Silicon Valley Wire

Few Problems Expected from Digital TV Transition

San Francisco -- Following months of warnings and public service announcements from the government and broadcast industry, all U.S. over-the-air TV stations on Friday were scheduled to shut off their analog signals and begin broadcasting in digital format. Roughly 98% of viewers -- including those who subscribe to cable or satellite services -- were expected to remain unaffected, though Nielsen estimated on Wednesday that about 60,000 homes in the Bay Area still needed to take action, such as installing government-subsidized converter boxes. The transition originally was scheduled to take place in February, but was delayed by the federal government, fearing that millions of American homes were unprepared for the move. Since then, broadcasters and cable providers have ramped up their information blitz, hoping to reduce the number of viewers who find themselves without a signal. "With 112 million DTV sets and more than 31 million digital-to-analog converter boxes sold, and 90% of Americans subscribing to a multichannel video provider, the vast majority of consumers are ready," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
http://www.ce.org/Press/CurrentNews/press_release_detail.asp?id=11742
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090610005184/en

Sunnyvale-Based Yahoo Names Tim Morse as New CFO

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Four months after announcing the planned departure of its CFO, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo has named Silicon Valley veteran Tim Morse to fill the role. Morse, the CFO of San Jose-based chip maker Altera, will join the company next Wednesday, and officially take on his new role starting July 1. Altera said that it his launched a search for his replacement, and has named James Callas, its vice president finance and corporate controller, as acting CFO. Morse spent 2 ½ years at Altera, and previously served as the CFO and general manager of business development at General Electric Plastics. Yahoo in February announced that CFO Blake Jorgensen would leave the company. He will assume his new role as the executive vice president and CFO of San Francisco-based apparel company Levi Strauss & Co. on July 1.
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=389254
http://investor.altera.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83265&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1298495&highlight=

San Jose-Based Symmetricom to Cut 30 Jobs By End of Year

San Jose, Calif. -- Symmetricom, a San Jose-based developer of precise time and frequency technologies used in networks, said on Friday that it plans to cut 30 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, by the end of the year. The company said that the moves will save it about $3.5 million a year. "This recent action is part of our continued effort to align our operating cost structure with our long term profitability goals," said Thomas Steipp, the company's president and CEO. Symmetricom will incur $1.5-$2 million in restructuring charges as a result of the cuts.
http://www.symmetricom.com/
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090612005113/en

Reports: Twitter Growth Slows Significantly

San Francisco -- Traffic to San Francisco-based microblogging service Twitter, which had rocketed in recent months with promotional plugs from Oprah and Ashton Kutcher, has flattened or even declined, according to reports citing data from measurement firms Compete and Quantcast. According to Compete, traffic to Twitter rose 1.5% from April to May, after growing more than 750% in 2008. Meanwhile, Quantcast estimated that the site had 21.9 million unique visitors in May, down 6% from the prior month. A separate report from HubSpot, highlighted by the blog Ars Technica, analyzed 4.5 million Twitter accounts and found that about 55% never have sent a single tweet.  
http://mashable.com/2009/06/09/web-in-numbers-may/ 
http://battellemedia.com/archives/004940.php 
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/06/report-most-twitter-users-dont-tweet-dont-follow-anyone.ars
http://bit.ly/sotwitter (PDF)

Former Silicon Optix Head Launches Sunnyvale-Based Geo Semiconductor

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Paul Russo, the former founder and CEO of chip maker Silicon Optix, said on Thursday that he has launched Sunnyvale-based Geo Semiconductor after acquiring key elements of his former company, including its Realta and Geo chip lines. Geo plans to focus on high-resolution video processing for products such as advanced projectors, DVD players, medical displays and home theaters. "Our company is focused on enabling customers to offer market leading video and geometry processing capabilities, which is increasingly important as the industry transitions to larger displays that require more pixels and solid state illumination," said Russo, who will serve as CEO. The company also has named former Silicon Optix and Genesis Microchip executive Mike Hopton as its vice president of operations and general manager, and former Microsemi and PowerDsine executive Madhu Rayabhari as its vice president of marketing and business development. Geo will operate facilities in Toronto and Orlando, as well. http://www.geosemi.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090611005127/en 

