Los Angeles-based streaming television provider Hulu has officially launched its new, live TV streaming service into beta, saying it will offer up more than 50 sports, news, entertainment, and kids' channels for $39.99 The company said its Hulu with Live TV (Beta) service will also offer up to 50 hours of recorded storage, and two, simultaneous streams per account, and access to Apple TV, Xbox One, iOS and Android, and Chromecast. MORE

Santa Monica-based automotive buying service TrueCar said Thursday that it is powering a new car buying service on CarandDriver.com , the online automotive website which is part of Heart Autos. TrueCar said the new car buying service will provide and end-to-end vehicle research and purchase experience, including new vehicle pricing information and access to TrueCar's network of dealers. Consumers can also go directly to the service at a dedicated website. MORE

Social entertainment site Myspace , which is now owned by Irvine-based Specific Media, is making a big push this week at CES, and launched a new, social TV service with Panasonic Monday. The new service will also be expanding to include movies, news, sports, and reality channels. MORE

Westlake Village-based Cynvenio , a developer of technology for the molecular characterization of cancer, said this week that it has launched a new service aimed at helping to isolate, sequence, and enumerate circulating tumor cells. The firm said its new LiquidBiopsy Lab Service uses molecular characterization to identify the specific DNA mutations in cancer and circulating tumor cells, which will allow physicians and researchers to better understand the disease and monitor patients. MORE

Santa Barbara-based FastSpring , the e-commerce and payment processing software firm headed by Dan Engel, said this week that it has launched a new online subscription management and payment service called SaaSy. Engel said that the service is aimed at SaaS and Web 2.0 The new product is specifically aimed at providers of subscription services. MORE

Irvine-based NWP Services Corporation , which develops cloud-based billing, electronic payment, energy management, and back office accounting and IT infrastructure for the rental housing industry, has been acquired by fellow software provider RealPage. RealPage said NWP Services had approximately $58M in revenues in 2015. Ron Reed, the CEO of NWP Services, will become SVP, Resident Billing Services at RealPage, which is based in Carrollton, Texas. MORE

That's the idea behind DinnerDate.com , a new service which looks to connect singles with others in informal, group dinner dates. The startup recently launched a beta of its service in San Diego, hoping to allow local singles to meet each other in a group environment over food and drink. MORE

LeisureLink , which develops vacation travel booking software and technology, and was started in the Los Angeles area, appears to have halted its service, telling its partners on Friday that it has suspended accepting new reservations as well as modifying existing reservations. MORE

Los Angeles-based Hulu confirmed today at its Upfront event in New York that it indeed is planning to roll out a live, TV streaming service next year. Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said the service--which will include both broadcast and cable TV channels--will allow subscriers to enjoy sports, news, and events, without a traditional subscriptoin to cable or satellite. Hulu has not yet announced pricing on the yet-to-be-launched service, or provided other details. MORE

A new, Los Angeles-based startup, Airmule , said Tuesday that it has launched a new, international courier service, whcih lets travelers transport items for others when they travel on international flights. For travelers, Airmule claims that users might even be able to cover the full cost of their international flights through the service. airmule courier service luggage travel airplane airfare international china flight delivery MORE

Amazon.com is in a bid to take a share of the Los Angeles market for local referrals for handymen and service providers, as Los Angeles continues to be a major launch market for on-demand, services marketplaces. The new service competes with such other services recently launched here including Handybook , SERVIZ , and Pathjoy , not to mention Angie''s List and Craigslist. amazon local service referral citygrid serviz handybook pathjoy MORE

Los Angeles-based WebPurify , which provides online content moderation services, said it has launched a new, automated image moderation service to help screen user generated content for nudity. According to WebPurify, its automated intelligent moderation (AIM) service uses machine learning and computer vision for real-time automated moderation of images for its clients, and is in addition to its existing human moderation services. MORE

Los Angeles-based Squeegy , an on-demand, car wash service, said Wednesday that it has officially launched its service in Los Angeles. The company--which launched a pilot program in Santa Monica in August--said it now is offering up its service in Beverly Hills, Beverlywood, Brentwood, Century City, Culver City, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Playa Vista, Playa del Rey, Santa Monica, Venice, West LA, Westchester and Westwood. MORE

San Luis Obispo-based MINDBODY is one of the companies behind the new, Google service for booking fitness and spa appointments, Google Reserve. Google, which announced the new service on Thursday , said it now allows users to book and pay for fitness classes through Google Maps, Google Search, and the Reserve with Google website. Google said it is using MINDBODY, plus MyTime, Genbook, Full Slate, Front Desk, Appointy, and others, to power the service. MORE

After beta testing technology that provides remote assistant services for the blind, San Diego-based Aira has raised $12 million in a Series B round that it says will enable the company to expand its service to thousands of visually impaired users this year. MORE

Apparently, Los Angeles has become the center of the world for smartphone-driven house cleaning services, as Airbnb told hosts in the city Wednesday that it has tied up with smartphone-driven cleaning services Homejoy and Handybook to clean rooms between rentals via Airbnb. Airbnb now says on the service that hosts can sign up to have their homes cleaned--thanks to either Homejoy or Handybook--as a part of services that the company offers to its hosts. MORE

Due to impressive growth in the past few years, accompanied by headlines reveling in its successes and controversies, Uber has established itself as an innovative transportation service poised for further expansion in the future. The post Uber: Transportation Service or Big Data Company? MORE

billionaire and former telecommunications mogul Gary Winnick has a new tech venture MORE

There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs. Why Shouldn’t Most Services Businesses Raise VC? MORE

