57.5 F
Laguna Hills
Monday, Mar 18, 2024
-Advertisement-

Toshiba Teams With Best Buy on Computer for Kids

The PC division of Irvine-based Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., part of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., has teamed up with the biggest electronics retailer to design and market a laptop for kids.

Toshiba created what it called the first “kid-centric” laptop design for sale exclusively at Best Buy.

It’s a full-size laptop made for kids ages five to 10 years old. Features include a wipeable keyboard, software that polices Web browsing and a load of kid-friendly video games and movies.

Toshiba designed the specialized PC after surveying parents.

“The laptop has traditionally been a device conceived and built for adults, and devices currently being marketed to kids are either netbooks or toy-based computers,” said Jeff Barney, vice president and general manager at Toshiba America’s digital products division. “As a result of this collaboration with Best Buy, we have made a product that provides the right measure of fun and entertainment for children while meeting the computing needs and security concerns of their parents.”

The laptop hit store shelves at the end of September and sells for about $500.

Adham’s Hedge

I’ve ferreted out the whereabouts of Blizzard Entertainment Inc. cofounder and former president and chairman Allen Adham.

Adham parted ways with Irvine-based Blizzard, the top maker of PC video games, back in 2004.

He’s now managing a hedge fund out of a small office in Irvine.

Adham is the principal at Tenfold Capital Management Inc., which runs what he called a “quantitative” hedge fund with some $40 million in assets.

He didn’t give much more away.

“Broadly, we are a multistrategy fund,” he said. “We invest in different asset classes all around the world.”

Some of them are U.S. and global emerging market stocks, real estate investment trusts, currencies and commodities, Adham said.

Adham, 44, has “no formal ties to Blizzard.” There were no hard feelings about his departure, he said.

“I had known for a long time that it was what I was going to do next,” he said.

It turns out that crunching code for investing isn’t much different than crunching code for video games, Adham said.

“Whether you are writing computer programs to build artificial intelligence for a game like ‘StarCraft,’ or writing computer programs for investing in the stock market, they are actually pretty related,” he said.

Adham started Blizzard’s predecessor in the early 1990s with buddies Frank Pearce and Mike Morhaime.

Morhaime is Blizzard’s chief executive. Pearce is executive vice president of product development.

Predixion Funding

Aliso Viejo-based Predixion Software Inc., a startup maker of software that crunches data to come up with projections, tacked on another $5 million in venture capital to its first series of funding for a total of $8.3 million, according to a report from technology news website Socaltech.com.

Predixion’s software, which works with Microsoft Corp.’s Excel and PowerPivot, is designed to be used by customers in healthcare, marketing and financial services, among others.

The funding came from Santa Monica-based Palomar Ventures. Existing investors include Corona del Mar’s Miramar Venture Partners and others that are unnamed.

The company has 10 workers here and maintains a development office in Washington state.

Its founders include Chief Executive Simon Arkell and a trio of former executives from Aliso Viejo-based software company Datallegro Inc., which in 2008 was acquired by Microsoft for $275 million

Lineup Changes

A slew of local tech companies recently have hired executives or promoted existing ones.

• Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp., a maker of electronics that speed up the flow of data on networks, tapped Jimmy Yam, a storage industry veteran from EMC Corp., as its new vice president of sales for the Asia Pacific region.

• Quest Software Inc., the Aliso Viejo-based maker of business software, said it recently hired Michael Sotnick as vice president of worldwide channels and alliances. The company also hired Kevin Norlin as vice president and general manager of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

• Irvine’s Specific Media Inc., which aims to automate endorsements for advertisers, promoted Jon Schulz to executive vice president. He most recently was senior vice president of global category development and had previously worked at Ford Motor Co.

• Irvine’s Printronix Inc., a maker of industrial printers, appointed former Palm Inc. executive Sen-Yuan “Sandy” Ro to an operations role.

He’s set to head Printronix’s global supply chain and worldwide manufacturing in California, China, Holland, Mexico and Singapore. Ro replaces C. Victor Fitzsimmons, who is set to retire after serving at the company for more than 20 years.

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-