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In a move to attract e-commerce companies to its content delivery network, Santa Monica-based EdgeCast announced today that it has launched a new, PCI-compliant product specifically aimed at online retailers. EdgeCast said its new, Commerce...

Los Angeles-based online sports site WePlay has been acquired by online amateur sports team management provider TeamSnap, TeamSnap announced this morning. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. WePlay, which had raised $15M ...

One of the largest concentrations of technical talent in Los Angeles is in Glendale, at YP -- staffed with a surprising number of Los Angeles startup vets. How did what was a staid publisher of phone books become a hotbed of online talent? ...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network provider NetDNA announced this morning that its MaxCDN content delivery network has started to accept Bitcoin as payment. Bitcoin is an electronic currency which it not governed by any nation or ce...

Santa Monica-based startup VIRURL said Thursday that it has launched its technology, which automatically publishes sponsored content into blogs. According to the firm, its product allows bloggers to insert sponsored posts that match a blogg...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network provider NetDNA is powering a web performance optimization service for WordPress blog owners this morning. NetDNA said that W3 Total Cache, which develops a plug-in for the popular WordPress web pu...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network operator EdgeCast Networks and TeliaSonera said today that they are in a partnership, which will offer up site acceleration and CDN products to TeliaSonera's customer base. According to the compan...

Four years ago, Los Angeles-based Adly (www.adly.com) launched to much fanfare as one of the first local startups to tie into the brand-new, Twitter micro messaging platform. We caught up with CEO Walter Delph to hear how the promise of ...

Los Angeles-based entertainment news provider HitFix said Thursday that it has launched a new comedy channel on the site. HitFix said its RIOT comedy channel will provide original content, video, and more covering the "lighter side of enter...

San Diego-based music streaming service Slacker has a message for the industry: you can run a digital music service, and make money. Slacker, which has been in the midst of a big relaunch since February, announced today that it has added si...

Los Angeles-based Yektra announced this morning that it has raised $3M in a Series A funding round. Yekra says it is a digital entertainment distributor connected with an affiliate marketing system. The funding came from Maurice Gallagher, ...

Santa Monica-based online digital media publisher Demand Media keeps on getting bigger and bigger. The firm reported its latest quarterly results Tuesday, reporting $100.6M in total revenues, its second $100M plus quarter. The company also ...

Are you a company looking to find and promote user-generated videos around your brand? A new, Los Angeles startup, SendUs, launched its services to help brands manage user-generated video content this morning, saying that its platform helps...

Los Angeles-based CraveOnline, the online unit of Evolve Media which caters to men with its video and other online content, said it has set up its own studio for creating original video. The company said it has opened up a new, 4,000 square...

MediaPass, which develops online paywall software for newspapers and other publications, has scored another win today, saying that it has added Consolidated Publishing of Alabama as a customer. MediaPass said that Consolidated is using the ...

Despite a growing technology industry here in Southern California, local investors and entrepreneurs tell us there's still a shortage of local, venture capital. In particular, funding for companies developing deep technology--software and...

What are the most searched for things on the Internet? From the annual search statistics from Google and Bing, it's clearly information about celebrities. A Santa Monica startup, Famous Birthdays, looks to have carved out quite a niche in t...

In what looks to be a stunning quick exit for one of Southern California's new YouTube networks, Awesomeness TV has been acquired by DreamWorks, in a deal worth as much as $117M. DreamWorks said that it will pay $33M in cash, plus pay out...

Los Angeles-based YouTube entertainment channel Machinima launched on Xbox LIVE Tuesday, the first third party app to launch worldwide on Microsoft's Xbox 360 marketplace. The launch--which was first detailed by Microsoft and Machinima las...

Who says that there aren't powerful women in Silicon Beach's startup ecosystem? A new infographic highlights some of the women who are making waves along Silicon Beach, for their efforts in creating new companies and businesses. The new i...

Los Angeles-based Hulu released some new numbers on the use of the company's streaming video today, saying that it has set new records for revenue, video streaming, and subscribers to Hulu Plus. The company said that it streamed more than...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network operator NetDNA reports this morning that its CDN services have been selected by StumbleUpon. NetDNA said that StumbleUpon, a popular content discovery services, has selected its MaxCDN service to ...

Venice, California-based ZEFR, formerly known as MovieClips, is expanding out its partnerships today, saying that it has added Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Ultra Music, and NASCAR as partners for the company. ZEFR--which helps content...

GumGum, the in-image advertising technology developer led by Ophir Tanz, has promoted Phil Schraeder, the firm's VP of Finance, to Chief Operating Officer, to head up the firm's internal operations, business development, and finance. Schr...

Amazon.com has been muscling its way into the business of Hollywood a lot recently--particularly with its local Amazon Studios effort here to produce its own content and series--all to bolster its online video streaming service, Amazon In...

Los Angeles-based Nativo, the online advertising technology firm led by Justin Choi, has raised $3.5M in a Series A funding round, the firm announced Tuesday. The funding was led by Greycroft Partners, and also included e.ventures and Signi...

It's increasing a world where online video distribution channels (YouTube, Hulu) are more important than the old-fashioned broadcast and cable television -- and where online video channels are helping to pave and define a new way of reach...

If you're the developer of a mobile application targeted at young girls, how do you monetize that application? A new, Los Angeles ad network, MobiGirl Media recently launched its niche, mobile ad network, specifically aimed at advertisers a...

Los Angeles-based PublishThis, the developer of publishing technology which is headed by Matt Kumin, is powering the content for a new Cox Media site, the firm said today. PublishThis said it is behind the new Rare.us site, which is focused...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast quietly raised $23.775M sometime in the last quarter, according to numbers released in the MoneyTree report over the weekend by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Cap...

Los Angeles-based Ebyline, the online marketplace which connects publishers with freelance writers, has inked a new content partnership with Scoopshot, a provider of crowdsourced photos and videos. According to the two, they will package to...

Novatel Wireless, the maker of the popular MiFi wireless hotspot devices, said today that it has launched a brand new software enhancement to its technology platform, which adds power management to the platform. The San Diego company said t...

Beverly Hills-based Hasbro Studios, the content division of toy maker Hasbro, and streaming media provider Netflix said Thursday that the two are in an expanded, multi-year programming agreement. According to the two, they will add such new...

Los Angeles-based content deliver network operator NetDNA has tapped a Y-Combinator funded startup for a new, real time monitoring service. NetDNA and Leftronic said this week that NetDNA is launching a new, real-time data visualization das...

Los Angeles-based YouTube network Machinima is in an expansion, and is setting up a dedicated business in the United Kingdom, according to local reports. According to MCV, Machinima is looking to target British gamers with the expansion, an...

Santa Monica-based GraphEffect has a new name today--and a long list of new partners--as it has relaunched itself as SHIFT. According to the firm, it is creating a collaboration platform for marketers and agencies, and will offer up a suite...

Santa Monica-based technology incubator and studio Science has added technology veteran Jason Rapp to its team. Rapp was previously President and member of the board of Mahalo.com, the app and video content developer headed by Jason Calacan...

Los Angeles-based digital advertising technology developer OpenX has launched a new service today, which it says will combine content optimization and ad monetization for publishers. The firm said its new Revenue Intelligence service--aimed...

Culver City-based Fullscreen, which operates a multi-channel youTube network, and is led by George Strompolos (formerly of YouTube/Google), has raised $30M in a new round of funding, according to reports today. The funding round reportedly ...

Los Angeles-based MediaPass, the developer of online, paywall software for publishers, said today that it has linked with analytics provider Mather Economics, to help optimize paywall and subscriptions for its customers. MediaPass said it w...

YouMail, the enhanced voicemail and voicemail application developer, is looking to purge out a backlog of inactive users, saying Tuesday that it has revised its terms of service to make it easier for the company to delete users who haven't ...

Eventful, the online community website which connects people with music concerts, local events, and other entertainment, said today that it has released a brand new version of its iPhone app. The San Diego company--headed by Jordan Glazier-...

San Diego-based ZeaKal, a plant sciences startup focused on developing technology to increase the yield and oil content of crops, said this morning that it has raised $3.8M in a Series A funding. The round was led by Finestere Ventures, Two...

Amazon Studios, the original content development arm of e-commerce giant Amazon, said today that it has greenlighted a new pilot series, from Sony Pictures Television. Amazon--which has been getting into the business of content in a big way...

StoryBots, the developer of entertaining, fun, and educational application and content, has launched a trio of new applications, the firm said Thursday. The Venice, California-based firm--an offsping of JibJab, the company created by Evan a...

Los Angeles-based video streaming site Hulu released a new, redesigned user interface to the Hulu Plus service on Apple TV Tuesday, saying that it has redesigned the app "from the ground up." Among the updates to the service, Hulu said it s...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media said this morning it has expanded into the online learning market, and has acquired Creativebug, an online site which provides educational videos around art and carft instruction. Financial details of the ...

Los Angeles-based Hulu reported Thursday afternoon that it will appoint Andy Forssell as acting CEO of the company, when current CEO Jason Kilar leaves at the end of the month. According to Kilar, Forssell helped grow the company from 2 con...

Los Angeles-based Myspace has a new design, and a new brand sponsor, the first since its redesign and relaunch over the last few months. MySpace said that Chevrolet is sponsoring its Myspace Secret Shows at the South by Southwest music fest...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network (CDN) operator EdgeCast Networks is further expanding in Asia, saying Wednesday that it has linked with PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International (TELIN) on powering a content delivery network in ...

PublishThis, the Los Angeles startup headed by Matt Kumin, has enhanced the firm's online, content marketing and curation management tool. The firm said the latest version of its platform is aimed at brands, retailers, media companies, an...

What is it about the content delivery network market which has enabled Santa Monica-based EdgeCast to go from startup to over $100M in revenues in only a few, short years? The company--which is in the business of operating a content deliver...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network operator NetDNA is ramping up its efforts to provide CDN services in Asia, the company said Friday. NetDNA said it will provide accelerated traffic through its Singapore point-of-presence, for a fl...

Los Angeles-based movie ticketing site Fandango is debuting a new tool to predict interest in upcoming weekend movies, which it calls "Fanticipation". According to the company, the new tool measures moviegoer excitement and helps to predi...

One of the hottest sectors in Southern California's high tech world in the last couple of years has been video--namely, Internet video and content creation. With the rise of an increasingly large number of companies, producers, individuals,...

Hollywood's an old industry, used to doing business in traditional ways. However, there's a new generation of technology driven startups who are looking to apply software and technology in a way that will change how movies are made, and m...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network (CDN) provider EdgeCast said this morning that it doubled its revenues in 2012, and now has more than 225 employees. The privately held firm did not disclose its revenues, however, the firm has pr...

Selectable Media, a digital advertising firm which lets users unlock digital content in exchange for interacting with brand advertising, said today that it has expanded to Los Angeles, as part of a growth in its footprint. The expansion cam...

Tapiture, the visual, social discovery site aimed at males (which has been billed "Pinterest for men"), says it is showing early traction and engagement monetum, and released some growth and engagement numbers today. The firm, which is led ...

Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal said today that it has launched three, brand new services today, including a new website focused on the booking of home services. The new products are part of a push by the company to expand the services it o...

Los Angeles-based Evolve Media announced today tha/ it has relaunched CraveOnline, its flagship, male-oriented website. According to Crave, it has split the site into five categories, Entertainment, Gaming, Sports, Music, and Life & Style. ...

Los Angeles-based movie ticketing and information site Fandango has tied with Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo, to launch a new online site aimed at Hispanic movie fans, Fandango Cine, the two announced Monday. The companies said the ...

The Investment Group of Santa Barbara is the primary backer of a developer of online training software for corporations, which announced a funding round Thursday. Mindflash, a Silicon Valley-based developer of online software for learning m...

Are you tired of the same old tourist guidebooks, and wish you could really find those unique, local attractions in a city? Newly launched Crash is hoping to help solve that problem, by surfacing "photo-worthy" locations around you in its ...

In a surprise move, Santa Monica-based Demand Media said Tuesday afternoon that it plans to explore separating its domain name and content businesses into two, independent, publicly traded companies. According to Demand, its board has has a...

How do you get technology developed by researchers deep within a university, and make that visible to to the public? GLIMPSE, a digital technology showcase featuring cutting-edge research from across the university, was held at The Universi...

Mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad have completely revolutionized how consumers interact with the online world in the past few years. However, mobile devices have not only revolutionized the world of the consumer--they've also made i...

It looks like there's a new startup accelerator in town today: MediaCamp, an entertainment-focused startup acceleration program backed by Turner Broadcasting, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment. According to Warner Bros., its Media Ca...

Snapcuts, the Pasadena-based startup which develops a mobile video app of the same name which lets users mix and match videos to create personalized video greeting cards, has just released an update to the app, which lets users upload their...

Santa Monica has just gotten yet another boost in its bid to become the capital of Silicon Beach, as Microsoft said this week that it is opening up a new, 125-person strong entertainment studio in the city as part of an effort to create int...

Irvine-based WD has debuted a new streaming video player today, called the WD TV Play. Western Digital said that its new product streams popular Internet channels from YouTube, Netflix, Hulu Plus, VUDU, and other services, in addition to st...

CBS and Amazon.com announced a deal this morning, which will bring exclusive access to the upcoming CBS "Under the Dome" series to Amazon Prime Instant Video, Amazon's video-on-demand service. Financial details of the deal were not disclose...

One of the hottest area for online publishers, has been the move back towards paid subscription paywalls for content. One of the companies which has been helping to drive that trend is Los Angeles-based MediaPass, a supplier of software whi...

West Hollywood-based Citysearch has launched two new products today, including both a visual city guide, and a new iPhone app. Citysearch said its new Guides by Citysearch service is aimed at helping users easily find new places in major ci...

Beachfront Media, the developer of video publishing tools, said today that its Beachfront Builder software now supports HTML5 applications. The firm said the new support allows companies to support the mobile web, in addition to the company...

Los Angeles-based private equity firm The Gores Group said Monday afternoon that it has acquired Harris Broadcast Communications, a supplier of hardware and software to create, manage, transmit, and distribute video content. The deal had be...

Santa Monica-based Gravity, the developer of real-time personalization software headed by former MySpace COO Amit Kapur, is making a big push today with the launch of a new set of free APIs for publishers. The firm's tools allow web publish...

Amazon Studios, the media and production arm of Amazon.com, said Thursday that it has greenlighted five children's shows as part of its Amazon Prime studio efforts. Amazon STudios said that the five shows will be developing pilots, which wi...

Culver City-based YouTube network Fullscreen said Tuesday that it has hired Justin Danko as Vice President of Sales and Brand Strategy, East Coast. Danko was previously VP of Branded Entertainment at Viacom Media Networks, working on MTVN M...

Carpinteria-based Lynda.com announced this morning that it has released a number of online training courses, to coincide with the release of Microsoft's Office 2013 and Office 365. The company, which publishes online, video training courses...

DreamHost, the Los Angeles-based web hosting and cloud services provider, said Tuesday that it has debuted its DreamObjects public cloud storage service into general availability, aiming the service at application storage, Web site backup, ...

Fans of the once-cancelled soap operas "All My Children" and "One Life To Live" have a good reason to cheer today, as Hulu, the streaming video service based in Los Angeles, said it would bring the two soap operas to the service. Hulu said ...

Calabasas-based audio processing technology developer DTS has tied with IP video deliver firm RGB Networks, to supply its audio technology into RGB's products, the two said Thursday. The two said that RGB Networks will implement DTS technol...

Central Desktop, the Los Angeles-based provider of cloud-based, collaboration software, said today that it has tapped into technology from Aspera to speed file transfers for digital assets. Central Desktop said the move was aimed at helping...

In a sign of the growth of the Silicon Beach technology world, last year, Google moved its headquarters out of a space on Arizona Avenue in Santa Monica, and into a new fancy headquarters space in Venice. However, it appears the spirit of i...

Last week, Carpinteria-based Lynda.com announced one of the biggest investments in the region in the last few years--a $103M, growth equity investment in the company, which came from Accel Partners and Spectrum Equity. The firm operates a...

Lynda.com, the online video education provider which has been one of the region's most successful, bootstrapped companies--is no longer bootstrapped, after inking a massive, $103M growth equity round. Lynda.com said today that it has raised...

Santa Monica-based Nimble, the developer of social relationship management software, reported yesterday that it has tapped a Salesforce.com veteran to head up its content and product marketing strategy. The firm said that Alyson Stone, who ...

Santa Monica-based CHNL, a startup which is developing a social content browser for smartphones, tablets, and PCs, said today at CES that it has launched a new daily deals feature into its product. The company said it has added daily deal t...

Frequency, the developer of mobile, web, smart TV, and other apps which let users find and view online video content, has inked a deal with a Chinese TV manufacturer, the company announced today at CES. Frequency--which is led by Blair Harr...

Santa Monica-based game developer Activision Publishing said today that it has set the launch date for the first, downloadable content pack for its popular Call of Duty: Black Ops II title. The firm said the new content will be released on ...

The intersection of Hollywood and online publishing looks to be helping grow jobs in Los Angeles in the online content area. The latest move in that area comes from online viral content publisher BuzzFeed, which is apparently ramping its op...

Burbank-based Beachfront Media, the developer of video distribution tools, applications, and other infrastructure--and operator of video discovery site MeFeedia.com--said this week that it has racked up 3 billion video views across its prop...

Los Angeles-based Nevolution, which has been developing software to help brands run their own, PC-based app stores, reported a win today with ASUS. According to Nevolution, it will power the ASUS Vibe Fun Center, a digital marketplace which...

Pipewave, an online video marketing strategy firm headed by Paul Boruta, has been acquired by Zefr, the firms announced today. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Pipewave, which was founded by Paul Boruta and Jonathan Tushman, p...

