by Sarah Townsend

The moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived. Tickets for the new and (highly) improved Twiistup 6 are officially on sale. Also announced is the impressive line-up of featured speakers confirmed for the Los Angeles-area tech and new media conference, and they’ve got something for everyone – from rappers to CEOs and everything in between.

The confirmed list for the July 30 + 31 event is growing everyday and includes:

* Jason Calacanis – Serial entrepreneur, founder of Mahalo and co-founder of TechCrunch 50 and Weblogs.
* Chamillionaire – Grammy Award-winning and chart topping musician and entrepreneur.
* Cyan Banister – early stage investor in Facebook, Paypal, Slide, Tagged and founder of TopFans.com
* Todd Goldman – Artist, entrepreneur, co-creator of BLAHGirls (with Ashton Kutcher) and founder of David and Goliath apparel.
* Quincy Jones III (QD3) – Music and film producer/entrepreneur.
* Dave McClure – Seed stage investor for the Founders Fund.
* Ian Rogers – Former business partner of the Beastie Boys and former GM of Yahoo Music, now CEO of Topspin Media.
* Ben Huh – CEO of viral phenomenon www.IcanHasCheezburger.com
* Chris Brogan – President of New Marketing Labs
* Mark Suster – GRP Partners, venture capital. Former VP Product Mgmt Salesforce.com & 2-time CEO and entrepreneur.
* Brian Solis – Author of Now is Gone and Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, Publisher of PR 2.0 and bub.blicio.us, Founder of Future Works PR, and strategic advisor to Fortune 500 businesses and startups.

The stage will also welcome ten yet-to-be-chosen “Showoff” startups, who will be given the opportunity to pitch their company and lead a Q&A session.

“This is just the start of our line-up,” said Twiistup producer Francisco Dao. “It’s really exciting to be able to put together an eclectic stage program that really captures the convergence of technology, media and innovation.” Dao continued to explain that the currently confirmed speakers represent only a portion of the expected agenda.

So just how much will this social media bonanza cost you? Several ticket packages are available, including a $79 single-evening ticket that grants you access to the many open-bars. Passes to the full two-day event are available for $227 until June 20, when the price will be bumped up to $297. Tickets are limited, to be sure to get yours quickly here.

Press passes for bloggers and media are available, but limited. To request a complimentary ticket, please e-mail twiistup@lewispr.com.

…If the recently leaked images of the Twiistup 6 floorplan are any indication, this is going to be one HOT event!

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Sarah Townsend
E-mail: theoneinpink[at]gmail[dot]com
Twitter: theoneinpink
Blogs: The Vibe, TechDarling.com

by Michelle Lentz

Everyone’s favorite online shoe shoppe, Zappos.com, has partnered with social video site Magnify.net for a “Box Break” campaign, accessible from Zappos.tv.  Zappos wants its consumers (hey, that’s me!) to engage by creating a video community around their brand. They are encouraging consumers to film the experience of opening a Zappos box upon arrival, and then upload the video to the Magnify.net channel. Customers can then interact by voting for the best video. The most popular video each month wins a $100 gift certificate to Zappos.

Magnify.net offers social features on each of its video channels, including integration with other video sites, Flickr, and Twitter. Users can create their own profiles, friend other people with similar interests, and subscribe to the feeds of their friends.

Considering the sheer number of unboxing videos on the net, I see no reason why shoes should be any different.

According to TechCrunch, Zappos and Magnify.net are officially launching “Box Break” at a SXSW party on Friday (although the site is already live). The party features a variety of the biggest names on the web, including Guy Kawasaki, Kevin Rose, Chris Brogan, and more – all of whom will have their own Box Break videos. I hope they get some good shoes.

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

By Adam Jackson

Throughout Fall and Winter of 2008, Silicon Valley prepared and readied itself for the fallout. In late September, things started falling apart, VCs tightened their belts and the money dried up. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but I’m not going to write what has already been written on the very delicate system that is Silicon Valley. What I would like to talk about is parties. I’ve been dubbed “The Party Guy” by many but lately, there hasn’t been a party. I’ve been working later at the office and getting a solid 7 hours of sleep every night. It’s been pretty difficult and I’ve missed seeing the faces, the flashing DSLRs and free drinks.

Since September through the end of December, things felt normal. Parties still happened, traveling across the US to attend barcamps was still the norm and people were still putting things on the AMEX and ignoring the fact that layoffs were happening all around them. Well, it’s January of 2009, exactly 4 months to the day that the Wall Street fallout happened and the fun has come to an end.

When I first moved to San Francisco, early next year, I couldn’t decide what events to attend. Four events a night at least were on my plate with many smaller events that were just meetups. Over at SocialCalendario, I’m stretching to find events and most of them are meetups, drinkups, tweetups and more intimate affairs. Who is affected?

We are. The community is affected. Connections, networking, deals and general conversations are handicapped when the face to face isn’t happening. I rely heavily on in person interaction and it was more than schmoozing but a chance to meet the dreamers, inventors and share ideas. Saving money is great and I’m on the team that looks at Web 2.0 and says, “the bubble had gotten too big” but I also feel that interaction and conversations must continue for innovation to really blossom. Parties, barcamps and conferences act as fertilizer and help to cultivate big ideas.

I propose we step it up a bit. Let’s organize more open source events around happy hours and co-working spaces. More Tuesday meetups of like minds at 21st Amendment and hour long mixers at Citizen Space / PariSOMA where we get one startup to spend $75 on a keg and we meetup to chat. The parties and events still need to happen but on a smaller scale.

Two events just popped up on my radar which I think will be a lot of fun.

