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March 31, 2009
NY Venture Summit: Where Innovation Meets Capital
The New York Venture Summit is 2.5 months at the Digital Sandbox on June 17, 2009: Where Innovation Meets Capital.
Start-ups seeking capital and/or partnerships should submit their plan for the opportunity to present at The 2009 New York Venture Summit, an easy coast avenue for connecting emerging growth companies with active venture capitalists, angel investors, Corporate VCs and investment firms.
Now in it's 9th year, the program will feature thirty leading VCs on timely panel discussions and presentations by 50 cutting edge companies and high-level networking opportunities.
Areas include: Technology, Cleantech and Life Sciences. In addition to VCs, there will be Private Investors, Investment Bankers, Corporate Investors, and Strategic Partners.
The deadline for presenting company applications is May 6th, 2009. Email submissions to: iwant2present@youngstartup.com or contact Adam Negnewitzky at adam@youngstartup.com.
March 31, 2009 in Events, On Being Green, On Technology, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 29, 2009
Who is the Real Wizard?
Have you ever wondered, either as a child or an adult, who is the wizard? The real wizard? Evan Schwartz who did a three minute talk at TED in February, just released the book Finding Oz, which you can now purchase on Amazon among other places.
Here is a creative and fun YouTube movie with a bit of tease. You can also join the growing in popularity Facebook Group.
Finding Oz tells the remarkable tale behind one of the world's most enduring and best-loved stories: Wizard of Oz. Offering profound new insights into the true origins and meaning behind L. Frank Baum's 1900 masterwork, it delves into the personal turmoil and spiritual transformation that fueled Baum's fantastical parable of the American Dream.
Before becoming an impresario of children's adventure tales—the JK Rowling of his age—Baum failed at a series of careers and nearly lost his soul before setting off on a journey of discovery that would lead to the Land of Oz. Drawing on original research, Evan I. Schwartz debunks once and for all popular misconceptions and reveals how the people, places and events in Baum's life gave birth to the unforgettable images and characters, from the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City to the dual view of witches--as both good and wicked--that reflected the life of Baum's mother-in-law, the radical women's rights leader Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Finding OZ reveals how failure and heartbreak can sometimes lead to redemption and bliss, and how one individual can ignite the imagination of the entire world.
If you are in the Bay Area, be sure not to miss the uncut version of Wizard of Oz at San Francisco's Roxie Theatre on April 9 (evening) and April 11 (matinee). After Evan's introduction and insights, you will see the Wizard of Oz in a brand new light.
To order tickets in advance (which they encourage in case they sell out), you can order through Ticketweb or through Roxie's website.
“While just about everyone knows and loves this movie,” says Bill Banning, program director at the Roxie, “very few people have seen this spectacular film the way it was originally intended, on the big screen, with no commercials and no cuts to make room for commercials.”
March 29, 2009 in Books, Entertainment/Media, Events, San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 28, 2009
Bound South
Reading a novel about youth often makes you think of your own. Being part of a book group involving a novel you can physically hold in your hand changes the way you read when you're online.
We all know the art of writing for a novel is entirely different than blog writing. I've been meaning to capture more of my youth online -- in a series, little by little. The closest I've come is one photo upload inside an Irish castle and a blog post about a teenager summer.
I haven't read many 'chick-flavored' books in awhile, but am deeply buried in one now. Bound South written by Susan Rebecca White who I plan to meet the first week of April, captures the lives of two women in their mid-forties who live in the Atlanta suburbs.
There are wonderful moments between mother and rebellious teenager daughter and glimpse after glimpse of what both women, who have been best friends since childhood, gave up to do raise a family the 'southern way.'
Each character is rich -- from wealthy lead characters Louise (Parker) and Tiny to their black maid's daughter Missy who says: "For not being a real Christian, Mrs. Parker sure likes Jesus. She has an enormous painting of Him, hung smack in the middle of her living room wall. You wouldn't even know it is Him if His wrists weren't pierced and He didn't have long, flowing hair. Instead of wearing a white robe, Jesus is wearing a blue ball gown with rhinestones dotted along the straps. And instead of a crown of thorns or a halo, he wears a diamond tiara on his head. The blue of his ball gown is so rich you just want to stare, but I try not to. I know it is some kind of sinning to picture Jesus looking like a girl."
Nanny Rose is the conservative mother-in-law whose maid dies at the beginning of the book and it is here, early on, that we learn about the marked neighborhoods - black and white, rich and poor, where wealthy white housewives fear driving down the wrong street, locking their doors, stiffening up as they break for a stop light.
The real rose of the story is Louise's 18 year old daughter Caroline who is caught giving her acting teacher a blow job a month before graduation. Although she's late for every class and plasters a bumper sticker on the back of her car that says "Question Authority," she still makes it into Julliard.
She's full of untethered emotion and at times you want to restrain her, but not because of her rebellious spirit. You find that you want to protect Caroline from the emotional pain every women goes through who embarks on that path versus the more traditional one, one which is full of protection but void of adventure.