San Jose-Based IDT Acquires Touch Sensor Technology from Leadis

San Jose, Calif. -- Integrated Device Technology (IDT), a San Jose-based developer of mixed-signal semiconductors used in digital media, said on Thursday that it has acquired the touch sensor technology assets of Sunnyvale-based Leadis Technology. Financial terms of the deal, which also will give IDT the company's related intellectual property and employees, were not disclosed. Ted Tewksbury, the president and CEO at IDT, said that the acquisition "complements our existing audio, video, timing and power smart technologies to enable us to address a broader range of multimedia applications."
http://www.idt.com
http://investor.idt.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117396&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1298251&highlight=

South San Francisco-Based Alios BioPharma Closes First Round

South San Francisco -- Alios BioPharma, a South San Francisco-based biotechnology firm developing drugs to treat viral diseases, said on Thursday that it has closed its first round of funding at $32 million with an $8 million investment from SR One, the venture fund of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The company had closed the first tranche in December, led by Novo and Novartis Venture Fund. Kent Gossett, a partner at SR One, will join the company's board of directors. http://aliosbiopharma.com/
http://www.aliosbiopharma.com/index.php/alios/press_releases/59/

AOL Again Named Worst in Customer Service by MSN Survey

For the second straight year, AOL heads MSN Money's "Customer Service Hall of Shame" survey, which annually ranks companies based on the experiences of their customers. All told, 44.8% of those polled rated AOL's customer service as "poor," with just 8.8% rating it "excellent." Comcast (41.3% "poor") ranked second, followed by Sprint Nextel (40.5%). Among tech companies with the most positive results were Amazon.com (86.3% "good" or "excellent"), Los Gatos-based Netflix (79.6%), Cupertino-based Apple (78.8%) and Mountain View-based Google (78.7%). The rankings included 145 companies in 15 industries. More than 3,000 respondents took part, rating "knowledgeable staff" as far and away the most important factor in their decisions.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/ConsumerActionGuide/the-customer-service-hall-of-shame-2009.aspx
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/ConsumerActionGuide/how-companies-were-ranked.aspx

NYT: Justice Dept. Steps Up Probe into Google Book Settlement

Mountain View, Calif. -- The Justice Department has intensified its antitrust investigation into Mountain View-based Google's proposed settlement with authors and publishers over its digital book-scanning project, The New York Times reported. The department has sent formal requests for information to Google, as well as the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild and individual publishers. "They are asking for a lot of information," Michael Boni, an attorney for the Authors Guild, told the paper. "It signals that they are serious about the antitrust implications of the settlement." Google agreed to pay $125 million to authors and publishers to settle a lawsuit they had brought, which alleged that the company's book-scanning project violated their copyrights. The settlement grants Google broad rights to scan millions of books and share in profits from their distribution online -- which critics argue amounts to a monopoly on the nascent market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/technology/companies/10book.html 

Sunnyvale-Based Palm Names Jon Rubinstein as New CEO

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- On the heels of its successful release of the Pre smartphone, Sunnyvale-based Palm on Wednesday announced that Jon Rubinstein will succeed Ed Colligan as CEO. Rubinstein, who became the company's executive chairman in late 2007, will assume the new role on Friday, also retaining his current title. Colligan, who has led the company for 16 years, plans to take some time off before joining Elevation Partners. "I am very excited about taking on this expanded role at Palm," said Rubinstein. "Ed and I have worked very hard together the past two years, and I'm grateful to him for everything he’s done to help set the company up for success." Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel announced earlier this week that single-day and first weekend sales for the Palm Pre topped any other device that it has launched.
http://www.palm.com
http://investor.palm.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=389058

Car Sharing Service Zipcar Planning IPO in 2010

Cambridge, Mass. -- Zipcar, the Massachusetts-based car sharing service that has gained increasing popularity in the DC area, is planning to go public through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2010, Bloomberg reported. Zipcar, which in 2007 acquired rival Flexcar from Steve Case's based investment firm Revolution, currently operates 6,500 cars in more than 50 U.S. cities, including nearly 800 in the San Francisco area and another 20 at Stanford University. Members reserve vehicles online or through mobile devices, use a smartcard to open the doors, then return the cars at the end of their reservations. An hourly or daily fee covers gas, insurance, maintenance, parking and emergency service. Revolution continues to hold a significant stake in the company, along with venture capital firms Greylock Partners and Benchmark Capital. "We're succeeding and we're growing in a year where flat is the new up," CEO Scott Griffith told the news service, adding that an IPO is "a way for our shareholders to get an exit."
http://www.zipcar.com/
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=apLPM17.mirQ

