Many here in Silicon Valley are eagerly trying to get funding for their startups. Out of those few who are able to get funding from Venture Capitalists, I wonder how many actually hear what’s in the above video. Following in line with the “Sh*t” memes that are the flavor of the month on YouTube, August Capital’s David Hornik posted this hilarious one about “Sh*t VCs Say”.  There are some really great gems in this video like poking fun at the negotiating process (e.g. “$10 million pre”) and much more…here are a few of my favorites:

• Is an 11 good on Klout?
• Is that the biggest plane they got?
• I got one word for you: participating preferred
• That’s what you’re doing? Are you kidding? I had that idea 3 years ago.
• S-1, baby!
• What if we put it in the Cloud?
• Mary, can you come here for a second? I need you to tweet something for me!
• I just got back from Paris.
• You’d be better off with Snooki on your board.
• What? You only have 7 million users.
• Why in the world are people skiing on the weekends when the lines are shorter during the week?
• You gotta check it out, it’s like the AirBnB for cosmetics

Thanks David Hornik for the laughs this Saturday morning. You can watch the whole video here.

What’s the number one camera being used right now as represented by the number of photos shared on Flickr? The Apple iPhone4.

No where on this list of the top 5 cameras do you see any mention of Android devices. Why is that? Apple has clearly made strives to improve the camera on their phones, but is it because of the multitude of applications that are motivating people to share their photos on Flickr or other photo sharing sites? Some might say that Android cameras just plain “suck”, but others will clearly disagree. It’s not as if there aren’t any applications to help take better photos. So maybe it’s because with all this talk about how the iPhone camera is the greatest thing since sliced bread, it’s about time that the Android camera gets a little bit of love. And that’s exactly what VentureBeat’s Jolie O’Dell is doing in her new book Android Photography.

In this 160 page book available for pre-sale now, Ms. O’Dell sets out to promote how cool the platform is. In an interview with me, she says that since she’s been a big Android advocate for a long time, she finds the platform very exciting and “in practice, the phones end up being a huge outlet of creativity for me, personally.” And since she carries around an Android phone all the time, she found it useful when traveling and finding beauty in the world all around her. But the age-old question is, why not the iPhone? Well, she thinks that it’s “over”. In fact, she feels that they’re just inaccessible with few carrier options, no real hardware options and the price can be unappealing to some.

So what’s exciting about this book? Android Photography is an instructional book with a run-down of some hardware and some applications. In addition, Ms. O’Dell as included some information about photo composition, editing, and even how to upload and share your creative work online. And before you think it’s just 160 pages of tough reading, think again. She’s put together some inspiring photo galleries with some jaw-dropping photos from a wide range of photographers around the world. Bottom line? According to Ms. O’Dell, we’re going to be shocked at the kind of results we’ll get out of an Android.

As a photographer, I’m always one to favor my Canon 7D SLR, but often when I’m out about town, I’m carrying my Android phone. And I’ll admit that I’m often thinking that my friends are taking way better photos using their iPhone. I mean, just look at Lisa Bettany’s Camera+ photo app for the iPhone which has been a rousing success or the prominence that Instagram has had in mobile photography — it’s just increasing exponentially. But now, after hearing about Android Photography, I’m thinking that there’s hope for improving my photos, and what I find incredibly helpful is that the examples that are in this book come complete with details on how they were taken so you can learn and try and recreate them.

Android Photography is set to be released in February and can be purchased off of Amazon in paperback format (sorry, no Kindle version). Who knows whether this will help reinvigorate the Android camera revolution, but with studies showing that Android applications being more popular than iPhone and the proliferation of these devices across all carriers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, Android Photography might be the book for people to read in order to understand how to really take a photo.

Well someone had to have done it. Nearly every time I’m looking at my Facebook News Feed, someone is posting one of the newest memes to crawl through the Interwebs. From “Shit White People Say” to “Shit Vegans Say” to even “Shit [enter location] Says“, a whole lot of these spin-offs are coming out of nowhere! And often times they’re funny and maybe even eye-opening, but for those of us in the tech community, we now have one of our very own: Shit Silicon Valley Says

Directed, filmed, and starring the incredible tandem duo of Tom Conrad (CTO of Pandora) and Kate Imbach (VP of Marketing at 8tracks), this 1:46 video takes you through the seedy underbelly of the tech community to give you a really great taste of just what we’re talking about. From poking fun at product ideas to terminology to even describing startups as clones of other startups (e.g. “it’s like Pandora for cats!”), there’s lots of great humor to be had just by watching it. It’s so popular that, as of this writing, the video has received over 600,000 views along on YouTube, not to mention coverage on sites like LaughingSquid.

