NYC Archive

The New York Technology Council held an incubator showcase for several NYC-based incubators last summer. Joly MacFie from WWWhatsup NYC posted a video of the event – you can watch the 90 minute event below. Here’s the presenter list:

• Bruce Niswander, Director, Technology Innovation & Entrepreneurship, NYU-Poly
• Daria Siegel, Director of the Alliance for Downtown New York’s Hive at 55
• Natalia Arguello, Director, NYDesigns
• Matthew Shampine, Co-Founder, WeWork Labs
• Charles Kemper, Managing Director, ER Accelerator

From what I can tell, Hive and 55 and WeWork Labs are more coworking/shared office space than a traditional incubator where a group trades services for equity. Since the list does include coworking, I must include the first coworking space in NYC, New Work City.
Continue reading “NYC Tech Incubator Showcase (video)” »

Another day, another battle of “Google+ is the future” vs. “Google+ is dead”. I am guessing we will see these back-and-forth posts for a long time. This week the hot thing to do on Google+ is to make circles of the same brands everyone else has and then share those circles with your followers who have probably already created the same brand circles.

One of the earliest supporters of Google+ was Edelman EVP Steve Rubel. Steve heads up the Global Strategy and Insights division for the global agency. Steve is a good speaker and I have always found Steve to have interesting insights and enjoyed our in-person conversations. He seemed to post/re-share to Google Plus numerous times every day throughout the earliest days and summer. Then slowly his postings started to become less frequent. If I remember correctly, Steve held multiple internal conferences with his colleagues to educate them about Google+ shortly after launch.

In early September, Edelman announced that they were selected as Twitter’s new PR firm. Did this new client signing influence Steve to spend more time on Twitter than Google Plus? Some of the conversations I had since the announcement seemed to think so but I am not sold on this idea because Steve’s job requires that he understand all of the networks so he can position them properly to Edelman’s staff and, in-turn, clients. Google evangelist Louis Gray noted the new Twitter-Edelman relationship when Rubel shared a post that questioned whether Google+ would be around for the long-term.

On October 20th, Rubel asked if, “Anybody Home” and he received over 20 responses including one from me. There have been no posts from Rubel until one early this morning where he posted the following message:

I have decided not to post here for the time being. I will leave my profile up. Google+ is great. I wish them luck. Really i do. But I have to make choices about where I spend my time and for me that’s Twitter, Facebook and soon Tumblr – where I will be doing more so. It’s where I get the most value for the time invested. So, adios for now. See you on one of those networks. I may change my mind one day, but right now this is my plan. See you online. / Steve

Some have asked me if this is a bad sign for Google+. I am not sure if this should be considered any sort of death sign because I know Steve is crazy busy as it took me quite a while to get on his calendar a couple of years ago. It would be interesting to hear from Steve about how he will position Google+ to his colleagues and to all of Edelman’s clients going forward. I guess I will have to find him on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr to attempt to get the answer to this very important question.

Is there anything better than combining the subway with technology? If you answered “no” you are correct! Over the last couple of years, the NYC MTA (that’s the transit authority) has been wrapping subway cars with ads. Most of the wraps on the main subway lines have been boring but the 42nd Street Shuttle which runs back-and-forth from Times Square to Grand Central always seems to get the coolest wraps.

Vitamin Water had a neat wrap as all of the seats were different colors to match their products, the Travel Channel promoted Anthony Bourdain’s show and American Airlines tried to make the train look like the plane (although the train has a better on-time rate!).

Set on the tracks earlier this month is an advertising wrap from HTC featuring their line of tablets. There are a large number of tablet devices throughout the subway cars featuring all of the different ways you can use the Android-powered tablet device. There are also prominent calls to purchase the HTC tablet at Best Buy. They are specifically showing off the ability to use a special stylus with the HTC Tablet.

Below are a couple photos from the HTC Tablet with Scribe Technology wrap – there are more photos on SubChat.

These shuttle trains are packed during rush hours and riders only have 2-3 minutes on the shuttle so they might be more likely to see the advertising than on a mainline train where they have time to take out a newspaper or play with their mobile devices.

