Tag Archives: kenneth yeung

It’s almost March and within the technology and Internet scene, it’s a clear sign that we’re approaching one of the biggest events of the year: South by Southwest! That’s right…from March 11 to 15, the city of Austin, Texas will be flooded with geeks, nerds, entrepreneurs, analysts, the press, investors and enthusiasts eager to learn about the latest in tech, social media, the web and also network until they can’t anymore. Known by its acronym, SXSW, this year is sure to be a busy one with plenty of events, parties, sessions and keynotes taking place. But, one thing that you can’t miss is the TechSet Blogger Lounge. And let me tell you, if you weren’t at the last few Blogger Lounges, then you’re not going to want to miss this one!

This year’s TechSet Blogger Lounge is sponsored by Samsung and registered folks that stop on by will be able to check out the latest gadgets and gear from one of the leading electronic companies in the world. What would you say if you could get your hands on a Galaxy Tab device or look at their Galaxy mobile phones? Maybe you’ll be able to check out their Smart TVs or laptops and countless other devices…you’ll only find out what’s in store for you if you register now for the Blogger Lounge.

Started by Brian Solis and Stephanie Agresta, the TechSet Blogger Lounge is a place…nay…destination for those seeking a smart guide to what’s relevant. From meeting up with influential people, bloggers, member of the press, entrepreneurs, investors and even celebrities, you’re going to find a lot of great things at the Blogger Lounge. And while last year was confined into one room, this year, it’s only going to grow! That’s right, there’s going to be more space — twice the size from last year, showing that it’s probably the number one place to be during South by Southwest (unless you’re attending the sessions and keynotes).

Let’s recap what’s going on…the Samsung TechSet Blogger Lounge is taking place this year at the South by Southwest Interactive conference on Friday, March 11 (1-6pm) and Saturday, March 12 to Tuesday, March 15 ( 9-6pm).

ONE MORE THING: Samsung is organizing a really great program that bloggers, photographers, videographers and attendees will be interested in. Announced on their Facebook page, Samsung introduced their SXSWi Press Corps and they’re looking for YOU. That’s right…they’re looking for that one person to join their squad and go out and meet some of the “most influential people in social media”, have your work featured on Samsung.com and the Media Wall, attend a private dinner party at the Four Seasons, and much more. All you’ll need to do is, if you’re selected, provide some real-time coverage about the SXSWi events/panels/speakers and all the other fun stuff taking place this year at the conference. Submit your entry by March 7, 2011 for your chance to win!

And now for some highlights from last year’s TechSet Blogger Lounge:

SimpleGeo’s Andrew Mager

BlogWorld’s Rick Calvert interviews Jason Falls

American Eagle’s Jess Berlin and 50Kings Francisco Dao

Edelman’s David Armano with Powered’s Aaron Strout

Each evening, the TechSet Blogger Lounge has live music performances along with great refreshment & entertainment

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh stops by to autograph copies of his new book “Delivering Happiness”. Pop17′s Sarah Austin photobombs this scene.

To register for the Samsung TechSet Blogger Lounge, you’ll need to sign up on their Eventbrite page here.

For more photos of last year’s TechSet Blogger Lounge, you can find them on my Flickr photostream by clicking here.

All photos featured here belong to the photographer, Kenneth Yeung

This past weekend, I flew up to Seattle, Washington to attend what was being billed as the last instance of Gnomedex taking place…ever. I found that hard to believe, but sadly it slowly became true. Its founder and organizer, Chris Pirillo, declared on stage that this would be the last one (although I think secretly there’s a bet on when Gnomedex 11 will take place).

Nevertheless, Gnomedex 10 was sure to beat all expectations and IF this was to be its last show, it would go out with a bang – and we weren’t disappointed. The festivities began on Thursday night with a pre-party at the Bell Harbor conference center which got people to mingle with each other, conduct interviews and just have a great time. Then, Friday morning came and we moved into the real fun…with an opening keynote given by Brian Solis and then a series of speakers talking about technology – no, not social media, email marketing, or how to build an application, but how did THEY user technology in their lives to make an impact. If you haven’t been to a Gnomedex conference, I consider it a technology version of a TED conference where people present their case studies and how they have been innovative to create some really cool stuff.

