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urltoken
big tech move from ticket site @ jointherukkus. virtual reality 360 views of arenas / stadiums before you buy tickets urltoken
this graphic is from @ jointherukkus, a ticket company. thought you guys might find it interesting (minny tix): urltoken
urltoken also listed the hip hop acts who performed in 1994, a year the website says many believed was “the best year in hip hop history. ”
thanks to a series of infographics created by urltoken, an online ticket retailer, the history of hip hop acts at the annual lollapalooza music festival has been detailed .
yes! rukkus can facilitate the ticketing for your event whether it is a super underground house concert or a full blown music festival. interested? contact hi @ urltoken to find out how to get started .
a plethora of intriguing information has been put together by online ticket seller urltoken ahead of this weekend’s grateful dead performances at soldier field. everything from how the band stacks up in radio play vs. record sales, to the fluctuating prices of show tickets .
although this is a category that often doesn’t get much attention, it seems like theres a lot of history and interesting connections when you compare the performers with the choreographers they work with, in fact sometimes its the same people. urltoken has made this cool infographic to show you just how interconnected it all is, especially when you look at the careers of beyonce, michael jackson, janet jackson & madonna .
there a couple simply ways to be notified when knicks tickets go on sale. they are usually able to be purchased a few months before the opening game. it is also possible to setup a personal price alert for both a team or a specific game, so that you can know right away if any game information has changed. rukkus is one of the first companies to display tickets for a nba game at madison square garden. if you can’t find the information that you are looking for, please email our team over at: hi @ urltoken
“lollapalooza 2015 is fast approaching, ” urltoken writes. “2015 marks the 15th active year of the music festival which was started by jane’s addiction lead singer perry farrell. starting july 31st fans will be treated to 3 days full of musical acts from genres like rock, pop, edm & country. but there is one genre that is often, and unfairly left out of the conversation when it comes to the annual festival, hip hop. below we’ve compiled data from previous festivals, especially in regards to lollapalooza hip hop & rap, in order to paint a clearer picture of how the storied event and one of the most popular genres of music overlap. ”
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on any given night in any given city, there are thousands of things to do .
rukkus launched a ticket search engine for live events today, with tools for tracking your favorite performers, inviting friends to shows, and receiving personalized recommendations on upcoming events .
“rukkus was born out of a general dissatisfaction with the disjointed nature of the online event discovery and ticket buying process, ” founder manick bhan told venturebeat. “the ticket buying experience has become increasingly complicated. rukkus is a virtual concierge service that searches the entire ticket universe, recommends events according to their interests, and pinpoints the best - valued tickets for every event. ”
the site aggregates event tickets from multiple sources and uses a analytics engine to figure out the best deals, by comparing a seat’s distance from the action to the price of the ticket. you can search for specific events in your city, or browse by musical genre. rukkus plans to feature sports and theater tickets soon as well .
users can also connect their music listening services like pandroa, spotify, and rdio to the site, and rukkus will create an “individually tailored” calendar of upcoming events .
emerging artists use the site to post their shows, connect with their existing fans, and hopefully attract new ones .
the internet threw the music industry into crisis mode by fundamentally changing how music gets distributed. it created more channels for people to discover, listen, and share music, and realigned the existing power and financial structures .
the biggest record labels saw their revenues plummet, but the amount of music being consumed and produced is at an all time high. americans are spending billions of dollars on music a year, and live music sales are experiencing dramatic growth .
the internet has given small and independent artists greater opportunities to get their music in front of a wider audience. donnie dinch, who runs another music ticketing startup called willcall, said in a recent interview that music consumption is now distributed among more artists than ever before .
with more artists and more shows, there arises the need for tools that help fans stay on top of shows in their city. rukkus competes with willcall, as well as ticketfly, songkick, bandsintown, seatgeek, and the recently launched jukely .
it is a competitive space and bhan said rukkus’s aggregation technology makes it stand out, as well as its personalized recommendation engine and ability to do “quantitative analysis” of ticket value distinguish it from the pack .
rukkus currently has an inventory of 2 million tickets around the world and features 71, 735 performers .
bhan spent years as a studio musician, transitioned to investment banking at goldman sachs, and is now working on rukkus with fellow former investment banker (and cofounder) joe messineo, and third cofounder angela mccrory .
new york startup rukkus calls itself
kayak for tickets ,
but i' d say it' s more of a hipmunk for tickets. kayak is great for aggregating flights, and it was the first comprehensive place to do that. but latecomer hipmunk, in this flyer' s opinion, offers the most user - friendly visual search experience .
