Happy Holidays, Digital LA peeps!

Happy Holidays! 


Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends!
and get digital to connect with those you can't be with

Our annual holiday card is also our tech gift guide, with fun tech gift ideas for you and your family, with an emphasis on LA startups and companies. 
- Bitcoin and cryptocurrency: You can gift part of a Bitcoin now which could be worth much more or less depending on what time it is! Speakers on our Cryptocurrency Bitcoin Blockchain panel recommended HODL: Buy and Hold on for Deal Life rather than daytrade.
- iPhone X features better camera; case recommended cuz it's slippery!
- R2-D2 app-controlled toy by Sphero, alum of Disney Accelerator (BB-8)
- Tracer action figure, by Overwatch by Blizzard (based in OC)
- Kuri home robot is so cute, can recognize you, and move around your house
- Call of Duty WW2 by Santa Monica based Activision
- Loot Crate monthly subscription boxes are the gift that keeps on giving!
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Our Holiday Party Pics!

We had a blast at our annual Holiday Cocktails, with li jazz band, DJ, and free cupcakes at the Continental Club in Downtown LA. 

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If you're in town and hosting visitors over the holidays, enjoy lots of holiday event in LA and OC, summarized in our holiday event  guide.

- Chinese Theatres MX4D: Ride the new Star Wars: Last Jedi movie by watching it at the new motion theater with light, fog, scent, and even bubble effects at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood (upstairs). 

- Chill Queen Mary features ice themed activities including ice skating, ice tubing, ice bumper cars, zip-lining and more in a 58,000 sq ft. Ice Park with six themed lands, in the lot by the Queen Mary 

- Disney On Ice: Watch digital stars from Frozen, Inside Out, Toy Story and more skate on the ice in this 2 hour show in Anaheim this weekend. 

- Winterfest OC features ice tubing and carnival rides at the OC Fair grounds

- Cirque Luzia at Dodgers Stadium
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Star Wars The Last Jedi debuted with $220M over its opening weekend, the second biggest domestic opening in history after Force Awakens. The movie is can be analyzed for its political, gender, generational interpretations. 

Of course, there is also advice for startups: Learn from your failures, Pivot, and more! See our Startup Advice from The Last Jedi article. We've also rounded up links to other articles analyzing other aspects of the film.

See our SPOILERS article: Star Wars - Last Jedi Startup Advice article.

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SILICON BEACH FEST 2017 Recap

Silicon Beach Fest Best of 2017 edition celebrated top Silicon Beach investors, startups, Hollywood executives and more with a week of panels, workshops and mixers focusing on Bitcoin, blockchain, VCs, accelerators, influencers and more at CTRL Collective locations from Pasadena to Playa Vista. See article.

Tag yourself in the pics posted in our SBF17 album: http://tinyurl.com/sbf17


The Video Content panel featured speakers including the CEO of Jukin Media, Fullscreen, Studio71, Twitch, Machinima and other leading content companies, moderated by David Bloom. See summary in David Bloom's Tubefilter article.

Brock Pierce, Chair of the National Bitcoin Foundation, gave an inspiring keynote. He described his founding role in Bitcoin and blockchain startups and local LA incubator. He also encouraged startup founders to aspire to a higher purpose, mission, and making a difference.
DASH Systems won the Silicon Beach Fest - Startup Showcase 2017 title. DASH uses drones to fly packages from cargo planes the last air mile to people's front yards and doorsteps. DASH is an alum of the Make in LA hardware accelerator based in Chatsworth. DASH also won $500 in AmbassadHer credit. AmbassadHer helps marketers create campaigns via its network of millennial brand evangelists who get rewarded to post on Instagram and other social platforms. AmbassadHer evangelists helped promote #SBF17.
Blue Fever won the judges second place, and Audience Choice first place titles. Blue Fever is a "Netflix for women" which distributes video content for millennial women via both its web site and short snckable text messages.
Several panels features investors, accelerator heads and more giving advice to startup founders and entrepreneurs.
THANK YOU!
Thanks speakers for sharing your experience, insights, and giving informative and inspiring talks. Thanks panel organizers for putting together an array of diverse speakers and topics including blockchain, investing, content, Influencers, AR/VR and more. Thanks moderators for ensuring lively conversations where everyone is heard.
Thanks to gold sponsor TeleSign, whose co-founder Stacy Stubblefield (photo right) spoke on our Women Founders panel on Womens Day Thursday. Stacy discussed how she helped grow TeleSign from an idea to a company with more than 300 worldwide employees. TeleSign helps companies with their security, and is the leader in two-factor authentification. TeleSign was recently acquired by BICS. TeleSign also presented the closing party. The Closing Party featured demos by VRScout, and performances by Polartropica and Elijah, arranged by Planet LA.

