COVID-19 has transformed healthcare systems around the world in unprecedented ways. Several people have put off doctors’ visits for fear of exposure to the virus. As a result, many medical facilities are in critical condition.

To put things in perspective, New York City hospitals experienced a 50% reduction in emergency room visits last month. People aren’t only postponing minor medical procedures; operations dealing with severe illnesses such as cancer have also been delayed.

What does this mean for the future of hospitals? And what will be the long-term consequences for public health? How will patients and providers re-engage with one another in a way that feels safe and secure?

To find out, Daniel Zahler, Founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Picasso Health, interviewed six doctors about how COVID-19 has impacted their medical practices. He also delved into how these physicians are re-engaging patients by adopting new safety protocols and transitioning to improve healthcare delivery models.

One such promising delivery model is telemedicine. Recent months have seen the usage of telehealth and remote patient monitoring skyrocket. But the pandemic has also shined a light on the technology’s current limitations in dealing with specific health conditions. To understand this better, Zahler tapped into the medical app development expertise of none other than Marc Fischer, Dogtown’s very own Co-Founder and CEO.

All of this information gathered elucidates one extremely pertinent insight: The healthcare systems of tomorrow may look very different from what we have today as a result of the coronavirus. Learn more in Zahler’s full article.

If you can dream it, we can build it. Since Dogtown Media first opened its doors in 2011, we’ve striven every day to hold true to that motto. We’ve poured our blood, sweat, and code into over 200 projects in an effort to turn our clients’ dreams into beautiful, unforgettable mobile products. It looks like our hard work is paying off — TopDevelopers.co recently recognized Dogtown Media as a top U.S. mobile app developer!

At Dogtown Media, we take a collaborative approach to working with our clients. We guide them from ideation to post-launch to ensure their final product is functional, durable, and solves real-world problems. Having a solid foundation of the basics is a necessity to accomplish this. But so is staying on top of the latest advancements.

Mobile apps have exploded in popularity over the past few years. Simultaneously, the art and process of mobile app development and design have evolved. To survive and thrive in this industry, it’s imperative for firms to stay on the cutting-edge of innovation. To effectively deliver solutions for business hurdles across various industries, Dogtown Media has expanded our expertise over the years to offer services in artificial intelligence (AI) app development, the Internet of Things, medical app development, and more.

We’ve come a long way since our humble beginnings, but we always try to remember one key principle: Top-quality mobile apps are the result of innovation, passion, and hard work. This award from TopDevelopers.co lets us know that we haven’t forgotten that! Have a look at our portfolio in order to get an idea of our work process.

Thanks so much to TopDevelopers.co for recognizing us! We’d also like to thank our clients, team, and community — we couldn’t have done it without you.

Who is TopDevelopers.co?

TopDevelopers.co is a widely respected directory and review platform for B2B IT service providers. They take a neutral approach in analyzing the companies. The team of analysts at TopDevelopers.co vets the companies through stringent parameters which ensure that only the most competitive firms, businesses, enterprises, and entrepreneurs are filtered through their process. This helps the service seekers in getting a ready to use pool of companies from which they can choose the appropriate firm according to their need.

Since 1982, Inc. Magazine has set out to recognize the fastest-growing private companies in America with its Inc. 5000 list. The prestigious annual guide honors the extraordinary journeys of these organizations and is a testament to their hard work. We’re excited to announce that Dogtown Media has returned to the Inc. 5000 for the third year in a row!

The Inc. 5000 has a knack for recognizing companies which go on to achieve even more meteoric success — Microsoft, Apple, Dell, and Facebook are just a few of the list’s notable alumni. To stand among their ranks is an absolute honor. When Dogtown Media first started out, it was just two guys (Marc and Rob) trying to code their app dreams into reality. Today, our mobile technology studio has been fortunate enough to innovate in revolutionary fields like mHealth and Machine Learning with leading organizations like the United Nations, Google, and Citi.

Repeatedly making the Inc. 5000 is an endeavor that’s much easier said than done. “Of the tens of thousands of companies that have applied to the Inc. 5000 over the years, only a fraction have made the list more than once,” explained James Ledbetter, Inc.’s Editor in Chief. “A mere one in eight have made the list 3 times.”

We believe our sustained success can be chalked up to a few key ingredients. The passion and dedication of our app development and design team allow us to operate at the intersection of art and cutting-edge innovation. We love coming into work every day knowing that what we do is helping organizations solve their most difficult business challenges and make a positive difference in the world.

Last but not least, we also wanted to thank our clients and community for believing in us — none of this would be possible without you.

