Loopt hires Steve Boom as President: Popular location-based startup Loopt has hired Steve Boom to drive their growth and monetization strategies. Boom was the former CEO of Singapore-based mobile company, mig33. He will continue to serve as chairman of mig33 after he joins Loopt. He was also the senior vice-president at Yahoo where he was oversaw their mobile business. Boom has over a decade of experience in building global teams, product management, sales and business development in the mobile industry.

joojoo-TechCrunch lawsuit debacle: After months of silence on the joojoo-TechCrunch fiasco, the US district court has dismissed TechCrunch’s claims including the request for a preliminary injunction. The court however did not dismiss the breach of fiduciary duty claim. Nilay Patel, former attorney and Engadget editor writes, this ruling is a significant win and a significant loss to TechCrunch. This is because the court ruled that TechCrunch and Fusion Garage are business partners with legal obligations. In a statement released by Fusion Garage they said, “Fusion Garage believes it emerged overall in a strong position coming out of this legal round.” There has been no response from TechCrunch so far.

India puts off BlackBerry ban for two months: BlackBerry is testing out some local technical solutions for security agencies and intelligence bureau to monitor encrypted messages. The government also expects RIM to have a server in India so that Indian authorities have easier access to information that passes through them, reports Wall Street Journal. UAE, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are also among the countries demanding monitoring of BlackBerry messages. UAE has decided to ban BB messenger, e-mail and web browsing starting Oct 11.

Singapore startups gaining traction in China: IDMPO, an inter-agency outfit hosted by MDA (Media Development Authority of Singapore) handling the funding and support of Interactive Digital Media startups, recently conducted a match making session in China. Following this session, 18 agreements were signed between the IDMPO companies and China-based companies. This is in addition to the $100million Gobi China-Singapore Media Venture fund to support Singapore startups gaining access to the Chinese market. Noteworthy partnerships from this trip include, acquisition of Azure studio by TimeVoyager, five agreements between MXR and other Chinese and Singaporean companies to explore the use of the mixed reality in projects in China and Singapore.

Buzzcity Developer Garage: Buzzcity is organizing their monthly meet up with developers on Friday, Sept 24. Speakers at this event include Calvin Cheng and Tudor Munteanu, software developers and consultants from Odeon Consulting and Johan D. Kremer, Head of Alliances for SEA, Research in Motion, Singapore.
Topics for the session are “Usability and Commerce on smartphones” and “Lifestyle Driven by Innovation with BlackBerry”.