by Brian Solis

Internet Week NY 2009 has come and gone, but its legacy will carry us throughout the coming year until we convene again at IWNY 2010.

PepsiCo and the TechSet were charged with kicking-off Internet Week by bubbling-up innovation and spotlighting global entrepreneurship at the Bubble Lounge on a beautiful New York evening. Dare I say that it was bub.blicio.us?

PepsiCo has been among those companies that truly understand and consistently demonstrate the activity, engagement, and potential for genuine participation and community cultivation.

It’s about people. And, that’s serves as the very foundation for the TechSet.

PepsiCo, along with the TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly) and a venue filled with new creativity and passion , indeed commemorated the vivacity of imagination and the people who transform ideas into realty – embodying the true essence and spirit of InternetWeek.

We toasted to the artistry of innovation and basked in the inspiration that spilt over not from our glasses, but from the vision and personality that fills NYC during Internet Week.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Your hosts – Brian Solis and Stephanie Agresta

Maria Sansone of Poptub

“THE” Rock Band

Melanie Notkin

Anthony Casalena of SquareSpace

Loren Feldman, Dan Farber, Michelle Feldman

Dan Patterson, ABC Radio

Chris Heuer

Brant Bonin Bough

Aubrey Sabala, Brian August

Joel Dreyfuss

Oz Sultan, Brett Petersel, Gregarious, Coutenay Bird

Leora Israel

Brett Petersel

Ayelet Noff

Oz Sultan, Brett Petersel, Jolie O’Dell, Jacob Mullins, Courtenay Bird, MG Siegler, Brian Solis

Nicole Jordan, Rana Sobhany, Stephanie Agresta, Brett Petersel, Anand Iyer, Jacob Mullins, MG Siegler, Michael Jacobson, Bryan Barletta, Courtenay Bird, Damien Basile

For more pictures from the Pepsico – TechSet IWNY party, please visit my album on flickr.

Video highlights from the Pepsico – TechSet party now on PopTub:

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Read more from Brian Solis:

Blog: PR 2.0
Book: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Social Map: The Conversation Prism

by Brian Solis

Jeff Pulver’s 140 Character Conference (#140conf) will be taking place at New World Stages in New York City on June 16/17.

While the original scope of the event was to explore “the effects of twitter on: Celebrity, “The Media”, Advertising and (maybe) Politics”, the scope of the event has expanded and we will be covering these topics and a lot more. #140conf will be taking a look at twitter as a platform and will be taking a look at some of the industries which have been disrupted by the advent of twitter.

The schedule reflects the great variety of the subject areas we will be exploring and discussing at #140conf. The speakers represent a “cast of characters” whose presence will help define this event. I’m joining Tony Hsieh of Zappos on stage.

You can save $195 by using code “SOLIS” before midnight Tuesday. Register here.

Follow @140conf on twitter for updates.

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Read more from Brian Solis:

Blog: PR 2.0
Book: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Social Map: The Conversation Prism

by Brian Solis

Save the date. Monday June 1st, 6-8 pm at the Bubble Lounge NY.  Stephanie Agresta and I request the honor of your presence…RSVP Here.

Internet Week NY 2009 is approaching and the TechSet kick off Internet Week by bubbling-up innovation with PepsiCo…

See, remarkable innovation is sparkling. Ideas percolate and dissipate, but with a little ingenuity and effervescence, change and revolution can bubble-up to the surface for all to enjoy.

PepsiCo and The TechSet invite you to sparkle during InternetWeek in NY with a celebration of new tech, creativity, passion and vision on June 1st. And, where else can we commemorate the vivacity of imagination and the people who transform ideas into realty than the Bubble Lounge…where brilliance always bubbles-up.

From 6 to 8 pm, we will toast to the artistry of innovation and bask in the inspiration that spills over not from our glasses, but from the vision and personality that fills NYC during Internet Week.

This is your night. Join us.

Salud…

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by Brian Solis

The Silicon Valley PRSA chapter hosted its annual Media Predicts event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Industry trendsetters, chroniclers and luminaries shared their predictions for trends, issues and technologies for 2009.