Thanks Greenberg Glusker, our lanyard sponsor. Greenberg Glusker also featured speaker Jesse Saivar, who spoke on the Video Content and Monetization panel with executives from Jukin Media, Twitch, Machinima, and more.
Thanks to panel sponsors: HIRED presented the Hiring Secrets for Startups panel. ProVisors presented the How to Hire a Local Professional panel.
Thanks to CTRL Collective for hosting at your three gorgeous LA locations in Playa Vista, Downtown LA and Pasadena, with your amazing friendly and logistics-wizards events team.
Thanks Kluge for your amazing branding and graphics for our SBF banners, posters, website and SBF VR experience.
Thanks Etech Solution which is our name badge - registration angel, with a super efficient registration system and on-the-spot name badge printing for walk-ups, eliminating registration bottlenecks and lines.

Thanks to our volunteers for your energy and can do enthusiasm helping attendees.
Thanks inkind sponsors for sharing your tasty treats and beverages with us, including High Brew Coffee, KIND snacks, Burt's Bees, SnackNation, Country Archer, and more. 
And thanks to attendees for great questions and helping each other out. We hope you continue follow up with awesome people you met over the next few weeks, to help your projects, businesses, and our tech community grow!
See you at Silicon Beach Fest 2018!
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LA TECH NEWS

Disney buys Fox key assets, driven by digital

Disney officially plans to acquire 21 Century Fox key assets, including its film and digital assets, in a $52.4 billion stock deal. Analysts say the deal was driven largely by Disney's desire to increase its digital streaming and television services and assets, to compete with Netflix. Disney acquires Fox' share of Hulu (The Handmaid's Tale), becoming majority owner of Hulu. Disney also acquires content libraries for its announced streaming service -  including The Simpsons, Modern Family, This Is Us, and American Horror Story - that will debut in 2019. An ESPN sports streaming service will also launch next year. And of course, Disney owns Marvel characters X-Men, Deadpool, and Fantastic Four who are FINALLY coming back home to Marvel, with opportunities in expanding its Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as related TV, theme park, and merchandise opportunities. Coincidentally, an episode of The Simpsons predicted the Disney acquisition way back in 1998 with a sign that read "20th Century Fox, a Division of Walt Disney Co." (photo right). See articles in  WSJ and  NYTimes.

New MX4D motion theater launches, with motion, light, smoke, scent and even bubble effects (similar to the Regal LA Live's 4DX theater). We attended the press event for the Chinese Theatres la st week, where the Chinese Theatres CEO Bob Larity said that the theater provides immersive entertainment experience for movies, and will host esports competitions, and group VR that sweeps you off your feet. See our  article.  

Ten startups using AI, voice-to-text and cloud platforms to improve health care, pitched at Techstars Cedars-Sinai accelerator's third demo day, held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. Nearly all of the startups pitching announced partnerships with Cedars-Sinai or other hospitals and health care systems.


"This year's program built on the strong success of our previous two cohorts," said Matt Kozlov, Techstars Cedars-Sinai Program Director. "Nearly every company this week announced a partnership with Cedars-Sinai, including our first two international companies, who will be building out US teams as a result of their rapid traction here"

Congrats to the 10 startups!

NarrativeDX uses AI analyzes patient surveys and online social/review data to improve care.

Aiva is voice activated OS for healthcare, like Alexa for doctors and hospitals.

CancerAid app helps cancer patients with personalized cancer and treatment info and connects to online community of others going thru same experience

ChoiceMap software uses shared decision making to help doctors make personalized patient treatment decisions.

Tasso makes the HemoLink near-painless device, which lets patients draw their own blood samples.

Gyant uses AI to help diagnosis your illness. It's like having a friend who's a doctor.

Invio cloud content management platform manages clinical trial documents and workflows without paper or binders.

Lumeon automation engine ensures patient and physician adherence to protocols from first contact w hospital to post discharge.

Seremedi offers CareScriptions, a mobile at-home patient care solution for caregivers.

