" »
5/21/07 – Calabasas-based fabless semiconductor producer Fulcrum Microsystems and Teranetics today announced a collaboration on what the companies describe as two pizza box-style switching platforms—a gigabit ethernet switch with 10GBASE-T uplinks and a dense 10GBASE-T switch. Fulcrum and Teranetics made the announcement at the start of the Interop show in Las Vegas and say that both platforms represent complete reference designs that enable original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers to go to market quickly with differentiated solutions.
Continue reading "Fulcrum Microsystems and Teranetics Announce Collaboration" »
5/18/07 – Placentia-based VidShadow, an online video-sharing network, has acquired a minority interest in Los Angeles-based MyNuMo, an online community that lets its members create, share and sell mobile content. The companies say the investment includes a partnership that will give users of both services unique content-sharing opportunities through a platform that is now expanded to include both desktop and mobile devices.
Continue reading "VidShadow Acquires Minority Interest in MyNuMo" »
5/18/07 – Fonality, the Culver City-based open-source telephony company, today announced that after an in-depth evaluation to select a new voice-over-IP-capable phone system, BLADE Network Technologies, a former subsidiary of Nortel, selected Fonality’s PBXtra over a comparable system from Nortel.
Continue reading "Former Nortel Subsidiary Selects Fonality Over Nortel Product" »
5/17/07 – The AeA Orange County and Inland Empire Council has announced that early-stage companies Axiom Microdevices and Integrien are winners of its 2007 High-Tech Innovation Award.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices and Integrien Winners of AeA Innovation Award" »
5/17/07 – RCR Wireless News reports that Los Angeles-based mobile phone service and entertainment provider Amp’d Mobile has raised prices for its handsets across the board. According to the article, the price hike ranges from $100 to $10, depending on the phone model.
5/16/07 – Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics, the provider of robotic technologies for consumer products, has announced that there are now more than two million products in the market powered by the company’s technologies. Evolution Robotics, which made the announcement at the RoboBusiness 2007 show in Boston, partners with companies to help make their products smarter by delivering solutions for robotic vision, navigation and intelligence at a low cost.
Continue reading "Evolution Robotics Reaches Two Million Product Milestone" »
5/16/07 – Siderean, the El Segundo-based provider of relational navigation solutions, this week debuted Seamark Navigator 4.5, the newest version of the company’s information access platform. Through its patented relational navigation technology, Siderean says Seamark Navigator 4.5 provides users with the ability to dynamically identify relationships between sets of information, create the context to drive action and increase user participation in the information flow.
Continue reading "Siderean Unveils Upgraded Information Access Platform" »
5/15/07 – Irvine-based WiSpry, the fabless semiconductor company that develops low-cost, high-performance radio frequency micro-electro-mechanical systems for the wireless industry, today announced that Russell Garcia has been named president and CEO. Jeffrey Hilbert, the company’s co-founder, former president and CEO, will remain on the company’s board and with WiSpry as executive vice president of development.
5/15/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, will be the official wireless provider for Interop Las Vegas 2007 this month. Xirrus says its network will deliver over 8 gbps of wi-fi bandwidth across 500,000 square feet of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center using 11 of the company’s Wi-Fi Arrays. Xirrus says it was awarded the deployment based on merit after a lengthy selection process and after providing a seamless wi-fi network at last year’s Interop New York.
Continue reading "Xirrus to Provide Official Wireless Network for Interop Las Vegas" »
5/14/07 – Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile phone service and content provider, and Teradata, a division of NCR Corporation, have announced that Amp’d has selected Teradata’s customer relationship management application for its marketing initiatives.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Partners with Teradata in CRM Pact" »
5/14/07 – Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, an online media company in the domain and online marketing services businesses, and Think Partnership today announced that Oversee and its operating company Revenue.net will use the ValidClick DirectAds private-label pay-per-click platform as part of its direct navigation advertiser solution. As a result, the companies say advertisers can now bid on pay-per-click ads placed across Oversee’s search network.
Continue reading "Oversee.net Chooses Pay-Per-Click Advertising Platform" »
5/11/07 – Los Angeles-based mobile service provider Helio today announced the long-anticipated availability of its Ocean phone. The Ocean is a dual-slider 3G phone combining a traditional numeric keypad and a separate full QWERTY keyboard in a single device.
5/11/07 – eJamming, the real-time Internet collaboration technology and service for musicians, says that the company reached its first-month goal for sign-ups within three weeks of its public launch. eJamming, which is based both locally in Valley Village and Florida, made its official debut earlier this year at the DEMO 07 show.
Continue reading "eJamming Initial Signups Surpass Expectations" »
5/10/07 – Santa Monica-based web media company Demand Media has announced that Charles S. Hilliard will join as president and chief financial officer effective June 1. The company says Hilliard will report to Richard Rosenblatt, co-founder, chairman and CEO.
Continue reading "Charles S. Hilliard to Join Demand Media as President and CFO" »
5/10/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has been recognized by the Pacific Coast Business Times as the Technology Company to Watch for 2007.
Continue reading "Xirrus Honored as ‘Technology Company to Watch’ in 2007" »
5/9/07 – EI Solutions, the systems integration arm of Pasadena-based Energy Innovations, today announced that it has been awarded the contract to develop the Pacific Northwest’s largest solar-powered generating facility for Puget Sound Energy, the utility subsidiary of Puget Energy. The company says the new 500-kilowatt solar-powered generating facility will roughly double Washington State’s entire output of solar power and will be located alongside the utility’s Wild Horse wind-power facility in central Washington.
Continue reading "EI Solutions to Build Largest Solar Facility in the Pacific Northwest" »
5/9/07 – Santa Monica-based Boingo Wireless, the wi-fi network aggregator and operator, today announced it has entered into a roaming agreement with Tokyo-based livedoor that adds the company’s Tokyo metropolitan wi-fi network to the Boingo Roaming System.
Continue reading "Boingo Adds Tokyo to Wi-Fi Roaming Network" »
5/8/07 – Bid4Spots, the Encino-based online auction of radio advertising time, today announced the launch of a new reverse auction marketplace for radio airtime in the United Kingdom.
5/8/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open source telephony company, has announced a partnership with PC Mall for distribution of the company’s business phone system, PBXtra. PC Mall is a large direct marketer of technology products to business, government, educational institutions and consumers.
5/8/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced today that its family of wireless Arrays has been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance certification program. The certification ensures users of the strongest modes of wi-fi security and interoperability using an advanced enterprise wireless security infrastructure, according to Xirrus.
Continue reading "Xirrus Extends Wi-Fi Alliance Security and Interoperability Certifications" »
5/7/07 – El Segundo-based Ripple, a company that delivers hyper-local content on flat screen panels in retail locations, today unveiled a new online self-service advertising tool that the company says enables any business in the country to simply and cost-effectively create, place and manage ad campaigns on its network.
Continue reading "Ripple Introduces Online Self-Service Advertising Tool" »
5/7/07 – Los Angeles-based security software developer CyberDefender today announced the availability of its CyberDefender safeSEARCH toolbar. The product is a free browser plug-in that enables Internet users to receive real-time phishing attack warnings as soon as new threats are discovered and, according to the company, offers real-time protection from common online scams designed to steal personal information.
