There will be plenty of FREE Pizza & Drinks!

The Deets

When: July 18, 2013 7pm

Where: The ROC (Real Office Centers) 604 Arizona Ave Santa Monica, CA 90401

Topic: What Makes a Startup Attractive for Acquisition

Krishna Gupta is a former musician, dedicated entrepreneur and current Partner/CEO of Sortfolio, a company he acquired from 37Signals.

WORK

Krishna Gupta’s innate leadership skills were exposed during freshman year when Krishna started providing micro-loans at the early age of thirteen. Krishna has come an exceedingly long way since his adolescent business endeavors, and has grown his early discovered entrepreneurial spirit by gaining significant business experience in a variety of diverse industries. He has exposed himself to operations, hotel management, real estate investment, fashion and music. Krishna’s dynamic work experience highlights both his commitment to his passion for business and also his ability to embrace new ideas. Krishna’s appreciation for creativity fuels his success with Sortfolio.

LIFE

Before Krishna was immersed into the start-up world with BeanGenius and Sortfolio, he was lead guitar player for a hard rock band.  Krishna graduated with honors from UCLA with an MBA. He is a geek and a whiskey lover.

The post TZ Presents: What Makes a Startup Attractive for Acquisition | Chat with Krishna Gupta appeared first on TechZulu.

SGN owns a proprietary technology which seamlessly deploys games across iOS, Google Play, Facebook and Amazon. As such, they have been able to use this technology as leverage to team up with game companies that complement its proven formula for successful titles with strong growth capability and longevity.

Mob Science is an established four-year-old that aligns itself well with SGN as a sucessful Southern California technology start-up. ”Mob Science is a proven game development company with collectively over 75 years of experience in top-tier social game creation,” said Chris DeWolfe, CEO and Founder of SGN. “Both SGN and Mob Science stand for quality, enabling us to continue our strategic growth and market expansion.”

President of SGN, Josh Yguado describes his initial meeting with Mob Science, “We immediately hit it off, due to our similar approach to building high-quiality evergreen games, with strong long-term retention and monetization. They are a perfect fit for our company roll-up strategy.”SGN has had a successful early stage profitability, boasting revenues doubling annually. This has allowed the company to make such strategic acquisitions to fuel its growth with deals structured as a cash and equity purchase.

“Joining the SGN team is an amazing new opportunity for everyone here at Mob Science,” said Michael Witz, Founder and CEO of Mob Science. “We look forward to bringing our games to new platforms with their cross-deployment technology as well as working together to create exciting new games throughout 2013 and beyond.”

SGN will continue to stay in its acquisition mode for companies building excellent, quality games with top talent. They have plans for more recruitment and strategic acquisitions that will be announced later this year.

The post Expanding Games Portfolio & Development Team | SGN Acquires Mob Science appeared first on TechZulu.

In an effort to foster innovation, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the Small Business Administration to launch Bixel Exchange – a technology center focused on growing L.A.’s emerging tech ecosystem — on Thursday, June 13th. Bixel Exchange will leverage the power of the Chamber and the proven track record of the SBA’s Small Business Development Centers with a specific focus on the rapidly evolving segments of the tech community, including clean tech, social media and video gaming. The program will include a keynote address by Manatt Digital Media Venture, CEO, Peter Csathy along with a panel discussion about supporting, sustaining, and cultivating L.A. based emerging tech startups.  You will be able to catch it all live right here on TechZulu Starting at 6:30pm!

Speakers

• Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Gary Toebben
• Los Angeles Athletic Club, President, Karen Hathaway
• Manatt Digital Media Venture, CEO, Peter Csathy

Panel

Growing L.A’s Emerging Tech Ecosystem – Q & A

• Sam Teller, Managing Director Co-Founder, Launchpad LA
• Mike Costache, Tech Coast Angel
• Susannah Luthi, CEO, Connu
• Jeff Solomon, Managing Director, Amplify

The post L.A. Area Chamber Launches Emerging Tech Center Bixel Exchange Live appeared first on TechZulu.