Sway offers access to cancer prevention detection, screening and adherence.
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USC Annenberg PitchFest. Three social media startups Barkalator, BeComm, and It Could Be Worse pitched at the USC Annenberg Digital Social Media program's annual PitchFest at the Wallis Annenberg center on the USC Campus on Wednesday night. Program Director Karen North introduced the event and the startups. She said the student teams in her program have spent the past few months refining their startup app idea, pitch deck, building a beta product, meeting with mentors, and practicing their pitch deck. See our article recap with the three startups:  http://digitalla.net/uscpitchfest
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The Game Awards . Several LA games companies won top awards at the fourth annual Game Awards at the Microsoft Theatrea at LA Live in Downtown LA on Friday. LA winners included: Overwatch by Blizzard won best Ongoing Game, for the game that continues to delight over time. Blizzard has expanded from Game to short films, and other content with its future-hopeful colorful characters. Naughty Dog, based in Santa Monica, makes Last of Us 2, which won Most Anticipated game. Square Enix, based in El Segudo, game Nier Automatica won best Score. Celebrity presenters included filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, Zachary Levi, and Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima. See our article http://digitalla.net/thegameawards17

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

- NEW! LA Tourism and Convention Board is looking for a Senior Digital Producer!

-  Dermalogica: Global Digital Manager: Manage development and adoption of web-based beauty tools 

-  Dermalogica: CRM Manager. Run customer relationship and retention program including email, subscription, loyalty 
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OUR RECENT EVENTS

HODL = Hold On For Dear Life! Buy and hold Bitcoin rather than daytrade said speakers at our Digital LA - Bitcoin Blockchain panel. Speakers included Steve Beauregard of Bloq, Michael Terpin of BitAngels, and ICO marketing and PR consultant, Mark Jeffrey of Guardian Circle, on his ICO road show; and Jason Robert of HelloSugoi, which uses blockchain for tickets and events. See article and video. We discussed how to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, how blockchain is poised to disrupt multiple industries beyond currency, and how to launch and market an ICO without getting into trouble. See articleand video. 


Digital LA - Digital Food panel. Silicon Beach startups and food experts shared tips on how to create successful food startups, work with food influencers and chefs, and even take incredible Instagram pics at our annual pre-Thanksgiving Digital LA - Food panel at CTRL Collective Playa Vista.  Tips to good food photos at restaurants: Bright, colorful, gooey foods, get likes on Instagram. For variety, add action like hands or utensils interacting with food. Lighting is key: sit by window at a restaurant during the day instead of at night to make sure it's well lit. See more tips in our article http://digitalla.net/digitalfood


Digital  LA - Real Estate and Architecture panel.  S tartups are innovating with tools to help buyers, sellers, and organizations to increase efficiency, said speakers at our at our Digital LA - Real Estate and Architecture panel at CTRL Collective downtown LA. There are several categories of real estate and architecture digital including lead generation, lead nurturing, MLS integration, CRM, dynamic listing email marketing, virtual assistants, and VR 360 and pre-vis, said speakers. Speakers included:  Howard Tagar, Ylopo, CEO; Peter Khoury, Cross Street; Ignacio Rodriguez, founder of AVR which does VR pre-vis for architecture; Michael Lucarelli CEO of RentSpree and Jaine Fitzgerald of Axis Images. See  article and  video highlights.

VR Haunted Carnival: We had a blast at the CTRL Collective second annual VR Haunted Carnival with VR Scout, VR DJ, open bar, carnival games, and even a ferris wheel! More than 20 VR demos included Two Bit Circus "The Ledge", "Orc Hunter", Mindshow's VR animator, and more. See our FB pics.

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What VCs Want.  Three VCs gave awesome advice for startups at our Digital LA - What VCs Want panel at the new Capital One Cafe in Santa Monica. Thanks speakers including  Dustin Rosen of Wonder Ventures, Erin Shipley of The Helm Fund for women, and Vaughn Blake of Telescopic Ventures and Autochrome blockchain. They are new VC funds in the growing Silicon Beach - LA Tech scene. Speaker advice included : Tell your story: why are you the one to do this startup? Why are you interested? Don't just list your resume/bio. Your pitch deck should be no more 10-15 pages. VCs look for startups from other VCs and friends of founders they work with. Watch the video  for their tips!

Fashion Influencers Panel  We celebrated Fashion Week LA with our Digital LA - Fashion Influencers panel on Wed night. Speakers Isamar Batista of ShoeDazzle, Ivka Adam CEO of Iconery, Javon Frazier of Studio71 and Paul Menes of Adli Law Group shared tips on how fashion brands can work with influencers - and how influencers can build their own fashion brands. Speakers shared tips on how to find influencers, how micro influencers can give you more engagement at less cost, how to effectively roll out campaigns and how to measure engagement, sales, and ROI. Iconery and Studio71 discussed how they are working with influencers to launch their own custom jewelry pieces or T-shirts, caps and other apparel. See our  article  and  video  highlights.
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Development to Distribution panel.  Write stories that move you, in your voice, and spark interest when you quick-pitch to others, said writers and creators with shows on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and TV at our Development to Distribution panel at CTRL Collective Playa Vista. Speakers Ari Berkowitz (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Brett Konner (Deadbeat on Hulu), Kate Mines (Dropping the Soap on Amazon) and Ruby Rae Spiegel (The OA on Netflix) shared advice on writing to researching distribution platforms for your content. Our article.
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Meet the Streamys Winners panel featured winners Mari Takahashi of Smosh Games (Gaming), Paul Ferry of Mr. Student Body President (Ensemble, Directing) and Brandon Rogers of Magic Funhouse (Costume Design). Speakers shared stories how they create content, cast their projects, engage fans, and use social media. Article soon!