2019 is shaping up to be another hallmark year for us. We performed a live cryptocurrency hacking demonstration at SXSW. We talked with US political leaders about leveraging mobile technology to improve healthcare at AppCon 2019. We were recognized by Clutch for being a top mobile app developer in New York and California. And we joined the Cybersecurity Tech Accord to help make cyberspace a safer place.

This year so far has been busy, to say the least! Being featured on the Inc. 5000 again is certainly a crowning achievement for us. Once again, we’d like to thank our team, clients, and community for your support. We can’t wait to turn more app dreams into reality. Remember, if you can dream it, then we can build it!

Want to skip the article and go straight to the polls to support us? Vote here!

We’re excited and honored to announce that Dogtown Media & Worldwide Breast Cancer have been nominated for the “Best Apps, Mobile, and Voice: Health & Fitness” category at The 23rd Annual Webby Awards!

The Internet’s Highest Honor

The Webby Awards is an annual ceremony that recognizes superb Internet excellence. In fact, it’s hailed as the “Interner’s highest honor” by the New York Times! Established in 1996 by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), The Webbys cover the latest and greatest in websites, video, advertising, apps, mobile, social, podcasts, and games.

IADAS nominates the candidates. From there, two winners are selected in each category: The Webby Award is selected by IADAS, and The Webby People’s Voice Award is selected by the public.

The judging body of IADAS is composed of over 2,000 technology innovators and industry experts. This includes Vint Cerf, Instagram’s Head of Fashion Partnerships; Eva Chen, Director of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society; GE CMO Linda Boff, Cathy Pearl, Google’s Head of Conversation Design; Eric Williamson, Fortnite Designer; Diane Tryneski, HBO’s Digital Chief; and many more.

This year, The Webby Awards received almost 13,000 entries from 70 countries. We’re extremely elated and grateful that we made the cut!

When Life Gives You Lemons

Dogtown Media has been nominated for Know Your Lemons, a breast health education app we built for Worldwide Breast Cancer (WBC). Since 2014, WBC’s Know Your Lemons campaign has educated over half a billion people in 20 languages across 90 countries.

We wanted to expand on this monumental success and make these education efforts more accessible through an easy-to-use digital product that people could use to learn how to self-exam, learn about risk factors of breast cancer, book a mammogram, and feel confident in knowing what to do if something suspicious is found.

“Nominees like Dogtown Media are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet,” says Claire Graves, Executive Director of The Webby Awards. “It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 13,000 entries we received this year.”

Vote For Us!

Because we’re in the top 5 in our category, Dogtown Media & Worldwide Breast Cancer are eligible to win a Webby People’s Voice Award. Winners will be announced on April 23rd and get to attend the star-studded ceremony on May 13th in New York City.

Besides this, they’ll also get an opportunity to participate in a Webby tradition: The famous 5-Word Acceptance Speech. Previous Webby speeches include Steve Wilhite’s educational “It’s Pronounced ‘Jif’ not ‘Gif'” and Stephen Colbert’s self-celebratory “Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.”

But to get there, we’ll need your support. Help us reach The Webby Awards and show the world that when life gives you lemons, you can make magic happen!

From now until April 18th, you can vote for us here.

At Dogtown Media, we specialize in mobile app development, grounded with expert knowledge in the internet of things, fintech, medical tech and user interface design. We are determined to take on your next project and create an app that will help your business grow.

Clutch, a company that publishes unbiased reviews of B2B companies, has featured us once again in a recent press release of top California mobile app development companies.  We’re excited to share that we have been featured highly in their directory list of the top mobile app developers in California. This honor adds to our previous recognition as a top California Mobile App Development Company on DesignRush.

Clutch’s ranking algorithm takes many pieces of information into account when displaying companies on their directory pages; the most important part of Clutch’s ranking algorithm is client reviews. To date, we have received over 20 positive reviews. Our clients aren’t shy to share their successes with Clutch:

“Dogtown Media developed a solution for a project considered impossible to do in the tech world.”

“They were extremely responsive and supportive and I never felt like I was working on anything on my own.”

“Their work has made my life easier by automating features in the app that I was doing manually.”

In addition to our feature on Clutch, we were also mentioned on their sister-site, The Manifest.  We are pleased to announce that we were listed as one of the top mobile app development companies in the world on The Manifest.

Here at Dogtown Media, we are ready to improve your business by creating vital apps that will allow your business to access your consumers at all times.  Our team will work directly with your business to assess how to stand apart from competitors as well. We look forward to taking on your next project!

Each year, Clutch publishes a press release naming the top service providers within certain industries. We’re proud to announce that Clutch has named Dogtown Media among the world’s leading mobile app developers this year.

