7 Weekend Ideas
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VidCon
continues with creators at panels and meet-n-greets, selfies, photos opps and lots of candy
at the Anaheim Convention Center. Our r
ecap below.
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BET Experience
and BET Awards feature panels, interactive experiences, concerts, and awards at the LA Convention Center and LA Live
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Summer SOULstice
food booths and free bands, music on Main St. in Santa Monica and Venice. We will attend a VR demo there too. Sunday 11a-7p.
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Arroyo Seco Music Festival,
with Weezer, Shins, etc. Sat-Sun
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SHOWS
- Sound of Music singalong @ Hollywood Bowl, Sat
- Styx and REO Speedwagon, Sat @ The Greek
- DJ Dash Berlin, Sat @ Exchange
YouTubers/ Creator Concerts
- Miranda Sings, YouTuber performs, Sat @ Grove Anaheim
- Jacob Sartorius, YouTuber performs, Sun @ Wiltern
MOVIES:
Transformers: The Last Knight
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Week in Review
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VidCon: panels, brands and teen
stampedes
. Industry executives, content creators, brands and teen stampedes pack the Anaheim Convention Center for VidCon this weekend. YouTube CEO Susak Wojcicki announced that YouTube has $1.5B login users per month, with more than an hour of content viewed per day. Facebook's Head of Video announced that they will be releasing an app for content creators (which has features similar to Periscopes). Facebook, which once never wanted to do content, has announced its looking for original content around sports, games, and other topics that connect people, and wants to support creators with new tools. The goal: increased advertising revenue when Facebook users spend more time on site, with higher CPMs for video content. Other panels included VR, Monetizaotin, LGBTQ, and more. See our VidCon
panel recap
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The VidCon show floor featured brands, VR, candy and teen stampedes: teens running after their favorite creator to get a selfie (photo right). Nickelodeon, M&Ms, and several other companies featured VR at their booths. Instagram featured mirrors and rings for photos opps. Snapchat had a Snapbot selling Spectacles with NO LINE!! VidCon has practically become Candy Con with candy companies trying to reach their target teen demos. Snickers, Twix, M&Ms, SweetTarts, Malteasers and other candy companies had photo opps, photo booths and gave out free candy like Halloween. You can still stop by the VidCon show floor today, with dozens of creator panels and lots of photos opps.
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OUR UPCOMING EVENTS
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Join us for this post VidCon - Cannes Lion - SMWLA discussion where we will discuss highlights, trends, and implications of things discussed and seen at these events and in the industry. Speakers and attendees include content creators, influencers, agencies, brands and more.
CALL FOR SPEAKERS: If you spoke at VidCon, Cannes Lion, SMWLA, or are otherwise a content creator, brand, or influencer who attended these events and can share your news / persepctives, email info@digitalla.net with CONTENT as your subject and a brief background.
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Wed June 28, 6:30p
Cross Campus Santa Monica
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New founders are invited to meet and network. Speakers include:
Digital LA founder Kevin Winston gives overview of Silicon Beach 101, and Bryan Lemster of Halcyon.
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Tech News
Surf Air membership fly-all-you-want airline startup announced London to Cannes flights starting July 4, perfect for all the conferences in Cannes like MIP, Cannes Film Fest, Cannes Lion, etc. Surf Air is based in Santa Monica, and has offered flights as prizes for winners of the Silicon Beach Fest Startup Showcase.
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Ticketmaster launches chatbot. Ticketmaster launched its Facebook Assistant messenger today at its Ticketmaster Summit in Hollywood. Search for it in the Facebook messenger app, and use text or voice to ask about tickets, concerts and events in a city to get results. Then click to buy if your Facebook has your credit card synced up.
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LA at E3
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LA represented at the E3 games conference this week. The new Spider-Man game by Burbank-based Insomniac Games debuted with much buzz about its amazing 8-minute
trailer with spectacular Spider-Man gameplay on PlayStation 4. Survios debuted its new Sprint Vector VR that game gets players to pump their arms holding controllers to run faster. It's the Culver City based game company's second game after its popular Raw Data VR shooting-robots game. The Twitch Esports Arena featured competitions for Overwatch, Injustice 2 and other games at the LA Live Plaza.
