Wednesday, October 18, 2017


Snap Inc's Latest Product Appears To Be A Giant Dancing Hot Dog Costume
Venice-based Snap Inc.'s latest product--if you believe the company's third party, Amazon store--is a giant Dancing Hot Dog Costume, being sold alongside the company's Spectacles. Snap's listing for the costume says the costume fits "people below 6'4", and age 14+" and is "Made of 100% beef, but never starts it!". The costume first appeared on Amazon.com on Tuesday evening, and will only set you back $79.99.
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Wpromote Offers Up Free Digital Marketing Training To Nonprofits
Los Angeles-based digital marketing agency Wpromote said on Wednesday that it will be offering up free training to nonprofits, as part of its second annual Wprobono: Digital Day In LA. Wpromote said the event, in El Segundo, runs from 8am to 5pm, and will help nonprofits learn about things like paid and earned social media, boosting a charity's visibility on Google, increasing open and click through rates on email campaigns, and more. Wpromote has been active in helping out local nonprofits the (More info...)
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Yes, You Can Now Buy A Hat From Elon Musk's Boring Company
In the first product you can actually buy from Elon Musk's new tunnel-digging startup, The Boring Company, the company is now selling a hat with the company's name/logo on it. Musk's company--which has been digging tunnels beneath SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne--says the hat costs $20, including shipping and tax. The Boring Company--which was named on a whim by Musk after a contest on Twitter--is aimed at building tunnels underneath cities for their own Hyperloop systems, and hopes to create (More info...)
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Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Links With Insurer Munich Re
Playa Vista-based hyperloop developer Hyperloop Transportation Technologies--the company led by Dirk Ahlborn and Bibop Gresta--says it has linked up with insurance company Munich Re on a risk analysis and feasibility effort. According to HTT, Munich re created a "Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Risk Report" which assesses the feasibility and insurability of HTT's technology and system. HTT is one of at least three companies in the LA area working on high speed "Hyperloop" systems, first d (More info...)
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Medsphere Systems Merges With Stockell Healthcare
Carlsbad-based electronic health records software developer Medsphere Systems Corporation, and St. Louis-based Stockell Healthcare Systems said today that the two are in a merger agreement, which will make Stockell a division of Medsphere. Stockell Healthcare Systems is a developer of revenue cycle management (RCM) tools. Financial terms of the merger were not announced. Medsphere has been slowly growing the company through similar mergers; the company merged with IT solutions provider ChartLogi (More info...)
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Ticketmaster, NFL In Digital Ticketing Partnership
Los Angeles-based Ticketmaster and the National Football League said Tuesday that the two have extended a partnership in the area of digital ticketing for sports. According to the two, they are in a multi-year extension of a partnership, where Ticketmaster will provide the NFL with the an open architecture, fully digital ticketing system in sports. Ticketmaster will continue to power the NFL Ticket Exchange, the NFL's ticket resale platform, and will also enable digital ticketing in NFL venues. (More info...)
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New Matter Rolls Out New Generation Of 3D Printers
Pasadena-based desktop 3D printer maker New Matter, which is backed by Idealab, said today that it has rolled out its second generation of its 3D printers, the MOD-t (2nd Gen). According to New Matter, it is launching the new generation of 3D printer via a Kickstarter campaign, allowing users to pre-order the device through that campaign. MOD-t said the first 100 users will get the MOD-t (2nd Gen) for $149, the next 250 for $199, and other pre-order users an purchase the device for $249 via that (More info...)
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Snap, NBCUniversal Create New Snapchat Centric, Hollywood Studio
Venice-based Snap and Burbank-based NBCUniversal have partnered to form a new, Snapchat-centered, Hollywood studio, which will specifically create content for Snapchat, the two said this week. According to the two, the new studio's ownership will be split evenly between Snap and NBCU, and will be based in Santa Monica. The new joint venture will be led by Lauren Anderson, most recently VP of Primetime Programming at NBC, as well as Maggie Suniewick, president of NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises. (More info...)
posted on Wednesday, October 18, 2017(Full story)