Author Archives: Julie Blaustein

by Julie Blaustein

Despite the rain, it was a great turn out at Digg’s 1 million user party at Mezzanine. There’s so much space there, one can wander for hours and never get bored. The upstairs space with its own bar and couches makes it seem like another club within a club.

This was a hard core techie scene. There were even techie games to build robotic looking buttons to keep them busy if they weren’t into socializing. Lots of folks stayed still glued to their computers despite the scene. For others, who were into socializing, there was an open bar along with a killer DJ playing great dance music and a mesmerizing light show.

Photo Credit Brian Caldwell

Digg Party Goers Brandon Arnovick and friend.

What is Digg you might ask? Digg allows their 1 million readers to be the judges of which news is worthy enogh of reading based on the ranking of other readers. They call is a user driven socail ontent website but I call it the best way for the junk to be weeded out and for the good stuff to be made available. Everyone can participate in the process by helping to promote, help remove spam and to comment on stories.

Digg users are hard core. Check out this video made by a big time Digg user Mr. Baby Man

The video that was shown during the party.

Hard Core Digg Users

Photo Credit Brian Caldwell

Christian Williams and Friend

A highlight of the evening was the announcement of Digg’s open API. This s is a good thing especially for a smaller company as it enables theri brand to spread like viral marketing, making them hotter than hot in the space.

Announcement of Digg’s Open API and Contest

Mike Arrington of TechCrunch and Dan Farber of ZDnet

Kurt Collins of Photobucket, Brian Caldwell of Bub.blicio.us, and Robert Scoble

For more party pictures go to Julie Blaustein and Brian Caldwell‘s Albums.

digg 1 million user 1millionuser party techcrunch michael+arrington mike+arrington robert+scoble kevin+rose dan+farber zdnet bub.blicio.us bubblicious web2.0 web+2.0 web 2.0

By Julie Blaustein

Do you have an idea for the Next Big Thing? If you are a woman and have a napkin, then you can enter into Women 2.0′s business plan contest. Submit your business idea on a paper napkin no larger than 7×7 inches with your most innovative solution, an emerging technology, a way to save the world, even a way to become rich!

Reminder, the deadline to submit is today. Keep in mind, one has to be 35 or under to submit. But, if you join a team of 4 and atleast 2 are under 35, you qualify. To submit go to Women 2.0′s website at www.women2.org

Six finalists will present to a Judging Panel of Silicon Valley’s top-shelf VCs and successful entrepreneurs at a Pitch Event to be held on April 25th at CNET. Two winners wil get $1,000 each and a meeting with Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson or Michael Moritz of Sequoia.

Founders of Women 2.0: Shaherose Charania, Shivani Sopory, Angie Chang, & Wen-Wen Lam

By Julie Blaustein

The time is ripe. Web 2.0 fever is hot. The VCs are out there. Things still look quite bub.blicio.us. The Entrepreneurs are seriously seeking networking opportunities. Developers are hanging out knowing there are bound to be folks desperate to finish their product. This is where SFWIN comes in.

San Francisco Web Innovators (SFWIN) is a monthly interactive Web networking event for emerging companies and entrepreneurs to hook up with one another.

Unfortunately the ratio of men to woman was about 20:1. Perhaps they should partner with Women 2.0. The event was sponsored by Orick which is a great match as they are legal advisors for emerging companies, the type to demonstrate at their events.

SFWIN Founders of SFWIN – Photo Credit: Julie Blaustein (unless otherwise noted)

There were 3 demos that refreshingly moved along at a fast clip:

Change.org: Ben Rattray, Founder

This is not what one expects from a social network – its a social network for hundreds of social causes and over 1 million nonprofit organizations. It has great content throughout, truly networking users with other users and their causes. Once the cause is posted, there are reviews, supporters, photos, videos, projects, action to take and of course a blog to promote it. There are some cool features like AJAX maps and tech clouds giving it a the “cool” factor.

eRealInvestor: Mike Genstil, Founder

These guys love technology, real estate and numbers, not necessarily in that order. They have come up with a site that will help anyone who is investing through their patent-pending eRealAnalyzer to combine the latest Web technologies with their domain experience in real estate.