Just before the holidays, we caught up with Blair Harrison, founder of Frequency (www.frequency.com), a personal video service which lets consumers watch video from the Internet on any of their devices. Harrison created one of the Internet'...

A new, Los Angeles-based startup, Baboo is looking to help brands and marketers in the entertainment space reach consumers, and recently launched an alpha of its services. The startup, headed by Drake Sutton-Shearer, is offering up media co...

For the last week of the year, we're featuring the thoughts and reflections of some of the movers and shakers of Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same four questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, inv...

Los Angeles-based VIRURL, the provider of online advertising technology, said Thursday that it has added a new feature called RSS Ads. The firm said its new feature allows publishers to use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to automatic...

For the last week of the year, we're featuring the thoughts and reflections of some of the movers and shakers of Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same four questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, inv...

What's the key to success in the video game market today? We sat down earlier this month to talk with Josh Yguado, President of SGN (www.sgn.com), to learn more about the importance of being nimble in the game market, the company's platfo...

Online video streaming site Hulu is asking its owners, Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp., and News Corp., for about $200M to help fund program purchases, according to a report this morning from the Wall Street Journal. According to the report,...

Amazon Studios, the Southern California-based effort by e-commerce giant Amazon.com to produce its own, original content for Amazon Instant Video, has just greenlighted six series pilots for production, the company announced this morning. A...

Culver City-based Maker Studios, which develops YouTube channels and content, said today that it has raised $36M in a funding round. The investment was led by Time Warner Investments, and also included Greycroft Partners, Downey Ventures (R...

A new study of social media activity and e-commerce, compiled from Los Angeles social tools developer Social Annex, shows that social media is--not surprisingly--playing a far bigger role in online shopping this year. The company analyzed...

Los Angeles-based online male-focused publisher CraveOnline Media, which is a unit of Evolve Media, said today that it has named Jason Kobely as Executive Editor. Kobely previously served as News Director at KNSI Radio in St. Cloud, MN, and...

Los Angeles-based Fandango said Monday that it has named a new Vice President of Marketing. Fandango said Adam Rockmore, who was most recently SVP of Marketing for ABC Daytime and SOAPnet, has been appointed to the position, and will lead t...

High flying, YouTube network Machinima has laid off 10 percent of its staff, as part of a reorganization, according to reports Friday evening. News of the layoffs first trickled out via Twitter from many of the firm's former employees. Los ...

There's a lot of startups being built in Los Angeles around content, and it appears the consensus is that you indeed, can create a big business around video for the web. But, apparently, that doesn't apply to a technology focused, online vi...

What does the world have in store for the mobile games market, and how do mobile games developers look at the world? We sat down with Josh Hartwell, CEO and Founder of Mobile Deluxe (www.mobiledeluxe.com), the Santa Monica mobile games deve...

MiTu, a Los Angeles-based YouTube network focused on Latino content, said today that it has closed a round of funding. The funding was led by The Chernin Group, and also included Allen DeBevoise of Machinima, Juan Cristobal Ferrer of Ferrer...

What's the best way to capture the important things in your life on video, and share them with friends? Los Angeles-based Vyclone (www.vyclone.com) has created a mobile application which lets users capture videos, and automatically edits an...

Los Angeles-based Evolve Media Corp, which operates such sites as CraveOnline, totallyher Media, GameRevolution, and LiveOutdoors, said today that it has launched a new online advertising product. The company said its INgage product semanti...

Los Angeles-based private equity firm The Gores Group said yesterday that it is acquiring Harris Broadcast Communications, a supplier of hardware and software for managing and distributing video content, in a deal worth $225M. Gores acquire...

Los Angeles-based Vyclone, the developer of mobile video collaboration software, said it is powering a new effort to create a massive documentary on "the human experience". Vyclone--which creates a mobile app which makes it easy to co-creat...

Los Angeles-based Mandalay Digital Group, a provider of mobile data services, said today that it has acquired the music label assets of Skyrockit, a venture-backed mobile entertainment studio providing content to AT&T Mobility, Sprint, T-M...

Los Angeles-based Ebyline, the online marketplace which connects publishers with freelance journalists, has rolled out a new offering today, which it says can help publishers produce their own, custom news feeds. The service, called Ebyline...

Glossi, an online magazine publishing tool being developed by Santa Monica-based ThisNext, has its debut today, aimed at letting users built and publish their own visual magazines. The new service lets users organize and lay out heavily vis...

San Diego-based Websense, the developer of cyber security tools, said today that it has debuted a new, cloud-based cybersecurity product called ACE in the Cloud. The firm said the new tool provides cloud-based security, providing real-time ...

Venice, California-based ZEFR, the online content distribution startup founded by Zach James and Richard Raddon, has some new experience in its corner: Ross Levinsohn, the former interim CEO of Yahoo. Levinsohn apparently has joined ZEFR's ...

Chill, the online video discovery service founded by Brian Norgard and Daniel Gould, has debuted a brand new service today, aimed at helping artists to distribute their premium videos to fans. Chill said its new service, Chill Direct, allow...

Culver City-based Fourth Wall Studios, a developer of interactive content backed by LA billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, has laid off the majority of its staff, and stopped production, according to a report from the LA Times. The time said t...

Venice-based ZEFR, the online content provider headed by Zach James and Richard Raddon, has reached 1 billion monthly views of its content, the firm revealed Monday, as part of an invite to supporters to celebrate the milestone. The company...

What's the secret behind Machinima's rise to the top among YouTube's top channels with MachinimaPrime? Young, male, viewers, according to a report from the New York Times. In a profile, the Times talks with Machinima CEO Allen DeBevoise, ab...

It's that time of year again; food, shopping, holidays, and more shopping. Combining the theme of holiday shopping with Southern California's technology industry, here are eight electronic gifts from local companies to add to your shoppi...

Santa Monica-based Rubicon Project, the online advertising exchange operator, is powering female content network Glam Media, Glam Media said Tuesday. Glam Media said it is using REVV Connect, Rubicon Project's real time advertising trading ...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network (CDN) provider NetDNA is making it easier for web application developers to use its CDN services, saying Monday that it has launched a new service to embed web acceleration capabilities into their ...

Mock The Vote, the mobile, political satire application developed by Venice-based Laffster, has just launch on Android, giving political news fans another platform to get the latest, humorous take on politics. Laffster, headed by Daniel Alt...

Some of the highlights from this week from socalTECH's video section, where we're currently featuring community videos from and about local startups: Peter Pham of Science Inc. with Mario Andretti Peter Pham, of Los Angeles technology stud...

If you're a web publisher, or even a brand developing your own outreach to customers through a newsletter or microsite, how do you efficiently gather and curate all of the news and information out there? Right now, it's a manual process--un...

Los Angeles investment firm The Chernin Group, the media holding and investment group founded by Peter Chernin, has made an investment in European online video company Base79. According to Base79, the strategic equity investment included bo...

Pasadena-based X1 Discovery, the provider of electronic discovery software which was originally part of X1/Idealab, said today that it has launched a new version of its software aimed at capturing and analyzing social media content. The com...

The annual ranking of the fastest growing companies by Deloitte, the 2012 Deloitte Technology Fast 500, was released today, showing a healthy list of Southern California companies in growth mode. Topping the list for Southern California was...

If you're an application developer, sending emails through your application can be a chore. It turns out it's not just a quick line of code to send an email -- it's also a hassle to make sure that those emails get delivered, that your email...

It looks like Google's YouTube intends to pull at least 60 percent of its programming deals for online content providers, a move that may have a huge impact on Southern California's emerging video content startups. In a report, AllThingsD s...

Who are the top tech companies to work for in Los Angeles? Despite a huge number of companies, we found there are a number which popped up consistently in an informal (and highly non-scientific poll) of a number of readers, executive re...

Santa Monica-based VIRURL, which is headed by Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, said today that it has launched a new widget aimed at web publishers. The firm said its new "Slideout" widget helps provide unobtrusive advertising to help publishers mone...

How do you make travel a more rewarding experience--particularly if you're traveling with kids? Go Trexx (www.gotrexx.com), which is based in Mission Viejo, think it's by engaging kids with mobile applications which provide background infor...

Calabasas-based DTS reported this morning that its SRS TruMedia HD audio processing technology has been adopted into a new, Android tablet from Panasonic. Financial impact of the win was not announced. The firm said its SRS TruMedia HD tech...

What's the best way to get your small or medium sized business online? And, how do you do that without a huge development budget and time? Los Angeles-based Gumiyo (www.gumiyo.com) has been developing mobile websites for SMBs and publishe...

Hulu announced today that it has inked a multi-year license deal with CBS, to add library content from the network to Hulu Plus. According to Hulu, CBS content will start appearing on Hulu Plus in January 2013, and will include more than 2,...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network operator EdgeCast Networks said today that it has expanded its global network, opening up new point of presence (PoP) locations in Vienna, Austria, Stockholm, Sweden, and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The fi...

Amazon Studios, the content production arm of Amazon.com, said Monday that it has optioned another comedy series. Amazon said that it has optioned "Those Who Can't", a comedy show written by Andrew Orvedahl, Adam Cayton-Holland, and Benjami...

One of the major growth areas along Silicon Beach has been in the whole area of creating content for digital platforms. But, how do you figure out what actual content will resonate with online consumers? And in particular, if you're develop...

Los Angeles-based OpenX announced this morning that it has acquired JumpTime, a developer of technology to help publishers calculate the value of their content assets. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. OpenX said that JumpTime'...

If you're a woman with unwanted--but fashionable--clothing in your closet, which you wish you could sell, what's the easiest way to sell it? It might just be Tradesy (www.tradesy.com), a brand new service which lets women sell their unwante...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media announced today that it is powering a new Travel Channel for newspaper the Arizona Republic. According to Demand, it is launching the new brand on AZCentral.com, the online site for the Arizona Republic. Fina...

San Diego-based venture investor Avalon Ventures has backed a developer of video advertising products, Selectable Media, to the tune of $2M. Selectable Media, which is based in New York, lets users opt into branded video advertising in exch...

HARDATA, a developer of workflow management software for the broadcast and entertainment industry, has set up shop in Thousand Oaks, and hired a new President and CEO. The Argentina-based software developer said it has named Philip B. Cox a...

The option deals are coming fast and furious at Amazon Studios, the effort being run here in Los Angeles to develop content for Amazon Prime and other platforms. Amazon Studios said this week that it has optioned two new comedy series, incl...

A conference being held this week by the OpenStack cloud software group has surfaced what looks to be a surge in cloud-based companies in Southern California, including a number of startups. OpenStack is a new group which is focusing on est...

Los Angeles-based Digiboo, a developer of retail kiosks where users can purchase movies and other content for digital download, said today that it has added support for Android devices, and also included a new set of television series. Digi...

Google announced Wednesday that it has released its mod_pagespeed project--which automatically optimizes and speeds up web pages accesses for website owners using Apache--out of beta. The move allows customers of such companies as Los Angel...

A new deal by Los Angeles-based Hulu this morning will add content from Nickelodeon to Hulu's premium service, Hulu Plus. The Nickelodeon deal brings titles such as "iCarly," "Big Time Rush," "VICTORiOUS," "How to Rock," "Supah Ninjas," "S...

In what can only be good news for the ecosystem of content providers and startup firms here in Southern California, Google's YouTube said Sunday that it is expanding into Europe, and adding more than 50 original channels to the 100 it intro...

ZEFR, the online content provider formerly known as MOVIECLIPS, and which recently expanded into sports content, has picked up a contingent of engineers from BetterWorks, and opened up an office in London, the firm said Thursday afternoon. ...

You've got a great idea for a web video series, but how do you learn about how to make that happen, to get distribution, and monetize that video? Los Angeles-based CreatorUp (www.creatorup.com) wants to help aspiring online video producers ...

Amazon Studios, the Los Angeles production arm of Amazon.com, has further expanding its content efforts, saying this week that it has optioned a gothic horror novel called Seed. The horror novel, authored by Ania Ahlborn, is the first to be...

Online video streaming site Hulu said this afternoon that it will be covering live coverage of tonight's presidential debate, from ABC, Fox and The Wall Street Journal, including both pre- and post-debate content. In addition, Hulu said it ...

Beverly Hills-based ACTV8.me, a developer of mobile, interactive applications for the television and entertainment market, announced today that it has linked with Caesars Interactive Entertainment, to produce an application for the World Se...

Santa Monica startup, Gravity--headed by former MySpace COO Amit Kapur--announced this morning that it has raised $10.6M in a Series B financing round for its personalization technology. The funding was led by GRP Partners, and also include...

In a move into creating its own video content, Los Angeles-based Fandango, the movie ticketing and movie information site, said this morning that it plans its first ever, original video development slate. The company said its original video...

A recent regulatory filing by Everyday Health, the digital media publisher, shows that its acquisition of Los Angeles-based EQAL included both cash and stock, with the stock portion worth $12.5M. The filing did not reveal the full price for...

Los Angeles-based NantWorks, the technology incubation and investment firm run by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, and Malibu-based toy firm JAKKS Pacific announced this morning that the two are in a join venture to create anew company, Dre...

Los Angeles-based content publisher BUZZMEDIA said this morning that it has tied with a research firm, to help mine its network of properties to help brands understand influencers and consumers. According to BUZZMEDIA, the partnership with ...

How do you convince guys to start playing social games? For Wedge Buster (www.wedgebuster.com), you do it by pulling together a huge collection of sports-related social and mobile games. Wedge Buster just raised a $2.2M round from the NFL's...

In the latest "hackathon" to hit Southern California, the Film Independent Forum has just announced a new Movie Hackathon, hosted by Zach James' ZEFR, which will look to spur programmers to create new, engagement experiences and tools for f...

Los Angeles-based EQAL, the digital media and content developer founded by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, has been acquired by Everyday Health, Everyday Health said this morning. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Everyday He...

Fans of the WWE have a new way to get content from the entertainment company--known for its professional wrestling personalities and contests--via Hulu Plus, the premium service of Los Angeles-based video site Hulu. The WWE said that it is ...

Los Angeles-based mobile apps developer Mobile Roadie is powering a couple of apps for conferences, saying this week that its software is being used for an app for the Internet Marketing Association Conference & Awards this week, as well as...

What would Sesame Street look like, if it was created in the world of smartphones, tablets, and YouTube? It might look a little bit like StoryBots (www.storybots.com), the new kids educational and entertainment service just launched by JibJ...

Technology giant Microsoft has detailed its new Los Angeles production studio, officially announcing that it has created a new production studio headed by former CBS Network Television Entertainment president Nancy Tellem. Microsoft said th...

Microsoft is the latest big name, technology company which sees its future being defined in Hollywood, and is reportedly hiring a former CBS television executive to head up original video content development efforts here. According to a rep...

In what looks like even more pressure on Hollywood's system of "windowing" content, Los Angeles-based Hulu is pushing the window with a deal to show NBC's Saturday Night Live in Japan only hours after its U.S. broadcast. The deal--announced...

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is aiming to boost digital streaming and downloading of its content, through a new program the firm announced this morning. The entertainment firm, which is a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film...

Ze Frank Games, the Los Angeles startup led by web video's Ze Frank, has been acquired by BuzzFeed, a social news publisher, the firm said Friday. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. According to BuzzFeed, Ze Frank has joined the...

What do get when you combine the creative sensibilities of JibJab with children's educational content? You get this: the Letter N ABC Song, from StoryBots, the new project of JibJab's Evan and Gregg Spiradellis. (More video from Southern ...

What do you get when you take the creative minds behind JibJab.com, the Venice-based online humor content developers--known for its hilarious videos of everything from politics to everyday life--and apply that to kids entertainment? You g...

An effort in Los Angeles by Amazon.com to find screenplays has resulted in a new digital comic series, the firm said today, Blackburn Burrow. Amazon said the new venture from Amazon Studios will produce four issues of the comic, inspired by...

Tired of that same-old, boring photo slideshow? How do you create a better, more exciting presentation of your photos? MYMUSAIC (www.mymusaic.com), a Los Angeles startup, thinks it has figured that out, and recently launched a service which...

In what looks to be one of the biggest free Wi-Fi deals so far from Boingo Wireless, the operator of a network of Wi-Fi hotspots said this morning that it will be offering up free, Wi-Fi at more than 4,000 of its hotspots thanks to a deal w...

Los Angeles-based Hulu upgraded the firm's Hulu plus app on the PlayStation 3 Monday, adding new features such as highlighting shows that users watch; larger and more vivid artwork; better ways to find content; and more. Hulu, which offers ...

Hulu, the Los Angeles online video site, said this morning that Martha Stewart is the latest personality to add her content to the site. Details on the deal between Hulu and Martha Stewart Living were not disclosed, however, Hulu said it wo...

San DIego-based Sony Online Entertainment announced yesterday that it has launched a new program which allows users to create their own, in-game items for its popular EverQuest franchise. Sony said it has launched Player Studio, a new progr...

Online advertising provider Real Media Group, which is part of 24/7 Media, said today that it has launched three new video formats. The video group--which is run out of Los Angeles, and is made up of the former team of Panache--said it has ...

San Diego-based video encoding and decoding software firm Sorenson Media bragged today that it is now powering the video encoding for half of the NFL's 32 teams. The firm said that the teams are all using Sorenson Squeeze, its video encodin...

Online social video discovery site Mefeedia said Thursday that it has added two new partners providing content to the site, MovieClips, and AnyClip. Mefeedia did not announce any details of the partnership, but did say the deal will provide...

Los Angeles-based Fliptu, the social media promotion startup headed by Jeremy Gocke, says it has started to line up a significant number of artists, bands, celebrities, and lifestyle brands for its service today. The service--which is still...

Earlier this week, Los Angeles-based Wittlebee (www.wittlebee.com) announced the acquisition of its own, clothing company--Cottonseed Clothing Company--as it continues to build out its subscription, children's clothing service. Wittleebee i...

