3ones

Social gaming startup Playdom is putting this past falls $43 million funding round to quick work lately. The San Francisco company is investing $5 million in Argentina-based social gamer MetroGames as part of the South American companys first round. The investment comes a barely two weeks after Playdom acquired Offbeat Creations, the developer of several Facebook-based titles, including dice game Super Farkle.

San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: LGND) said today that its partner, GlaxoSmithKline, has won clearance to start marketing a new drug for a platelet deficiency in Europe. The treatment, eltrombopag (Revolade), is for patients for idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), a rare bleeding disorder in which the immune system attacks platelet cells that help people form clots. The drug, discovered by Ligand and developed by GSK, was approve...

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Plenty of ink has been devoted over the years about how San Diegos biotech family tree can be traced back to Hybritech. The company was born in biotechs halcyon days in the 70s, and it quickly became the magnet for young scientific and business talent in San Diego. After Eli Lilly bought the place for more than $400 million in 1986, many of the young turks went on to plant seeds at new ventures all around San Diego and other biotech hubs around the wor...

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Mark Cuban and Avner Ronen met in person for the first time just before their Pay TV vs. Internet debate here at South by Southwest Interactiveabout 20 minutes before their session was interrupted by a fire alarm. But they argue like a married couple thats been together for 20 years, complete with sharp barbs. Thats because the debate isnt new: they started that drill online a year ago and neither has budged as best I can tellif anything, their attitudes are more entrenched. HD Net founder Cuban believes in...

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Local newspapers may actually have an easier time charging for content than national and international news brands like the New York Times (NYSE: NYT). And whats the biggest threat to paid music? Well, probably not piracy. These were among the assertions by panelists on paidContent2010s The Truth About Subscriptions, who included Steve Brill, co-founder of Journalism Online, David Hyman, CEO of MOG, and Jeff Price, president and publisher of The Sporting News. Price also offered some details on his new subs...

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Tremor Media: Mark Pinney has been promoted to COO from CFO. He joined Tremor Media two years ago, having come from AOLs Platform-A (NYSE: AOL). Earlier, he was CFO and chief privacy officer for Tacoda, also an AOL property.

TVGuide.com: Christy Tanner has been appointed GM, responsible for the companys strategy and day-to-day leadership. She previously was SVP of marketing and editor-in-chief for TVGuide.com. Prior to joining the company, Tanner was director of business development and marketing for Newsw...

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A few years ago, news articles in Business Week, Nature, and elsewhere described a veritable stampede among big pharmaceutical companies like Roche, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and GlaxoSmithKline to work with contract research organizations in China and India.

As it turns out, some of San Diegos smallest biotech startups have been doing the same thing.

The reasonfor big and small drug development companies alikeis that the scientific capab...

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Things were hopping over the past week in San Diego. Get into the rhythm here.

San Diegos West Wireless Health Institute named Donald Casey chief executive officer. Casey was formerly worldwide chairman of Johnson & Johnsons comprehensive care group. The Institute was founded last year with a $45 million gift from telemarketing and communications entrepreneurs Gary and Mary West.

Tocagen raised nearly $7.8 million in a Series D round that began Fe...

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1. China's Cyberposse (NY Times) -- is vigilante justice ok if the cause is right? Is it okay if there wouldn't be justice without it? Does the end justify the means? Many interesting questions raised by this large-scale Internet-based "human-flesh-search" in China. In the future we are all 4chan. (via waxy, who also recommended this article on the same subject)
2. Questioning "Born Digital" (The Economist) -- an interesting collection of healthy skepticism about how the "born digital" folks will change ever...

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I just got interesting email from Amazon: the Colorado government recently enacted a law to impose sales tax regulations on online retailers [...] We and many others strongly opposed this legislation, known as HB 10-1193, but it was enacted anyway. Regrettably, as a result of the new law, we have decided to stop advertising through Associates based in Colorado. We plan to continue to sell to Colorado residents, however, and will advertise through other channels, including through Associates based in other s...

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No need to duck out of work early, now you can watch March Madness games live over your iPhone, and for the first timeanywhere over AT&Ts 3G network.

The application, which is expected to be available Monday on iTunes, will cost $9.99twice as much as last years version that was limited wi-fi networks. Rob Gelick, the SVP and GM of CBS (NYSE: CBS) Mobile, expects the demand to be there for live streaming video: Last year, we were the first to do a live sporting event with the March Madness app, and since the...

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Apples iPad made its TV advertising debut at the Oscars just now. Heres the clip (via Engadget and Alley Insider):

Disney (NYSE: DIS) says it has reached an agreement in principle with Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) that recognizes the fair value of ABC7 with deal points that we expect to finalize with Cablevision. Translation: Cablevision subs are watching the Oscars after all. The agreementwhich Cablevision didnt even mention in its terse statementcame more than 19 hours after Disney shut off the signal to WABC for some 3.1 million New York-area subs.

WABC explained: Given this movement, we’re pleased to announce that ABC7...

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