Silicon Beach Fest takes place June 19-22, 2013 in Santa Monica. This second annual fest brings together technology leaders, startup CEOs, investors, Hollywood studio executives, entrepreneurs, developers, students and more to celebrate LA’s dynamic technology industries with panels, workshops, hackathon, mixers, and a start-up showcase spotlighting 40 local startups.

More than 150 speakers include top executives from local accelerators, venture capitalists, entertainment powerhouses, brands, and emerging and established start-ups. Companies represented include: Disney, Warner Bros., ABC Family, Fox, Universal Music, Google, Facebook, Demand Media, MyLife, Riot Games, DFJ Frontier, Rustic Canyon, GRP Partners, Siemer and Associates, Marketshare, Saatchi Online, OMD, Ignited, Rubicon Project, Smashbox Cosmetics, NFL, UCLA, USC, and dozens of start-ups.

Silicon Beach Fest covers more than 30 topics that uniquely reflect LA’s strengths, including: Investors, Entrepreneurship, Entertainment, Games, Social Media, Digital Content, Advertising Technology, Design UX/UI, Fashion, and more. Panel titles include “Meet the Investors,” “Celebs and Startups,” “Fashion Content,” “Growing Your Online Audience,” and more.

Key Events include:

• June 14-16: Hackathon presented by AT&T will gather a few hundred developers, coaches, and business professionals who will create startup pitches at ROC Santa Monica.  Sponsors include Esri, Scopely, and more offer more than $20,000 in prizes
• June 17: Silicon Beach Fest: Pasadena Day, Hosted by Idealab
• June 18:   Hollywood Day at Hollywood Economic Development Summit by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce

• June 19:
  • TechZulu Penthouse at ROC: TechZulu will livestream interviews and provide a place to network.
  • SBF Demo Day: More than a dozen curated LA startups will pitch at Cross Campus in categories including Accelerator, Startup 2.0, and launching at Silicon Beach Fest
  • Digital Women’s Luncheon invites leaders to network at Sonoma Wine Garden
  • Opening Party hosted by Demand Media with KCRW at the Viceroy
• June 20-21:
  • TechZulu Penthouse at ROC: TechZulu will livestream interviews and provide a place to network.
  • Start-up Showcase: 30-40 startups give company pitches to the community.  Semi-final rounds Thursday June 20th, with judges selecting winners Friday, June 21st.  Judges include investors, VCs, and local successful CEOs including MyLife CEO Jeff Tinsley, and Dollar Shave Club CEO Michael Dubin. (June 20 – 21)
  • Thursday Night Fashion Party at Santa Monica Place
  • Thursday Night VIP Party hosted at Siemer and Associates and Cooley offices
  • Digital Content Track sponsored by Demand Media, featuring speakers from Machinima, Maker Studios, Fullscreen, ZEFR and more
  • Friday Night parties at Cross Campus and ROC
•  June 22

•  Panels: Developer, Arts/Education; Green, Good and Government
• Beach Games: Surfing, volleyball, basketball and more
• Saturday Night Closing Party by Media Temple

Go HERE for the Silicon Beach Fest 2013 schedule and registration.

This year’s fest expands upon last year’s inaugural success, which attracted more than 2,000 attendees, received national press coverage, sparked collaboration among industries, and resulted in the creation of new start-ups.

“We’re thrilled to celebrate LA’s incredible talent and innovation,” said Silicon Beach Fest festival director Kevin Winston, CEO and founder of Digital LA, Los Angeles’ largest digital entertainment networking group, which created the Silicon Beach Fest. “LA’s tech environment has been growing rapidly and has been getting national and worldwide attention, as companies here continue to innovate and grow.”

“In 2012 over $3.2 billion was invested in Southern California start-ups with 220 new companies launching in Los Angeles. At least 100 companies secured funding of at least $1 million, and 43 were acquired. This year’s event further demonstrates the growing cohesiveness of the LA tech community and our desire to more prominently showcase to the outside world all the exciting opportunities and companies we have here.”

