California Lawmaker to Hold Hearings on Goodmail »»
Majority Oppose Government Monitoring of Search Activity »»

Roland:  Celebrates 25 Years with a #1 Ranking
Roland DG Corporation, parent of Roland DGA, where Bob Curtis is CEO, is celebrating its 25th anniversary of innovation and leadership in the digital printing, engraving and product modeling industries. Roland achieved record revenues and profits for 2005 and currently leads in sales among manufacturers of wide format inkjet printers in the durable graphics industry.  Also, Roland DGA's MPX-70 Photo Impact Printer is now Roland BizTools® Certified, making it a complete solution that comes with everything required to start and run a successful business, ideal for jewelry stores, mall kiosks and photography studios. >>

Telelogic:  Acquires I-Logix, Debuts New Product
Telelogic AB, where Scott Raskin is COO, has acquired I-Logix, the fastest growing supplier of modeling tools for development of embedded applications. Now, Telelogic can offer a comprehensive modeling solution for all types of development of advanced software and systems.  Meanwhile, Telelogic has released its new EA QuickStart program, which offers businesses and government agencies a custom-designed package of tools and services to help kick off a new enterprise architecture program or jumpstart an existing project. >>

Tanner:  Provides Complete Design Flow
Tanner EDA, where John Tanner is CEO, announced its new S-Edit design environment for schematic capture. For the first time, users can get an integrated suite of affordable Tanner analog and mixed-signal design capture, simulation, layout, design rule checking and verification tools. S-Edit also supports legacy tools and data to preserve existing investments. >>

NetworkD:  Extends Global Reach with HDI
NetworkD, where Ashley Leonard is CEO, has announced a new partnership with Help Desk Institute Europe naming NetworkD as the exclusive provider of HDI services in France, Belgium and Switzerland. Joint offerings will include Help Desk best practice training and certification, ITIL® training and certification, as well as participation in local events; all of which will be designed for native French speaking IT support professionals. >>

NDC:  New Automatic Profile Control Electronics  
NDC Infrared Engineering, where Bromley Beadle is President, has released a newly designed electronics package to control auto-profile capable extrusion dies. The new hardware provides full backwards software compatibility with NDC’s previous APC control cabinets, so that profile control upgrades can easily be made to any legacy NDC system. >>

Cornerstone:  Real-Time Reports on Workforce Performance
Cornerstone OnDemand, where Adam Miller is CEO, has released Dashboard Reporting, which gives high-level executives and managers the ability to create, manage and view real-time report summaries on employee development and performance activity. The individualized dashboard can be created to display only activities of interest, and can report on both enterprise-wide and for individual business units. >>

The Cannery:  Project Nominated for Awards
The Cannery, where Doug Textor is CEO, worked with Buena Vista Home Video on its DVD set of " Lost: The Complete First Season," which was nominated for two 2006 DVD Exclusive awards, voted on by people who work in the entertainment industry. >>

Alvaka:  Develops Performance Measures/Grid for New Hires
To streamline their search for a field-centric Senior Network Engineer and a Senior Network Operations Center Engineer, Alvaka Networks, where Oli Thordarson is CEO, has developed an elegant position description, Performance Measurement Criteria and grid-based ranking system that's helping the company evaluate candidates better and faster. Meanwhile, please refer any possible candidates! >>

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Cost of Cybercrime Overtakes Physical Crime
Nearly 60% percent of U.S. businesses believe that cybercrime is more costly to them than physical crime, reports a recent IBM survey of companies in healthcare, financial, retail and manufacturing. The costs resulting from cybercrime are primarily from lost revenue, loss of current and prospective customers and loss of employee productivity. The survey reveals that 84% of IT executives of U.S. businesses believe that organized criminal groups possessing technical sophistication are replacing lone hackers in the world of cybercrime. 75% believe the threat from unprotected systems in developing countries is a growing challenge. 74% perceive that threats to corporate security are now coming from inside the organization. 61% believe it is the joint responsibility of both the Federal and local law enforcement agencies to help combat organized cybercrime. 83% believe they have safeguarded themselves against organized cybercrime, and are responding in a number of ways: *Upgrading virus software - 73%; *Upgrading their firewall - 69%; *Implementing intrusion detection/prevention technologies - 66%; and *Implementing vulnerability/patch management system on network - 53%. (Market Wire, 3/14/06)

