StartUp Beat

12/28/07 – Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the developer of space launch vehicles, has announced the completion of the Systems Requirements Review, or SRR, for what will be the third demonstration of the company’s Falcon 9/Dragon spacecraft under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program.  The company says that NASA representatives attended the event, which was held on the first day of regular business operations at SpaceX’s new headquarters in Hawthorne.  The company previously operated out of El Segundo.

Under COTS, SpaceX says it is conducting three Falcon 9/Dragon flights, demonstrating the ability to approach, berth, and ultimately deliver cargo to the $100 billion International Space Station, and return cargo to Earth.  On the third demonstration, the Dragon spacecraft will approach the ISS, hold its position nearby, and, according to the SpaceX plan, a robotic arm on the station will capture Dragon and guide it to a berthing port.

SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, who also founded PayPal and the Zip2 Corporation.  As part of the COTS program, SpaceX was awarded a contract by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the International Space Station.  The company says it intends to demonstrate its launch, maneuvering and docking abilities by 2009—a year before NASA has scheduled the conclusion of Space Shuttle operations.

SpaceX – www.spacex.com

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-Will Apple Beat Axiotron to Market? – The buzz has been growing around what seems to be the pending release of El Segundo-based Axiotron’s highly anticipated Modbook Mac-based tablet computer.  But Erik Kennedy at Ars Technica writes that Apple may be working on a tablet of its own: Modbook almost ready to ship, but Apple may beat it to market.  The Modbook launch has been delayed for almost a year from the originally-announced date.

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12/27/07 – Santa Monica-based Trilogy Studios, the videogame and virtual world development startup, has appointed video game industry veteran and former Sony PlayStation and Sega chief Bernard Stolar to its board of advisors.

Stolar led the PlayStation business as president of Sony Computer Entertainment America.  He currently serves as chairman of the board at mobile content provider Oasys Mobile.  Trilogy says that Stolar will help the company navigate the “casual” massively multiplayer online, or MMO, gaming market.

Trilogy, founded in 2005, develops virtual worlds and console games for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PCs.  The company says it offers major media companies the opportunity to promote and monetize their content and new entertainment properties in the online space through micro-transactions, premium subscriptions, e-commerce, sponsorships and advertising.  The company recently designed and launched MTV Networks’ online virtual “Pimp My Ride” web site.

Trilogy recently closed a second round of independent equity funding, totaling $3.2 million.

Trilogy Studios – www.trilogystudios.com
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-ClipBlast CEO to Present at CES – The big Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, is coming up in about a week-and-a-half in Las Vegas, and local startup ClipBlast is sending its CEO to participate in a discussion about widgets and distributed content.  The Agoura Hills-based company has built a web video navigation and search platform.  CEO Gary Baker will be participating on a panel called “Widgets as a Platform: Content, Commerce, Communications” on January 8.  ClipBlast unveiled its video search widget at the DEMOfall show in September.

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-Axiotron Gets Ready to Roll Out Modbook (we think…) – Several Mac-focused blogs are reporting that El Segundo-based Axiotron is getting ready to roll out its Modbook Mac-based tablet computer.  The computer, which was originally scheduled to debut in May but got pushed back until the end of the year for unspecified reasons, is a big deal for Mac fans because it is the first ever Mac tablet computer.  The company has also hired a PR firm to support its Modbook rollout.  Axiotron was founded in 2005 by Andreas Haas and Dr. Kumiko Haas, and is privately held.

-Helio Debuts New ‘Mysto’ Phone – Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, Helio, has very quietly made a new device available over the weekend.  The Mysto is a slider phone made by Samsung.  Apparently, although they are available for sale now, Helio won’t officially publicly announce the phone’s debut until January.  The company is a joint venture of Internet service provider EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom, and has rolled out a number of innovative devices this year.  Here’s some more on the Mysto from Mobile Magazine: Hands-On with Helio Mysto: “It’s Lightning Fast”
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12/21/07 – Big Stage, the Pasadena-based startup that offers a 3D avatar creation tool, announced this week that Chuck Huebner, former head of worldwide studios at Activision, has been hired as president and CEO.  Big Stage unveiled its technology earlier this week.  In a nutshell, it allows users to easily create and integrate a life-like 3D avatar of themselves into media like famous movie scenes, TV shows and video games.