Media Partners
Current media partners include Los Angeles Times, PandoDaily, TechZulu, SoCalTech and VentureBeat. To inquire about being a media partner, please contact nicole (at) radixcollective.com. To request a press pass, please fill out the form on the press page.

TechZulu, What’s Trending and Business Rockstars radio will be covering live from Silicon Beach Fest via livestream, radio and social media.

Sponsors
Many companies, people, and initiatives share the mission to make LA a global epicenter for technological innovation and entrepreneurialism. Thanks to sponsors and supporters: Demand Media, Media Temple, AT&T, MyLife; organizing sponsors Digital LA, Radix Collective, Cross Campus, ROC Santa Monica, Santa Monica Place, TechZulu, PromoJam, Kluge Interactive, PageWoo, Dynamic Synergy Corporation and Non Profit Effect as well as dozens of additional sponsors and partners.

Social Media
For conference updates, follow @SBFestLA on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

The post Mark Suster, Nely Galan to Keynote Silicon Beach Fest appeared first on TechZulu.

So how do you figure out where you’ll host it? How do you decide between a raw infrastructure provider and platform service? How much work do you do yourself and how much should you rely on service providers?

When building a new application, the fundamental rule is that you should choose any services that allow you the greatest combination of flexibility and resources to meet your application’s needs.

I’m largely talking about whether to use Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) or a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and to some extent, how much to rely on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers or write your own application components.

I think of IaaS, PaaS and SaaS as “stacks” that either reduce the level of effort required to build your application at the expense of flexibility and control, or provide more flexibility and control but with more effort.

For example, IaaS providers will give you raw infrastructure like compute and storage resources. This provides the most flexibility but requires the most hands-on management. Developers interact with the operating systems directly, build/use their own frameworks (e.g., Django, Rails, etc.), and consume server resources directly. If you prefer Nginx over Apache, FastCGI over WSGI (yeah, there’s still some weirdos out there), have a favorite location for your configuration files (/usr/local FTW!), or simply want to control your software upgrade path, then IaaS is probably what you want.

The image below shows the relationship of your application to the services provided by the IaaS provider. Your code sits directly on “top” of the infrastructure resources.

PaaS, on the other hand, will provide a development platform (as a service) to create new applications. You can think of it as cloud-based middleware:  it provides services beyond the raw operating system and abstracts the underlying resources from you. The developer doesn’t have to manage compute resources directly. Instead she gets to build on frameworks specifically provided for her application. For small dev teams without infrastructure management capabilities (read: a SysAdmin who *likes* patching servers at 3 a.m.), this is a great way to reduce the “time-to-usefulness” of their project, that is, how quickly the application is built and being used. However, this restricts the flexibility since they must work within the frameworks provided.
PaaS services typically use an underlying IaaS service, since the raw infrastructure is abstracted from the developer. This gives the PaaS provider the ability to change the underlying infrastructure services as needed, or even use multiple providers. The following example illustrates what a PaaS provider might offer to your application: managed development languages and frameworks to access the resources you would otherwise have to manage directly. If you don’t like the idea of updating PHP or Ruby on Rails on a regular basis, this is where you probably want to be.

Most SaaS providers deliver end-user applications on-demand, as a service. Salesforce.com and Google Apps are two common examples. However, many SaaS applications can provide services to other applications, usually via a SOAP or RESTful API over the Internet. A good example of this is how Yelp integrates Google Maps into its mobile application – Google is the SaaS provider and the Yelp application becomes the consumer.

A SaaS provider may use a PaaS provider or an IaaS provider, depending on the level of development and operational efforts they want to balance out.

Here’s an illustration of how an application may interact with various SaaS providers (though it cleverly avoids indicating what underlying services are powering the application code itself):

Each layer consumes a service from the layer directly underneath it while at the same time, providing the denoted services to the layer directly above it.

Ultimately, the more you move your application “up the stack,” the fewer resources you are required to manage. So integrating an application with SaaS providers allows a developer to consume SaaS services as components and building blocks without having to reinvent the wheel (e.g., using Google Maps for location services, using RSS aggregators for content/news services, etc.).

