Los Angeles-based Geni , the Web 2.0 online genealogy and family tree web site, has rolled out a number of updates today, including a bundling of its virtual gifts with its "Pro" subscription. According to Geni, all Geni Pro subscriptions now include unlimited virtual gifts, the firm's virtual items which can be sent to other members of the service. The gift items include special graphics and messages around birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and other events. Geni had launched an effort to generate revenue on the site through virtual gifts back

Last month we Launched Los Angeles Tech and in the announcement we provide the Hot List for the first half of January 2009. When I drill down on that term, you can see why with posts like: Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Lops A Third Of Company THQ Lays Off 100 Employees, Closes San Diego Office Citrix Cuts 10 Percent; Santa Barbara Hit And it's also interesting to see what geographies are being associated with "Layoffs" more often than others: Layoffs Woodland Hills Layoffs San Diego Layoffs Santa Monica Layoffs Los Angeles I guess this is a sign

Formerly, he was Managing Director of both Product Management and of Business Development at Los Angeles Times Interactive. an enterprise social networking platform provider located in Los Angeles, CA. He has been an instructor in UCLA Extension for 9 years, and is a frequent contributor to various online publications. Michael Goldstein, CEO of Stun Media Michael Goldstein is the Chief Executive Officer & Strategic Just a quick note that I'll be moderating a Technology Council Event : Social Networking as a Business Strategy May 19, 2009 - Culver City Social networking media are used on a daily basis to grow businesses and expand career opportunities.

Yammer, a Twitter-like spinout out of high profile Los Angeles genealogy firm Geni.com, has scored the top prize at the TechCrunch50 awards in San Francisco. Yammer offers instant messaging focused on internal corporate communications, and is the result of work by engineers at Geni. Geni is the online, Web 2.0-style genealogy and social networking web site headed up by former PayPal founder David Sacks; the firm READ MOR

Los Angeles-based genealogy and family networking site Geni has rolled out a new "Family Finder" feature, the firm said Friday, allowing users to import addresses from Microsoft Outlook, web email programs like Google's Gmail and Yahoo, or other sources. According to Geni, the new feature will look through your address book and select anyone that the company's software thinks is related to you. The new feature also allows Geni users to invite other contacts to share photos, videos, and events. Geni operates a Web 2.0

Los Angeles-based Geni , the online family tree and genealogy web site started by David Sacks, was hit by unexpected downtime Tuesday and today, the firm told its users Wednesday afternoon. According to Geni, it had "network difficulties" starting the morning of Tuesday, October 20th, with the firm taking the site down at 3:45PM to investigate. The company said it managed to get the service back online at 4:30am Wednesday. No reason for the downtime was given, however, the downtime at Geni paralleled a similar, more widely reported downtime issues at sister

Los Angeles-based Geni, an online genealogy and social networking site, upgraded the firm's services last night, adding new statistics features and gift accounts. According to the firm, it now allows users to view statistics on profiles, and has added the ability of users to give "Geni Pro" accounts as a gift to relatives. Geni allows users to create online, Web 2.0-style family trees, The gift accounts will cost $50, and allow recipients to gain access to the site's additional features. READ MORE>> ...Tags:

Los Angeles-based Geni.com said today that the firm has enhanced its virtual gifts feature, the ability of the users of the family tree site to send each other birthday greetings and other gifts on the site. According to Geni, it has completely revised its gifts, adding better quality graphics, more selection, and a focus on holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and other special events. Geni also said that it has connected its birthday and anniversary features on its site to allow people to include virtual gifts with those greetings, add their own personalized messages to those gifts.

Los Angeles-based startup Knowledge Genie is launching a new, online site today which allows people to publish, share, and sell their knowledge online. The startup, headed by authors and husband-and-wife team Milo and Thuy Sindell, allows book authors and other experts to follow some basic steps to take their expertise and convert it into an online, organized knowledge base--which the firm calls a "genie." The new startup is the outgrowth of work the Sindells did for author and leadership consultant Marshal Goldsmith, powering Goldsmith's interactive web app called the Marshall Goldsmith Professional Success Systems.

Los Angeles-based Geni was one of the firms hit by a fire in Seattle, which took down the firm's payment processor, Authorize.net on Friday. According to Geni, due to the issue with Authorize.net, it was unable to process payments for the firm's virtual gifts and subscriptions on due to the downtime. Geni was just one of thousands of companies hit by the downtime at Authorize.net, which is a major provider The firm was back up on Friday afternoon. Authorize.net apparently was unable to switch over to a backup site when the fire at Seattle's Fisher Plaza occurred.