aggregating tickets online has become a crowded market, especially in the world of concerts. but touring is a big business - - bigger now than album sales. that' s why companies like songkick (eight million users), bandsintown (five million users), superglued (user count much smaller) have raised venture capital to tell us when our favorite bands are coming to town. seatgeek, which is more focused on sports, has also gotten traction, calling itself
the world' s largest ticket search engine .
for rukkus' s part, the site pulls inventory from 100 ticket providers, including ticketmaster, ticketfly, stubhub, clubtickets, viagogo, ebay, ticketcity and ticketsnow. rukkus has also built a platform that allows smaller bands to post their gigs and be in its system. ceo manick bhan, a former banker at goldman sachs, explains that this is done as a way to win over the music industry .
rukkus ranks tickets in order from
great deal
to
terrible deal
for the price and seat. it is a well - designed breeze compared with most wonky ticketing sites, which means it has a chance of winning fans in the hugely competitive market .
prior to hipmunk, we had plenty of ways to search and book flights online, too. but hipmunk just made it so much better that i haven' t used one of the other flight search sites since i discovered it. the company has since expanded into hotel search and raised more than $ 20 million in venture funding .
the important difference between buying flights and buying tickets is necessity. i go to hipmunk when i need to book a flight. i rarely need to buy a concert ticket. that' s why songkick and its peers exist - - to create demand and interest in concerts, sporting events, and broadway shows, by telling you about them with their recommendation engines .
these ticket aggregator sites all have their own way of serving up concert recommendations. songkick uses your spotify listening habits to surface shows in your area. bandsintown uses facebook likes. jukely, a new entrant, believes that a social media element will help tip people towards seeing more concerts, and recommends shows that your friends and you might like together .
rukkus also has a recommendation engine, which pulls in similar data to surface concert suggestions .
after using most of these services, i' ve noticed they tend to serve up the same recommendations. between songkick, rukkus, bandsintown, and the others, you only need one app to tell you about shows. (except jukely, which serves up a wider variety and offers chances to discover new bands. )
on hipmunk, when you find the ticket you want, the site sends you to the vendor to buy it directly. same with seatgeek and bandsintown, as well as rukkus. songkick recently introduced native check - out function and i' m guessing that most aggregator businesses will go in that direction, because it is a better user experience and more profitable than affiliate fees .
rukkus launched in private beta three months ago and has accumulated 5000 subscribers, a number that grows by 50 percent every month. rukkus has 10 employees and has raised seed capital from friends and family .
property hunting can be a grinding chore. but what if you could have a good nose round your prospective
des res
without getting up from your chair ?
this is what sotheby' s international realty is offering viewers of its luxury properties through the application of virtual reality (vr) technology .
we see a use case where a client can come to one of our offices, come into a virtual reality station and experience the property through a vr headset ,
says john passerini, global vice president for interactive marketing .
they could be in paris looking at a new york city property and get a real feel for what that property is like .
sellers wanting their properties to stand out in a competitive market can no longer rely solely on high definition photos and videos, he says :
the next evolution is virtual reality .
many sotheby' s estate agents are working with matterport, a tech company specialising in high - definition 3d content of interiors, while some of its agents have invested in their own vr cameras .
in another example, seattle property company luma is working with the digital design agency studio216 to develop vr viewings of its high - rise condominiums .
customers can drop by its downtown sales centre, pop on an oculus rift headset, and take a tour - which also means being able to see how the view changes as you move higher up the buildings .
studio216 partner boaz ashkenazy says his company is also working on commercial projects using microsoft' s hololens - a headset that mixes the real world with the digital .
while vr is primarily used for luxury properties, both luma and sotheby' s see vr viewings becoming the norm for all types of property .
indeed, goldman sachs predicts that the vr for the real estate market will be worth $ 1. 6bn (£1. 1bn) by 2025 .
and real estate is just one business sector embracing a technology most closely associated with gaming. the live entertainment industry is also excited about the prospects for vr .
ticket marketplace rukkus is enabling live sports and music fans to check out the view from different seat positions using a platform called seat360 .
gig goers can make sure they don' t end up sitting behind a pillar in the
nosebleed seats
, says chief executive manick bhan .
the 360 - degree views are generated using real photographs, captured by a combination of our team and some very dedicated fans using a special camera rig ,
he says .
it' s in the process of capturing images of major baseball, football, and concert venues .
but vr could go much further, allowing viewers to experience live music concerts and even giving them better views than if they were actually there .