Continue reading "CyberDefender Launches New Anti-Phishing Toolbar" »
5/4/07 – Santa Monica-based eNom, a domain wholesaler and wholly-owned subsidiary of Demand Media, announced today it sold approximately $500,000 in .TV names in the first 24 hours of the domain’s availability. The .TV top-level domains (TLDs) were released to market late Monday afternoon by eNom after a five-month hiatus.
Continue reading "eNom Rings Up .TV Domain Sales of $500K in First 24 Hours" »
5/4/07 – Santa Monica-based Teleflip, which offers a service that allows the receipt of email and text messages on any mobile phone from any PC, has announced it is been named a recipient of the prestigious Red Herring 100 Spring award—given to the top 100 private technology companies headquartered in North America, based on the magazine’s criteria.
Continue reading "Teleflip Chosen for Red Herring 100 Award" »
5/4/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has announced that Technology Marketing Corporation’s (TMC) Communications Solutions has awarded the company a Product of the Year award for the Xirrus Wi-Fi Array.
Continue reading "Xirrus Receives 2006 Product of the Year Award From Communications Solutions" »
5/3/07 – Irvine-based Integrien today announced that former Mercury Interactive CFO and IBM Tivoli Systems president David J. Murphy will join the company’s board of directors.
5/3/07 – Fonality, the Culver City-based open source telephony company, today announced that more than 1,000 businesses are using the company’s PBXtra Call Center Edition software to deploy call center operations. The company says its product allows small-and-medium size businesses (SMBs) to run a call center operation at a fraction of the price of traditional systems, allowing them to successfully compete with larger contact centers.
Continue reading "Fonality Reaches Milestone with Call Center Product" »
5/2/07 – Los Angeles-based Reunion.com has entered into a strategic partnership with Wink, a search engine that indexes individuals’ online profiles. The companies say the deal is a multi-year, multi-million dollar agreement where Reunion.com members and its affiliates will have access to Wink People Search. In addition, the companies say Reunion.com will be the exclusive distributor of Wink People Search Services to other “people search” sites.
Continue reading "Reunion.com Partners with Wink in ‘People Search’ Deal" »
5/2/07 – DomainSponsor, Los Angeles-based Oversee.net’s domain monetization business, today announced that it has partnered with NICIT, a company in the German-speaking domain name aftermarket, to hold a live auction at the DOMAINfest Amsterdam show. The company says it will be the first live domain auction of its kind.
Continue reading "DomainSponsor to Hold First Live Domain Auction" »
5/2/07 – Metabeam, a digital media technology company, announced yesterday that it is extending the functionality of its Metamenu media navigation development product. The company, founded in 2005, is based in Manhattan Beach and Seattle.
Continue reading "Metabeam Announces Enhanced Functionality for Digital Artists" »
5/1/07 – Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the web media company, and its wholly owned subsidiary and wholesale registrar, eNom, have announced that premium “.TV” domain names will be made available today.
Continue reading "Demand Media and eNom to Release .TV Domain Names" »
5/1/07 – Marina Del Rey-based Simula Labs has changed its name to DevZuz. The company says the new name reflects a refined focus on enabling enterprises to take advantage of open source technologies throughout the application development life cycle.
5/1/07 – El Segundo-based Siderean Software has announced it has entered into a reseller agreement with Inxight Federal Systems, a provider of government software solutions for information discovery. Siderean, which provides relational navigation solutions that allow users to sort through and organize information, says that effective immediately, it will be added to Inxight’s GSA-approved price list.
Continue reading "Siderean and Inxight to Deliver Relational Navigation to Federal Government" »
5/1/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced today that the Best Western Antlers Hotel in Vernal, Utah, has deployed a Xirrus Wi-Fi network throughout the property, delivering free wi-fi access to its guests.
Continue reading "Xirrus Launches Hotel-Based Wi-Fi Network" »
4/30/07 – El Segundo-based Siderean Software, a provider of relational navigation solutions that allow users to sort through information to find and act on relationships and connections, today announced the company has exceeded 1 billion resource description framework (RDF) relations in a pilot deployment for Elsevier, the publisher of scientific and technical research. Siderean says this is an industry-first milestone and was reached during a proof-of-concept evaluation using Siderean’s flagship Seamark Navigator information access platform.
Continue reading "Siderean Sets Relational Navigation Performance Record" »
4/30/07 – CircleUp, the Newport Beach-based provider of social communication services that utilize existing Internet tools, today launched the public beta version of its flagship service. Utilizing email and instant messaging (IM) to allow questions to be asked and information gathered from groups of any size, CircleUp allows users to get back a single, organized response that can be used and shared among all members of a group.
Continue reading "CircleUp Moves Into Beta, Adds New Features" »
4/30/07 – Sento Corporation and Los Angeles-based mobile service provider Amp’d Mobile have announced that Sento will provide its Right Channeling outsourced customer support service to Amp’d’s customer service division.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile and Sento Announce Customer Service Partnership" »
4/27/07 – Integrien, the Irvine-based integrity management solutions provider, today announced the hiring of Roy Agostino as chief marketing officer. Agostino brings 18 years experience in enterprise software and other industries to the position.
Continue reading "Integrien Appoints Roy Agostino as Chief Marketing Officer" »
4/27/07 – Pasadena-based Central Desktop, developer of a web-based collaboration platform, has been awarded the Entretech PricewaterhouseCoopers Entrepreneurial Spirit Award.
Continue reading "Central Desktop Wins Entrepreneurial Spirit Award" »
4/26/07 – As part of EarthLink’s earnings announcement this morning, the company announced that Los Angeles-based mobile startup Helio—a joint investment of EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom—continues to lose a significant amount of money. But in a sign of confidence in the company’s long-term viability, both EarthLink and SK Telecom announced they would continue to invest in the company.
Continue reading "Helio Continues to Lose Money, Investors Will Increase Capital Contribution" »
4/26/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open source telephony company, today announced that Matrix Business Technologies, a U.S.-based telecom services provider, is the first in its industry to adopt the Fonality Managed Services Partner (MSP) model by selecting Fonality’s PBXtra solution. The companies say this Matrix-managed PBX phone system is the first of its kind to complement the existing portfolio of voice and data services currently enjoyed by Matrix’s small to medium size business (SMB) customers.
4/26/07 – Los Angeles-based Language Weaver, a developer of software for the automatic translation of human languages, today announced it has entered into a strategic marketing and technology partnership with Janya, a provider of information extraction and text analytics technologies. The companies say they will develop a joint solution that integrates Language Weaver’s automatic translation capabilities and Janya’s Semantex text analytics platform.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Partners with Text Analytics Firm" »
4/25/07 – Local search has become a notoriously difficult business to break into, with numerous companies attempting to create effective and accurate local business listings—from pioneers like CitySearch, to popular “directory” companies like Local.com, to sites that incorporate social networking , like Judy’s Book and Yelp. Most of these entries have achieved various levels of success, but have run into distinct problems, from unreliable data to questionable user ratings.
Continue reading "Yellowbot Seeks to Make Local Search More Useful" »
4/25/07 – Irvine-based LogicalApps, a company that provides embedded governance software for enterprise applications, today announced that a new plug-in is available for its ACTIVE Governance solution that enables Sun Java System Identity Manager customers to implement fully-automated and compliant user provisioning systems across their enterprise applications.
