Food and Tech: Lunch and Networking
I’m standing on the sidewalk in Santa Monica waiting for my lunch, when the Coco Robot walks by. “Man-made operation” reads on the back of the delivery bot. “Zero Emission”
The robot didn’t know him, but he had just met another member of the food technology community by car: Stas Matvienko, founder of Allset. He’s standing outside The Hive – an organic cafe and superfood bar – directing people to a QR code to download an app, which he hopes will one day be a real choice for takeaways.
Matvienko says he’s not trying to compete with UberEats or Postmates. By eliminating supply from the business model, the company can reduce costs and operate more efficiently. After all, Allset is focused on a specific audience. Alset, according to Matvienko, is for people who want to get out of the house.
The story of their company can be told in three parts: before, during and after covid. Before Covid, Allset’s primary demographic was hungry people ordering lunch in the financial districts. That user base was wiped out during Covid, but replaced by increased activity in the suburbs. Today, the financial district’s audience is slowly returning, and activity in suburban areas continues to grow.
Allset is available in major cities nationwide.
AR/VR, Virtual Production + VFX happy hour
“Accessibility” is a word I’m hearing over and over again this week, and it’ll come up again during the AR/VR Virtual Production + VFX Happy Hour.
I’m talking to Thomas Suarez, one of the co-founders of Teleportal, a spatial computing company based in Culver City. Movieoke is about to release a new version of their app that aims to bring 3D animation to creators in a collaborative and interactive way.
(Teleportal expects Movieoke to be available for download in the App Store in a few weeks.)
Explaining that the current 3D animation process is complex, Suarez showed me the app. There’s a steep learning curve, and since animation requires powerful, expensive computers, accessibility and collaboration are both key issues.
I’ve been playing with the beta version of the app to use my finger to jump up and down one of the characters in two shots. Suarez guides me through changing camera angles and replacing backgrounds. He took a photo of the happy hour on the floor below us and projected our characters onto the image. It’s an animated version of Lazy Girl and I love it.
Suarez is excited about the upcoming version of the app that will allow for re-engagement. When Tik Tok users see their favorite Movieoke video, they can use the QR code to reopen it in the app, download all of its source assets, re-edit it, and re-upload the newly merged video to social media. Suarez hopes this new technology will allow digital creators to get credit for their work.
Animation is at a boiling point. After years of low wages and a lack of clarity about what happens after the content is made, animators are raising concerns in union negotiations, in the media and online.
I’ll ask Tom if he thinks Movieoke will add to or replace current animation techniques.
“I think there’s room in the market for a lot of different tools,” he said. “We don’t see. [this] By replacing the way 3D animation is done in a short amount of time…this is creating another market.
Show @ QSLA hosted by Lola Menthol with Crypto Queer
I was exhausted until I arrived at Quantum Space LA, a community center hidden behind a storefront on Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade. It’s Tech Week and I accidentally recorded a marathon.
It’s too bad a night to run out of steam, because Show Out (hosted by Lola Menthol and Qrypto Queer) promises to be a fan of an event. Scheduled panel discussions, music, dance and poetry performances, plus a room full of amazing art to see.
I arrived early and the place was filling up. There’s no line yet at the bar, and no one with the poster boards and Mr Sketch markers organizers set up for attendees to see.
I wandered through the tables laden with pizza boxes and Hawaiian Haze joints to look at the various television screens hanging around the room, displaying photography and digital paintings by queer artists. Each TV screen comes with a QR code that directs interested parties to a site where they can visit the artist’s collection.
Try as I might, I couldn’t get past the panel discussion featuring Bee Davies, Erika Isett, Lola Menthol and Raven50mm. After a week of listening and being inspired by some of the smartest and most innovative minds in the field, my own personal technology – my mind – stopped working.
Fix: “Qrypto Queers” has been corrected to “Qrypto Queer”.
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