BaconCamp is “an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment about bacon”
LaidOffCamp is “an ad-hoc gathering of unemployed & self-employed people (including entrepreneurs and startups) who want to share and interact with each other.”

These two events are great but there’s no reason an event like this can’t happen every weekend. There are great venues out with open minded owners that support these kind of gatherings and there are people like me who will help out any way we can to bring people together. The party isn’t dead, it just has to evolve and for the sake of innovation, it’s best that we keep drinking and keep thinking.

You can contact me via my website, blog or Twitter.

Young. Female. Entrepreneur.

by Marissa Louie

Darlings, throw your effen hands up. I’m proud of you. Not only are you a Silicon Valley Anomaly, you’re probably really hot too. And under 40.

Fotki

Shabooya sha sha shabooya ROLL CALL! Who here is a young female entrepreneur? My fearless darlings, wear your company logo on your chest. Comment on this post and I’m your new girlfriend for life. Or call me/text me at (510) 375-1941 to join the Girl Gang. The Girl Gangster Entrepreneurs.

You know you’re a young female entrepreneur in the Internet biz when:

-TEAM-

-1- You work for The Man The Woman. What could be better?!
-2- You have an office suite in a Milpitas office park, but you primarily spend time in your Nob Hill San Francisco office space with a kitchen, backyard, overhead projector, and wi-fi. No wait, you turn a hip local coffee shop like Sugar Cafe into your third office so you can do Entrepreneur 2 Entrepreneur Office Hours with other cool people. Because you, honey, are VIRAL by nature.
-3- You’re the CEO but the rest of the team wants to take care of you. You might even be the youngest person on the team, but have no problem managing others who are twice your age. You have experience, balls, or both.
-4- Your venture has a 80-20 ratio of males to females. Out of your 16 core team members, only 3 are female. You make sure the females and males are treated by merit.
-5- Nobody can truly hurt you. But if somebody tries to hurt your team, it’s OVER for them.

PARTIES AND TIME MANAGEMENT-

-1- You sometimes get caught wearing full-on party gear by your Internet biz friends at non-tech events. And you get away with it. Just make sure your reputation is intact and that you have a healthy work-to-party ratio. Transition between being Plain Jane and Janet Jackson effortlessly.
-2- Angels and VCs – real or fake? You can tell a real Gucci purse from a fake, so you should differentiate the genuine investors from the fake. The genuine ones might be able to really help you. But if they really just want to waste your time fantasizing about you over dinner, Filter. Them. Out.

-REPUTATION-

-1- Your Woman Charm gives you home field advantage. Turn it on at the right times, because you are a rare specimen in the Valley. It helps you stand out in a crowd, at a party, at a press conference, during a video interview. It may even differentiate your blog. Advertise yourself and turn that into revenue.
-2- It’s 11pm and you’re at Safeway after the Digg party. You get introduced to a connector VIP like Sanford Barr of Stirr. He asks what you do. He has a puzzled look on his face when you tell him how your company got started, and you just know he’s seen everything in the Valley. Then he says he knows your company’s name. (You think he’s kiddin’ ya.) But then he even knows your last name. Nice!
-3- You are a rogue. A stubborn, fearless, rogue. You often do the stupid thing. It gets you in trouble at work, with family, with friends, and with love interests. If you channel it correctly and you get a little lucky, it can also propel you towards entrepreneurial success.

-LIFE HACKS-

-1- You no longer have to wear corporate raider gear but can wear lifehack gym clothes that pass as business casual all day long.
-2- On the Caltrain from San Francisco to Palo Alto, you ask an engineer from hi5 how old he thinks you are. He sneaks in a look at your website bio via wireless card. He says, “You can’t be older than 38. You’re definitely not 40. Are you 35?” ZOMG what a compliment.
-3- You’ve managed your own life so that you have no kids, no husband, and no responsibilities to run home to, giving you free reign of your time and energy. Ahh. If there is a male in your life, he is helping you take care of the responsibilities. You may want to consider a Massey Prenup if it’s not too late, though.
-4- You know you don’t need an MBA. Don’t waste the precious youth, vivacity, and money you could’ve spent on your startup on a tier-one B-school just to get contacts. If you really want to take the easy way out, work at a country club or SF Tennis Club for $8 an hour, lead gen, and become a trophy wife.

-HAPPINESS-

-1- Strangers, friends, and your family are proud of you. Except if you have rich a$$ relatives, they might not be so supportive (to which you pay no mind – just look at Paris Hilton versus the Hilton Hotel Family). Accept the good vibes, but don’t embrace it too much lest you get lazy. Don’t let it feed your short-term ego too much either. Because you might be future President of the Billionaire Girls Club and can give back to society for OPK (other people’s kids).
-2- You’ve come to love pain. Because you turn negative into positive like no other, and nobody can break you. You are fearless, fun, female, and you rock. The bounce in your step shows it.
-3- You could cast an entire Les Miserables play with your unhappy yuppie friends. A 5 year run, plus. But you, darling, are passionate and happy.
-4- You just do it. These are your dreams? D@mn the consequences. F**k the naysayers. Because you know that for every year that passes, your risk tolerance as well as your je ne sais quoi diminish. REVOLT! REBEL!

Young female entrepreneurs, if any of this rings a bell with you, JOIN THE GIRL GANG by texting me at (510) 375-1941 anytime because I don’t sleep.

Marissa Louie is the Founder and CEO of AD Village (http://ad-village.com) which helps bloggers monetize and advertisers optimize. If you liked this post, you might also like 10+ Funniest Angel and VC Blog Posts and The Future Co-existence of PR and Advertising. She also announces Entrepreneur 2 Entrepreneur office hours via Twitter.