3D Digital Scanning Promises Eternal Youth in Hollywood

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Paul Debevec Institute for Creative Technologies

Paul Debevec inside his geodesic light box at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies in Playa Vista.


The motion-capture technology that made “Avatar” one of the most expensive films in history will, in the not too distant future, become the tools of independent film-makers on shoestring budgets.

As computer graphics algorithms improve and costs fall, shooting a film with lights, cameras and human actors may be considered a quaint and expensive luxury.

Continue reading “3D Digital Scanning Promises Eternal Youth in Hollywood” »

How Ad Agency ‘Mistress Creative’ Uses Social Media

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Hot Wheels Double Loop Dare

If Don Draper worked in today’s world, he would have an account on Instagram… and on Vine, Whisper, Snapchat and any other social media platform that dominates the attention of young people — the world’s future consumers.

Continue reading “How Ad Agency ‘Mistress Creative’ Uses Social Media” »

Beyond Meat Builds Plant-based Protein for Meat Eaters

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Beyond Meat co-founder Brent Taylor

Beyond Meat co-founder Brent Taylor at the company’s R&D facility in El Segundo


A food startup in El Segundo is trying to save California from the drought, one grilled chicken strip at a time.

Beyond Meat has developed a process that turns pea and soy proteins into products that taste and — more importantly — have the texture of real beef and chicken.

Continue reading “Beyond Meat Builds Plant-based Protein for Meat Eaters” »

The “Artist-Entrepreneur” Is the New Normal in Digital Era

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Ali Spagnola social media influencer on Twitter and YouTube

Like so many hopefuls before her, Ali Spagnola moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career.

But Spagnola isn’t hoping to be “discovered.” She’s hoping to grow her online fan base, already in the millions, with help from the YouTube Space LA, a film production warehouse in Playa Vista that’s free for YouTube creators with at least 10,000 followers.

Spagnola, and the thousands of creators who use the YouTube Space LA, represent a new breed of entertainer that blends artistry with entrepreneurship.

Continue reading “The “Artist-Entrepreneur” Is the New Normal in Digital Era” »

How Teens Are Making Thousands Per Month on Social Media

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Melissa Clark first realized her 8th grade daughter was a celebrity the day they arrived at her new school in Santa Clarita, and a crowd of middle schoolers surrounded her car and begged her daughter to take a picture with them.

The next day at school, she was “literally mobbed by about 200 people,” Clark said from her home in Burbank. “An administrator had to walk her from class to class.”

Three years later, Clark’s daughter — who has a make up tutorial channel on YouTube and 1.4 million followers on Instagram — is pulling in thousands of dollars a month from paid endorsements.

Continue reading “How Teens Are Making Thousands Per Month on Social Media” »

Motivo Engineering Builds Electric Tractor to Power Indian Villages

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Motivo Engineering electric tractor

After building luxury toys like high-speed electric boats and futuristic three-wheeled motorcycles, the Torrance design studio Motivo Engineering is getting into subsistence farming.

The company has developed a multi-purpose electric tractor to help poor farmers in India till the soil and, more importantly, provide them with reliable access to electricity.

Continue reading “Motivo Engineering Builds Electric Tractor to Power Indian Villages” »

Google Is Helping SpaceX Bring Satellite Internet to the Masses

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Elon Musk

Google is helping SpaceX bring high-speed Internet to the masses with a constellation of small satellites.

SpaceX announced in a blog post today that Google and Fidelity have invested $1 billion in the Hawthorne-based rocket maker. The investment gives SpaceX a $10 billion valuation, with Google and Fidelity owning a 10 percent stake in the company.

Musk hopes a network of low-flying satellites will be able to provide Internet speeds that rival land-line connections and one day provide a communication link between Earth and Mars, which Musk hopes to colonize.

Read the full story at DailyBreeze.com

Elon Musk Wants to Build A Hyperloop Test Track in Texas

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Hyperloop pods float on a cushion of air and move through a low-pressure tube with the help of electric magnets and on-board fans.

Elon Musk is looking to build a test track for the Hyperloop, a futuristic high-speed transportation project that Musk outlined in a white paper 18 months ago.

He’s also trying to get students involved.

The SAE International is a student design competition for Formula 1-style race cars. It also began in Texas.

UCLA grad students have been studying the feasibility of the Hyperloop since last fall. But Musk is not directly involved with that project.

Fuhu Debuts 65-inch Tablet for Kids

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email

Fuhu Big Tab Jordan England-Nelson

Fuhu unveiled smorgasbord of new products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, including a line of giant, wall-mounted tablets, a Beats-inspired set of headphones, and a GoPro-like waterproof camera designed to help parents capture little Tommy’s first steps.

Continue reading “Fuhu Debuts 65-inch Tablet for Kids” »

MotoArt Builds $30,000 Tables with Recycled Airplane Parts

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email
MotoArt owners Donovan Fell and David Hall

MotoArt owners Donovan Fell, left, and David Hall at their garage in El Segundo

For more than a decade, Donovan Fell and Dave Hall have driven to the Mojave Desert to chop up old airplanes and turn them into furniture that costs more than your car.

Continue reading “MotoArt Builds $30,000 Tables with Recycled Airplane Parts” »

Stunt car-maker builds lifesize Hot Wheels

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email
Hot Wheels For Real Corkscrew Car

This Hot Wheels dune buggy can launch off a ramp and 360 degree corkscrew flip.

A race car that can withstand eight g-forces on a double-barrel loop; a dune buggy that can hit a ramp and launch into a 360-degree corkscrew flip; a Darth Vadar roadster that breathes like the Star Wars supervillain and tops out at 150 mph.

These are some of the lifesize Hot Wheels vehicles that have come out of Action Vehicle Engineering, a stunt car garage in Chatsworth.

Continue reading “Stunt car-maker builds lifesize Hot Wheels” »

What’s it like to fly the Goodyear blimp?

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email
Goodyear pilots Taylor Laverty and Kristen Arambula

Goodyear pilots Kristen Arambula and Taylor Laverty snap a selfie over the 2015 Rose Parade on Thursday.

Flying for Goodyear is a coveted position in the pilot community.

There are only about 40 full-time blimp pilot jobs around the country. Hundreds apply every time there is an opening at Goodyear.

Continue reading “What’s it like to fly the Goodyear blimp?” »

Goodyear celebrates 60 years of aerial coverage

Facebook Twitter Plusone Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Reddit Email
Good Year blimp at Rose Bowl 1955

The Goodyear blimp hovers over the 1955 Rose Parade, the first nationally broadcast live aerial shot.

The Federal Aviation Administration is still wringing its hands about the commercial use of unmanned aerial vehicles, but manned blimps have had the FAA’s blessing for over half a century.

Goodyear is celebrating its 60th year of aerial coverage of the Tournament of Roses in Pasadena tomorrow.

Continue reading “Goodyear celebrates 60 years of aerial coverage” »