As Pirillo puts it, Gnomedex is all about the “Human Circuitry” – influence, ideation illumination, inspiration, interaction and illustration. It’s the passing along of ideas and showing how technology can change the world beyond just a simple “check in” or tweet.

Some of the highlights from this year’s conference includes having the Chief Technology Officer of the city of Seattle speak and talk about what they’ve been doing with their government data & how they are trying to open it up for more innovation. Melissa Pierce, producer of the upcoming movie Life in Perpetual Beta, gave an inspiring speech about human kindness & her travels; Trish Millines Dziko spoke about how to improve public education through technology; Shauna Causey & Melody Biringer spoke about creating an organization to support women in technology; and perhaps the most inspiring was the rousing speech given by Violet Blue about human sexuality, technology, awareness and censorship – by the time she was finished, the crowd gave her a standing ovation.

AUTHOR NOTE: Fun fact about Gnomedex…in its 10 years of existence, there have only been three (3) standing ovations. Last year, Drew Olanoff received one for his talk about #blamedrewscancer & now Violet Blue for her talk about human sexuality.

By the time the conference ended, it was a bittersweet moment…people headed home to live out their lives once again, but never to return to Seattle for the Gnomedex conference. Will we see another version of Gnomedex take place and what will Chris Pirillo do next?

Only time will tell…

Here are some photos from the conference:

Chris Pirillo

Dave Delaney

Robert Scoble talking to the kids from OmniTechNews

Chris Pirillo with Robert Scoble

Ben Metcalfe, Violet Blue & Kris Krug

Kenji Onozowa

Brian Solis

Trish Millines Dziko

Steve Fisher & Michael Dougherty – producers of Browncoats: Redemption

Betsy Aoki and Chris Pirillo

Bill Schrier, the CTO of Seattle, WA

The women of Tech Mavens

Melissa Pierce – producer of Life in Perpetual Beta

Violet Blue

All photos shown here were taken by Kenneth Yeung. You can view more photos from Gnomedex on Flickr by clicking here.

We had it all.

Food (Check). Sun (Check). Great people (Check). Alcohol & drinks (Double check).

Yes, it was a great party and probably one of the highlights of the Summer season. We are, of course, talking about the TechCrunch August Capital party in Menlo Park, CA last Friday night.

For just over five hours, several hundred people that were lucky to get tickets to the event flocked here to meet and greet with some of the industry’s movers and shakers. People from all around the world traveled to Silicon Valley to be a part of this epic event – and it didn’t hurt that it also was the after-party for TechCrunch’s Social Currency CrunchUp held at Stanford University that day.

The drinks were flowing and people were mingling on the deck of August Capital and we were even blessed with great sunny weather – what a day for a party indeed! Photographers were abound snapping photos of attendees throughout the evening & if you wanted to be a bit more creative, there was even a step & repeat area where you could get all gussied up in feather boas, boxing gloves, sunglasses and other accessories just to look as classy as you want courtesy of Michael O’Donnell of ZatPhoto.com. The music was beating as well thanks to a DJ who was jamming out tunes through Pandora Radio and there was a lot for people to do. Mingling and networking isn’t your thing? Then get your iPhone cover engraved courtesy of Coveroo or go get autographed prints of awesome art by Hugh Macleod from GapingVoid.com.