We’ve also been listed on Clutch’s sister website, The Manifest, a B2B news website that helps buyers through the process of selecting a vendor. Manifest also ranked Dogtown as one of the top app development companies in the world.

Founded in 2011, Clutch is a Washington, D.C.-based research firm that leverages unparalleled market insight to determine the leaders across numerous industries. With unbiased case studies, industry trend analysis, and business market comparisons, Clutch’s data-driven platform allows clients to find and connect with top-tier companies who can solve difficult challenges.

Clutch’s directories adhere to this meticulous, data-centric approach; it’s organized to list the most credible firms first. Credibility is gained by attaining client testimonials and market presence. Essentially, the directories allow potential buyers and clients in need of partnerships to visualize their different options with a holistic perspective of each company.

Check out some of the reviews we’ve received so far below!

Webdam is a digital asset management software company. We re-developed their platform from the ground up. Here’s what they had to say:

“Dogtown Media’s work was a massive improvement from the previous app version and received high praise from customers… They were extremely responsive and supportive, and I never felt like I was working on anything on my own.”

We also got the opportunity to help the University of Oklahoma improve its app with more student-centric functionalities and geolocation capabilities. Here’s their feedback:

Another client required an app for the University of Oklahoma. Here’s what they had to say:

“Dogtown Media’s expert team inspires confidence throughout the project by communicating clearly from the start. They bring creative ideas to the table at a reasonable value… Their work has made my life easier by automating features in the app that I was doing manually.”

The past few weeks have been surreal for Dogtown Media. Recently, we made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the United States for the second year in a row. Not long after, we were honored again by being included on Clutch’s list!

Both are incredible awards we couldn’t have imagined attaining when we first started developing in L.A. in 2011. We’d like to give a big thanks to Clutch, Inc., our team, clients, and community — none of this would be possible without you.

From humble beginnings as a mobile app developer in Los Angeles, we’re extremely proud of the work we’ve accomplished so far and we’re also very excited to see where the future takes us. We can’t wait to create more amazing mobile experiences for the world to enjoy.

If you have an idea but don’t know where to begin, reach out anytime — if you can dream it, we can build it!

Started in 1982, the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in the United States has become the hallmark of entrepreneurial success. The illustrious Inc. 5000 ranks privately held and independent American companies based on their percentage revenue growth over a three-year period. To many of the nation’s top entrepreneurs, inclusion on the list is a milestone, a sign that they have made it. It is the kind of recognition that can push a thriving business even further ahead.

This year, Dogtown Media is honored to return to the Inc. 5000. Ranked at #547, it is a testament to the continued commitment and dedication of our team of app developers and designers with inclusion on a list that in the past has included such tech giants as Oracle and Microsoft. Our continued growth has been fueled by our passion and dedication to the art of app development. Innovation is the bedrock of our mission as we operate at the intersection of art and code to advance technological solutions for global problems. Our agile process brings bespoke app development with diligence from concept to design, coding to launch to service the complex problems of our Enterprise and VC-backed startup clients. Our reputation continues to flourish as we deliver precise and unique technological solutions that solve some our clients’ most difficult business challenges.

2018 has been another big year for us so far. We expanded our team across two continents. We visited Berlin to present our wearable solution to NATO. We performed a live IoT device hack at SXSW. We advocated for tech-friendly policies at AppCon, engaging with the D.C. power players. We continue to rank as one of the top app developers in Los Angeles by Clutch. We launched our first in-house Healthcare product, SwiftHealth, that is actively saving lives in the field. Returning to the Inc. 5000 is a honor that demonstrates we are going in the right direction. It shows our team produces ground-breaking work that leads both the tech industry and the future of innovation for this nation.

Innovation keeps the world spinning. It forms the foundation for our future. The Defense Innovation Challenge is a competition held by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency to fuel the creative “fire” that keeps humanity moving forward.

For this year’s challenge, Dogtown Media was selected as a winner of the “Mobile Apps for Defense Users” category. It’s an incredible honor that words can’t possibly do justice. Our CEO and co-founder, Marc Fischer, will be receiving the award and presenting our solution in Berlin at the end of May at NITEC18.

Accelerating Digital Endeavors

The Defense Innovation Challenge is a challenge “aimed at accelerating transformational, state-of-the-art technology solutions from small businesses and academia in support of NATO C4ISR and cyber capabilities.” Open to small and medium enterprises as well as academic institutions from all 29 NATO Nations, competition is fierce, to put it mildly.

This is fair, however, when you consider the monumental ambitions of the initiative. “We are seeking to broaden engagement with innovative technology drivers as NATO undergoes its largest technological modernization in decades,” explains Kevin Scheid, the General Manager of the NCI Agency.