Media Predicts is literally a black tie affair that attracted PR professionals from every major agency and tech company in Silicon Valley.

Sam Whitmore of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey emceed the evening and Ann Windbladt of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners served as the moderator.

The panel consisted of tech media heavyweights:

Elise Ackerman, Technology Reporter, San Jose Mercury News
Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
John Markoff, Senior Writer, The New York Times
Mark Veverka, West Coast Editor & Columnist, Barron’s
Richard Waters, West Coast Editor, Financial Times

The discussion ranged from netbooks to Web 2.0 to Google and Facebook to Microsoft and Yahoo and everything in between. The witty banter seemed to lead us all over the place, but overall, it still fun and entertaining.

The panel invited us to gaze into their respective crystal balls for a moment, but for the most part, we dissected and analyzed the successes and epic failures of 2008.

Here are some of the highlights;

Some viewed the Obama campaign as the killer app of 2008, while others were ready to move beyond “Web 2.0.”

Michael Arrington, for example, scrubbed Web 2.0 from TechCrunch. When asked by Ann what his definition of Web 2.0 is, Arrington responded, “Web 2.0 was a renaissance from a nuclear winter – the last recession. We’re all about technology.”

Richard Waters defined Web 2.0 as ultra-low cost publishing with a bit of interactive tools.

Joh Markoff described it as open interfaces and open tools that plug services together in a Lego-like function.

The conversation promptly shifted from open to closed systems.

Arrington characterized a trend that closed could be the new open. He highlighted two successful companies that are based on closed systems, Apple and Facebook. In 2009, he’s looking forward to the competition between Android, iPhone and other smart phones.

Markoff countered, claiming that Apple is not closed. “If you count the lines of code in the Mac OS, 1/2 are open source,” he exclaimed.

Arrington pointed to Microsoft in its prime. “What if Microsoft approved all apps for the Windows OS before they were allowed to sell to the public,” he asked.

Richard Waters jumped in, “Apple is a closed system and closed platform,” he stated.

Ann introduced Gartner’s Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2009:

• Virtualization
• Cloud Computing
• Servers
• Web-Oriented Architectures
• Enterprise Mashups
• Specialized Systems
• Social Software and Social Networks
• Unified Communications
• Business Intelligence
• Green IT

In response to the list, Arrington revealed that he’s fascinated by the cloud computing efforts that are targeted at enterprise and consumers. However, he cautioned against the over enthusiasm of 2009 trends in the enterprise as it may well be the year of tremendous IT cuts in resources and budget.

Richard Waters refererred to Chris Anderson’s next book, “FREE.” In 2009, he believes that free is no longer going to be a good business model to support. “Cheap, on the otherhand is a great business model,” he believes.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Ann Winblad, John Markoff

Michael Arrington, TechCrunch

Mark Veverka, Barron’s

John Markoff

Elise Ackerman, San Jose Mercury News

Sam Whitmore

For more pictures from the Media Predicts 2009 event, please visit my album on flickr.

Special thanks to DNA13 for the invitation to join them at the event.

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by Brian Solis

While the state of the U.S. economy has many gripped with fear, the spirit of tech entrepreneurs appears to be alive and well, and perhaps most notably, determined to excel regardless of the hurdles that may lie ahead.

On November 11th in New York, Microsoft Startup Zone partnered with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly) to host Ignite New York to debut the newly launched BizSpark initiative. BizSpark is a comprehensive program that is dedicated to helping startups grow and succeed by offering to caliber services, resources, platforms and software.

The event was hosted at One Little West 12, an elegant and beautiful ultra lounge in New York’s stylish Meat Packing District – next door to the Hotel Gansevoort, made popular by the Sex and the City Franchise.

Close to 400 people celebrated the spirit of entrepreneurialism that night, which made for an evening rich with valuable and productive conversations and networking.