Caroline's experience with her first bout of passion....real passion. "I lean in and start kissing him. It's different from last night. This time I want it. I want him. Frederick, not my teacher, not my director, but Frederick, the man who bought the two buckets of chicken so I could give one away to the homeless.......And the strangest thing is how surprising it all is, that this -- this affair, as my mother would call it -- is really happening. Even though we kissed last night, even though we flirted all last year, back then it felt like a game, like something that would never really happen."
And then my favorite part: "It's the difference between standing near a fire and being the wood that burns."
It's a refreshingly light read with yes, a ton of wonderful chick-book moments. It is also an easy-flowing story that is broad in reach, ranging from family strife, family growth, southern recipes, folk art and visually rich images, to passion, deception, marital affairs, religion, regret, honor, coming of age and the great divide between black and white in the south.
March 28, 2009 in Books, On Women | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 27, 2009
Anti-Romantic Twitter
Check out Susan's amusing post on Relationships & Devices. I'm used to hearing stories like this from alpha males who are more addicted to gadget machinery than they are to women's lips but she admits in the first line that she is a nerdgirl.
You'll find yourself smiling if not laughing as you read countless examples of her 'toy' addictions starting with the Blackberry.
she writes, "no one could keep his or her Blackberry closer than I do, not even if it turned into a helpless little pocketbook dog. My Blackberry is so omnipresent and my checking it so regular that my friends and lovers are known to say “Put that Blackberry away now!” at least a few times a week. Just like a Japanese teenager in a shopping mall, I believe that my little hand-held machine, slipped into a jacket pocket, connects me to the world and keeps me from being cruelly alone (and bored; I crave a high amount of information, brain is restless.)"
She refers to the recent Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer break-up which I had not heard about.
Get this. In the Telegraph piece, their source said: "There he was, telling her he didn't have time for her and yet his page was filled with Twitter updates. Every few hours, sometimes minutes, he'd update with some stupid line. And in her mind, she was like 'He has time for all this Twittering, but he can't send me a text, an email, make a call?"
He even twittered right after receiving the call where she dumped him. Mayer's Twitter update read: 'This heart didn't come with instructions.'
Is this for real? What could have she seen in this always public, nothing private boyfriend who given half a chance might have twittered about the intensity of his orgasm in the middle of love-making.
March 27, 2009 in On Technology, On Women | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Gabriels Technology & RepairPal Team Up
RepairPal and Gabriels Technology announce content distribution partnership delivering automobile repair price transparency to millions of consumers.
RepairPal’s proprietary content will be included as part of Gabriels Automotive Portal product serving millions of users across key media including major national organizations, independent publications, and hundreds of community-focused newspapers.
As part of the partnership, automotive content consumers will have instant, in-line access to the RepairPrice Estimator, delivering the most accurate automobile repair pricing, maintenance information, and, proprietary automobile ownership content available.
March 27, 2009 in On Technology, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
March 26, 2009
Gaming Movers & Shakers
Below are a collection of mug shots I took at the VentureBeat GamesBeat conference on Tuesday. Their one day event was a welcome break from the week long GDC (game developers conference) at the Moscone that was largely technical.
Here, movers and shakers discussed business issues in a series of panels. At the end, six companies presented five minute demos. The winner of the on-stage demo was Dave Long of Exponential Entertainment -- photo can be found at the bottom of this post.
Kai Bond of Switch Games
VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi
N'gai Croal
Mark Pincus
Playfish's Kristian Segerstrale
Below: Judges watch as vendors demo
Game designers and founders demo to a panel of judges below:
VentureBeat's Matt Marshall introduces the winner
Matt Marshall with Dave Long of Exponential Entertainment
Additional photos can be found here.
March 26, 2009 in Conference Highlights, Entertainment/Media, On Technology, On Video, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Do Social Games Represent Something Bigger?
At yesterday's VentureBeat GamesBeat Conference in San Francisco, there was a panel on Social Games: Why are they so popular and are they a passing fad or do they represent something bigger?
On the panel was Mark Pincus, Shervin Pishevar, Dennis Fong, Shawn Fanning and Kristian Segerstrale. Ohai's Susan Wu moderated.
"Is social gaming merely a marketing distribution channel?" asks Susan, meaning are social games a new type of gameplay as well as a new kind of distribution model?"
"We've been building games that live within a social platform, like Facebook," said Shervin Pishevar. "A lot of these games wouldn't have been possible without social networks. Facebook allows games to grow virally. In 12 months, the companies that are creating these social games inside social networks have grown to a run rate of $100m - can you really call that a passing fad?"
Raptr's Dennis Fong pipes in: "I think calling these types of games social games is wrong. Games have always been social. It's not really its own genre, its really just a gameplay that is built on top of a social network. What's largely contributing to this growth is that friends learn about these games because they're part of your Facebook network."
Mark Pincus disagrees. He thinks social gaming is a new medium and its these new social games that are going to be the winning hand. He says, "It will be really clear in a year and we won't even be having a debate. I believe that social gaming is more like what is happening with social networking - you're building your social capital with other people. You're not building social capital when you play Nintendo. What you're going to see with social games in the next year is people bringing in more friends and building their own social persona."
