On April 1, Sony opened a self-branded store, in the high-end Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles.

WSJ: Sony Revamps Retail Stores

For the most part, the movie is really a black comedy about Los Angeles-style self-obsession spiced with sudden drug interludes that jar you for a minute, then fade from memory as we head on to the next (occasionally facile) showbiz send-up.

CNN: Review: Too much junkie business in 'Permanent Midnight'

He's also a self-described adrenaline junkie and a long time Los Angeles resident.

CNN: 'Angel Baby' author prefers grime to crime

One simple statistic tells that tale: it costs nearly three times as much to rent a self-drive van for a one-way journey from Los Angeles to Houston as the other way around.

ECONOMIST: Lone Star rising

Mike Trevino, general manager of Vitality, which is a unit of NantHealth of Los Angeles, says GlowCaps are currently sold to pharmaceutical manufacturers and self-insured employers.

WSJ: Ring, Buzz, Flash: It Must Be Time to Take Your Medicine

At the TED conference in Los Angeles, architect and computer scientist Skylar Tibbits showed how the process allows objects to self-assemble.

BBC: TED 2013: 4D printed objects 'make themselves'