LoveIt, the venture backed photo curation and sharing site backed and run by a number of PriceGrabber veterans, said this morning that it has released a batch of new features for its service. The Pasadena company said that it has added such...

Los Angeles-based BUZZMEDIA, the growing online music publisher, reported this morning that it has acquired four punk rock sites, which it will use to create a new punk music group called AbsoluteVoices. BUZZMEDIA said it acquired Under The...

It's an intensely competitive market in developing games for the iPhone and other mobile platforms, with thousands and thousands of titles competing for attention from users. How do you figure out how to get past all of that noise, and crea...

Los Angeles-based women's content site SheKnows, which is owned by Evolve Media Corp., said today that it has inked a deal with singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette, to include a video blog (vlog) from Morissette while on tour. SheKnows said...

Los Angeles-based My Damn Channel, the online comedy site headed by Rob Barnett and Warren Chao, has raised $1.0M as part of an ongoing, $3.0M funding round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm. Details on the new funding have no...

In a move which expands its distribution, Los Angeles-based AudioMicro, the provider of stock audio clips and music, said it has inked a partnership with Microsoft to include a link to its service via Windows Live Movie Maker. AudioMicro sa...

Irvine-based Local Corporation has debuted a new digital marketing software suite aimed at local businesses this morning. The firm said its new Launch by Local product is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, and helps customers with ...

Amazon Studios, the Los Angeles production arm of Amazon.com, said Thursday that it has optioned two new children's series. The firm--which has been ramping efforts in Hollywood to produce content specifically for Amazon's streaming video s...

Venice-based Movieclips, the online movie clips site and content site founded by Zach James and Richard Raddon, said today that it has raised $18.9M in a Series C funding round, and has rebranded itself as ZEFR. The new funding round was le...

Los Angeles-based SheKnows, the online women's publishing site owned by Atomic Online/Evolve Media Corp., said today that it has launched a new site, AllParenting.com. The new site is focused on parents, and specifically mothers, with conte...

Los Angeles-based Poptent, the startup which is using crowdsourcing to help companies create advertising for their brands, has inked a deal with public relations company Edelman, the two said today. The companies said that Edelman will use ...

Players of the mobile game "Fruit Ninja Frenzy"--the latest title from game developer Halfbrick--should be seeing faster load times with the game, thanks to a deal with Los Angeles-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast. EdgeCast ...

Irvine-based Pivotshare, a new startup offering up a service to help content creators publish and monetize their video or audio via subscription or pay-per-view, said today that it has raised $1M in a Series A funding. The funding came from...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media said yesterday that it has promoted Michael Blend to President and COO of the firm. Blend had most recently been leading Demand's content and media services. Demand Media said that Blend will continue to repo...

A new, Los Angeles based startup focused on developing original media for YouTube, AwesomenessTV, announced Tuesday afternoon that it has raised $3.5M in a Series A investment round. The round was led by MK Capital, and also included Greycr...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content publishing firm run by Richard Rosenblatt, reported its second quarter 2012 financial results on Tuesday afternoon, saying that both its revenues and pageviews grew from year to year. Dema...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media (www.demandmedia.com) has seen its share of ups and downs as one of the highest visibility technology and media companies to come out of Southern California's technology ecosystem in recent years. The compa...

One of the big questions in the content world has been: what's the right formula to make content creation profitable on the Internet? And, how do programs like YouTube's recent push to help fund original content channels on the site helping...

It looks like the odd marriage between United Online's communications, online content and media businesses with FTD, the company's flower delivery service, is about to end, after the company said Wednesday afternoon that its board has appro...

How do you crack the code and make online video easier to find and use? Last week, Los Angeles-based Chill (www.chill.com) made a stab at that, debuting a new front page meant to guide user to the most interesting videos on the web, through...

Amazon Studios, the original content effort run by Amazon.com out of Los Angeles, said today that the latest project added to its development slate is "Orange Curtain", focused on gun runners who live in Orange County, set against the backd...

Burbank-based Magic Ruby, a new service aimed at the social television segment, said today that it has launched to help provide revenue for advertisers, content creators, distributors, and app developers. The firm said it will offer up its ...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network (CDN) provider NetDNA reported today that it has been selected by online tag management company Ubertags. NetDNA said the customer deployment and co-marketing agreement will allow UberTags to distr...

Los Angeles-based Hulu said this morning that its Hulu Plus service just debuted on the Apple TV. Hulu said that users of the Apple TV can now start watching Hulu Plus shows via the device. The service requires users to be a current member,...

Santa Monica-based Docstoc, the online small business resources site led by Jason Nazar, is looking to bolster its video content with more content around small business subjects. In an email to supporters, Nazar said Monday that the company...

John Payne is a experienced entrepreneur, who has run two, public Internet companies -- Stamps.com and Day Software -- in addition to helping to run a number of startups. He's now head of Los Angeles-based Zumbox (www.zumbox.com). We caught...

A new, Los Angeles startup, Wonderville has launched to take on curating educational content on the web, providing links and videos to different content on a wide range of educational content for K-8 education. The company said this morning...

Los Angeles-based online content publisher Demand Media is getting into an Olympics mood, saying Thursday afternoon that it has launched an Olympics-related series, Taking London, a special series which will be featured on the LIVESTRONG Wo...

San Diego-based Slacker, the online radio streaming service, is in a major expansion of its content today, as public radio broadcaster American Public Media said it launched a number of new, interactive stations on Slacker. The broadcaster-...

Users of the Instagram mobile application--which runs on iPhone and Android--are familiar with how that app has become one of the key ways people socialize and share their life with others, all via the service's photo sharing and comments...

Los Angeles-based online advertising technology firm OpenX has opened up its fifth data center, the company announced this morning, to help support its online advertising marketplace. OpenX said the new data center will be located in Chicag...

WhoSay, which operates an online, media management platform used by agents, celebrities, and studios to manage celebrities, has raised $12M in a funding round, the company said today. The firm--which has offices in Los Angeles, but is based...

Lake Forest-based iBN Sports, which films and broadcasts high school football and other games online, said this morning that it has inked a deal to broadcast over 1,500 games over the next season on YouTube. The company--one of the premium ...

Los Angeles startup accelerator StartEngine has launched its third class, a new batch of fourteen startups which have set up shop in the incubator's Westwood Village space under the watchful eyes of Activision co-founder Howard Marks and in...

The latest MoneyTree Survey, from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capital Association, and Thomson Reuters, tabulated $837.3M in funding during Q2 of 2012, down from Q1, and slightly below investments in Q2 of 2011. According...

In a mobile world, what's a unique way to reach out to your friends and others? One way is to create your own, custom video clip which you can share via email, text message, or through a social networking site like Facebook. Los Angeles-bas...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network (CDN) provider NetDNA said late Monday evening that it has turned to the NGINX web server package for its web server software. NetDNA said it has standardized its NetDNA and MaxCDN services on NGIN...

With the proliferation of social media, how do you--as a brand--manage all of those various websites, content, and media? Los Angeles-based Fliptu (www.fliptu.com), headed by Jeremy Gocke, thinks it has this figured out, by providing a cent...

What does social networking have to do with the stock market? According to Vinny Jindal, the CEO of Los Angeles-based startup Stockr (www.stockr.com), everything. Vinny talked with us about his startup, which allows users to discuss and c...

Irvine-based disk drive maker WD is tying its products into the popular Dropbox online storage service today, with the release of its latest WD 2go mobile app. According to WD, the newest version of its app allows customers to access and sh...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online content publisher focused on video for men, said this morning that it has launched a new Break.com iPad app. Break.com said it has revamped its application, and has specifically designed an app for ...

In an interesting reversal of the flow of content from TV to Los Angeles-based Hulu, the online video site apparently has inked its first ever, deal to broadcast its original programming on TV, according to Variety today. Hulu has reportedl...

Culver City-based Maker Studios, the startup which is one of the biggest producers of content for YouTube, said Friday that it has inked a content development deal with hip-hop star Snoop Dogg. Maker said that the two will develop a slate o...

What kind of audience can you possibly get with posting content to YouTube? Apparently, a very, very large one. Los Angeles-based Maker Studios, which produces content for publishing on YouTube, reports today that is has just reached more t...

Foothill Ranch-based IOGEAR is looking to encourage adoption of 3D televisions this week, saying that it has launched a new, 2D-to-3D device called 3D Complete+. According to IOGEAR, its new product is a 4-port, HDMI switcher which upscales...

Venice-based Mogreet, the developer of mobile messaging and marketing related products and services, said today that its moShare web-to-mobile sharing services has partnered with ShareThis. The firm said the deal will enable users across 1....

San Diego-based StockTwits, the online stock discussion and micro messaging site run by Howard Lindzon, said Tuesday that it has launched a new site, adding a number of major features to the service. According to the firm, it now optimizes ...

Hollywood-based Big Frame, a new startup focused on providing content programming and marketing of YouTube talent, has raised $3M in a funding round, the firm said Tuesday. The round came from Anthem Venture Partners, Daher Capital, DFJ Fro...

Customers of Los Angeles-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast are set to automatically have their content delivered faster today, after EdgeCast announced it had integrated Google PageSpeed, Google's page optimization algorithms...

Los Angeles-based FastPay, which provides receivables financing for digital media businesses, said this morning that it has raised $25M in funding. The funding included a senior credit facility from Wells Fargo Capital Finance and a subord...

How do you sort through all that social media activity you are driving, and figure out who really cares about what you're posting? Santa Barbara-based Likeabilitee (www.likeabilitee.com) has come up with a new, highly visual service which m...

Amazon Studios, the content development effort being run out of Amazon.com's Los Angeles arm, the People's Production Company, has set the first four projects being developed by the company. According to Amazon, it has selected one children...

It appears that it's exit season in Southern California, as Internet advertising firm Adconion appears to be on the brink of an IPO filing. A report this morning says that Adconion's paperwork is ready, and that the firm is poised to file i...

The Santa Barbara, online division of Citrix has tied in its work collaboration sofwtare Citrix Podio, into cloud storage service YouSendit, bringing the firm's service to a chunk of the cloud storage services market. According to Citrix, P...

MGM Studios is licensing its library of classic movie and television shows to Amazon.com, as part of Amazon's Prime Instant Video service, Amazon said today. Financial details of the deal, and exact titles covered by the license, were not a...

What makes men tick? Los Angeles-based online publisher Break Media is delving into that question this morning with the launch of a new site, called Acumen, focused on pulling insights and analysis on the behavior and trends driven by men. ...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network provider NetDNA reports this morning that it has scored a customer win with news website The Next Web. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. NetDNA said that TheNextWeb has selected its ...

Westlake Village-based Row 44, the provider of inflight Wi-Fi and entertainment services headed by John LaValle, announced today that it has raised $45M more in financing. The round came from Advanced Inflight Alliance AG (AIA) and prior in...

Irvine-based automotive information provider Autobytel said this morning that it has signed a deal with publisher The E.W. Scripps Company, to provide its automotive content on the web sites of Scripps' television stations across thirteen m...

Did you ever wish you had a more visual, easy to use way to identify which of your social media posts on Facebook are getting the most interest from your friends and others? A new service, Likeabilitee, is looking to do just that, by plotti...

Are you one of the folks who spent this afternoon changing your LinkedIn password, after a password leak at the popular business social networking site? If so, Los Angeles-based MySocialCloud has a feature for you: an automatic, random pass...

Cracked.com, the online humor site which is owned by Santa Monica-based Demand Media, said this morning that it has launched a new advertising product which it says connects advertisers with content "the moment it goes viral." Cracked.com s...

How do you take the fashion tastes and preferences of consumers, and harness that to create your own, collaborative fashion brand? Allison Beal and Brian Garrett are trying to figure that out with their new, Los Angeles startup, StyleSaint ...

Irvine-based Kofax, the developer of business process management software and related products, reported today that it has tied with open source, enterprise content management (ECM) software provider Alfresco. The two said the link allows u...

Los Angeles-based Hulu is looking to get more of its users connected with its content directly from television sets, saying Friday that it is in a special promotion with Roku to offer up a bundled Hulu Plus, its premium streaming service, w...

Los Angeles-based Gobbler, the online, cloud-based backup and collaboration startup headed by Chris Kantrowitz, said this week that it has tied together its platform with online storage provider Box. The company said that they will link Box...

Los Angeles-based video streaming and entertainment site Hulu has just inked a deal with the New York Times, to feature videos produced for the paper, according to a report today. The report, from the Nieman Journalism Lab, says that videos...

Earthlink founder and Southern California entrepreneur Sky Dayton is leading an angel investment in a new startup out of Stanford, which is developing a service which allows developers to track changes and extract information out of web pag...

If you were a student in college, working on a startup idea, what would spur you to drop your education plans, and go full time on your startup? For Scott Ferreira, the founder of MySocialCloud.com (www.mysocialcloud.com), it was an investm...

Los Angeles-based SheKnows, the online women's publishing community and site which is part of Evolve Media Corp.'s AtomicOnline unit, reports today that it is powering a new web site for Patti Stanger, best known for hosting Bravo's The Mil...

Santa Monica-based Docstoc, the business document sharing and online small business site run by Jason Nazar, has gone app happy, saying today that it has launched 30, free iPhone and iPad apps aimed at the small business and entrepreneur ma...

Are you a fan of VH1's "Pop Up Videos"--the music video series which is known for popping up fun facts and information in the midst of a video? Well, a Santa Monica-based service, Mixin, is looking to bring that same pop-up bubble concept t...

Los Angeles-based Machinima, the online video entertainment firm focused on computer gamers, said Monday that it has raised $35M in a financing round. The round was led by Google, along with prior investors Redpoint Ventures and MK Capital....

Los Angeles-based online marketing and domain firm Oversee.net has named a new General Manager of its Travel Vertical today, tapping Raj Beri for the position. Beri will oversee the firm's LowFares.com, FareSpotter.net, AboutAirportParking....

Santa Monica-based content delivery network (CDN) operator EdgeCast Networks said this week that it has been powering the big growth behind Imgur, the online image hosting and discovery service. Imgur just reported it is now getting over on...

Los Angeles-based humor site Funny or Die has received an investment from Turner Broadcasting, as part of a strategic deal between the companies for Turner to manage ad site sales for the company. Financial terms of the investment were not ...

How do you help aspiring actors and actresses break into the film industry? Gary Beer is a longtime film industry insider, having been Managing Director of the Sundance Film Festival from its beginnings until 1999 , and founder documentar...

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed, the developer of location analytics software for companies, said today that it has integrated with the popular photo sharing and social networking app Instagram. MomentFeed said that, in addition to tapping in...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing business run by Richard Rosenblatt, announced its first quarter 2012 results yesterday, and also raised its fiscal 2012 financial guidance. The firm said it had total revenues of $86.2M...

Los Angeles-based Virurl, a new startup headed by former Titan Gaming foundder Francisco Diaz-Mitoma and co-founded by Tim Symington of LAST.VC, has raised $1.2M in a funding round, and launched its service. According to Virurl, it will pay...

Los Angeles-based content developer Machinima is on the verge of an investment deal with Google, according to a report published Monday by AllthingsD. Size and details of the funding have yet to be announced, but according to the report is ...

If you're a photographer or artist, what's the easiest way to display, print, frame, and sell your photos or artwork to customers? You could handle all the details of printing, framing things, collecting payments, dealing with shipping,...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network (CDN) provider Edgecast Networks said Wednesday that it has launched its OpenCDN federation platform, which allows independent content delivery network (CDN) providers to exchange production traff...

Amazon Studios, the content creation effort which is part of Amazon.com and has major Southern California components, and which is headed by Joe Lewis, formerly of 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central, and Tara Sorenson, of National Geograph...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media is expanding out its original content efforts on YouTube, saying Wednesday that it has launched a new, eHow Pets Channel on YouTube. Demand Media said it will feature everything from animal-related news, dog ...

Beverly Hills-based Mobile Roadie, the developer of tools which make it easy for artists and brands to create their own mobile apps, said today that it has launched a new native iPad app platform, along with a self-service mobile website pr...

Remember Santa Monica-based Mahalo, the startup headed by Jason Calacanis and backed by such investors as Sequoia Capital? The firm has been fairly quiet recently, but apparently in the last few months has retooled itself as an "educational...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network (CDN) provider NetDNA is targeting e-commerce site owners this morning with a new product, the company said. The firm said its new CloudCache.com content delivery network service is aimed at e-comm...

Los Angeles-based startup accelerator MuckerLab is booting up its first Demo Day later this afternoon, debuting nine new startups out of its incubator focused on Internet software, services, and media. The accelerator--which is headed by Er...

Zui.com, the kid's website focused on providing screened content and information to kids, is expanding its services today, saying that it has launched "Facetube", which combines the best social sharing aspects of Facebook with the channels ...

If you're a family with kids in sports, how do you share all those videos, photos, and other memories about your kids games? Where do you organize and share all the information about your team's games? Los Angeles-based Weplay (www.weplay...

Los Angeles content delivery network (CDN) provider NetDNA said today that it has partnered with GlobalSign, a provider of online security products, to launch a new secure sockets layer (SSL) certification product. According to the two, the...

San Diego-based Chumby, which had developed Internet-connected, alarm-clock like devices and similar technology, has shut down, according to a report Friday. Chumby--which had been backed by JK&B Capital, Avalon Ventures, Masthead Venture P...

Los Angeles-based streaming video site Hulu has been in New York this week pitching its service to advertisers at its Hulu Upfronts event, revealing today four new original series, plus some statistics on the service. Hulu said it has added...

San Diego-based streaming radio and music service Slacker has linked its service with MIcrosoft's Bing Bar, the company said Tuesday. According to Slacker, the new BIng Bar provides Slacker Radio access, allowing music fans to access bands ...

A new content distribution deal between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and YouTube, announced over the weekend, will bring over 600 new titles for rent to YouTube and Google Play, the two firm said Sunday. YouTube and MGM said that the deal will bring...

