Tuesday, September 5, 2017Sir Richard Branson To Ride Through Hurricane Irma On Necker IslandSir Richard Branson, the technology mogul behind Southern California's Virgin Galactic, and investor in Los Angeles-based Ring, among other companies, shared his plans to ride through the Hurricane Irma, the approaching Category 5 monster storm, on his private island, Necker Island. According to Branson, Necker Island--located in the British Virgin Islands (BVI)--only gets hurricanes about every 10 years. Branson says his residence on Necker Island has "really strong buildings" built to withstan (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
Alteryx Launches Follow-On OfferingIrvine-based data analytics software developer Alteryx said on Tuesday afternoon that it plans to launch a follow-on offering to its IPO, with some of its existing stockholders proposing to sell 8,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock, and up to an additional 1,200,000 shares to underwriters. Alteryx said it will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares. The follow-on offering comes almost six months after the successful IPO of Alteryx on the New York Stock Exchange in March. Al (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
Velocify Acquired By Ellie Mae For $128MLos Angeles-based Velocify, the developer of sales lead management software, has been acquired by Ellie Mae, in a deal worth $128M in cash, Ellie Mae said last week. Ellie Mae said the buy will help its lenders originate more loans, reduce costs, and complete the entire mortgage process faster. Velocity's software is used for sales lead management. Velocify was led by President and CEO Nick Hedges, who took over as President and CEO at the firm in 2010; Velocify started life as Leads360, the one (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
YouTube Adds Live Streaming, Chat Moderation FeaturesYouTube rolled out a number of enhancements to its live streaming service on Tuesday, saying it has added the ability to live stream in real time, with very little latency; ability to live stream directly from an iPhone screen; and enhancements to its chat moderation features. Previously, there was a longer delay in live streaming--which made it difficult to chat back and forth with fans during live streams--and the inability to remove trolls for a chat stream easily. YouTube also said it is mak (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
Interview with Bruce Huang, UCLA Silicon Beach Innovation Lab
Companies are always complaining about how hard it is to find the right employees, and how technical talent is hard to find. Yet, you have many students, graduating with technical skills, who just don't know how to make it into a company. How do you bridge the gap between students and employers? The UCLA Extension recently launched a program called the Silicon Beach Innovation Lab, aimed at that gap. We caught up with Founding Director Bruce Huang, to learn more about what the UCLA Extension i (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
SpaceX Shows Off Falcon Heavy TestingHawthorne-based SpaceX said over the weekend that all of the first stage cores for its Falcon Heavy have completed testing at its rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. SpaceX released a video of the static fire testing, where those rockets are fired while anchored to the ground. SpaceX has been aiming at a launch in November of the Falcon Heavy. The Falcon Heavy will be the largest rocket to be launched since the Saturn V moon rocket last launched in 1973.
Falcon Heavy’s 3 first s (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
Triton Digital Wins Salem MediaLos Angeles-based audio advertising technologyp rovider Triton Digital said this morning that it has been selected by Salem Media Group, to power Salem's podcasting strategy. Salem Media is a major Christian and conservative radio station operator. Financial details of the win were not announced. Salem is using Triton's Omny Studio software to host and distribute its 600 podcasts, and also will use Triton's software for dynamically inserted audio ads.
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
Beats Rolls Out New Noise Cancelling HeadphonesCulver City-based Beats by Dr. Dre, the headphone brand now owned by Apple, has rolled out a new family of noise cancelling headphones this morning. Beats said its new Beats Studio3 Wireless headphones is a version of its Beats Studio product, featuring noice cancelling technology and including the Apple W1 chip, which lets users pair those headphones with Apple devices. Beats said the new headphones can support up to 22 hours of wireless playback, and cost $349.95 at Apple.com.
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)
Yardi To Donate $1M To Harvey Relief, Launches Housing Website For VictimsSanta Barbara-based real estate software developer Yardi said over the weekend that it has donated $1 million to relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, and also launched a new website to help displaced residents find housing. According to Yardi, it is using its RENTCafe property markeing and leasing platform to create a housing registry website, to help displaced residents find temporary and permanent homes. Yardi said there is no charge for housing providers to list their properties, or residents (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2017(Full story)