for example, nextvr from california wants to give virtual fans live 3d views of concerts and events from the front row or even from the stage itself. it has signed a deal with with major music promoter live nation to that effect .
vr tech also has huge potential in the education and training sector, giving teachers the opportunity to provide much more vivid and absorbing experiences for their students .
if you' re talking about marine biology, why not hold that class on the seabed and have a whale swim through the centre of the class? it' s a lot more immersive and engaging ,
says david whelan, chief executive of immersive vr education, a tech firm specialising in this type of content .
mr whelan believes vr could make massive open online courses, or moocs, much more engaging and help raise completion rates, which can be as low as 7% .
what we' re hoping to achieve with virtual reality is that [ students ] feel like they' re talking to real people and interacting in a more natural way, and that more will adapt to finish the course in the end .
of course, students will need to own their own vr headset to appreciate the full experience, so costs will have to fall dramatically if students in developing economies are going to benefit .
big engineering firms, such as boeing, are also using vr to help train their staff in engine maintenance, while auto makers like bmw are using it to test real cabin designs in virtual environments .
for example, music store dawsons lets its online customers get a good look at instruments by making sales staff put on a pair of epson - made smart glasses .
the live video feed from the glasses is fed through to the website, so the customer sees exactly what the sales person is seeing. the online customer can then direct the video and ask questions during the demonstration .
while business is undoubtedly showing interest in the potential of vr - more than $ 1. 7bn has been invested in vr start - ups in the last 12 months, says investment adviser digi - capital - there are big hurdles to overcome if the tech is to take off .
one of those is the feeling of nausea headset wearers often feel. to help neutralise this effect we need more powerful graphics processing units (gpus) capable of processing images fast enough to remove any delays, or latency, says roy taylor, corporate vice president at chip maker amd .
if your computer can' t keep up, it makes you throw up ,
he says .
to achieve a live, totally realistic experience, headsets will need to be much lighter and feature two powerful gpus - one for each eye - capable of processing images at about 144 frames per second (fps), he says .
current headsets process images at about 90fps, so that' s a huge leap in computing power required, but mr taylor remains confident this is achievable .
vr has its limitations - not least the cumbersome headgear - but tech optimists think these issues will be addressed in time .
theresa may names a new uk foreign secretary after boris johnson quits over her brexit strategy .
if you' re looking to get out on the town and hit some concerts and local events, you' ll want to make sure you have the absolute best iphone apps available to help you get the best ticket prices and info available. nowadays it' s extremely easy to buy tickets to sporting events, concerts, the theater, and any other kind of event in just the tap or click of a button. however, when buying tickets you also want to make sure that you know what you' re getting and that you' re not overpaying. although there are lots of ticketing apps available for iphone, we think these ticket apps are currently the best !
rukkus can use your current location and the music that' s already in your music library to provide recommendations for venues around you. currently rukkus plays host to over 100, 000 events at any given time. rukkus does this by pulling results from all the large ticket hubs on the web including stubhub, ticketmaster, ebay, and more. rukkus currently supports ticket finding and purchasing services for sporting events, concerts, and theater tickets .
for a ticket app that serves up personalized results based on your tastes and ticket buying history, be sure you give rukkus a try .
applauze is silmiar to rukkus in some ways but along with offering tickets for concerts, sporting, events, and theater, there is also a large emphasis on local community events. when you find an event you think looks interesting, you can save it for later or buy tickets immediately. you can also share events with friends and applauze automatically creates a chatroom so you and your friends can discuss and coordinate plans. even better yet, if your friends join applauze and purchase tickets, you each get a $ 5 credit .
for a social ticket finding and buying experience that lets you involve your friends, applauze is what you want .
like rukkus, seatgeek can also pull in your itunes library in order to serve up concert and event information it thinks is more relevant to you. the thing i love about seatgeek is that you immediately see pricing and where tickets are located on detailed maps. in my experience, seatgeek does a great job pulling in seating charts for most venues, so you always know exactly what you' re getting before you tap the buy button. seatgeek also aggregates from popular ticketing agencies such as stubhub, ebay, and others so you get the best prices possible for events .
if you' re the type that wants to know exactly what kind of deal you' re getting, complete with seating charts for most venues, check out seatgeek .
live nation does a great job at pulling in festivals and smaller concerts that other ticketing apps somehow seem to miss. from concerts at baseball fields to local shows by local bands, you' ll most likely find it with live nation. when you' re ready to purchase tickets however, live nation simply uses the in - app browser to load the source. this means you may not get the best deal booking through the app but that doesn' t mean it isn' t a great resource for finding events other apps let fall through the tracks .
