There are some very cool new features being released all the time as part of the software that powers this system. So here's the Hot List for 1/1/2009 - 1/15/2009 Top 5 Posts The 7 Ways to Get Traffic on the Web Why You Need To Lead A Tribe - Seth Godin LA Gets Dugg, Hammered, Screwed How To Get The World Excited About Your Business –The James Siminoff Interview Viral analytics and metrics - go viral young startup Top 20 Keywords SEO Metrics Marketing Social Media Alelo Google Yahoo Mahalo MySpace Tech Coast Angels

San Diego-based VMIX , a provider of software for managing online video, said this morning that the firm has signed on automotive brand Scion. VMIX is venture backed by JK&B Capital and ATA Ventures, Mission Ventures and Enterprise Partners. Tags: vmix scion online video softwar Financial impact of the win was not disclosed. VMIX said that Scion will launch a new web site, www.ScionAV.com , using the firm's media management and delivery tools.

San Diego-based ID Analytics , a provider of software used for detecting identity fraud and risk, disclosed today that the firm has added a new family of products focused on tapping information not found in typical public records or credit bureaus. ID Analytics is venture backed by Investor Growth Capital, Canaan Partners, Trinity Ventures, and Mission Ventures. According to the firm, its new ID Network Attributes products use information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, reported identity fraud, and other information to detect possible identity theft.

San Diego-based ID Analytics , a developer of identity and risk management software for the financial and other industries, said Monday that it has hired on Jim Pathman as the firm's new Chief Information Officer. Mission Ventures, and Trinity Ventures READ MORE>> ...Tags: Tags: analytics software banking financial executiv Pathman joins the firm from Lehman Brothers, where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the investment bank's Small Business Finance Division. According to ID Analytics, Pathman is managing the firm's technical

RotoHog has previously raised funding from Allen & Company, DFJ DragonFund, Mission Ventures, and SCP Worldwide. Tags: rotohog venture capital online fantasy sports softwar Los Angeles-based Rotohog , a developer of online fantasy sports games, has raised $2.0M in a new round of funding, according to a regulatory filing from the firm today.

Pasadena-based Big Stage Entertainment , a developer of 3D avatar creation software, has released new software today which allows users of the popular Skype voice calling application to lip synch spoken words through a photo-realistic avatar. Big Stage said its new beta software-- Blabber for Skype --is a free, plug-in for Skype's internet phone system, and works with avatars created in Big Stage using user provided digital photos of themself. Phil Ressler, Big Stage's CEO, said that the firm is looking to also deploy similar voice-sync capability to video games, virtual worlds, virtual conferencing, and social networking sites like Facebook.

The company is venture backed by ATA Ventures, Enterprise Partners, JK&B Capital, and Mission Ventures. San Diego-based VMIX, a provider of video publishing tools for web publishers, said today that the firm has shuffled its executive staff and delivered a new version of its VMIX Player. According to the firm, the moves come as it goes into an "aggressive expansion" phase.

SodaHead, which is venture backed by Mohr Davidow Ventures, Mission Ventures, and the Tech Coast Angels, as well as angel investor Ron Conway, recently swizzled the site into a "social news" site, where people can debate and discuss breaking news and topics. Tags: sodahead twitter facebook yahoo software integration new Los Angeles-based SodaHead.com , an online site focused on a combination of news discussion and questions and answers, announced today that the firm has connected the site to Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo. According to the site, it has added

One of the big, open source successes in both Southern California and the software world was Gluecode Software , which was based in Los Angeles and acquired by IBM in 2005. Adam also had a stint at Mission Ventures, and ran worldwide sales for open source middleware at IBM. We caught up with Webtide to learn more about the firm's open source web server software, Jetty. Where One of the firm's co-founders, Adam Lieber , is now the founder and CEO of Webtide (www.webtide.com), which is also based here. Where does Webtide fit into the software world?

Lake Forest-based Nexiant , a developer of materials management software tools, announced this morning that it has named Michael Aghajanian to its board. Nexiant's software-as-a-service is used to control, management, and optimize industrial supply chains. The firm is backed by Argentum Group, Forrest Binkley & Brown, Innocal, Inverness Capital Partners, Mission Ventures, and Omnicell. ...Tags: Aghajanian was most recently CEO of supply chain firm PRTM, and also was founder of The Performance Measurement Group. Nexiant said that Aghajanian has over 25 years