LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Personifying the cabaret genre, Ute Lemper is known for her moody interpretations of songbook standards, laced with witty asides and knowing looks, weaving an atmosphere that draws in audiences like few other performers today.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — IO2 Technology announced today the release of its newest mid-air display, the Heliodisplay M3, serving new markets world-wide. “The M3 is another step forward in applications that benefit from free-space displays and we are enthusiastic about its capabilities expanding into a wider application base,” commented Chad Dyner, the developer of some of the technology used in the Heliodisplay.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Taylor Wilshire, author of “The What-If Guy” (ISBN: 0-9778018-02), has found herself in the book-award spotlight. She recently won the 2006 People’s Choice Book Review Award in the Chick-lit category and has also been chosen by “ForeWord Magazine” as a 2006 finalist in the romance category; winners will be announced in June.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Library Associates Companies (LAC) announced today that Sarah Clark Kavanagh is joining the firm as Vice President, Strategic Consulting. While based in San Francisco, Ms. Kavanagh will be responsible for serving and working with LAC on national accounts and consulting projects.

WOODLAND, Calif. — When Kim and Dave Snoddy, the owners of Oldham County Nursery near Louisville, Kentucky recently decided that it was time to liquidate their 127 acre nursery facility, they didn’t turn to one of the hundreds of local auctioneers and auction houses. The Snoddy’s got online and looked west - 2000 miles west to California and the online auction company West Auctions.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Applied Business Software, Inc, (ABS), a leading developer of software for the lending industry, announced today that the Court has granted summary judgment against Freedom Financial & Trust, LTD (FFTL) on ABS’s breach of contract and copyright infringement claims (CV 06-0452 AHM (Ex) US District Court Central District of California - Western Division). In addition, the Court entered a Judgment in favor of ABS in the amount of $1,143,600.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — BroadWare Technologies, Inc., the leader in distributed video management, has been selected to implement a sophisticated video surveillance system at Grant Joint Union High School District in Sacramento, CA. Based on the industry-leading BroadWare Media Management System, the new video surveillance system will enable school security personnel to simultaneously monitor the campus and parking lots in all 13 high school and junior high campuses.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The online record company, BETA Records, invites you to accept a paying job with their company. According to BETA founders Chris Honetschlaeger and Georg van Handel, you can become an A&R (artist & repertoire) representative and turn your love of music into cash.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — When Reverend Craig X Rubin was arrested at his house of worship he asked the lead LAPD officer for the special rights accorded to clergy under California Penal Codes 1524 and 1525, but was told by the officer that his Bible-based Judeo-Christian organization, that was recognized by the state of California, was “not practicing a real religion.” Temple 420 is a registered religious organization with the State of California.

MOUNT SHASTA, Calif. — With Europe’s warmest winter in 1,250 years putting the Winter Olympics at risk, a group representing over a billion are inviting our Earth Family to join in prayer, dance, and celebration this month of our unified love of our Mother Earth, starting Valentine’s Day (Feb 14). “This expands on Americans celebrating our sweethearts on Valentine’s Day, and unites with this month’s Lunar New Year’s celebrations and prayers of Asian and global faith communities,” according to Mary Ho, President of the China Millennium Council, and Olympic skier, Suzy Chaffee, Native Voices Foundation (NVF) co-chair.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — “Lord Help Us” is a new urban inspirational romantic comedy written, directed and edited by former child actor, Shavar Ross, who played “Dudley,” Gary Coleman’s best friend for six seasons on the hit 1980’s show “Diff’rent Strokes,” and produced by Tri-Seven Entertainment.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Electronic systems manufactured in China were the driving factor behind 90 percent of growth in worldwide semiconductor consumption in 2005, continuing a trend first observed beginning in 2003, according to a comprehensive analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers of Chinese and other published statistics on the subject.

VENICE, Calif. — Originally, Java Juice(R) was created for, and embraced by, the outdoor-adventure industry. The success of the just-add-water, single-serving version of the product promoted awareness of a need to get the lightweight packets to American soldiers, say the folks at Java Juice, Inc.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Authernative, Inc., the developer of innovative user authentication and identity management technologies, announced today that the European Patent Office has granted the company its patent for a user authentication method.

PETALUMA, Calif. — Working Together is offering a unique premier weekend retreat where guests will use a combination of guided meditation, group discussion, and visioning tools to build energy, shed past practices, old belief systems, distress and participate in an intimate journey of renewal. The retreat will be held Friday June 29, through Sunday July 1, 2007.

FREMONT, Calif. — TeamF1, Inc., a leader in embedded networking and security software solutions for wired and wireless applications, will unveil its latest innovation - the Secure Gateway Solution - in a demonstration at Cavium Networks Booth #1031 at RSA Conference 2007 to be held February 6-9 in the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — BETA Records and founders Chris Honetschlaeger and Georg van Handel are making it possible for independent musicians to take advantage of the communication and promotional advantages of ringtones. New feature is available at no cost for any artist on the BETArecords.com site.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — For decades, prefab homes were supposed to be the next big thing - never mind that they were found primarily on the pages of design magazines or in architects’ sketchbooks. What a difference a year makes.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — How is great music created and produced? What do top music producers look for in an artist? How do you find, develop and keep artist clients? And how do producers handle challenges such as creative control? The answers can be found at the PRODUCING HIT SONG 5-part series, sponsored by the National Association of Record Industry Professionals, to launch on February 16th.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — You’ve seen the news recaps of 2006, the most important stories that gripped the nation’s attention. But here’s one you may have missed: “TIME Magazine Names Air ‘Gas of the Year.’” This exclusive from the New Jersey-based humor website Confusion Road was crowned the top satire news story of 2006 by an expert panel of journalists and humor writers in the second annual HumorFeed Satire News Awards.