So who shows up for an August Capital party? Just some very familiar and influential people including practically the entire cast of characters from TechCrunch like MG Seigler, Jason Kincaid, Paul Carr, Heather Harde & Alexia Tsotsis. Other famous notables include rapper & tech fan Chamillionaire, “Digi” Jeff Lange, Google’s Don Dodge, angel investor extraordinaire Ron Conway, Mashery’s Oren Michels, AllFacebook.com & the Social Times Nick O’Neill, Larry Chiang, Girls in Tech’s Adriana Gascoigne, Echo’s Chris Saad, Whrrl’s Heather Meeker & CEO Jeff Holden, Plancast’s Mark Hendrickson & Peter Sauer, Sarah Austin, SimpleGeo’s Andrew Mager and many others.

Now onto the pictures…

Hugh Macleod of GapingVoid.com

Nick O’Neill & Adriana Gascoigne

Chris Noble & Heather Meeker

Andrew Mager & Chad Catacchio

Ryan Hupfer

Gregarious Narain

Maria Ogneva, Ryan Kuder & Heather Meeker

Dave McClure & Chris Saad

Chamillionaire, Don Dodge & “Digi” Jeff Lange

Alastair Goldfisher

All photos featured here were taken by Kenneth Yeung.

You can view more photos in my Flickr photostream by clicking here.

Ever want to meet the Mashable team and get your product and 15 minutes of fame all at once? You typically don’t have the plethora of opportunities to meet more than one, let alone nine members of the blogging team! So what better way than the SummerMash tour here in San Francisco last Wednesday? That’s right…last Wednesday was the San Francisco stop of Mashable’s US Summer Tour and they were warmly greeted by over 500 people at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco. The ballroom was quite spacious and there was plenty of mingling to be done. From cupcakes to hors d’oeuvres being passed around by waiters to the open bar lasting for more than three hours, guests were definitely treated in style. Of course, the party wouldn’t be anything without some sponsors and they’ve certainly made it quite entertaining…the Mopho team brought out their mascot, a panda (no not a real one) to roam the crowd for photos, Weber Shandwick offered the cupcakes, Watchitoo did interviews and livestreamed the event and Bing certainly let people play dress up….why? Because they had a photobooth!’

It was an interesting cast of characters at the SummerMash tour. The Mashable team was represented by CEO and founder Pete Cashmore, Adam Hirsch, Ben Parr, Brett Petersel, Karen Hartline, Jolie O’Dell, Jennifer Van Grove and their community manager Vadim Lavrusik. Of the people that I did see, some notable guests include Sloane Berrent & Erica O’Grady, Francine Hardaway, Drew Olanoff, VentureBeat’s Owen Thomas and Anthony Ha, Social Media Club’s Chris Heuer, Dealmaker Media’s Debbie Landa, Paladin Advisory Group’s Louis Gray & Tina Hui, Pop17′s Sarah Austin and many others.

As expected, long lines soon formed around Pete Cashmore to take photos and to talk with him (the true test of an elevator pitch?), but for those that couldn’t wait, the next best thing was to find the cardboard cut-out of him and have your picture taken – unfortunately he just wouldn’t talk to you.

Oh! We can’t forget about prizes, right? Some lucky attendee walked away from the SummerMash party with an iPad, courtesy of Gotelo – who used their technology to actually pick the winner and Intel gave away a netbook as well. But the biggest prize of the night probably was the two free American Airlines tickets thanks to Weber Shandwick.

Now that we’ve got the recap done, how about some pictures? Here are just some of the fun from the event:

Welcome to SummerMash 2010 in San Francisco!

Co-editor Ben Parr just loves his Mopho panda

The Grand Hyatt San Francisco is packed!

Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove & Jolie O’Dell with Pop17′s Sarah Austin (middle)

I #blamecancer for this happy moment

Intel’s Ken Kaplan meeting guests at the SummerMash event

The Mashable SummerMash team

Boku’s Ron Hirson, 12second’s Sol Lipman and members of the Skype team

Social Media Club’s Chris Heuer, Dealmaker Media’s Debbie Landa & Collecta’s Brian Zisk

Gotelo gives away an iPad

Livestreamed interviews from SummerMash

Drew Olanoff & VentureBeat’s Owen Thomas share a moment

Camera+ creator Lisa Bettany & Mashable’s Pete Cashmore

All photos here were taken by Kenneth Yeung. You can view the complete SummerMash set on Flickr by clicking here.

