Sacramento based Net Musuic Makers aquires My Virtual Band

It was announced today that Net Music Makers has acquired My Virtual Band, which allows bands and musicians to make music online. The combined company plans to launch a social networking website in early 2007.

The website will allow bands and solo artists to create personalized websites, join a band, collaborate, and mix tunes. The new site will also provide a multi-channel internet radio station to showcase original songs.

Jeff Tamelier, President of NMM and former guitarist for Tower of Power and Starship, stated “We formed an alliance with MVB as part of our current Battle of the Bands Contest and were blown away by the number of entries from musicians collaborating on new tunes over the web. It was so successful, we bought them.”

The Video Revolution is Here

Revver CEO interview about business models, open api, and copyright protections.

Sacramento, Ca

With Google buying video sharing site YouTube and a dozen other video sharing webites popping up everywhere, it may be safe to say that the video revolution is here. Tivo recently announced that it's Tivo service will now allow users to take their video to go on any computer or mobile device, similar to the widely acclaimed Slingbox video broadcasting device.

In an announcement today, Fox News and Yahoo Inc. on Monday announced a co-branded video product, Fox Business Now.

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) will show nine original two-minute market reports each weekday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on its Yahoo Finance section.

Soon, I hope to join this revolution with our own video segements and interview features of companies in the Sacramento region. It should be exciting.

What are you thoughts on the video explosion?

Sacramento, Technology, Video Sharing, Business

Sacramento Emerging Businesses Map

Today, I added a map from Platial to show where in the Sacramento region emerging businesses are located. If you would like to add a startup or high growth business please do. As I find time to add portfolio companies to the map the view may become more interesting as we see visually where companies are starting and locating.

International DisplayWorks, Inc. Shareholders Approve Aquisition

Roseville, CA

International DisplayWorks, Inc. (IDW) (NASDAQ:IDWK) announced that its stockholders approved Flextronics International Ltd.'s proposed acquisition of IDW at a special meeting of IDW stockholders held today.

Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, assuming the transaction closes on November 30, 2006, as currently scheduled, holders of IDW common stock will receive 0.5653 Flextronics ordinary shares for each share of IDW common stock they own at the closing of the acquisition.

Roseville, Technology, Business

Net Music Makers Announces Launch Date

Sacramento, CA
Net Music Makers.com today announced plans to launch its online collaborative website in March 2007. In preparation for its launch, NMM will make its site available in January to allow bands to create a personal website and access a virtual studio that allows public and private collaboration to create new music available for international podcast and internet radio broadcast.

Sacramento, Technology, Business

Raging Wire Expands Capacity

Sacramento, CA

Raging Wire announced it has initiated an 89,000 sq. ft. expansion of their data center due to strong market demand for high-density, Class "A" Tier IV data center floor space.

"Today’s Fortune 500 companies have recognized that designing and managing a top-tier data center is a core competency in itself. These companies are not interested in traveling down an intensive capital learning cycle to 'get this right.'" said John Hoffman, CEO of RES. "In fact, we have had several top Silicon Valley companies move out of their recently built corporate data centers because they were not able to utilize high-density blade servers due to power and cooling restrictions inherent in their internal designs.

Sacramento, Technology, Business

SacTown Magazine Premier

The premier issue of Sactown magazine hit the mailbox today. Check it out here. More to come...

SacBee Offers Local Adlinks

The Sacbee.com now offers online text adlinks from Quigo through a technology called Adsonar. Advertisers are able to bid on positions, only the top three ads show on any page, and improve their positioning through improving the click thru rate. The system provides automated ad tracking for impressions and clicks. The ads generally appear at the bottom of the page. Advertisers are able to target their ads to specific sections online such as the home page, business page, or sports page. This seems like a good way to target local online readers. The Tech Tomato is testing the system to increase traffic to our blog. We'll see how well it works.

Happy Turkey Day!

Is the Business Plan Dead for Software Startups?

Great blog post from Scott Hildebrand. I agree.

Mutant Logic Hires Experienced CEO

Circuit-design startup hires a CEO who's been there, done that

El Dorado Hills-based Mutant Logic Inc., an angel-backed startup that's developing technology to streamline circuit design, has hired a chief executive officer who has experience with another El Dorado Hills startup that landed a big payday.

Bob Bennett, the company's new CEO, was a vice president for ShareWave Inc., which made networking products for home entertainment systems. Chip-maker Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq: CRUS) of Austin, Texas, bought ShareWave in Oct. 2001 for about $92 million in stock.

Funtastic Play Centers Grow Up

Funtastic, which started locally last year, has six new centers in the works

When Jim and Suzanne Kerr opened their Funtastic Play Center in El Dorado Hills last year, parents were so impressed with the children's activities center they assumed it was part of a chain.

"Everybody was asking, 'Where did you buy the franchise?' " Jim Kerr recalled.

A year later, on the first day the Kerrs had state approval to franchise, they sold three. In the first two months of franchising, the Kerrs have sold six franchises. A seventh is pending. Locally, sites are planned for Elk Grove, Natomas and Roseville.

Elk Grove is set to open in January. February should see centers in Natomas, Roseville and Hayward. Santa Clarita and Palmdale are scheduled to open in March.

The Kerrs have a letter of intent for Asheville, N.C. They're also selling their El Dorado Hills center to a franchisee. The first half of next year, the couple will focus on developing California. Then they'll pursue Portland, Ore., Seattle and Phoenix.

Opening the Elk Grove Funtastic are Stacie Morgenstern of Elk Grove, mother of three kids, and her sister, Kirstin Toms of Lincoln, a mother of two youngsters.

Jim Kerr, co-founder of Funtastic Play Centers: “We’ve had 4,000 kids through our doors.”

KidsPark, a rival company, plans centers in Folsom, Natomas, Elk Grove, El Dorado Hills

A Bay Area franchised chain of hourly, drop-in child-care centers is adding three more local sites by next summer as part of a multi-state expansion.