LA companies represented on the show floor including Activision, Square Enix,
Loot Crate and several more.
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Check out our article LA at E3, which also featured a lot of dragons.
For the first time, panels were held at the Coliseum Novo theatre, featuring games and Hollywood speakers. Director James Gunn and Neil DeGrasse Tyson spoke on a game worlds panel. On the VR panel, director Ivan Reitman, and speakers from the Void and other VR companies said that VR is not just storytelling, it's "story-living."
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- Amazon grocery on demand delivery in < 15 minutes if you're within its 450 stores. Competition for Instacart
- Amazon Studios gets a huge marketing boost. Do you want to watch shows with your organic salads? High Castle with your quinoa? Organic ice cream with your tear-jerker movies. Big data for food, commerce and content is inevitably on the way. Could there even be Whole Foods food at Amazon Studios' parties?
- Amazon Prime anything on demand in less than an hour, if it turns part of the stores into warehouses for common items
- Amazon Books could add a books an d electronics section to Whole Foods everywhere. Amazon Books currently has only a handful of brick-and-mortar stores nationwide. Its first LA location is planned for Westfield Century City
- Amazon Prime anything on demand in less than an hour, if it turns part of the stores into warehouses for common items
- Amazon Books could add a books an d electronics section to Whole Foods everywhere. Amazon Books currently has only a handful of brick-and-mortar stores nationwide. Its first LA location is planned for Westfield Century City
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Clutter raises $60M. Culver City based storage on demand startup announced raising $60M this week. Download the clutter app to summon its crew to pack and store stuff at its storage facilities. Clutter takes a photo of every item, so you can request it to be sent to you with the app. See
LA Times article.
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Digital
represents at LA
Pride
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See our
LGBTQ Content article with full recap of the panel
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Sat July 22 in San Diego
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Mark your calendar for our Digital LA - Comic Cocktails on Sat of San Diego Comic-Con. If you'd like to team up and join / sponsor our party, or have a venue idea, email info@digitalla.net with COMIC as subject.
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JOBS
Get or post a job on our job board http://digitalla.net/jobs
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NEW: AdvertiseMent is looking for a
Digital Marketing Manger in SaMo
- Universal Music Group looking for a
Director of Interactive Media
- Taxi Productions is looking for a Digital Coordinator.
- TaskUs is looking for a Content Marketing Director.
Digital LA Association Launches
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Digital LA is always looking for innovative ways to strengthen our impact and advance the careers of our members.
We are excited to announce the launch of the Digital LA Association which lets people connect with LA tech companies, Silicon Beach startups, and Hollywood studios and agencies.
Powered by Venice-based startup Purple Squirrel, the Digital LA Association is a unique networking and employee referral platform that helps job seekers hack the job search by connecting with insiders (instead of recruiters) at top companies.
If you already have a job, join and earn $ by meeting with job seekers, or donate to charity or meet for free:
https://digitalla.purplesquirrel.io/why
https://digitalla.purplesquirrel.io/why
If you are looking for a job, you can sign up to schedule meetings with advocates who work at LA tech companies, Silicon Beach startups and Hollywood studios and agencies
https://digitalla.purplesquirrel.io/signup
https://digitalla.purplesquirrel.io/signup
We are very excited about this initiative, and happy to share it with you. The more people that join, the more valuable it becomes, so please invite your local friends to sign up too!