At Activision, Huebner oversaw more than 1,500 employees and was responsible for the creation and production of all of the company’s games.  Prior to Activision, Huebner was president and CEO of Wizards of the Coast, the hobby and game subsidiary of Hasbro.  He also worked in senior management roles with Coca-Cola, and co-founded ERS International, a cutting-edge technology platform for retail, which went public in 1992.

Big Stage’s technology is the result of a nine-year research project at the University of Southern California.

Big Stage – www.bigstage.com

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12/21/07 – The Technology Council of Southern California has issued its call for nominations for its fourteenth annual Technology Industry Awards.  The honors are presented to individuals and companies that the Council determines have “made extraordinary contributions to the growth of Southern California as a center for technological innovation.”  Nominations must be received by January 18, according to the Council.  The awards will be presented on February 28 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

The Technology Council says that nominees for the event will compete for one of nine awards two individual categories and seven company categories, including CEO of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, and Product of the Year.

More details can be found at: www.tcosc.org/awards/index.html

Technology Council of Southern California – www.tcosc.org

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12/20/07 – Santa Monica-based Goodreads, a social networking web site where users discuss books, has announced that it has raised a round of funding from angel investors, including James Currier, founder of Ooga Labs, and Tickle.com.  The company has not disclosed the amount raised.

Goodreads has set up a social network, a-la MySpace or Facebook, where people can exchange information about books, and give recommendations to fellow users.  The company was founded last year by Otis Chandler, who previous served as a product manager for LoveHappens.com.  It claims to have 600,000 members at this point.

Also participating in the funding were Bebo founder Michael Birch; Military.com founder Chris Michel; Userplane founder Mike Jones; True Ventures; and Ooga Labs co-founder Stan Chudnovsky.

Goodreads – www.goodreads.com

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12/20/07 – Los Angeles-based Language Weaver, developer of software for automatic language translation, has announced further expansion of its roster of language modules with the addition of another five bi-directional language modules.

The company says the new automated translation language pairs include Arabic/Spanish, Arabic/French, French/Spanish, Danish/English and Greek/English.  Language Weaver says the new pairs continue its commitment to provide additional low density and direct translation pairs where the typical “pivot language” of English is removed from the equation.

Language Weaver says its statistical machine translation software, based on research and development done at the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute, offers an established solution and a departure from traditional complex, linguistics rule-based machine translation by producing fluent, natural sounding translations based on what it calls “statistical likelihoods.”  It claims it has more than 50 patents pending on its technology.

The software is able to learn automatically from existing translated documents to produce what Language Weaver calls the “highest probability translation output,” potentially saving customers time and money by automating the process of translating new documents, according to Language Weaver.

The company, founded in 2002, also operates a subsidiary user-generated news web site, called Kontrib, which uses Language Weaver’s technology to automatically translate stories that are originally posted in multiple languages.

Language Weaver is backed by Palisades Ventures, the Tech Coast Angels and the Athenaeum Fund.

Language Weaver – www.languageweaver.com

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-Oversee.net Helps Grant a Holiday Wish – Downtown Los Angeles-based Oversee.net, the domain monetization and online marketing company, took some time out of managing its multiple ventures to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation grant a holiday wish for a local child: Season of Wishes: Pinball Wizard’s Wish Granted at the Grove

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12/19/07 – Pasadena-based Big Stage, which offers a 3D avatar creation technology, has made its official debut.  The company says its proprietary technology allows users to create and integrate a 3D avatar of themselves into media like famous movie scenes, TV shows, video games, music videos, virtual worlds and still images.  The service will be available to the public in the second quarter of 2008.

Big Stage says the service requires that users upload three pictures of themselves with a digital camera, and the Big Stage tool quickly converts them into a life-like 3D avatar.  The proprietary technology automatically maps the contours of a user’s face to generate a replica of the user, fully equipped for animation, according to the company.

After users create and style their avatars, they can drop them into the library of Big Stage-enabled user and professionally created content.  This highly personalized content can then be shared by users across social networks, mobile phones and other platforms, according to Big Stage.

