6 wknd ideas: SIGGRAPH, US Open of Surf. Jessica Alba gives startup advice. Our Superhero VR AR VFX panel highlights. WORLDZ discount

Recap: Our Hollywood and VR, AR, VFX: Superheroes panel

At our post-Comic-Con pre-SIGGRAPH panel on Wed, speakers from Fandango, VNTANA, 8i and Framestore, discussed how Hollywood studios are increasingly partnering with digital companies to provide never-been-done-before content, AR, VR and VFX for superhero movies and other projects. AR company VNTANA has even developed "Hologram Best Practices"! Yes what a time to be alive! See how these companies create AR holograms, VR, VFX, and other digital campaigns to promote superhero and other movies. Article. Video.

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Comic-Con Highlights: LA, VR, cosplay at SDCC

LA entertainment and tech peeps migrated south to San Diego Comic-Con to join 135,000 attendees at the annual mecca celebration of pop culture. VR and immersive activations for Blade Runner 2049, Westworld and Game of Thrones made a splash this year.

We covered LA tech at Comic-Con to cosplay in our coverage:

- Digital / LA tech at Comic-Con: VR, VFX

- Top 10 Instagram Photo Opps on the Show Floor You Can't Miss

- Her Universe Fashion Show: 25 designers walk geek couture on catwalk

- Favorite Cosplay We Love, including Tanja, CEO of LA-based Shapeshifterz, and Thor by Calvin Lee @mayhemstudios (photo right).

- Our Comic Cocktails rallied peeps for networking and games on Sat night.

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6 Weekend Ideas

SIGGRAPH, July 30-Aug 3 at LA Convention Center. In its 44th year, SIGGRAPH is the world's largest computer graphics conference with 15,000 people attending panels and demos on VR, AR, animation, technical papers from major studios, colleges, and companies. Highlights include: panels on the VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Star Wars: Rogue One, Game of Thrones, Blizzard's Overwatch animated series, Doctor Strange. Speakers from Sony Imageworks, Digital Domain, Method, ILM VFX, and dozens more VFX companies. See schedule at http://s2017.siggraph.org/. Follow @DigitalLA on Twitter and Instagram as we'll be covering the show. Follow @SIGGRAPH #SIGGRAPH2017

Digital LA members can get a free Exhibits Only pass with code "S2017DigitalLA" at https://register.rcsreg.com/r2/siggraph2017/

US Open of Surf Huntington Beach. brings surfing, BMX, skateboarding, and more to Huntington Beach. Free to watch the sporting events, and check out the tent village on the beach for freebies and photo opps. You'll get lots of Instagram stories and photo opps here. Sat July 29 - August 6. Sunday night features free Moana movie on the beach, and Monday is E.T. Finals next weekend.

SHOWS

- Bush, Fri @ Hollywood Palladium

- 90s Pop Tour, Fri @ Microsoft Theater

- Mamma Mia @ Pantages

- Metallica, Sat @ Rose Bowl

- 80s Weekend, Sat @ Microsoft Theater

- John Mayer, Sun @ Forum

- Lionel Richie with Mariah Carey, Sun @ Honda Center Anaheim

MOVIES

- Atomic Blonde stars Charlize Theron as a tough spy on a mission to find a list of names in in Berlin as the wall is coming down. Highlight of the film is an 8-minute single-shot action scene of Charlize's character fighting several bad guys in an apartment building stairwell. (After Daredevil and Captain America: Civil War, fight scenes in hallways and stairwells are in). Film has a slow start, but familiar 80s music every so often perks you Guardians-style up till the second half, where the action picks up.

- Emoji Movie stars emoji characters adhering to or trying to break out of their expressions in your phone. Critics have said this Inside Out ripoff attempt doesn't have a plot or resonance, but does have uneven voice acting (TJ Miller as Gene the meh emoji), and Patrick Stewart (who voices the poo emoji). The meh and poo emoji seem to be used mostly often in critics reviews and tweets.

- Cinespia: Superbad, Sat @ Hollywood Forever

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Conference Discounts

Get discounts off two big conferences this week:

SIGGRAPH, July 30-Aug 3 @ LA Convention Center. Digital LA members can get a free Exhibits Only pass with code "S2017DigitalLA" or use the code as $50 credit for an upgrade at https://register.rcsreg.com/r2/siggraph2017/

WORLDZ, July 31 - Aug 1 @ Loews Hollywood. WORLDZ cultural marketing summit at the Loews Hollywood Hotel on Mon/Tue with speakers Gary Vaynerchuk, Shaun White, Kelly Slater, Sophia Amoruso, will.i.am, Deepak Chopra, Caitlyn Jenner and execs from iHeart Media, Marvel, Samsung Fox, Red, and dozens more. We will be live tweeting and covering via our @DigitalLA Twitter and Instagram stories. Get a 25% discount with code WORLDZ25 at registernow.worldz.us/begin

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OUR EVENT NEXT WEEK

Digital LA - VFX Animation Mixer

Wed Aug 2, 7-9p

CTRL Collective Downtown LA

Join us for our VFX Animation mixer, after SIGGRAPH held in downtown LA this year. Beverages and snacks. Free with your SIGGRAPH badge, or $10 without.

RSVP http://dlavfx17.eventbrite.com

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LA Tech News

Jessica Alba Honest CEO gives startup advice, talks social media. Jessica Alba, the CEO and co-founder of the Honest company, gave startup advice and described how she started her company, at an AMEX Success Makers event for small business owners in downtown LA. See our article recap, including a video of Jessica describing how Honest uses social media and online chat to engage customers.