KidsPark Inc., which entered this market a year ago with a center in Rocklin, expects to open in Folsom next month, Natomas in January and Elk Grove this summer. El Dorado Hills is scheduled for 2008.

Sacramento Business Journal
by Kelly Johnson
Staff Writer

Great concept for Funtastic, and a cafe makes the experience good for parents too. There is a lot of competition and some well know failures so this will be interesting to watch as the market matures.

Shari Fitzpatrick is Berry Good

In 1989, Shari Fitzpatrick opened her first retail store, Shari’s Berries Inc., in Sacramento, CA. What began as a hobby and gift idea years before soon became a passion and a booming business, resulting in four successful retail locations in the greater Sacramento area.

I can't wait to try her new delightful creations. Perfect for the holidays.

Shari has refocused her creative energies by expanding her offerings through her latest company, The Berry Factory. Considered the “Founder’s Reserve Label”, her exclusive collection has taken hand dipped berries to the next level. In addition to Shari’s original creations, The Berry Factory features a variety of innovative new selections including Cheesecake Berries, Truffle Berries, Caramel Berries, Caramel Apple Wedgies, Baseball Berries and for the holidays, Candy Cane Berries. The Berry Factory ships gourmet gifts nationwide.

Shari continues ownership of her original Shari’s Berries Company and all locations feature The Berry Factory collection.

High Tech Direct 2006 Conference

High-Tech Direct 2006
Registration Form

People around the globe are applying technology in astounding ways, and you'll hear about it at this year's High Tech Direct gathering on Thursday, December 7th from 4:00 - 7:30 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel Sacramento.

When: Thursday, December 7, 2006 4:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Where: Radisson Hotel Sacramento, 500 Leisure Lane, Sacramento, CA 95815

The featured speaker is Tony Salvador, Director of Research, with Intel's Emerging Markets Platforms Group. Intel's local teams in Cairo, Bangalore, Sao Paulo and Shanghai pursue ways to create or adapt technology for non-traditional markets.

You'll also meet three local companies at exciting stages in their growth. Hear their hopes, challenges and accomplishments when they're interviewed by two veterans from our region's tech sector. (Bryon Axt, Lava Flow Ventures and Curt Rocca, DCA Partners)

Mutant Logic: This angel-backed start-up, from within UC Davis, has exciting technology to streamline circuit design.

Digital Music Group: DMG has aggressively acquired digital distribution rights to supply online music stores.

Sierra Logic: This five-year old Roseville firm, in enterprise storage, is being acquired in a $180 million cash transaction.

PLUS extensive networking and a dinner buffet sponsored by Intel and UC Davis.

Digital Music gains 10,000 songs

The Sacramento-based digital music and video distributor signed agreements ranging from two to 10 years with the independent music labels. Digital Music (Nasdaq: DMGI - News) will distribute the tracks to online stores, as well as through ringtones, mastertones and wireless phone service.



Digital Music's new catalogs are from:

Hacienda Records, out of Corpus Christi, Texas, which includes tejano, traditional Tex-Mex, conjunto, salsa, pop and gospel music. Hacienda features Freddie Fender and other Latino artists. Evangeline Recorded Works Ltd., which contains 1960s and 1970s rock, country, Americana and roots music. Brilliant Classics, which includes classical and opera music, mostly featuring Western European orchestras and ensembles. The Loser's Lounge, which is a series of performances arranged around a single artist's catalog.

Sacramento Business Journal

Kelly Brothers - News10 Business Brief

Merger & Acquisition activity, Downtown K Street redevelopment

California Injects New Life into Stem Cell Research

Today the State of California approved for release $181 million in funding for stem cell research. This funding which was approved by the voters of California in the landmark proposition 71 will go to fund research grants across the state.

The funding today alone makes California's Institute for Regenerative Medicine the largest program in the world.

Learn more here

Professor Larry Goldstein and David Granet, M.D. discuss the basic science behind stem cell research.

In October, CIRM announced that it had received 232 applications from researchers at 36 California non-profit institutions for Scientific Excellence through Exploration and Development (SEED) Grants. SEED Grants are intended to bring new ideas and new investigators into the field of human embryonic stem cell research, and offer an opportunity for investigators to carry out studies that may yield preliminary data or proof-of-principle results that could then be extended to full scale investigations.

The SEED Grant applications will be reviewed by CIRM’s Grants Working Group later this month, with recommendations scheduled to be considered by the ICOC in February 2007. The ICOC may award up to $24 million for 30 SEED Grants at that time.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) announced that it has already received 70 applications for Comprehensive Research Grants, the second group of stem cell research grants it will award since passage of Proposition 71 in November 2004. The applications are from individual researchers at 23 non-profit institutions in California.

Will it be long before a market develops to license and commercialize the research discoveries found through these grants? I imagine researchers will be flocking to California, if not already, to take part in this cutting-edge research.

There are big implications for big pharma and biotech in California. These funds may be enough to start the next great boom for biotech and biomedical companies. The University of California, Davis will be a big recipient of some of the CIRM funding.

Techcoire recently held a BioSummit higlighting research in the area.

Is the region prepared for bio revolution? Discuss.

Unify Corp. Completes Aquisition of Gupta Technologies

Unify Corp. on Monday announced that its aquisition of Redwood City based Gupta Technologies has been completed.

Unify paid $6.1 million in cash to acquire Gupta from Halo Technology Holdings, Inc.

Unify stock closed at 24 cents, down 3 cents on the OTC Bulletin Board.

Look out King's, a Heatwave is Coming!

This reminds me of when Michael Jordan retired and they replaced him with that one guy. What's his name? If you can tell me I'll send you a free gift.

Sacramento is getting another professional basketball team.

The Fresno Heatwave of the American Basketball Association is relocating to Sacramento, where it will play at Cosumnes River College. The new Sacramento Heatwave will play its first home game Dec. 3 against the Maywood Buzz, said marketing director Carey Garcia.