The third Defense Innovation Challenge focused on digital innovation. The breadth of fields this topic touches upon is basically infinite; autonomous sensors, IoT security, natural language processing, and cutting-edge mobile app development are just a few of the examples that are fair game.

Competition and Collaboration Spurs Innovation

Winners for this year’s challenge are invited to receive their rewards and showcase their solutions at NITEC18, an annual three-day tech summit held by the NCI Agency. Taking place in Berlin, Germany from May 22nd to May 24th, the theme of this year’s event is ‘NATO’s Digital Endeavour: Expanding the Ecosystem’.

The event was organized between NATO, the NCI Agency, and the Federal Ministry of Defense of Germany. With well over 600 military, political, security, and tech pioneers in attendance, NITEC serves as an opportunity for these world leaders to examine the current technological quandaries facing NATO and how to address them.

This is absolutely crucial; the plethora of problems facing NATO make it practically impossible for the organization to keep up with technological advancements, so this collaboration in the form of competition between academia, businesses, research institutions, and other entities is virtually the only way NATO can stay ahead of the curve.

Berlin Is the Place to Be

Keeping in line with the subject matter of this year’s NITEC, much of the attention will be focused on myriad aspects of revamping NATO to be ready for the digital age. Attendees will gather at the German Ministry of Defense for the conference kickoff. From there, the next three days will be jam-packed with presentations, workshops and discussion sessions between government officials, procurement officers, and thought leaders in the tech space.

Among the speakers will be NCI Agency Manager Kevin Scheid, Roger Krone, the CEO of Leidos, and Thomas B. Modly, the Undersecretary of the U.S. Navy. Saying this list of prestigious guest is just “the tip of the iceberg” is an understatement. Workshops on successful project bidding, NATO procurement procedures, and commercialization of products will also be given.

Disrupting the Status Quo of Soldier Safety

Marc will be flying out from Dogtown Media’s development studio in Los Angeles to receive Dogtown Media’s award and present our unique solution to improve soldier health and well-being. It’s indisputable that the battlefield is a brutal environment, and any aid a solder receives is an integral advantage.

By utilizing facets of the Internet of Things, encryption, and mobile technology, Dogtown Media conceived a wearable device that would allow for soldiers to send out a distress signal during dire times. The signal would notify medics of their location while keeping this information concealed from enemies. Initiatives could then be carried out to administer life-saving treatment for the person in need.

The wearable can be used during training as well as real battle scenarios. And besides the distress beacon, the device is also outfitted with sensors and scheduling mechanisms that make it easy to keep contact with the wearer and monitor different health variables like hydration. Currently, a prototype has been constructed, but there is still room to include other sensors or equipment so that other useful features can be added to the device.

Making the Future a Reality Today

The Defense Innovation Challenge and NITEC are part of NATO’s largest initiative to modernize the organization’s technology since the end of the Cold War. There is immense innovation going on in numerous fields to bring everything up-to-date, but this is still just the beginning.

It is an honor of the highest prestige for Dogtown Media to be recognized by NATO for our wearable solution. We know there were thousands of ingenious innovations submitted, so it’s been a truly surprising and humbling experience. 2018 has been a fantastic year for us, and we can’t wait to see where this event and the coming months take us next.

Stay tuned for updates, and in the meantime, keep innovating!

The Defence Innovation Challenge is a competition created with the intent to bring innovative technology solutions to reality for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to utilize. Each year, it’s held by the NATO Communications and Information (NCI) Agency.

We’re extremely proud and honored to announce that, out of thousands of entrants, Dogtown Media has been selected as one of the winners of the third annual Defence Innovation Challenge!

Setting the Standard for “State-of-the-Art”

“We are seeking to broaden engagement with innovative technology drivers as NATO undergoes its largest technological modernization in decades,” says Kevin J. Scheid, General Manager of the NCI Agency.

Open to academic institutions as well as small and medium enterprises from all 29 NATO Nations, the challenge is “aimed at accelerating transformational, state-of-the-art technology solutions from small businesses and academia in support of NATO C4ISR and cyber capabilities,” per a statement on the official website.

For this year’s challenge, the NCI Agency decided to focus on digital innovation. This included areas like mobile app development for both defense and government organizations, data science for natural language processing and analytics, and the Internet of Things for security and autonomous sensors to be used in battle.

Bringing the Cutting-Edge to the Frontlines

Keeping a colossal organization like NATO on the cutting-edge is easier said than done. There are many facets, departments, and moving pieces in general. Between communication, data privacy, cybersecurity, military system optimizations, and improving soldier capabilities, it’s easy to see how even the governments of 29 nations could have their hands full. But these categories are just the tip of the iceberg.