Continue reading "LogicalApps Releases New Plug-In for Enhanced User Provisioning" »
4/25/07 –Los Angeles-based mobile phone startup Helio has decided to discontinue its EVDO/wi-fi hybrid service. The service combined 3G mobile technology with access to wi-fi hotspots for people with laptops that needed mobile connections in more places.
4/24/07 – LeadPoint, the Los Angeles-based online leads exchange, today announced that a record number of consumer requests for mortgage products were submitted to the LeadPoint Exchange during the first quarter of 2007—up 172 percent over the first quarter of 2006 and up 28 percent over the fourth quarter of 2006.
Continue reading "LeadPoint Announces Record Number of Consumer Requests for Mortgage Quotes" »
4/24/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced today that the Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust, England’s largest specialist women’s healthcare provider, will deploy Xirrus’ Wi-Fi Arrays throughout the entire hospital. This is another in a series of recent major customer wins for the company.
Continue reading "Hospital Selects Xirrus to Provide High-Performance Wi-Fi Network" »
4/24/07 – Integrien Corporation, the Irvine-based provider of “integrity management” solutions, today announced it has expanded its strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The company says that a key component of the partnership will be the inclusion of its Integrien Alive product in the technology infrastructure of TCS’s SAP Center of Excellence, which TCS uses to test the latest SAP applications and components.
Continue reading "Integrien Expands Key Strategic Partnership" »
4/23/07 – For the third straight quarter, the Southern California region was second only to Silicon Valley in terms of venture capital, with investment growing 23 percent over last year, according to the Dow Jones VentureOne and Ernst & Young Quarterly Venture Capital Report. The report says the region saw 66 deals during the first three months of the year, resulting in $1.1 billion dollars invested—the first time Southern California has topped the $1 billion mark in a quarter since 2000.
Continue reading "Venture Capital Investment Continues Strong Growth in Region" »
4/23/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open source telephony company, has announced the launch of the trixbox Buyer’s Club, a source for discounted voice-over-IP products for resellers and IT professionals. The company says a portion of the proceeds from each sale will be reinvested in the company’s ongoing support of the trixbox community, the world’s largest community of Asterisk developers and resellers.
4/20/07 – Entretech, the Caltech-based business development organization for high-tech companies throughout greater Los Angeles, announced today that LegalZoom, Snap.com and Prolacta Bioscience have been named winners of its fourth annual Entrepreneurship Award.
Continue reading "LegalZoom and Prolacta Bioscience Winners of Entretech Award" »
4/20/07 – Santa Monica-based Teleflip, which offers a service that allows the receipt of email and text messages on any mobile phone from any PC, announced its selection as a finalist for the Red Herring 100 award.
Continue reading "Teleflip Named Finalist for Red Herring 100" »
4/20/07 – EI Solutions, the systems integration arm of IdeaLab startup Energy Innovations, today announced that Marco Garcia has been named vice president of sales with responsibility for the company’s rapidly growing sales activities. He brings a half a decade of large-scale photovoltaic (PV) sales experience in addition to over 15 years of sales management and international business development experience to the position.
Continue reading "EI Solutions Names Marco Garcia Vice President of Sales" »
4/19/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open source telephony company, today announced the second Fonality trixbox Open Communications Certification workshop at the Hyatt Regency Boston in June. The workshop is a training and certification course designed around the company’s Asterisk-based trixbox platform, which has become home to the largest Asterisk-based telephony community, according to the company. Fonality says the workshops are geared toward providing trixbox and Asterisk resellers, as well as IT professionals, the tools and knowledge necessary to implement trixbox successfully in a business environment.
Earlier this week, Fonality announced it had surpassed the 2,000 customer milestone.
More information on the workshop and on trixbox can be found at www.trixbox.org/ftocc.
Fonality - www.fonality.com
4/19/07 – Santa Monica-based TeleFlip, a service that enables mobile phone users to receive their personal or business emails on their existing phones without any special handset, mobile Internet connectivity, or downloadable software applications, has been named a “company to watch” by LAPTOP Magazine as part of the publication’s Mobile Maverick Awards.
TeleFlip, part of the DEMO 07 class, recently officially launched its flipMail product.
TeleFlip – www.teleflip.com
Laptop Magazine Mobile Maverick Awards4/18/07 – According to Marguerite Reardon at CNet, Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Helio is now offering customers a “mobile-to-mobile” calling service for $5 a-month extra. The company has not made a public announcement, but Reardon says Helio has been promoting the service via text message to its subscribers.
Continue reading "Helio Offering Mobile-to-Mobile Calling" »
4/18/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, has announced verification by The Tolly Group that demonstrates only five Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays are needed to cover a one square mile area with wi-fi access—greatly simplifying installation and lowering deployment costs for campus-wide wi-fi networks by reducing the number of devices required. Xirrus says that by comparison, competitive solutions typically require 20 or more devices to cover the same area.
Continue reading "Xirrus Releases Wi-Fi Coverage Area Test Results" »
4/18/07 – LogicalApps, the Irvine-based provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, today announced the availability of ACTIVE Governance 7.2, the newest release of the company’s flagship product.
Continue reading "LogicalApps Announces Upgraded Product Release" »
4/18/07 – Los Angeles-based LegalZoom.com, the online legal document preparation service, today released the results of its most recent national survey measuring the number of people who have prepared a last will and testament. LegalZoom.com said the survey, which was conducted by InsightExpress and sampled 1,000 respondents, showed little change from previous results.
Continue reading "LegalZoom.com Releases National Survey Results" »
4/17/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open source telephony company, today announced that more than 2,000 customers with 45,000 phones in 37 countries have adopted its open source business phone system, PBXtra, and used it to place more than 75 million calls.
4/17/07 – Santa Barbara-based medical device manufacturer Inogen announced today that R. Scott Greer has joined the company's board of directors. Greer is a managing director of Numenor Ventures, LLC.
4/16/07 – Entretech, the Pasadena-based business development organization supporting high technology companies throughout Greater Los Angeles, today announced the appointment of two new board members—Krisztina Holly, vice provost and executive director of the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, and Kathryn A. Atchison, vice provost of intellectual property and industry relations and associate vice chancellor for research at UCLA. Holly and Atchison join 10 other board members deeply rooted in the local business and technology communities, including Fred Farina, who represents the Office of Technology Transfer at Caltech.
Continue reading "UCLA, USC Vice Provosts Join Entretech Board" »
4/16/07 – Chatsworth-based Provision Interactive, a creator of intelligent interactive 3-D holographic display technologies, has announced the signing of a joint marketing agreement with CEO America, the exclusive U.S. licensee of CREDITZ Digital Currency, a digital payment system.
Continue reading "Provision Interactive Teams with Digital Currency Company" »
4/16/07 – Los Angeles-based Reunion.com today announced it has completed a $25 million round of funding from Oak Investment Partners. The social networking company was founded in 2002.
Continue reading "Reunion.com Receives $25 Million in Funding" »
4/12/07 – A company that has recently appeared on StartUp Beat’s radar is Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, a business built upon technology developed at CalTech that provides fully integrated power amplifiers for the cell phone market. Founded in 2002, Axiom uses commodity complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processes to create cost reduction and integration for cell phone manufacturers.