Featured Advocate: Meet Betty Zabs, a recruiter at the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs
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OUR RECENT EVENTS
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AR Panel: Augmented reality experts discussed AR applications, games, access and revenue models after Pokemon Go at our Digital LA - AR panel at IgnitedSpaces in Hollywood last night. Ben Conway of VNTANA discussed creating branded HOLLA-gram kiosks at events that fans can interact with to make videos sharable on social media. VNTANA has created hollo-grams with Marvel Disney to wear Doctor Strange's cape, and with Spongebob Squarepants to throw him a football at the Super Bowl. Drew Minock described how DAQRI's AR helmets help construction workers learn maintenance and repairs. Josephine Munis of Candy Labs AR creates location based AR games using GPS, or beacons when there's no wifi/service. She said that for her Texas Rope 'Em location based AR card game, she asked her engineer to create three card stops near our panel so people could play. Philippe Lewicki of AfterNow described AR as part of a mixed reality continuum, exemplified by his Microsoft Hololens egg hunt demoed at VRLA Expo. Allyson Cunha of Image Metrics described creating face-filter digital makeover apps, working with L'Oreal and other cosmetics brands. See our summary
article and what speakers are most excited about in the future of AR in this
FB video.
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Digital LA in Hawaii. We talked drones, clean tech and LA - Hawaii tech connections at our second Silicon Beach meet Startup Paradise: Digital LA - Aloha Digital Drinks at the Moana Surfrider Beach Bar in Waikiki on
Wednesday. We enjoyed sunset views of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head, as we ate poke nachos and sipped strawberry pina coladas and mai-tais.
Attendees included a digital branding agency based in Santa Monica that just opened up an office in Hawaii; Samantha Kimsey, Program Director at Computational Thinkers, which teaches programming courses in Hawaii; and developer who's done work for Sony Pictures, Riot Games and Dog Vacay. We also talked
future LA - Hawaii tech connections. See our article with upcoming Hawaii Creative Lab bootcamp and details to get involved at http://digitalla.net/aloha
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Our Digital LA - EdTech panel featured Silicon Beach startups discussing tech sites and apps, and tech and entrepreneurship tools at schools and universities. Panelists described AI, AR, and VR applications for EdTech. Thanks speakers from CreatorUp, Flocabulary, Cue Career, GoGuardian, and LMU Leeds student group. See our
article and video including Flocabulary's Ike Ramos' history/geology
rap that got panelists standing up and audience clapping along (can we do music raps at all our panels?) in the last five minutes of this
video
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HR Tech Panel.
We hosted LA's first panel on HR Tech with speakers from Hired, ZipRecruiter, Comparably, Purple Squirrel and TriNet on how to create and develop tools, platforms, and apps for
recurring
and comparing salaries, and recruiting, as well as HR operations.
We also discussed how to get a job and find talent in Silicon Beach. Thanks to Hired for sponsoring, and CTRL Collective for hosting.
Article.
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Silicon Beach Meets Silicon Valley.
We discussed how tech ecosystems in LA, SF and San Diego can increase communication at our panel at WeWork Golden Gate in San Francisco. Speakers included Cam Kashani of CoAccel, Matt Kosko of Service, Tim Ryan of Lab Fellows and Desirae of Rewardopoly discussed what they do, and increased communication of tech ecosystems in LA, San Francisco, and San Diego. Many LA and SD startups go to SF for investors or accelerator programs.
Article
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Digital LA - Meet the New Funds panel
Investment dollars continue to pour into LA, with the launch of several new VC funds already in 2017.
While the funds are new, the VCs have extensive experience investing in LA Tech and Silicon Beach.
VCs shared info about their funds and advice for investors at our Digital LA - Meet the new VC Funds panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista.
Speakers gave 10 Dos and Don'ts for startup founders looking for funding - see
article
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Digital LA - VR Access panel. Our VR experts described 15 ways to increase access to VR for mainstream, women and kids, diversity groups and more at our Digital LA - VR Access panel at CTRL Collective Playa Vista.
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Women Gamers panel. Thanks to our Digital LA - Women Gamers speakers for an inspirational discussion! Seven top game influencers described how they started to game for a living, build their audiences, engage fans, and work with brands. Thanks LolRenaynay, Mari, Emuhleet, Brizzy Voices, Amber Plaster, Briana White, and LilyPichu. Watch entire panel via our
Periscope. Article soon
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LA is the #1 city for dating apps and online dating, with a large number of single, busy, attractive people who like to date frequently.