if you' re looking for local shows and events in your area and just aren' t finding them in other ticketing apps, be sure to browse live nation .
stubhub is a long time favorite when it comes to buying tickets to every type of event imaginable. the stubhub app brings that experience right in the palm of your hand. my favorite thing about the stubhub app is the level of control is brings. you can drill down by artists or by venue. this is great for time when you want to find something to do nearby and know the venues and just want to see what' s coming up. lots of stubhub venues also come complete with event maps so you know what you' re buying .
for more control over your ticket buying experience, stubhub is one of the most trust sources available .
for folks that are traveling or in an area that' s new to them, checking out local landmarks and attractions typically become top priority. the viator tours app brings great prices and perks to your iphone. just tell viator where you are or where you' re going to be visiting and it can serve up lots of attractions and deals. in some areas, you can even show your iphone in order to skip the line. not only will viator save you money, it' ll help you explore and discover new things you never would have found otherwise .
for attraction tickets and deals when traveling, look no further than viator tours .
comparing overpriced concert tickets can be an overwhelming process, especially when you’re looking at multiple sites for the best deal. however, new york - based startup rukkus is making music and event experiences better for fans, not charging them higher prices. their site and mobile app pulls inventory from over 100 ticket providers, including ticketmaster, stubhub, and ticketfly, and helps you discover events happening near you .
rukkus founder manick bhan was inspired to found a company after growing increasingly frustrated with online live entertainment ticketing and discovery options and left his former job as a goldman sachs banker. the avid concert attendee frequently missed events, so he decided to combine his entrepreneurial chops and love of music into a product he believes will change the way fans purchase tickets in this highly competitive market .
we sat down with bhan for this member spotlight series — a series that showcases the individuals behind startups and small businesses. here’s what he shared :
my first “acquisition” happened when i was in middle school. the acquiring party happened to be my parents. i built websites for classmates and then local businesses — mostly basic sites i designed and coded in dreamweaver. i had no trouble getting pizza shops, dry cleaners, and florists to sign up, so i hiked my prices accordingly. my parents eventually stepped in to shut things down. with my earnings, i was able to buy more bubble gum than any middle schooler i knew .
a band is probably the most challenging startup there is. in college, my entrepreneurial experience consisted of playing in a band and hustling to get gigs in and around durham, north carolina. convinced we’d make it big time, i poured my energies into various promotional hacks, recording albums, and buying a ton of gear; but sadly, we went the way of most college bands, fading into oblivion. secretly, i plan to use rukkus to resurrect my old college band .
rukkus is a live entertainment concierge that you carry in your pocket. it will keep you posted about what live events are happening near you, learn your likes and dislikes, offer recommendations, and then take care of all of the messy price comparison stuff so that you can snag tickets quickly and easily. we’re making this process of buying on mobile as streamlined as possible .
i worked my butt off as a banker. i also enjoyed being a part of multi - million dollar trades because i loved learning and solving puzzles everyday. but it was frustrating that i couldn’t claim ownership if a successful trade was built off of one of my ideas .
the tipping point to start my own company was when goldman sachs asked me to start coding. i personally enjoy being able to take an idea, and then develop it into something concrete, without having to pass that idea off to someone else to develop for me. it gave me a sense for what i could do independently, so i finally followed the urge to leave and start something on my own .
if you’re going to be a founder of a tech - related company, you’ve got to have a very intimate knowledge of how coding works. at the end of the day, code is the foundation your company is built on. while it’s entirely possible to found a tech company with no technical skill whatsoever, i’d say it’s the more difficult path to take. it’s actually easier to learn some amount of coding so that you have a solid idea about what needs to be done during the initial product building stage and each product iteration .
find a good team. either assemble one or join one, depending on whether you have clarity about your business idea. the quality of the people that you work with, really in any context, will determine your success. it’s also much more satisfying to share your wins with an awesome team .
here’s what i’m currently listening to: i like armin van buuren when i’m coding, angus and julia stone when i’m trying to unwind, red hot chili peppers for the musicality and the eagles. what can i say, i’m old fashioned .
when former marine corps captain zach iscol went out for beers with his former commander, they talked about the 33 men in their battalion who had been killed in action in the iraqi city of fallujah in 2004 .
