Both Sides of the Table
MAY 11, 2014
'Mother’s Day. The one day a year where we recognize this all important figure in our lives who shapes our childhood providing unconditional love through our successes and failures with encouragement and support through our struggles. I’ve written about my own mom before and the role she played in shaping my life but of course you never quite appreciate the full contributions of Mom until you’re much older.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Irvine-based Oculus VR , the virtual reality technology developer which was just picked up by Facebook for $2 billion--has a lot of developers with great virtual reality game and simulation ideas and software in the works. However, the latest idea to make the rounds is an original one: to use the hardware to create what would essentially be "The Matrix", for chickens.
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SoCal CTO
MAY 13, 2014
'Bob Dorf just published a post Where are the Hackers? Solving the Founder-Tech Gap that came out of some fun conversations that Bob and I have been having. A large part of this conversation is what kinds of advisors startups should be looking for. A little while ago, I suggested that Every Web/Mobile Startup Should Have a Technical Advisor. The conversation with Bob was about what the composition of advisors should look like.
Berkonomics
MAY 15, 2014
'By Basil Peters. After being an active angel investor for about fifteen years, I realized that many of the discussions I was involved in were virtually identical to ones I’d had many times before. A good example was during the negotiation of a term sheet. These usually involve a handful of angel investors, and a few entrepreneurs, who all want to build the very best term sheet for their exciting nascent enterprise.
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Both Sides of the Table
MAY 10, 2014
'Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a few brands & media properties that I truly love and for which I have huge loyalty. Virgin America. Uber. USAA. Jon Stewart. Fareed Zakaria. David Brooks. And NPR. NPR has been a part of my life for 25 years. As a news junkie and seeker of information, I’m that guy who always has his car tuned to KPCC everyday to get my daily dose of NPR.
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'In a move which looks to bolster technology mogul Elon Musk ''s efforts to help ferry astronauts--and military cargo--to space for the United States, Russia has banned the use of Russian-made rocket engines for launching military satellites, and has threatened cutting off access to the International Space Station, in retaliation for a plan in Washington to deny export licenses for items which could help the Russian military.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 16, 2014
'I’ve always said that startups are all about execution. Sometimes I encounter self-proclaimed entrepreneurs who have been “thinking” about a concept for many years, and haven’t started yet. Some of these may be visionaries, but none are real entrepreneurs - yet. Elon Musk has built several innovative companies, including SpaceX and Tesla Motors, and is worth about $12 billion.
Tech Zulu Event
MAY 12, 2014
'Left to Right: Joichi Ito, Director, MIT Media Lab; Mitch Kapor, Partner, Kapor Capital; Trabian Shorters, Founder and CEO, BMe Community; Van Jones, Co-Founder and President, Rebuild the Dream; Former Special Advisor to The White House; Chris Tucker, Actor and Comedian; Founder, Chris Tucker Foundation; Laura Weidman Powers, ?Co-Founder and Executive Director, CODE2040.
socalTECH
MAY 14, 2014
'A Los Angeles plumbing and water heater repair and installation company, Ritz Plumbing & Heating , said this morning that it has started accepting Bitcoin for purchases of its service, effective immediately. The company--which says it specializes in emergency plumbing services, drain and sewer repair, and water heater repair & installation--said it will accept Bitcoin from any of its customers, and will not require any special membership or login credentials to pay using Bitcoin.
socalTECH
MAY 12, 2014
'The University of Southern California''s Marshall School of Business has lined up two of technology''s biggest names-- Elon Musk and Steve Ballmer --as speakers for commencement, the school said Monday. According to the school, technology mogul Elon Musk, who founded Telsa Motors and SpaceX, will speak at the USC Marshall Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony at the Galen Center on Friday morning, and retired Microsoft CEO Steven A.
socalTECH
MAY 14, 2014
'Los Angeles-based Contender.com , a new online event ticket marketplace headed by Wes Brodsky and Ken Blaustein, has launched, looking to help buyers and sellers of secondary tickets connect. The startup says it has created an online marketplace which lets ticket buyers and sellers negotiate ticket sales in a "free, fair and flexible" P2P market. The company says it leverages PayPal to make sure that deals will be done in a secure way.