4/12/07 – Language Weaver, the Marina Del Rey-based developer of enterprise software for the automated translation of human languages, today announced it has partnered with Idiom Technologies, Inc., a supplier of SaaS and on-premise server-based globalization management systems. The companies say the partnership is based on a strategic marketing and technology integration agreement, and the companies will work together to make it easier to incorporate machine translation into a company’s globalization workflow to accelerate translation and localization with increased throughput.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Teams with Idiom Technologies" »
4/12/07 – Now that Google has made its way into TV advertising through a deal with EchoStar’s DishNetwork and a possible partnership with DirecTV, Los Angeles-based Spot Runner seems to be a viable possibility for acquisition by Internet giant.
4/11/07 – According to the web site Metal Underground.com (not often cited on StartUp Beat), a band called Psychostick is using Los Angeles-based online video site Stickam.com for a “web tour.” In light of the recent discussion around Justin.tv, this could be an interesting example of the potential of “next-generation” live Internet video, with companies like Stickam leading the way.
4/11/07 – Los Angeles-based Amp’d Mobile continued its string of partnership announcements today, saying the company is teaming up with Qualcomm to launch wireless data services based on Qualcomm’s BREW solution to subscribers in Canada. The companies say the launch marks the first commercial deployment of BREW services there. Amp’d launched its Amp'd Canada service last month.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile and Qualcomm To Bring BREW Services to Canada" »
4/10/07 – It seems that news from Los Angeles-based MVNOs (mobile virtual network operator) Amp’d Mobile and Helio is becoming an almost daily occurrence—and today it’s Amp’d’s turn, revealing its Q1 subscriber numbers. The company said it now has nearly 200,000 subscribers, a 70 percent jump during the first three months of the year.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Approaches 200K Subscribers" »
4/10/07 – Westlake Village-based Inphi, which designs and develops integrated circuits for processing high-speed digital data in computing and communications systems, today announced it is opening an office in Japan, and has hired Kenta Sakurai as country manager. Inphi is recognized as a global technology leader for its innovative designs, dedication to excellence in product development, and advancement of industry standards in the integrated circuits market.
4/9/07 – Pasadena-based Central Desktop, developer of a web-based collaboration platform, today announced that its spring 2007 release is now live and available to all of its users worldwide. The company, which claims more than 30,000 users, says this release expands the Central Desktop collaboration platform by introducing a turnkey intranet for its company subscribers, which includes a company directory, company calendar and a dynamic interface that displays personalized data for each user.
Continue reading "Central Desktop Expands Its Collaboration Platform to Intranets" »
4/9/07 – In light of speculation last week that it may not survive the year, Los Angeles-based MVNO Helio received a confidence boost from the CEO of South Korea’s SK Telecom, one of its original investors, who said earlier today that he expects Helio to become profitable by 2009, according to Reuters.
4/6/07 – Google this week announced its first foray into TV advertising through a deal with EchoStar, which runs the DishNetwork satellite service, in an attempt to further extend its advertising platform offline. On first blush, this may be seen as a threat to Los Angeles-based Spot Runner, which is perhaps the most prominent company already selling local television advertising online. But for its part, Spot Runner appears to see the new Google service as validation more than anything else.
Continue reading "Spot Runner Sees Opportunity in Google’s Foray Into TV Ads" »
4/6/07 – Downtown Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, a company involved in several lines of Internet-based business, has announced that its domain monetization business, DomainSponsor, is presenting DOMAINfest Amsterdam, a two-day regional seminar and networking event created specifically to respond to the needs of domainers operating in the European business environment. The event will be held May 16-17 at the Hilton Amsterdam Hotel.
Continue reading "Oversee.net’s DomainSponsor Announces DOMAINfest Amsterdam" »
4/5/07 – The Pitch, by StartUp Beat, is featuring a new company—Los Angeles-based Passenger. The company offers collaboration tools for marketers who want to connect with valued customers. See what co-founder and head of innovation and marketing Justin Cooper has to say about the company and its value proposition—www.startupbeat.com/thepitch.
The Pitch is where executives at local tech startups pitch their companies directly to StartUp Beat readers through an article that outlines the business model, product line(s) and the people behind the company.
4/5/07 – Los Angeles-based mobile content and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Amp’d Mobile this week continued its ambitious string of content announcements, this time with Fox Reality, an “all-reality, all-the-time” network. According to Amp’d, linear TV and on-demand video content from Fox Reality will be available on the Amp’d Live service beginning April 16.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Announces Availability of Fox Reality on Amp’d Live" »
4/5/07 – Startups Axiom Microdevices and WiSpry, both based in Irvine, have been named as finalists in two categories for the annual AeA technology trade association Orange County and Inland Empire High-Tech Innovation Awards.
Continue reading "Local Startups Named as AeA High-Tech Innovation Awards Finalists" »
4/4/07 – Xirrus, the Westlake Village—based provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced today that Charleston Southern University in South Carolina will deploy an all wireless network to deliver live video and audio streaming of its NCAA soccer and softball events starting this month.
4/3/07 – Topanga-based Zaadz.com, an online social networking site, last week announced that John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, Inc., has invested in the company.
Continue reading "Zaadz.com Gets Investment from Whole Foods CEO" »
4/2/07 – Santa Monica-based social networking web site Answerbag.com has launched an upgraded version of its question-and-answer service. New features include channels that separate “social” topics and “serious” topics, an enhanced ratings tool and enhanced navigation.
Continue reading "Answerbag Launches Next Version of Social Q&A Service" »
4/2/07 – Language Weaver, the Marina Del Rey-based developer of enterprise software for the automated translation of human languages, and across Systems GmbH, a spin-off of AG, Germany, have signed a co-marketing and technology integration agreement. The partnership is based on use of the across Language Server, a collaborative business solution for all language resources and translation processes, including a translation memory and terminology system, as well as tools for project and workflow management.
Continue reading "Language Weaver and across Systems Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement" »
3/30/07 – Marina Del Rey-based Language Weaver, a software company that develops enterprise software for the automated translation of human languages, has announced the launch of Kontrib, a “social bookmarking” site that allows users to submit, vote and comment on user-generated stories in multiple languages. The company says that Kontrib is the first news bookmarking site to integrate automated machine translation of stories.
Continue reading "Language Weaver Launches Consumer-Focused Subsidiary" »
3/30/07 – It has been a busy week for Los Angeles-based Amp’d Mobile. In addition to announcing another content deal with Nickelodeon, Third Screen Media now says that Amp’d will be using Third Screen technology to advertise in its mobile video offerings.
3/29/07 – Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and mobile content company, continued its stream of new content announcements with a new partnership that brings programming from Nickelodeon and The N to new channels on the company’s Amp’d TV content service, beginning this week.
Continue reading "Nickelodeon and ‘The N’ Partner With Amp’d Mobile in Content Distribution Deal" »
3/29/07 – Santa Monica-based TeleFlip has announced what the company calls its “premier product offering” – flipMail. The service enables mobile phone users to receive their personal or business emails right on their existing phones without any special handset, mobile Internet connectivity, or any downloadable software applications. TeleFlip made the announcement at the big CTIA mobile technology show in Orlando, Florida.
Continue reading "TeleFlip Unveils Free Mobile Email Service" »
3/29/07 – Calabasas-based Fulcrum Microsystems and Applied Micro Circuits Corporation have announced a new, jointly designed SFP+ 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch reference design that combines Fulcrum’s FocalPoint FM2224 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch chip with AMCC’s QT2035S SFP+ physical layer IC. The companies say they are demonstrating the solution at the OFC/NFOEC Technical Conference and Exposition this week at the Anaheim Convention Center.
