socaltech.com TechNews - Monday, August 27, 2012

Benjamin F. Kuo Mon, 27 Aug 2012 05:59:36 -0700

socaltech.com TechNews - Monday, August 27, 2012
Edited by Benjamin F. Kuo
ISSN: 1524-6736
http://www.socaltech.com/News
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--Decoding the Secret of iPhone Game Popularity, With William Volk,
Playscreen
--Nasty Gal Gets $40M For Women's Fashion Site
--Nirvanix Teams With Cloud Storage Array Provider
--MaxLinear Wins Panasonic Design
--Mobile Roadie Powers Another Soccer Club
--Los Angeles, San Diego Among Top 10 Cities For Startups
--Ixia Completes BreakingPoint Systems Buy
--Mars Rover Hooks Up With Angry Birds Space

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EVENTS

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Decoding the Secret of iPhone Game Popularity, With William Volk, Playscreen
----
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 create a popular title? We had the
chance to speak with William Volk, Chief Creative Officer of
Playscreen (www.playscreen.com), who talked how his company is looking
to crack the code with Crickler 2: Daily Word Puzzle, which is among
the most popular puzzle games on iTunes, and recently number one in
free educational games. William is in San Diego, and is a longtime
gaming vet, having been at Activision in the days of The Manhole and
Myst.

How did you get into iPhone development?

William Volk: I've been in the industry since the late 70's. My first
game was published in 1980. My partner, who led to this, is Sherri
Cuono, started working on real, online casinos, and is in Oregon. We
actually met while we were working for James Cameron (More...)

http://bit.ly/PLREW4

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Nasty Gal Gets $40M For Women's Fashion Site
----
Los Angeles-based vintage fashions firm Nasty Gal has raised $40M in a
funding round, from sole investor Index Ventures, the firm disclosed
over the weekend. According to Forbes, the company, headed by Sophia
Amoruso, is set to hit $128M in sales this year, quadrupling it
revenues from last year. Nasty Gal raised $9M in March, and offers up
clothing, shoes, accessories, and other products to women.
http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence/index.php?action=showdeal&id=44916

Nirvanix Teams With Cloud Storage Array Provider
----
San Diego cloud storage provider Nirvanix has teamed up with a
provider of cloud-based storage arrays, TwinStrata, to provide a
"cloud storage start kit" for enterprise customers. The two companies
said today that they are shipping a pre-tested, integrated cloud
storage system which combines 50TB of Nirvanix cloud storage, with the
TwinStrata CloudArray, a product which connects enterprises into cloud
storage. The two said the product will cost $48,000 a year, providing
enterprise customers with all of the infrastructure they need for
backup, archiving, and collaboration.

MaxLinear Wins Panasonic Design
----
Carlsbad-based MaxLinear, the developer of mixed signal and RF
integrated circuits, reported a design win this morning with Panasonic
Corporation. Maxlinear said that Panasonic is using its product as
part of a reference design for DVB-T2 set-top boxes.

Mobile Roadie Powers Another Soccer Club
----
Los Angeles-based Mobile Roadie appears to have tapped into a new
source of customers: International football (soccer) clubs. The firm
said Friday that one of the latest apps released to its platform is
from the Everton Football Club, which is one of the oldest football
clubs in England, in the city of Liverpool. The club is apparently
using Mobile Roadie to power both iPhone and Android apps for the
team, including real-time news, stats, match results, team roster, and
more. The company powers apps for the Denmark National Football Team,
an app for soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, German team Bayer 04
Leverkusen, among others.

Los Angeles, San Diego Among Top 10 Cities For Startups
----
A list of the top ten cities for startups was released by USA Today
and the National Venture Capital Association today, naming both Los
Angeles and San Diego among the best cities for startup companies. Los
Angeles was ranked number 4, and San Diego was ranked number 6, based
on a ranking provided to the National Venture Capital Assocation to
USA Today. USA Today cited the activity of such companies as Demand
Media, Break.com, Buzzmedia, Citysearch, Google, JibJab, ShoeDazzle,
and Viddy in Los Angeles, and Qualcomm, Slacker, Sorenson Media, and
MOGL in San Diego as examples of those cities' active startup base.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/talkingtech/story/2012-08-22/top-tech-startup-cities/57220670/1

Ixia Completes BreakingPoint Systems Buy
----
Calabasas-based Ixia announced Friday morning that it has completed
its acquisition of BreakingPoint Systems. The acquisition had been
announced in July, and was worth $160M in cash. Ixia, a provider of IP
network testing equipment and software, said the buy will help address
pre-deployment and production network monitoring, testing and
optimization. BreakingPoint's network testing systems are used for
simulation and testing of traffic at internet scale, and in particular
for hardening systems against malicious attacks.

Mars Rover Hooks Up With Angry Birds Space
----
It looks like NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered something unusual
on Mars: a videogame tie-in with the Angry Birds Space. NASA and
Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, announced a deal today where Rovio
will release an update to the Angry Birds Space title, which will
incorporate helping pigs and birds explore the Martian terrain.
According to NASA, the update to Angry Birds Space will include a cast
of the agency's rovers and landers, and will help educate players
about the agency projects and programs. The two said the deal comes
under a Space Act Agreement. NASA's Mars rover missions are run out of
the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena.

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