Belmont, Calif. -- Vyatta, a Belmont-based provider of open-source networking and virtualization tools, said on Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in its third round of funding, led by Citrix Systems. Previous investors Comcast Interactive Capital, Pa

Belmont, Calif. -- Vyatta, a Belmont-based provider of open-source networking and virtualization tools, said on Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in its third round of funding, led by Citrix Systems. Previous investors Comcast Interactive Capital, Panorama Capital and ArrowPath Venture Partners also participated. Vyatta plans to use the for operating capital as it scales its sales efforts and accelerates growth across multiple markets. As part of the investment, Gordon Payne, senior vice president and general manager of the Delivery Systems Division at Citrix, has joined the company's board of directors, where he will assist the company in its next phase of development.
http://www.vyatta.com
http://www.vyatta.com/about/press_releases.php?id=61

IntrinsiQ Acquires San Mateo Market Research Firm WWMR

San Mateo, Calif. -- IntrinsiQ, a Massachusetts-based provider of medical oncology clinical information systems, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired San Mateo-based market research and consulting firm WWMR. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded 15 years ago, WWMR provides market research, product and market assessments, forecasts and economic analysis throughout the clinical research and drug development process. The company previously served as the secondary market research arm of biotech firm Genentech for the past decade. WWMR will retain its name and offices in San Mateo, with all of its employees transferring to the new company.
http://www.intrinsiq.com
http://www.wwmr.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090609006039/en

Twitter to Introduce "Verified" Accounts for Celebs, Politicos

San Francisco -- In the wake of a lawsuit filed against the company by St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa over a fake account, San Francisco-based Twitter, the popular microblogging service, has announced plans to introduce "Verified Accounts," designed to authenticate that a particular account actually belongs to a particular person. The company said that the accounts initially will be available this summer to public officials and agencies, famous artists, athletes "and other well known individuals at risk of impersonation." In a blog post, however, company co-founder Biz Stone called La Russa's lawsuit "an unnecessary waste of judicial resources bordering on frivolous." "Twitter's Terms of Service are fair and we believe will be upheld in a court that will ultimately dismiss Mr. La Russa's lawsuit," wrote stone, adding that Twitter "suspends, deletes, or transfers control of accounts known to be impersonation."
http://blog.twitter.com/2009/06/not-playing-ball.html

Palo Alto-Based Picaboo Lands $1 Million in Funding

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Picaboo, the Palo Alto-based developer of a custom online photo book and card printing service for consumers, has raised $1 million in new funding, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company now has raised nearly $3 million since its founding in 2006. Picaboo competes in the growing market for custom photo books with Blurb, Viovio, SmileBooks, Snapfish, Shutterfly and Kodak. The company's previous backers include New Enterprise Associates, CampVentures, Odyssey Research, Softbank Capital Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
http://www.picaboo.com
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1296006/000129600609000003/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

New "Bing" Search Engine Giving Microsoft a Boost

Redmond, Wash. -- The launch of its new "Bing" search engine last week has had a substantial effect on Microsoft's position in the Internet search market, according to new figures released by comScore. During the week ending June 6, the company's average daily penetration among U.S. searchers increased from 13.8% to 15.5%, while its share of search result pages grew 2% to 11.1%. "These initial data suggest that Microsoft Bing has generated early interest, resulting in a spike in search engagement and an immediate term improvement to Microsoft's position in the search market," said Mike Hurt, a senior vice president at comScore. According to figures from StatCounter, Bing late last week overtook Sunnyvale-based Yahoo as No. 2 search engine, though both still lag far behind Mountain View-based Google.
http://www.bing.com/
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/6/Bing_Off_to_a_Good_Start_in_First_Week_of_Search_Activity_According_to_comScore http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-ww-daily-20090529-20090604

Palm Pre Breaks Sprint Sales Records; Verizon Debut in January

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel announced that single-day and first weekend sales for the Palm Pre topped any other device that it has launched. Although the company did not divulge specific figures, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pre sold an estimated 50,000-100,000 units over the weekend, with around 80% purchased by existing Sprint customers. Sales could have been higher, were it not for inventory shortages acknowledged by Sprint. Sources tell The Journal that Verizon also will begin selling the smartphone in January.
http://www.sprint.com/palmpre
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sprint-Sets-Sales-Record-With-bw-15470561.html?.v=1
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090608-713513.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/06/08/palm-pre-on-verizon-in-january/ 

