NYC Archive

NY-based microblogging service Tumblr has announced a new feature today: Photosets. Photosets takes a bunch of photos and creates a Flash-based slider/photoshow of the photos.

You can either upload photos or link out to other photo locations (flickr, photobucket, smugmug, some porn site, etc.). Additionally you may link your photo of your dog willy to his twitter page.

Unfortunately it does not appear that there is any option to embed a photoset outside of the originating Tumblr site. This could be a great way to get Tumblr content further along the Internet highway as long as the photoshow links back to the Tumblr site.

If you are new to Tumblr, check out CEO David Karp explaining how Tumblr works.

CovetedList is a NY-based startup that provides a fashion-specific search platform. Basically what CovetedList does is provide a way to find outfits that match you and your specific needs. They start with asking what should you were and allow you to refine with attributes based on you. Their initial target is 18-35 year old women. They have partnered with a variety of retailers including Macy’s.

Their tagline is “iTunes for your closet” and they are working on social shopping similar to how friends go shopping together.
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The founders of new NYC-based Hapnin (pronounced happenin) describe the service as a, “hyper local, real time, things to do platform.” The goal is to help you figure out what to do right now. The service is currently only available in NYC although there are plans to expand. Basically the service is an aggregator of things to do from local papers and a variety of other sources.

The Hapnin team is working with a variety of newspapers and bloggers to place widgets on their sites which will drive traffic to Hapnin and to the content sources. Users can contribute events into the Hapnin system as well.
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Tonight at the Entrepreneur’s Roundtable, Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson provided feedback for a variety of startups who pitched their ideas. I will post the pitches over the next couple of days. At the beginning of the event, Fred opened up the conversation for a Q&A and I’ve posted the video below.

When asked what Fred looks for in a deal he noted:

• they look for companies that are changing the game in a big way
• companies that are shaking something up
• companies that work better than the companies in the sector
• some of the areas they are looking for deals in education, finance, energy, environment and government

Other topics in the video:

• dealsize USV looks for
• discusses his blog
• why Boxee is doing great things
• potential venture regulation
• general vc market commentary

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Online auction service eBay has announced the launch of a new online game today, “Let’s Make a Daily Deal”. The only reason I am mentioning this is because they will be in Times Square over the next three days. It seems like Broadway closing to traffic has brought out lots of companies who want to use the new space for marketing and promotion.

From the release, “Mario Cantone will host “Let’s Make a Daily Deal!” on June 22, 23, and 24 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Times Square Studios (44th Street and Broadway). eBay is taking over Times Square with digital billboard advertising and street teams who will recruit players for the “Let’s Make a Daily Deal” game. The digital billboards will feature a live, mobile text-based game engaging Times Square crowds who can play along for a chance to win great prizes.”

I wonder how the rain this afternoon will affect participation.

Update: I’ve just learned that Steve Rubel will be the official tweeter for this event. Steve works for Edelman and eBay is one of their clients.

During The Runway Project and held at NewWorkCity, Roman Fichman provided a two-hour overview of incorporating a business. I’ve attached the video and slides below and the talk covers the following topics:

• Why would one need to form an entity?
• Differences between Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, S-Corp, C-Corp and LLC
• How these entities differ from one another
•  How to keep the corporate “veil” safe
• New York or Delaware?
• Detailed summary charts

Some of the bits are specific to New York but overall the videos are worth watching from any location (you can just listen as well). Note that it’s always wise to seek advice from legal counsel before deciding on a business type.
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This week in NYC is the 140conf - it’s a conference about Twitter (no, no seriously there really is a conference dedicated to twitter that costs $1,000 a ticket!). I know many of you are visiting NYC from other locations and I thought it might be a great time for a CN NYC breakfast meetup!

I will be at the Cosi tomorrow (Tuesday) from 7:30-8:30am. Feel free to stop by for some breakfast anytime during the hour to talk about your startup, CNN’s coverage of Iran, why fake blogger fights equal pageviews, we can debate the Twitter suggested user list and/or any other topics you’d like to discuss. I will have my video camera - we can shoot a video about your startup as well.

I will also have CN stickers and discount codes for my startup.

Cosi is on the corner of 51st and Broadway and is one block away from the conference center (3 minutes walk). Take the #1 train to 50th, the N/R/W to 49th or the C/E to 50th. Cosi has free wi-fi.