3/28/07 – The long-awaited release of eJamming AUDiiO was announced today, the first real-time Internet collaboration technology and service for musicians. The company, based both locally in Valley Village and in Florida, also debuted the eJamming AUDiiO portal, which the company says will become a resource-rich community where musicians can connect, showcase their music, find teachers or students, and buy and sell gear.
Continue reading "eJamming Releases Online Music Collaboration Service" »
3/27/07 – Pasadena-based ClearMesh Networks has announced the launch of its next-generation wireless mesh solution, the ClearMesh Sentry Mesh. The company says that Sentry Mesh enables system integrators and security professionals to roll out a wireless network providing 100 mbps of full duplex bandwidth per hop to support high-resolution video surveillance and IT applications.
Continue reading "ClearMesh Networks Debuts Next-Generation Wireless Solution" »
3/27/07 – Westlake Village-based Inphi Corporation, which designs and develops integrated circuits for processing high-speed digital data in computing and communications systems, has introduced the 1347TL 11.3 Gbps Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA)/Limiting Amplifier (LIA) for fiber optic systems. Inphi says this device has the highest stressed receiver sensitivity, lowest cross talk, highest gain and lowest power for 1310-nm/1550-nm 10G-Ethernet and 10G-SONET optical communications.
Continue reading "Inphi Corporation Launches New Device for Optical Communications" »
3/26/07 – Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Helio today unveiled Ocean, a 
dual-slider mobile phone combining a traditional numeric keypad and a separate full QWERTY keyboard in a single device. The Ocean is planned for launch in spring of this year at a suggested retail price of $295, and is perhaps the most ambitious entry yet in Helio’s product line targeted to youth and young adults.
Continue reading "Helio Unveils New Dual Slider Mobile Phone" »
3/23/07 – LogicalApps, the Irvine-based provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, announced that Fidelity National Information Services has selected its ACTIVE Governance to manage the company’s Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) programs. LogicalApps says Fidelity is implementing ACTIVE Governance as a key element of its Oracle rollout strategy in order to embed proper controls into its Oracle environment.
Continue reading "LogicalApps Selected by Fidelity National Information" »
3/23/07 – Los Angeles-based LegalZoom.com, an online legal document preparation service, has announced that it has secured financing from Polaris Venture Partners, a national venture capital firm with over $3 billion under management.
Continue reading "LegalZoom.com Announces Strategic Investment by Polaris Venture Partners" »
3/22/07 – Newbury Park-based EdenTree Technologies, provider of software solutions for lab management and test automation, and Calient Networks, a supplier of carrier-class fiber optic cross-connect systems (FOCS), have announced that the companies have signed an exclusive technology and distribution agreement for integrated network lab automation solutions.
Continue reading "EdenTree Technologies and Calient Networks Sign Exclusive Reseller Agreement" »
3/22/07 – There is more news from Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based MVNO and mobile content provider, as the company today unveiled the MOTO Q, Amp’d Edition from Motorola.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile and Motorola Announce Mobile Entertainment-Focused Phone" »
3/21/07 – Cognition Technologies, a Santa Monica-based Internet search technology company, has announced the commercial release of CognitionSearch, its evolutionary meaning-based linguistic search technology. The company claims that CognitionSearch dramatically increases the precision and recall of search results when compared to traditional search methods and technologies.
Continue reading "Cognition Technologies Introduces Meaning-Based Linguistic Search" »
3/21/07 – Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and content provider Amp’d Mobile has announced that its exclusive entertainment content is now available to more than 30 million mobile users around the world.
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Expands International Presence" »
3/20/07 – Fonality, the Culver City-based open source telephony company, yesterday announced a 
new enterprise telephony appliance based on trixbox, a leading Asterisk-based open source Internet protocol-PBX, and a range of complementary professional support options. The company made the announcement at the Spring Voice On the Net 2007 conference in San Jose.
Continue reading "Fonality Launches trixbox Asterisk-Based Appliance" »
3/20/07 – Santa Monica-based ReferNow, Inc. last week threw its hat into the growing referral marketing and word-of-mouth market with the launch of ReferNow.com, a web-based tool that the company says simplifies the creation, management and measurement of sophisticated referral-marketing campaigns.
3/19/07 – Amp'd Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile entertainment provider, has launched in Canada, bringing its collection of original and exclusive content to a new audience.
3/19/07 – Irvine-based Integrien, provider of “integrity management” solutions, has been included in the list of “Cool Vendors” in the March 7 “Cool Vendors in IT Operations Management, 2007” report by Gartner, Inc.
Continue reading "Integrien Named ‘Cool Vendor’ by Leading Analyst Firm" »
3/16/07 – ThisNext.com has announced the expansion of its blogging toolset by adding a new member to its Shopcasting Suite family called “BlogIt.” The company says BlogIt is a tool that allows bloggers and social networkers to distribute attractive content easily and quickly, allowing users to create personalized HTML code that can be copied and pasted to multiple platforms.
Continue reading "ThisNext.com Launches New Content Creation Tool for Blogs and Social Networks" »
3/16/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open source IP telephony company, announced today that it has been named to the “Pulver 100,” an annual list of high-growth private companies that represent the future of IP communications. Fonality says it will be honored at the spring 2007 VON Conference and Expo next week in San Jose, Calif.
Continue reading "Fonality Named to Pulver 100 List of IP Communications Innovators" »
3/15/07 – Practical Instruments CEO Brad Hines this week announced that the Pasadena-based company is changing its name to Soliant Energy, a move that comes just a week after the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the company a $4 million grant to accelerate the on-going development of its Heliotube product platform.
Continue reading "Practical Instruments Changes Name to Soliant Energy" »
3/13/07 – StatShark and AccuScore today announced the launch of the BracketCaster on StatShark.com. StatShark is owned by Los Angeles-based Orion Data Analysis, and enables sports forecasting and data analysis for sports analysts, fantasy sports and other sport-related activities.
Continue reading "StatShark Adds BracketCaster by AccuScore" »
3/13/07 – Culver City-based Fonality, the open source IP telephony company, today announced a partnership with TriCon Technical Services, the first managed service provider to bring Fonality's PBXtra solution to the Canadian small to medium size business (SMB) market.
Continue reading "Fonality Signs First Canadian Managed Service Provider" »
3/12/07 – Siderean Software, the El Segundo-based provider of relational navigation solutions, today announced that it has been named to KMWorld magazine’s list of “100 Companies that Matter in Knowledge Management.”
3/12/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, today announced another implementation of its Rapid Deployment Wi-Fi solution—this time for Frost & Sullivan’s Mobile and Wireless Enterprise 2007, held last week in Indian Wells, Calif. The company has recently announced successful deployments at several industry conferences for Advance Concepts and at Car Sound Exhaust System’s new manufacturing, distribution and warehouse facility in Oceanside.
Continue reading "Xirrus Successfully Delivers Wi-Fi Network at Mobile and Wireless Conference" »
3/12/07 – Newport Beach-based CircleUp, the provider of social communication services for online and offline communities, today announced that e7sports is now using CircleUp‘s online tournament and sports club management services. The company says that with this partnership, e7sports empowers hundreds of tournament directors and thousands of coaches and team managers to manage a critical aspect of tournament management—group communication—more efficiently.