Glendale-based ServiceTitan , a developer of cloud-based software used by home services business management, has raised $18M in a Series A funding round. ServiceTitan, led by Ara Mahdessian, develops software used by home service companies inn the HVAC, plumbing, and electrical industries, who use the cloud-based software for managing their operations and computer service. servicetitan venture capital home services management cloud saas hvac operations MORE

Los Angeles- and New York-based Vcorp Services , the provider of business formation and other corporate legal services, has been acquired by Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk & Compliance , a Netherlands-based provider of risk and compliance services. Wolters Kluwer said the acquisition will help strengthen its existing portfolio of legal and compliance products and services. vcorp services wolters kluwer merger acquisition risk governance compliance MORE

If you''re a business with a big database of email contacts, Santa Barbara-based Service Objects has a new product for you. Service Objects claims that its algorithms and software reduce bounce rates on emails by 90 percent. Service Objects is led by Geoff Grow. service objects serviceobjects email validation MORE

Internet giant Google said Friday that it will be shutting down web analytics service Urchin , the onetime San Diego startup which had been acquired by Google in April of 2005. Urchin is getting the axe along with a number of other Google services, including photo editor Picnik, Google Message Continuity, Google Sky Map, Needlebase, and the Social Graph API. MORE

Aliso Viejo-based software developer Smith Micro Sofware said that it has launched a new, design and development service, which will help its customers develop their own mobile apps. According to Smith Micro, the service is aimed at B2 enterprises and startups, and help them develop iOS, Android, and Windows apps. Smith Micro did not say why it decided to branch out into software development services; the company had been better known for developing its own software applications. MORE

Aliso Viejo-based H3 Financial Services , a developer of web-based software for managing consumer finance and billing for the dental and veterinary market, has scored a Series A investment. H3''s software-as-a-service provides credit, billing, and payment options for customers of dental or veterinary practices, who typically do not have insurance coverage for those services. H3 Financial Services is led by Joe Simrell. MORE

The team behind Recmnd.Me , the hiring and recommendations website, is applying its technology to recommending software tools, apps, and companies through a new service, Recmnd.us. The company described its service as "Digg meets Yelp, but for service providers, not restaurants." MORE

Redland-based GIS software developer Esri said on Monday that it has been selected by Microsoft , to offer up its GIS services for Microsoft Power BI and Microsoft Azure. Esri said its ArcGIS platform will be integrated into Microsoft's Power BI (Business Intelligence), a set of business analytics tools. Esri will also offer up its ArcGIS Pro desktop application via Microsoft Azure. Financial details of the collaboration deal were not announced. READ MORE>>. MORE

MomentFeed said the new service helps brands by offering up localized published to Facebook, Google+, and Foursquare, along with a dedicated, community manager. Pricing on the new service was not announced. Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , the developer of analytics software used to help retailers understand the link between their retail locations and mobile consumers, said this week that it has rolled out a new offering called LocalVoice Community Management. MORE

According to blog posts from both Connectifier and LinkedIn, Connetifier will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of LinkedIn, selling to its own customer base, however, the two will connect the two services through a new API, along with other changes. Costa Mesa-based Connectifier , the recruiting tools developer led by John Jersin, said Monday that it will be making some significant changes to its tool, after its acquisition by LinkedIn in February. MORE

The two have now turned their attentions to Serviz, which offers up on-demand home services, such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and other areas. We spoke with the two on their plans to own the on-demand home services area; why Amazon.com's home services marketplace is a partner, not a competitor; and why they believe single segment on-demand startups are missing the mark. Our vision is really to become the premier provider of on-demand home services. MORE

Valencia-based LiveViewGPS , a developer of GPS tracking devices, said today that it has rolled out a new, mobile phone location service for cell phones. The firm said its new service, Mobile Phone Locate , is aimed at families and businesses, and helps them locate phones using both GPS and the cell phone network. The firm's services start at $7.95 liveviewgps tracking mobile phone service MORE

San Diego’s Edico Genome, highlighted in Monday’s media debut of Dell Technologies Capital , said today it has raised $22 million in Series B financing led by the Dell investment arm. MORE

Throwing its hat into the streaming music market, Internet giant Google announced a new service, Google Music , today in Los Angeles. At a special event in Los Angeles, Google said its new service is an outgrowth of its Google Music Beta cloud music storage service, and will offer up a full, end to end service to allow users to discovery, share, and purchase music. The new service will be free, and will allow users to listen to tracks they already own, for free. MORE

Los Angeles-based streaming television- and video-provider Hulu has selected San Antonio, Texas, as the site for a new customer service center, the company said on Thursday. Silicon Beach companies appear to be been using Texas as a convenient, low cost area for their customer service operations: this week, Santa Monica-based TaskUs also said it is opening up a customer support site in Texas, and Snapchat also has operations there. MORE

Los Angeles-based Evercar has quietly shut down its service, and no longer is offering up its on-demand, car sharing services. The company said, in a notice posted on its website, that "due to unforeseen circumstances, we will not be able to deliver that service in the near term." On a notice on the company's website, the company said its last day was October 10th, and that it has suspended all member accounts. MORE

Not--it's not a mistake, that "Start Your Free Trial" button on the home page of Los Angeles-based television streaming service Hulu marks the end of Hulu's free streaming , as the company moves 100 percent into the world of subscription video. Hulu--instead of offering up free, but commercial-laden TVs and movies--now requires users to either subscribe to a "limited commercial" service for $7.99 a month, or a "no commercial" service for $11.99 MORE