Two Lattes: Pascal Perez, Founder

The place where you can make lists and post it on the Internet. You can make them for family or friends or you can share them on your social network sites, blogs or forums.Here is an example of a list that was set up by them.

The SFWIN Scene

Christain Perry and Colleague

Hrach of Conan Partners

Clauda and Tom of Penguin Computers

Julie Blaustein mixing it up! – Photo Credit: Brian Caldwell

Ralph Maxx and Susan Mayz

To see more pictures go to Julie Blaustein’s Photobucket or Brian Caldwell’s album with SFBIG’s gig on flickr.

sfwin sf+win web+2.0 web 2.0 women2.0 orick change.org erealinvestor twolattes bub.blicio.us bubblicious slide slidesf christianperry sfbeta penguin+computers ralph+marxx

by Julie Blaustein

The swanky restuarant Sutra where the DivineCaroline Launch was held

Real Girls Media launched DivineCaroline at Sutra and it was a truly bub.blicio.us event.

DivineCaroline is a site for women to connect on the Internet in a number of ways: Community, learning and entertainment. It was held at a swanky restaurant, Sutra, with all the trappings that you would expect…men looking hot in tuxedos, woman in fabulous dresses, offerings from Tiffany and instant gratification pictures provided in frames to all guests. And there was an incredible amount of food including non stop sushi and an open bar.

Kate Everett Thorp, Tom Kurycki and Rebecca Weeks

Tiffany & Co. and Rebecca Weeks

Did you know that woman and girls are the fastest growing demographics online?

Some other fun facts:
67% of woman use the Internet to further communicate with their women’s groups
77% communicate with over 7 woman a week, while 59% communicate with 10
82% have read an online review
51% claim that being a published writer is something that appeals to them

What this means is this is a hot market to adverters it and will help ensure that DivineCaroline succeeds!

Not suprisingly, DivineCaroline’s CEO Kate Everett Thorp comes from a stellar adverting background. She is former President, Digital Worldwide of AKQA, Chiarman and CMO of Carat Interactive and former founder of Lot21, along with being named the Top 25 Woman to watch by Advertising Age!

Jill of T3, Greg Alden of Woodside Hotels, Lindsay Sandoval of Robert King Associates and Rebeccas Weeks

For more pictures, please visit Julie Blaustein’s PhotoBucket album.

divinecaroline.com rebecca+weeks Kate+Everett+Thorp advertisingage realgirlsmedia real+girls+media bub.blicio.us bubblicious

by Julie Blaustein

Attending Macworld was like attending a big welcoming party for the new iPhone that is an iPod, a phone and the Internet using the Safari Browser, all in one. if you haven’t had a glance, here it is close-up. It was difficult getting close to it as it was cloaked behind glass with tons of folks swarming around it. I even got a tap on my back for being too close to it.

The best feature I thought was if you were listening to your music and a call comes through, it would fade out the music so you can answer your call. I also was digging the entire phone being activated by a touchscreen. Start saving your allowances as its on the pricey side with a 4GB for $499 and a 8GB for $599 and only one service provider being offered and that would be Cingular.

I attended an exclusive reception for the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Tuesday evening. Its a non-profit mobile recording studio that has been travelling the country. They are working with students to introduce them to the world of music and technology. To help them out are celebrities such as Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. Bob was at the reception and talked about the need to have more buses available so more kids will have a chance to be a part of this amazing blend of music and technology.

Bob Weir and Students of the John Lennon Bus

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been defending our freedoms in the networked world and we should all be grateful for their existence. It only made sense they would be celebrating their 16th. birthday with the folks of the Macworld Conference. They defend free speech, privacy, innovation and consumer rights today that allow us all to continue to play and do businees in our digital lives. If you want to donate to this doner supported orgranization you can do so here. The party at 111 Mina on Thursday was a testament to the appreciation of the digital crowd, providing a packed house. There was a mix of MAC die hards who have been around since the start of it all, web 2.0 folks, EFF supporters and others from the conference who kept the place packed throughout the night.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation at 111 Mina

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For more pictures, jump to the Photobucket album.