Regardless of the size and number of problems to tackle, each is a necessary endeavor. Updating NATO’s fighting force to be technologically superior, to handle all matters of threats and enemies, and to run leaner, greener, and meaner than ever before requires deep innovation and expertise in each subject matter.

That’s why the Defence Innovation Challenge is a natural fit to help spur new technological adoption.

Our Solution to Improve Soldier Safety

We are extremely proud to be considered winners of the “Mobile Apps for Defense Users” category. There were undoubtedly hundreds of ingenious innovations entered into each focus area; it’s been a truly humbling experience.

Our proposed solution aims to improve health and wellness for those in the battlefield through a unique combination of IoT, encryption, and wearables. Essentially, soldiers wear a wearable device that allows for a medic to be deployed to their location and administer life-saving treatment during emergencies.

The solution is made to be used out in the field, either in training or in real battle scenarios. The distress beacon deployed is encrypted so that enemies cannot receive the message; only allies (field commander, medical tech, etc.) in a remote monitoring station do.

The wearable is also equipped with sensors, notifications, and scheduling mechanisms that ensure a soldier’s wellness parameters, like hydration, are at healthy levels. Currently, we’ve put together a prototype, but there are still a few factors we’d like to work out before revealing much more!

We’re Going to Berlin!

The winners of this year’s Defence Innovation Challenge have been invited to showcase their solutions at NITEC18, an annual flagship tech-centric conference held by the NCI Agency. Lasting three days, the event is meant to give insight into NATO’s technological needs and connect leaders of the organization with innovators who can solve those problems.

This year’s theme is “NATO’s Digital Endeavor: Expanding the Ecosystem.” The event will be held in Berlin, Germany, from May 22nd to the 24th. While it may be more than a hop and a skip away from our HQ for development in Los Angeles, we wouldn’t miss it for the world! Dogtown Media will be sending a representative to receive our award and present our solution to the NATO leaders and stakeholders in attendance.

We’d like to give another thanks to NATO and the NCI Agency for selecting us! This has already been an amazing experience so far, and we’re even more excited to see what the future holds for our solution.

It takes true innovation and grit to persist with creating your vision. This is even more so when the problem you’re trying to tackle is not only difficult but one that is personal to millions of people around the world.

We’re extremely proud of our client, GreyMatters, for winning the apps category of Fast Company’s 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards!

An Epidemic That Needs Attention

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are awful illnesses that rob people of their memories. Both have been growing to epidemic proportions; more than 5 million people in the U.S. are afflicted with Alzheimer’s. That number is expected to reach 14 million by 2050.

Jennifer Rozbruch can vividly remember when her grandmother started losing her memory to dementia. It was 2013. While Rozbruch was attending New York City‘s School of Visual Arts for her masters in design, her mother was taking care of her grandmother.

Something immediately stuck out to Rozbruch: “My mom was able to connect with her in ways that other people couldn’t through music from her youth, telling stories from her early life, and looking through photos with her. I saw how much her mood and her manner changed when she was engaged in this way. She went from barely communicating and having no short-term memory to being able to sing the rest of a song’s lyrics on her own.”

An App to Access Memories

Rozbruch decided to translate what she witnessed into design for her SVA thesis. From the moment we heard about her unique idea, we were onboard to help her develop an app that could make this a reality. The end result was GreyMatters, an iPad app that acts as a link to the past for those with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

GreyMatters lets caregivers arrange memories like stories, photos, music, and pop culture content from the past to form a storybook. It can be difficult to interact with people afflicted with Alzheimer’s or dementia. A familiar context is key to setting the tone, but this is easier said than done. GreyMatters provides a way to alleviate this stress and structure interactions to be more positive and productive.

With the ability to easily access a tune from Duke Ellington or a clip of Katharine Hepburn, GreyMatters streamlines interactions with Alzheimer’s or dementia patients to be more meaningful. “People have been using photo albums and scrapbooks for a long time,” Rozbruch says. “This streamlines everything, and makes it easier for people to tap into memories with their loved ones.”

A World-Changing Idea

Since its debut, GreyMatters has had more than 8,000 downloads. Currently, Rozbruch is working on a sharing feature that lets family members collaborate in the app regardless of where they are located.

Words can’t properly express how proud we are of GreyMatters for winning the apps category of Fast Company’s 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards! We’re also extremely grateful for the opportunity to get to help with such an amazing endeavor!

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia can be terrible, painful experiences for a family to go through. Rozbruch and GreyMatters remind us that innovation can shine a light on any problem, no matter how dark.