San Francisco-Based Motally Raises First Round of Funding

San Francisco -- Motally, the San Francisco-based developer of a web-based service designed to  accurately collect data and analytic reports from publishers' mobile web sites, said on Tuesday that it has raised an undisclosed sum in its first round of funding, led by BlueRun Ventures. Angel investor Ron Conway also participated. Motally said that its analytic tools have been built specifically for mobile devices, networks and service offerings.
http://www.motally.com
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090608006374/en

South San Francisco-Based Solazyme Raises $57 Million

South San Francisco -- Solazyme, a South San Francisco-based developer of technology that allows algae to produce oil, said on Monday that it has landed $57 million in its third round of funding, bringing its total backing to more than $76 million. Braemar Energy Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners co-led round, which also included participation from VantagePoint Venture Partners, The Roda Group, Harris and Harris Group and Solazyme Chairman Jerry Fiddler. The company said that the new funds will move it into commercialization. Solazyme uses microalgae biotechnology to produce fuels, chemicals, edible oils and health and wellness products. The company said that its first fuel already has been road tested for thousands of miles in a variety of unmodified vehicles.
http://www.solazyme.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Solazyme-Funding-Surpasses-76-bw-15464230.html?.v=1

Sunnyvale-Based MoSys Acquires Santa Clara's Prism Circuits

Sunnyvale, Calif. -- MoSys, a Sunnyvale-based developer of system-on-chip memory products, said on Monday that it has paid $13.5 million to acquire Santa Clara-based Prism Circuits, a developer of serial interface IP cores. The value of the deal could rise by $6.5 million, depending on Prism's performance over the first year. Prism's customers include Fujitsu, Microsoft and Juniper, and the company also maintains foundry relationships with Fujitsu and TSMC. Len Perham, the president and CEO of MoSys, said that the acquisition "significantly expands our market opportunity." "Becoming part of an established public company enables us to leverage MoSys’ global resources and sales channels to further the expansion of our interface IP business," said Sundari Mitra, the CEO of Prism Circuits.
http://www.prismcircuits.com
http://www.mosys.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/MoSys-Acquires-Prism-Circuits-bw-15457326.html?.v=1

Apple Unveils New iPhone; Drops Price of Current 8GB Model to $99

San Francisco -- Kicking off its annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Cupertino-based Apple on Monday introduced a new model of its popular iPhone, while dropping the price of its current model to as low as $99. The new iPhone 3G S, available in the U.S. June 19, features improved speed and battery life, a 3 megapixel auto-focus camera, video recording and hands free voice control, as well as a new operating system that adds tools such as cut and paste and a landscape keyboard. The 16GB model will sell for $199 and the 32GB for $299, with a two-year commitment to AT&T. With the new release, Apple also has reduced the price of its 8GB iPhone 3G by $100 to $99. 
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/06/08iphone.html

Foster City-Based Equinix to Raise $250 Million in Debt Offering

Foster City, Calif. -- Equinix, a Foster City-based provider of data center services, said on Monday that it plans to raise $250 million through a new debt offering. The company said that it will offer convertible notes due in 2016, with underwriters able to purchase an addition al $37.5 million to cover over-allotments. Equinix said that it will use a portion of the proceeds to fund expansion opportunities. The company currently operates 42 data centers across 18 markets in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The news helped send company shares down 5.5% in Monday's trading on the Nasdaq.
http://www.equinix.com
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Equinix-Announces-Proposed-bw-15462994.html?.v=1

Obama Urges U.S. to Prepare for Friday's Digital TV Switch

Washington, DC -- With the nation's transition to all-digital TV broadcasting set to take place on Friday, President Obama has issued a final warning to the estimated 3 million U.S. households still unprepared for the switch. "I want to be clear: there will not be another delay," said Obama in a statement. The switchover initially was supposed to occur in February, but Obama worked with Congress to postpone the deadline "because it was clear that millions of Americans would have been left in the dark if the conversion had gone on as planned." Since then, the number of unprepared households -- those relying on older analog sets using antennas -- has been cut roughly in half, according to figures from Nielsen. "I urge everyone who is not yet prepared to act today, so you don't lose important news and emergency information on June 12," said Obama.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Statement-by-the-President-on-the-Transition-to-All-Digital-Programming-6-4-09/