Team owners Reggie Davis and Greg Chambers decided to move to Sacramento for its basketball enthusiasts. In the capital city, the team hopes to draw about 1,500 spectators per game, compared to the 200 or 300 it was drawing in college ball-focused Fresno.

Don't worry King's fans, we don't need a new arena for this team to stay.

Web reaches new milestone: 100 million sites

Are your Web surfing fingers getting tired?

There may be a reason. Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company that has tracked Web growth since 1995, says a mammoth milestone was reached during the month of October.

"There are now 100 million Web sites with domain names and content on them," said Netcraft's Rich Miller.

"Within that, there are some that are busy and updated more often, and that represents the active sites, which are at about 47 or 48 million," he said.

Bloggers, small businesses, and simplicity have combined to create the dramatic growth of sites, much of it just in the past two years.

"The bottom line is it's much easier to create a Web site nowadays, and it's much easier to make money with a Web site," said Miller.

Netcraft uses the domain name system to identify Web sites, check how many of them are in a particular location, such as what operating system and Web server software they're running, and then publishes its information in a monthly report.

There were just 18,000 Web sites when Netcraft, based in Bath, England, began keeping track in August of 1995. It took until May of 2004 to reach the 50 million milestone; then only 30 more months to hit 100 million, late in the month of October 2006.

By Marsha Walton
CNN

HP Poised to Unseat IBM

In its fourth quarter, Hewlett-Packard's business divisions pulled together to deliver solid revenue and profit growth. Watch out, Big Blue

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has taken a big step toward laying official claim to the title of world's biggest tech company. On Nov. 16 the Palo Alto (Calif.) company reported fourth-quarter earnings that, thanks to all its business units performing well, exceed the annual sales IBM (IBM) is expected to post in its fourth quarter, which ends Dec. 31. "This has been a defining year for HP," a buoyant Chief Executive Mark Hurd told reporters during a conference call. And no, he wasn't referring to the pretexting scandal that dominated headlines earlier this fall.

Instead, Hurd was discussing fourth-quarter results that put to rest many of the questions that have dogged HP in recent years. For the past decade, investors and industry analysts have wondered whether the company had become too diverse to be manageable. For a lot of those years, nearly all of the company's profits came from its printer business—or more specifically, its hugely profitable ink cartridge business. But this quarter, all of the company's main businesses more than pulled their weight.

by Peter Burrows
BusinessWeek Technology

Startup Loopt Offers Cell Phone Mapping Service

A Silicon Valley startup is announcing a new cell phone mapping service to let users know when their friends are nearby.

The so-called social mapping service by Palo Alto-based Loopt Inc. was to announce Tuesday it has teamed with Sprint Nextel Corp. 's Boost Mobile LLC, to launch the feature for the carrier's youth-oriented Boost-branded phones.

The service is free through the end of 2006 and will be $2.99 a month next year, following a 30-day free trial.

Using the phones' built-in GPS satellite technology, the Boost Loopt service could alert users whenever their friends are within a half-mile to 25 miles. The real-time tracking would only occur for those who have agreed to be located and had given the user their cell phone numbers.

At any given time, a person can temporarily cut out from being "spotted" by their friends as well.

Source : Taliyanews

Microsoft, Sprint Partner on Mobile Search and Ads

In a first of its kind deal between a major search provider and a large wireless carrier, Sprint has tapped Microsoft to provide search and pay-per-call ads to its subscribers.

The deal will make Microsoft's fledgling Windows Live Search for mobile product available to Sprint wireless users. Along with Sprint ring tones, games, screen savers and other services, Sprint users will be able to use the Windows Live Search technology to perform local area searches, according to the companies. Ingenio is providing the pay-per-call infrastructure.

“This is really the first major deal where a brand name Internet search provider and a carrier are getting in bed in a major way,” Mark Donovan, VP and senior analyst with M:Metrics, a mobile metrics research firm. “Sprint has been beaten up in the public markets recently because of their performance, but they’ve been doing very well in being a leader in data services, in getting their subscribers to do more than just talk on the phone."

Meanwhile, Microsoft is trying to show off its strength in search and compete with Yahoo and Google in the mobile space, where both competitors have recently unveiled advertising initiatives. The Sprint arrangement is Microsoft's first partner collaboration on mobile sponsored links, though the company previously offered mobile ads via its direct channel at mobile.live.com, according to a spokesperson. It has also done display advertising pilots in the US and Japan.

ClickZ News

By Matthew G. Nelson | November 17, 2006

Demand for Internet phone service a boon for Rocklin firm

Telecom company SOS expects 40% more revenue this year; has added staff

Telecommunications company SOS is on track to boost its annual revenue by almost 40 percent and has hired 12 employees as more small and midsized businesses in the Sacramento area embrace Internet-based phone service.

SOS -- formerly Special Order Systems Inc. -- has 35 employees, compared to 23 a year ago. Its annual revenue should reach $12 million this year, from $8.7 million in 2005, said Gia McNutt, the company's chief executive officer. The company has a profit goal of $4 million this year.

Sacramento Business Journal - November 17, 2006
by Melanie Turner
Staff Writer

With $16M infusion, KeyEye targets data centers for cost-effective chip

Sacramento startup KeyEye Communications Inc. is banking on the enormous rise in the use of computer data and on demand from companies to move that data more cheaply and efficiently.

"We expect a huge amount of growth in the market for high-speed," said Chuck Fox, the company's new chief executive officer, citing a recent surge in demand for data such as Web-based videos, huge files that increase the amount to be transmitted between computers.

Sacramento Business Journal - November 17, 2006
by Melanie Turner
Staff Writer

Waste Connections Adds Territory

Trash-handling company Waste Connections Inc. has agreed to acquire some Southeast U.S. assets of a unit owned by Waste Management Inc. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) said the assets, which provide waste collection, transfer and disposal services, represent about $22 million in additional annual revenue, bringing the Folsom-based company's year-to-date annualized revenue added through acquisitions to $50 million. The company had more than $800 million in revenue over the past four quarters.

