It's a Wrap! LDV Vision Summit 2016 and the Internet of Eyes

This year's LDV Vision Summit, produced annually in New York by serial investor and photo fanatic Evan Nisselson, covered everything from 3D imaging and VR to deep learning and Facebook Live. We all came away convinced that The Internet of Eyes is coming and it's an important area that all of us — creatives, engineers, marketers, and investors — should be keeping an "eye" (pun intended) on. 

MaintainPR is agency of record for LDV Vision Summit and has managed media relations since the inaugural event in 2013.

With speakers like Bijan Sabet (Spark Capital); Patricia Hadden (NBCUniversal Media, SVP of Marketing), Jason Rosenthal, (Lytro, CEO), Yuanzhen Lim (VSCO Director of Engineering, Sold Moving Sciences); Nicolas Steegmann (GoPro Software Engineering Sr. Director. Sold Stupefix), Larry Zitnick, (Facebook AI Research Lead) we have a blast each time and learn a ton.

Check out some of the selected media coverage in The Next Web, TechCrunch and more below.

"Why image recognition is about to transform business" -- TechCrunch

"It’s coming! The Internet of Eyes will allow objects to See" -- The Next Web

"Facebook Bringing 360 Photos to News Feed, Samsung Gear VR" -- Adweek

"Facebook Is Trying to Figure Out How to Automatically Detect Mirror Selfies" -- VICE Motherboard

"Innovation & Trends in Video and Digital Imaging at the LDV Vision Summit 2016" -- VizWorld

"AI struggles with mirror selfies as Facebook scientists try to instill new skills" -- RT

"Mediachain enivisions a blockchain-based tool for identifying artists’ work across the internet" -- TechCrunch

"Could Blockchains Solve The Web's Image Attribution Problem?" -- Fast Co.

"You need to be thinking about computer vision" -- Venturebeat

Spark Labs Featured in Crain's NY

Spark Labs (http://spark-labs.co/) is a coworking ecosystem and U.S. expansion hub to fast track startups coming from Europe to the United States.

Founder Christophe Garnier (prev Totsy $23.5M funding) has carefully curated a selection of contacts forming an ecosystem for global tech (with an eye on what's new in Europe) and helped companies such as  expand their innovative tech to the States.

Read more about Spark Labs in this extensive piece on NY coworking by Crain's NY Matthew Flamm.

"Is the co-working boom creating the next real estate bubble?" -- Crains NY

Astro Digital Continues to Lead Silicon Valley's Space Boom

Silicon Valley startups like Planet Labs and Astro Digital are leading the boom in space exploration, designing software and building satellites themselves to define a new era of earth imaging for business.

Astro Digital's software-driven approach (originally featured in this TechCrunch piece) has continued to interest reporters covering newspace and farm tech. Check out the recent coverage including San Jose Mercury News below.

"Silicon Valley's zero-gravity space startup boom" -- SJ Merc

"The Growing Ecosystem of Satellite Imagery for Ag" -- AgFunder

"Making Satellite Imagery an Even More Accessible Tool for Agriculture" -- Growing Georgia

Ray Super Remote Reviewed: Techhive, Cool Mom Tech, CNET, PC World

The Ray Super Remote is the world's best touchscreen remote. As the team has added functionality like controlling Philips Hue and Nest while expanding availability (now available on Best Buy) MaintainPR has continued to get this beauty into the hands of reviewers and taste makers. Here is some of what they are saying:

 "The Hopper integration was seamless and impressive. Once I synced the Ray with the Hopper, it had access to all of Dish Network's programming information, plus my DVR schedule and favorite channels." -- Will Greenwald, PC Magazine

"It feels like there’s real competition in the high-end universal remote market again, and right now, Ray is on top." -- Ken Denmead, Geekdad

"Weighing in at 5.7 ounces and fabricated from aluminum and Gorilla Glass, the Ray oozes quality." -- Seamus Bellamy, TechHive

"We’re stepping into completely new territory here into super remote status with a combo of touchscreen technology, sleek user-friendly design, and Netflix-style smart recommendations" -- Jeana Tahnk, CoolMomTech

Fullstack Academy on CNBC

A lot of ink is being spilled on whether a traditional CS degree is worth the investment. Fullstack Academy's co-founders believe in a balance between theory and application. A recent example of why is highlighted in this CNBC piece, spotlighting a recent graduate who went on to Venmo.