Irvine-based Western Digital said this morning that it is shipping a new, 1TB hard drive, the VelociRaptor 1 TB, aimed at high performance PCs and workstations. The firm said the new 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive is aimed at applications such ...

Los Angeles-based EndPlay, a developer of software-as-a-service offerings for content management, said today that it has raised $21.5M in total funding for the firm. The company said it recently closed a round of funding from VantagePoint C...

It's been almost two years since Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com was acquired by Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten. How has that affected the company--both in culture, as well as a business? We caught up with Neel Grover, CEO and President of the ...

Santa Monica-based Weplay, a startup backed by Peyton Manning, Major League Baseball, Derek Jeter and Lebron James, said today that it has launched a mobile app to help youth sports players keep informed on allergy conditions. The service--...

San Diego-based Verve Wireless, which develops mobile publishing and advertising tools, reported today that it has hired Chris Nicotra, the former Chief Technology Officer of comScore, as its new Executive Vice President of Product and Tech...

Irvine-based Autobytel, the provider of automotive information and buying services, claimes that it is seeing success with its recently launched YouTube channel. The firm said the channel, which offers editorial content such as new car revi...

The University of Southern California's Entertainment Technology Center, which is part of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, said this week that it has named a new CEO. The center--which promotes and runs projects between the entertainment a...

If you're a music artist or band, and you want to create your own fan app for the iPhone, Android, or iPad, you're looking at hiring an app development firm, spending six months, and $100,000--right? Actually, no---thanks to Santa Monica-ba...

Not content to simply carry cargo to the International Space Station, Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies said Thursday afternoon that it has assembled an outside, independent safety advisory panel which will help it achieve its ...

What's the best way to get the word out about your brand on social media? For a number of high profile brands, it's by using the software and services of Los Angeles-based PromoJam (www.promojam.com), which just announced a round of funding...

Los Angeles-based MediaPass, the developer of subscription and content monetization software aimed at online publishers, has raised $1.75M more in a Series B funding. The funding came from angels, including Jeff Stibel of Dun & Bradstreet C...

Westlake Village-based Row 44, the provider of in-flight broadband equipment, announced today that it has linked with MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) in an in-flight live streaming television and on-demand video entertainment effort. The two sai...

Earlier this month, Los Angeles startup Dollar Shave Club (www.dollarshaveclub.com) made a huge splash with its launch of a subscription, monthly delivery service for razor blades. The company also made quite an impression with its viral vi...

Los Angeles-based Aggregage, the online content aggregation and publishing startup headed by Robert Flynn, has announced a deal with professional society The Sales Association, to run a targeted vertical site called SalesProCentral aimed at...

Not content to just deliver satellites to space, and to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, Hawthorn-based SpaceX said Friday that it is continuing to work on preparing its Dragon spacecraft to carry astronauts. The firm said ...

Last week, Santa Monica-based Docstoc (www.docstoc.com), the online business documents site headed by Jason Nazar, launched a new website, called License123 (www.license123.com). The new site is a separate brand, offering up help to busines...

The deal between streaming music service Slacker and ESPN, which the two brokered in September last year, is about to go into overdrive this week, as Slacker said it will provide free, streaming radio access to all 67 games of the NCAA Divi...

Los Angeles-based Hulu has inked a deal to distribute its original content to the international market, the firm said Monday, in a deal with FremantleMedia Enterprises. Hulu said the deal calls for FremantleMedia to handle distribution righ...

Los Angeles-based Funny or Die, the online humor site, is trying its hand in the digital tablet publishing space, saying Thursday that it has launched a new, digital magazine for the iPad. The firm said its new magazine, The Occasional will...

Continuing its push into original content, Los Angeles-based Break Media said today that it has launched a comprehensive redesign of Game Front, its online video game site, to add new, original editorial content, videos, and commentary to t...

Do you have a pet dog, and do you travel a lot? If so, you're probably familiar with the travails of having to find a kennel to place your dog into, are constantly worrying about how your dog is doing in that kennel, and probably are feel...

Los Angeles-based online content producer Machinima, which produces videogame related content for YouTube, is reportedly seeking $50M in funding, at a $200M to $250M valuation, according to reports today. The firm, which is led by Allen DeB...

Have you every clicked on a mobile ad on your iPhone or Android phone, and found that the ad you clicked into wasn't usable on your mobile phone? It's not an uncommon experience, and one which drove Holden Steinberg and Jason Crilly to star...

Santa Monica-based CHNL, a new, pre-launch startup which is focusing on social content and content curation, said this week that it has named Rod Perth to its board of directors. Perth is a television executive, who has worked on projects f...

Conservative commentator, and Internet publishing startup founder Andrew Breitbart has died, according to Breitbart.com, his publishing company, after dying unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning. Brietbart, wh...

Last week, Pasadena-based Punchcard (www.punchcard.com) launched its mobile apps, which help local retailers provide rewards to loyal customers. The firm is backed by Idealab, and is headed by Internet veteran Andy Steuer. We caught up wit...

Irvine-based hard drive maker Western Digital, and Los Angeles-based studios Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, along with flash storage maker SanDisk, said today they have created a new orga...

Looking to enhance the advertising units on its network of sites, Santa Monica-based Demand Media said today that it has launched a new set of "social feed ads" to its advertisers. Demand Media said its new Social Feed ad management tools a...

Santa Monica-based GraphEffect, the developer of social marketing software which helps advertiser manage their advertising on Facebook, said this morning that it has launched a significant update to its platform. The firm--which is headed b...

The Los Angeles area is fast becoming the content hub for online video site YouTube, a position that takes advantage of both the LA region's long history in the entertainment business, and the rise of a slew of startups producing content sp...

Fans of shows on Los Angeles-based Hulu can get their content on yet another device--the Nintendo Wii--as of this morning, Nintendo and Hulu said today. According to the two, Wii owners can now subscribe to Hulu Plus, Hulu's premium service...

The University of California's television channel, University of California Television (UCTV), said Wednesday that it is launching a new, YouTube channel in partnership with the online video site. According to UCTV, its new YouTube channel ...

Beverly Hills-based Myspace, the online social entertainment site now owned by Specific Media, said this morning that it has named Roger Mincheff as President of Myspace Entertainment. Mincheff was previously at Fox Filmed Entertainment, se...

Los Angeles-based FileTrek, a developer of cloud-based, enterprise, file sharing and tracking software, said today that it has raised $10M in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Anthem Venture Partners, Telesystem, and the Ontari...

Santa Barbara-based Zukka, the publisher of the iStoryTime interactive children's books for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, said this morning that it has launched a another title based on the SMURFs. The firm said it has released a digita...

Santa Monica-based Docstoc, the online small business documents sharing and download site headed by Jason Nazar, said Tuesday that it has now hit more than 80,000 paying subscribers to the service, and over 20 million members. In an update...

Technology's big names appear to be rushing to tap into the wealth of talent and creativity in Los Angeles, with the latest firm being online e-commerce giant Amazon.com. According to reports today, Amazon is looking to ramp its efforts in ...

In November, Michael Jones, the former CEO of MySpace, announced his plans for Science Inc. (www.science-inc.com), a new “technology studio” aimed at building new businesses in Los Angeles. This week, the firm launched two companies--EventU...

A new startup emerged Tuesday with its target on United Online's Classmates.com service, hoping to connect people with their high school classmates. Silicon Valley-based SchoolFeed said it raised $1.75M to create a new service which helps p...

Los Angeles-based OVGuide, the online video guide site backed by Baroda Ventures, said today that it has acquired Live Matrix, a provider of an online guide to live events on the web. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. A...

Southern California has had its share of new startup accelerators launch in the last few months, however, few people here have actually experienced an accelerator firsthand. One of the few who has is Alex Benzer,the co-founder of Silverlake...

What do you get when you mix the desert around Mojave, two months in a Van Nuys warehouse, an MIT engineer, and a band which has risen to prominence as a YouTube phenomenon? Not a tech startup, but one of the more intriguing ads debuted dur...

Machinima, the online video entertainment firm focused on gamers, and studio Lionsgate, said today the two have renewed a deal around Machinima's zombie comedy series "Bite Me." The firms, both of which are located in Los Angeles, said the ...

Los Angeles-based StyleHaul, an online video network focused on fashion and beauty, said today that it has raised $4.4M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by RezVen Partners, and also included Juvo Capital, Siemer Ventures, Tami...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast Networks, the content delivery network (CDN) provider headed by Alex Kazerani, said today that it doubled its annual revenues and headcount in 2011, over its 2010 numbers. The privately held firm--which did not d...

Hollywood-based Cocodot, the online invitations startup headed by former MySpace exec Shawn Gold, has made a subtle shift into the e-commerce sector in recent days, adding jewelry, chocolates, gifts, and more to the site. The startup--which...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content publisher headed by Richard Rosenblatt, has seen the exodus of three of the firm's EVPs and founders. The move was first uncovered by Paidcontent.org. Larry Fitzgibbon, Joe Perez, and Ste...

San Diego-based KidZui, the developer of kids-friendly Internet browsers and online portal for kids, said today that it has officially renaming the company's name to Zui.com. The shift comes as the company has focused on creating a search e...

Los Angeles-based BUZZMEDIA, the pop culture and music blog publisher which runs such sites as Celebuzz, Sterogum, Buzznet, and Idolator, announced today that it has hired Bill Jensen as Vice President/General Manager of Music. The company ...

Looking to corner the market on cute YouTube pet videos, a Los Angeles studio said this morning that it has launched a new YouTube channel called Petsami, entirely dedicated to pet videos. The studio, FishBowl Worldwide Media, said it was f...

Venice-based Mogreet, the mobile marketing and services firm headed by James Citron, has launched a new, mobile service today called moShare. According to the company, the service makes it easier for users to share video, pictures, songs, a...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online content publisher which runs Break.com as well as a number of other sites, said it has launched a new advertising unit it is calling "Social Video Accelerator". The firm said that the unit provides ...

How do you take what you've learned, having been part of the growth and creation of the traditional, videogame industry, and apply that to the new world of social games? That's what Los Angeles-based Seismic Games (www.seismicgames.com) i...

San Diego-based SG Biofuels, a developer of hybrid seeds of Jatropha for the biofuels and specialty chemicals business, said that it has raised $17M in a Series B funding. The funding was led by Thomas, McNerney & Partners, and also include...

Los Angeles-based Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said Thursday afternoon that the company brought in approximately $420M in revenues in 2011, up 60 percent from 2010, and now has more than 1.5 million paying subscribers to Hulu Plus. According to Kil...

Irvine-based VIZIO and Google said today that they have tied together to launch a new product which incorporates Google TV and provides streaming Internet video to any HDTV. The new Vizio Stream Player, among a number of product launches by...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast, the content delivery network (CDN) provider, said this morning that it has launched a "Licensed CDN" program, after it successfully built out a production content delivery network for a major carrier, and signed...

Last month, just before the holidays, Los Angeles-based PartyEarth (www.partyearth.com) raised $4.0M in capital for its online service for connecting people with nightlife venues. We caught up with Sam Altman, the firm's CEO, to hear more a...

For this morning's Insights and Opinions section, where we feature useful and interesting articles from the community, investment banker Megan Lisa Jones talks about why today's world of content is like the Punk Rock revolution. Or...

Online holiday sales this year were up 15 percent, hitting $35.3 billion, according to the latest tracking by Internet metrics firm comScore. comScore said that the e-commerce spending for the first 56 days of the holiday season was helped ...

San Diego-based Zui.com, the online search engine aimed at kids, said today that it has launched a new, browser toolbar called ZUIBAR. The toolbar, which was developed by Conduit, allows Internet users to access Zui.com's games, videos, and...

Culver City-based Sony Pictures has inked a multi-year, content streaming deal with LOVEFiLM, the European online movie streaming service owned by Amazon.com. According to the two companies, the deal provides exclusive streaming access to n...

Santa Monica-based Xfire, the online social networking and chat service aimed at gamers, said this morning that it is making it easier for users to capture and share videos of their game play, and post it on a YouTube channel. Xfire already...

Last week, San Diego-based Kidzui --the kid's website and kid-friendly browser developer, announced another round of funding, and also launched Zui Studios, a new effort to create original content for the portal. We thought it would be inte...

Los Angeles-based Hulu, the online video streaming service, appears to be steadily growing its online audience, based on the latest numbers from comScore. comScore released its latest Video Metrix report Thursday, showing that Hulu had 34.5...

Santa Monica-based Yowie, the online live chat service which has been providing live online chats with celebrities, is announcing this morning that it has expanded its platform to host group video chats for consumers. The site said it will ...

Los Angeles-based Live Nation Entertainment said today that it has acquired a provider of media metrics and analytics, BigChampagne Media Measurement. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. BigChampagne provides media metrics abou...

San Diego-based KidZui, the developer of a service which provides kid-safe content via a search engine and browser, announced this morning that it has raised $2.4M in new funding, and will start creating its own, original video content. The...

Machinima, the Los Angeles animated videogame content developer and publisher, and Agoura Hills-based game developer THQ said today that they have teamed on a new, downloadable shooter game called Nexuiz. The firms said they will publish an...

YouTube's foray into professionally produced, video channels has launched today, with the debut of a channel from Los Angeles-based Deca, called KinCommunity. Deca launched KinCommunity, and online, women's lifestyle "channel" featuring foo...

Carlsbad-based Aptera, the developer of a three wheeled, electric vehicle, has shut down. According to multiple sources, the firm is dissolving the company, after failing to find federal matching funds for its efforts. Aptera had been atte...

Venice-based Tecca, the online consumer technology information site focused on women, said Thursday that it has relaunched and redesigned the site's iOS application. The firm said the new app includes local deals, personalized content recom...

Sweety High, a new startup based in Manhattan Beach, is hoping to reach tween girls with its new social gaming and entertainment site, saying this week that it has launched out of private beta. The site says it is hoping to create a social ...

Santa Barbara-based iStoryTime, the mobile children's book line, said this morning that it has launched a new Arthur Christmas Movie Storybook for the iPhone and iPad. The new title--tied into the Aardman/Sony Pictures Animation movie--is t...

San Diego-based personalized Internet radio service Slacker has teamed with ABC, to expand out its content, the firm said today. According to the company, it has launched new "Lifestyle" stations, covering things such as healthy living, rel...

Neville Spiteri is co-founder of Venice-based WEMO Media (www.wemomedia.com), a new, digital studio whose flagship product is TheBlu (www.theblu.com) an online, interactive experience focused on the world's oceans. WEMO Media is an intere...

Santa Monica-based Outcast Media, the operator of out-of-home advertising and content networks, reported today that it has partnered with the U.S. Department of Transportation, on a distracted driving campaign. Outcast said it will include ...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online content publisher run by Keith Richman, said this morning that it has hired Mitch Rotter as its Senior VP and General Manager of Editorial Properties. Rotter joins the company from Universal Music G...

The Los Angeles area has seen a surge in the last month in companies and organizations looking to bolster entrepreneurial activity and startups in Southern California. Joining that surge last week in startup activity was Science, Inc. (ww...

Despite the proximity to Hollywood and the entertainment world, in the world of Southern California startups, actually combining the two world is quite difficult. NowLive is trying to do just that, leveraging both technology and the enterta...

Burbank-based Warner Bros. said today that it has signed a major, multi-year film distribution agreement with LOVEFiLM, the online DVD and game rental service owned by Amazon.com. According to the two, the deal will provide access to Warner...

Los Angeles-based Chill, the social chat startup headed by Brian Norgard and Dan Gould, said today that it has launched a major integration of its site with Hulu. Chill allows users to view, chat, and comment on live video streams via socia...

San Diego-based StockTwits, the stock-focused micro messaging and discussion startup headed by Howard Lindzon, announced today that it has inked a distribution partnership with Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. StockTwits said that the...

A group of Southern California businesses are attending the Entrepreneurs Festival taking place in Tech City UK, looking to potentially set up shop and foster business partnerships in London. Today marks the start the festival, an effort...

The latest numbers out of comScore, which measures e-commerce spending and Internet traffic, find that U.S. retail e-commerce spending rose 13 percent, year-over-year, to $36.3 billion in Q3 of 2011. comScore said the growth is the eighth, ...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, announced its third quarter 2011 financial results on Monday, saying that it had a loss from operations of $3.3M, with a rise in revenues to $81.5M. R...

Glendale-based Disney Interactive Media and online video sharing site YouTube, which is part of Google, announced today that they are spending up to $15M on developing original videos series for the web. The content will be produced by Disn...

Los Angeles-based RPost, the developer of a service to electronically encrypt, capture, and electronically sign documents, said this morning that it has upgraded its software for Microsoft Outlook. The firm said its RPost for Outlook 2000-2...

A number of local, high tech companies are putting their efforts behind Movember, a charity which helps raise funding and awareness for men's health, and particularly prostate cancer. Los Angeles-based Break Media said it has produced a num...

Have you ever visited a city, and had a tough time figuring out where the real locals hung out, where the genuine experience--as opposed to the tourist experience--could be found? That's the problem Urbandig (www.urbandig.com) is looking to...

Not suprisingly, the announcement by YouTube late Friday of a new initiative to provide original content programming channels on the site was a who's who of Southern California content and media startups. Among the list of dozens of partner...

Santa MOnica-based Demand Media is one of the new partners for YouTube, in the big original content programming push by Google's video site, the firm said today. YouTube, in a bid to bolster the content on the site, is launching a new origi...

Burbank-based Disney-ABC Television Group and DVD rental and video streaming business Netflix said this morning that the two have extended an existing, licensing agreement. The two said that the deal will allow Netflix to continue to stream...

Los Angeles-based content delivery network (CDN) provider NetDNA said today that it has chopped its pricing and is restructuring its business model, aiming at taking on competing services as Amazon CloudFront. The CDN provider said it is ch...