“ [ we ] realized that there’d soon be a point in time when we’d lost more marines to suicide than to enemy action, ” iscol says. “it’s an epidemic. ”
, a new york - based nonprofit that helps veterans heal the wounds that have plagued so many of their lives as a result of the experience of war and beyond — in particular, the effects of post - traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) .
, with the department of veterans affairs reporting that about 22 veterans killing themselves every day .
iscol decided he wanted to do something about this problem by providing veterans with top - notch mental health care, free of charge. he joined forces with two staffers at weill cornell medical college in new york city: ann beeder, a clinical psychiatrist who has treated patients suffering from trauma for more than two decades, and gerard ilaria, a licensed social worker and health care professional who has dedicated much of his career to caring for people with hiv. together they co - founded headstrong .
at headstrong, post - 9 / 11 veterans can receive confidential treatment at no cost, and without bureaucracy or paperwork — or the stigma that often surrounds mental health counseling .
“these are good people who have to make impossible life - and - death decisions, ” says iscol, 39. “and you have to live with those decisions. and when you’re a good person it can be really hard to live with those decisions. ”
there is no cap to the number of counseling sessions veterans can partake in. according to iscol, the program currently has more than 500 veterans in treatment across 18 cities .
“we’ve treated over 700 veterans in six years, ” he says. “and we’ve had zero suicides that have been in our treatment program. ”
ilaria said that helping veterans in the workplace is a big part of the program. it’s an important part of getting their lives back on track .
“veterans make excellent leaders and they’re great on a team, ” says ilaria, 57. “but they can’t really do well at their job if their mental health isn’t in order. ”
todd bowers, director of wework’s veterans initiative, says that headstrong is a valuable resource for veterans and their loved ones .
“by providing cost - free, bureaucracy - free, and stigma - free treatment for the hidden wounds of war, headstrong and their incredible team have helped to shape the narrative around post - 9 / 11 veterans and their families by showing that the right help at the right time can heal anyone, ” says bowers, who was a staff sergeant with the marine corps serving in iraq and afghanistan .
one of headstrong’s success stories is joe quinn, who was a year away from graduating from west point in 2001. but a week after he received his senior class ring, a celebratory event, the world trade center was attacked. “it all changed in the blink of an eye, ” quinn says .
his 23 - year - old brother jimmy was on the 104th floor when flight 11 hit the north tower on september 11, 2001. a graduate of manhattan college, jimmy was working for cantor fitzgerald, a financial services firm whose offices occupied the 101st through 105th floors. the company lost 658 employees, including quinn’s brother. “all of the sudden there was this punch in the face, ” says quinn. his classmates at west point realized, as quinn puts it, “that this is why we’re here. ”
he graduated as a lieutenant and joined the army, serving two tours in iraq before being deployed in afghanistan as a civilian counterinsurgency advisor for general david petraeus. he then earned a master’s degree in public policy from harvard’s kennedy school and returned to west point as an instructor at its combatting terrorism center .
for 14 years quinn held onto a complex set of feelings wrapped up in the grief of his brother’s death and the experiences surrounding the deaths of many of his fellow soldiers. quinn, now 38 ,
a heaviness in his chest; a warm flush of blood rising to his head; a sharp jolt of heat stinging his heart. he had ptsd. at first he thought he felt guilt, but eventually realized it was shame. “i placed no value on myself, which led to depression and aggression, ” he wrote. “i thought going to war would save me, but it made things worse. ”
after referring numerous friends to headstrong, quinn decided in 2015 that it was time to seek help for himself there .
. “i jump out of bed [ to go to work ], ” he says. quinn, who grew up in brooklyn, also
in which he and early 200 family and friends go to citi field in queens for a ballgame .
quinn isn’t the only member of headstrong’s management to seek help at his eventual place of employment. dustin shryock, the nonprofit’s director of operations, served two tours in iraq. during his second deployment in 2007 and 2008, he says his unit set a new record for the number of days in a row during which they were engaged with direct fire, indirect fire, mortar fire, and grenades .
. he had left his home state of california for new york city, enrolling in graduate school, but was doing poorly, and began to notice that he was experiencing anxiety and depression. “i was not going home anymore. i was staying out all night. i quit responding at work. [ nyu ] was about to kick me out because i’d rather be at the bar than at class, ” says shryrock, who also works from wework 42nd street .
then, in 2014, he sought help. “i was actually told, ‘you look sick. ’” friends referred him to headstrong and he’s never turned back — first as a client and now running its day - to - day operations. “that’s when you start to do the work, ” says shryrock. “you address moral injury. consistent bombardment or enemy fire. you address the absurdity of war. thanks goodness i cleaned myself up. ”
reporting on the ongoing civil war that had spilled over from syria into lebanon, rené cao says she witnessed suffering on a scale unlike anything she’d ever seen before. but despite the hardships she encountered in war zones and refugee camps, she found herself inspired by the selflessness of the people she encountered .
but the chinese citizen has never forgotten the people she met when she was on assignment in lebanon in 2011 .