Skip college? It can pay off—big time -- CNBC

Fullstack Academy is Open in Chicago

MaintainPR client Fullstack Academy has acquired The Starter League, the original coding bootcamp, and is opening its newest campus in Chicago. This new location will provide the same cutting-edge, immersive, JavaScript-oriented education as Fullstack Academy’s main campus in New York City.

Check out the coverage around this important East Coast partnership:

Fullstack acquires Chicago's Starter League coding school -- Chicago Tribune

Fullstack Academy—whose grads land at Facebook and Google—acquires Chicago coding school pioneer -- Chicago Biz Journal

The Starter League just got acquired by New York's Fullstack Academy -- BuiltInChicago

Starter League code school acquired by Fullstack -- Crain's Chicago

Coding Bootcamp, The Starter League, Acquired by Fullstack Academy -- EdSurge

The Starter League, One of the First Code Bootcamps, Acquired By Fullstack Academy -- ChicagoInno

Ray Super Remote Now Shipping - Giant Leap for Search & Discovery on TV

The Ray Super Remote (now shipping) is a universal touchscreen remote that will redefine how you find and discover content.

Conceived and headquartered out of NYC by a team made up of technology and design experts from Apple, Amazon, Huge, and Nokia, the Ray Super Remote is the first smart home device that was designed to make content delivery seamless. Whether you are a techie raised in the touchscreen generation, or a TV lover that wants a better recommendation engine and search layer -- the Ray has you covered.

Since it's launch at recode Media, the device has garnered praise and coverage across lifestyle, technology and trade journals. Here is a sampling of what people are saying:

Ending Remote Control Clutter: The Hunt for the Perfect Universal Remote -- WSJ

Ray’s Universal Super Remote Uses Apps To Help Control Your TV -- TechCrunch

A Universal Remote That Aims to Change How You Watch TV -- Wired

The Ray super remote lets you control all your devices — from television to cable box to streaming device to game console -- SF Chronicle

Juggling Too Many Remotes? Try This Touch Screen -- NYTimes

Ray Wants to Change Your TV Experience, With a Touchscreen Remote Control -- recode

Astro Digital Unveils New Tool for the World's Freshest Satellite Imagery

Astro Digital is opening up access to small sat data to agriculture industry and disaster, as well as engineering companies remotely monitoring progress of projects.

The satellite hardware is extremely powerful but what they are doing differently than any other space company is building software in parallel with the hardware. Check out what they have built at https://fetch.astrodigital.com 

• Move around the map, use the filters to select a date, acceptable cloud cover, then select an image
• Publish the image and select a style of processing. Enter your email address and in about 5 minutes you’ll have a link to the map in your inbox
• This workflow typically takes even a skilled analyst about 2 hours

Check out more coverage on this fast-growing startup in one of tech's hottest sectors:

Astro Digital Releases Platform For Anyone To Analyze Satellite Imagery -- TechCrunch

An Archive of the World's Freshest Satellite Images -- City Lab

How the Next Generation of Satellites May Help Battle Wildfires -- recode

Turn NASA's Raw Satellite Imagery Into Beautiful, Embeddable Maps -- Fast Co Exist

Swipecast Nabs Venmo Co-founder as Advisor

Swipecast, the app that brings together stylists, photographers, designers and models all in one place where they can exchange information, review each others’ portfolios, set up castings and even book each other for jobs, has announced Iqram Ismail as advisor.

Ismail was introduced to Swipecast in August after using the app to source creatives for his own side project in music production. He realized that Swipecast was entering a market ripe for disruption, as modeling’s brick-and-mortar business hadn’t caught up to the technology permeating the freelance economy.

Check out the full story over on BuiltInNYC

Venmo Cofounder Wants to Change How the Fashion Industry Gets Paid -- BuiltInNYC

Outernet Joins The Space Race For Internet Accessibility

Outernet is an ambitious and hugely important initiative to bring free information access to the world.  To date, the small but passionate team has gone live on 3.5 continents, raised over $500k on IndieGoGo, and will be installing hardware for venerable institutions such as the World Bank.

Today marks another great stride for Outernet, thanks to a partnership with the UK Space Agency, and Scottish satellite equipment manufacturer, Clyde Space, on a cost-sharing project for manufacturing “cubesats.”