The company’s technology is the result of a nine-year research project at the University of Southern California.  Big Stage says that using the USC research as a starting point, and through a series of technical breakthroughs, CTO Jon Snoddy and chief scientist Doug Fidaleo brought the product to fruition.

Big Stage – www.bigstage.com

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12/19/07 – PeopleJam, the Los Angeles-based “purposeful living” video and social networking web site, says it is now showcasing videos and expert commentary on health during the holiday season.  The company says the content is being offered through its partnership with Stream4 Media, which provides high-quality, personality-driven video for the web and handheld devices.

PeopleJam made is debut at the DEMOfall07 show in September.  It is a vertical social media site that includes integrated tools and technology for connecting people with common values and interests.  Features include blogging tools, professional life coaches that serve as site moderators, “inspirational” video, and audio.

The company was founded by CEO Matt Edelman and president Robert Tercek, whose combined experience includes stints at Hands-On Mobile, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

PeopleJam – www.peoplejam.com

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-CyberDefender Offers Free Technical Support Again – Los Angeles-based security software developer and support provider CyberDefender is giving away free remote tech support on the day after Christmas to anyone that calls its support hotline.  The company ran the same promotion on Halloween.  CyberDefender says that any computer user can contact CyberDefender on December 26th at (877) 377-3765 for free comprehensive setup help or technical support for their home or office computers.  The company’s technical resolution and support services are always available 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week.

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12/18/07 – Helio, the Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, continued its active rollout of new service features with the launch of its Helio Player PC software.  The service lets members manage their personal collection of music, videos and pictures on their PCs, then transfer to and from their Helio devices.

The company is offering the service free to members, enabling the ability to purchase songs on their PC then transfer them to a Helio device via USB, or purchase songs over-the-air through their mobile devices. 

Helio says the Helio Player was developed through a partnership with RealNetworks, which is also hosting the service. 

The Player supports MP3, M3A and WMA audio files, as well as WMV, MPEG, AVI, MPEG-4 and H.264 video, according to Helio.  

The company also says the Player is integrated with its iTunes Store rival, the Helio Music Store.   Most songs purchased through the store on a PC are $0.99, and songs purchased over-the-air are $1.99, which includes dual-delivery to a Helio device and Helio Player on a PC.

Late last week, Helio announced an enhanced mobile YouTube experience exclusively for its members.

Helio is a joint venture of EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom.  It was founded in 2005 and is headed by EarthLink and Boingo Wireless founder Sky Dayton.

Helio – www.helio.com

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12/18/07 – Sherman Oaks-based online video animation startup Fix8 today unveiled premium software, which it says is now available for download.  Along with the release of the software, the company launched its new web site featuring what it says is a simplified software download process with fun new videos and avatars.

To this point, Fix8 has only offered free software with limited features.  The company says the new premium version, priced at $9.95 for a limited time, features more avatar characters, accessories and advanced high-resolution video record options.  

Fix8 virtual communications software maps the facial expressions and gestures of its users in real-time with the use of a webcam.  Users can choose from avatars, “dress-up” accessories, and flash to create interactive virtually-animated videos for live chats and sharing across social pages and blogs.

Fix8 says its software works across instant messaging services including MSN, Yahoo, AOL Instant Messenger and Skype, as well as social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

The company recently closed a $3 million funding round led by Vickers Financial Group.

Fix8 – www.fix8.com

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12/17/07 – Los Angeles-based Juice Wireless, the mobile device-based social networking service, has closed its third round of funding, raising $6 million.  The round was led by 21Ventures, which joins Qualcomm and Citizen’s Communications as investors.

The money will be used to further the development of the company’s flagship JuiceCaster product and on expanding its user base, according to the company.  Juice says it will accelerate its customer recruitment, with a focus on building the marketing and engineering teams and focusing on direct user acquisition.

JuiceCaster is a service for mobile devices that allows users to both view and post pictures and videos directly from their mobile phones to their personal web pages on sites like MySpace and Facebook.  It also allows users to send content from cell phone to cell phone.

Juice Wireless, which was founded in 2004, says JuiceCaster now has more than 38,000 registered users.

