Both Sides of the Table
JANUARY 24, 2015
'I was waiting for my son’s basketball game to start this morning and with the morning’s emails all drained I turned to Twitter and saw this Tweet from Marshall Kirkpatick. Test: open your twitter stream, look at the 1st item in it, think of something to say in response, say it. Theory: it’s really that simple. — Marshall Kirkpatrick (@marshallk) January 24, 2015.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'In the mobile age, what is the key to connecting and engaging with users, and where does Hollywood''s creative content fit into the mix? According to LA mobile game maker Seriously (www.seriously.com), mobile games are the best way to engage with the mobile generation. We sat down with Seriously CEO Andrew Stalbow --who previously had been GM North America for Rovio, and also was key to Fox''s content deals with Angry Birds--to hear more about the company, how it sees mobile games converging wi
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InfoChachkie
JANUARY 26, 2015
'A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. I recently came across a disturbing article entitled, "The American Dream Is An Illusion," written by a college Economics Professor. The Professor argues that, ". recent evidence suggests that, in reality, social mobility rates are extremely low. Seven to ten generations are required before the descendants of high and low status families achieve average status.".
Berkonomics
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Investors as a group have a common gripe – almost universal. Information flows from the company irregularly, in fact most often when the company is urgently in need of more money. Investment documents usually call for quarterly reporting by the company to the investors. Less than a quarter of companies receiving early stage investment voluntarily fulfill this promise.
Advertiser: Aggregage
Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.
Both Sides of the Table
JANUARY 25, 2015
'Startups in a world of massive markets can be confusing. The law of large numbers, platforms that can make your company blow up unexpectedly and the trendy nature of tech markets can be deceiving. Success for many is ephemeral. I have written about the deceiving nature of early successes before – in particular in the SaaS or B2B world leading to a phenomenon called “shelfware.” If you didn’t read it I recommend it.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2015
'The Walt Disney Company said Tuesday that it is running another, startup accelerator class, as part of the Disney Accelerator program in Burbank, and is now accepting applications for a class of another, ten startups for the program. The accelerator--which is being run by the Walt Disney Company by Techstars--said the next program begins July 6th, and runs through October 6th.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Tech Zulu Event
JANUARY 27, 2015
'Retail lives by the point-of-sales (POS) systems. Without it, the world of retail would simply not exist. One glaring problem arises for many POS systems, and it’s the technology its built on. POS systems are coded on old tech and causes many problems and expenses for a lot of businesses. Bindo created a POS system to create a cheaper and simpler system for businesses to use.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Southern California''s biggest organized, angel investment group, the Tech Coast Angels , said this morning that the group had its biggest investment year ever in 2014, investing a total of $16.37M across 61 total deals. The group said the investments make 2014 its largest ever since 1997 in terms of deals funded and amount raised. The Tech Coast Angels said that it saw five more exits in its portfolio in 2014, with the exits of AIRSIS, Allylix, Bluebeam Software, Hookit (formerly Loop''d Netwo
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'The Ventura County Sheriff''s department reported this morning that it arrested two suspects in Thousand Oaks, who were using Uber to help conduct deals. According to the Sheriff''s Department, Cody Jens (24) of Agoura Hills, and Luke Karasiuk (22) of Thousand Oaks were arrested after local police made a vehicle code enforcement stop on an Uber driver on Wednesday morning.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2015
'Irvine-based Oculus , the virtual reality headgear and technology maker which is now part of Facebook, announced Monday at the Sundance Film Festival that it has created a new unit to help Hollywood make virtual reality movies. The new unit--called Story Studio--will both create original content, as well as help other filmmakers with their virtual reality content efforts.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2015
'San Diego-based cloud communications provider Voxox announced this morning that it has extended out its menu of services, adding a new, hosted PBX service called Cloud Phone Pro. The company said the new product is aimed at small, medium, and large businesses looking to shed the costs of on-site telephony services. The new service replaces all of the functions of a typical in-house PBX system, including call recording conference bridges, worldwide DIDs and more.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2015
'Culver City-based Loosie , a startup developing loyalty and rewards software for mobile apps, said this morning that it has raised $3.5M in a seed funding round. The funding came from tim Kendall (Pinterest, Facebook), Michael Liou (Anvil Capital), Anthony Saleh, and Brad Schwartz (SLP Ventures). Lootsie is developing software which plugs into any mobile app, allowing app developers to include loyalty and rewards offers within their apps.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2015
'Venice, California-based Snapchat --already an indispensable communications tool for the always-on, mobile generation--is looking to become an even more important part of its user''s lives, with a new feature it calls Discover. Snapchat launched its new tool on Tuesday, saying that its new feature is a collaboration with "world-class leaders in media" to put the "narrative first"--tapping into the knowledge of professional editors and artists.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Santa Ana-based SEKUR.me , a startup developing multi-factor, mobile authentication and payment technology, said today that it has launched a new Strategic Alliance program to help enable mobile e-commerce payments. The startup, led by Jack Bicer, said it is aiming at telecoms, financial institutions, social media, smartphone manufacturers, healthcare, and large systems integrators.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2015
'Los Angeles-based SOA Software , which develops software used by enterprises to manage internal APIs and interfaces between software, said today that it saw 90 percent growth in 2014 over 2013. Actual financials were not announced by the company. The company said the year-over-year growth was a record for the company. Last year, the company reported 52% growth, again without specific financials.