Here are some important reads on Outernet and their initiatives in the media to date:

• Outernet Joins The Space Race For Internet Accessibility -- TechCrunch
• UK Space Agency Boosts Cubesat Space Internet Plan -- NBC News
• Satellites Will Beam One-Way Internet to the Earth's Most Remote Areas -- Vice Motherboard
• What Is the Outernet and Is It the Future of the Internet? -- Gizmodo
• The best way to connect the 4.3 billion people offline may not be via the Internet -- The News Hub
• Beaming the Internet from Outerspace -- CNN
• Outernet would Provide Offline Access to Web Content via Radio Waves -- Chicago Tribune
• These Tiny Satellites Could Bring Internet Access To The Entire Planet -- Fast Co. Exist
• The 'Outernet' Wants to Give Internet to the Entire World -- Vice Motherboard

Seen Announces Investment to Capture Live Events

Tarikh Korula, formerly of Frog Design and Uncommon Projects, launched Seen out of a moment he experienced in personal frustration.  After organizing and deciding a winner for an East Coast TechCrunch hackathon, Korula couldn't find a photo of the project even after tons were snapped and uploaded by the attendees.

Today Seen is announcing a $1.25M seed round. Li Ka-Shing and Jeff Citron (Horizons and KEC Ventures respectively) join in investment for Seen, a graduate of The New York Times Company’s “timeSpace” accelerator. They join notable angels including David Tisch’s BoxGroup, Scott and Cyan Banister, Matt Rolandson and Sam Tripodi, Andrew Rasiej, Cantora Records, and Thatcher Bell, Venture Partner at Gotham Ventures.

For coverage on the funding, which will be used to build a new paradigm for organization, search and discovery on the real-time web, click through the links below.

• Seen.co Secures $1.25M From Horizons Ventures And KEC To Capture Live Social Events -- TechCrunch
• The Next Big Thing You Missed: Recreate Live Events with Twitter and Instagram -- Wired
• Seen secures $1.25M in seed funding -- Cornell Tech
• New York's Seen makes sense of social media's news coverage -- Uncubed

*UPDATE (2/27/15) -- Seen hosted an informative panel "Real-time News at the Speed of Mobile" during Social Media Week NY. Panelists included Aaron Edwards of Buzzfeed and Brian Ries, real-time news editor at Mashable. Check out the Seen here.

*UPDATE -- Tarikh and Seen were just featured in AlleyWatch's "21 People in NYC Content You Must Know About"

Inaugural LDV Vision Summit Brings Computer Vision to Forefront of NY Tech

The processes for capturing, managing, searching and sharing visual communications are being radically reinvented. A first-of-its-kind conference in the heart of New York City, LDV Vision Summit brought together industry heads from NY companies like Time Inc., Magnet Media, Taboola, The Blaze TripleLift and Google to discuss the implications.

MaintainPR handled press attendance and interviews around the event for LDV's Evan Nisselson. Nisselson is a well known angel investor who helps entrepreneurs in building businesses that leverage technology to entertain, increase efficiency, and solve problems.

MaintainPR's efforts drove awareness and attendance of tier one technology press and helped to establish Nisselson as a source for Fortune's series on the future of the image.

Enigma Shows Temperature Anomalies in Powerful Data Visualization

2013 TechCrunch Disrupt winners Enigma have created a pioneering data search and discovery technology structured on top of the broadest collection of public data on the market.

With Labs, Enigma uses their own platform to create informative visualizations to educate and encourage the exploration of information. The latest was an eye-opener.

U.S. Daily Temperature Anomalies 1964-2013 is a visualization of a 50 year period (1964-2013) signifying a clear trend: Since 1964, the proportion of  warm  and  strong warm  anomalies has risen from about 42% of the total to almost 67% of the total – an average increase of 0.5% per year.

Enigma and MaintainPR worked together after publishing the visualization and analysis taking advantage of the wider availability of public data, in order to make the topic of climate change more relatable for people. For the coverage we generated, click through the links below.