Using a PaaS provider will provide a framework for you to develop your own application without having to manage an infrastructure.

And if PaaS is too limiting (say, you want to use certain web server features not provided by the platform, or you want to use a preferred development framework), then IaaS may make more sense.

As indicated in the final illustration below, the further one moves down the stack, the more the application or Dev/Ops engineer  has to interact with and manage.

Of course, no one service is correct for all use cases. Many distributed applications consume one or more portions of the stack on multiple cloud service providers.

The decision to go with one or another ultimately comes down to the resources your team wants to manage, the capabilities of your people building and supporting the application, and how quickly you need to deploy production software with the resources available to them. Pick one that makes the most sense today, and don’t be afraid to change as your needs change over time.

The post Down the Stack | How Low Do You Go? appeared first on TechZulu.

During this year’s 2013 US Open patrons will be able to request a ride via Uber to and from the tournament sites at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. This marks the beginning of what could be the next wave in event transportation. Few have tried in recently months with little success; generally due to city regulations on competing with the local taxi services, but Callaway’s social and brand presence should help this be success.

“How golfers experience golf companies has changed considerably,” said Harry Arnett, SVP, Marketing, Callaway Golf. “They are now more directly connected with individuals at equipment companies, with Tour professionals and with the Pro at their local course. Working with Uber on a social, technology-driven and fun program — that also provides utility to golf fans — is an example of how Callaway continues to focus particularly on the out of home experience with golfers in our ongoing commitment to be the most engaged experiential brand in golf.”

For those who haven’t had the chance to experience Uber, the mobile app connects people with professional drivers, delivering a convenient, on-the-go transportation solution. Uber uses real-time GPS technology, which will help golf fans in the Philadelphia area access the Callaway branded SUVs within the standard Uber app during the entire US Open. Special for this event a dedicated, in-app information screen designed specifically for the US Open will lead fans to the “#MyCallawayDriver” ride option, where they can request transportation to and from Merion Golf Club East Course from within the Philadelphia area. There will be no cost for the Callaway ride option.

US Open fans who catch a ride through the Callaway and Uber #MyCallawayDriver partnership will receive a limited edition collector’s coin designed by Callaway Golf. Those who tweet a photo of their experience to @CallawayGolf & @Uber_Philly, including the hashtag “#MyCallawayDriver”  will be entered to win a red, white and blue Odyssey® Versa® #7 Putter.

The post Callaway and Uber Partner | The Next Wave In Event Transportation appeared first on TechZulu.

According to SGL, developers can now submit their apps for review and have their press releases and updates distributed on the Stained Glass Labs website, which gives them the quick feedback from other developers and the ability to submit press releases, which are sent to members of the media interested in Google Glass and wearable technologies.

Redg Snodgrass, co-founder of Stained Glass Labs said,“There is little doubt we are at the forefront of an incredible new wave of wearable technologies, with Google Glass leading the way,”  and adeded,  “SGL was created to foster this new generation of technologies growth, help create a path to market during the development stage for early stage companies and mentor the community as these platforms begin to open up. Today’s announcement will go a long way to help us foster innovation and help entrepreneurs create wearable technologies that will define a new era in tech.”

Comprehensive App Directory

SGL says the Comprehensive App Directory launched is a simple 2 step process. Glass developers simply upload their applications and marketing collateral, the SGL team reviews it, and then places it on the directory.

Apart from the app directory, SGL has also created a Press Release publishing tool for developers to upload their docs during the submission process easily, making it even better for SGL to send it to its network of industry connection. Entrepreneurs will also be able to communicate with the Bloggerati and showcase their products to the world.

Over 100 Applications

According to Snodgrass, SGL wants to deliver products and services that can quickly help entrepreneurs get the attention, and funding they need and have been overwhelmed with mentor, Angels, and VC requests since launch  and to date. They have also received over 100 applications for admission since their launch last month with new submissions coming in daily.