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2015
'European manufacturer Bosch said today that it has opened up North American headquarters for Bosch eBike Systems , which develops electric bikes, in Irvine. Bosch said the new, 4,000 square foot office will support the growing North American eBike market. Bosch said the new office will handle sales, marketing, advocacy, application and technical support, service, project management, and quality management.
socalTECH
JANUARY 30, 2015
'Are unmanned aerial vehicles the next hot ticket in education? San Diego-based consumer drone developer 3D Robotics is hoping to bring its unmanned aerial vehicles to school, with a new program it launched Thursday called DroneEDU , saying that it will offer free and discounted hardware and support to the classroom. According to 3D Robotics, the new program is aimed at assisting students, teachers, and schools in deploying their own, unmanned aerial vehicles for learning and STEM exploration. 3
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Santa Monica- and Helskini-based mobile games and entertainment startup Seriously said this morning that it has launched its popular Best Fiends mobile game onto the Amazon Appstore. The game already is available for iOS and Android. Seriously said that it currently has one million, daily active players using the game. Seriously''s Amazon title runs on Amazon''s Fire tablets and Fire Phone, as well as other Android devices.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2015
'Santa Monica-based Activision said Tuesday that it has released Call of Duty: Advanced Warefare Havoc , an add-on to its popular game series, to Xbox. The pack will be available on Xbox Live for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. The new title offers up new multiplayer maps, new weapons, a new breed of zombies, and other features. Activision said that the Havoc DLC Pack will be available first exclusively on Xbox Live for Xbox One, and costs $14.99.
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2015
'Los Angeles-based streaming television service Hulu has re-opened its Super Bowl advertising site, sponsored again this year by Toyota. Hulu''s AdZone features all of the Super Bowl ads from prior years, and also will be featuring new ads released on game day. Hulu said it will be adding ads up through Super Bowl Sunday, and will also allow users to vote on their favorite ad spots.
socalTECH
JANUARY 30, 2015
'On-demand taxi service Curb has put on a renewed push to capture some of the Los Angeles on-demand ride market, launching a new promotion today on Groupon offering up to 85 percent off on its services. The company--formerly known as Taxi Magic--competes again Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, and Flywheel in allowing users to summon rides using their smartphone.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Santa Monica-based game console developer Ouya has just scored $10M in an investment round from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba , as part of an effort to take the company''s technology to China, according to a report citing people familiar with the matter. Ouya''s game console leverages the Android operating system. Ouya ha previously raised funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mayfield Fund, NVIDIA, Shasta Ventures, and Occam Partners.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Venice, California-based Bitcoin security developer Gem said Wednesday that it has bolstered its security partnerships, via a link with companies Thales e-Security , CryptoSigma , and Bitmo. Gem, which is led by Micah Winkelspecht, said the link adds support for custom Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to offer up military-grade protection of encryption keys.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'San Diego-based Tagg , the maker of a GPS-based pet tracker (ala Fitbit for Dogs), has been acquired by San Francisco-based Whistle. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Tagg was founded in 2010 as a subsidiary of Qualcomm, and offered up a system to help pet owners track a pet''s location using GPS plus monitor your pet''s fitness activities, all through smartphone apps.