The transaction is expected to close within 60 days.

In May, Waste Connections purchased franchise operations serving El Dorado County from its larger competitor, Houston-based Waste Management (NYSE: WMI), for an undisclosed amount.

Waste Connections also said it refinanced its senior credit facility, cutting it from $850 million to $750 million at a lower interest rate and extending its maturity by one year to Jan. 2012.

Sacramento Business Journal - 11:12 AM PST Friday

Why the "Arena" Ballot Measure Will Fail.

This begs the question, What Vision? I'm an optimistic person, many times overly optimistic but the truth is with this message to the voters of Sacramento County the reply will be NO, NO, NO! and NO some more. Let's be upfront. I support, yes support public financing for an arena and I cannot possibly see this passing even with 50%.

The real issue here is that the campaign for the tax measure is asking voters to approve public financing for an Arena for the BILLIONAIRE Maloof family. Wrong question!

The voters must have some hope that they will reap some reward for their vote and giving up their hard earned dollars. What if I don't want an arena or I hate the kings, unlikely but possible, or if I just don't like the location. The reality is to entice voters you must provide a smorgasboard of options like a buffet. At the buffet everyone gets to choose their meal, they can mix and match and the whole family goes home happy. If I were to go to a buffet with only one option I would walk out and never return again. So will most everyone else! That's a NO vote.

1. Let's start by showing the public how much private money is being invested into this project. If I know the Maloof's are giving up some skin I feel a lot better.

2. Guarantee that the tax will not start until the facility opens for business. Yes very hard to do but feasible. I don't want to be taxed until I can plop my rear into a seat and see the fruits of my labor.

3. Let the community provide the vision for what Sacramento County could use the money for. If the public input is not broad, open, unbiased, and completely transparent the community will feel as if they are being told what to do and the answer to that is almost always NO. The sacramento community needs to feel engaged in the process. They want to know WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME!

So based on sharethevisionsacramento.com and the question of "Will I vote yes to fund an arena for the Billionaire Maloof family,

I will ask the correct question -

WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?

Partnering for Prosperity

KVIE’s New Valley series features PfP

KVIE’s New Valley series explores the challenges and opportunities associated with ensuring sensible development, keeping pace with a diversifying economy, and protecting the environment. The upcoming New Valley series will feature Partnership for Prosperity and the outlined objectives to maintain and improve our quality of life.

The first episode is called “Clean Energy” and will discuss what makes the Sacramento Valley a potential hub for not just clean energy use, but the development of new technology and green businesses. “Clean Energy” will air on Wednesday, September 20th at 7pm. Subsequent episodes will focus on workforce development through our region’s educational opportunities, business development and retention, and civic amenities.

Sacramento Metro Chamber making progress on a regional business retention and expansion tool

Several of the PfP Business Development team strategies center on gathering feedback from businesses, identifying business priorities, and increasing awareness for business training programs and business networks. The Metro Chamber has assembled a steering committee to guide the implementation of the BizPulse business and retention tool that coincides nicely with PfP business objectives. BizPulse is a web-based portal that will give users access to various facets of the program (based upon geographic or jurisdictional footprint) including aggregate business data and analysis, feedback to track job creation, economic growth, and barriers to business, and training and consultation. The collaboration consists of a number of cities and counties, chambers, college districts, and workforce investment boards in the region.

Mark your Calendar: Gathering for the PfP Collaborative

Valley Vision has organized a gathering for the entire PfP Collaborative on Monday, December 18th from 11:30am to 1:00pm at the Sierra Health Foundation at 1321 Garden Highway. Come learn about PfP’s progress and discuss our region’s future over lunch and beverages while you enjoy the view of the Sacramento River.

Pimp my Profits

Calling all entrepreneurs, small business owners, inventors, and dreamers. The Tech Tomato would like to feature your idea, startup company, or invention. If you live in the greater Sacramento region and would like your company featured on the Tech Tomato send us an e-mail and we will consider profiling your company. Are you in the embryonic stage still tinkering in your basement or garage? Contact us and we may profile your company on this blog.

If you think you have a great business or a great idea send it to us and we will publish the best received.

Send your questions, comments, and story ideas to me geoffreysakala (at) gmail (dot) com.

Nutracea Profits from Explosive Growth

What is stabilized rice bran exactly?

NutreaCea enjoyed record revenue in the second quarter, benefiting from its merger with RiceX and increased direct-to-consumer marketing efforts -- leading to a profitable three months.

El Dorado Hills-based NutraCea (OTCBB: NTRZ), a producer of stabilized rice bran, reported $4.17 million in revenue in the three months ended June 30, a 1,290 percent increase compared to about $299,000 for the same three months last year.

The company's second-quarter net income was $399,434, or 1 cent per share, compared to a loss of $1.8 million, or 5 cents per share, in second-quarter 2005.

For the first six months of the year, revenue was $7.95 million, a 948 percent increase compared to $758,545 in revenue for the first half of 2005.

NutraCea had net income of $165,860 for the first six months of the year, a hefty improvement from its net loss of almost $2.7 million, or 7 cents per share, over the same period last year.

Wow, what a revenue jump! Way to go.

Sounds Good to DMG

Driven in part by a larger library of music available for sale, Sacramento-based Digital Music Group Inc. racked up second-quarter revenue of $840,000, more than 15 times the revenue it posted in the year-earlier period.

Even considering the second-quarter 2005 revenue of all three businesses that were combined early this year when Digital Music Group went public, revenue still rose nearly sevenfold, from $123,000.

Shares (Nasdaq: DMGI) closed at $5.80 Thursday, up 70 cents over Wednesday's closing price. The quarterly results were released after the market closed.

Maybe they can bail out the ailing Tower?