To make it better for entrepreneurs to get the maximum attention and funding they need Stained Glass Labs has also partnered with Exitround, the world’s first marketplace for startups to discreetly get funding partners and acquisition opportunities. Stained Glass Labs’s incubator companies will be able to gain advanced access to the Exitround community of business and corporate development professionals and also get  one-to-one coaching on strategically navigating corporate conversations.

Partnership to give firms bigger business opportunities

Confirming the partnership, Jacob Mullins, founder of Exitround said it provide SGL companies access to its active marketplace to find great business and corporate development opportunities.

He said, “As a startup goes through its various stages of development, smart entrepreneurs understand the opportunities that can be gained by working with large, growing companies with meaningful distribution.  These companies are active on Exitround and are looking to connect with startups who are disrupting markets and changing the world.”

SGL companies will get a variety of strategic business options and business opportunities with some of the world’s greatest tech companies.

The post Stained Glass Labs Patners With Exitround, Unveils App Directory for Google Glass appeared first on TechZulu.

Joaquin Ayuso de Paul, founder and CEO of Kuapay said,“As people grow more comfortable using their phones for everything from taking photos, to online shopping.”

According to Joaquin we are headed to an era when phones will replace many of the other items we carry in our pockets such as wallets, from multiple credit cards to eventually cash and ID cards and security technology makes a true mobile wallet experience a reality.

Eliminating Fraud

But for users to adopt mobile, there is need for security.

Joaquin added, “Our goal is to provide people with a completely secure product that can not only simplify their daily lives, but also eliminate the hassle that comes from replacing lost or stolen payment cards.”

Kuapay prevents merchants, or anyone attempting to eavesdrop, from accessing consumers’ sensitive payment data as user information is securely stored in a heavily encrypted Kuapay vault, accessible only by device-specific tokens, which are also encrypted, stored on the user’s phone.

When a user is ready to pay, a unique identifier is dynamically generated and encoded in a QR code for scanning by the merchant.The additional layer of security and comfort requires the user to review and approve all charges on their own personal device. Only after the user approves the charges will they be billed.

Easy to use

In the event of a lost or stolen phone, not only is the app PIN protected, but users can simply log in to www.kuapay.com to lock their account remotely, thus eliminating future access from the lost device. Kuapay therefore makes paying with its mobile wallet more secure than paying with a physical credit card. With first-to-market patent-pending security technology.

Without fear of exposing private payment information users find it easy to make purchases and use automatic discounts which save them money along the way.

True Mobile Wallet Experience

With the average American owning 3.5 credit cards (Federal Bank Reserve of Boston), Kuapay now makes it easier for people to access a variety of cards they may use in different instances: their everyday credit and debit cards, their rewards credit cards and their credit cards saved for large purchases or emergency situations. Multiple credit card storage allows for a more accurate digital alternative to a physical wallet.

Also proud of the move, Bill Elkus, Founder and Managing Director of Clearstone Venture Partners said Kuapay’s  patent-pending distributed encryption keys are a game changer in security.

Founded in Santa Monica in 2010, Kuapay, has been steadily perfecting its product through a variety of pilot programs both in and outside of the U.S. with successful user adoption in both Chile and Spain.

To accept Kuapay, a merchants simply need an iOS or Android device, or a supported point-of-sale system and without any specific point-of-sale hardware as Kuapay is a software-based and hardware agnostic solution.

The post Mobile Wallet Solution Kuapay Unveils New Interface & Features For User Security appeared first on TechZulu.

According to Dwolla, the process is simple.

Users can add their Dwolla accounts just like they’d add a bank account by going to Accounts, then Edit, Choose Add Account and type in Dwolla and provide their Dwolla account login credentials. Then transactions will be pulled in and categorized by type, for example expenses from shopping, cab fares, Coffee Shops among others.

Dwolla said they were proud of working with Mint.com. The firm announced,”We’re proud to work with companies like Mint that can innovate quickly, providing both of our customers with the tools that they’ve requested.”