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'Los Angeles-based Swagbucks , the web-based rewards and offers site, said this morning that it has raised $60M in funding--the company''s first, external capital round--and also appointed Chuck Davis as CEO of the company. According to Swagbucks, the funding round comes from Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV). Davis was Chairman and CEO of Fandango, and is also an early investor in Swagbucks.
socalTECH
MAY 14, 2014
'In what the school says is the first move by a medical school to adopt Google Glass into its curriculum, the UC Irvine School of Medicine said Wednesday that it will integrate use of Google Glass into its four year curriculum, using the high tech specs as part of everything from first and second year anatomy classes to third and fourth year hospital rotations.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Think being a developer is all you need to do to get a job at a company? For our Insights and Opinions section today, Helen MacKinnon of Technical Connections gives a list of the top ten interviewing mistakes made by developers. Given the need for good developers these days and the imbalance between supply and demand, you may conclude that how you interview doesn''t matter.
socalTECH
MAY 16, 2014
'Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the online new car pricing and buying site, jumped in its IPO Friday morning, trading up 16 percent in early trading this morning. The company--the second technology company to have an IPO this year from Southern California--was trading around $10.47 per share, up around 16 percent over its pricing at $9.00 per share late last night.
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'Santa Barbara-based FindTheBest , the online comparisons site led by Kevin O''Connor, has branched out into yet another vertical today--real estate. According to the company, it has launched FindTheBest Homes , a new site which helps consumers find and compare homes in a market. The new site lets users search for all kinds of homes--those for sale, pending, recently sold, in foreclosure, or even those that aren''t for sale--and compare things like square footage, bathrooms, price, and other ame
socalTECH
MAY 14, 2014
'Los Angeles-based Unitas Global , the enterprise private cloud provider led by Grant Kirkwood, said this morning that it has joined an industry group called the Cloud Security Alliance. Unitas Global said the move woudl strengthen its mission of providing private cloud solutions to its clients. Unitas Global is providing private cloud implementation for its clients, which it fully manages, handling all of the day-to-day infrastructure management of those clouds for companies.
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'Pasadena-based Metacloud , the provider of OpenStack-based private cloud deployment services, said it has begun supporting what is called Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) networking support. According to Metacloud, the move eliminates the typical scalability problems found in large cloud computing environments. The company said the move will help boost big data performance of its customers.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Los Angeles-based ChowNow said this morning that it has updated its online ordering platform for restaurant, launching a new, version 2.0 of its service. The company--led by Christopher Webb--develops a service for restaurants which lets them accept online orders through their own, branded mobile apps, Facebook, and a restaurant''s own websites. The company said the updated platform includes streamlined, mobile friendly upgrades and new tools for personalized takeout and delivery.
socalTECH
MAY 14, 2014
'Los Angeles-based Rubicon Project said late Tuesday that it had record, first quarter results, with its first quarter revenues reaching $23M, up 39 percent year over year, and managed revenues of approximately $130M, up 34 percent year over year. The report is the very first report as a public company by Rubicon. The online advertising technology provider, headed by Frank Addante, went public in April.
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'Live in Los Angeles, thinking of a quick flight to LA, or just want a last minute getaway in the city? Airbnb said this morning that it has launched a last-minute, booking and getaway feature specifically in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Airbmb said it has added a new service to let travelers find and book places through the service, immediately, rather than going through the usual back-and-forth of booking an Airbnb accomodation.
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'Los Angeles-based streaming television site Hulu has announced a new SVP and Head of Marketing at the company, the company said Tuesday, tapping Jenny Wall for the position. Wall was most recently at Netflix, as part of that company''s global creative team. Hulu said wall had headed up the Netflix "Watch Responsibly" compaign, plus campaigns for "House of Cards," "Orange is the New Black," "Arrested Development," and "Hemlock Grove".
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'La Jolla-based Dermtech , a developer of non-invasive, gene expression tests for helping to diagnose skin cancer, has filed for an IPO. According to the company, it is looking to raised $25.0M in its IPO, and has applied to list on the NASDAQ Capital Market as DMTK. The company''s IPO is being underwritten by Maxim Group LLC and Feltl and Company. The company is backed by angel investors, including Gary Jacobs and his firm, Jacobs Investment Company, as well as angels from the Tech Coast Angels
socalTECH
MAY 12, 2014
'Laguna Hills-based Parallax Capital Partners , a private equity investor which invests in software and other technology companies, said Monday that it has raised a new, $115M fund for its investments. The company said the new fund is aimed at lower middle market companies with revenues of between $5M and $100M. The fund says it has made three investments so far, but did not disclose the names of those companies.