Continue reading “HTC Wraps a NYC Subway Shuttle Train” »

I just returned back to the office and while picking through all the press releases, one from AirBNB caught my eye. Apparently they have just launched a longer-term, monthly rental offering. What’s the first thing when you hear “sublet rental”? Craigslist – is Craig the real target of AirBNB? I checked out a few of the blogs that posted about the news and so far only Kara Swisher has mentioned Craigslist.

If you have ever tried to rent an apartment in NYC, it can easily bring you to tears. The brokers post their sometimes scam, nearly almost always somewhat fake listings on Craigslist for $10 each. Even if you don’t have any interest in renting an apartment in NYC, head over to the Craigslist apartment section (make sure to pick Fee and No-Fee!). I was so excited to look at one of the apartments I saw on Craigslist when I first moved back to NYC. The pictures were great – the apartment wasn’t in the best location but it looked huge. When I got to the apartment, the broker showed up late, took me up to the apartment and it looked NOTHING like the pictures or the description. I showed her the photo and said uhm this isn’t the right apartment. She replied, “sure it is, those photos are just examples of an apartment”. I realized at that point that the search would be pure hell.

Frankly I believe Craig has no interest in changing his system (even adding a real search) because then the brokers would go elsewhere. But maybe, just maybe, AirBNB’s can start to woo over users which might force brokers to start to post listings which would have to include real photos and a reputation system for the landlords and brokers. AirBNB could potentially even become an online payment/facility management hub for landlords.

There are many startups out there trying to “beat” Craigslist and I’d bet a few are even on the YCombinator company list and might be open to an acquisition by AirBNB.

The press release mainly talks about the monthly offering focusing on the sublet market but clearly we can see where this might be headed.

AirBNB had an interesting summer with the issues they faced around trashed apartments. While I am still sure I wouldn’t use their service for a vacation or business trip, I may very well be open to using their service as a research tool for my next sublet or apartment rental.

When I visited Berlin for the first time, it was shocking just how much graffiti was all around the city. On buildings, on trains, everywhere – reminded me of the 1980s on the NYC subway. While I can’t say I am a fan, some of my friends have searched out graffiti installations in cities as they travel. Today a new mobile app is launching that will help make those searches easier.

Art.mapped is a mobile app for the Apple iPhone (coming soon to Android) that maps out street art, graffiti, public art and architecture. Founder Michael Stearne notes regarding Art.mapped, “(we) catalog(s) the locations of great graffiti, street art, public art, architecture and design. Great graffiti and street art goes away and art.mapped would like to help keep a record of these works and their locations over time.”

It’s a pretty neat idea to help you find art outside a typical museum – especially as you visit new cities. And you can help the app grow by sharing art that you find in your travels. I wonder how you report where you find subway graffiti since it’s a moving target.

The app is free and you can download Art.mapped in the Apple iTunes App Store.
Continue reading “Art.Mapped Helps You Find Street Art, Graffiti, Public Art and Architecture” »

If you asked me what’s the thing I miss most about NYC, my answer would be simple: my subways and buses (knishes and Crumbs cupcakes 2nd). I (sadly I know) still monitor the happenings in the MTA-run transit system from a far. It’s been awesome to watch how technology is finally being embraced, welcomed and integrated across the system.

A year ago we saw the first NYC transit developer conference and since then the activity on the discussion group has been very interesting with great participation from the MTA.

Today the MTA announced the launch of a developer app contest named MTA App Quest. Cash prizes will be awarded up to $5,000 for the grand prize. The submission period begins today and runs through September 26.

Continue reading “NYC Transit Launches App Quest Transportation App Contest” »

The New York City MTA (that’s the group that runs the subway and buses among other transit functions) has announced the upcoming launch of the first NYC transit MTA App Center. The App Center will operate in a similar fashion to the Apple App Store and is described as a way, “to showcase the great apps you have built for MTA customers and make them easier to locate.”

If you want to be included in the launch of the App Center, you need to submit your info by Friday April 29, 2011. If you miss this initial launch round, your submission will be included in a future App Center update.

To learn more about the MTA developer programs, check out their developer website.

Continue reading “NYC MTA Launching App Center – Developers Get Your Apps In Now” »