Founded in 1960 by Russ Solomon, Tower began losing customers in the late 1990s to discounters, Amazon and digital downloading, both legal and illegal.

"I'd hate to see Tower close," said Janette Fullerton, 45, of Sacramento as she shopped at the Broadway Tower on Friday. "I've been coming here for years; it's an institution."

Should somebody with the money and clout to make it happen decide to save Tower it would be a tremendous asset to this region to have a nationally known and respected retailer stay in business.

Cloning versus Cures - Whose Life is it Anyway?

Here is an interesting moral dilema. You are trapped in a burning research center with one way out and only have 30 seconds to escape with your hands full. On your lap is a newborn child and in the refrigerated storage room to your right is a box with 1,000 fertilized eggs. You can only take one, the newborn or the fertilized eggs. Which do you choose? Most people would say of course you take the baby but if life begins at conception, which many people believe, wouldn't you save the 1,000 unborn babies instead?

The cloning of embryos for generating stem cells, a process that holds promise for the future treatment of deadly diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's, is delicate yet straightforward.

It is currently illegal, because of Congress, to use federal funds for any experiment that creates or destroys a human embryo. Creating new embryos through cloning falls squarely under that ban. So does destroying an embryo to create stem cells. It's legal to do both of these things (clone and create human embryonic stem cells) but only with private funds. Meanwhile, Congress remains in a pitched battle over how much of cloning to outlaw. Some federal lawmakers want to ban all forms of cloning, while others want to ban making babies while allowing promising biomedical research that is done exclusively in the lab dish. The House has twice passed legislation that would outlaw all forms of cloning—in 2001 and again in 2003. That legislation stalled in the Senate.

Since human embryonic stem cells are not themselves embryos, however, different rules apply. The accepted view is that research with the cells doesn't fall under Congress' federal funding ban. In 2001, however, President Bush extended the ban to cover all human embryonic stem cells—making an exception only for certain cells (currently estimated at 22 stem cell lines) that had already been created by the time of his announcement. A "line," if you're wondering, is any group of cells that all come from the same original embryo.

In 2002, California became the first state to officially endorse human embryonic stem cell research, including experiments that involve cloned embryos (while banning creating a cloned baby).

The Califorinia Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was established in 2004 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative. The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was approved by California voters, and called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities.

Based on the election results, Californian's would take the box of fertilized eggs. Is that right, er correct? What would you do?

Sacramento Partnership for Prosperity Steps into Action

Partnership for Prosperity championed by Valley Vision of Sacramento releases most recent updates:

Partnership for Prosperity’s Action Teams making progress

Partnership has launched five Action Teams to identify the specific tactics, timelines, and measures of success that will be used to carry out the five strategies in our regional business plan. Here are updates for each of the Action Teams:

* The Clean Energy Technology Action Team is working to actualize an annual Clean Energy Technology conference in Sacramento slated for kick-off in February 2007. CET members aim to make our region the hub of clean energy technologies and hope the conference will attract participants from around the world. A main idea for the conference is a competition among the best minds and ideas from the field with the winners awarded prize money and investments from venture capitalists.

* The Business Development team is exploring business retention and expansion tools to support a comprehensive economic development strategy. Specifically, the Sacramento Metro Chamber has led an effort to facilitate the operation of a region-wide business retention and expansion strategy called BizPulse. The Metro Chamber is currently gauging interest from potential investors that includes cities, counties and other interested parties.

* The High School and Post Secondary education teams are aligning their work with LEED’s (Linking Education and Economic Development) new strategic plan. Champions from both Action Teams have been meeting with LEED staff and board members to determine how PFP and LEED can merge their efforts to accomplish shared regional goals for education.

* The Civic Amenities team is actively pursuing grant funding to support a bottom-up effort to identify the civic amenities most needed and supported by residents of the Sacramento region. This effort will be facilitated with the creation of a civic amenities map that shows existing and potential arts, entertainment, and cultural assets across the region.

Partnership fosters the development of our regional identity

Meanwhile, our volunteer group of top regional communications and marketing pros is in the thick of its work on a marketing plan and toolkit to support the Partnership and the region both within our borders and outside them. The group recently completed a brainstorming exercise designed to envision the region in 2010, once the Partnership’s regional business plan has been implemented. This storytelling will help shape a creative brief and eventually our “toolkit” of talking points, advertising materials, graphics and other products supporting PFP. Prosper Magazine recently included the project in an article on regional rebranding efforts.

Go Funai
Project Associate
Valley Vision

Thanks Go for the update. This week I will blog about my action plan for the region. What are your thoughts about the Partnership for Prosperity? Pie in the Sky or Past Due? Comment Here!

Online Air Fare Predictor Farecast Takes Off

Farecast seems to be a great concept which could really add value to consumer airfare buying. If it can tell me the best time to buy to save the most money, I will use it everytime I fly.

Farecast.com is the first airfare prediction website. We help online travel shoppers save money by answering the question; should you buy now or wait? Our beta version is available to travelers departing from Seattle and Boston to more than 120 domestic markets.

We are passionate about creating the best place to shop for airfare online. Our team focuses on building new product features that will help travel shoppers make more confident and smarter airfare purchase decisions. So stay tuned for future releases and be a part of the next big thing in online travel.

Have you seen other prediction markets providing useful information? Tell us about them.

Tower Digital Too Little Too Late

Tower Records trys again to pull itself out of a tailspin by resurrecting online downloads. It is sad to see a company with little vision die a slow death.

Seeking to expand its online offerings in the digital world, Tower Records enters the music downloading business todaywith a service that will initially feature more than 1.2 million tracks.

The iconic music retailer, based in West Sacramento, hopes to use its 46 years of experience in the record industry to attract customers who want to download music.