The company also announced that it will preview version 6.0 of JuiceCaster at the CES 2008 conference in Las Vegas in early January.

Juice Wireless/JuiceCaster – www.juicecaster.com

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-Boingo Wireless Chooses iCore for Billing – Santa Monica-based wi-fi hot spot network aggregator Boingo Wireless has chosen Vancouver-based iCore for billing and provisioning services.  Here’s more about the partnership: iCore Provides Billing and Provisioning Solution for Boingo Mobile   

-DOMAINfest Global Agenda Announced – The agenda for the DOMAINfest Global show, put on by Los Angeles-based Oversee.net and its subsidiary DomainSponsor, has been released.  The show is taking place January 21-23 in Hollywood.  More details can be found here: Second DOMAINfest Global Event Offers Information-Intensive Industry Agenda

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12/14/07 – Los Angeles-based EdgeCast Networks, which has created a rich media content delivery network, has announced the closing of a $6 million series B financing round led by Steamboat Ventures, the venture capital firm affiliated with Disney.  The company also announced that Scott Hilleboe, senior principal of Steamboat Ventures, and Jeffrey Stibel, president of Website Pros, will join EdgeCast’s board of directors.

EdgeCast’s series A investors included Mark Amin, chairman of CinemaNow as well as Jon Feltheimer, CEO of Lionsgate Films.

EdgeCast says the funding will go toward expanding the company’s international reach, scaling its network for additional capacity, enhancing features, and further developing its sales and marketing operations.  The latest round brings EdgeCast’s total funding to more than $10 million, the company says.

EdgeCast says it provides each of its customers with dedicated edge space on its servers, providing superior speed and a scalable, globally load balanced architecture that it says supports massive audiences.

EdgeCast – www.edgecast.com

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12/14/07 – Los Angeles-based online video streaming web site Stickam has announced that it has begun creating applications utilizing Google’s OpenSocial APIs, allowing OpenSocial-enabled platforms to integrate Stickam’s technology.

Stickam is one of the first live social networking web sites to begin working on OpenSocial applications for release. 

The OpenSocial API is a common set of development interfaces for building social applications that allow developers to have a standard language when creating their applications for web sites.

Stickam launched in February of last year, and creates social networks though live, streaming video. 

Stickam – www.stickam.com

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12/14/07 – Passenger, the Los Angeles-based provider of on-demand software that creates private brand communities for company collaboration with customers, has been awarded the 2007 Innovator Award for Emerging Media by the Summit International Awards.  The group says it recognized Passenger as an innovator in bringing new technology advancements and methodologies to the social media space and helping to set the pace for the emerging media movement through its work with big name brands like ABC Studios.

Since its launch in February, Passenger has tripled its client roster to now include BP, JCPenny, MySpace, American Express and Fidelity. 

Passenger develops software-as-a-service that enables brands and customers to collaborate within the social context of a private online community. 

In addition to growing its client base, Passenger says it has doubled the number of employees in the last six months and grown its revenue at double-digit rates month over month.  The company says it also has plans to open a New York office in early 2008.  

Passenger – www.thinkpassenger.com

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12/13/07 – Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, Helio has announced that it has partnered with YouTube to bring what it calls the most comprehensive YouTube experience currently offered on mobile to its subscribers.

Helio says that the new service improves on the dominant mobile YouTube service to this point, which has been limited to a passive viewing experience without access to popular community and personalization features.  

The service is available for Helio Ocean users at no additional charge.  Helio says that besides running over a nationwide high-speed 3G network, the custom application is complete with integrated video capture and upload for near real-time sharing of experiences, GPS tagging of videos, personalization, and access to community features like rating and commenting. 

Helio members can browse and upload previously saved videos or record videos in the application and upload them directly to YouTube, sharing experiences in near real-time with friends, family and the YouTube community.  Uploaded videos can be given a title, description, tags, category and be set to public or private.  Only Helio allows members to also geo-tag video uploads from their mobile device. Using Ocean's built-in GPS capabilities, members can send GPS coordinates with their video to track where they were when everything went down.

In addition to the other new features, Helio says that its members can now record and upload video responses to clips directly from their handset, making real-time responses to videos possible without ever having to log in from a computer.