Mint.com track one’s spending across all their accounts, credit cards, student loans and investment accounts to checking accounts. They help users create goals and set up budgets for everything they spend on.

Founded in 2008, Dwolla’s network connects to a user’s bank account to allow them to move money for just $0.25 per transaction, or free for transactions $10 or less and say they are big on safety because users only their email address, phone number or unique Dwolla ID and no personal information is shared.

Dwolla’s integration with Mint.com will help its users track their expenses on the go and know where which money is doing what as Mint automatically organizes one’s spending into categories like rent, gas, clothes, lattes complete with easy to understand spending charts. Users will also get simple steps and free advice, reminders to stick to a budget tailored for them.

The post Dwolla Integrates With Mint.com To Help Users Easily Track Their Expenses appeared first on TechZulu.

In contrast, a direct flight from our nation’s capital to the Bay Area clocks in at just over five hours. Long enough to watch a couple movies on your iPad or plow through the latest Grisham on your Kindle. Sure, you’ll be a little cramped, but at least you’ll get a complimentary beverage. More importantly, you won’t burn an entire day — let alone a month — just getting to your destination.

To put this tortured metaphor I’m constructing out of its misery, when it comes to California’s vibrant tech community, regulators in Washington are much like the person trekking across country on foot. Meanwhile, our tech community is constantly taking flight — until they suddenly find themselves grounded.

Take car service Uber, which has found itself fighting through regulatory gridlock in a number of markets. Or house sharing startup Airbnb, which has been continually whacked by regulators wielding dusty regulations cooked up before the age of dial-up.

One man who knows all too well how regulatory molasses can stifle innovation is Paul Rosenzweig, attorney and founder of Red Branch Consulting in Washington, D.C. A regular moderator and panelist for Stanford, he knows his tech policy backwards and forwards. He’s also a Chemical Oceanographer — fitting, given how hard it can be just to navigate the regulatory waters.

“In a world where notice and comment rulemaking takes 18-24 months to complete,” Rosenzweig says, “our system for making policy is simply ill-suited for the task. Disruption can be a major headache for regulators.”

Since regulators are unlikely to speed up anytime soon, the tech community is at constant risk of their innovations becoming mired in 20^th Century quicksand. That places the burden on them to move forward with their next big idea well aware that they’re likely to hit a wall of outdated regulations. The key, Rosenzweig points out, is to identify as many hurdles as you can beforehand.

“When you have a brilliant idea,” Rosenzweig says, “your natural instinct is to set sail with it as soon as possible. But in this age when everything is connected, governments are as slow to react as ever, and privacy is a major concern, the best thing to do is take a deep breath and accept how the process works.”

The good news is that there are few regulatory issues that can’t be solved creatively. Laws can be complicated and burdensome, but they can also evolve. “Regulators very rarely want to stop a technology in its tracks,” Rosenzweig says. “The trick is to make them understand what your technology does, and then work with them to address any regulations that might hold you back.”

In other words, don’t race ahead of the powers that be in Washington. Because chances are, you’re already way ahead of them.

The post Slow and Steady Doesn’t Win the Race | Why Innovators are Sprinting to D.C. appeared first on TechZulu.

Startups Apply Here

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TechZulu: How did BEAM come into mind?

Drew Baumann:  It was simple really.  I thought Google Glasses was allowing people to easily share life’s moment through YouTube.  At Google I/O a couple years back, showed a demo of Google Glass by watching a French woman holding her baby and recording that moment.  The French woman pointed out that she can interact with her baby and technology is not getting in the way of her and her child.

So, when the Explorer versions of the Glass unit came out, there was no way to upload videos directly to YouTube.  I thought that was weird as Google owns YouTube and that would be an obvious feature to have.  I sought out to fix this problem and started working on the coding, even before I got the glasses.  Once I got it, I did some final tweaks to make sure it worked and then released it.

How hard was it to work on the Google Glass?