That won't be easy. Tower enters a crowded field of more than a dozen download sites dominated by the iTunes Music Store, which has sold more than 1 billion songs since it was launched in 2003 and controls more than 70 percent of the U.S. market. - Clint Swett -- Bee Staff Writer

Will Tower succeed or fail? What is your best BIG IDEA to revive the struggling music seller?

Digital Music Group Downloads Chancellor

Digital Music Group Inc., which distributes songs to online music stores, announced Monday that it has acquired Chancellor Records, a label that recorded such '50s and '60s pop stars as Frankie Avalon and Fabian.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The purchase includes some 2,000 tracks in Chancellor's library, which DMG plans to sell through download sites like Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Sacramento-based DMG said it will convert some of the songs to cellular phone ring tones.DMG's stock closed Monday at $5.06, up 42 cents on the Nasdaq National Market.

-- Clint Swett Sacramento Bee

Can you Digg it?

Web upstart Digg which displays and ranks stories based on user rankings or "diggs" unveils a new look and some expanded categories today. The previous tech only website has expanded into other categories to broaden appeal.

Based on many web analytics reports Digg is gaining ground on the NY Times and fast. With the new categories, new look and cross over appeal to a more mainstream audience Digg is preparing to become a major news source.

They even have a cool new feature called the Digg spy which allows anyone to see the rankings rise and fall in real time.

Will it be long before Google follows suit with its own newsrank technology to challenge Digg. If their current trajectory continues Digg may become a likely takeover target in the near future.

What do you think of Web news sites like Digg and Google News?

The Biggest Threat to Business and Economy is Lax Cyber Security

Just another in a long list of information security breeches.

Insurance provider American International Group has confirmed the theft of a file server and other hardware that held the personal information of approximately 970,000 potential customers.

Company officials said an intruder entered one of its Midwest offices sometime after business hours in late March and walked off with a file server and other equipment, including several laptop computers, that held the data in question.

Why are companies so careless with our data?

The AIG data loss is just the latest in a long string of high-profile incidents in which well-known companies have mishandled customer information.

Most recently, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs admitted that it had exposed the personal information of up to 26.5 million veterans when a computer was taken from an employee's home.

Other recent breaches have been reported by a regional office of the YMCA and travel site Hotels.com.

A new study from researchers at Gartner indicates that it is markedly less expensive for companies to invest in new security and encryption technologies than it is for them to respond to a data breach.

According to the analyst firm, businesses pay roughly $6 per year per user for encryption tools, or $16 per user per year for intrusion prevention software licenses, versus paying out an average of $90 per user to address problems after a breach has occurred.

Is there a trend happening here? If the bandits stole just $1,000 from each identity theft victim the total would equal $970,000,000 Almost $1 billion dollars. Is this bothersome to anyone else? Give me your thoughts.

SunEdison Bathing in the Spotlight

SunEdison founders Claire Broido Johnson and Jigar Shah have differentiated themselves by creatively packaging solar panels and reselling them to corporations. What was once unaffordable is now providing a nice return on investment for Goldman Sachs.

The company, founded in 2003, has developed a financing model that helps large companies like Whole Foods Market Inc. and Staples Inc. install rooftop solar panels without having to commit the upfront costs of installing such a system, which can be $500,000 or more.

SunEdison does so by rounding up investors such as Goldman Sachs to pay for the solar installation. The companies and government agencies that use the panels pay a fixed price for electricity for 10 to 20 years. They also get another, less-tangible benefit: the public relations boost that comes with using green energy. - Baltimore Business Journal

My only question is why are they based in Baltimore and not Sacramento? Did we miss the boat or is there still time to capture some of this market share. With an abundant amount of sunshine, high tech manufacturing facilities, and easy access to air cargo and warehousing facilities wouldn't this type of business be a great fit for Mather Field?

McClellan Park Shows the Way - Mather Field the Next to Play?

If McClellan Business Park is the model for converting a former military base into a viable community, could the same process happen at Mather Field in Rancho Cordova, Ca.

After five years of redeveloping McClellan Park, its owners announced Tuesday that they are ready to probe a red-hot commercial real estate market and find out how much they can capitalize off their investment.

This doesn't necessarily mean the property will be sold, said Larry Kelley, president of McClellan Business Park LLC, which owns and operates the former Air Force base. He and his partners would consider a restructured partnership, an investment or a purchase. - Dirk Werkman and Jon Ortiz -- Bee Staff Writers

One of the driving forces behind the redevelopment of McClellan Park was the McClellan Technology Incubator run by Oleg Kaganovich.

Also this week was an article in the Sacramento Business Journal about the tremendous residential growth of Rancho Cordova the regions youngest city.

After two decades with little residential growth, Rancho Cordova is preparing for a massive expansion. The 56,300-population city is seeing developers build and plan for 350,000 residents. - Mark Anderson Staff Writer Sacramento Business Journal

Could Mather Field in Rancho Cordova become the next McClellan Park? With some vision and strategic planning Mather Field just might become the next BIG success story for redevelopment and technology innovation in the Sac Metro region.

Where in the World is Sacramento?

About halfway between San Jose and Lake Tahoe. Click on the headline above for a regional map. Zoom in to find surrounding communities like Rancho Cordova to the east, West Sacramento to the west, Roseville to the north, and Elk Grove to the south.

Or for more detailed information take a look at the Wikipedia reference of Sacramento or the community information website for Lyon Real Estate.

Cyberstates 2006 - High Tech Industry Data in California from the AEA

This is probably the most comprehensive data on technology in the US available. The price is reasonable and the info could provide a boost to your market research. The AEA is the former American Electronics Association founded in 1943. They also have an office in Sacramento.

AeA is delighted to bring you Cyberstates 2006: A Complete State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry. This 165 page report provides you with new 2005 national data on high-tech employment, exports, and venture capital investments. Cyberstates 2006 also includes the latest available state data on employment, wages, establishments, payroll, and research and development expenditures.

The AEA is collaborating on an exciting event with SARTA soon and their website is packed with useful information and reports about technology.