If you’re in the technology scene, you have definitely got to see this video and see how many of these statements you hear on a daily basis and even how many YOU make. It might just surprise you.

By Julie Blaustein

We are all so distracted these days multi-tasking between our Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and dealing with all our responsibilities in life that sometimes we forget how to just be. Harmony Festival reminds you what its like to just take a deep breathe and enjoy the moment.

To see more photos from this year and past years go to my Harmony Festival Flickr Collection.

Michael Franti of Michael Franti & Spearhead

Janet Stone of Yoga Tree Leads Yoga

Myles Weissleder of SF NewTech and Daughter Summer

by Julie Blaustein

Swagging it up at Swagapalooza

I wasn’t quite sure what I was attending when I was invited to the 2nd. Swagapalooza at the DNA lounge last Tuesday. It turns out they pretty much invite bloggers and then they reward them with swag by attending and hopefully promoting the event. Most of the bloggers were foodie bloggers as most of the demos were about food. There really was no theme. The food wasn’t anything to write home about, mosty pizza. But it was a fun, excitable, heckling crowd who was happy to be there as were the presenters that were introduced on stage by Alex Krupp, the host and organizer.

First up was Justin Kahn of Justin.TV as the Keynote. He shared the virtues of quitting your day job and going after your dream with the young and impressionable audience who eagerly listened to his “lessons in life”. Fortunately for him, its all working out. Not only has Jason.TV taken off, he has now started his own mens-ware line.

Kristen Slow of Sabateur had Jason model her signature jacket from her mensware line. She demonstrated how any liquid will just roll off the Invincible Man’s Jacket. Although definitely a cool item to own, I was a bit sticker shocked at the price, $600! But she hooked us up with some real swag, a real men’s shirt with real men’s cuff links!

Transcendent Man, the movie about Ray Kurzweil, one of the world’s leading futurists was introduced by its director, Barry Ptolomy. Its going to be released in every conceivable medium that is available – YouTube, Apps, TV. You can even watch it here now! It suggests that computers will have conscience thinking and even cure death in the near future.

Will Hauser of Two Degrees shared with us the virtues of his all-natural, gluten-free bars. Their mission is to feed over 200 million children, one child at the time. The audience though was all a twitter and tweeting how HOT he was.

I never realized how fun recycling could be. John Funk of FlingBins popped up his 13 gallion recyclable bins to show us just how easy it is to whip one out at a party and have a good time with your garbage.

Swipe your credit card with Swipegood and do good by rounding up your transaction to the nearest dollar and then contribute that amoutn to your favorite charity. Steli Efti shared the many reasons why this is something you just automatically CAN do and DO good.

Stunner of the Month shared the cheesiest but entertaining presentation of all. Todd Smith modeled his offerings, quite the deal for $9 a month. You receive a new pair of shades and a funky tape to go with it in the mail. The perfect gift for all occasions!

Tracy Lee and her partner threw out Magic Panties?  Whatever they were, the crowd was going wild to catch a pair.

You would think that the Boom Boom Revolution would be something thumping but rather its a card deck where folks are prompted to do acts of kindness and then share them with a community of do-gooders. Turns out that Mary Beth Campbell, a former teacher was so shocked that her students were into acts of kindness she felt compelled to share it with the world.

Seems there are lots of people seeking to connect with others when they are not digitally connected. Eddie Lu of Grubwith.us and his partner realized this when they moved to Chicago. They set up a community where strangers can eat and meet one another at restaurants around the city.

Danny Grabiner of SourFlour is also creating community through his bread. He made 172 loafs of bread and greeted each and every attendee upon arriving at the event with their very own loaf. It was yummy but such a huge loaf that I gave it to one of the homeless on my way home.

And last of the bunch was Amerilab Technology which when it came down to it, they provided a possible solution to one’s hangover with their product, the Drinkin’Mate, although according to laws, they couldn’t come straight out and say that. Their secret ingredien: guava leaf extract. As part of my goodie bag I was swagged with one of their products so we’ll see if it actually works.

For the real fun follow the event at #swagapalooza. And check out the after party pics and some more pics here.

Alex Krupp, Host of Swagapalooza

Justin Khan of Khan.TV and Kristen Slow of Sabateur

Barry Ptolemy of Transcendent Man

Will Hauser of Two Degrees

Steli Efti of Swipe Good

Todd Smith, Stunner of the Month

Eddie Lu, Grubwith.Us

Tracy Lee and Partner

Chris Biggs and Partner of Ameritabs

A bit of cuteness to finish your Friday…

The Knoxville Zoo has two little red panda (firefox) cubs sponsored by Mozilla Firefox. Honestly, when you see these little creatures, you’ll coo and want to hug one.