Continue reading "CircleUp Implemented by e7sports for Online Tournament Management" »
3/9/07 – Pasadena-based Practical Instruments, the provider of high-performance concentrating rooftop solar panels, announced today that it has been awarded $4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Technology Pathway Partnerships (TPP) program.
Continue reading "Practical Instruments Wins $4 Million in Funding From Department of Energy" »
3/9/07 – Irvine-based LogicalApps, the provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, has announced that GE Infrastructure Sensing has selected its ACTIVE Governance solution to optimize critical business processes within their ERP environment. LogicalApps says that GE Infrastructure Sensing will also implement the company's Financial Period Close Automation solution.
3/8/07 – Los Angeles-based startup Oversee.net was named Internet and New Media Company of the Year at the Technology Council of Southern California’s 2007 Technology Industry Awards dinner this week. According to the Council, the awards honor individuals and companies that have made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Southern California as a center for technological innovation.
Continue reading "Oversee.net Honored by Technology Council of Southern California" »
3/8/07 – Pasadena-based Desktop Factory, an IdeaLab technology start-up that develops desktop 3D printers, has announced that Cathy Lewis has been named CEO. The company says Lewis, who will also serve on its board of directors, has been consulting with the company for the past few months and has agreed to take over management responsibilities effective immediately.
Continue reading "Desktop Factory Names Chief Executive Officer" »
3/8/07 – Concourse Communications Group, LLC, an operating company of Santa Monica-based Boingo Wireless, has announced that the high-speed wi-fi network at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) is now operational in all secure areas of the airport. Concourse operates neutral host wireless access systems at airports and other commercial venues.
3/7/07 – Westlake Village-based Inphi today announced that industry veteran Norman K. Yeung has joined the company as vice president, engineering. The company says that Yeung will continue to drive Inphi’s technology leadership as the company expands its portfolio of the industry’s highest performing integrated circuits with the best signal integrity for processing high-speed data.
Continue reading "Inphi Appoints Industry Veteran as Vice President of Engineering" »
3/7/07 – Demand Media, the Santa Monica-based web media company, and its wholly owned subsidiary and largest wholesale registrar, eNom, today announced that eNom resellers will be able to offer Demand Media social networking tools to their customers with every .tv domain registration.
Continue reading "Demand Media Debuts Social Networking Tools for .TV Domain Names" »
3/6/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high-performance, long-range wi-fi products, announced today that Advance Concepts has deployed Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays at several conferences, providing what Xirrus calls a completely self-contained, rapid deployment wi-fi network; allowing attendees to download presentations, support materials and take notes in real-time to enhance their conference experience.
Continue reading "Xirrus’ Rapid Deployment Wi-Fi Network Deployed By Advance Concepts" »
3/6/07 – Axiom Microdevices, the Irvine-based provider of fully integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) power amplifiers (PA), today added Gary Cheek to its executive team as vice president of operations. The company says that Cheek will be responsible for building and leading Axiom Microdevices’ operations team as well as successfully ramping its CMOS PA products.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices Adds Vice President of Operations" »
3/5/07 – Newbury Park-based EdenTree Technologies, provider of lab management and test automation solutions for network equipment manufacturers, service providers and enterprises, today announced the availability of EdenTree Configuration Manager, an application that the company says radically reduces software test cycles through automated reconfiguration of computers used in test lab environments.
Continue reading "EdenTree Technologies Launches Configuration Manager" »
3/5/07 – Lake Forest-based Newport Media, a fabless semiconductor company supplying products to the mobile broadcast media market, today announced that Dwight Decker, Ph.D., chairman and CEO of Conexant Systems, has been appointed to the company’s board of directors as an independent member. Decker’s appointment increases the board membership to five directors.
Continue reading "Newport Media Elects Dwight Decker to Board of Directors" »
3/1/07 – Los Angeles-based Helio today announced the newest of the company’s portfolio of mobile devices – the Heat – and the addition of popular web sites Boing Boing, Digg, Metroblogging and Wikipedia to the company's service. Helio says this is the first time these sites have been available on a on a mobile service WAP deck.
Continue reading "Helio Debuts New Web-Enabled Mobile Device" »
2/28/07 – Venice-based Vantage Media, the performance-based search engine marketing and online lead generation firm, today announced it has completed a $70 million series A preferred financing round led by Montgomery & Co. and Scale Venture Partners. The company also announced that it has named Steve Jillings as CEO.
Continue reading "Vantage Media Secures $70 Million Financing Round; Names New CEO" »
2/27/07 – Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, provider of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) power amplifiers (PA), today announced that its AX502 CMOS device successfully completed full type approval (FTA) testing.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices Power Amplifier Achieves Cellular Handset Full Type Approval" »
2/27/07 – Pasadena-based Entretech, a business development organization supporting high technology companies throughout greater Los Angeles, today announced nine finalists for its fourth annual Entrepreneurship Award program. Offered in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Entretech says the award celebrates the entrepreneurial vigor and business achievements of technology companies in greater Los Angeles.
2/27/07 – Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), today announced the launch of its newest made-for-mobile animated series, “Lil’ Hollywood.” Amp’d says the parody series will follow the adventures of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities.
Continue reading "Passenger Launches Customer Collaboration Platform" »
2/26/07 – The Technology Council of Southern California today announced the finalists for the 2007 Technology Industry Awards. The awards honor individuals and companies that have made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Southern California as a center for technological innovation and includes nominations for a number Los Angeles-area based startups.
Continue reading "2007 Technology Industry Awards Finalists Announced" »
2/22/07 – Among a spate of announcements last week out of the big 3GSM World Congress mobile technology show in Barcelona, Spain, came news that Santa Monica-based Boingo Wireless has debuted Boingo Mobile, a global wi-fi Internet service designed for wi-fi enabled mobile phones and devices. Boingo is the wholesale network aggregator and operator of neutral-host wi-fi networks established by EarthLink and Helio founder Sky Dayton.
Continue reading "Boingo Launches Worldwide Wi-Fi Service for Mobile Phones and Devices" »
2/21/07 – Los Angeles-based Fonality, the open source IP telephony provider, today announced version 3.5 of its PBXtra Call Center Edition product, which the company describes as a full-featured call center for small-to-medium size businesses that supports agents working on premise, at home or from any remote location.
Continue reading "Fonality Targets Small Businesses with Call Center Product" »
2/21/07 – Tarzana-based DigiContractor, which developed the industry’s first photo measuring software, iPhotoMEASURE, today announced it has reached an agreement with The Meyering Corporation to distribute the software in the Midwest U.S.
Continue reading "DigiContractor Signs Deal to Distribute iPhotoMEASURE Software in Midwest" »
2/15/07 - Inogen, a leading developer of long-term oxygen therapy technologies, today announced that it has secured $22 million in funding from a group of investors led by Novo A/S. The company says the funds will support new manufacturing capabilities and Inogen's expansion into international markets.
Continue reading "Inogen Secures $22 Million in Financing" »
2/15/07 - Lake Forest-based Newport Media, a fabless semiconductor company supplying products to the mobile broadcast media market, has announced the opening of the Newport Media Egypt Design Center in Cairo. The facility adds additional systems design and software development resources to meet customer demand and product development.
Continue reading "Newport Media Opens Design Center in Egypt" »
2/13/07 – Santa Monica-based Answerbag.com, an independent social knowledge platform and a division of Demand Media, today released a social question-and-answer API that gives users full access to their structured database of user-generated questions and answers.