Techcoire Events Connect the Sacramento HIgh Tech Community

If you haven't heard about Techcoire before today you may not be alone. It is one of the best kept secrets of the Sacramento region. This group of over 1200 technology executives, entrepreneur's, and venture capitalists is composed of the who's who in Sac Valley technology circles.

Events are planned throughout the year and this Thursday's should be a good one. Titled "Winning your first customer: Serial Enterpreneurs Panel" this event promises to share expert entrepreneurial experience and ideas on getting that first key customer.

If you are planning a technology startup, need capital, or are looking for expert opinions and advice this is the place to start.

CalPERS - Sacramento's Sugar Daddy

Davis, Ca based Central Valley Fund received a nice shot in the arm from Sacramento based CalPERS, the nations largest pension fund with over $200 billion in assets.

The Central Valley Fund will receive an additional $30 million from the California Public Employees' Retirement System, the state public pension fund said Monday.

The Central Valley Fund is a venture capital fund that targets traditional manufacturing or agricultural companies, rather than technology or start-ups. - Mark Anderson, Sacramento Business Journal

Although CVF does not fund startups or technology companies the message is clear. CalPERS is ready to invest in central valley ventures.

Sacramento is Smart, Sophisticated and Sexy

A new player in the SacMedia Market announces a Fall debut. They are so new you can't even Google them yet!

Sacramento's crowded magazine market is about to get a new entry -- a city mag called "Sactown" that, its backers say, will be as "smart, sophisticated and sexy" as the region it's covering. - Bob Shallit

Behind the new venture are a couple of magazine veterans, Rob Turner and his wife, Elyssa Lee.

I'm in love with Prosper, but maybe there is some room in my life for a Fall fling. Sactown magazine better turn up the heat and turn on the romance to woo this fickle market.

I'm looking forward to reading! How do we rate on the S-cubed factor? (Smart, Sophisticated, and Sexy)

Intelligent Life, Smart Communities and Government Funding

After watching a PBS documentary on KVIE Sacramento this afternoon on the search for intelligent life it got me thinking. Many scientists have attempted to develop a formula to predict the likelihood of intelligent life in our universe. This formula contains many variables which are not currently solvable and therefore the percentage of planets with the probability of containing intelligent life cannot be solved. For the most part we can pinpoint the conditions which will lead to intelligent life or at least the path which will lead close to it, but we are still uncertain of the research until we find at least one example.

This made me think about what factors combine to create smart communities. Now, I'm not talking about just brainpower here. I'm talking about what factors make a really great place to live, work, and play. After all that's what we all want isn't it?

So this leads me to my point. If the factors which create a really great community to live, work, and play could be defined and federal, state, and local funding were allocated based on this formula. Would the Sacramento region encourage more smart communities just like the factors which spawn intelligent life on other planets?

If funding at the federal, state, and local level were more rational and focused on encouraging the factors which help create smart communities like; increased clean energy output, jobs growth, increase in median income levels, quality of life, and education levels. Would we have more smart communities?

A simple formula:

Smart Community Score = Clean Energy Growth (5%) + Jobs Growth (4%) + Median Income Increase (2%) + Increase in Education Level (3%) X 100 = 14 + Quality of Life Index 25.4 = 39.4

1. Community C = 39.4 - 21% of the pie
2. Community F = 38.7 - 19%
3. Community A = 38.4 - 16%
4. Community D = 37.6 - 16%
5. Community B = 36.2 - 15%
6. Community E = 35.0 - 13%

The focus being on improvement. It's the same concept as pay for performance for executives, except politicians would compete for an increased share of the pie for fostering smart growth. Now there's a novel idea! Local politicians being held accountable between elections. Wouldn't this type of system foster goal based planning?

If the Sacramento region defined what an ideal community would look like and agreed to allocate regional funding based on a smart community score, would this encourage local governments to focus their time and energy on smart growth concepts, increasing quality of life, and providing better employment opportunities?

Some regional thinking like this has been fostered by Valley Vision, but is there more which can be done? What are your thoughts?

Virtual Networking and Building a Team

Weekend Wrapup

It's Saturday morning and I have decided unofficially that on the weekends I will blog about the weeks events. A summary or recap if you will about the things I learned the people I met and the general state of the Tomato. You are probably asking why is this blog called the Tech Tomato. Well Tech for technology, and Tomato because the Sac region was known for its agricultural output. And because it kinda rhymes and it's ketchy, sorry bad pun.

Clint Swett - Staff writer for the Sacramento Bee wrote in Thursday's business pages about a company called LinkedIn.com Great company, perfect for business to business networking and they have a revenue model which works. But what about Jimmy Joe Bob who wants to start a business and is looking for a way to attract team members. Well it seems to me on LinkedIn one still must network and meet others offline. Whereas with a relatively new web services called Meetup.com one can setup a virtual group, send out a few email invites and coordinate a meeting without ever leaving home.

There is a link to this service at the bottom of the page and you will see there are already 164 entrepreneur meetups in the country. I predict meetup will become the virtual town center of the future. The tools and interface are clean. They have a revenue model to sustain operations and the concept scales really well. It's so easy to use my Grandmother could find a group and join! As a group is formed members are invited and virally the group grows daily. These people invite others and you get the idea. So if I had to choose the next BIG BIG thing in social networking I would take a look at Meetup.com. I use it and am growing to love it. It seems to be a perfect fit for entrepreneurs looking to find teams or team members. Try it out.

That's all he wrote. What is your favorite social networking website?

Volcano Erupts in Sacramento

Volcano Corp. had a very successful IPO Thursday raising $52 million dollars and creating the 10th Sacramento publicly traded company.

"It's great to see a local high-tech company actually go public here versus getting acquired," said Oleg Kaganovich, chief executive of the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance.

"If Volcano stays independent, this could be another nice shot in the arm for Sacramento entrepreneurship." - Scott Lenet, managing director for West Sacramento venture capital firm DFJ Frontier

It's time to break out the bubbly. Cheers!