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2015
'Goleta-based Transphorm , which is backed by Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and others--said this morning that it has begun mass production on the company''s Gallium Nitride (GaN) power devices, in a deal with Fujitsu Semiconductor. Transphorm said it is using Fujitsu''s CMOS-compatible, 150mm wafer fab in Fukushima, Japan. Transphorm''s CMOS-compatible power conversion technology is aimed at creating ultra-small AC adapters, high density PC power supplies, servers and telecom, and many othe
socalTECH
JANUARY 26, 2015
'Mojave-based Virgin Galactic has decided to pursue testing of its spacecraft without longtime partner Scaled Composites , the company revealed Friday , as the company looks to recover from a devastating flight test failure in October. Virgin Galactic--which has been looking to deliver tourists to space using its SpaceShipTwo--is in a renewed push to finish certification of its spacecraft for delivery of tourists to space, after Sir Richard Branson has expressed his renewed commitment to finishi
socalTECH
JANUARY 27, 2015
'Los Angeles-based Savings.com rolled out a big update to its mobile, grocery shopping app, Favado , which it says it has completely redesigned. The app helps grocery store shoppers organize their shopping, by finding sales and coupons at local grocery stores. Among the updates to the app are highlights of "trending" sales; a simplified, visual interface for sale items; and highlights of "instant" coupons.
socalTECH
JANUARY 30, 2015
'Los Angeles-based online storage and backup service IDrive is extending further into the enterprise side of the disaster recovery and backup market, saying this week that it has added disk image backup--the backup of entire system drives and operating systems--to its suite of services. The company said the service is aimed at allowing its users to recover their systems in the event of system crashes and other disasters, which it says is specifically important for larger organizations with busin
socalTECH
JANUARY 30, 2015
'Aliso Viejo-based Microsemi has linked up with Rambus , in a deal where Microsemi will resell advanced security technologies from Rambus into the government and military market. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. The two said the deal covers certain differential power analysis (DPA) technologies developed by Rambus in its Cryptography Research division, plus AES cryptogrpahic cores.
socalTECH
JANUARY 30, 2015
'Irvine-based WiSpry reported Thursday that it has landed a design win with radio frequency identification product maker SkyeTek. WiSpry said thata SkyeTek has leveraged its tunable radio frequency micromechanical (RF MEMS) semiconductor products to develop an RF-tuned, UHF RFID antenna. The company''s products are used to optimize the signal between SkyTek''s RFID readers and the antenna so that they work across the full RFID range.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Los Angeles-based financial automation software develper BlackLine continues to see its revenues grow, saying Thursday that its 2014, year-over-year revenues were up more than 50 percent. The company did not disclose its financials for the year. Blackline has been trumpeting its revenue growth and customers for the last few years, most recently announcing it has more than 1,000 clients using its product.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Los Angeles-based native advertising technology developer Nativo has tapped a NBCUniversal veteran as its new Vice President of Product Development, the company said today. Nativo said that Carlos Sapene previously was VP of Digital and New Media at NBCUniversal, and worked on such properties as E! Online, Style Network, and Bravo. Nativo said Sapene will help the company to expand its offerings.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Los Angeles-based Cargomatic said Thursday that it has raised $8M in a Series A funding round, for its online marketplace for shipping services. The startup, led by Jonathan Kessler, offers up a service which helps connect local shippers with carrier companies who have extra space on their trucks. The funding came from Canaan Partners, Volvo Group Venture Capital, Morado Venture Partners, SV Angel, Sherpa Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Structure Capital, along with angels.
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Los Angeles-based HelloTech said this week that it has raised $2.5M in a seed funding round, to bring remote, technology support to consumers. The startup, led by Richard Wolpert, scored the funding from Upfront Ventures, Accel Partners, Crosscut Ventures, Amplify.LA, Ron Burkle, and others. The startup was incubated from within Amplify.LA. HelloTech is taking an Uber-like approach to its technology support services, tapping into an external network of IT support providers, rather than its own
socalTECH
JANUARY 29, 2015
'Los Angeles-based Takehollywood , a new startup offering up online short form videos around different topics about acting, said Wednesday that it has linked with Venice-based Mobli , the developer of a social sharing app. The two said the move will help offer up Takehollywood''s content library to Mobli''s users. Takehollywood offers up a large library of videos where actors, acting coaches, agents, casting directors, directors, and producers provide their advice on a wide range of areas.
socalTECH
JANUARY 28, 2015
'Venture capital investment firm Shasta Ventures said Wednesday that it has promoted Sean Flynn --who has been key to that firm''s many investments in Southern California--to Managing Director. Flynn sits on the boards of Los Angeles-based startups TigerText and ZEFR, was involved in Shasta Ventures'' investment in Dollar Shave Club, and also has backed Whisper, along with Brian Lee''s flower startup, H.
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