Luckily it was fairly easy to work on since it was using a Rust API, which also allowed me to use Ruby on Rails.  I soon understood the user interface and experience of Glass the longer I worked on it.  I also had to think about how the user interacts with the application.  That’s what developers are always facing when making a new product.

What are your main goals for BEAM?

Google Glass is an easy and convenient way in shooting a first-person video.  When it is on you all the time, you can capture all the moments.  Unlike your phone and camera, you don’t have to take it out, turn it on, and switch to photo or video.  Glass can just shoot and capturing moments in an instant.  There are a lot of viral videos on YouTube.  Every second you miss out on, the picture or video is going to produce less valuable content.

YouTube is great for short content.  Someone told me, if you can be entertained for the first three seconds, you can gather a good number of views.  It’s great for content creators to capture viral moments.  Like I said earlier, Glass is also great for capturing moments like the mother and her newborn baby and still interacting with her child.  You don’t need another person to take pictures or a video, no need for technology to get in the way of capturing moments.

The ultimate goal for BEAM is to create a great YouTube experience.  I know there aren’t a ton of these units out yet, but there are people like me who want to capture video and send it to YouTube.  I want to offer those people more options.

What’s your opinion on Google Glass?

The first week I had them, I thought it was really cool.  I am an outgoing guy, but in the back of my mind, I was worried about what people would think of me wearing these glasses.  I would think people would see me as a huge nerd or even as a terminator.  But the reception of the glasses was actually positive.

I had some strain in my eye using the glasses for the first week.  I wasn’t used to wearing glasses at all, so that took some time to get used to as well.  But after a while I finally got used to the glasses.

What do you think about the privacy factor with Google Glass will be?

It’s really evident when I record a video.  As you can see my screen lights up and you can see the Glass unit on.  Plus, when I record something, I have to stare at you or whatever I am recording.  I don’t change as a human being just because I have Google Glass.  I don’t go out of my way to record inappropriate things.  No one has gotten angry over my Glass unit.

One of the first nights I got these units, I went to a bar with some friends.  I was worried that people would either start a fight over the privacy issue or just call me some huge nerd, but it wasn’t like that at all.  People were curious about it and when people did ask what I thought about the privacy issue with Glass, I showed them how it works.  Once they saw how it worked, they understood how easy it is to notice when it’s recording and that they didn’t have anything to worry about.

Which direction is Google Glass taking technology?

There are so many possibilities that I can’t speculate on it all.  Maybe the consumers may decide they aren’t ready for this type of technology and it won’t come to market, but I’m hoping it will.  Glass is following Google’s new mantra that technology shouldn’t be getting in the way of everyday life.  The value of holding knowledge “at-a-glance” while hands free is pretty powerful too.  Wearable technology is coming of age and more companies are looking into it.

What new technology advancements are you looking forward to?

The Google self-driving cars is pretty amazing.  What that technology can do for transportation in general will be amazing.  Think about reducing the number of accidents and creating safer roads for pedestrians.  The potential for public safety is huge.

What other tech would you like Fullscreen to work on?

Fullscreen’s main focus is about content creators; helping people on YouTube.  The BEAM fit into our idea, but it is not one of our main focuses.  Once every month we have a thing called Fullscreen Labs, a day where we dedicate exploration, hacking, and trying out new things that we find interesting or that would help content creators.  BEAM is an example of a project coming from Fullscreen Labs.  I had the drive to build this for my own needs and for the content creators who got their hands on Glass.

Where do you think the LA tech scene is right now?

I think the LA tech scene is doing some great things.  I moved from Iowa and took a chance to move out here to LA.  I don’t know what LA is like compared to Silicon Valley, but LA has been very entertaining and interesting for me.  I have been at Coloft in Santa Monica, which is full of driven people.  I haven’t been around people like that before.  I felt welcomed into the community and I think there are lots of hard workers.  There are lots of companies that are building, growing, and bringing in money to making LA a more legitimate tech city.  I like the community here and what it has to offer.

Thanks for your time Drew.

The post Drew Baumann | Fullscreen BEAM, Google Glass, and Future Tech appeared first on TechZulu.