San Diego-based Websense is taking aim at all of those time-wasting, viral videos your employees have been forwarding around, with its security software. The company said Thursday that it has released technology which help employers cut dow...

Santa Monica-based Mahalo, the online content and information site run by Jason Calacanis, has laid off 25 percent of its employees, according to a report today. AllThingsD, which confirmed the cuts with President Jason Rapp, said the move ...

Beverly Hills-based Vuguru, the online digital content production studio run by Michael Eisner, and POW! Entertainment, the entertainment and multimedia firm headed by comic book legend Stan Lee, said today that two have inked a deal to pro...

Los Angeles-based Hulu is continuing to expand the distribution of its premium, Hulu Plus service today, as Nintendo announced that it will be bringing the service to the Nintendo 3DS and Wii. According to Nintendo, it will be adding Hulu P...

Los Angeles-based Evolve Media Corp., the online media company that owns AtomicsOnline, Gorilla Nation, and SheKnows, continues to expand its empire, saying this morning that it has acquired pregnancy community BabyandBump.com. Evolve Media...

Pasadena-based X1 Discovery, the Idealab-backed electronic discovery firm split out from X1, said today that it has shipped its first product, X1 Social Discovery. The firm said its new product is specifically designed to address social med...

Do you remember those cheesy, late night local television commercials you used to watch (before you got Tivo?) Wondering how, as a small business, you can reach customers in the YouTube age? Well, Los Angeles based Near Networks (www.nearne...

Los Angeles-based Chill, the social video startup which allows users to chat while watching video content, announced today that it has added a number of features to the service. According to the company, it has launched new, private chat fe...

Pasadena-based X1, the desktop and enterprise search tools provider backed by Idealab, said Tuesday that it has launched new iPhone and iPad apps. X1's new apps allow users of its software to search for information and files directly from t...

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology reported last week that they have created a "smart petri dish" which uses Google smart phones and Lego blocks, to automatically monitor cell growth in petri dishes. In a paper presented ...

Los Angeles-based Mobile Roadie, the developer of mobile applications for celebrities and brands, has released a new app which helps its customer preview their applications before actual release. According to Mo bile Roadie, its new Mobile ...

Sharpening its focus on the electronic discovery market, Pasadena-based X1, the enterprise search tools provider backed by Idealab, has split out a new company called X1 Discovery, headed by John Patzakis, the former President of eDiscovery...

Los Angeles-based Hulu is reporting today that it has inked a deal with Univision, to carry "hundreds of hours" of Spanish language novelas and other content to the video streaming site. Financial details of the deal between Hulu and Univis...

Santa Monica-based eHow, the question and answer site of Demand Media, is announcing today that it has launched a new women-focused channel called Shift. eHow said the new channel is aimed at helping "inspire women who want to make changes ...

Venice-based Viddy, the mobile application developer founded by JJ Aguhob and Brett O'Brien, is powering a new social video app from Snoop Dogg. Snoop Dogg said this morning that he has launched a new, mobile video app called Snoop Pack on...

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based LifeCrowd (www.lifecrowd.com) unveiled its service to help connect people with real life activities. The firm is initially focusing on the Los Angeles market, and connecting people with fun, interesting...

Recently, Santa Monica-based Geodelic (www.geodelic.com), the venture backed developer of location-based, mobile apps, has sharpened its focus to provide real-time offers, and has partnered with mobile operators like Verizon and Korean Te...

Santa Monica-based LIVESTRONG.com, the health and fitness site run by Demand Media, is launching a redesign of the site today, splitting content into verticals focused on men and women. In an interview, Dan Brien, General Manager of the sit...

Los Angeles-based HitFix, the entertainment news publisher headed by Jen Sargent, said today that it has launched its first Android app, called Find Your Fix. According to HitFix, the new app ap=llows users to access its event calendar, acc...

In our Insights and Opinions section of the site, we feature editorials, informational articles, and other content that is relevant to the high tech community in Southern California. Congress recently passed some major changes to federal p...

Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com, a provider of online car pricing information and other automotive content, said Friday that it has updated its Android application. The company said the app now includes used car pricing information, and allo...

Los Angeles-based video streaming site Hulu was one of the many firms announcing new Facebook application yesterday at Facebook's F8 conference. According to Hulu, its new Hulu on Facebook app integrates Hulu with Faceboook, to make watchin...

In his quest to better connect with new friends, Alex Capecelatro had a problem: none of the existing social networking sites were really designed to connect people with who you didn't know, and might share your hobbies and interests. To ma...

Los Angeles-based Chill, the social video streaming service created by Brian Norgard and Dan Gould, said Wednesday afternoon that it has launched a new feature around its "Chill Lounge". The firm said that anyone can now create a "Chill lou...

Los Angeles-based Hipgeo, the develope rof a location-aware, smartphone applications service focused on recording and sharing your day with others, said this morning that it has launched its iPhone app. The firm said that the HipGeo app for...

Burbank-based MeFeedia, the online video guide site run by Frank Sinton, said Thursday that it has updated its Android app. According to the firm, it has improved thumbnails and layout on the software, expanded the number of devices it supp...

Pasadena-based UberMedia, the developer of Twitter client applications, said Thursday that it has partnered with the publisher of The Economist to power a new desktop application and curated channel Idea People Media, The Economist Group's ...

In the day and age of digital photos, too often the photos we take end up filed away untouched on your computer, or buried on your iPhone. Unlike the past, when photos were treasured and shown off to friends and family, it seems like photos...

Los Angeles-based venture capital firm Rustic Canyon is the lead investor in a round of funding from a social shopping site out of Y Combinator. According to Mertado, a social shopping service which links users with home and kitchen product...

Santa Monica-based Edgecast, the content delivery network (CDN) operator, said today along with partner PeerApp that they have linked on a new content caching solution for network operators. The two said they are linking EdgeCast's CDN soft...

Burbank-based MeFeedia, the online video guide suite, said today that it has added video site Vevo as its newest content provider. MeFeedia did not disclose any business terms between the companies, but said that Vevo's music videos and new...

Los Angeles-based HitFix, the entertainment news site headed by Jennifer Sargent and backed by angel groups the Tech Coast Angels and Golden Seeds, said today that it is in a strategic partnership with film and awards blog In Contention. Ex...

How much is Santa Monica-based Mahalo worth? According to Jason Calacanis, in a blog post, $75M to $150M. In a list of 10 acquisitions he suggested Yahoo make "on day one", Calacanis--not one to shy from self promotion--said that Yahoo coul...

One of the largest areas of Southern California's technology base is in the wireless and communications market. To get an idea of what one startup in the industry is doing, we spoke to San Diego-based AirHop (www.airhopcomm-web.com), a dev...

Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com looks to be busy updating its service this week, with yet another feature. The firm said today that it has added a new, used car inventory search tool, which will help car buyers shop for and compared used veh...

Long Beach-based Cie Games, the developer of the branded, social automotive game Car Town for Facebook, said today that it has partnered with Car and Driver, the automotive magazine published by Hearst Magazines. According to Cie Games, the...

Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com, the online car information site, said this morning that it has bolstered the content on its site, by launching a new online guide to shopping for in-car technology. The firm said the new "Car Technology 101" ...

Coronado-based My Compliance Info, a provider of Internet-based compliance analysis, content, consulting, and other services for the financial industry, has been acquired by New Haven, Conn.-based Continuity Control. Financial details of th...

Los Angeles-based Hulu said late Wednesday that it has officially launched its subscription services in Japan, the first international launch for the company. Hulu said that its Japanese service has secured licensing deals with CBS, NBCUniv...

Huntington Beach-based AnyMeeting, the free, online web conferencing and webinar service run by Costin Tuculescu, has launched a new feature which allows anyone to sell tickets to their webinars. The service said that it has integrated PayP...

Santa Monica-based content deliver network provider EdgeCast Networks said today that it has joined with OpenDNS and Google, as well as a number of other CDNs, to speed up the handling of domain name system (DNS) request on the Internet. Ac...

San Diego-based Qualcomm said today that it has linked with the Sesame Workshop India, to provide mobile phones to boost the education of children of migrants in India. The project provides mobile phones to children of migrant workers, all...

Irvine-based VIZIO, the maker of LCD HDTVs and other electronics products, said today that it has linked its new VIZIO 8" Tablet with the Hulu Plus subscription service. VIZIO said its tablet can now stream TV and film content from Hulu's p...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media has issued $707,254 in stock as part of the acquisition of a company, according to a regulatory filing from the firm Monday. According to the filing, the firm issued $707,254 in equity, in conjunction with a ...

A new analysis of the most popular, YouTube channels, shows that the Los Angeles area continues to lead the world in content production, even as the medium shifts to the web. According to a new report from comScore, measuring the popularity...

Earlier this month, Santa Barbara-based zuuka Group, the publisher behind the iStoryTime (www.istorytimeapp.com) line of children's books on the iPhone, announced a first round of funding. We thought it would be interesting to hear from co-...

Los Angeles-based Hulu has debuted its first, long form, original content effort, A Day In The Life from Morgan Spurlock today, posting an episode on Richard Branson. Hulu had announced the effort at the beginning of the month. Spurlock is ...

Los Angeles-based AudioMicro, which operates a network of online content licensing marketplaces for audio, photos, and more, is announcing today that it has grown its library of pictures on site ImageCollect to 1.5 million photos. ImageColl...

The last time we spent much time chatting with Chris Lyman and Corey Brundage, they were at Los Angeles telephony software firm Fonality, busy getting their employees set up in a full blown, mixed-martial arts (MMA) "fight club". Since the...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing empire run by Richard Rosenblatt, said Tuesday afternoon that it has acquired two companies, plus renewed a deal with Google. According to Demand Media, it acquired IndieClick, a Los An...

Santa Barbara-based zuuka Group, the firm behind the iStoryTime line of mobile children's books, said today that it has raised $2M in a Series A investment round. According to the company, the investment came from Corporate Finance Partners...

Santa Monica-based Docstoc, the online business documents site headed by Jason Nazar, has quietly been ramping a video content effort at the site. In a new section on Docstoc's web site, the firm has been sharing dozens of video segments fe...

Pasadena-based FastSoft, the developer of Internet acceleration devices based on technology out of the California Insitute of Technology (Caltech), said today that it has been selected by Los Angeles content delivery network (CDN) NetDNA. F...

Los Angeles-based Hulu and Irvine-based Western Digital said this week that the two have connected Hulu's premium service, Hulu Plus, to WD's WD TV Live Plus and WD TV Live Hub media players. According to the two, the move will make it poss...

Los Angeles-based Hulu is rolling out its first, long-form, original content series, the firm said today, with a new documentary series, "A Day in the Life" from filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. Hulu said the series will include episodes feature ...

San Diego-based Chumby, the developer of Internet-connected hardware, software widgets, and other related technology, is powering a new television from Best Buy. According to Best Buy, it has launched a new, Insignia brand Connected TV, whi...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast, the content delivery network provider, is reporting this morning that it now has more than 3,000 customers using its services. The company said it is now carrying 4 percent of global Internet traffic, serving ar...

MXP4, a developer of social, music games, announced Friday that it has opened up an office in Los Angeles. The venture-backed game developer is backed by Orkos Capital, Sofinnova Partners and Ventech. The firm--whose flagship game is Bopler...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content publishing empire run by Richard Rosenblatt, is targeting a blog which has been posting internal documents and criticism of the company. According to a report from Forbes, the firm has sen...

Torrance-based PixelFish, which provides online video marketing products to local businesses, announced Thursday that it has raised $4M in a funding round. The round was led by Bullpen Capital, and also included Floodgate, Mack Capital, Tom...

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based HitFix (www.hitfix.com) an online news site focused on entertainment, announced it had raised $2M in a funding round. The firm's CEO and co-founder, Jennifer Sargent, has an interesting background, mos...

Los Angeles-based Fandango, the online movie guide and ticket site, said today that it has launched a new app which runs on Samsung Smart TVs and Smart Blu-ray players. Fandango said its Fandango Movies app allows users to watch HD movie tr...

San Diego-based StockTwits, the finance discussion and microblogging site headed by Howard Lindzon, has inked a deal with Microsoft's search engine, Bing, the power parts of the search engine's Bing Finance site. According to Microsoft, it ...

Los Angeles-based NetDNA, a provider of content delivery network (CDN) serviecs, said Tuesday that it has scored a new funding round. Amount of the funding was not announced. The CDN provider said the funding came from Chelsea Management, I...

Sherman Oaks-based GoTV Networks, the provider of mobile applications and content, has been acquired by a Texas mobile software developer, Phunware. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to Phunware, the acquisiti...

Santa Monica-based ThisNext, the social shopping and content site run by Matt Edelman, has scored a partnership with Lucky Magazine. According to ThisNext, the two have created a co-branded shopping site, which was launched Friday. The new ...

Los Angeles-based Hulu, the online video streaming site headed by Jason Kilar, released some detailed subscriber numbers Wednesday, as the firm continued to be . According to the firm, it is approaching 1 million paying subscribers to its H...

Los Angeles-based Hulu said this morning that it has started rolling out its Hulu Plus subscription service on LG LCD TVs. Hulu said the support is for selected LG LCD TVs, with additional LG devices available in coming weeks. Hulu provides...

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based Gamzee (www.gamzee.com), a new game company founded by Howard Marks, the co-founder of Activision and Acclaim Games, announced a seed round of funding. We caught up with Howard to hear about what Gamz...

Irvine-based Specific Media, the Internet advertising network run by Tim Vanderhook, has released further details on the company's acquisition of Myspace, saying that Justin Timberlake is taking an ownership stake and major role in the acqu...

Los Angeles-based ShareSquare, the QR code software firm headed by Matthias Galica, said this week that it has scored a win with NBC/Universal, and will be powering a campaign for the DVD releases of The Adjustment Bureau and Blue Crush 2. ...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing empire run by Richard Rosenblatt, has inked a partnership with outdoor retailer REI. The companies announced the deal today. According to the two, they are in a three-year partnership, ...

Those visitors you see wandering around the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles with their smartphones? They might not checking Facebook or surfing the web--they might be just be getting a smart phone tour of the art. Google said Monday aft...

Classmates International, the unit of Woodland Hills-based United Online which has recently been transitioning from a service to find old classmates and associates into one focused on nostalgic memories under the name MemoryLane, has been h...

One trend in the Southern California high tech startup market has been an increasing number of startups--and executives--who have been looking to combine their interests in business with their enthusiasm for giving back through nonprofits...

A new, venture backed online education company, Encore Career Institute, headed by Steve Poizner, said today that it has linked with the UCLA Extension to offer up professional certificates and career counseling online. The firm said it has...

Venice, California-based Tecca, the online and mobile, consumer information and review service backed by Best Buy, said today that it has bolstered its board and added a slew of executives to the company. The firm said it has added Rich Bat...

Last week, Los Angeles-based StarGreetz (www.stargreetz.com) debuted its celebrity-powered, personalized message service to the public, allowing both brands and artists to send highly personalized messages to their fans. We caught up with C...

Los Angeles-based Hulu said this morning that it has launched three, exclusive shows, all popular UK TV series, which have never been seen in the U.S. Hulu said it will premiere Misfits, The Booth and the End, and Whites on Hulu.com and Hul...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online video content publisher, said today that it has partnered with actor Zachari Levi, on a set of original videos and events. According to Break, it will product three, original videos starring Levi, a...

Howard Lindzon, the CEO of San Diego-based StockTwits, has made another angel investment, this time in Embed.ly, a developer of tools that make it easier for web sites to embed content from other web sites. Embed.ly said it raised $450,000 ...

Los Angeles-based Evolve Media, the parent firm of Gorlla Nation and AtomicOnline, said today that it has acquired Crowd Ignite, a developer of a "content exchange" engine which provides content to online publishers. Financial details of th...

A report today from AllthingsD says that an investor group, which includes Santa Monica-based Activision's Bobby Kotick, is in the last legs of negotiating a deal to acquire MySpace, the beleaguered, once-high flying social network. MySpace...

In the rush toward the daily deals space, it seems like there is at least one, new, daily deals site created every day. It's an incredibly crowded industry, which not only includes giants like Groupon and LivingSocial, but countless smaller...

Santa Monica-based eHow, the online information and answers site run by Demand Media, announced this morning that it has officially launched its eHow Food Channel with celebrity Rachael Ray. eHow said its visitors will have access to a new ...

Los Angeles-bsaed Border Stylo, the developer of web content sharing software headed by Oscar Guido, said today that it has launched its Glass application on the Safari browser. Glass is the firm's browser add-on which allows users to share...

One of the biggest forces that has emerged in the Internet in recent years has been crowdsourcing, the way the web has empowered users to drive the creation of content and information online. For today's interview, we spoke with Clark Bens...

San Diego-based Qualcomm said today that it has expanded its support of Adobe Flash across Qualcomm-enabled smartphones, allowing for video playback of Flash-based content on mid-tier and high end Snapdragon smartphones and tablets. Separat...

Santa Monica-based Amos Content Group, a provider of editorial and video content services, said today that it has scored a round of angel funding. The firm, which provides online video creation for such firms as SodaHead, Fox, SPIKE, and ot...

Los Angeles-based JibJab Media, the online, humorous content producer and personalized electronic greeting cards, has inked a deal with MLB Advanced Media, the companies said Thursday. The two said they have partnered on a "Starring You" ca...

Los Angeles-based Mobile Roadie, the developer of mobile applications, said this week that it has partnered with digital agency Rockstar Digital. Rockstar Digital helps artists create and manage their digital content, engage with fans, and ...

Los Angeles-based ShareSquare, the QR code firm headed by Matthias Galica, has inked a partnership with popular mobile barcode scanning firm ShopSavvy, the two said this morning. According to the two companies, ShopSavvy will recommend Shar...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online video and content publisher headed by Keith Richman, said today that it has tapped Andrew Doyle as its Chief Financial Officer, and David Subar as Chief Technology Officer. Subar was most recently C...