Intel Inside - Folsom Outside

Paul Otellini says goodbye to communications and cell phone chip units in Folsom. In the past few years Intel has faced mounting competition from Advanced Micro devices for PC based microprocessors and continuing losses from its communication and cell phone chip businesses. These losses and a new CEO have compelled Intel to review its money losing divisions. Intel simply has not been able to compete in markets dominated by companies like Broadcom and Texas Instruments. Intel employs some 7,000 people at its plant in Folsom, CA.

"Ignore speculation about Intel's future direction and stay focused on business." - Paul Otellini, CEO to Intel employees in a company webcast

If you are at the Intel plant in Folsom and working in one of these divisions my advice would be to go straight to the online employment websites, do not pass go, you won't collect $200. Takeovers are always ugly and people always get fired. You are up for sale. Don't fool yourself. Head for the door now. I'm joking, sort of.

Anyone looking for a few good engineers?

Volcano Erupts with Less Vigor than Expected

Volcano Corp., a Rancho Cordova medical-device maker, had expected to launch its initial public offering of stock early Thursday. Today it was announced that Volcano Corp. has dropped its offering price to $8 a share, a move that could cut as much as $30 million from the proceeds of the IPO.

The lower share price still could pump close to $55 million into the Rancho Cordova, CA company. Volcano Corp. is expected to trade on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol VOLC.

Courtesy Adam Weintraub
Sacramento Business Journal

Sacramento left with Cold Spots after MobilePro WiFi Blanet is Pulled

With all the discussion about the MobilePro pullout of the WiFi deal with the City of Sacramento it made me think maybe there is a better solution than blanketing the entire city with WiFi.

MobilePro Corp, which won a contract from the City of Sacramento last year to set up a wireless broadband network downtown, says it is withdrawing from the project after the city tried to change the terms of the deal.

The Bethesda, Md.-based company said Friday that Sacramento now wants a high-speed wi-fi network that would be free to all users and supported by advertising. MobilePro had wanted to charge for access for higher broadband users, but make slower, limited bandwidth available for free.

Wouldn't it make sense to focus on providing WiFi in areas where Sacramentans will actually use it like large public places such as the airport, shopping malls, cafe's, libraries etc.

The whole deal begs the question "Do we need a WiFi blanket over the whole city or just the HOT spots?"

Any thoughts?

Silicon Valley and and the Sacramento Region

Read an interesting essay from Paul Graham on the ingredients for a successful Silicon Valley Souffle. "How to be Silicon Valley", May 2006.

To sum it up Paul says you need a few key ingredients; nerds, rich people, world class universities, the right attitude (fun & business friendly), and a youthful culture to attract entrepreneurs.

"Like any good recipe, leaving out one key ingredient can turn a gourmet meal into dog food."

Does this sound like the Sacramento region? Do we have any/all of these ingredients?

Gim'me your thoughts. Comment on this article.

Sacramento Ranks 30th in America's Smartest Cities

Sacramento ranks 30th in the Business Journal's ranking of America's Smartest Cities.

Which community boasts the highest concentration of brainpower -- and therefore can claim to be America's smartest big city?

The answer is Seattle, according to a new study by Bizjournals.com.
An analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data puts Seattle's No. 1 ranking in perspective:

-- Forty-seven percent of Seattle's adults hold bachelor's degrees, the strongest proportion of college-educated residents in any big city. It's nearly double the U.S. average of 24.4 percent.
-- Seattle is second to Washington, D.C., in the share of people with advanced diplomas. Twenty-one percent of Washington's adults have earned graduate or professional degrees, followed by Seattle at 17 percent. The national average is 8.9 percent.

San Francisco and Austin are the runners-up in the Bizjournals.com study, which ranks the relative brainpower of 53 large communities.

Rounding out the top 10 are Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Charlotte, San Diego, Washington, Portland, Ore., and Albuquerque. (Click here for profiles of the 10 brainpower leaders.)

Reprint from BizJournals.com

Digital Music hires investor-relations firm

Digital Music Group Inc. has hired its first investor relations firm, the latest move in its evolution as a publicly traded company.
Digital Music Group (Nasdaq: DMGI), a content owner and distributor of digital music, has hired Allen & Caron Inc. as its investor relations firm. The Irvine-based company's clients include Align Technology and Top Tankers Inc.

"As a newly public company operating in a rapidly growing and ever-changing segment of the entertainment industry, we realize the importance of clear, consistent and continual communication with each of our constituents, including our investors ...," Digital Music CEO Mitchell Koulouris said in a statement.
Digital Music of Sacramento buys digital rights to sound recordings, such as tracks from Johnny Cash to Kool & The Gang, digitizes, formats and distributes them for sale to consumers through online music retailers, such as Apple iTunes and Yahoo! Music.

Shares of Digital Music were down 17 cents to $6.03 in mid-day trading Monday, off of its 52-week high of $10.42. The stock debuted on Nasdaq at $9.75 on Feb. 2, but dropped 50 cents during its first day of trading.

Reprinted from the Sacramento Business Journal

Tech Tomato Launches Sacramento Region Technology and Entrepreneurial Blog

This is the first post of the Tech Tomato from Sacramento, CA and surrounding communities to engage local entrepreneurs, tech geeks, venture capitalists, angel investors, and others in discussion focused on the Sac Metro region start-up culture.

Hopefully this will be a place to get a quick weekly dose of what's happening in the Sac Metro region start-up community. I would like to profile some local entrepreneur's and start-up companies and share news and updates from around the region.

If you have a story idea, news item, or interesting rumor send it to me and I will share the most intersting items each week. As I find new and interesting start-ups or technologies I will post those here as well. Technology, Biotechnology, Clean Energy, Software, and Web technologies are all fair game.

Send your questions, comments, and story ideas to me geoffreysakala (at) gmail (dot) com.