“the people i met really shaped my values, ” says cao. “they have driven me to do something for someone else, not just care about myself. as a journalist, i thought i could use my skills to tell their stories and share them with the world. i knew their voices needed to be heard. ”
in 2014, she decided to return to lebanon to document the lives of young people there. finding a videographer was tough — her first one dropped out after a terrorist attack in paris — but her editor connected her to olmo reverter. together cao and reverter made a documentary called
“flying over with olmo and shooting that first documentary was really a turning point in my life, ” says cao, who is 30. “i had no idea at the time that i was going to carry on with this project. what i really wanted to do was tell their stories. ”
within a year the team had officially set up the ponybaby project. cao and her partners tell moving stories through articles, documentaries, and photo exhibitions. in honor of world refugee day, she and her team hosted a panel discussion on the crisis in syria at wework shanghai finance center .
cao says the name was inspired by a verse in a famous chinese poem, which loosely translates to: “take your dream as a horse, act your glorious youth. ”
that follows more than a dozen syrian refugees living across the middle east. the ponybaby project also teamed up with
tencent charity, one of the leading fundraising platforms in china, to help raise money to help refugees directly .
“i believe that the stories and documentaries displayed by ponybaby project, as first - hand information, can honestly uncover the real status of the refugees, including their basic life, children’s education, job employment, and willingness to return to their home country, ” says song, who was among the speakers at the panel discussion .
all of the funds raised by the ponybaby project go towards scholarships for families living in refugee camps who can’t afford their children’s school fees, materials, and books .
“almost 90 percent of syrian refugees are in debt, ” says lisa abou khaled, who works for the united nations high commissioner for human rights. “parents are having to resort to difficult choices like pulling their children out of school and sending them to work because they can’t afford to feed the family anymore. ”
since cao’s first visit to the middle east, the humanitarian crisis in syria has claimed the lives of 70, 000 civilians and displaced 5 million others. despite the scale of trauma, cao says the refugee crisis is rarely discussed in her native china. but that’s part of the goal—to start the conversation by bringing the personal stories of refugees to households across the country .
“many people don’t have a chance to talk with refugees, so they have a very unclear concept of who they are, ” says cao. “they’re often treated like wild animals, vulnerable and unpredictable. but they want to live with respect and dignity, just like everyone else. ”
even before the lights went up on the stage, the wework creator awards was literally one of the biggest events of the year in jerusalem. nearly 4, 000 people packed a stadium that usually hosts basketball games, and they came from as far away as
tel aviv, herzliya, and be’er sheva. it was also the largest regional competition so far for the awards, hosted in cities around the world .
at the job fair and pop - up market held before the awards, there were so many people that it was sometimes difficult to navigate the aisles. people eagerly pushed forward for free samples of food — even crispy grasshoppers .
when wework cofounder adam neumann finally stepped onto the stage, the event had the feeling of a homecoming. neumann and his sister adi neumann, a model who hosted the event, both grew up on a kibbutz not far away .
wework cofounder adam neumann and his sister adi share a moment at the jerusalem creator awards .
“it’s a really special city and really special to be here, ” said adi from what is usually the home court for the hapoel jerusalem basketball club .
this is the second time the creator awards has been held in israel. in october more than $ 1 million was awarded to winners at an event in tel aviv. in jerusalem — where a wework location is
host adi neumann announces the winners in the business ventures category at the jerusalem creator awards .
more than 30 local artists, companies, and nonprofit organizations took part in a pop - up market on the arena’s concourse. there were bright paintings on canvas, glittering jewelry, natural beauty products, and plenty of t - shirts, including some emblazoned with the words “i’m not for sale, ” part of a campaign against prostitution and human trafficking by the local nonprofit
perhaps the most intriguing items for sale were paper greeting cards that weren’t just recyclable — they could actually be planted in the ground. made by the israeli company
, there are nine types of seeds embedded in the paper of the cards, resulting in several types of flowers that bloom throughout the year .
winners in the nonprofit category of the jerusalem creator awards pose for a photo together .
more than 30 companies and nonprofits staffed tables at the event’s job fair, including half a dozen creator awards winners from last year’s event in tel aviv. , the participants, like yahoo’s israeli r & d team and taboola, were looking to hire a total of more than 70 people. among the most attention - grabbing booths was that of the
, a nonprofit promoting culture and creativity in israel, whose table was covered with bottles of local wine .