Helio was founded in 2005 and is headed by EarthLink founder Sky Dayton, and is a joint venture of EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom. 

Helio – www.helio.com

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12/13/07 – New Enterprise Associates, or NEA, today announced that it has completed an investment in Manhattan Beach-based TechForward, which provides consumer electronics trade-in plans.  TechForward says it will use the funds to advance its Guaranteed Buyback product within the consumer electronics marketplace by partnering with retailers and manufacturers.  The firms did not reveal the amount of the investment.

The company says Guaranteed Buyback enables customers to upgrade electronics more easily and affordably by locking in trade-in values at the time of the original sale.  Customers can then return their devices to the point of purchase for cash or store credit that can be applied to a future purchase, according to TechForward.

In addition to offering consumers a tool against early product obsolescence, TechForward also touts its environmentally friendly aspect as Guaranteed Buyback provides a disposal method that promotes reuse and recycling.

The company launched last year, and is also backed by First Round Capital.

TechForward – www.techforward.com

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12/13/07 – Santa Monica-based Mahalo, the “human edited” search engine started by serial tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, this week released a series of new features at the Le Web 3 conference in Paris.  The company says that the new features, dubbed “Mahalo Social,” allow users to collaborate in building trusted search results with friends.

Mahalo also announced that its index of search result pages has hit the company’s goal of 25,000 pages a year earlier than originally expected.

Additionally, Mahalo will be making the entire index available in both RSS and OPML formats, and under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license, which allows individuals to use Mahalo results in a non-commercial setting, without having to ask permission.

Mahalo launched this summer to great fanfare, and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Elon Musk, Newscorp, CBS Corporation, Matt Coffin, Mark Cuban, Ted Leonsis, Jon Miller, Attractor Investment Management and Hubert Burda Media.

Mahalo – www.mahalo.com

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12/11/07 – Agoura Hills-based ClipBlast, the web video search and navigation platform, today announced the release of ClipBlast Version 3.0.  The new release includes a major enhancement of ClipBlast’s video search platform, with improvements that provide a richer, easier and more relevant experience for advertisers and content providers, according to ClipBlast.

The company says that the new version of its service includes what it calls the Intelligent Index, which it says matches the content of an ad with the content of the video.  Rather than relying exclusively on the content provider’s description and metadata—which can be subjective or even nonexistent—ClipBlast says the Intelligent Index uses proprietary technology to categorize content in real time more effectively, delivering both more relevant search results and highly targeted ads.

ClipBlast says that for the video content provider, the Intelligent Index can mean increased revenues, thanks to the ability to serve targeted ads in conjunction with smart content.

ClipBlast was part of the DEMOfall07 class, and debuted its video sharing widget at the show in September.  The ClipBlast Widget is a web-wide video search and navigation tool that resides on the desktop, enabling search, navigation, browsing and viewing of online video without having to launch a browser or visit a specific web site.

ClipBlast was founded in 2004.

ClipBlast – www.clipblast.com

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12/10/07 – Santa Monica-based Teleflip, the startup that offers a service where email and text messages can be received on any mobile phone from any computer, has launched a texting and email service for telecommunications provider Qwest Communications.  The new Qwest-branded service allows customers to receive and reply to email from any text-messaging-capable wireless phone without subscribing to data plans or upgrading to smartphones.  The service is enabled through an exclusive deal between the companies.

Qwest customers can sign up for the service at qwest.teleflip.com.  

Through its flipMail email service, Teleflip says it allows any cell phone user to receive and reply to existing e-mails from any POP, IMAP or webmail email account, personal or business, directly on any handset and through every individual carrier.

Founded in 2004, Teleflip recently received Popular Science’s “Best of What’s New” 2007 award.  In June the company secured $1 million in debt financing from Hercules Technology Growth Capital.

Teleflip – www.teleflip.com

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12/10/07 – Los Angeles-based Break.com, the Internet video entertainment company, today announced the appointment of Andrew Budkofsky as senior vice president of sales.  The company says that Budkofsky will be responsible for accelerating sales, client services and overall business development for the website.

