California Business

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- President and CEO Frank Manley of PMI Financial, a provider of ATM (Automated Teller Machine) service with contractual second party cash advance solutions for the gaming industry, announced today a new multi-year contract with Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort, a Port Madison Enterprise and an agency of the Suquamish Tribe.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Barbara Bickham is the wizard behind the curtain and is creating digital media magic at TechGenii, Inc. And, as a result, Entrepreneur Magazine recently recognized her as an expert in the field of digital media.

FRESNO, Calif. -- F & M Tool and Plastics Inc., in Leominster Mass., a molding firm specializing in manufacturing eco friendly products, has announced the opening of Smartware Products, a division of F & M Tool and Plastics, a sales and distribution center in the Central Valley of California.

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines, and MONTEREY, Calif. -- The Supreme Council of Datus Alimaong has reached agreement with Monterey, CA-based Abundant Biofuels Corporation to develop more than 1.2 million acres of ancestral domain for production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas in underused Lumad lands on the island of Mindanao.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- SecuGen is pleased to announce that Club Sentry, Inc. has chosen SecuGen's Hamster fingerprint readers for integration with Club Sentry's club management software. The Hamster readers will be used to scan fingerprints of members when they check-in and check-out through Club Sentry's Biometric ID software module.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Underground Mexican hip-hop artist/entrepreneur, SOLOW13, breaks the music game wide open by establishing his own label, TRUTH LOVES LA WFAMILIA, LLC or simply LAWFAMILIA, LLC. The new imprint is a collaborative partnership between SOLOW13 and famed West Coast label, Latin Thug Records - best known for being founded by Cypress Hill's Sen Dog and home to the Reyes Brothers, B Real's "Gunslinger" albums and many other notable releases.

CARPINTERIA, Calif. -- Holland Scott Gallery today announces the debut of the Environmentally Responsible Green Energy Fine Art Lamps. These lamps combine energy-efficiency technology with fine-art design. Elegant photographic floral images and art-deco linoleum patterns from the 1930's are the result of energy efficient LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamp technology and the Giclee (zhee-clay) fine-art printmaking process.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- In a new documentary series on DVD, released by Gallery of Historical Figures(R), artist and raconteur George Stuart gives his take on the formative and often turbulent history of England. Murder, treachery, greed, love and hate punctuate the timeline, as the country evolves from Tudor absolutism into constitutional monarchy of Victoria.

IRVINE, Calif. -- Mojave Winds, (ISBN: 978-0-9801383-0-6), a novel by Mark Biskeborn, highlights the growing social impact on Iraq War veterans returning home, and their struggles to reintegrate to the civilian world. The recent book by author, Mark Biskeborn, "Mojave Winds," has been met with wide acceptance, attracting a great deal of attention with its controversial storyline.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. and LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- ONEsite Inc., the leading provider of enterprise community and social networking software, announced today the completion of its acquisition of Social Platform LLC, well recognized as a key player in the custom white label social networking software space.

VISTA, Calif. -- NASCAR racing legend Wally Dallenbach Jr, motor sports broadcaster for NBC, ABC, TNT and USA Network, joins KDHD-TV, LLC's team of broadcasters providing live content to national and local news programs around the country. Dallenbach rounds out the roster of broadcast savvy experts covering the dynamic tech, gaming, travel and toy industries for the satellite tour/broadcast news content provider.

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- RenderX (www.renderx.com), a market leader in "XML to PDF" and "XML to PostScript" technology, officially released the Beta versions of two new software products - DataStyler and XML Report Generator (XMLRG). DataStyler is an application for quick creation of templates for variable data embedding.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- SecuGen Corporation, a world leading fingerprint technology company, announced today that its well-known Hamster(TM) line of fingerprint readers is now available with Tutis Biometric Logon, an Active Directory compatible network authentication application.

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- BandCon today announced that it has been selected by Alpha Red, Inc., a dedicated server hosting provider and Internet service provider headquartered in Houston, Texas, to facilitate the company's peering initiative. Under the terms of the multiple-year agreement, BandCon has installed and will maintain the connectivity of Alpha Red's private national backbone that connects all the major metropolitan areas of the United States.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- SecuGen Corporation, a world leading fingerprint technology company, today announced its collaboration with WCC Smart Search & Match, a leading provider of high-performance search and match software. WCC Smart Search & Match has developed ELISE ID, the Platform for Multi-Modal Fusion, which is capable of searching vast amounts of data,

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Rebelling against the current downturn for traditional record companies, Chris Honetschlaeger, President of BETA Records, has announced a new generation of record deal which partners the company with the artist in a non-exclusive three song contract and plans to sign 100 artists in 2008.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- SolarReserve, the Los Angeles-based solar thermal power company that has licensed an innovative energy storage technology for on-demand utility-scale solar power, today announced the appointment of William R. Gould, Jr. to serve as Chief Technical Officer.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- 1st Pacific Bancorp (NASDAQ: FPBN) announced today that Frank J. Mercardante, a member of the board of directors of 1st Pacific Bancorp since July 2007, resigned from the Company's board. Prior to his appointment as a director of 1st Pacific Bancorp, Mr. Mercardante was Chairman and CEO of Placer Sierra Bank and previously was President and Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Community Bancorp since 1998.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Highly anticipated annual design show in Southern California hosts largest event to date in March 2008. CA BOOM V features new modern kitchen and bath section, industry-leader prefab exhibition, design + architecture home tours and unprecedented panel discussions.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- SolarReserve, the Los Angeles-based solar thermal company that has recently commercialized an innovative heat storage technology that provides utility-scale solar power on demand, today announced that Kevin Smith has been hired to serve as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Development.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Latin Thug Records presents the debut album from ground-breaking artist SOLOW13. The album will be available in stores and online February 26, 2008. Produced by SOLOW13 and Aaron (T-Bone) Boatright, the project represents a lifetime of work and experiences from this breaking talent. Legendary mastering engineer Brian "Big Bass" Gardner (Eminem, Linkin Park) mastered the project to create what will surely become a classic, iconic album.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- After 39 years of working as an insurance professional, Bob Johnson of the Bob Johnson Project, decided it was time for a change. Upon retiring, he traded in his ties for t-shirts and has worked with a designer to create a t-shirt line with a positive message.