Just how do airlines find a way to improve their image? We’ve all seen tweets and activity across a variety of social networks and blogs talking about how poor the customer service and attempt at brand improvements the airlines have provided us over the years. Frankly, it’s like these airlines just don’t care until someone decides to do something about it. In one case, a musician by the name of Dave Carroll wrote a pretty scathing song against United Airlines and that became an instant hit because practically everyone has been in a situation where airlines treat you like garbage. However, there are those few airlines that really stand out as being really cool and exemplify customer service. Last week, I had a chance to take a flight on one of them…and it’s thanks to the folks at Klout, a company focused on helping you figure out how influential you are on Twitter and other social networks.

Several weeks ago, Klout teamed up with Virgin America to help promote the airline’s new route to Toronto, Canada from either San Francisco or Los Angeles. This marketing program awarded influencers with a free round-trip flight from either SFO or LAX to Toronto this summer. Those that were selected as influencers were given invitations to attend the exclusive launch party at The Thompson Hotel in Toronto in July. I got to accompany the Klout team from San Francisco to Toronto last week and met a few startup people and had fun meeting some of the other Klout-Virgin America Toronto winners.

One of the cool things about flying Virgin America to Toronto as part of this promotion is that they give you free wi-fi on the flight so you can do the obligatory tweet from 35,000 feet in the air. Known for their customer service and hip cool attitude, I really enjoyed the flight. Virgin’s planes are more tailored towards the business and technology saavy crowd as you can watch satellite television, play games, listen to the radio, order food, or simply instant message someone else on the plane all from your seat using their built-in seat monitors. And with the wi-fi connection, you can continue to update your friends on Facebook or Twitter about what you’re doing or perhaps even send out a few emails. Regardless of what you’d like to do on the flight, suffice it to say that Virgin America tries to make each flight enjoyable and like a party.

And speaking of parties…the Virgin America party was pretty great. With an open bar and hors d’oeuvres like lamb, sliders, salmon tartare canapes and more being served, guests were thoroughly entertained. While the party started earlier at 9pm, the VIP section at the rooftop level was filled with special guests and other influencers. The rest of the crowd were entertained with wine/champagne on the ground floor free to mingle with other guests and get a chance to mingle and meet Richard Branson, the guy who started it all, along with other great celebrities like actor Eric Roberts, comedian Russel Peters, singer Ryan Cabrera, former WWE wrestler & Dancing With The Star contestant Stacey Keibler, Sex And The City actor Giles Marini and many more. All in all, it was a really good party and I had fun.

Would I fly Virgin America back again? Of course…got to meet some great folks in Toronto and was really entertained on the Virgin America flight.

Now here are some photos from the party:

It was truly an international affair at the Virgin America party to celebrate the launch of the new route to the West Coast from Toronto

The man himself, Sir Richard Branson

Sex And The City actor Giles Marini

It’s actor Eric Roberts (brother of Julia Roberts)

Former WWE diva wrestler & Dancing With The Stars contestant Stacey Keibler

To show he cares about his customers, Sir Richard Branson makes it a point to take time to talk to people at the party – he was really quite open and available for people to talk and take photos with him

Summer Luu & Stella

The lobby crowd at The Thompson Hotel

Klout’s marketing manager, Megan Berry with Sir Richard Branson

The Klout/Virgin America ticket winners from Toronto

Jon Lim

More group shots of the Klout/Virgin America Toronto winners

You can view more photos from the party on my Flickr photostream by clicking here.

All photos in this post were taken by Kenneth Yeung.

Disclosure: I received a free flight to Toronto on Virgin America and also attended the party. At no time was I ordered/required to write a post or talk about my experience and if I was to write about it, was not told what to write. These words are my own.