Prior to this position, Budkofsky served as senior vice president of sales and partnerships for PodShow, a podcasting portal and Internet media company, where he was responsible for selling packages around video content.  Prior to PodShow, Budkofsky served as vice president of sales at Court TV.  Budkofsky has also worked in sales at Microsoft, where he managed the WebTV sales division and helped launch Ultimate TV, a Direct TV and Microsoft partnership that brought the first “all in one” box to the consumer market place.

Break says that it now has more than 18 million unique monthly visitors to its website.  The company was founded in 1998, and recently secured $21 million in funding from Lionsgate Entertainment.

Break.com – www.break.com

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12/10/07 – Once in a while we will make mention of a new feature on StartUp Beat, and the new StartUp Beat job board is particularly noteworthy.  The board is expressly for technology startups in the greater Los Angeles area looking to hire, along with job seekers seeking the challenge and excitement of joining a startup.  As an introductory offer, we’re offering job postings at half the $20 price for the first 30 days.  Just use promo code “STARTUP1” to post your job openings for only $10 for 30 days.  We'll accept positings for positions based in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, or Santa Barbara counties, and parts of San Bernardino and Riverside counties that can be considered part of the greater Los Angeles area.

Check it out by either clicking on the orange job box on the left hand side of every StartUp Beat page, or by visiting startupbeat.jobamatic.com.

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12/7/07 – Los Angeles-based Studio 4 Networks, which produces lifestyle and educational programming delivered on-demand over cable TV, satellite and the Internet, today reported a 37 percent increase in usage per available household of its television-based video-on-demand programming during Q3.  The company says that the adoption increase was for its existing cable distribution systems, and did not include on-demand cable homes available through a new distribution agreement that just commenced through Charter Communications.

Studio 4 Networks says this growth confirms momentum in consumer adoption of its titles from its three on-demand networks focused on families, fitness and education.  The announcement follows closely on the heels of the company agreeing to be acquired by Canadian media company Knightscove Media Corporation for an estimated $7 million in cash and stock.  The companies have not said when the deal will close. 

Studio 4 was founded in 2002 by CEO Ed Stansfield, a former executive at Disney.

Studio 4 Networks – www.studio4networks.com

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12/6/07 – Santa Monica-based Transpera, a recently launched mobile video company, today announced the availability of what it calls “Peek” pre-roll video advertising.  The service purports to be a solution to the problem of advertising on mobile video given the short viewing time of most clips.

The company says Peek pre-rolls are 5-to-10 second mobile video ads, targeted based on content usage and demographics, and inserted by Transpera in real-time to ensure rapid delivery with no lengthy re-buffering.  Transpera touts the combination of its mobile video content delivery platform and advertising platform as offering superior value to online content producers.

The company says that several TV networks and advertising firms are “expressing interest” in the innovation, including ad agency Mindshare/Team Detroit, Ford Motor Company and Fox Reality Channel.

Transpera launched in July, and is backed by Intel Capital, IDG Ventures and First Round Capital.

Transpera – www.transpera.com

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12/6/07 – A new “green” shopping web site has launched out of Santa Monica, just in time for the holiday shopping season.  EVO.com, which has been in development for some time now, claims to have the “widest selection of green gift items on the web.”

EVO says it has prescreened millions of products for their green attributes and only sells products that earn an EVO rating of one to five “leaves.”  The company says it offers more than 100,000 green products and services from 1,200 retailers.

In conjunction with the launch, EVO has partnered with Trees for the Future to plant a tree in the name of everyone who joins, pledging to plant at least 100,000 trees during the holiday season.

The company was founded by Daniel Siegel, cofounder of Student Advantage, which built a community of two million university students and more than 20,000 businesses that wanted to provide them with products and services, and Mark Eastwood, who was involved with the creation of Rent.com and online toy merchant eToys.

EVO – www.evo.com

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12/5/07 – Santa Monica-based Social Project, formerly called TagWorld, has rolled out the first components of the Flux social media distribution platform for publishing partners.  Flux is the result of a partnership inked earlier this year with Viacom and MTV, and enables media companies and content-focused bloggers to virally distribute content and create connected online communities, while retaining ownership and branding controls, according to Social Project.