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Startup founders, CEOs, and digital content creators gave advice on how to start and grow your entertainment startup or company at our Digital LA - Digital Women in Entertainment panel. The panel features Silicon Beach startups and entertainment companies that work with Hollywood Studios, filmmakers and brands to create digital and VR content.  See video  with their advice!
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Our Digital LA - Pool Party: We had a blast at our Labor Day Summer Pool party at a Hollywood Hills mansion infinity pool. Attendees included Hollywood studio execs, music biz execs and composers, filmmakers, video game writers, startup CEOs, cryptocurrency experts, and more. Thanks Maggie and Ted for hosting! See  pics


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Our VR Games panel: 12 Things You Need to Know

VR Games are uniquely different from both games and VR experiences, said expert speakers at our first Digital LA - VR Games panel at CTRL Collective Playa Vista on Monday. Our pre-PAX panel is the first in the LA area to focus on VR and Games. Tips: Brainstorm gameplay that fits your game and VR movement, said Daniel Zeligman, Survios lead engineer on category-establishing Raw Data robot shooter VR game. Emmy-winning Secret Location is switching into games owning its own IP, with today's launch of the Blasters of the Universe sci-fi shooter game, said Eric Shamlin of Secret Location. Franchise game titles like Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, and Hitman are experimenting with VR mini-games (not full game), said Adam Sullivan of Square Enix. Music is important to help your players achieve the right actions and feelings in your VR game, said Sally of Ossic, 3D sound in San Diego. Composer must play the game, said award-winning composer Penka Kouneva, who played the Mummy VR game before composing the first note You can play Mummy VR now at Star VR's first VR arcade at Hollywood and Highland, by the Hot Topic. Sound is your best ROI, said Viktor Phoenix, audio expert with Technicolor.  See our 12 Things You Need to Know about VR Games article, our video with speakers trends for VR games, and tag yourself / friends in the FB photo album.
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SteelHouse Summer Cocktails. Digital LA and SteelHouse teamed up for a relaxing Summer Sunset Cocktails at 41 Ocean in Santa Monica last Thurs. Our guest list of attendees included: SteelHouse, The Trade Desk, GumGum, Jukin Media, Taboola, Retention Science, FastPay, Media Temple, eHarmony, Beachbody, Me Undies, Iconery, Sugarfina, Thrillist, and more. The event celebrated SteelHouse's Innovation Hub, which gives brands and agencies access to new video, mobile, and social ad formats and digital distribution channels. SteelHouse Innovation Hub partners include Facebook, Instagram, The Trade Desk, Factual, GumGum, Taboola, and TripleLift. The cocktails kicks off a series of adtech panels that SteelHouse is planning for the fall. See our  articleand FB photo  album. 

6 Secrets to Successful Subscription Services

Successful Subscription box services go beyond selling boxes, to creating community, content marketing, branded boxes, partnering with influences, and more said CEO founders and executives from Loot Crate, FabFitFun, SnackNation, and Watch Gang at our Digital LA - Subscription Services panel held at CTRL Collective Playa Vista on Monday. Speakers said LA is a home for subscription services because LA understands connecting e-commerce and fulfillment with fan passions, influencers, content creation, storytelling, and brands. See our  article with 6 Secrets to Successful Box Services. 
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Esports: LA is epicenter for publishers, teams, events

Esports athletes can make $50K - $300K a year, with more including brand deals, and winning championship prize money, like the $24M at the recent Doda 2 tournament, said esports experts at our first Digital LA - Esports panel at CTRL Collective in Playa Vista. Speaker included Noah Whinston, CEO of The Immortals, a top LA-based team, Brian Kim of Damage agency which helps traditional sports companies and brands work with esports athletes, and Darren Yan of Everyday Influencers which helps place Twitch streamers, YouTubers and esports players in games and mainstream publications like Rolling Stone. Esports is rapidly growing, with increased prize money, sponsorship dollars and attendees at tournaments. Panel highlights, photos, and video of top esports trends in our  article.
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Hollywood Movie Marketing: VR, AR, VFX, Superheroes

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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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.
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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.
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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 - 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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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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