socalTECH
MAY 12, 2014
'Camarillo-based chip maker Vitesse Semiconductor said this morning that it has launched a new line of 10 Gigabit Ethernet chips. According to the company, it has launched a new generation of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) PHYs, a family of physical layer transceivers called the VSC8489. The company said the new components are aimed at enterprise and high speed data centers supporting cloud services.
socalTECH
MAY 16, 2014
'Los Angeles-based IDrive , the online backup and cloud storage company led by Raghu Kulkarni, said yesterday that it has expanded its IDrive Express service to its international customers. IDrive Express is the company''s program which ships external hard drives to customers to more rapidly upload their data into the company''s cloud storage infrastructure.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Santa Monica-based drone software developer DreamHammer has scored a win in the country of Columbia, saying Thursday that it has signed up Columbia distributor Emerging Technologies Corporation (ETC), to serve as the lead systems integrator of the company''s products to the Colombian Government, Armed Forces and National Police. Financial impact of the deal was not announced.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Los Angeles-based online and mobile movie ticketing provider Fandango announced this morning that it has signed on three new theater chains--bringing it roughly 85 percent of the nation''s theaters which have online and mobile ticketing. The company said the three chains include Arizona-based Harkins Theatres, Texas-based Premiere Cinemas, and New Jersey-based Digiplex Destinations, all of which will use the company''s online and mobile ticketing tools.
socalTECH
MAY 13, 2014
'Los Angeles-based viral video company Jukin Media has raised a strategic funding round, for that company''s video entertainment network on YouTube, according to the company. The company said the funding came from strategic investors, including Maker Studios, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), Launchpad LA, as well as angels, including Richard Wolpert and Brad Zions.
socalTECH
MAY 12, 2014
'Amazon Studios , the Los Angeles-based arm of Amazon.com which is generating original content for Amazon''s online video service, Amazon Prime Instant Video, has rolled out a new service to filmmakers--free music tracks for filmmakers registered with the service. Amazon Studios said it is now providing "thousands" of movie score and soundtrack music for its filmmakers to use for video content, and no charge.
socalTECH
MAY 16, 2014
'Santa Monica-based TrueCar has priced its IPO, saying last night that it will sell 7.8 million shares of its stock at $9 per share. The pricing was below the company''s earlier, estimated IPO range of $12.00 to $14.00 per share. The company raised around $71.1M in the IPO offering. TrueCar is trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market as TRUE. TrueCar is venture backed by backed by USAA, Capricorn Investment Group, Upfront Ventures, Anthem Ventures, Vulcan Capital Growth Equity, Peppy Capital P
socalTECH
MAY 16, 2014
'Anaheim- and Boulder-based SendGrid , which develops email delivery software and services to developers, is expanding its presence in Colorado, saying that it has relocated to a new and larger space in its Boulder location. The company--whose founders are split between Anaheim and Boulder--said it has moved into a new, 19,692 square foot space in downtown Boulder.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Los Angeles-based online apparel and shoe company JustFab is eyeing a possible IPO, and also is in the midst of raising between $50 to $100M, according to a report. According to the report, from Re/Code, the company has hired Morgan Stanley as an advisor. JustFab has previously said it is expecting to generate around $400M in sales in 2014. JustFab is led by Adam Goldenberg, and is a spinout of Intelligent Beauty.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Irvine-based document processing software developer Kofax reported a $1.1M win yesterday, saying that it is offering up its products to an un-named provider of finance and insurance products. Kofax said the deal covers improving and enhancing a claims processing operation for the un-named client. Kofax develops applications used for document capture and handling.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'Woodland Hills-based United Online said Wednesday that it has named Edward Zinser as the company''s new Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. Zinser was most recently EVP and CFO of THQ, and also had served as EVP and CFO of Vivendi Universal Games. Zinser also had served at StyleClick, Internet Shopping Network, Chromium Graphics, and the Walt Disney Company.
socalTECH
MAY 15, 2014
'San Diego-based Janssen Labs , a life sciences incubator which is part of Janssen Research & Development, said it is expanding its footprint, and is opening up a new, 30,000 square foot lab in South San Francisco. The company--which says it currently hosts 53 life sciences companies across three incubators in San Diego--says its new facility in San Francisco will accomodate up to 50, independent, emerging companies.
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