, an israeli company that produces food products made from grasshoppers. the company — the top winner at the tel aviv creator awards — caught many people’s eyes with jars of roasted grasshoppers. about 40 percent of people who stopped by the table sampled them, leaving their transparent wings and crispy legs in little piles on the table. many people then pocketed full jars to take home. “people keep taking them when we’re not looking, ” said hargol ceo dror tamir. “i don’t blame them. it really is the best souvenir. ”
the most in - demand item of the evening appeared to be bright red bags emblazoned with the words “work happy. ” these were from jobbio, the dublin - based online hiring platform. “personally i think they are quite eye - catching, ” said jobbio’s account manager martha hayes, who traveled from dublin to attend the event in jerusalem. “and they are a useful place to keep the rest of your swag. ”
netta barzilai, who recently propelled israel to eurovision champion, is surrounded by fans .
at a moment when israeli cuisine has been making global headlines, tables filled with local specialties were scattered throughout the event’s pop - up market and job fair. popular items included fresh pitas stuffed with chicken, lamb, fish, or roasted vegetables and topped with cilantro - infused tahini. there were also tiny jars of creamy malabi pudding topped with pomegranate syrup and pistachio nuts. but the biggest hit may have been the chocolate chip cookies, baked on the premises in a giant oven by pilpel catering. “holy moses, these are good, ” said one person who sampled them .
open bars served beer, wine, and craft cocktails all night long. people seemed to love the golden city, a drink inspired by jerusalem and made from vodka and honey and garnished with fresh cucumbers .
for those who could tear themselves away from the party - like scene at the pop - up market, the highlight of the masterclasses was a show by israeli mentalist lior suchard. as usual, the internationally known performer wowed the audience by reading people’s minds. at one point he seemed to know some participants better than they knew themselves. when asking one woman how many letters were in the name of her first crush, she kept saying five. suchard replied, “are you sure it isn’t six? ” sure enough, suchard guessed the name, and there were indeed six letters .
, which helps teeneagers who have dropped out of school, that took home the top prize for nonprofit ventures. yoni yefet - reich, kaima’s ceo, immediately handed the prize over to one of the teenagers who said his life had been transformed by his time on the farm .
the $ 360, 000 grand prize went to yehudit abrams, a recent american immigrant to israel, for her startup monither, which is developing a hand - held ultrasound device women can use for monthly breasts exams. the device will alert them to any changes in tissue, a key to early diagnosis of breast cancer. “i’m empowering women, ” abrams said, holding up her award .
with her song “toy, ” took the stage to kick off the real party part of the evening. the crowd gathered around her, wildly snapping photos .
when raffi rembrand’s son was diagnosed with autism at the age of 4, it was not the worst news the family received that day. the biggest blow came when their doctor said it was too late for the earliest treatments .
so for rembrand, a chemical engineer by training, finding a way to detect autism earlier became his life’s mission .
senspd, a winner in the wework creator awards held on june 20 in jerusalem, is developing a way to detect autism based on physiological signs. the company uses an existing device commonly used to check the hearing of newborns, but has modified it to check for sensory perception. one of the major components of autism, which affects one of every 59 children born in the u. s. , is its effect on the sensory system .
“we didn’t reinvent the wheel, ” says maayan shahar, senspd’s ceo. “but we have altered a very known device used in all hospitals that will hopefully provide a standard screening process for all babies. ”
the goal is for such a test to eventually become standard for every baby born around the world, allowing the various treatments for autism to start as soon as possible. when started very early in life, some therapies have a success rate of up to 90 percent .
“it’s been known for a long time that it’s early intervention that makes all the difference, ” shahar says .
but the standard diagnosis of autism based on a series of evaluations often comes after a children has reached the age of 3 or 4, which is too late for some treatments .
senspd is currently preparing to start clinical trials in israel. it hopes that if all goes well it will get regulatory approval for its device within three years .
rembrand’s son, now 35 and living in a group home in israel, remains an inspiration for the company .