"Let's say for the purpose of this panel, says Susan, "that social games are multiplayer games that live on social platforms to which social graphs are made available to us so we can connect to other people."
Susan asks the panel, "you talk about needing Facebook, but do they need you?" Shervin responds, "we're building a new ecosystem - iPhone is taking a percentage of every sale, so when FaceBook has a payment platform, we want to sign up for that. If you look at Playfish, remember that it is bringing people back to Facebook to play their games."
"Why doesn't Google have a games tab?" asks Shervin. The notion is that the platforms today are limited for social game developers which inhibits growth.
Susan asks the panel: "what are you doing to make the games more viral and discoverable?"
Shawn Panning from EA Rapture says, "we're helping people find the games they want to play. It's an opportunity to allow people to use their social graph to find the kind of games they will want to play."
"How does war craft tap into the social graph in Facebook?" asks Dennis Fong. They are trying to help companies tap into these social graphs.
Susan expands: "how do we work together to expand the number of platforms available to us? Once we have more platforms, how do we make a decision where to invest? Where do we spend the money and resources?"
Mark Pincus pipes in: "I'd love for all of us to work more closely with those who are not providing a platform today, i.e, Microsoft, Apple, etc. There are things that are so cool for their users they could offer them. I wish they would spread "presence" information and that the notifications went with it. If all the plumbing happened and there was consistency in the plumbing, this industry would grow so much faster. I would love us to all be directly business partners with companies like Facebook in the way we deal with Apple today."
More coverage on other panels and photos over at VentureBeat.
March 26, 2009 in Conference Highlights, Entertainment/Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 24, 2009
VentureBeat's GamesBeat 2009
I'm gathering data, shooting and hanging with interesting characters in the gaming industry at VentureBeat's Games Beat event in San Francisco.
VentureBeat is teaming with industry heavy-weights to explore how gaming is quickly becoming pervasive in both business and our everyday lives. It's a perfect day excursion for those in town attending the GDC (Game Developers Conference) at the Moscone this week.
Conference sessions will be streamed live through both the GamesBeat and VentureBeat sites. Emcees include Dean Takahashi (VentureBeat) and Chris Taylor (Gas Powered Games) with the first morning session covering where investing and business models are heading in the next five years.
There are also be a number of players who are presenting a five minute pitch and a winner will be chosen by a panel of judges based on their potential for marketability and financial success. The audience will vote on the “gamers’ choice.
March 24, 2009 in Conference Highlights, Entertainment/Media, On Technology, On Video, Web 2.0 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Blue Sweater
Last week, Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz held a book reading in San Francisco as part of the launch of The Blue Sweater, her new book, which is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Half.com.
The Blue Sweater takes us on a journey, through one inspiring personal memoir after another. She read us an excerpt from an experience she had in the eighties where she helped a group of unwed mothers start a bakery.
In the book, she reveals how traditional charity often fails. A key mission of Acumen Fund is to use entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. It's a combination approach: "small amounts of philanthropic capital combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor."
Why they feel charity alone isn't the answer: "poor people seek dignity, not dependence." Frankly, everyone seeks dignity and all too often, we don't get it.
She tells us "why the blue sweater?" I was obviously curious as were others. When she was around ten, she wore a sweater with zebras on it well into high school before she finally parted with the garment. Years later, when she as in her mid-twenties, she spotted a zebra sweater on a little boy in Africa.
With emotion, she tells us how she ran over to check the label and sure enough, it was her very own zebra sweater she wore as a child. "It's an example," she says, "of our own interconnectedness. Those of us who have lived in the developing world all have a blue sweater story -- where something we have done has impacted someone's life and we don't learn how until much later on."
She's right. We all have our blue sweater stories even if we haven't lived in the developing world. Having an impact on others in an unselfish loving way is ultimately why we're here. Giving back to the world is what really feeds us at the end of the day and often, its the smallest of "gives" that have the most impact.
March 24, 2009 in Books, On Africa, On East Africa, On People & Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Shifting Your Paradigm: Redefining Art Valuation
Bay Area Gallery Wants to Shift Your Paradigm. San Francisco's Gallery 560 is hosting an exhibition that redefines art valuation
"Shifting Paradigms" is a presentation of extraordinary talent that changes the very concept of how art is valued and acquired. They'll be introducing a new pricing method and showcasing a wide spectrum of accomplished artists. As an art fan that spans a broad range of styles and talent, I can't help but be curious by a new model of art valuation.
The system combines the excitement of major auctions with the personal attention of galleries. The exhibition will feature renowned artists such as Laila Carlsen, Kelley Defayette and Jeff Neugebauer and will culminate with a reception on March 28, 2009 from 6:00 pm until midnight. During this window, collectors and art lovers are invited to stop by, enjoy the art and actively participate in determining its value. Bids are final at 9:00 pm.
To learn more about this new pricing system, people are encouraged to come to the gallery any day before the reception and speak with the gallery team at 420 Sutter Street on the upper level in San Francisco.
Above Photo from Gallery 560
March 24, 2009 in Arts & Creative Stuff, Events, San Francisco | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