Los Angeles-based Ebyline, a startup which helps publishers find and manage freelancers, said today that it has added Scripps Television Station group as a customer, and the addition of audio/video capabilities to the service. The firm said...

Los Angeles-based Marriage.com said today that it has launched its online bridal and marriage community. The firm, which was co-founded by Katrina Razavi, Justin Fredericks, and Vinod Sodha, says it is creating a "conversation and content" ...

Southern California--and particularly, Los Angeles--has always been a center of the music business, which makes it unsurprising that there are many, music-focused startups which end up starting here. One of them is online music events site ...

Santa Monica-based EQAL, the producer of online content known for LonelyGirl15 and KateModern, is in the midst of raising $3.5M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Monday. The filing indicates the firm has so fa...

The Hulu Plus, premium subscription offering of Hulu, is now available on the popular Tivo digital video recorder, Tivo said today. According to Tivo, beginning today, Hulu Plus will be available via subscription to Tivo subscribers using t...

Santa Monica-based eHow, the online advice site owned by Demand Media, said this morning that it has further boosted its content efforts by launching a new video series. The site said its new "Beauty Lab" video series is being hosted by bea...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media is in a major partnership with L'Oreal USA, the two said this morning. According to the two companies, the two will develop custom content and media to help connect L'Oreal brands with women seeking personali...

Los Angeles-based startup Border Stylo said this morning it has launched a new, free mobile app called Retrollect. According to the firm, the new app allows to create a "visual mash-up" of their lives through virtual, retro-style "View-Mast...

Los Angeles-based RealGravity, which provides online video distribution and syndication, said today that it has partnered with online video sharing site Metacafe. RealGravity said that Metacafe is using its platform to syndicate its short-f...

Google's online video sharing site YouTube, said today that it has inked a deal to add around 3,000 movie titles for rent through the site, as it looks to broaden its offerings from the amateur, web-based videos its is known for towards mor...

San Diego-based Stocktwits, the stock-focused, online social media site headed by Howard Lindzon, has inked a new content deal with CNNMoney, the firm said today. Financial detail fo the deal were not disclosed. According to StockTwits, the...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publisher which runs such sites as eHow.com, typeF.com, and LIVESTRONG.COM, said Thursday afternoon that it is launching a new effort focused on long-form web content. The firm said it is looking ...

Santa Barbara-based FindTheBest.com, the online comparison site headed by DoubleClick founder Kevin O'Connor, has turned to a Google and DoubleClick vet to serve as President. The firm said that Rabin Yaghoubi, who previously launched and l...

West Hollywood-based CityGrid Media, the unit of IAC formerly known as CitySearch, said today that it has acquired BuzzLabs, a social media monitoring and sentiment analysis software developer. Financial terms of the deal were not announced...

San Diego-based cloud storage provider Nirvanix said today that it has tied its cloud storage services into Symantec Enterprise Vault, the enterprise archiving software. Nirvanix said the support will come in Enterprise Vault 10, schedule t...

Pasadena-based UberMedia, the Twitter client application firm headed by Bill Gross, has launched a "wave" of channels around a number of groups, the firm said today. According to UberMedia, it has created new channels for The Hollywood Repo...

San Diego-based ShowUHow, the startup headed by Kim Folsom developing video-based product guides for e-commerce sites and manufacturers, has rolled out an Android version of its platform. The firm said the Android mo bile application gives ...

Santa Monica-based TrueCar, the automotive pricing site run by Scott Painter, said today that it has acquired Honk.com, an automotive social media website. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. According to TrueCar, News Corporatio...

Los Angeles-based CraveOnline, an online site focused on male lifestyles, said today that it has launched a new comedy channel. the site said that the comedy channel will provide funny lists, reviews, and interviews, as well as comedy relat...

Los Angeles-based Machinima, which operates a video entertainment network for video gamers and develops associated animated content tools, has raised $3.4M as part of an ongoing, $5.0M fundraising round, according to a regulatory filing fro...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, said Sunday that it is reaffirming its financial outlook for fiscal year 2011. The firm said its estimates, provided February 22nd, still stand, despi...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content publishing empire of Richard Rosenblatt, has handed out some big bonuses to executives, three months after the firm's successful IPO. According to a regulatory filing from the firm, uncove...

Pasadena-based UberMedia, the Twitter client applications firm backed by Idealab, said this week that it has rolled out a new, branded "theme" for the firm's UberSocial for BlackBerry application, crafted by music artist 50 Cent. According ...

Howard Lindzon is CEO and Co-founder of StockTwits (www.stocktwits.com), the financial micro-messaging service. He was also the founder of Wallstrip, which he sold to CBS back in 2007, is an investor in a significant number of web and socia...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast Networks, the operator of a content delivery network (CDN), said today that it has entered into general availability of its new Application Delivery Network service. The new service is focused on serving up web a...

For our Insights and Opinions section today, Ryan Born, entrepreneur and CEO of AudioMicro, talks about why he tries every day to get rejected: Being an entrepreneur isn't easy. You get rejected a lot. Whether it's trying to chase do...

Derek Norton is head of Los Angeles-based Watertower Group (www.watertowergroup.com), a firm which helps companies raise funding, one of the rare companies which has a track record and good reputation helping companies with fundraising, and...

Technicolor, which serves the motion picture, television, and media industry, said this morning that it has launched a new cloud-based media storage service. The firm, which has U.S. operations in Hollywood, said it has partnered with data ...

Los Angeles-based MySetLife, developer of an iPhone application that allows filmmakers to network with other industry contacts, and also manage things like invoices, timecards, and more, said Tuesday that it has partnered with the Hollywood...

Pasadena-based UberMedia, the Twitter client software firm out of Idealab, said this morning that it has launched a new set of branded channels from a set of content providers. UberMedia said its family of Twitter client applications now fe...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online content publisher headed by Keith Richman, said today that it has partnered with Scripped.com, an online community for screenwriters, on a new screenwriting contest. Break said the contest will give...

Last week, El Segundo-based Accordent Technologies, a developer of webcasting and presentation services and software, was acquired by Polycom, in a $50M deal. The firm's investor was San Diego-based TVC Capital, which invested only $4M in t...

Pasadena-based FastSoft, the developer of content acceleration software and appliances, said today that it has named Jerry Hall as Vice President of Marketing at the firm. Hall was most recently a consultant at Forge Strategic Marketing, an...

Santa Monica-based ThisNext, the women's social shopping site run by Matt Edelman, said today that it has added Mike Jones, the CEO of MySpace, to its board of directors. Jones also sits on the boards of Docstoc, GumGum, MoVoxx, and others...

Venice-based CitizenGlobal, a startup working on crowd-sourced video content, has landed the inventor of the web wiki as Chief Technology Officer. Ward Cunningham, who is known for his creation of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, which...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the Internet content publishing company run by Richard Rosenblatt, is applying its crowdsourced content model to eNom, the domain name registrar it owns. According to eNom, it has put up a new content portal...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt and which runs such sites as LIVESTRONG.com and eHow, said today along with image licensing firm Getty Images, that the two are in a joint licensing deal....

San Diego-based personalized radio and music service Slacker said today that it has added content from ESPN Sports to its service. According to Slacker, it will allow its users to create a personalized station with ESPN SportCenter headline...

Hollywood-based MasterImage 3D, a developer of 3D technology tools, announced today that it has raised $15M in a strategic investment from Samsung Ventures. MasterImage said it is developing technology for auto-stereoscopic 3D displays and ...

Yesterday, Kevin Covert, formerly one of the co-founders of Montgomery & Co., announced he had formally launched Los Angeles-based Covert & Co. (www.covertandco.com). Montgomery & Co. has had a fairly significant connection to the market ...

Los Angeles-based Peer Media Technologies, the anti-piracy firm which was formerly ArtistDirect, and content tracking and protectiom firm Bay TSP.com said Monday that they have signed an agreement to merge. Peer Media Technologies is headed...

Los Angeles-based EdgeCast, the content delivery network firm headed by James Segil, and fellow Los Angeles web hosting provider Media Temple, run by Demien Sellfors, are announcing today they are launching a new content delivery network of...

What do children's vitamins and social media have to do with one another? In the case of SmartyPants Vitamins (www.wearesmartypants.com), it's at the core of the company. Gordon Gould, the co-founder of SmartPants, talks about the company ...

Los Angeles-based Hulu, the online streaming video site for television, movie, and other content, said last night that it is donating $50,000 its revenues plus donating $200,000 in ad inventory toward relief for victims of the Japanese eart...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online publisher of video content, announced this morning that it has added Greg Siegel as its Senior Vice President, Entertainment Development. Siegel was most recently founder and CEO of VidMe, and also ...

Search engine giant Google, in what might be a preview of a way for users to help filter out low quality web results, said Thursday that it has begun allowing user to block results from sites they do not want to see. Google--which said it i...

Anthony Batt, the founder and Chief Creative Officer of BUZZmedia, has joined Katalyst, the digital media studio founded by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. Katalyst said that Batt will lead the Katalyst team as President, and will help c...

Recently, we ran into Edo Cohen, CEO of Los Angeles-based Seevolution (www.seevolution.com), a firm developing web site heat map tracking software. We talked with Edo about what his firm is up to. What is Seevolution all about? Edo Co...

Last week, we talked with Fouad ElNaggar of Redpoint Ventures about some of the interesting companies in Southern California. One of those he mentioned was Hark (www.hark.com), an online site which allows users to find and share sound bites...

Los Angeles-based CraveOnline, the male lifestyle content site owned by Evolve Media, said today that it has partnered with SEP, Inc, owner of boxing publication The Ring Magazine. CraveOnline said it will create a new boxing site for the p...

Los Angeles-based Aggregage, the content aggregation and publishing startup headed by Robert Flynn, has launched two new sites, the firm said this week. Aggregage said that it has launched Leadership Digital, a new site focused on leadershi...

Santa Monica-based Mahalo, the online human-curated news and search site headed by Jason Calacanis, has cut 10 percent of its staff, according to reports. According to a report by CenterNetworks, the changes were a reaction to the search al...

Today, Lunch.com (www.lunch.com), the startup headed by J.R. Johnson, announced a move to allow other sites to host and show content via a new Lunch Network effort. We caught up with J.R. Johnson, founder and CEO of Lunch to better understa...

Los Angeles-based Lunch.com, the online review site headed by J.R. Johnson, has launched a new, community feature which allows third party website and blogs to host and provide communities on their own sites. The firm said the new, Lunch Ne...

Los Angeles-based Paperlinks, the developer of iPhone applications focused on QR codes and headed by Hamilton Chan, is announcing today that it has launched a new product to help businesses connect with customers. The firm said its platform...

Los Angeles-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, along with food and cooking celebrity Rachel Ray, said this morning that they are in a multi-year, exclusive partnership to develop co-branded content ...

Los angeles-based video site Hulu said this morning that it has inked a deal with the TED conference--which, not coincidentally, kicks off today in Long Beach--and will be featuring the 50 most popular TEDTalks from the last few years. Hulu...

In the world of online conversations, one of the oldest is that of community forums. As part of those forums, users are now regularly posting links, videos, and other information to others. To try to take advantage of those links, Los Angel...

Michael Robertson, the founder of MP3.com, has debuted his newest startup: DAR.fm, an online service which allows people to record and play back radio programs anytime they like. Billing it a "Tivo for radio", Robrtson said that the service...

Sherman Oaks-based AudioMicro.com, the stock audio site run by Ryan Born, debuted four new content sites Thursday at the Launch Conference. Born showed off ChooseTattoos, ImageCollect, InfographicStock, and Cartoonsy at the conference. Choo...

Beverly Hills-based Catch Media, a provider of software used for digital rights management, has scored a strategic funding from Motorola Mobility Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Motorola, the firms said Thursday. Size of the fundi...

Irvine-based Specific Media, the online ad network operator, said Wednesday that it has inked deals with two automotive publishers. According to Specific Media, it has signed High Gear Media, which runs such sites as TheCarConnection.com, M...

Woodland Hills-based United Online said Wednesday afternoon that has launched a new business, MemoryLane.com, focused on nostalgic content, folding its Classmates Online business into the new website. United Online said that Classmates Onli...

Los Angeles-based Break Media is continuing to roll out new, original video content for the site, saying today that it plans to roll out five new web series on Break.com. Break Media said is launching For the Win, Awesome America, Thinking ...

Redpoint Ventures is one of the venture capital firms which has straddled both Northern California and Southern California, with offices in both locations. To hear about the firm's interest in Los Angeles, and Southern California investment...

San Diego-based KidZui said this week that it has launched a new advertising platform focused on family-friendly brands. The firm said its new platform, KidClicks, allows brands to reach kids through the KidZui browser. As part of the launc...

Jason Nazar is CEO of Santa Monica-based Docstoc (www.docstoc.com), the online document sharing site, and a fixture at Los Angeles technology events. Nazar--who moderated a panel on the venture capital industry in Los Angeles at Twiistup 8 ...

Hamilton Chan is founder of Los Angeles-based PaperLinks (www.paperlinks.com), a new startup which is developing mobile applications which take advantage of QR codes--the 3D barcodes which are cropping up everywhere--to help users marketers...

The Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) held its annual awards event last night, honoring former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, as well as local, venture backed companies in a banquet last night at the Luxe hotel in Los Angeles. LAVA...

Los Angeles-based Inherited Health, the online genetic information site run by Lee Essner, has inked a deal with HealthCentral, the firms are announcing today. According to the firm, the deal calls for HealthCentral to gain access to Inheri...

Los Angeles-based CrownPeak, the developer of software-as-a-service, web content management tools headed by Jim Howard, said today that it has rolled out a major upgrade to its platform. The firm said it spent nine months on a re-architectu...

Los Angeles-based online video site Hulu.com said Wednesday evening that it has reached a content partnership with Viacom, which will return "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" to Hulu. Financial terms of the deal wer...

Los Angeles-based AudioMicro, the provider of royalty free music and sound effects run by Ryan Born, has scored a round of financing from micro stock photo site Fotolia. The $750,000 funding round also included prior investor DFJ Frontier. ...

In the quest to own the world of Internet content, there has been a huge amount of focus given to the world of consumer Internet content. However, one area has mostly been ignored, which is vertically focus, business-to-business information...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media said this morning that it received approximately $77.2M in net proceeds from the firm's IPO last week. The firm, which debuted on the NYSE as DMD, said it will use the new funding for investments in content, ...

Chuck Champion, the former CEO of ProElite, and Gary Sproule, the former CFO of Mobile Messenger, said today that they have formed a new consulting and digital marketing strategy firm called Paladin Capital Partners. The two said the new co...

Last week, Adconion (www.adconion.com) announced that it had spun out Joost (www.joost.com), its online video service, into a separate company, which is going to be based out of Santa Monica. We thought it would be interesting to talk to th...

Los Angeles-based Goldstar, the online service which offers up discounted tickets to entertainment events and tickets, is announcing today that it has linked up with TED, the nonprofit conference operator focused on spreading innovative ide...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media surged in its IPO debut Wednesday morning on the NYSE, rising as high as $25.00 in morning trading. The firm was hovering around $23.00 just before 9am, after opening up at $17.00 in its IPO debut earlier in ...

Pasadena-based UberMedia, the newly renamed Twitter advertising and application provider, announced today that it has acquired Mixx. Mixx operates an online site which allows users to find social content. Financial terms of the acquisition ...

Santa Ana-based SRS Labs, a developer of surround sound, audio, and voice technology, said this week that it has named John Kellogg as the firm's Executive Director of Corporate Strategy. Kellogg was most recently General Manager of Content...

Adconion Media Group, the Internet advertising firm which has been ramping up its operations in Santa Monica, said today that it is spinning out its video product, Joost Video Network, into a new, standalone business, also based in Santa Mo...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, is expected to hit the public markets late next week, according to a report today from AllThingsD. Citing "numerous" sources, the report says that Dem...

mygameIQ, the digital distribution and content management platform for gaming firms developed by Westlake Village-based Pragmatic Solutions, said today that it is in a promotion with Women In Games International. According to Pragmatic Solu...

San Diego-based Sorenson MEdia, which develops video encoding and decoding software and online video services, announced this morning that it has added John Greene as Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Greene has previously served at DivX/S...

This morning, Pasadena-based Perfect Market (www.perfectmarket.com) announced a new, $9M round of funding for the firm's technology, which is used to help publishers monetize their content. We caught up with Julie Schoenfeld, the firm's CEO...

Pasadena-based Perfect Market, which provides tools for publishers to better create value from their content, is announcing today that it has raised $9M in a new funding round. The round was led by Comcast Interactive Capital, and also incl...

Move, Inc., the Campbell-based operator of Realtor.com and Move.com, said Thursday along with AOL that Move has been given the exclusive rights to power AOL's Real Estate homes for sale search. Move, which has major operations in Thousand O...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, said today in an S-1 filing that it expects its IPO to be between $14.00 and $16.00 per share. The firm plans to offer 7,500,000 shares of its stock i...

It's been a very busy for coupon and deal sites over the past few months, with a giant, $950M round of funding for Groupon, and the acquisition of at least three locally headquartered coupon and deal sites--LogicBuy.com, NextCoupons.com, an...

Sherman Oaks-based Advertise.com, the search marketing provider headed by Daniel Yomtobian, said Tuesday that it has expanded into email marketing. The firm said it has launched a new Email Content Network offering, which will connect adver...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast Networks said Friday that it now has more than 2000 customers, or more than double the number of customers from the previous year, as of the close of 2010. The firm said those cu...

Los Angeles-based Hulu said last night that its Hulu Plus service is headed to Android mobile phones, and also to Vizio's HDTV platform. According to Hulu CEO Jason Kilar at CES last yesterday, Hulu is looking to bring Hulu Plus to Android ...