You can watch the streaming live video at FirefoxLive.org. You can also help name the cuteness, er, cubs. Their parents were named Akkali and Chewbacca. I’m thinking some geeks might have helped named Dad as well.

By Julie Blaustein

Brian and Shoshanna Zisk

The 7th. SF MusicTech Summit came back to town on Monday, December 6th. at the Kabuki Hotel. It was another great gathering of the various players in the music industry who drive its innovation, creativity and growth in this constantly evolving space. Topics discussed and debated included entertainment, product development, wireless and hand held, start ups, legal issues and, so much more. The very first SF MusicTech had maybe 300 people whereas now, there are over 800 attendees and over 27 sponsors! There was barely enough room for all the sponsoring logos to fit on the Sponsor plaque. The team responsible for securing all these sponsorships include the “music gods” Brian Zisk and his lovely wife Shoshana along with their partner-in-crime Todd Tate. They all have a deep history of performing and working in the music industry and are now seeking to keep the music alive through the collaboration of those that are seeking to make music and those that are seeking to make money. I also gained  better understanding of what made the SF MusicTech Summit a “must” attend by talking to a few of the sponsors and vendors.

Michael Hobson of HRT

High Resolution Technologies (HRT) would normally have exhibited at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas which is way larger than the Summit, but due to their employer Michael Mercer’s recommendation they chose the SF Music Tech Summit. Not only was HRT the largest sponsor of the show but they spoke on a panel and took the opportunity to announce their new product’s launch, The iStreamer which allows you to deliver high performance digital audio playback directly from an iPad, iPhone or an iPod.

Sonic.net provides Internet connectivity to the technology start ups in the community. This is their 2nd. year being a vendor and a sponsor with the summit. Tiffany Lawson, an Account Manager with Sonic.net was eager to be a part of the Summit in part due to how easy it was to work with Brian Zisk, the Executive Producer. “Zisk was great to communicate with, he is always on the same page and he genuinely cares about making the conference a success for you.”

Gianluca delli Carri of MusiXmatch hails from Italy with corporate offices in London. MusiXmatch provides a way to distribute lyrics. Usually they would attend evnts such as Music Hack Day where they would engage with developers. Based on a partner and a past, colorful attendee Robert Kaye of MuicBrainz, they chose to commit to the event.

Peter Jung of Vocoo

Not to be outdone in terms of going the distance to attend SF MusicTech Summit, Peter Jung, Manager of Vocoo.com that provides your voice over background of the hottest songs for iPhone, Android, PC, YouTube, FB and more, came from Seol, Korea! Based on the recommendation of their PR firm, ICR, they came in the hopes of meeting other companies. In fact, it appears that MusiXmatch is now in talks with Voocoo about providing their expertise in lyrics. That, my friends, is worth the airfare and certainly  justifies the ROI of the event to any manager questioning its worthiness to attend.

If you are involved in the music scene in any way, do your self a favor and attend the next SF MusicTech Summit in the spring of 2011 to learn, meet new and old friends and do business. You can’t go wrong.

Go here for more pictures and for Past SF MusicTech Summit Events and check them out on Twitter at #SFMusicTech.

By Julie Bluastein

JETLAG landed big at the Redwood Room on Thursday, the 18th. of November in San Francisco. It was hopping, the music was pulsating and the scene was pure fun. The room was truly filled with glamorous trendsetters and world-travelers as promised. A runway was set up between the bar and the restaurant offering a great view of G-Star Raw HOT models that included Trendy Lime’s founder, Liana Burtsava.

DJ Nader and Playdoughboy, and DJ Huggie spun the music, Nkechi Live! catered for an unforgettable soul performance, and chic denim fashion was provided by G-Star Raw. Sponsors included Ark, Bay Club and RedBull along with Media Partners SFAMA (San Francisco Fashion and Merchandise Alliance), Eclectic a la Mode, 360 Fashion Network, Moda Epidemic and me, Julie Blaustein Photography.

If you have not joined JETLAG yet, what are you waiting for? JETLAG is the upscale social events for Trend-Setters, Entrepreneurs and Businesses. Once you join, you will receive invite-only to fun, exclusive events. Join Now!

Trendy Lime is a producer of upscale social and networking events and a social network comprised of “global socialites.” They are setting the standard in classy, exclusive events for Trend-Setters, Entrepreneurs, and Ambitious Professionals in prime venues of San Francisco

Hip and Happening photos from the scene & fasion show More photos here!