New York is the first in a series of events. Austin, you’re next! See you on November 20th. RSVP here.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Leora Israel

Stephanie Frasco

Aaron Brazell (technosailor)

Adam Hirsh of Mashable and David Parmet

SavvyAuntie.com

Victor Karamalis

Laura Michaels and Bryan Thatcher of Fusebox and Empressr.com

Michelle DeForest

Karin Klein and Jennifer Klein

Peter Himler, David Parmet, Joe Ciarallo

Brett Petersel of Mashable stands out from the crowd

Stephanie Agresta and Steve Rosenbaum of Magnify.net

Jacob Mullins, Santiago Iturbe, Chris Brady

Victoria Stemmer and Paul Lewis of MTV

Mark Burstiner, Meghan Asha, and

Michael Lewis

Gary Sharma

Jonathan Dingman

David Blumenstein

RockBand – Kyle Sollenberger, Paul Lewis, Whitney Hess

Winner of the Twitter XBOX 360 contest

Arthur Boie, Chris Munns of Meetup.com, Damien Basile

Ari Greenberg and Bonnie Halper

Oz Sultan and Julia Johnston

Brian Solis

Brian August and Leora Israel

The Ignite Team, shot by Aaron Brazell

Earlier in the evening, team Ignite, attended the New York Newtech Meetup. To see my pictures of the meetup, jump over to my set on Flickr.

For more pictures from Ignite New York hosted by Microsoft BizSpark and TechSet, please visit my album on Flickr.

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by Brian Solis

Prior to the BizSpark party hosted by Microsoft and TechSet at One Little West 12 in the Meat Packing District, I decided to pay another visit to the rooftop of the popular Gansevoort Hotel.

The partially cloud-covered skies served as another backdrop for awe-inspiring views.

Hudson River

Buddakan Restaurant

Part One

For more pictures from the “Evening in New York” set, please visit my album on Flickr.

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by Brian Solis

I’m in New York, preparing for this evening’s Ignition hosted by Microsoft Bizspark and TechSet. Make sure to RSVP here, it’s free and a can’t miss event.

I arrived yesterday in NYC towards the latter part of the evening. The night was too beautiful to not capture. It glowed with a soft radiance of the lights reflecting off the low hanging clouds, which created a hauntingly romantic setting.

The Dream Hotel also is a setting in of itself. I didn’t have to leave the hotel for this photo walk.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

A View from the Rooftop

Lobby at The Dream

Desk at Dream Hotel

Hallway Painting

For more pictures from the “Evening in New York” set, please visit my album on Flickr.

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by Brian Solis

Microsoft announced its new BizSpark program to help transform today’s most promising startups into tomorrow’s most successful businesses.

Microsoft BizSpark is a global program that will help startups grow into successful businesses through software support and a vibrant ecosystem that offers a significant business advantage – for free (well almost). Startups are required to pay $100 once they graduate from the program or at the end of three years. Upon graduation, companies will need to pay for the Microsoft software, hosting, and other services moving forward.

Startups will receive professional support from Microsoft and BizSpark Network Partners around the world who provide a wide range of support resources for software startups. Network Partners are incubators, investors, advisors, government agencies and hosters who are vested in software-fueled innovation and entrepreneurship.

Emerging companies will receive fast and easy access to Microsoft’s current full-featured development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions with no upfront costs and minimal requirements.

A dedicated Website, the BizSparkDB, will highlight promising companies from around the world every day. Through their relationship with Microsoft and BizSpark Network Partners, startups can collaborate to potentially reach an audience of potential investors, clients and partners.

Microsoft has a long history working with startups and believes the combination of technology and partner support provided by BizSpark is the right formula needed to put young companies on the road to success.

During times of economic stress, it’s even more important that startups have the technology and market resource support they need to succeed.

So let’s celebrate!

If you’re in NY on 11/11, join us.

Microsoft BizSpark and The TechSet, present “Ignition” an event for entrepreneurs, investors and those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem for helping startups flourish.

Join Stephanie Agresta, Brian Solis, Microsoft staff and partners at One Little West NYC from 8-10pm. Free hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and valuable networking will be served. Plus, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.

RSVP on Eventbrite.

Event Details:

Time: 8-10pm

Location: 1 Little W. 12th St., New York, NY 10014

If you don’t live in NY, hopefully we’ll see you in Austin, Los Angeles, or Silicon Valley:

November 20, 2008 – Austin

December 2, 2008 – Los Angeles

December 4, 2008 – Silicon Valley

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