• If You're in the U.S., Get Used to More Record Hot Temperatures -- Mashable
• 50 Years of Temperature Anomalies, Mapped and Animated -- Reddit
• Watch America's Weird Weather Get Hotter Over 50 Years -- Fast Co. Exist
• U.S. Daily Temperature Anomalies, 1964-2014 -- Information is Beautiful
• Five Decades of Warm and Cold Weather Anomalies -- Flowing Data
• New Ways to Visualize Increasingly Hot Weather in U.S. -- Climate Central

Battlefy Raises $1.3M from William Morris and former Riot Games Board Member

Esports now sellout  in-person tournaments at LA’s Staples Center, where the Lakers and Kings play, and boast tens of millions of worldwide television viewers.

With an allstar board of advisors and proven turnkey solution, Battlefy launches today for Esports players everywhere to organize players, teams and tournament brackets.

Their funding includes backing from Hollywood A-list William Morris and Deep Fork Capital. Battlefy is a graduate of the Amplify LA accelerator.

For all the coverage click through below:

• Battlefy, a “Pickaxe” for eSports, Raises $1.3 Million Seed Round -- Recode
• Esports tournament-management startup Battlefy raises $1.3M in seed funding -- Venturebeat
• Battlefy CEO Jason Xu gets Hollywood investment in Esports -- Chicago Tribune
• Pro Gamin Platform Battlefy Gets $1.3M from US Investors -- BetaKit
• Esports Tournament-Management Platform Battlefy Enters Public Beta -- Gamasutra
• Battlefy Locks In for Public Beta, eSports Tournament-Management Platform -- Structure Gaming
• Vancouver E-sports Startup Battlefy Raises $1.3 Million Seed Funding Round -- Techvibes
• Esports Tournament-management Platform Battlefy is Entering Its Public Beta -- ReadyUp Gaming
• Battlefy Founder Jason Xu Hopes To Simplify Esports -- GameSkinny
• Battlefy Finds $1.3M -- SocalTech

*UPDATE: 2/18/14 -- Jason was asked by serial entrepreneur and veteran podcast host Jason Calacanis to come on This Week in Startups (TWiST)! View the episode here.

Allthecooks Showcases Glass GDK

Today marked the start of wearable tech as we know it, and MaintainPR client Allthecooks was front and center with their product offering.

For full coverage of Allthecooks on Glass, click through the link below.

• Google Releases Glass Development Kit ‘Sneak Peek’ And 5 New Glass Apps That Already Use It -- TechCrunch
• Google releases 'sneak peek' of Glass app-development kit -- The Verge
• Google offers 'sneak peek' of Glass development kit -- Engadget
• Google Glass throws open its doors to developers -- CNET
• Google Releases Official GDK -- MarketingLand

*UPDATE: 12/30/13 - Mat Honan's feature story on Glass for Wired featured Allthecooks as one of the ONLY useful apps in his opinion. We briefed Mat in-person well ahead of this piece. Read it here.

Lutebox Announces Seed Funding/BETA Launch from Le Web London

MaintainPR client Lutebox, a new and pioneering social mall where you can shop together with family and friends while videochatting, announced their seed round and a major strategy pivot today from Le Web London.

Starting today, people can browse for top brands at leading retailers such as M&S, Bhs, Boots, Sainsbury’s and Debenhams, view content together, get instant feedback and have live discussions, all while socializing with friends at the same time. It's all done through a proprietary video chat within the Lutebox platform, and coverage on this new methodology for shopping online certainly got people talking.

Bobbie Johnson from GigaOm posted his thoughts in between curating on stage at the event, and BetaKit has also weighed in, stating "merchants are obviously excited about the idea, since it provides another opportunity for them to market their wares without any real risk."

Congrats on the successful BETA guys!

ViewsOnYou in About.com Job Searching

ViewsOnYou have an exciting product proposition for our times -- where social media has truly reached its tipping point, and Facebook continues to dominate all facets of life online.

The site and Facebook app allow you to set up a 360 review and profile from crowdsourcing your peers. You can then match your "soft skills" against the growing database of companies to see your best fit in the workplace.

Alison Doyle, career expert for About.com, took the site for a spin and did this write up, stating: "by matching you personality with that of other companies, you can more easily decide which jobs to apply for -- and which don't seem to be a good fit for you."

Click here to see the full article.

Ethical Community in Metro UK

MaintainPR client Ethical Community (think Etsy, but with a green market stall type feel) are featured in the Metro UK today, proof their concept of an eco-friendly, online marketplace is taking off!

For more views and news (including all the great press coverage the guys have achieved to date) click here to head over to the Ethical Community press page.