For today's Insights and Opinions section, where we share the thoughts and insights of local technology thought leaders, we have an article from Tony Greenberg, CEO of Ramprate on A Cynic's Prediction of IT and Media in 2011. 1. Ev...

In the world of Internet devices, there are PCs, mobile phones, iPhone and Android smart phones, tablets like the Apple iPad… and then, there is the Chumby. The device is an alarm-clock like, Internet connected electronic product developed...

All this week, we are sharing the opinions of some of the top influencers in Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same five questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they'...

A report today says that the latest updates to Demand Media's S-1 are a result of government scrutiny over how the firm is accounting for content developed for its sites. According to AllThingsD, Demand has been discussing how it accounts f...

Beverly Hills- and Berlin, Germany-based Fox Mobile Group, which offers mobile content distribution and mobile entertainment products, has been sold to Jesta Group, Jesta said Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Jesta...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, has updated its S-1 filing, saying it now has around 3 million articles in the firm's library of content. Demand Media has applied to list on the NYSE...

Los Angeles-based Hulu, the online television streaming site, is dropping its plans to pursue an IPO, according to a report today from from the WSJ. Hulu had been among the Southern California companies looking to file an IPO. The WSJ cited...

San Diego-based Chumby Industries, the maker of Internet-enabled, application-capable devices, said this week that it has launched a new version of its product for Android. According to the firm, its app--available on the Android Market for...

Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal, the provider of online marketing services for small and medium sized businesses, said today that it has launched a new product called ReachCast. According to the firm, the new product provides Web presence m...

Thanks to all of our sponsors and advertisers, who make our coverage of Southern California's technology industry possible. Looking to reach Southern California's high tech executives and professionals? socalTECH.com offers up...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast Networks, the content deliver network (CDN) provider, said today that it is targeting the performance of web applications with a new delivery service. The firm said its has announced a beta of a new, Application ...

San Diego-based DivX, which is now owned by Sonic Solutions, said today that it has launched DivX TV, a new entertainment service, on Blue-ray Disc players and home theater systems from LG. DivX TV offers a library of video content, includi...

Los Angeles-based Encompass Digital Media said today that it is in a definitive agreement to acquire the global content distribution business of Ascent Media Corporation. The deal is worth approximately $120M, split between $113M in cash pl...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online media firm run by Keith Richman, said today that it has relaunched FileFront as GameFront. Break acquired FileFront in February. According to Break, the newly launched GameFront sight has been re-de...

Los Angeles-based Oversee.net said this morning that it has launched a new site, CreditCards.org, which is focused on smarter credit card decisions. According to Oversee, the new site will provide information on credit cards and simplify th...

Cable provider Comcast appears to be taking aim at online video sites, and has demanded that Internet Service Provider Level 3 pay the company fees in order to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast customers. The move...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast Networks, which operates a content delivery network (CDN), said Thursday that it has added support for full HTTP streaming for Apple iOS 4 devices, such as the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The firm said it...

Westlake Village-based In-Three, a developer of 3D conversion technology and services for the movie industry, has been acquired by visual effects house Digital Domain, according to reports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. I...

Further acknowledging that the firm has lost its former status as the center of the social networking universe, MySpace announced Thursday afternoon that it is now allowing its users to port information, likes, and interests from users' F...

The University of Southern California is looking to tie together technology and media, saying Thursday that it has launched a new Annenberg Innovation Lab as part of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. According to US...

Santa Monica-based ThisNext, the online social shopping site headed by Matt Edelman, unveiled a new home page Wednesday, and said it has hired an Editor-in-Chief for the site, as part of a slew of changes around the firm's strategy to becom...

Irvine-based WebVisible, the provider of local online marketing software for small and medium sized businesses, said Wednesday that it has enhanced its technology platform, adding new mobile optimized landing pages, use of Amazon Cloud Fron...

Last week, Los Angeles-based MOVIECLIPS.COM (www.movieclips.com) announced the firm's Series A funding round, worth $3M, from Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital, and a number of Silicon Valley angels. We caught up with Zach James and Rich...

Los Angeles-based Hulu, the Internet video streaming site, announced today that it has officially launched its premium service, Hulu Plus. Hulu said the service will cost $7.99 a month--$2 less than what the company had originally launched ...

Hollywood-based BUZZMEDIA, the online publisher of entertainment focused blogs and web sites, said today that it has linked with photo sharing site Plixi, which until recently was known as TweetPhoto. According to the two, they are in an ex...

Sony said Friday that it has connected Los Angeles-based Hulu's new premium service, Hulu Plus, to its Dash Personal Internet Viewer. According to Sony, the connection means that subscribers to Hulu Plus can access TV episodes, movies, and ...

North Carolina-based Dex One, the current owner of Santa Monica-based Business.com, said this week that it is shutting down Business.com, and realigning those operations, merging them into its current business. The shutdown comes three year...

Los Angeles- and San Francisco-based RealGravity, a newly launched firm focused on online video distribution and syndication, announced today that it has raised $3.2M in a funding round. The Series A round was led by Kohlberg Ventures, and ...

In the move to online commerce, one of the latest areas of interest by online retailers has been the use of online video, to showcase products and provide training and instruction. For today's interview, we talked with San Diego-based ShowU...

Irvine-based Quartics, the semiconductor firm developing video processing chips, said Monday along with DDD Group Plc, that they have extended a license between the companies. The firms said the license allows Quartics to provide its custom...

Los Angeles-based Hulu, the online television streaming site, said today that it has opened up access to its Hulu Plus services . The firm--which had previously been restricting the service to a preview subscriber base--said anyone can now ...

Irvine-based Local.com, the provider of online local business search sites, said this morning that it is in a big relaunch of the firm's flagship site. According to the firm, it has reorganized its site to divide its site into vertical cate...

Move, Inc., the online real estate site, said today that it has renewed its content distribution agreement with MSN. Move, which has major operations in the Thousand Oaks area but is now headquartered in Campbell, California, said that the ...

Los Angeles-based mobile marketing firm Mogreet, which is headed by James Citron, announced this morning that it has inked a deal with Steve Madden, where it will provide rich media mobile marketing as part of Steve Madden's marketing effor...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media is inching closer to its IPO debut, saying in an updated S-1 this morning that it plans to offer 7.5 million shares of its common stock in its IPO. The firm, which has not yet set a pricing range, has applied...

How do you take a business you started as your own personal web site, and turn it into an online powerhouse, completely bootstrapped, from the little town of Ojai, California--not exactly known as a technology town? Not too many people a...

Beverly Hills-based MySpace, the online social networking site, is set to debut a new new site design and logo, the firm said late last night. According to MySpace, it is refocusing the firm as a "social entertainment destination" focused o...

Long Beach-based Laserfiche, a developer of enterprise content management products, said Monday afternoon that it has sued SAP America, SAP AG, and SAP Global Marketing over the trademark Run Smarter. The firm said that it has been using Ru...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast said Friday that it has entered into the cloud storage market. EdgeCast said that it is offering up cloud-based storage using its content delivery network as a beta service, and would start offering its service a...

San Clemente-based Poptent, an online site for crowdsourced video content for advertisers, has raised $3M in a Series A investment round, it new investor has confirmed. According to Los Angeles-based MK Capital, it made the investment in Po...

San Clemente-based Poptent, a firm which operates an online site which allows brands to source crowd-generated commercials, web videos, and other video content from users, has raised at least $3.0M in a recent funding, according to a regula...

Irvine-based Brand Affinity Technologies, the celebrity endorsement and marketing firm founded by Ryan and Chad Steelberg, said today along with Pepsi that they have tied together in a new relationship. The firms said that PepsiCo will use ...

For today's Insights and Opinions article, where we feature insightful articles and opinions from the Southern California technology community, we have a piece from Dustin Luther, chief storyteller and founder of social media consultancy 4r...

Jeff Dossett, the former CEO of adventure travel site AdventureLink and former SVP at Yahoo, has reportedly joined Demand Media as SVP of Content Partnership Development. According to a report from the WSJ's AllThingsD, which first reported...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online video and content firm headed by Keith Richman, said this morning that it is targeting Hispanic males with a new site, TuVez.com. According to Break, the new site will provide content focused on ent...

Los Angeles-based Demand Media, the online content publishing empire of Richard Rosenblatt, has updated its S-1 filing with the SEC, saying that it has applied to list its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbol "DMD". The firm...

Los Angeles gossip and technology blog Lalawag, run by Sean and Laurie Percival, has been sold. The blog--which the Percivals had announced on September 16th that they would shut down--has been acquired by Valley Girl Inc., a publication th...

San Diego-based SG Biofuels, a developer of Jatropha-based seeds aimed at the biofuels industry, detailed its plans for the market today, saying that it is developing proprietary technology for large-scale, Jatropha hybrid seed production. ...

San Diego-based Qualcomm confirmed Tuesday evening that it is considering shutting down its FLO TV, mobile television service, after reports that the firm is planning to shut off the service. In a statement, Qualcomm said it has been "exami...

Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo, is planning some direct competition to Michael Arrington's technology blog empire, TechCrunch, according to a report today from the Guardian. According to the report, Calacanis is developing a property ca...

Southern California venture totals for Q3 totaled around $1.0 billion in investments, according to the Q3 analysis of venture capital deals by socalTECH.com. According to an analysis of socalTECH's proprietary database of venture capital de...

Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment said that its third expansion for World of Warcraft is expected to debut in stores on December 7th. The firm--which has been running a invite-only beta of the expansion pack for World of Warcraft since Ju...

Last week, Santa Monica-based Revolution Prep (www.revolutionprep.com) announced its first, institutional round of funding, worth $15M, from Kennet Partners. The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and rela...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online video site run by Keith Richman, has scored a win with NFL.com, the firm said Friday. According to the two, they have launched a new, NFL.com channel on Break, which will feature content that is con...

For today's profile, we decided to talk with Taher Scherzay, Founder of FavRav (www.FavRav.com), a Los Angeles-based firm which has created a Facebook application to help small businesses find customers through social media, and also allow ...

Pasadena-based FastSoft, the Caltech spinout which develops web acceleration software, said today that it has launched a testing network for its clients. According to FastSoft, the network includes 30 nodes "around the globe" which can be u...

Michael Jones, CEO of MySpace and former founder of Userplane, has another exit under his belt today, as AOL announced it has acquired Thing Labs, a San Francisco maker of web-based, social software. Financial terms of the buy were not disc...

News today that AOL has acquired technology news blog TechCrunch highlights the growing place of blog publishers in the online world. Here are three, Southern California blog networks which have quietly growing their network of properties: ...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content publishing empire of Richard Rosenblatt, announced this morning that it has launched a new, specialized offering for food advertisers. The firm said it has combined part of Demand Media's ...

San Diego-based Chumby, the developer of a Linux-based, programmable device which connects to Internet information, has linked with QNX Software Systems Co., the automotive electronics arm of Research in Motion. According to QNX, which supp...

Los Angeles-based CrownPeak, a developer of web content management systems (CMS), has raised $1.75M in a Series C funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm today. Jim Howard, CEO of CrownPeak, told socalTECH that the fundi...

Los Angeles-based Total Immersion, the augmented reality software firm headed by Bruno Uzzan, has extended the firm's list of promotional content deals to the book publishing business. The firm--along with publisher Simon & Schuster Childre...

Los Angeles-based MySpace has been among the most visible of Southern California's Internet era success stories, although the site--now owned by News Corporation--has had its own share of ups-and-downs, as well as questions about its future...

Los Angeles-based video streaming site Hulu...

Los Angeles-based MMC, the online publisher headed by Jay Penske, is getting out of the email business. The firm--formerly known as Mail.com Media Corporation--said it is selling off its Mail.com email service to United Internet Group, base...

Encino-based SodaHead, the social news and question and answer site headed by Jason Feffer, told its users today that it is launching a major redesign this week. According to the site, it is improving the look and feel of its site, adding p...

Los Angeles-based Break Media is launching a new web series, in a branded content deal with Toyota, the firm said today. Break said it is launching Standup Stories "My First Ride", a web series featuring six comedians sharing their "first c...

Irvine-based Autobytel, which runs an online information site for automotive information and a corresponding automotive leads business, said this morning that it has acquired substantially all of the assets of Cyber Ventures, Inc. and Autot...

Woodland Hills-based United Online appears to be making a major shift in strategy for its Classmates.com subsidiary. According to United Online this morning, it is looking to transform Classmates from what is now a social networking company...

For today's interview, we thought it would be worth visiting with Carey Ransom, CEO of Irvine-based RealPractice (www.realpractice.com), a firm which develops legal-based software products. We have spoken with the firm in the past, and the ...

Los Angeles-based Demand Media, the online media site run by Richard Rosenblatt, said Friday that it has updated its eHow web site, the firm's questions and answers site. Demand said that it has created a "crisp, clean" design update, and a...

Hollywood-based Cocodot, the online invitations site run by former MySpace exec Shawn Gold, said this week that it has partnered with DKNY, for a collection of fashion cards and invites. The site, which offers professionally designed online...

A few weeks ago, Beverly Hills-based Meteor Games, the latest startup from the founders of NeoPets, announced that it had hired Zac Brandenberg as its CEO. Brandenberg was most recently head of Hydra, and we thought we'd both get some ins...

Los Angeles-based Mobile-XL, the mobile information provider for Africa backed by the Tech Coast Angels, said this week that it has expanded a partnership with XScores, a provider of sports content, to deliver scores to sports fan through i...

Los Angeles-based Lunch.com, the online social media and networking site run by J.R. Johnson, told its users today that it has unveiled a new, personal RSS feed feature to the site. According to Lunch.com, the new feed can be added to blogs...

Encinitas-based SG Biofuels, a developer of Jatropha-based biofuels technology, has raised $9.41M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm today. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. SG Biofuels is headed by ...

Venice-based CitizenGlobal, an online web site which allows producers to crowd-source video content, has raised $6.0M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Friday. No details on the funding have been announced. Th...

Los Angeles-based RotoHog, the developer of online fantasy sports and entertainment games run by Kelly Perdew, has rolled out a new Fantasy Football Salary Cap game, the firm said this week. The firm said the new game allows any independent...

Los Angeles-based social networking site MySpace reports today that it has rolled out a new profile and theme gallery, to help with "cleaning things up a bit" on the site. The firm said the new user profiles deliver clean design, simplified...

Los Angeles-based Gorilla Nation, the online advertising representation firm, announced today that it has been chosen by Canadian site SouthAsianLife.com. The firm said it will represent the online advertising inventory for South Asian Life...

It's been a good summer for Laguna Beach-based venture capital firm Okapi Ventures (www.okapivc.com), which recently saw its first portfolio firm exit last month in Carlsbad-based Helixis, which was acquired by Illumina for $105M. In light ...

For this morning's interview, we thought we'd talk with Los Angeles-based Sidebar (www.sidebar.com), a venture backed startup in the mobile space, to learn more about what they are up to. We caught up with CEO Patrick Kennedy. What is Si...

Santa Monica-based Total Beauty Media, the online fashion content site run by Emrah Kovacoglu, said this morning that it has acquired LimeLife.com, a female lifestyle and celebrity news site. Financial terms of the acquisition were not anno...

Irvine-based EON Reality, a developer of interactive 3D software, said Wednesday afternoon that it has teamed up with NEC Display Solutions to sell a product to schools for virtual learning and training. EON Reality said NEC Display Solutio...

Hollywood-based BUZZMEDIA, the venture-backed publisher of music content, information, and community sites, is getting some new competition this week from Berkeley-based MOG. According to MOG, it has launched a new "editorial hub" called th...

Altadena-based Perfect Market, the Idealab firm which is providing tools to help publishers surface and monetize their archive content, said Monday that it has named Guy Vidra as Vice President of Business Development. Vidra was most recent...

Last month, Los Angeles-based Language Weaver (www.languageweaver.com), the developer of machine translation software, was acquired by SDL, a publicly held, UK-based firm in the language translation business. Having followed the firm since...

Los Angeles-based video game rental service GameFly is seeing more competition from video rental firm Blockbuster this week, after its competitor announced that it is expanding its online movie rental service to include video games. Blockbu...

Los Angeles-based social networking site MySpace said today that it has started previewing a new user homepage for its users. According to MySpace, it is previewing a two-column format, which allow users to see content and status updates on...

Los Angeles-based My Damn Channel, an online site which features professionally produced, humorous and other video content, announced a $4.4M funding round today. The new funding was led by Intuitive Venture Partners, and also included prio...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online media firm run by Richard Rosenblatt, has finally filed for its long awaited IPO. According to the firm's filing, filed late Friday, the firm is looking to raised up to $125M in its IPO. The firm'...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media announced Thursday that it has launched a new product, called Content Channels. According to Demand, the new product is aimed at online publishers, and will provide them with original content focused on attra...

Day Software, a Swiss developer of enterprise content management software which has operations in Newport Beach, has been acquired by Adobe Systems. Adobe and Day said that Adobe will pay approximately $240M, or CHF255 million, for Day. Day...

San Diego-based VMIX, which develops online video management tools and software, announced today that its platform is being used by NASA. VMIX said that NASA is using its online video platform to power multimedia content on the www.nasa.gov...

This week, Santa Monica-based ThisNext (www.thisnext.com) said it has raised another round of funding for the firm's social shopping site. We thought it would be interesting to speak to the firm--which is now headed by Matt Edelman--to hear...

The San Diego News Network (SDNN), the local media venture run by Barbara Bry and Neil Senturia, appears to have ceased its publishing efforts, according to a note posted by the staff Wednesday. According to the note, the site is "exploring...

Westlake Village-based Pragmatic Solutions, which develops data analytics software for the computer gaming market, said Monday that it has launched a new product called mygameIQ. The firm said the product provides digital distribution and c...

Altadena-based Perfect Market, the Idealab startup which develops software which helps traditional publishers monetize their archival and current content, said today that it has unveiled a new tool it is calling The Vault. According to the ...