As the platform has been made available, Social Project says it has already started working with a variety of partners, including Capitol Records recording artists, consumer brands like MTV Networks’ TheDailyShow.com, and independent, emerging, underground culture influencers.

Social Project says that some of the brands have already built Flux communities, while several more have simply committed to joining the platform.  New Internet brands that join the Flux platform benefit from one-click join and universal login, the company says.

Today, partners can choose from three levels of Flux integration: fShare, Flux Lite, and Flux Custom, according to Social Project.

fShare is a widget that allows partners to distribute content, leading new users back to their web sites.  fShare can be added to videos, photos, and blog posts enabling site visitors to distribute content easily to online destinations such as MySpace, Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter, as well as other communities on Flux.  Flux Lite goes beyond fShare to provide partners with their own community of registered members, with member profile pages and a “Members Online” widget for the partner’s existing site, the company says.  Flux Custom includes fShare and Flux Lite, plus a full-blown community offering. Flux Custom can be added to existing sites or used to create an entire community from scratch.

Social Project also has offices in New York and Moscow.

Social Project – www.socialproject.com

Flux – www.flux.com

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-Boingo Releases Wi-Fi Connectivity Applet – Santa Monica-based wi-fi hotspot network operator Boingo Wireless has released a quick connectivity applet for XP and Vista machines.  Here’s more about the app, called Go Boingo!: Boingo Software Makes Wi-Fi Access Simple and Fast

Posted by startupbeat at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

12/4/07 – Encino-based Bid4Spots, the online auction of radio advertising time, today announced the upcoming launch of a new feature, called SpotFill, which will enable advertisers to supplement their auction results by picking up remaining spots in their target markets after the close of an auction.  For stations that don’t sell all of their inventory in the site's weekly auction, Bid4Spots says SpotFill, which is set to debut December 20th, offers another opportunity to win business and sell last-minute airtime that otherwise would have gone unsold.

Bid4Spots says it created the SpotFill service in response to requests from large advertising agencies that need to achieve certain rating point goals in specific markets.  They’ll continue to get the value of the reverse auction format, letting stations compete in real time for their business by bidding the rates down—ideal for large, national direct response buys, the company says.

Bid4Spots makes available to advertisers prime, last-minute inventory from approximately 2,460 participating radio stations in all 300 top-ranked Arbitron markets, according to the company.  Over the summer, Bid4Spots partnered with eBay to power the eBay Media Marketplace for Radio.

The company was founded by radio ad industry veteran Dave Newmark and is privately held.

Bid4Spots – www.bid4spots.com

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-Fonality and TMC Partner to Produce Conference – Fonality, the CulverCity-based open-source IP telephony company, is partnering with TMC (Technology Marketing Corporation) to produce a new conference, called trixCon: The Open Communication Conference.  The show will be part of the ITEXPO East 2008 show in January in Miami.  Here’s the complete announcement: TMC and Fonality Partner to Launch trixCon: The Open Communication Conference
 
-Newport Media Finalist in Red Herring Awards – Newport Media, the Lake Forest-based fabless semiconductor company focused on the mobile broadcast media market, has been named a finalist in Red Herring’s prestigious Red Herring 100 Global awards: Newport Media Named a Finalist in ''Red Herring 100 Global Awards 2007'' Competition

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12/3/07 – Westwood-based mobile virtual network operator Helio, and QD3 Entertainment, an independent producer and aggregator of urban content for multi-platform distribution, have partnered to launch a QD3-branded mobile channel as part of Helio’s new Music Mix premium video package.  The companies say the service will feature streaming music-related video content, including performances, artist interviews, music news and videos. 

The QD3 service will consist of five channels, including “Classic Clips”—rare and exclusive videos, “Comedy”—hilarious stand-up routines and skits, and “Original”—episodic and unique content developed especially for mobile.

Helio and QD3 say the branded channel’s content will come from QD3’s library of over 2,000 hours.  QD3 was founded in 2002 by famed producer Quincy D. Jones III. 

Helio was founded in 2005 by EarthLink founder Sky Dayton and has been backed to this point by EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom.

Helio – www.helio.com

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