SOCALTECH, LLC

The New York Times has a lengthy article on the current trials and tribulations of cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce, who got his start as part of the Los Angeles startup community. In The Unraveling of a Crypto Dream, the New York Times says that Pierce is now "mired in legal disputes and fighting with his business partners" in Puerto Rico, where he moved--for tax reasons--after gaining a fortune from his cryptocurrency efforts.

Irvine-based University Lab Partners said this morning that it has named the winners of its annual pitch competition. The nonprofit, wet-lab incubator said it had over 40 applications for this year's pitch competition, and named

Santa Barbara-based satellite developer Umbra says it has sent two more of its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites into space on a SpaceX rocket. According to the company, it sent a new pair of satellites, Umbra-09 and Umbra-10 into space on August 16th, on the Transporter-11 Rideshare mission. Umbra's satellites used a technique called Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to image things on earth from space. The technology can look through clouds and is particularly well suited for detecting structures and objects made of metal or other hard substances on earth -- which is particularly useful for both government and multinational corporations. The technology has an advantage over normal, visual spectrum satellites as images can be obtained even during cloudy or stormy weather, and at night.

In a sign of the eagerness to jump on the artificial intelligence bandwagon, Simi Valley-based Chatsworth Products

The Gould School of Law the law school at the University of Southern California, says it is adding a new certificate on Law and Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to the school, the certificate wil

Irvine-based voicemail services provider YouMail said this morning that it has inked a partnership to keep people from being hit by deepfaked artificial intelligence (AI) calling campaigns. According to YouMail, it has partnered with Pintrop, to identify and stop calls utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) or deepfake technologies targeting the public to interfere with US elections. Financial details of that partnership were not announced. The company said Pindrop's "Pulse Inspect" tool is being used to detect AI-generated speech in phone calls gathered from the 20 million phone numbers that YouMail's sensor network collects and analyzes.

Santa Barbara-based Sonos says that it can't bring back its old app, despite the huge customer backlash over the company's app design, according to its CEO, Patrick Spence. The company has been suffering from major customer complaints, major sales impacts, and delays of product launches after a failed redesign of the app in May. The app foul-up has resulted in layoffs and lowered sales projects for Sonos, and has left users unable to use their existing speakers or even add new hardware, in many cases. Sonos makes whole-home speaker systems which (usually) allow users to stream music from the Internet to their home.

Irvine-based Fisker Automotive will be liquidated, in an an agreement with creditors on Friday

Belgium-based Aerospacelab, a manufacturer of satellites, said it has set up a new facility in Torrance. According to the company, the new facility will increase the production of its satellite technology. The company also has an office--but not manufacturing--in Palo Alto. Aerospacelab said its new facility has 35,000 square feet of high-bay and cleanroom environments, and has the ability to produce an average of 2 satellites per week on a single shift schedule.

Westlake Village-based Bidpath, which develops technology for the auction industry, said it has named David Brindley as its new CEO. Brindley joined the company in 2016 as Managing Director (UK). According to the company, Brindley takes over from founder and Executive Chairman, Adam Alexander. Bidpath says it provides its technology to over 850 auctioneers, retailers and manufacturers in more than 30 countries, offering up online live, timed, hybrid, and sealed bid auctions, as well as e-commerce functionality.