One of the questions we get most from entrepreneurs is how companies reach an exit event, and the thinking that goes into acquisitions. Last week, San Diego-based provider of web content classification and security services developer Bright...

Despite a perpetual belief that the presence of both high tech companies and Hollywood should be spawning out hundreds of entertainment and technology related startups, it actually happens much less than one might think. However, here are f...

San Diego-based Sorenson Media, a developer of video encoding and decoding software, said today that it had 40 percent plus revenue growth in the quarter. The privately held firm--which did not disclose actual financials--claimed that it wa...

The good news for content creators in Hollywood and elsewhere trying to make it on the Internet: YouTube, the video sharing site owned by Google, said today that it has just launched a new program which will invest five million dollars for ...

Last month, Glendale-based VidMe (www.vidme.com) announced that it had launched a private, video sharing service with backing from Applied Minds and Will Hearst, one of the partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Applied Minds is th...

Costa Mesa-based BandCon, a provider of content delivery network and related Internet infrastructure, has been acquired by Highwinds, an Internet services provider based in Florida. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. As part of ...

One complaint we sometimes hear from venture capitalists visiting Southern California for the first time, is the difficulty of finding experienced entrepreneurs and executives. socalTECH.com has mined its proprietary database of high tech c...

San Diego-based BrightCloud, a developer of Web content classification and security services, has been acquired by Internet security software firm Webroot. According to Webroot, it will add BrightCloud's engineering team in San Diego to its...

San Diego-based Verimatrix, a developer of digital rights management software, said Monday that it has deployed its products on Chilean broadband provider GTD Manquehue, based in Santiago. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. Ve...

San Diego-based Qualcomm is hoping this week that the newly developing field of augmented reality--the layering of software and the real world via mobile phones and computers--will help bolster use of its products, and has released both a s...

Burbank-based Walt Disney Company said Thursday afternoon that it has acquired Tapulous, a Silicon Valley maker of music games for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Disney said that Tapulous wi...

Los Angeles-based social networking site MySpace said today along with French firm Orange that they are in an advertising and content partnership. According to the companies, Orange Advertising Network will manage both premium and performan...

In what can only be good news for many a high tech professional, coffee chain Starbucks said today that it will turn on free Wi-Fi in its stores July 1st, at all of its U.S. and Canadian company-owned stores. Starbucks said that it will giv...

Last week, Los Angeles-based Stroome (www.stroome.com), a new startup originally spawned out of a project at the USC Annenberg School of Communications, won $200,000 in the 2010 Knight News Challenge. The Knight News Challenge is a contest ...

Los Angeles-based Demand Media, the online media firm headed by Richard Rosenblatt, announced today that it has inked a partnership with celebrity model Tyra Banks, to create a new site focused on fashion and beauty. According to Demand, Ba...

Los Angeles-based Hulu, the video streaming site which features television and other content from major content providers, has finally released details on its rumored subscription service, Hulu Plus. Hulu said on its web site that the subsc...

Hollywood-based BUZZMEDIA, the venture backed online entertainment content network, has snagged two editors for a new, yet-to-be launched celebrity site, the firm said today. According to BUZZMEDIA, it has hired on Mike Hess, formerly Manag...

Los Angeles-based Border Stylo, a new startup headed by Oscar Guido, said today that it has launched a new software add-on called "Glass", focused on sharing of web content. According to the firm, Glass allows users to offer a real-time fee...

Los Angeles-based Break Media, the online media and advertising firm run by Keith Richman, announced this morning that it is in a major expansion in its advertising network, and has added 23 new verticals to its network. The firm said the a...

Microsoft's search engine, Bing, is enhancing its searches for an area of interest to lots of Southern California firms--entertainment and media content. According to Bing, it has released a new version of its site which focuses on music, g...

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based startup Worlize (www.worlize.com) announced it had received a seed round of funding, and launched a firm to focus on social gaming and chat. The firm's CEO is Brian McKelvey, who we caught up with recen...

Los Angeles social networking site MySpace said today that it has launched a World Cup profile page, where it is bringing together World Cup related content from the site and elsewhere on the web, and also is powering a profile page for Por...

San Diego-based Sorenson Media, a developer of online video hosting and encoding products, announced today that web performance firm Gomez has selected the firm's online video platform, Sorenson 360. Sorenson said that Gomez, which is a div...

Santa Monica-based LIVESTRONG.COM, the online health and fitness site run by Demand Media in a partnership with Lance Armstrong, said today that it has partnered with RadioShack Corporation for an iPhone app. According to the two, they have...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content publishing empire of Richard Rosenblatt, has tapped Joost--now owned by Adconian--for its pre-roll advertising inventory. According to Joost, it is in a global sales and technology partner...

Los Angeles-based Machinima.com, an online entertainment site focused on video gamers, has raised $9M in a investment from Redpoint Ventures, the firm said this week. The firm said the Series B funding round will go towards accelerating fur...

Coffee chain Starbucks, the second home of startup entrepreneurs and frequent makeshift offices of many a startup or technology professional in town, is going to open up free Wi-Fi for its customers. According to Starbucks CEO Howard Schult...

Silicon valley-based Collecta, which operates a real time search engine, said today that it has raised $4.7M in new funding--and is moving its headquarters to Los Angeles. The firm is headed by Gerry Campbell, former President of Search & C...

Los Angeles-based RealD, a developer of 3D projection technology for movies, said yesterday along with Sonic Solutions that the two are in a strategic alliance. The firms said that Sonic will integrate RealD's 3D format into its RoxioNow en...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online content network headed by Richard Rosenblatt, said today that it has launched a new "Talent and Expert Network," which will highlight entertainment personalities through its site. Demand said it w...

Los Angeles-based WOWIO, which launched last week with the acquisition of comic strip site WEvolt, said today that it has acquired web comic community DrunkDuck. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. According to WOWIO, the acquisi...

DONE! Ventures, the Internet marketing firm headed by BetterPPC's Ben Padnos, has sued NBC Universal over a failed agreement to buy domains Women.com and Women.net from NBC Universal via domain name firm Sedo. According to a complaint filed...

Los Angeles-based MySpace and startup Ad.ly, also based in LA, said today that they have linked in an in-stream advertising deal. According to MySpace, it will use Ad.ly to enable content creators to reach fans in the MySpace stream. Financ...

Los Angeles-based WOWIO said this morning that it has raised $1.7M in a funding round, and acquired online social networking site WEvolt, focused on comic books and creative content. WOWIO said the funding was led by CEO Brian Altounian. WE...

A report last night from the San Diego Union Tribune says that San Diego News Network (SDNN), the local news effort run by entrepreneurs Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry, is looking for a buyer. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, SDNN h...

Los Angeles-based Grind Networks, which develops online comedy programming, is powering a new comedy channel on MSN called theBubble. According to MSN, the new site will highlight online comedy alongside MSN's original programming, and was ...

San Diego-based DivX and Sonic Solutions said this morning that Sonic Solutions is acquiring DivX in a deal worth approximately $323M. According to the firms, Sonic would pay $3.75 in cash plus 0.514 shares of its common stock for each shar...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast announced this morning that it has won blogging site Wordpress.com and blog search site Technorati. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. EdgeCast said that Automattic,...

Hollywood-based BUZZMEDIA, a venture-backed publisher of online entertainment content, said today that it has added six new web properties. The firm said it has added PureVolume, PopMatters, Gorilla vs. Bear, The Hype Machine, Concrete Loop...

For this morning's interview, we have an interview with Kieve Huffman, the co-founder of Dather (www.dather.com), a new Los Angeles startup which has created a tool which helps to aggregate social networking web sites and media. Kieve has p...

Los Angeles-based RealD, a developer of 3D movie technology, and consumer electronics semiconductor firm Zoran said today that Zoran has license RealD's stereoscopic format. Financial terms of the win were not disclosed. The two firms said ...

Hollywood-based Cocodot, an online site which provides online invitations and stationery, has raised $2.0M more in funding, according to reports. The funding comes from Anthem Ventures, the Mailroom Fund, and Rincon Venture Partners. Cocodo...

Pasadena-based TweetUp, the Twitter advertising startup backed by Idealab and headed by Bill Gross, said Thursday afternoon that the firm has now registered 75,000 keywords, and also inked a deal with Conduit. The firm said those keywords r...

Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal, which helps small and local businesses place Internet advertising, was up 15.2 percent after its IPO Thursday, closing at $14.98, up $1.98. The firm sold 4,166,667 shares of stock at $13.00 per share, after ...

Search engine giant Google is entering the television guide and consumer electronics market today, saying at the Google I/O conference that it is working with Sony, Logitech, and others on embedding technology to search for and view both we...

Los Angeles-based Demand Media, the user-generated content venture of Richard Rosenblatt, has new competition this afternoon, from Yahoo, after Yahoo announced it would acquire content publishing firm Associated Content. Financial terms of ...

For our interview today, we caught up with Al Eisaian , CEO of Pasadena-based IconApps (www.iconapps.com), which is developing mobile applications for the iPhone/iPod market. Al is a repeat entrepreneur, who last founded Integrien, and was...

El Segundo-based Mixed Signals, a developer of digital content monitoring products for the cable and satellite television, broadcast, and IPTV market, has been acquired by test equipment giant Tektronix. Tektronix announced the acquisition ...

It's been just about a year since Matthew Jenusaitis took the reins at OCTANE (www.octaneoc.org), the Orange County-based organization which has been looking to spur the high technology industry in the area, so we thought we'd talk Matthew ...

Santa Monica-based Sidebar, a developer of mobile content recommendation software, has tied with Indian mobile and online games firm Indiagames Ltd., the two said today. According to the two, they are in a strategic relationship where India...

Los Angeles-based Ad.ly, the Twitter advertising firm headed by Sean Rad, is announcing today that it has raised $5M in a new round of financing. The round comes from GRP Partners, Greycroft Ventures, and Matt Coffin, the founder of LowerMy...

Last week, Los Angeles-based EcoMom (www.ecomom.com) launched its "green" parenting site, with backing from Dave McClure. We caught up with EcoMom CEO Jody Sherman, to learn more about the company. Jody--an experienced entrepreneur who was ...

For this morning's interview, we spoke with Marc Friedmann, the experience executive who is now CEO of Solana Beach-based SciVee (www.scivee.tv). Marc was previously CEO of Syntricity, and was founding CEO at Prisa Networks (acquired by E...

San Diego-based FLO TV, the mobile television venture of Qualcomm, said today that it will begin carrying the UFC's Pay-Per-View events. FLO TV said it will carry UFC matches both live and through event replays, through its personal televis...

It's our pleasure today to feature an interview with Yossi Vardi, one of Israel's best known high tech entrepreneurs. Yossi is much sought out by entrepreneurs both here, in Silicon Valley, and the rest of the world for his insights into ...

Pasadena-based FastSoft, the Caltech spinout which develops Internet acceleration devices, said today that it has bolstered its algorithms used its product to support dynamic web pages and video. The firm said it is targeting Internet retai...

Carpinteria-based lynda.com, which operates an online training and education site for computer skills, announced Thurday that it has added Michael Ninness as the firm's Vice President of Content. Ninness re-joins the company from Adobe, whe...

Dave Waldman, CEO and Founder of Los Angeles-based Bccthis (www.Bccthis.com), a startup looking to add additional functionality and private messaging into both corporate emails and Twitter messages. Bccthis just announced a version of their...

Los Angeles-based Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC), which operates the Mail.com email service and portal, as well as its own network of content-focused web sites, said today that it has acquired BGR.com, a mobile/gadget review and news site...

San Diego-based SciVee, which operates an online Internet video site focused on advancing scientific knowledge, has inked a deal with Thomson Reuters, the firms said Monday. According to the companies, Thomson Reuters will allow users of it...

Santa Barbara-based Make It Work said today that it has signed a national syndication agreement with Envision Radio Networks, which will make the firm's technology radio show available to radio stations nationwide. According to Make It Work...

Encinitas-based Verve Wireless, a developer of mobile local news publishing software, has tied with the Audit Bureau of Circulations' interactive unit, ABCi, the firm said this week. According to ABCi and Verve, ABCi will provide newspaper ...

Los Angeles-based RealD, which develops 3D projection technology for the movie business, has inked a licensing deal with systems-on-a-chip firm Sigma Designs, the two firms said Monday. According to the companies, they will jointly deliver ...

One of the types of startups we see most of nowadays, are private sale, limited time bargain, and local group buying startups. One of those startups is Orange County-based DealPerk.com (www.dealperk.com), which is headed by Albert Ko. Albe...

Los Angeles-based Demand Media, the online content publishing firm run by Richard Rosenblatt, has reportedly selected Goldman Sachs to run its IPO effort, according to a report this evening from the Financial Times. The report says that Dem...

Our interview this morning is with Lolita Carrico, founder of Gloss Network for Women (www.mygloss.com), an online network of sites focused on women. Lolita was founder of ModernMom.com, which she sold to Lisa Rosenblatt, wife of Demand Med...

Online web portal Yahoo has inked a deal with Reveille, producer of The Office, Ugly Betty, The Biggest Loser, and other shows, for a new online series, the firms said today. According to Yahoo, the new original web series, Who Knew? will f...

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast Networks, a content delivery network (CDN) provider, is announcing today that it has raised $10M in a Series C funding round. EdgeCast said the round was led by Menlo Ventures, and also includes an investment fro...

San Diego-based VMIX, a developer of an online video management platform, said today that it has extended a deal with content delivery network provider Akamai, to use Akamai's HD video services. Financial details of the deal were not disclo...

Santa Monica-based Demand Media, the online publishing and content firm run by Richard Rosenblatt, has scored a win with USA Today, the firm said Thursday. According to Demand Media, it has teamed up with USA Today to launch a new section o...

Santa Monica-based Clearstone Ventures appears to be on an exit roll this month, with the acquisition Thursday of Ankeena Networks, a supplier of software for content delivery networks. Juniper Networks said Thursday that it would pay somet...

Calabasas-based network testing software and hardware provider Ixia reports today that it has inked a deal with Adobe Systems, to provide a product to provide testing for Adobe Flash. Ixia said Adobe has agreed to provide the firm with Adob...

Among the many companies launching iPad-focused applications and content over the weekend, Los Angeles-based social networking site MySpace said that it is now presenting a custom, home page for people visiting the site through the Apple iP...

Burbank-based Walt Disney Company announced late Thursday that the studio will be debuting a number of applications for Apple's iPad, as Apple gets set to deliver the devices to stores this weekend. Walt Disney said that Marvel Comics, ABC...

Irvine-based Local.com, an online local search site, reported today that it has renewed and expanded a local advertising distribution agreement with SuperMedia LLC, the parent firm of Superpages.com. According to the firms, SuperMedia's adv...

West Hollywood-based Citysearch announced today that it has hired on Christophe Louvion--the former CTO of Gorilla Nation Media--as its Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Core Products. Citysearch, which is owned by IAC, ...

Two major orange county technology advocacy and business groups, OCTANe and the Orange County Venture Group (OCVG) said today that they have merged their organizations. According to OCTANe and OCVG, all operations and program management wil...

Santa Monica-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast Networks announced Wednesday that it has tied with ClickStreamTV, to power ClickStreamTV's pay-as-you-go CDN service. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. EdgeCast sai...

Los Angeles-based augmented reality firm Total Immersion, which is headed by Bruno Uzzan, is looking to extend itself into the markerless tracking area, the firm said this week at CTIA. Total Immersion, which powers "augmented reality" soft...

San Diego-based Verimatrix, a developer of DRM software used in IPTV and set top boxes, said today that it has added New Zealand telecom TelstraClear Ltd. as a customer. Verimatrix said that TelstraClear will be using its Video Content Auth...

Los Angeles-based Mobile-XL, the international mobile information services firm backed by the Tech Coast Angels, said this week that it has linked a deal with Oberthur Technologies to include its XLBrowser Content Platform on Oberthur's lin...

Santa Monica-based Jacked, a developer of second-screen, companion applications for TV broadcasts, has been acquired by Roundbox, a New Jersey-based developer of mobile broadcast software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Brya...

Aliso Viejo-based Telogis, a provider of route planning and optimization tools, said Tuesday that it has expanded its agreement with digital map data provider NAVTEQ. The firms said that NAVTEQ's content, including real-time traffic informa...

San Diego-based DivX announced today that it has released a new, updated version of its video player software for the Windows platform. According to DivX, its DivX Plus Software, which is available for free, has been "completely redesigned,...

Lake Forest-based WD said today that it has released a new, one terabyte, portable hard drive for the Mac. WD said its new My Passport SE for Mac, USB drive supports either one terabyte or 750 gigabytes in capacity. The new portable drives ...

San Diego-based FLO TV, the mobile television arm of Qualcomm, said today that it has inked a deal with Turner Broadcasting to add CNN Mobile to the service. FLO TV said that it will add content from CNN/US, CNN International, HLN, and CNN....

One of the more successful serial entrepreneurs here in Southern California has been Robin D. Richards, who most recently sold The NTI Group to Blackboard, and previously also was CEO of Vivendi Universal Net USA, the founding president and...

Burbank-based Testronic Labs, a provider of provider of quality assurance services for the video game, home entertainment, and other industries, has launched a new division specifically focused on casual and social games. According to an ex...

West Hollywood-based Citysearch, the online local business guide owned by IAC, announced today that it has launched a new online advertising service for local businesses called CityGrid Complete. According to Citysearch, it made an investme...

Recently, Santa Monica-based Docstoc (www.docstoc.com) launched a new marketplace on its site, for anyone interested in selling professional documents. We thought we'd get the background on the new effort directly from Jason Nazar, CEO and ...

A group of Hollywood studios has scored a win over RealNetworks today, as the firm settled a lawsuit which targeted a DVD copying and ripping service called RealDVD, which RealNetworks was attempting to launch into the market. According to ...