2/13/07 – Los Angeles-based LiveDigital, the video programming and channel site, today announced the launch of a platform that enables Internet video users to select which advertisements will appear on their user generated channels, as well as specifically where advertisements will be displayed.
Continue reading "LiveDigital Introduces User-Driven Advertising Platform" »
2/13/07 – Santa Monica-based Bellrock Media, a premium entertainment content developer and producer, has acquired mobile multimedia content company Moderati.
2/13/07 – Irvine-based LogicalApps, the provider of embedded governance software for enterprise applications, has announced that Jim Zierick has joined the company as chief executive officer. Zierick is a 25-year industry veteran and former executive vice president of worldwide field operations for Peregrine Systems.
2/12/07 – Encino-based Bid4Spots, the reverse-auction site for radio advertising time, today reported that its terrestrial radio auction reached an all-time high for the broadcast week of Feb. 5—awarding auction winnings with an aggregate value of $224,000 among its participating radio stations.
2/12/07 – ShoZu Inc. today announced a distribution agreement that will make its Share-It uploading service available on phones sold by Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The companies claim that the Share-It service will expand Amp’d Mobile’s social networking feature set by enabling subscribers to easily transmit photos and video clips to nearly two dozen media sharing, blogging and community sites using a single ShoZu application on the handset.
2/12/07 – Calabasas-based Fulcrum Microsystems today announced that integrated telecoms systems solutions provider Continuous Computing has chosen Fulcrum’s FocalPoint 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch chips for the two cards featured within its new 10GbE AdvancedTCA Traffic Management and Security solution, unveiled today at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
Continue reading "Continuous Computing Selects Fulcrum Microsystems" »
2/9/07 - Irvine-based Axiom Microdevices, a provider of fully integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) power amplifiers (PA) for the cellular telephone market, announced this week that it has secured $25 million in series C funding.
Continue reading "Axiom Microdevices Secures $25 Million in Funding" »
2/8/07 - Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) announced today that it has selected Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics to provide a standard architecture for robotic application development in Taiwan.
Continue reading "ITRI Adopts Evolution Robotics Software Platform for Robotics Development" »
2/7/07 – Los Angeles-based Fonality, the provider of open source Internet telephony for the small to medium size business market, has secured $7 million in a series C round led by Intel Capital, with participation from existing investor Azure Capital Partners.
2/7/07 – eJamming, based in Valley Village and Florida, announced today that it was named a DEMOgod at last week’s DEMO 07 conference and it has been selected as a finalist for technical achievement in the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Web Awards.
2/7/07 – Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high- performance, long-range wi-fi products, has announced the deployment of their Wi-Fi Arrays in Car Sound Exhaust System Inc.’s new state-of-the-art manufacturing, distribution and warehouse facility in Oceanside.
Continue reading "Xirrus Deploys Wi-Fi Network at Manufacturing and Distribution Facility" »
2/6/07 - Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Helio today announced the launch of Helio Music, the newest addition to Helio’s line-up of custom-built 3G mobile services. Since its launch in 2005, Helio has introduced multiple industry firsts, such as MySpace Mobile, GPS-enabled Google Maps service for mobile, Buddy Beacon and “Gifting & Begging,” allowing friends to share all of Helio’s downloadable content.
Continue reading "Helio Launches Helio Music; Predicts Robust Growth" »
2/6/07 - El Segundo-based Siderean Software, a pioneer in relational navigation solutions, has announced that the company is a participant in the Oracle Secure Search Initiative. Launched yesterday by Oracle, the Secure Search Initiative allows leading software vendors like Siderean to partner with Oracle to develop a set of secure connectors that enable Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 10g users to more easily access information from disparate enterprise data sources and applications.
Continue reading "Siderean's Seamark Included in Oracle Secure Search Initiative" »
2/6/07 - Practical Instruments, a Pasadena-based provider of high-performance concentrating solar panels, has announced new partnerships with three Southern California-based installers of solar power systems: Energy Options, Permacity Corporation and Advanced Solar Electric. The company says that the three represent the first wave of authorized resellers and installers for Heliotube, Practical Instruments' flagship concentrating solar panel product.
Continue reading "Practical Instruments Adds Three New Solar Installers" »
2/5/07 - Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile entertainment company, today announced that it has partnered with Medio Systems to launch a new mobile search application. At the same time, the company says that it has inked development deals with some of Hollywood's biggest players, including Jack Black, Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab and ICEBOX, co-founded by Howard Gordon, the executive producer of “24” and “The X-Files.”
Continue reading "Amp’d Mobile Launches Enhanced Search Functionality and New Content Lineup" »
2/2/07 - Los Angeles-based Fonality announced this week that TMC's Internet Telephony magazine has named HUD (Heads Up Display), Fonality's universal contact management and call control application, a recipient of a 2006 Product of the Year award for "outstanding innovation."
Continue reading "Fonality Wins Product of the Year Award" »
2/2/07 - El Segundo-based Ripple, a developer, distributor and programmer of out-of-home digital networks, has added five new executives and two members to its board of advisors. The company recently completed a $5 million first round of funding.
Continue reading "Ripple Grows Executive Team and Names Initial Board of Advisors" »
2/1/07 – The DEMO 07 conference concludes today, and several local companies have introduced products and services at the show, which started Tuesday in Palm Desert. DEMO is widely recognized as the premier platform for product and service debuts. Sixty-eight companies were selected by DEMO to participate in this year’s show, including six from the greater Los Angeles region representing a wide range of technology sectors and services.
1/31/07 - LeadPoint, the Los Angeles-based online leads exchange, yesterday announced the debut of a new lead trading platform for the new car market. Building upon its mortgage leads exchange platform, which counts almost all of the top mortgage lenders in the country as customers, LeadPoint's latest offering brings the company's auction-style model to the automotive leads market. Initially targeted to new car purchase and auto warranty, LeadPoint says that it will expand its automotive platform over the next several months to also include auto finance leads.
Continue reading "LeadPoint Launches Auction-Based New Car Leads Exchange" »
1/31/07 - Los Angeles-based LiveDigital, an Oversee.net company, has unveiled a user-generated channel and video programming platform, allowing any user to design, program and brand their own "Internet channel.” The company says that for the first time, users can harness the thousands of videos uploaded by others and “program” them for public viewing. In addition, each month, LiveDigital will have a “Sweeps” period, and split projected advertising revenues among the top 25 channels. Set to launch Feb. 1, the user-driven advertising and revenue sharing contest will give channel producers the chance to compete for $25,000 in cash.
Continue reading "LiveDigital Launches User-Driven Video Programming and Revenue Sharing Platform" »
1/30/07 - El Segundo-based Siderean Software, the leading provider of relational navigation solutions, today announced that the company has received United States patent number 7,146,362 for its faceted metadata navigation technology. Siderean’s relational navigation solution allows end-users to gain greater access to and control over search results from enterprise and web-based information resources.
Continue reading "Siderean Software Receives Patent for Faceted Metadata Navigation" »
1/30/07 - Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high performance, long range wi-fi products, today announced test results by The Tolly Group confirming multiple features of the company’s Wi-Fi Array designed to maximize network uptime and create a highly available, resilient wi-fi network.
