MatchActivity, a new venture by former Santa Monica College students Yoni Avital and Sagiv Rosano, debuts at the end of this month with a website designed to help people meet each other, but in the context of a specific activity at a specific time and place, rather than the more general profile-review orientation of other such sites. Both founders went on from SMC to earn degrees at UCLA; Avital then worked in business development for software company Concipio, and Rosano worked at Lehman Brothers. While at SMC, Avital created CampusHype, an unofficial student portal. www.matchactivity.com
FirstFed Financial Corp. of Santa Monica announced that Brian E. Argrett has been elected by the Board of Directors to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Charles F. Smith. Mr. Argrett is president and CEO of Fulcrum Capital Group, LLC, a Los Angeles-based private equity investment manager. FirstFed Chairman and CEO Babette Heimbuch said Argrett’s “experience in the financial markets and with regulated financial institutions will benefit our Board, senior management and our company as a whole.” FirstFed is the parent holding company of First Federal Bank of California, a $10.4 billion banking institution with 31 retail offices and six loan centers throughout Southern California.
Activision Publishing, Inc., headquartered in Santa Monica, announced that it will debut a new title, “World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions,” at the E3 Expo this month. The new product “takes high-stakes poker action to new heights with twice as many top pros…and DigiMask Technology that actually maps a player’s face into the game,” according to the worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products founded in 1979. www.activision.com
DDD Group, also known as Dynamic Digital Depth, the Santa Monica company that creates applications for glasses-free 3D displays, announced that its DDD Mobile for mobile telephone handsets that allows the presentation of photos, animations and movies in a stereoscopic 3D format, has been successfully delivered on the Texas Instruments OMAP high-performance, ultra-low power consumption wireless applications processors. Chris Yewdall, Chief Executive of DDD, called the delivery “a significant milestone for the company,” and foresees accelerated marketing activities “as we seek to secure further licensees and bring the 3D mobile experience to consumers worldwide.” www.DDD.com
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The Mirror invites information: new ventures, developments, products, personnel, financials and the like. terence@smmirror.com