AOL & Warner to Launch Broadband TV Network
America Online and Warner Bros. are collaborating to launch a new, broadband television network, In2TV. It will offer free, on-demand download of TV shows, including Warner's historical archive of classics. The service will be available exclusively through AOL's site, and will also include interactive features and viral videos. (socalTECH.com TechNews, 3/15/06)

Teen Generation Dubbed "SuperConnectors"
American teens' stronghold over technology in the 1990s has given way to a worldwide class of "SuperConnectors," according to a research report published by Energy BBDO. 56% of teens are SuperConnectors; they have an active lifestyle and use multiple means of connectivity at any given time. Social networks play a large role with this group. Family communication takes place in-person, though friendships spread out over the Web and other enabled devices. SuperConnectors are resistant to traditional advertising messages. To reach them, strategies include contact on their terms, in ways that allow teens to communicate with each other and personalize what they're receiving. Communication should empower the group and provide optimism. (ClickZ Demographics, 3/10/06)

Mobile Game Revenues Set to Surge
International Data Corporation foresees U.S mobile game revenues reaching $1,500 million by 2008, a significant jump from 2005's $600 million. According to M:Metrics, Motorola's RAZR is currently the most popular gaming handset, with 305,588 mobile gamers reporting that they have downloaded a game onto that device. (eMarketer Daily, 3/13/06)

USC Appoints Head of Commercialization Institute
USC has named a new director to head its new Mark and Mary Stevens Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization -- Krisztina Holly, former executive director of MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. The institute is focused on commercialization of USC technology, and is expected to have a staff of 25 within two years. Holly will reach out to venture capital and angel investors locally, as well as work with entrepreneurs and others at the earlier stages of technology transfer. (socalTECH.com TechNews, 3/9/06)

TECHNOLOGY & GOVERNMENT

California Lawmaker to Hold Hearings on Goodmail
Concerned that America Online's plan to implement the Goodmail certification system would result in a two-tier e-mail world, California Senator Dean Florez is holding a public hearing on the issue, tentatively on March 28. AOL's plan would allow permission-based e-mail senders certified by Goodmail to bypass spam filters and obtain a special "trusted" icon in AOL users' inboxes. Their messages would also have images and links activated by default. Senders would pay "a fraction of a cent" per message for this type of delivery. AOL plans to keep its whitelist and enhanced whitelist programs, and has said it would help non-profits with deliverability free of charge. Yahoo! has also announced plans to work with Goodmail. As for legislation, Florez -- who is Chairman of California's newly-formed Senate select committee on e-commerce, wireless technology and consumer-driven programming -- says his office is looking into whether an outright ban of a Goodmail-style accreditation system in California would be a possible legislative option. Barring that, he says he's mulling charging AOL a "public goods charge," a tax of sorts that would penalize the company for "inconveniencing" consumers in California. Florez says public utilities are required to pay such charges. (ClickZ News, 3/15/06)

Majority Oppose Government Monitoring of Search Activity
On January 18, 2006, the Bush Administration asked a federal judge in San Jose to order Google to turn over records of searches conducted by users. It subpoenaed a "random sampling" of one million Internet addresses accessible through Google's search engine, and another random sampling of one million search queries submitted to Google in a one-week period. So far, Google has refused to comply. Meanwhile, in a University of Connecticut survey of 800 U.S. adults, 50% said search companies should not comply with the government's request, while 44% say the companies should. When asked in the opposite way, though, whether or not they supported government monitoring of individual search records, the outcome was more clear: 65% of Americans oppose government monitoring of ordinary Americans' search behavior, compared with 30% who support it. Also, 60% of respondents oppose companies permanently storing the search behavior of their customers. Currently, 71% of U.S. Internet users utilize search engines at least once a week, 39% utilize them at least once daily, and 23% utilize them more than once a day. (eMarketer Daily, 3/15/06)