Laurel & Wolf partners with Home Depot. LA interior design marketplace startup Laurel & Wolf announced a partnership with Home Depot this week. Customers who seek interior design help at Home Depot stores will get referred to its Home Depot Referral Service in which Laurel & Wolf designers will help with decor ideas using Home Depot supplies and suppliers. This is a huge partnership as Home Depot has more than 2,000 US locations. See Architectural Digest article. Founder and CEO Leura Fine has spoke at our Digital LA events.

Techstars LA announces its inaugural class of 10 startups . Welcome to the new class! Half of the founders are women, including Heartbeat CEO Kate Edwards, who was a Final 5 finalist in our Silicon Beach Fest Startup Showcase last year. See article.

Disney Accelerator announces its fourth class of 11 companies, including the VOID VR company that did the Ghostbusters VR. We interviewed the VOID CEO Cliff Plumer to find out what its partnership with Disney could mean for fully immersive experiences based on Disney, Marvel or Star Wars characters. See our interview article.

We updated our Silicon Beach Wave Report for June 2017, adding two startups: Wonder game-phone device ($14M) and Josh.ai smart home voice-activated AI ($8M). They had announced raises in June. See article.

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JOBS

Get or post a job on our job board http://digitalla.net/jobs

- 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

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

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

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

Comic Cocktails. We had a blast at our Comic Cocktails in San Diego during San Diego Comic-Con. Attendees traded notes on favorite panels parties. Animation writers discussed working with Netflix. See our article.

Women VR CTO s discussed how they manage the ever-changing world of VR technology software and hardware, and more at our Digital LA - Women in VR: CTO panel at CTRL Collective Playa Vista. The panel is the first Women in VR: CTO panel ever held in LA and nationwide, featuring only women CTOs of VR companies. Speakers included: Linda Gedemer of Source Sound VR, and Adriana Vecchioli of VRTIGINOUS, moderated by Espree Devora of Women In Tech podcast. Gedemer and Vecchioli described their paths from their schooling to tech to VR. They also described issues VR CTOs face with ever changing camera hardware, stitching and producing software, increasing data needs and scalability. They also shared advice for women developers to get into tech and VR. See our article including video.

Our Digital LA - Anime PokeParty. We celebrated the one-year anniversary of Pokemon Go with our Anime PokeParty during Anime Expo. We celebrated with Pokemon Go Club LA, Cuddli dating app, and Bionic Buzz at CTRL Collective DTLA. Attendees chose red, yellow or blue trainer candy, dressed up, played Jenga, and compared notes on Anime Expo. Pokemon Go remains one of the most downloaded game apps ever, with hordes of Pokemon trainers packing parks and piers around the world. The app made AR mainstream, and has helped AR companies raise funding, because people are familiar with AR now. Companies are using AR in movie marketing, like the Spider-Man Homecoming app, where you can use the AR Suit Explorer to make Spider-Man appear next to you and your friends.

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Content Creators experts talk Post-VidCon wrap-up. Experts from digital studios, agencies, and creators spoke about trends in content, creators, brands, social and m onetization at our post-VidCon panel discussion at CTRL Collective Downtown LA. Speakers from Studio71, DEFY Media, Live.me, Portal A, and more discussed trends both at VidCon, and in the broader creator / influencer space. Top trends: More brands "get it" now on how to work with creators authentically and within the creators own voice, rather than advertisers asking for a bunch of product shots and mentions. C reators are branching into other revenue streams beyond YouTube including merchandising, Patreon, touring, paid appearances and more. See our article and pics.

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.

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

- Digital LA - VR Music panel featured e xperts from Live Nation, the composer of Survios Raw Data VR game, and Silicon Beach startups. Speakers shared insights on four areas of VR and music: spatial sound in VR, composing music in VR, music VR startups, and bands creating 360 music videos or livestreaming their concerts in VR. We also talked about the future of VR Music, including VR teleporting to multiple VR cameras at a concert, festival, or worldwide festival; composing music in VR, and social music VR attending concerts with friends in VR. Summary in our 10 Keys to Music VR article.

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Digital LA - Games VR Executive Dinner featured startup executives and influencers met for our Digital LA - Games Executive Dinner presented by TriNet at the new Tao Hollywood. Attendees included several past speakers of our Digital LA events including games influencer Mari Takahashi of SMOSH Games / Defy Media, Caspar Bohme founder of Navel.Live livestream VR who spoke on our VR Monetization panel, Amy Allison of Two Bit Circus, Valerie Wang of TriNet who spoke on our HR Tech panel, and Gilda the founder of Candy Lab AR, whose CMO will be speaking at our Augmented Reality panel on May 25. Thanks to host TriNet. See recap article.

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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.

It's important to focus on increasing access to grow VR consumer base as a whole, and ensure niche communities and groups are not being left out of this much anticipated technology from consumption to creation of VR content. More VR monetization tools in the video and our article .

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

Digital LA - Love and Dating. Experts from Tinder, eHarmony, Three Day Rule, Grindr, and more gave tips on dating, from improving your dating profile to your dating app, at our annual Digital LA - Love & Dating panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista. See our article and FB album.

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.

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.

Women VR experts from Specular Theory, Huffington Post Ryot News, and more discussed how to create, produce, market VR on our panel, with food by Clean Living Club. Panelists said that trends to look for in VR include untethered, live VR, social VR, and more. Several speakers said that there are several great 360 video experiences, but more interactive VR experience will really showcase VR. Also, brands like Cartier are experimenting in VR to build their worlds. Four female founder pitched their VR projects ranging from saving honeybees to creating VR games for female gamers. See our photos. Article soon.

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

Silicon Beach Fest celebrated its fifth anniversary with three days of panels, parties, keynotes, mixers and a VIP yacht cruise at the Marina del Rey Hotel and other venues last week. More than 400 speakers shared insights and experience on more than 80 panels and sessions over five days, on topics including growth, VR, advertising, influencers, social media, developers, design, and more.

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

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.

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.