LA's online dating companies help people connect from short term dates to long term relationships.
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Our Digital LA - Music Startups panel featured speakers from Techstars and Silicon Beach music startups. Music investment and startups are slowly coming back pianissimo, focusing on revenue from music services transactions and subscriptions, rather than actual song licensing. In LA, Troy Carter's SMASHD Labs accelerator had some music startups. And new Techstars Music accelerator will invest $1.2M in its first class of expected 10 startups to be announced later this month. After our panel, band
FOXTRAX, an official SXSW 2017 showcase band,
performed
. See our highlights recap in our
article.
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Chinese investors have increased interest in Silicon Beach, especially in entertainment, AR/VR, influencer data, and more, said speakers at our annual Chinese - LA Tech panel to celebrate Lunar New Year, held at Cross Campus Downtown LA. Speakers included Jiyuan Hu of ArcheMatrix Investment Group, and Stella Poon of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Speakers discussed how startups can open operations in Hong Kong as a gateway to expanding into China. Silicon Beach startup Milk & Honey custom shoes did just that before founder Dori Howard sold it. We also talked what's hot in China, including eSports, games, and more, in our
article.
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Digital LA - Digital Health is increasing in LA and worldwide, said speakers at our annual Digital Health panel, timed to New Years health and fitness resolutions. Attendees included startups, PR, developers, and a cardiologist at CTRL Collective Playa Vista. See our
article.
Since our Digital Health panel last January, Techstars Cedars-Sinai Healthcare Accelerator has invested more than $1.2M in 11 startups. Eight of them were from the LA area. Techstars held a demo day with 600 attendees at the Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, the largest digital health event in LA, with physicians, health and HMO administrators, entrepreneurs and more. Nearly all of the 11 startups announced deals with Cedars-Sinai hospital or affiliates at the demo day.
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Silicon Beach Fest celebrated 5th anniversary
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Thanks to speakers, sponsors, volunteers, organizers, vendors, and attendees for making our fifth summer Silicon Beach Fest such a success! Several attendees said and tweeted they found the panel topics that continued into engaging hallway and mixer conversations both information-packed and inspiring. Watch for our Silicon Beach Fest one-day event this fall.
Read article with SBF HIGHLIGHTS
Kitterly wins SBF Startup Showcase 2016 Title
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Kitterly won the Silicon Beach Fest Startup Showcase 2016 title. The crafting site is an alum of 500 Startups, and is founded by Mari Bower, CEO. Kitterly wins the prize package including the SBF 2016 title, $5,000 courtesy Media Temple, a Surf Air flight to its California destinations, two Air New Zealand tickets on its LA - London route, ten hours transactional legal services from Sheappard Mullin, and three months membership at CTRL Collective, at either its Playa Vista or new Downtown location (for a tour email tm@ctrlcollective.com) . Kitterly was first of the 20 startups pitched at the Silicon Beach Fest 2016 Startup Showcase. Five judges choice and one audience choice advanced to the finals on Friday. The six finalists were: Kitterly, Markett, Heal (doctor on demand), Heartbeat (women millennial marketing network), Canny (cannabis directory), and audience choice Vampr (music networking). Markett, an on demand marketing company that is part of Amplify accelerator, placed second. Watch the Friday Final pitches in this replay video.
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Silicon Beach Fest receives Certificate of Recognition from LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. At Downtown Day on Monday, Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti city officials presented Silicon Beach Fest founder Kevin Winston with a Certificate of Recognition, on the 5th annivesary of Silicon Beach Fest this year (photo right). Then, LA City Officials described the Mayor's tech initiatives, including attracting tech companies to move to LA, open data hackathons, digital divide programs, opportunities for startups to bid on city projects, and a huge job fair in January, which Jason Nazar is spearheading as LA City Entrepreneur In Residence.