“we want to bring this to market as soon as possible, but in the most professional way, ” shahar says. ”so that instead of being isolated, children with autism can be a productive part of society. ”
if you’ve ever wasted time comparing overpriced tickets to a show, look no further. rukkus aggregates tickets from over 100 sources of sale and sorts them to present you with the best deal, showing stadium layout for arena shows to easily visualize your seat. with 20 million tickets in their inventory, this new york startup has got date night covered. and since launching in november, the company has expanded to offer more than just music .
“we always had in the back of our minds that we wanted to move into sports and theatre but what our users were asking us was:' can i use this to find theatre shows in the city on this random weekend when my mom’s in town?' ” explained cofounder manick bhan, a keen musician and former goldman sachs banker who grew frustrated with missing concerts. “we supercharged our home page around discovery and made it possible to filter by category and times. ”
“on the sports side, we have everything from premium seats to face value to deeply discounted tickets, ” continued investment banker turned startup cofounder joe messineo .
by pulling tickets from stubhub, ticketmaster and ticketfly among others, rukkus does the digital legwork for its users. like songkick and bandsintown, it lets users track favorite performers and invite friends to the show. as many music platforms now do, rukkus also sends personalized recommendations on events pulled from user’s spotify and facebook .
bhan, whose duke university band was very fronted by popular songster mike posner, says he’s simply trying to improve the ticket buying experience for the fan. he’s entering a crowded space – direct competitors seatgeek and bandsintown also let users buy in - site – but hopes rukkus’ sleek new combination of existing services sets it apart .
founders bhan, messineo and angela mccrory have yet to announce a funding round and would not disclose user numbers, but would say: “over the last quarter we’ve seen 30 - 50% growth. ”
rukkus has also moved into content creation, launching its own blog which covers up - and - coming acts – acts that might happen to be playing forthcoming rukkus shows. it’s a clever move: building a readership rukkus can then drive to its site and monetize, just as streetwear brand vfiles' television series built an audience which shops in its store .
perhaps most exciting, rukkus will soon be releasing an app to compete with the willcall and timbre s of the world. unlike many of these ticketing apps – not to mention the various event services like yplan and sosh – rukkus has an incredibly large inventory. if rukkus can maintain a personalized experience while tapping into their unparalleled sources, they’ll be onto a winner .
that' s exactly what the rukkus app is all about. the impressive part is this apps fluid user interface that' s extremely easy to tap through — offering the perfect amount of eye candy and listing ticket prices right up front as you scroll .
one of the coolest features offered on the right side tab of each artist slide is the ability to listen to music from bands without exiting the app. in the case of both cibo matto and dale earnhardt jr. jr. — i listened to over 14 songs from each. the same was true of comedian anjelah johnson where the app featured audio excerpts from her live show. brilliant!
rukkus is a live entertainment search engine that explores 100 + ticket sites , as well as their network of private brokers , to pinpoint the lowest prices for concert , sports , and theater tickets . they figure out the best-valued ticket by using an analytical engine that compares a seat 's distance from the action to the price of the ticket . rukkus also shows stadium layouts for arena shows to allow visualization of your seat , and allows users to search for specific events by city or interest . the company launched its mobile app in february 2014 ; it was named one of the five best ticket finder apps by imore and a " genuine leap forward with loads of epic potential " by iphone savior . the rukkus app is free , and features 2 tap purchasing , as well as in-app music streaming and artist recommendations . 
rukkus is a live entertainment search engine that explores 100 + ticket sites, as well as their network of private brokers, to pinpoint the lowest prices for concert, sports, and theater tickets. they figure out the best-valued ticket by using an analytical engine that compares a seat's distance from the action to the price of the ticket. rukkus also shows stadium layouts for arena shows to allow visualization of your seat, and allows users to search for specific events by city or interest. the company launched its mobile app in february 2014; it was named one of the five best ticket finder apps by imore and a " genuine leap forward with loads of epic potential " by iphone savior. the rukkus app is free, and features 2 tap purchasing, as well as in-app music streaming and artist recommendations.
rukkus is a live entertainment search engine that explores 100 + ticket sites, as well as their network of private brokers, to pinpoint the lowest prices for concert, sports, and theater tickets. they figure out the best-valued ticket by using an analytical engine that compares a seat's distance from the action to the price of the ticket. rukkus also shows stadium layouts for arena shows to allow visualization of your seat, and allows users to search for specific events by city or interest. the company launched its mobile app in february 2014; it was named one of the five best ticket finder apps by imore and a " genuine leap forward with loads of epic potential " by iphone savior. the rukkus app is free, and features 2 tap purchasing, as well as in-app music streaming and artist recommendations.