Continue reading "Xirrus Releases Wi-Fi Array Test Results" »
1/29/07 – Six companies from the greater Los Angeles area have been chosen to participate in the DEMO 07 conference, taking place this week. Those selected include Panjea and Shipwire.com, based in Los Angeles, eJamming, based in Valley Village, and TeleFlip, based in Santa Monica. Other local companies selected include Newport Beach-based CircleUp and Irvine-based Integrien.
Continue reading "Los Angeles-Area Companies Selected for DEMO 07" »
1/26/07 - Inglewood-based Leads360, a provider of on-demand lead management solutions, has introduced a new, easy-to-use integrated process for verifying leads against the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call (DNC) National Registry. The system is designed to ensure compliance with all DNC restrictions.
Continue reading "Leads360 Introduces Integrated Do Not Call Verification" »
1/26/07 - Westlake Village-based Inphi has announced the start of a hiring initiative designed to fill more than 30 engineering, marketing, sales and administrative positions in its Westlake Village offices during 2007. The company cited strong growth and increasing demand for its high-performance components as the impetus for the initiative.
1/25/07 - Santa Barbara-based Procore Technologies, provider of the Procore software-as-a-service (SaaS) online tool for construction project management, announced this week that the company has successfully closed its Series B Preferred financing with $4 million in new investment capital. The investment round was led by venture firm Great Pacific Capital.
Continue reading "Procore Technologies Raises $4 Million in Series B Financing" »
1/25/07 - Homassist Corp. announced today that that it has signed an agreement to acquire Irvine-based The Family Post.
1/24/07 - Ripple, the El Segundo-based developer, distributor and programmer of out-of-home digital networks, announced yesterday that it has secured $5 million in a first round of capital funding from Trinity Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The company says it plans to increase its footprint in Southern California and into other major U.S. markets.
Continue reading "Ripple Secures $5 Million in VC Financing" »
1/24/07 - eNom, a Demand Media company and ICANN-accredited wholesale domain registrar, announced today that it is working with Microsoft to enable the new domain registration services feature in Windows Live Custom Domains.
Continue reading "Demand Media’s eNom Announces Support For Windows Live Custom Domains" »
1/23/07 - Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, a leader in direct navigation, lead generation and online advertising solutions, has announced that it will be expanding and relocating to a new 45,000 square foot downtown Los Angeles headquarters. The new space will be located at 515 S. Flower St. and will encompass the entire 43rd and 44th floors of the former ARCO headquarters. According to the company, the move is scheduled for this summer.
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1/23/07 - Westlake Village-based Xirrus, the provider of high performance, long range wi-fi products, announced today that Sierra Corporation has completed a deployment of Xirrus Wi-Fi Arrays at Carter G. Woodson Collegiate Academy, a Friendship Public Charter School located in Washington D.C.
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1/22/07 - The fourth-annual Los Angeles County Technology Week, featuring events promoting the technology business community in the Los Angeles area, kicks off today with a “Fast Pitch Competition” at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. According to organizers, the competition presents management from startup companies the opportunity for a 60 second presentation of their business concept to venture capitalists.
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-MTV Networks Invests in TagWorld – PaidContent.org reported this week that Viacom's MTVN has invested in Santa Monica-based social networking site TagWorld. Click for full article.
-Is Web 2.0 Hitting a Wall? – Red Herring writes about the viability of “web 2.0” companies. Full article: Web 2.0 Losing Steam?
1/18/07 - Stickam, the Los Angeles-based online video company, announced today they will be providing a behind-the-scenes look this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The company says that from January 18th through the 21st it will be on-site to capture the best parties and events Sundance attracts every year to broadcast to a worldwide audience of over 5 million.
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1/18/07 – Los Angeles-based Oversee.net today announced that it has established a $60 million, five-year, secured revolving credit facility. According to the company, the credit facility was arranged and managed by Banc of America Securities LLC. Bank of America, N.A., will serve as administrative agent. A syndicate of lenders and financial institutions is participating in the facility with Bank of America, including Comerica Bank, California Bank and Trust and Silicon Valley Bank.
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-Soapbox Mobile Launches Mobile Ticketing Platform With Amp’d Mobile – Soapbox Mobile announced today that through their collaboration with Los Angeles-based Amp'd Mobile and MovieTickets.com, a MovieTickets.com branded application is now live on Amp'd Mobile handsets. Read more at MobileTechNews: http://www.mobiletechnews.com/info/2007/01/18/125021.html
-X Prize Foundation Names New President – The Santa Monica-based nonprofit prize institute that offers multi-million-dollar awards for breakthrough innovations, including the Ansari X PRIZE for private spaceflight, announced the appointment of Tom Vander Ark as president. See press release about Vander Ark’s appointment - http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070117005290&newsLang=en
-Michael Arrington at TechCrunch blogs about new Los Angeles-based startup Geni.com - http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/16/geni-launches/
1/17/07 - Los Angeles-based FYI – Film Your Issue—and Yahoo! announced today that Yahoo! will be the exclusive online sponsor of the “Issue Film” competition, an initiative to engage young adults in public dialogue about pressing issues of importance, locally or internationally.
1/16/07 - Xirrus, the Westlake Village-based provider of high-performance, long-range Wi-Fi products, announced today that smplsolutions has begun deploying Xirrus’ award-winning Wi-Fi Array within several vertical applications including education, warehousing and medical facilities.
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1/16/07 - Internet and entertainment entrepreneur David O. Sacks today announced the launch of a new web site, Geni.com, with the mission “to create a family tree of the entire world.” Based in Los Angeles, the company claims that the site is among the first to apply “web 2.0” principles of social media, mass collaboration, and user-generated content to genealogy.
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1/16/07 - Amp’d Mobile, the Los Angeles-based mobile entertainment provider, today announced content distribution deals with the NBA, CSTV and Dime and Bounce Magazines to offer a lineup of live basketball games and highlights for NBA and NCAA games, as well as top summer basketball tournaments.
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1/16/07 - Newbury Park-based EdenTree Technologies, innovator of lab management and test automation solutions for network equipment manufacturers, service providers and enterprises, today announced that Internet Telephony magazine has named EdenTree Lab Manager as a 2006 Product of the Year Award recipient.
1/16/07 - Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics Retail, a leading provider of robotic, vision-based solutions to the retail industry, and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, a division of SUPERVALU, announced today that the chain will deploy Evolution Robotics Retail's LaneHawk Visual Scanner in six area stores to combat bottom-of-basket (BOB) loss.
1/12/07 – Los Angeles-based WiLinx Corp. announced this week that it has completed a $15 million round of equity funding from Third Wave Ventures. Two Third Wave partners, Babak Razi and Barak Bussel, who have been directors of WiLinx since its inception, will continue to serve on the company’s board.
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1/12/07 - Pasadena-based ClearMesh Networks announced this week that Internet Telephony magazine has named the ClearMesh Metro Grid™ the recipient of its 2006 Product of the Year Award. According to ClearMesh, the wireless optical mesh architecture of the Metro Grid enables large corporate, medical, education or government campus environments to integrate data, VoIP and surveillance video and other applications demanding large amounts of LAN capacity at every point on a campus.
1/12/07 - Monrovia-based MusicIP today announced new pricing for their popular digital music identification solution, MusicDNS. The company says that by eliminating the cost and offering this hosted, on-demand service for free, MusicDNS is poised to become a standard for the global identification of digital music tracks.
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